By the time Tang San and Xiao Wu found Ning Rongrong and the others, night had fallen completely.
Ma Hongjun was squatting on a bluestone, gnawing on a roasted sweet potato. Oscar was tending a fire beside him, and a tuft of his unruly, medium-short white hair had been singed by the flames.
Ning Rongrong hugged a bamboo tube, dozing against a tree.
At the sound of footsteps, Ning Rongrong's eyes flew open. "Who's there!"
"It's me." Tang San stepped out of the darkness.
Ning Rongrong breathed a sigh of relief, then turned her face away. "Y-you and Xiao Wu are all right. That's what matters."
Tang San smiled, his gaze catching the changes in Ma Hongjun.
The Ma Hongjun before him seemed like a different person.
His formerly round, babyish face had slimmed into an oval, his features had matured considerably, and even his height had shot up.
He actually had something of a "mature beauty" air about him!?
Moreover, the fiery aura around him was contained rather than spilling out, yet it was several times fiercer than before.
"Hongjun, you..."
"Senior Sister, I ate a blade of grass by the roadside." With a sweet potato between his teeth, Ma Hongjun spoke indistinctly. "It looked like a Fire Phoenix. It smelled so good that I couldn't resist eating it."
Ma Hongjun rubbed his belly sheepishly. "Luckily, it didn't upset my stomach, but the drawbacks of my evil fire seem to have improved a lot!"
He puffed out his chest and added, "And I can't get fat anymore! From now on, I can eat all the delicious food I want!"
Oscar pouted irritably. "It's not like you ate little before."
Xiao Wu came over and pinched Ma Hongjun's cheek. "Oh, Hongjun, you really have slimmed down!"
The youngsters dissolved into