Chapter 83
After Little Feather grabbed his finger, Lin Ran couldn’t help but tap the little guy’s head.
“Finished work today?”
“Ee!”
Finished, and even got a raise~
Being asked about his work by A-Ran, Little Feather naturally couldn’t wait to share it with his guardian.
He even took out a bag of delicious bayberries for A-Ran.
“Ee!”
Auntie Liliya gave them to him.
After eating one, Little Feather found them very sweet, so he saved them all to bring to A-Ran.
“You even got fruit? Who gave it to you? Did you remember to say thank you?”
Lin Ran noticed that Little Feather seemed to be getting along quite well with everyone at the company, otherwise no one would give him bayberries, right?
However, when he tried to hug Little Feather with both hands, he realized that someone had no intention of letting go.
“…”
Shao Mian was really jealous.
Being stared at by Shao Mian with such a gloomy expression made Lin Ran feel like he was really playing favorites.
And Secretary Ser was still watching them from not far away.
Lin Ran’s ears felt a little hot. After all, the same action felt very different when done by Yuanbao in his lion form and Yuanbao in his adult form.
At the same moment, Shao Mian suddenly noticed that his Affection frame subtly moved.
A tiny bit of progress actually appeared!
Ha, so holding hands could increase Affection Level?!
“Let go! Yuanbao.”
But before Shao Mian could study it carefully, Lin Ran had already subconsciously pulled his hand away.
Although after hugging and comforting Little Feather, Lin Ran still had him go back and play with Sootball and the others.
Because he really had something to discuss with Yuanbao about Little Feather today.
“Ee?”
Little Feather was a little depressed on his way back, seeing his guardian go to discuss matters.
But A-Ran had praised him for being the most obedient baby.
Thinking of this, Little Feather couldn’t help but happily spin in the air. When he parted with Secretary Ser, he subconsciously stammered, “Tank you!”
After speaking, he blinked and looked at Secretary Ser expectantly.
Secretary Ser was stunned for a few seconds before realizing that he seemed to be saying “thank you.”
“You’re welcome?”
Secretary Ser, who was usually silent, also tried to curl his lips for the first time, responding to the cub’s thanks.
Little Feather was finally satisfied and said goodbye.
Secretary Ser suddenly realized that this little demon was indeed well-raised.
From the first time they met, when he was full of hostility and stubbornness and didn’t understand anything, to now remembering to say “thank you,” it was truly incredible.
But A-Ran had done it.
Ser even knew that Lin Ran had been thinking about how to cure the scar on the little cub’s face recently.
He was completely loved and cared for.
Actually, the demons who met A-Ran early in their cubhood were indeed lucky in a sense.
Holding the documents in his hand, the expressionless Ser had this thought for the first time.
And Lin Ran, looking at Shao Mian, who had transformed back into human form, subconsciously wanted to reach out and remove the accessory:
“Wearing a hair accessory after transforming back into human form seems a bit off.”
Mainly because Shao Mian had short hair, it felt different from Anvers’ long hair.
“What’s off?”
Shao Mian deliberately tilted his head, avoiding Lin Ran’s attempt to remove it, feeling that Lin Ran was being a bit two-faced.
“Be good, don’t make me say it again, come here and take it off.”
Lin Ran had a headache looking at Shao Mian’s unexpectedly resistant action.
He couldn’t help but tell Shao Mian to obediently lower his head and let him take it off.
And this threat actually made Shao Mian pause for a few seconds before letting the human in front of him reach out and remove the hair accessory.
Even though this was incredibly unbelievable for Shao Mian.
Why was he so obedient?
[Big lion pondering.jpg]
“Actually, if you’re in human form, it would be more suitable as a brooch or tie clip.”
The accessory in his palm was small and exquisite, exceptionally eye-catching.
Lin Ran seriously suggested, and Shao Mian wagged his lion tail, looking at the young human without speaking.
Not hearing a response, Lin Ran looked up and saw Yuanbao staring at him silently.
Actually, Shao Mian’s eyelashes were very long, his features three-dimensional under the light, and his light golden eyes carried an innate sense of casual nobility.
But the identical features instantly reminded Lin Ran of the mysterious being he saw at the end of Snowball’s instance.
That person’s features were very similar to Yuanbao’s.
However, their temperament was completely different. The oppressive aura in the eyes of the Yuanbao in the instance was absolutely impossible to ignore, and even a bit scary after looking at it for too long.
Lin Ran hesitated for a long time and asked Shao Mian, “Yuanbao, have you ever thought about what you will become in a few hundred years, or even further in the future?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the notification sound from “Demon World” unexpectedly appeared.
[Ding——You have unlocked the key to Eno Gard’s Extremely Dangerous instance, but the subsequent effects cannot be determined. Please choose carefully.]
Instance key?
So if he went to Little Feather’s Time Mirror this time, would he encounter that strange version of Yuanbao again?
