Airi immediately reached out and tore off the piece she had bitten.
"Mm-hm, now it's fine."
After eating that piece, Airi gave a soft hum.
Chang Yuan followed suit and took a bite.
But after just one bite, he immediately narrowed his eyes.
Was this sweetness made with saccharin or something? No wonder even a girl who loved desserts wouldn't eat it.
Good grief, if he finished this, he would probably have a toothache the next day.
"Ahem, it's best not to eat things that are too sweet. They can easily cause cavities."
"Hehe, looks like Chang Yuan, you can't handle much sugar either."
Seeing Chang Yuan squint from the sweetness, Airi snickered.
When she had eaten it just now, she had nearly felt like her teeth were going to rot from the sugar.
"You little Airi, you deliberately set me up. I've decided that there'll be no more little desserts for you. You need to watch your diet too—you can't get fat."
"Hey, hey, hey, Chang Yuan, how can you do that? I'm still little. I don't need to worry about that at all, okay?"
Hearing that she would no longer have desserts in the future, Airi pouted unhappily at Chang Yuan.
"No, no. Self-restraint has to be learned from childhood. Once you grow up, you won't be able to learn it."
"Ugh! That's completely ridiculous. You never restrained yourself before, either."
Thinking of how Chang Yuan would secretly go out for barbecue every night, Airi could not help complaining.
And he wanted her to learn restraint? She only ate desserts two or three times a week, while he went for barbecue practically every night.
The one who needed to learn restraint was him!
"How have I not restrained myself? I stuck to only having barbecue once a day, okay?"
Chang Yuan said that with particular confidence.
In his previous life, all three of his daily meals had basically been fried food, barbecue, and the like.
If he had not needed to raise Airi and therefore started eating normally,
he would have shown Airi what he was like when he truly did not restrain himself.
"Bleh, bleh, bleh. And you call that restraint? I bet you'll turn into a fatso someday."
Sticking out her tongue cutely, Airi did not believe Chang Yuan at all.
"Hehe, that's impossible. I'm the type who never gets fat no matter how much I eat."
That was already one of the few things Chang Yuan could be proud of.
Before transmigrating, even when he ate and drank without restraint, his weight had remained within the normal range for his height.
It could be said that women were extremely envious of such a gift.
"Ugh, unfair, unfair, unfair! Why do you have a body like that while I don't? I'm angry now—the kind you can't cheer up."
With her arms folded across her chest, Airi pouted as she pretended to be angry.
"Has it ever occurred to you, Airi, that you're naturally beautiful? You don't need anything to embellish you. You're perfection itself."
"Mm-hm~, I'll let it go since you said something nice. Come on, we haven't even finished traveling one-tenth of the world yet. We can't keep wasting time."
After Chang Yuan showered her with extravagant praise, Airi stopped pretending to be angry.
The two quickly made up and continued their journey.
Three years later...
Over those three years, Chang Yuan and Airi continued traveling.
Along the way, they heard news about some vigilante, but it was not Kosma, which disappointed Chang Yuan somewhat.
But thinking about it, that made sense. According to the original plot, Kosma seemed to be even younger than Airi.
So with Airi now eleven years old, Kosma could not possibly be much older. For such a little kid to want to be a vigilante was rather wishful thinking.
"Wow, Senba Academy. I remember this is supposed to be a place for studying. I really want to go inside and take a look."
Hearing that familiar name, Chang Yuan stopped thinking and looked up.
Well, would you look at that—it really was Mei's alma mater, as well as the academy Kevin would transfer to in the future.
That meant that, if possible, he could meet Mei here in advance, the girl who would one day be known as the Demon Scientist.
Likewise, she would become one of the greatest forces in defeating the Honkai.
In the original plot, even knowing nothing about the Honkai, she had been able to devise plans that nearly transcended it.
If he told her everything about the original plot, along with many details, perhaps they could truly transcend Finality back in the Pre-Civilization.
"Hehe, young man, little girl, do you want to go in and have a look? It just so happens that it's the weekend. Senba Academy is open to the public on weekends, so you can go inside."
Just then, a kind elderly voice sounded.
"Really? We can?"
"Yes. Plenty of people have already gone in to look around, but don't get lost. Senba Academy is very large."
"Mhm, thank you, sir."
After thanking him, Airi immediately poked Chang Yuan with her finger.
"Come on, Chang Yuan, go in with me and look around."
"Yes, yes. Don't tell me you want to study here? Are we not going to travel the world anymore?"
Looking helpless, Chang Yuan could only follow after Airi.
Once inside Senba Academy, Airi excitedly wandered here and there.
Eventually, they arrived in front of the library.
"Mm-hm, Chang Yuan, let's go in and read together."
"Whatever you want. But remember, you must stay quiet in the library."
Worried that Airi might not understand, Chang Yuan deliberately reminded her.
After all, Airi had never attended school, so she did not understand many school rules and regulations.
However, due to her own unusual nature, self-study alone had already given her the knowledge someone her age should have.
She had even surpassed that by quite a bit.
"Mhm, I know, I know. Let's go."
Airi was like the only splash of pink in a field of grass. When she entered the library, countless people noticed her.
But because of the library's rules, no one greeted her aloud. Airi simply went to look through books that interested her.
Chang Yuan merely followed her, occasionally observing their surroundings.
Eventually, he spotted a black-haired, violet-eyed girl around Airi's age.
At first, Chang Yuan was not sure of her identity, until he saw the book in her hands—From Physics Basics to Mastery.
That alone allowed Chang Yuan to determine with absolute certainty that she was the Mei who would later be known as the Demon Scientist.
While children her age were still reading extracurricular books, this future world-famous genius was already studying in advance what she would learn in university.
Forget being the same age as Mei—even if Chang Yuan studied for another ten or twenty years, he did not think he could necessarily surpass the current Mei. That was the terrifying thing about someone with top-tier talent.
Before you continue