The Natives of This World Are So Fierce Chapter 11: I'll Be "Softhearted" and Take You In
Seeing the Mischievous Sprite break down in tears, Qin Xiaoxia's lips curved into a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
You're still too green, little guy!
Only after the distraught Mischievous Sprite had more or less calmed down did Qin Xiaoxia pat him on the body.
Then he gently took out his keys, unlocked the several locks fastening the chains around him, and cut through the elastic bands before untying the ropes.
The sprite dazedly rubbed his aching body. Not only did he not run away, he seemed at a complete loss.
Qin Xiaoxia pushed the now-cold Golden Fried Rice on the table over to the little guy.
"Eat up. It's cold, but it still tastes good!"
As the aroma of fried rice drifted past his nose, the little guy instinctively picked up the container, but he held the spoon without taking a bite.
"I only tied you up to vent my anger. After all, you've been making trouble in my house for so long and eating plenty of my food. I'm over it now."
"Oh, right. You'll compensate me for that gold coin you used up, won't you? Buying food these past few days cost quite a bit."
The Mischievous Sprite hurriedly nodded, making the pointed tip of his hat swing back and forth.
"Good, then. Eat up. Here's some water, too. Don't choke."
With that, Qin Xiaoxia went about putting away the chains and ropes and "casually" cleaning the living room.
Meanwhile, the Mischievous Sprite ate the Golden Fried Rice a bite at a time.
"Once you're done eating, you can leave."
The Mischievous Sprite choked at those words.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough..."
He frantically pounded his chest, then picked up the glass of water and gulped down several mouthfuls.
"I-I haven't paid you back with a gold coin yet..."
"Obviously, you're supposed to give me the gold coin before you leave!"
Qin Xiaoxia shot him an annoyed look, then went back to "pretending to sweep."
Over this stretch of time, he had already watched the Mischievous Sprite eat many times through the surveillance feed.
Normally, he ate about three times as fast as Qin Xiaoxia.
Yet now, even though Qin Xiaoxia had untied him, he had spent over ten minutes eating a takeout container of Golden Fried Rice and still hadn't finished half of it.
The little guy sat there fidgeting, taking tiny spoonfuls and occasionally sneaking a glance at Qin Xiaoxia.
Ma Gulu, the Mischievous Sprite, was deeply anxious.
When he had come to this world, the barrier formed by the World Power had nearly killed him in that half-real, half-illusory "World Isolation Zone."
His constitution was nothing like those monsters'.
Fortunately, he could grant some middling wishes. The rules governing wishes seemed to be among those least restricted by worlds, and his own "weakness" had happened to help him enormously, allowing him to "slip through."
After hiding in Qin Xiaoxia's home for a while and deciding he was safe, his urge to play pranks had taken over again. Combined with the temptation of delicious food, that had led to everything that had happened recently.
He had originally thought the person who caught him was a vile, evil villain. At first, that certainly seemed to be the case, but he hadn't expected to have misjudged him.
This big fellow had only caught him to vent his anger. Once his anger faded, he had let him go. Though he demanded compensation, he wasn't even taking precautions against his escape.
But that was a minor issue. The biggest problem was this outrageously dangerous world.
He had never seen creatures called humans before. There were no humans in the Margeson World. Even counting the other worlds he had heard rumors about, he had only heard of creatures with similar appearances, all of whom differed from humans to some degree.
Those creatures had something in common: they liked living in groups, establishing various kinds of "large collectives," and oppressing creatures weaker than themselves.
But compared with the race in this world that called itself human, the ones he had heard of before were nothing!
This was one of the cleverest, most intelligent races Ma Gulu had ever encountered. At the very least, their food was the best. What terrified him, however, was that they were also the most savage intelligent race he had ever seen, without exception.
Ma Gulu didn't even dare imagine how a race so terrifying toward its own kind would treat outsiders.
And every word that fellow across from him had just mentioned-slicing, culturing, draining blood, cutting off flesh-had made his heart pound with fear.
Although Inspiration Sharing didn't share memories or deeper understanding, the literal meanings of those words and Qin Xiaoxia's descriptions were enough to give him a rough idea of what would happen if scientists caught him.
Not to mention how shockingly graphic those age-restricted videos Qin Xiaoxia had found were.
Even the delicious fried rice in front of him seemed to taste like cardboard now.
He poked his spoon around, turning over the grains of rice.
"Um... my name is Ma Gulu."
"Oh, so you have a name. Definitely a nonhuman sense of taste... I'm Qin Xiaoxia, though since you've been sneaking around here for so long, you must have overheard my name already."
As though tired from his chores, Qin Xiaoxia sat back down at the table, poured himself a glass of water, and drained it in one gulp.
Once the little guy hesitantly spoke up on his own, Qin Xiaoxia knew he was almost there.
Qin Xiaoxia adopted the solemn air Old Qin used to have when he was alive.
"If you've got something to say, little guy, say it. For the gold coins' sake, I'll help if I can. But let me make this clear first: you can't stay here!"
"Why?"
In his panic, Ma Gulu blurted out the question, spraying bits of rice over half of Qin Xiaoxia's body.
Qin Xiaoxia hurriedly brushed the rice off himself with a look of disgust.
"Why? There are three reasons."
"First, I don't know anything about your background. You're a stranger to me."
"Second, there's all that trouble I just told you about, especially those lunatic scientists. If they find out you exist, they might haul me away to study me, too. I might not even make it out alive!"
At that, Qin Xiaoxia gave a violent shudder.
"Third, and most importantly, I can't afford to feed you, little guy... What you've eaten these past few days cost as much as over half a month's food for me. I'm not rich enough to keep an 'expensive pet.'"
Letting someone go in order to catch them really is a wonderful strategy. Zhuge Liang must have known a thing or two about psychology!
The Mischievous Sprite now looked rather anxious.
He hadn't even realized that he was no longer in a situation where Qin Xiaoxia had captured him. Instead, it had turned into one where he wanted to stay but the owner wouldn't accept him.
"I-I'm a Saroba Sprite! I can-I can grant wishes..."
"Mm-hmm. With only three gold coins left, and your wish-granting ability is weak and unreliable. On top of that, you can't make new gold coins right now, can you?"
"This world's rules are a little different, a-and I don't have the materials. That's right! I-I'll definitely find a way to mint gold coins again!"
The Mischievous Sprite was now wholly preoccupied with finding a way to stay. He had even forgotten that he still had his shaky invisibility ability. If he simply refused to leave, Qin Xiaoxia might not be able to do anything about it.
Although Qin Xiaoxia wanted to keep his composure and tease the little guy a while longer, he was also worried it might backfire. Best to quit while he was ahead.
He pulled out a few tissues, sighed, then shook his head and handed them to the sprite.
"Oh, honestly! Wipe your nose. Your snot's about to drip into the fried rice."
"My greatest weakness is that I'm too softhearted!"
The Mischievous Sprite instinctively took the tissues, still struggling to make sense of Qin Xiaoxia's compassionate declaration.
"Oh, and from now on, no turning invisible and disappearing whenever you feel like it. You'll have to help with the housework, too. Understood?"
Qin Xiaoxia added that last remark.
At those words, the Mischievous Sprite's eyes instantly lit up.
"So that means I can stay?"
"I'll let you stay for a while and see how you behave. If you keep making trouble, I'll kick you out!"
The little guy's head bobbed furiously, like a pestle pounding garlic, while he kept saying, "Yes, yes, yes..."
He seemed moved to the very depths of his being, as though he had received an enormous favor.