Chapter 4: The Night of Another World
“What is this?” The small Dragon Girl surveyed her surroundings with golden eyes, making a strange sound.
She scratched her head with her claws, her face full of confusion.
Based on Xia Mo’s irresponsible guess, she felt that the girl must be thinking, ‘What is this place?’
“This place looks a bit off,” Luo Shuangyue murmured softly as she looked around.
Unlike that grayish space, the colors here were much more vivid, as if a black-and-white television had suddenly turned into a color screen.
A peculiar smell filled the air, a strange mix of burnt and floral scents, both fragrant and stinky, which was indeed odd.
In front of them, the place appeared to be a sea of purple flowers, but this flower sea did not give a beautiful feeling at all. On the contrary, it emanated an eerie sense that was unsettling.
The blooming flowers were dotted with black spots, with many blossoms appearing dull and lifeless. Only the flowers without black spots retained the vibrant appearance that Luo Shuangyue remembered.
Almost instinctively, Luo Shuangyue reached out and picked a purple flower, chewing on it for a moment.
This flower had no black spots and tasted somewhat similar to a Magical Girl’s magical power.
However, after consuming it, her stomach started hurting even more.
“These flowers contain magical power, and the concentration isn’t low,” Luo Shuangyue shared her discovery with Xia Mo as she rubbed her aching stomach.
There was nothing like this on their home planet; items containing magical power were either related to Magical Beasts or Magical Girls, and there was no possibility of something growing naturally.
And these flowers, they definitely didn’t seem related to either Magical Girls or Magical Beasts.
“The magical power concentration here is so high, and… it seems to resonate perfectly with my magical power,” Xia Mo also noticed the uniqueness of this flower sea.
If her magical power restoration speed was five on that gray wasteland, here in this flower sea, it was at least several times faster, reaching upwards of twenty.
She summoned the purple gem she used for transformation, and Xia Mo could see visible purple light particles separating from the air around the gem, quickly merging into the dimly glowing gem, which had several cracks on it.
With this influx of magical power, the cracks on the gem were slowly disappearing, and the dull color was gradually becoming brighter.
This meant that Xia Mo’s gem was rapidly recovering, and she would soon regain her transformation ability.
“This place is practically paradise for Magical Girls. With so much magical power, they’d definitely have strong combat abilities here.”
Luo Shuangyue opened her hands and summoned You Lian from her body.
As soon as You Lian appeared, she sensed the high concentration of magical power nearby and began to excitedly absorb it to restore her strength.
The Dragon Girl, meanwhile, squatted beside the two, curiously observing them.
What she seemed most interested in was the purple gem in Xia Mo’s hand. Luo Shuangyue felt that the little girl might be concocting some not-so-good ideas.
But the three of them still couldn’t communicate directly; they had to wait until Xia Mo’s gem finished absorbing the magical power.
Seeing that Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo were settled and had no intention of leaving, the Dragon Girl did not wander off by herself either. Instead, she sat down next to them, unearthing two black objects from her pack, and handed one to Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo.
Luo Shuangyue took the black item and saw the Dragon Girl open her mouth and take a bite out of it.
It looked like something edible from the sound of munching.
“Is she sharing food with us?” Luo Shuangyue thought, glancing at the unclear origins of the food, deciding it would be best not to eat something so suspicious.
Who knows if it was poisonous?
Not that Luo Shuangyue doubted the Dragon Girl’s intentions, but they came from different worlds, and what the Dragon Girl could eat might not be safe for Xia Mo.
After all, the Dragon Girl clearly wasn’t human; she could be someone who could drink poison like water, while Xia Mo was just a frail eighteen-year-old girl.
“Do you want to give it a try?” Luo Shuangyue asked, holding the black stick towards Xia Mo.
Xia Mo immediately shook her head.
No way could she eat that based on its appearance; who knew what it was made of?
She wasn’t someone who couldn’t survive without food; as long as she had enough magical power, she could live without eating.
