An Junlie’s eyes were bloodshot, yet they held an unyielding glint—even tinged with sorrow, it was the gaze of the king of beasts.
This An Junlie was truly no mediocre figure. Lan Li thought to himself, having been abandoned for a full day, he felt utterly gloomy. He’d intended to berate the boy for forgetting a friend, but seeing that expression, the only words that escaped were comforting ones.
The habitually arrogant Young Master Lan Li had finally mastered his first skill: caring for a companion.
An Junlie turned his face away. “Just mind yourself.” He placed an object next to Lan Li and walked out again.
Lan Li: “…”
His limbs could move, yes, but Companion An Junlie, couldn't you be so heartless?
Did he just offer a warm face only to meet An Junlie’s cold backside?
Lan Li roared inwardly: If you kick me out, I swear I’ll flip this table!
An Junlie completely ignored his internal turmoil; his silhouette flashed at the doorway and vanished.
Lan Li reached out to examine the bizarre food he’d been given daily this month—sometimes fruit, sometimes baobab, and other times roasted meat. The taste, surprisingly, was quite pleasant even to the palate of the Lan Clan’s young master, accustomed to the finest delicacies.
—He would absolutely refuse to admit that these rustic wild foods were actually delicious!
Lan Li’s inner self wrestled between flipping the table and not flipping it.
In the end, he reasoned that if he flipped the table, he would lose his dinner. Having been starved for a whole day, he couldn't endure another day of hunger… Thinking about it made Lan Li truly want to (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻!
Companion Lan Li struggled off the bed, deciding to ignore today’s provisions and go see what on earth was wrong with that fellow to make him cry so hard.
When he crawled to the door, he drew a sharp breath, nearly stunned into silence.
He had previously wondered why he never saw the ground; it turned out he had been living in the air all along.
It was a wooden structure built high up in a colossal, mutated tree, dozens of meters tall. Did An Junlie normally climb up from the ground to see him?
How did he even manage that ascent?
Lan Li blinked. Could An Junlie fly?
That felt incredibly impressive!
Lan Li peered out the doorway for a long time but saw no one. Frustrated, he stared down at the ground. Should he try to go down to look for him? Alas, he couldn’t fly!
“Hey, An Junlie, where did you go?” Lan Li formed his hands into a megaphone shape and shouted loudly.
No reply came, only the rustling sound of wind blowing through the leaves.
Lan Li refused to give up and shouted again, “An Junlie, you bastard, abandoning this Young Master! This Young Master is going to tattle to your master!”
Still no reply.
Lan Li let out a deflated breath and decided to crawl back inside to gnaw on some fruit.
While it wasn't a full meal, it was better than starving to death.
Just as he turned to crawl back, he abruptly sensed something amiss behind him. He whipped his head around and saw An Junlie standing right there, having appeared silently behind him at some point.
Lan Li nearly choked in fright. “Hey, hey, stop being so spooky with your sudden appearances, alright?”
An Junlie’s expression was blank. “My Master has left. Tattling won't do you any good.”
Lan Li’s eyes lit up. Ignoring the pain, he grabbed An Junlie’s arm excitedly. “You’re finally willing to talk to me!”
An Junlie narrowed his eyes slightly, a cold light flashing, and forcefully shook off Lan Li’s hand, turning to leave again.
Lan Li pondered for a moment, immediately understanding something. He sighed. “I was hoping to meet your legendary Master once I recovered.” Then something else occurred to him, and he pointed at An Junlie. “You’re not… you’re not crying like this because Master is leaving, are you??”
An Junlie felt like slapping him dead: “Shut up!”
Lan Li looked at him pitifully. “Don’t go, please. I’m all alone here; it’s so boring.”
An Junlie replied, “If you jump from here, you won’t be bored anymore.”
Lan Li glanced down at the height of over ten meters, puffing out his cheeks. “An Junlie, I know you despise me.”
An Junlie: “…”
The next second, he was utterly stunned.
Because An Junlie simply jumped off.
“Hey, you’ll—die,” his words hadn't even finished before a gust of wind swept by, and An Junlie was gone.
Lan Li: “…That magic trick isn't funny at all.”
