“That…
I should probably put these clothes away first.” Firefly looked down at the new outfit, the fondness in her eyes growing with every passing moment.
In a way, was this the third gift she had received from him?
“No need to put them away.” Kazuki couldn’t help but smile at her cautiousness.
“It’s just a set of clothes; wear them if you like them.
If you want more, we still have time to get a few more sets made.
In the time it took you to change, I could have had three more finished.”
Firefly looked up, her eyes shimmering in the soft light.
After a few seconds of hesitation, she took a few small steps forward and gently took Kazuki’s hand.
Her fingertips were slightly cool, and the moment they touched his warm palm, it felt as if a tiny, pleasant jolt of electricity had passed between them.
“Then…
okay.” Her voice was a soft murmur, tinged with a hint of embarrassment.
“The place with the ‘lively atmosphere’ you mentioned…
where is it?”
In the quiet intimacy of the moment, with Firefly taking the initiative to hold his hand, Kazuki felt an unfamiliar flutter in his chest.
He wasn’t accustomed to such close contact and instinctively went to pull his hand back, only to find—he couldn’t move it at all.
He wasn’t exactly a weakling; though Jing Yuan’s Stone Fire Dream Body was incredibly heavy, he could still manage a few swings with it.
Yet at this moment, Firefly’s hand, which seemed to rest so lightly on his wrist, was as immovable as a mountain.
No matter how much force he exerted, it didn’t budge an inch.
It was like trying to shift a bedrock anchor.
Kazuki looked down at Firefly.
Her brows were gently curved into a serene arc, a faint, knowing smile played on her lips, and her eyes were clear and bright.
She looked utterly harmless.
He had almost forgotten.
This was a veteran of Glamoth, a natural Pathstrider of The Propagation, a humanoid True Sting.
It was true that the people of the Xianzhou were blessed by the top-tier powers of Abundance, but in the current era, everyone followed The Hunt and had to actively restrain their instincts.
Without unlocking the full potential of their Free Will Incarnation, the Xianzhou natives didn’t hold an overwhelming advantage over ordinary followers of Abundance.
At the very least, Kazuki’s own meager strength was completely useless against this veteran of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry.
“…Let’s go.
To Aurum Alley.” Kazuki gave up the struggle, mentally chanting ‘a clear conscience fears no shadows’ to himself, and allowed her to lead him forward.
“Aurum Alley?” Firefly repeated the name, her voice earnest as she committed it to memory, her steps light as she followed his lead.
Kazuki had chosen this place partly due to the lingering filters of his past life.
In the game, the Exalting Sanctum was just a small, sandbox map.
In reality, the Xianzhou Luofu was a worldship as vast as a galaxy.
He was a stranger to most of its locales, but the name “Aurum Alley” connected with an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
also, he had heard that the current Aurum Alley had not yet been “revitalized” by the meddling of a certain little grey-furred girl.
It was still a niche snack street tucked away in the old city, its fame confined to the older generation.
Just as they reached the entrance to the alley, Firefly couldn’t help but whisper, “There are really so few people here.” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Compared to the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds on the main thoroughfares of the Exalting Sanctum, the flow of people here was on an entirely different, more tranquil level.
The narrow alley, paved with worn bluestone, wound its way forward, flanked by low-slung wooden buildings.
Lanterns swayed gently under the eaves, their warm yellow light casting a soft glow on the mottled walls, creating an atmosphere of quietness settled by the passage of time.
“Probably because the young people don’t like coming here anymore,” Kazuki lamented, completely forgetting that among the long-lived Xianzhou people, his own age didn’t even qualify him as a “young person.” At most, he was a half-grown child.
“Is there anything you want to eat?” Kazuki asked with a smile, watching Firefly take in her surroundings with wide, curious eyes.
Bursts of delectable aromas wafted through the alley: the charred scent of grilled meats, the sweet fragrance of pastries, and the rich, savory perfume of simmering soups all mingled together, whetting the appetite.
Firefly was stunned for a moment.
She turned to look at him, her eyes filled with a touch of confusion.
“Food?
Are they different flavors of nutritional fluid?”
In her world, “eating” was never something that required careful consideration.
The Glamoth Iron Cavalry relied on absorbing Path energy to sustain their bodily functions.
Nutritional fluid was merely an emergency supplement—bland, tasteless, and certainly not something one would ever “want to eat.”
Kazuki fell silent for a moment, a pang of unease stirring within him.
He gently squeezed Firefly’s hand and led her toward a stall named “The Top Spice.” “I’ll take you to taste some real ‘food’.”
The head chef, Yan Cui, was busy in front of her grill.
