The bonfire's lingering warmth still hung in the air. Fragrant steam curled from the clay pot of mushroom and seaweed soup, mingling with the damp scent of the forest.
Huo Yuhao sat beside the fire, absently rubbing the handle of his spoon. His gaze rested on Ju Zi as she tasted the soup, but his thoughts had drifted elsewhere.
He found himself thinking of Huo Gua in the original story. A single simple meal had been enough to stir feelings in Ju Zi's heart. Strange, when he thought about it.
He glanced down at the steaming soup and gave a helpless little smile. Could his cooking really have the miraculous power to taste like "Dad's cooking"?
"Blub, blub."
A string of bubbling sounds broke his train of thought.
Huo Yuhao spun around. Bai Xiuxiu was floating half-submerged in the shallows, her enormous tail fin gently patting the water. Her clear, vertical pupils were fixed on the clay pot. She raised a fin and pointed at the soup with the guileless longing of a child.
Huo Yuhao froze, astonishment filling his eyes.
"You mean you want to try some?"
Bai Xiuxiu nodded her massive head emphatically, sending little splashes flying with her tail.
Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched hard as a thousand thoughts churned through his mind.
As people understood it on the Douluo Continent, the Demon Soul Great White Shark Clan was far more intelligent than ordinary Soul Beasts. Even so, an individual ten thousand years old would, at most, have the mind of a five- or six-year-old child.
Recognizing danger and protecting its own kind should have been the limit. Yet this shark had approached humans on her own, understood gratitude, and even recognized food in a human cooking pot. Her mind was far too mature. It defied all common