Actually, Lin Ran had been thinking about why the danger level of Little Feather’s instance had doubled again.
Could it be because he was accidentally discovered by that strange Yuanbao when he said goodbye to Big Snowball last time?
So when he went to Little Feather’s future timeline, he might be tracked by him?
But if that was Yuanbao, theoretically, he should also be connected to the Yuanbao in the real world.
“Why are you suddenly asking this?”
Shao Mian’s thoughts about the Affection frame were indeed interrupted by this question, and he looked at Lin Ran thoughtfully.
“Mm… because I seem to have dreamt of your future self.”
Lin Ran didn’t know how to explain the existence of the game item to Shao Mian, so he simply used a dream as an explanation.
“What will I be like in the future?”
Unexpectedly, Shao Mian asked back with interest.
“A bit fierce? Seems difficult to get along with.”
Lin Ran felt that it wasn’t easy to describe.
It wasn’t bad, but it felt like it would be very dangerous to approach him.
If Little Feather and Snowball might not really trap him in the future timeline, Lin Ran had a hunch that Yuanbao might really do so if he caught him?
But this hunch had no basis.
Shao Mian casually fiddled with the feather ornament in his palm, and after a long time, he said, “If you really encounter my future self, it might be best not to approach him.”
“Why?”
Lin Ran couldn’t help but ask, even though it might make Yuanbao guess something.
“Perhaps I will have become a madman or a monster.”
Strangely, he hadn’t had such thoughts for a long time.
Madman?
Lin Ran pondered over this word, feeling that Yuanbao seemed to know something.
Speaking of which, Sootball and the others each had their own peculiarities, but shouldn’t Yuanbao himself be the most peculiar?
It was just that because Yuanbao himself was very powerful and a completely independent adult demon, he didn’t seem to need any care, so he had been paying more attention to Sootball and the others.
“Anyway, it’s all unimportant…”
“Is it related to your shedding? And the injury you suffered when we first met.”
Just as Shao Mian didn’t want to talk more, Lin Ran frowned seriously and held Shao Mian back, not intending to let him escape so easily.
And Shao Mian once again discovered that although Lin Ran seemed to have a very gentle personality, once he noticed something, it wasn’t easy to fool him.
“But you’ve already bandaged my wound, and I haven’t been injured again since then, have I?”
“Because you caused that wound yourself, right?”
Lin Ran boldly voiced his guess and, as expected, saw Shao Mian freeze.
“…Did Abyss tell you?”
Shao Mian couldn’t help but wonder if that little guy Abyss had recently come back and met with Lin Ran.
“No, I guessed.”
Lin Ran was certain that there was definitely something wrong here.
After spending so much time together, Lin Ran was sure that there was almost nothing in “Demon World” that could inflict such a serious injury on Yuanbao back then.
The only answer was that Yuanbao had done it himself.
But why would he hurt himself?
Unless some great pain forced him to do so.
Moreover, “Demon World” had just officially popped up a new system notification.
[Ding——You have activated the hidden monster: Source of the Curse!]
The Monster Notes quickly flipped to a new page.
After spending so much time in “Demon World,” in addition to Sootball, Snowball, and Little Feather’s pages, the appendix also gradually included familiar demons such as Ossi, Abyss, Pepe, Ein, and Stone.
It’s just that some information was detailed, while others were much more brief.
For example, Lin Ran was surprised to find that Stone, whom he often exchanged letters with, also had a page in this notebook.
Although it only briefly recorded Stone’s race and name.
But when Shao Mian’s page appeared on the back cover, the entire notebook’s cover changed color and thickened, as if it had instantly become a real abyssal notebook.
[Name: Shao Mian]
[Nickname: Yuanbao (Named by you personally, he quite likes it, but only when you call him that)]
[Awakened Talent: ???]
…
After carefully reading this page, Lin Ran was surprised to find a bunch of question marks on it. Perhaps it was because his player level wasn’t high enough, so it hadn’t been unlocked yet?
Only the maxed-out Affection Level made Lin Ran pause.
[Affection Level: 100 (But this doesn’t seem to be the highest point, an adult demon’s possessiveness is far more than this.)]
[Danger Level: 54 (He is currently very docile towards you, a single touch from you can make him happy.)]
Seeing the last comment from “Demon World,” Lin Ran had a subtly strange expression.
Could this be the real reason why Yuanbao would inexplicably become smug every time he was scolded and had his ears pulled?
[Note: He currently has an S-rank interaction card with you in his backpack, but the specific attributes have not yet been activated. It will be officially activated before the next version update.]
And he even had an S-rank interaction card?
What was this thing?
Lin Ran, noticing the item from a demon’s perspective for the first time, quickly took note of it.
Did it mean that the “Demon World” from the perspective of demons like Yuanbao was actually another kind of game?
If this was true, it could explain why only he, a human, was playing “Demon World,” yet the game could still survive.
Because the other large group of players were actually demons?