She wore a faded blue cloth apron, and the muscles on her arms were well-defined as she flipped skewers with swift, powerful movements.
Seeing the two of them approach, she looked up and smiled, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes crinkling with the warmth of the hearth.
“Kazuki?
What can I get for you today?”
“Sister Yan, one order of the fruitwood-grilled Terrorbird wing!” Kazuki called out with the ease of a regular.
“The what?” Hearing the long and unfamiliar name, Firefly couldn’t help but widen her eyes, her expression a mask of pure surprise.
“Right away!
One fruitwood-grilled Terrorbird wing, coming right up!” Yan Cui responded cheerfully.
She turned and heaved a massive tray from the back kitchen.
On it rested a raw wing as tall as several people, its skin a fresh pink, revealing fine muscle textures beneath.
She nimbly skewered it with a thick iron stake and hoisted it over the fruitwood fire before beginning to brush on a glistening sauce.
The moment the fat hit the charcoal, it sizzled violently, and a puff of blue smoke carrying a sweet, fruity aroma billowed into the air.
“Most of the Xianzhou’s delicacies are made from species from other planets,” Kazuki explained to Firefly, pointing at the colossal wing on the grill.
“For example, this Terrorbird is an extraterrestrial monster that can soar through the vacuum of space.”
He recalled the creature’s description from the game’s text: it occupied a very high ecological niche and possessed a fierce temperament.
For the woman before them to make its wings a signature dish, Yan Cui was clearly a master hiding in plain sight.
In truth, the shop also had another signature dish called “Fried Sight-Stealing Meat with Candied Haws,” but that particular item looked truly bizarre, its wriggling texture enough to make one’s skin crawl.
Kazuki felt it was better to first establish a “proper view of delicacies” for Firefly, so he hadn’t dared to order it.
The scent of fruitwood mixed with the aroma of roasting meat grew stronger and more intoxicating.
The skin of the wing gradually deepened into a rich amber color.
Sauce dripped down along its textured surface, splashing into the charcoal below and kicking up tiny embers, the charred fragrance seeming to penetrate right to the bone.
Before long, Yan Cui brought over the roasted wing on a special metal tray so large it could almost serve as a small table.
The Terrorbird wing was roasted to a glossy sheen, sprinkled with bright green flecks of spices, and steamed with plumes of white smoke.
The mere sight of it was enough to make one’s mouth water.
“Here you go, your fruitwood-grilled Terrorbird wing!” Yan Cui announced, placing the tray on their table with a thud that made the whole surface tremble.
Firefly stared, wide-eyed, at the “food” before her.
The wing was taller than she and Kazuki combined, its tip almost brushing against the lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
The skin was roasted so perfectly crisp it looked like it would shatter with a single touch, and the aroma rushed eagerly into her nose.
“Here, fifteen credits, right?” Kazuki pulled some money from his wallet and handed it over.
The price didn’t seem low, but considering the ferocity of a Terrorbird, it was definitely a bargain.
Yan Cui took the money and smiled warmly at Firefly.
“First time here, little girl?
Give it a try.
This wing is roasted all the way through—crispy on the outside, tender on the inside.
The fragrance of the fruitwood seeps right into the bone.”
Firefly still hadn’t snapped out of her daze.
She reached out and gently tugged on Kazuki’s sleeve, her voice a small, disbelieving whisper.
“It’s so big…”
“Yeah, I see it.” Kazuki suppressed a smile and handed her a special carving knife.
“Want to try?
Cut along the grain; the juices inside are incredible.”
Firefly hesitantly took the small knife and, following Kazuki’s example, carefully cut off a small piece.
The skin was indeed impossibly crisp, cracking audibly the moment the blade touched it.
The meat inside, however, was a tender pink, and abundant juices flowed down the blade, carrying with them the rich aroma of fruitwood.
She tentatively brought the piece to her mouth.
The moment her teeth lightly bit down, the crispy skin and tender meat seemed to melt on her tongue.
The fresh scent of the fruitwood, the savory saltiness of the sauce, and the inherent richness of the meat itself all intertwined, creating a gustatory impact she had never before experienced.
Her eyes suddenly lit up like ignited sparks.
She cut another, larger piece and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing a bit more forcefully this time.
She squinted her eyes in pure satisfaction, a little smudge of sauce appearing at the corner of her mouth.
She looked like a small, wild creature that had just managed to steal a taste of honey.
“It’s delicious…” she mumbled indistinctly, her voice filled with undisguised, breathless surprise.
[Elysian’s Note:
Having a good time with the story?
Every single bit helps immensely: