Hoho, did you want to get this delicacy out of this king's hands?
"If you want it, then you have to take it, but you've already known that."
Zhou Yang smiled at Na'er, rejecting all her attempts to act cute.
Seeing that asking would get her nowhere, Na'er stared at the feast bucket, her eyes darting as though she had made up her mind.
With delicious food before her, how could she give up? Especially after that first bite had thoroughly awakened the gluttonous worms in her belly.
She merely apologized to Zhou Yang before lunging at him.
Zhou Yang watched Na'er move like a phantom, snatching the feast bucket from his hands and exchanging it for Federation currency, yet the corners of his mouth curved upward.
Sure enough, she had made her move.
Na'er had just snatched the feast bucket and was about to dig in when Zhou Yang switched everything back the very next instant. Her steel teeth bit into nothing but empty air. She closed her eyes and chewed, but tasted nothing at all.
Na'er: This didn't taste right?
She looked down at her hands. Where were the feast bucket and fried chicken? All she held was worthless scrap paper.
She looked at Zhou Yang in surprise, never having imagined he possessed the skill to snatch things back from her hands.
But that was not the point now. Seemingly because of Na'er's "prior offense," Zhou Yang no longer showed mercy.
As though starting a countdown, he stuffed pieces of fried chicken from the bucket into his mouth one after another, then slid them smoothly back out, leaving only clean bones.
His movements alone showed that he was also a Soul Master. This amount of food was nothing to him. At this rate, he would finish it all in just a few minutes!
After tasting that delicious fried chicken, Na'er was hooked.
She could no longer find any fried chicken that compared. She would never be able to stomach any other fried chicken again.
Na'er: Sorry, there was no going back for me now.
But the fried chicken before her could be called the very last serving before a fresh batch came out in several dozen minutes!
How was she supposed to endure such a long wait?
She simply stopped holding back, circulating her Soul Power to strengthen her body as she lunged at Zhou Yang.
Yet Zhou Yang seemed to have memorized the entire sequence, slipping past her without even letting her brush the hem of his clothes.
She fell just a little short each time, as though taking one more step would put him within reach. That sense of distance scratched at Na'er's heart, making the itch unbearable.
Zhou Yang slowly widened the distance between them.
"Don't go!"
Realizing what was happening, Na'er sped up as well, chasing after Zhou Yang.
The two little ones thus began a game of tag on the food street. Thanks to their Soul Master physiques and excellent maneuvering, neither of them bumped into any pedestrians along the way.
The game of tag continued, and the fried chicken in the bucket kept disappearing.
Watching the pieces of fried chicken in the bucket dwindle one by one, Na'er puffed out her cheeks and stamped her feet in anger, her heart burning with anxiety.
She looked just like a wife who had received a link someone posted to Macho Man Paradise, opened it to discover her beloved husband being taken away bit by bit by other men, yet could do nothing but rage helplessly.
Zhou Yang was very fast. Before Na'er's eyes, the number dwindled until only one remained. Holding that final peerless treasure between his fingertips, he opened his mouth to bite down.
Na'er finally broke down, her defenses shattered. Bean-sized tears fell straight down. Anyone who did not know better would have thought Zhou Yang had done something to her.
Seeing that he had made Na'er cry with anger, Zhou Yang lost his composure. Even the nonexistent J.A.R.V.I.S. inside him could not stop him. Unable to hide the smile at the corners of his mouth, he stopped teasing the girl.
He held the bucket of fried chicken out before Na'er.
"Let this be a lesson. Don't go snatching other people's things again."
"Here, take it."
Na'er's snatching had directly triggered Zhou Yang's will of domination, and he had been ready to teach this gluttonous dragon a proper lesson. Who could have guessed that this silver dragon, whose age was more than a hundred times his shoe size, could actually burst into tears?
Haji-Na, you little...
The illustrious silver dragon's other half had come to snatch food from a human cub, failed, and finally made herself cry with anger. Did she feel no shame?
Gu Yue: All ties severed.
Na'er, who should have kept crying, actually stopped shedding tears after Zhou Yang coaxed her.
Taking the bucket, she was surprised to discover that it still held a full half-bucket of fried chicken. Zhou Yang had clearly saved it for her.
Her large purple eyes, still slightly red, blinked. She glanced at Zhou Yang before finally murmuring those few words.
"I'm sorry..."
Hearing Na'er's apology, the corners of Zhou Yang's mouth twitched.
She had cried over a bucket of fried chicken, then recovered over half a bucket. She really was...
Zhou Yang was already an eave: he could see in this child the potential to become a god (human), just like Little Takeru (Kamen Rider Ghost's transformer).
If a table of once-in-a-lifetime delicacies and a chance to become a god were placed before her, he thought Na'er would choose the food without hesitation.
Such was his confidence in the absurd world of the Douluo Continent.
Half a bucket of fried chicken naturally could not last Na'er long. She soon wiped it out.
Sitting beside Na'er, Zhou Yang witnessed the speed at which she swept through the food like wind scattering clouds. She could practically rival Tang Wulin. No wonder Tang Ziran's family had nearly been eaten into signing a strange contract and joining some unknown organization.
After finishing the food, Na'er looked up at Zhou Yang again.
"Um... want to explore the food street with me? I'll treat you, as an apology for what happened."
As she spoke, Na'er lowered her head a little, the tips of her ears turning faintly red. Clearly, she had also realized what a clown she had been.
Still, determined to admit her mistake, she gritted her teeth and spoke.
"Sure."
Zhou Yang did not mind and agreed at once.
And so, the food street gained another pair of little ones, who explored their way along it, leaving none of the stalls they passed untouched and conquering each in turn.
Before they knew it, the food festival had ended, and the sky gradually slipped toward dusk. The two also reached a pavilion to rest.
The pavilion was wooden but looked quite old. The scouring wind and rain could not erode it, merely leaving it somewhat mottled.
The distant coastline came into view, and a pleasant sea breeze wrapped in salty, damp coolness brushed over them both, dispersing the summer heat.
Leaning against the railing and gazing at the boundless sea, the two fell into a somewhat subtle silence.
After a stretch of silence, Na'er spoke first, breaking it.
"My name's Na'er. What's yours?"
Zhou Yang lifted his eyes and gazed toward the sea, where the setting sun was slowly sinking into the water. He raised a hand and pointed.
The sunset's lingering glow fell over Zhou Yang, draping him in a distinctive hue. He spoke in a confident, proud tone.
"Grandma said I'm destined to be a sun that brings radiance to others. Zhou Yang."
Hearing Zhou Yang's rather arrogant answer, Na'er burst into laughter. Unable to stop herself from laughing aloud, she rubbed the corners of her eyes and mercilessly mocked him. "Aren't you full of yourself? Bringing radiance to others? Do you really think you're the sun?"
Zhou Yang raised an eyebrow slightly and said calmly, "Yang is the sign of the sun, after all."
As one of this world's top novelists, Zhou Yang had written an amusing unofficial history of Douluo Three Kingdoms based on the circumstances of the new Three Kingdoms and Douluo Three Kingdoms.
Originally, he had merely wanted to haul over some shit for the people of Douluo to sample, but who knew it would unexpectedly become a massive hit?
The people of Douluo really had strange tastes.
Na'er knew this meme as well. Rolling her eyes at Zhou Yang, she spoke with a seemingly pointed smile, the corners of her mouth still turned up.
"Keep making Three Kingdoms jokes, and I'll stab my own ears, dragon!"
Mm, they wouldn't be mine getting stabbed anyway. My other self was a dragon too!
She thought wickedly. Her malice reached a certain silver dragon inside a certain heaven-piercing Spirit Pagoda somewhere on the continent, who was preparing to use her world-shaking wisdom to formulate a plan to save the soul beasts. A chill ran through her as she sensed that malice.
Their mysterious connection made her realize its source, but the malice coming from her other half still made her shudder.
"What is that girl planning?"