His body had healed considerably, but not completely. In truth, even if he were fully recovered, he wouldn't dare jump down with his eyes closed like that.
He sat on the stepping board at the doorway, watching the wind move the leaves, and mused gloomily, “This guy is harder to deal with than those noble young ladies. If he abandons me here… should I jump down too to force him out?”
But if he jumped, and An Junlie didn't see him, or couldn't catch him in time, he’d turn into a meat patty. He didn't have that courage!
“Hey there, little one, what are you doing?” A mellow, playful voice sounded, startling Lan Li.
Lan Li looked around but couldn’t spot anyone. He patted his chest. “Hey, who are you? Where are you? Come out now.”
The voice seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with him. “I’m not coming out.”
Lan Li concentrated, thinking it over. The other party seemed to possess no malice, yet he couldn't see them. Could this person also ascend and descend this thirty-meter tree freely, like An Junlie?
Thinking this, a flash of inspiration struck Lan Li: “Are you perhaps An Junlie’s Master?”
“Oh?” The voice sounded slightly surprised. “Though a bit ugly, you’re not entirely stupid after all.”
Lan Li: “…” How dare he call this great Young Master ugly? Lan Li felt the urge to rampage again. But that wasn't the main point. He said, “You clearly haven't left, so why lie to An Junlie that you had? And why drag me into it, causing him to take his unwarranted anger out on me? What if, in a fit of pique, he loses control and kills me to vent?”
“Hahaha.” The voice laughed heartily. “It’s fine. His mission for today is complete; he won't kill you.”
Lan Li’s heart quivered. “Does that mean he only kills one person per day?”
The person seemed to be contemplating. After a moment, he said, “You could put it that way. I give him one task every day. Once he completes it, he rests and doesn't do anything superfluous.”
Hearing such an offhand response made Lan Li’s teeth itch with frustration. He took a deep breath, realizing this wasn't the time for impulsiveness. Calming the urge to kill the voice’s owner, he tried to negotiate again: “Hey, old man, tell me what you want from me. At least let me be a ghost who knows what’s going on.”
The voice chuckled. “Little fellow, you think too highly of yourself, alright?”
Lan Li: “…”
The dignified Young Master of the Lan Clan had been so thoroughly scorned.
Just then, he suddenly saw something and stared wide-eyed.
On a tree branch opposite him, an old man slowly materialized out of the air.
As the elder appeared, Lan Li’s mouth gaped wider and wider. In this modern era of advanced cloning technology, even commoners could undergo surgery when their skin began to sag, replacing it with young skin cultured from their own cells. In this interstellar age, the elderly had become a historical concept. Yet here, Lan Li saw a legendary old man with hair as white as snow and wrinkles deep enough to trap mosquitoes—how could he not be astonished?
The elder seemed to have anticipated Lan Li’s reaction and stroked the cone-shaped lump of white hair atop his head with a hint of shyness. “Oh, little fellow, close your mouth, or the bugs in the tree will fall in.”
“Ah!” Lan Li realized he had been rude and awkwardly closed his mouth. As soon as he did, an insect the size of a baby’s little finger dropped from the tree. His body not fully healed, he scrambled to roll aside just in time to avoid the bug.
He had forgotten he was sitting on the stepping board by the door and nearly rolled off the tree. He clutched the tree trunk, covered in a cold sweat.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn't a bug, but a small, gnawed bone fragment.
What an embarrassment…
Lan Li suddenly regretted telling them he was the Young Master of the Lan Clan. This wasn't just his own face being disgraced, but the face of the entire Lan Clan!
From that moment, Lan Li learned his second skill: Think thrice before announcing your pedigree.
Lan Li wiped the sweat from his brow. “Forgive my clumsiness, forgive my clumsiness. It’s so strange that you haven’t made yourself look younger.”
“I apologize. I am merely surprised that humans nowadays still exist who are unwilling to make themselves look younger.”
“That matter.” The elder seemed uninterested in the topic of rejuvenation. “Heaven’s way is natural. Making oneself younger doesn't grant eternal life; why bother with such a superfluous act?”
Lan Li blinked blankly. This question was a bit too profound for him right now.
Come on, his peers his age were all thinking about how to look handsome and woo girls. If he hadn't run away from home, he would be about the same.
The elder seemed to read his thoughts and added, “Hey, little fellow. Do you truly think you become younger just by putting on a new layer of young skin?”
Lan Li recalled his most beloved Clan Head grandfather. His grandfather’s appearance was indeed youthful, looking like a man in his thirties. However, his concubines often complained in private that the old man couldn't satisfy them anymore. Wait, if his grandfather was inadequate, could this Master, whose face looked like the gnarled roots of an old tree, still be capable?!
Lan Li startled himself with the direction of his thoughts, catching himself about to glance down at the elder’s lower half.
Whoa, whoa, why am I making such a vulgar gesture? I am the Young Master of the Lan Clan, okay?! How can I be thinking such strange things at a time like this?! This is blasphemy against An Junlie’s Master!
The elder remained unperturbed, watching as Lan Li finished his internal battle. “So, what is the answer you have contemplated?”
Lan Li polished his words slightly. “Youthful skin is merely superficial; the key lies in the person.”
The elder seized the opportunity. “In which aspect of the person?”
Lan Li thought for a moment. “The heart—no, the brain.”
The elder stroked his beard. “Though a bit dense, you’re not entirely foolish. It’s just that temper is foul. Change that, and you might just be considered salvageable material.”
A grid pattern instantly appeared above Lan Li’s forehead. Was this praise?
Thinking about it, this old man was exceedingly strange. What normal person could float in a tree like this? Could it be… Lan Li’s mind suddenly shifted, and he blurted out, his tone unconsciously becoming much more respectful, “Senior, could you possibly be the expert from the Solar Domain that my grandfather once mentioned?”
What was with that sudden sycophantic demeanor?
Lan Li faintly sensed he was about to learn his third skill.
The elder stroked his long eyebrows and opened his mouth. “Hohoho, is that possible? This old man is just an interstellar wanderer. What expert? You’re thinking too much.”
Lan Li was slightly disappointed by the negative answer, but then he frowned, his expression one of confusion. “Oh, Senior, I still don't understand. Didn't An Junlie just say you left? Why is that?”
The elder continued stroking his long brows, answering a question with a question. “First, tell me, based on your observations this month, what do you think of my Junlie?”
“Little brat, very silly and very naive!” Lan Li replied without thinking, realizing the ambiguity of his words only after speaking. He hurried to try and explain.
The elder laughed heartily, delighted. “That’s right, he is very silly and very naive. But today, he has graduated.”
Lan Li froze. “Graduated?”
The elder sighed. “All good things must come to an end. This old man must continue wandering.”
Lan Li: “…So you’re going to abandon An Junlie?”
The elder nodded. “That’s precisely the meaning. As for you, little fellow, your character needs improvement, but your essence is acceptable. From now on, you two fend for yourselves. I’m leaving.”
Lan Li instantly felt he was in deep trouble. “Senior, aren't you worried that An Junlie will be led astray by me? You must know, he is currently like a blank canvas—it can become a colorful masterpiece or a gloomy scroll.”
“Is a gloomy color palette not a masterpiece?” the elder countered, leaving Lan Li momentarily speechless.
“Do you think a kid with your abilities can actually lead him astray?” The elder delivered another decisive blow to Lan Li’s chest.
Lan Li fell to the ground, severely wounded.
The elder said, “If that idiot An Junlie can’t let it go, tell him to come find me. The day he finds me, he can take on apprentices.”
Lan Li: “…Why do I have to deliver the message?!”
“Alright, little fellow, goodbye.” The elder’s figure slowly faded on the treetop. Then a gust of wind blew, Lan Li’s vision blurred for a moment, and the man was gone.
Watching the elder disappear as suddenly as he had arrived, Lan Li muttered softly, “That old man is a slippery creature. Wait, no—if he’s gone, and that unreliable An Junlie, will I be stuck here forever?”
He had completely forgotten to ask the old man how to leave this devil planet.
Tragic.
Lan Li sat on the stepping board at the doorway, nibbling fruit piece by piece.
An Junlie’s mood was clearly off today. The fruit he brought had pockmarked skin, and one piece, halfway eaten, had a worm crawling out of it.
If he were at home, he would have flipped the table and exploded long ago.
But now, he calmly plucked the worm out and continued eating.
His third skill was finally mastered.
After finishing his fruit feast, the sky darkened.
Seeing that An Junlie had not returned, Lan Li felt a pang of curiosity. An Junlie had never come into the house at night before. Where did he usually sleep?
Was there a second room? Or did An Junlie sleep on the floor every night because he gave Lan Li the bed?
(⊙o⊙)…Suddenly, he felt An Junlie was incredibly kind, wasn't he?!
“Hey, you’re going to break the stepping board sitting like that.” A voice suddenly came from directly overhead—it was An Junlie’s voice.
Lan Li jumped in alarm. Just then, a crack sounded beneath his backside, and the stepping board split. Lan Li grabbed the wooden wall of the house and awkwardly crawled inside, inching along.
As a mummy, his crawling posture was quite captivating, resembling the very worm he had plucked from the fruit earlier—extending and contracting.
“Hahahaha!” An Junlie finally laughed.
Lan Li looked back, glaring furiously.
An Junlie lifted him up with one hand and placed him back on the **, casually setting down a piece of roasted meat. “Didn’t get enough dinner?”
Lan Li looked at the roasted meat, so moved he nearly shed tears.
Upon closer inspection, the ‘worm’ he had seen crawling out of the fruit he was sitting by the door just now was the exact same color as this piece of meat. When it fell from overhead…
Lan Li seemed to understand something. Did that mean while he was sitting by the door, An Junlie was sitting in the tree above his head, eating roasted meat, damn it!
He felt utterly demoralized.
He remembered the evaluation he’d given An Junlie: “very silly and very naive.” Just moments ago, he’d even thought An Junlie was so kind, hunting and barbecuing meat for him even while sad. Now, thinking back, he was the one who was silly and naive.
He felt the urge to flip the table again, what now?!
Eating the perfectly charred-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside roast, Lan Li decided to forgive him for one hour. A hungry person lacks the energy to be angry. To mislead An Junlie, he decided to offer a tiny compliment. “This roast is delicious. It’s better than what the chefs at the five-star hotels in the galaxy make, and even better than our family chef’s cooking.”
“Hmph!” An Junlie was too proud to speak to Lan Li, ignoring the praise.
“Still mad?” Lan Li thought miserably. Shouldn't he be the one who’s mad?
“Hmph!” An Junlie’s nasal sound was the only reply.
Lan Li secretly glanced at An Junlie, and on a sudden whim, thought that An Junlie’s current expression—pouting, face turned away, refusing to look at him—was very similar to the famous young ladies who often used to act spoiled around him.
The master of visualization burst into laughter. “Pfft, hahahaha!”
The visualization enthusiast was delighted.
An Junlie looked at him as if he were an idiot. Sensing An Junlie’s gaze, he laughed even louder and more unrestrainedly. “Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!”
An Junlie instantly wanted to punch him right on the bridge of the nose, and he wouldn't even apologize!
Lan Li patted his shoulder. “Hey, where do you usually sleep at night?”
An Junlie stared at him with a stern face, remaining silent.
“Aiya, this guy is way harder to deal with than those noble young ladies!” Lan Li thought up several countermeasures, only to discard them all himself, fruitlessly making faces at the wooden wall in frustration.
“I sleep in the tree,” An Junlie suddenly offered.
“Eh? Eh?” Lan Li reacted slowly. “How do you sleep in a tree? Have you always slept in the tree? Don’t you fall off in the middle of the night?”
An Junlie never saw any issue with sleeping in a tree. He and his Master had wandered thirty-plus planets, and the number of times he’d slept on a soft bed could be counted on both hands.
He couldn't be bothered to answer Lan Li’s idiotic questions.
Lan Li looked glum. He was an injured patient; wasn't he suffering enough?
An Junlie was a huge jerk; he had no consideration for caring for others.
Lan Li complained internally, then suddenly realized that complaining was something usually done by those noble young ladies. When did he become the same as them?
-RS