Looking at that bloody reality, Chang Yuan swallowed hard.
He felt like everything he had eaten earlier was about to come back up, his taste buds churning in revolt.
Covering his mouth, Chang Yuan immediately made his way to the restroom at an unhurried pace.
What followed was a thoroughly satisfying bout of vomiting.
"Sakura, couldn't you have tied it on better? It fell off, for crying out loud!"
Thinking that this was Sakura's handiwork, Chang Yuan complained from inside the restroom.
Good grief. If he hadn't prepared himself mentally beforehand, he might have fainted on the spot if it had fallen down the moment he arrived.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he saw that his eyes were bloodshot.
Clearly, it was from being overly frightened.
"Phew, forget it. At least I got some mental preparation out of it. I probably won't overreact when I run into something like that later."
Patting his chest, Chang Yuan gave himself a moment to recover.
Then he casually splashed some water on his face before leaving the restroom.
He came to sit across from Airi and quietly took a seat.
Every so often, he pulled out his phone to browse the news or read the novels of this world.
Until two hours later.
Looking at Airi's adorable little face, Chang Yuan couldn't resist reaching out and poking it.
Airi's eyelids trembled slightly in her sleep, but she ultimately did not wake up.
Chang Yuan then put in more force and pinched her little nose.
"Mm! Chang Yuan, if you wanted to wake me up, you could've just woken me up! Why did you pinch my nose? That's so annoying."
Unable to breathe with her nose pinched, Airi finally woke up.
However, judging by her puffed-up cheeks, she was probably not in the best mood.
"Hehe~ Seeing how cute you looked, I couldn't help teasing you a little."
"Hmph~, you bad guy. I'll remember this. Go to sleep first. I'll get revenge tomorrow."
Even though she had been complimented, Airi had not forgotten about revenge.
Her plan was to pinch Chang Yuan's nose just like he had done when she woke him the next day, making him wake up from holding his breath.
"Fine, but Airi, remember to be gentle. You're too strong. I'm scared of pain."
"Bleh, then you'd better pray you wake up on your own instead of needing me to wake you."
Sticking out her tongue, Airi said with a playful smile.
Chang Yuan returned that playful Airi with a smile before lying down to sleep.
The next day, Chang Yuan felt someone pinching his nose.
The little hand was soft, its movements gentle, and its strength slight.
Thinking of what had happened the night before, Chang Yuan immediately knew whose hand it was.
But then he thought of something fun and immediately held his breath.
After nearly a minute of pinching his nose without seeing Chang Yuan wake up, that little hand seemed startled.
Then Chang Yuan felt that little hand move beneath his nose.
He continued holding his breath, then sensed the panic in that hand when it trembled and brushed against his nose.
"Eh? Why aren't you breathing? Chang Yuan, Chang Yuan, Chang Yuan!"
Finding no breath, combined with Chang Yuan's body being slightly cool from the chilly night, terrified Airi beyond measure.
She immediately pressed both hands onto Chang Yuan's shoulders and began shaking him.
But Chang Yuan still showed no sign of waking up, which made Airi frantic.
"Wake up! Hey, Chang Yuan, Yuan, wake up."
It was only a little past seven, so there was no one around.
Airi had no one she could ask for help.
Then she immediately remembered the first-aid method she had learned from books.
First, she slowly laid Chang Yuan down on the floor, then gently pressed on his chest to perform CPR.
When she felt that his heart was still beating, her fearful emotions calmed somewhat.
A heartbeat meant Chang Yuan was still alive.
She just didn't know why he was unconscious, and now that he had stopped breathing, he might truly be in danger if he did not wake up soon.
As she pressed on his chest, Airi called Chang Yuan's name, her voice even beginning to carry a faint sob.
Chang Yuan suddenly felt that he might have taken the joke too far.
He immediately opened his eyes and looked at the girl whose eye sockets had begun to redden.
"Airi, I—"
Before he could say anything, Airi pulled him into a tight embrace.
For a moment, Chang Yuan did not know what to do with his hands.
"I-I-I was just trying to scare you. I'm sorry. I really didn't know you'd get this worried."
"You bad guy, there won't be a next time. Do you know how worried I was? You're my most important family, and also the one I li— You're not allowed to lie to me again."
With a sobbing voice, Airi voiced her dissatisfaction.
"Family..."
Hearing that he was merely her most important family, Chang Yuan's eyes dimmed slightly.
Sure enough, even nearly ten years of companionship made it difficult to enter Airi's heart.
That was right. She possessed the most exalted and pure soul. She was humanity's companion, the daughter of a god sent by the stars and moon. Her love had never been confined to one person.
But that would not become a reason for Chang Yuan to give up. If nearly ten years were not enough, then he would spend centuries, millennia, even tens of thousands of years—as long as she could survive.
"There won't be a second time, because I couldn't bear to see you cry over me a second time."
Slowly embracing Airi, Chang Yuan gently patted her back in a steady rhythm as he spoke.
Only nearly ten minutes later did Airi finally stop crying.
After releasing Chang Yuan, Airi rubbed her eyes.
"Now that you're awake, go brush your teeth and wash your face. Then we'll have breakfast and continue our journey."
After saying that, Airi carried her backpack into the restroom first.
On the side Chang Yuan could not see, a faint blush appeared on Airi's originally fair face.
But since she had her back to him, he did not see it at all.
Before transmigrating, Chang Yuan had also been an idiot when it came to romance. As an orphan, coupled with his social anxiety, he rarely interacted with people, much less women.
So Airi was one of the few girls he had spoken with so much, and everything he knew about girls had been learned from her.
So forget understanding girls—he might not even be able to tell whether a girl was embarrassed because of him.
"Well, looks like I can't make that joke again in the future."
Only after Airi left did Chang Yuan sit there, sighing and scratching his head.
He had not expected Airi to react so strongly.
But with Airi's almost superhuman senses, shouldn't she have been able to tell easily that he was pretending?
So why had she become so nervous? She had even looked like she was about to cry.
Before you continue