Big One said nothing-that was to say, he neither meowed nor howled.
He merely watched the girl in silence, his pupils narrowing to beans, his tail hanging beneath Zhao Layue's arm like a sword ready to leave its sheath.
An exceedingly faint, cold aura seeped from his white fur, passing through the Ancient Castle's dim passages and thick stone, spreading out into the surrounding world.
Not a sound rang out, yet many things had already changed.
Every surveillance device in the Ancient Castle, everything containing a chip, the streetlights on the lawn outside, and even several satellites beyond the atmosphere all failed at once.
The girl's expression shifted slightly. "You're considerably stronger than you were in the story, and much bolder too."
Having finished his work, Big One ignored her and buried himself in Zhao Layue's arms again to sleep, though his ears stood very high.
The girl likewise paid him no more attention. She looked at Zhao Layue and asked, "How did you guess who I was?"
Her identity was one of Human Civilization's most important secrets. Apart from those Ascension Ones, no one knew.
Since coming to this world, Zhao Layue had not met a single Ascension One. How, then, had she thought in this direction?
It had something to do with the scroll provided by the Star Gate Priestess, but more of it came down to analysis. That Zhao Layue disliked making calculations the way Jing Jiu and Tong Yan did did not mean her powers of deduction were weak.
"Flower Creek must be your avatar," Zhao Layue said. This was also why she had chosen the Flower Household as their meeting place.
The girl turned and walked toward the far end of the gallery. Her hard soles made crisp sounds against the even harder stone, but