And now, with so much magical power around, she preferred to use it to stave off hunger instead of eating the weird black thing.
“You can eat it; I’m not hungry.”
“I’m about to burst; there’s no way I can eat anything.” Luo Shuangyue placed her hand on her small belly, looking helpless.
If one looked closely, they would see a flickering white light on Luo Shuangyue’s abdomen, which was the Magical Power Orb from Bai Ye that she had consumed.
With this Magical Power Orb, Luo Shuangyue could go for days without needing to eat.
The Dragon Girl, who was happily munching away, quietly leaned closer. She noticed the faint glow coming from Luo Shuangyue’s abdomen and curiously poked at it with her claw.
After poking, finding no danger, she pressed her entire claw against Luo Shuangyue’s belly, seemingly enjoying the feel of it.
Xia Mo’s expression darkened immediately, and she glared at the Dragon Girl with a fierce look.
Though the language barrier remained, Xia Mo’s hostility was effectively communicated to the Dragon Girl.
Quickly retracting her small paw, the Dragon Girl rested her chin in her hands, looking at Xia Mo, puzzled as to why Xia Mo, who had just been friendly, suddenly turned hostile.
She then began babbling and gesturing, attempting to clarify the situation.
“I’m not jealous or anything…” Xia Mo thought, looking at the Dragon Girl’s adorable appearance. She realized she might have been a bit too sensitive.
This little creature from another world probably knew nothing at all, and besides, Shuangyue’s charm was unlikely to be so strong that she could charm a Dragon Girl at first sight.
With this thought, Xia Mo reined in her dark emotions, putting on a gentle smile, and made an effort to communicate with the Dragon Girl.
After a round of gestures and guesses, the two sides finally managed to complete this communication… roughly.
Xia Mo told the Dragon Girl that she needed to wait for her gem to recover, and the Dragon Girl understood what Xia Mo wanted to express.
At least from the way she obediently sat in place, she seemed to have grasped Xia Mo’s meaning.
This world also experienced the alternation of day and night. Although there were no sun or moon in the sky, after nightfall, a myriad of brilliant stars appeared, bringing a small sense of wonder to the two girls from another world.
“So beautiful…” Luo Shuangyue gazed at the starry sky while lying in the sea of flowers, unable to help but exclaim.
In her world, she couldn’t see such lovely stars.
City lights obscured the sky’s original appearance, and when she had left the city, she hadn’t been in the mood to appreciate the stars.
Only now, as everything was settling down, did she have the energy and inclination to admire the vast expanse of stars.
“The stars here have other colors too; it’s amazing,” Xia Mo softly murmured, intertwining her fingers with Luo Shuangyue as she gazed at the sky.
Unlike the stars in their world, the stars here had their own colors, and these differently colored stars were densely packed in the sky, resembling a grand masterpiece painted by a master artist.
The Dragon Girl was not like the two naïve ones; she quietly sat and gazed up at the sky, lost in thought.
After a while, the Dragon Girl untied the rag wrapped around her and wrapped herself in it like a blanket.
Soon, a low, rumbling snore came drifting from her direction.
This unromantic sound easily shattered the somewhat intimate atmosphere between Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo, perhaps suggesting that the Dragon Girl intended to interrupt the pair’s affectionate display.
“Xia Mo, you should sleep first; I’ll keep watch.”
“You’re not feeling well; it’s better for me to do it…” Xia Mo instinctively refused.
Her physical condition was much better than Luo Shuangyue’s. Luo Shuangyue was frail and easy to topple, while Xia Mo at least had a bit of self-defense capability.
In case of danger, she could also transform and blow herself up.
Yes, she had regained her transformation ability, but her combat strength was still not substantial. In a real crisis, even after transforming, she would only be able to consider herself a bomb to take down the enemy.
Whether the enemy would die, she didn’t know, but she would surely lose her transformation ability entirely.
“You are the one who needs the most rest to recover your strength so you can better protect me.” Luo Shuangyue pressed her finger against Xia Mo’s lips, interrupting her.
“I can stay alert without sleep right now, but you can’t avoid resting, so it’s best for me to keep watch.”
Without her transformed state, Xia Mo was just an ordinary girl, with maybe slightly better physical qualities.
She had the physiological needs any girl would have; though she could substitute eating and drinking with magic, sleeping and resting couldn’t simply be replaced with magic.
Xia Mo’s current goal was to quickly restore her magic power, using that to help her stay up late would be entirely counterproductive.
But Luo Shuangyue was different; she was a Magical Beast and had never heard of a Magical Beast needing rest.
She was truly someone who wouldn’t feel tired as long as there was magical power in her body.
Luo Shuangyue firmly placed Xia Mo onto her lap, her silver-red eyes revealing a determination to not let Xia Mo oppose her.
Under the gaze of those eyes, Xia Mo struggled slightly but soon resigned herself to lying on Luo Shuangyue’s lap.
However, when did Shuangyue’s eyes change to this color?
Xia Mo remembered that Luo Shuangyue’s eyes weren’t this color before. Her original eyes were silver-white, and when transformed, they were red, not this silver-red.
The current color seemed as if it combined the hues of both her pre- and post-transformation eyes in a jumbled mix.
Although still beautiful, it gave Xia Mo a faint sense of strangeness.
Luo Shuangyue felt a bit confused by Xia Mo’s odd expression; she knew Xia Mo was looking at her eyes, but didn’t understand why she was doing so. “Is there something wrong with my eyes?”
“The color has changed.”
Changed color, huh?
It was the first time Luo Shuangyue learned that, with no mirrors or anything, she had no way of seeing any changes in her eyes.
However, since she felt no difference, it should be no big deal.
“It might just be a result of breaking imperfections; I feel fine.”
“This is still my first time sleeping on your lap, and it feels quite comfortable.”
“As long as you don’t mind. By the way, should I take off my socks first?”
“No need, it’s too much trouble, and I don’t mind the feeling.”
Xia Mo slightly turned her head. Luo Shuangyue’s socks were very different from ordinary long socks, after all; they were magical items, and their texture was completely unlike regular socks.
They were neither rough nor uncomfortable; lying on them was almost like direct contact with Shuangyue’s skin.
Besides, if she took off her socks now, she would have to put them back on by tomorrow morning, which sounded like a hassle.
“What I’m more curious about is, Shuangyue, you walked such a long way without shoes—don’t you feel tired?”
Luo Shuangyue, in her Dark Butterfly form, had no shoes on her feet.
The only adornments on her small black feet were a few thorny, black thorns, but these hadn’t appeared on her feet at present.
“I’m a Magical Beast, of course I won’t feel tired. You can’t treat me like a human; you have to think of me as a machine. As long as I have magical power in my body, I won’t feel fatigue,” Luo Shuangyue shook her head, indicating that she was no longer the weak human she once was.
“Think about it; we walked for so long in the wilderness, and if my socks were made of normal material, they would be completely worn out by now, my feet would be a mess, but I haven’t even gotten a scratch!”
Don’t be fooled by Luo Shuangyue’s appearance now; the socks were merely a disguise.
“It’s been quite a while, and we haven’t properly tended to our bodies. You can smell yourself; there’s actually a faint odor coming from you, but I have none.”
Xia Mo’s face turned bright red. If she wasn’t misinterpreting, Luo Shuangyue was implying that she smelled bad, right?
Yes, after days of surviving in the wilderness, they surely wouldn’t smell pleasant, but Luo Shuangyue could have said it a little more delicately!
A little respect for a young girl’s fragile sense of dignity, please!
“Don’t believe me? Smell it! I still smell lovely!”
“Stop talking! I’m going to sleep! You idiot!”
