A Strange Homecoming

“What is this place?” Bai Chen couldn’t help but ask, gazing at the strange buildings around them.

“Th-this is… the world I once lived in.”

“So this is your world…” Bai Chen mused aloud, rising from the ground. He gazed around at the strange environment with a curious glint in his eyes.

Skyscrapers… why were they built so high? Still, it certainly conserved space. He could definitely learn from this. Bai Chen was already envisioning his own territory transformed into similar towering structures.

“Enough, let’s go!” Bai Qiao pulled Bai Chen, who was still standing in place.

“Where are we going?”

“Home…” Bai Qiao replied petulantly, tugging Bai Chen out of the alley and onto the main road as she spoke.

There was still some distance from the alley to her home. All the way, Bai Qiao held tightly onto Bai Chen’s sleeve.

The crucial thing was… even though Bai Qiao was being very careful and moving quickly…

“Oh? Look at these young ones, dressed in such strange clothes and pulling at each other right here on the street…” An ever-present busybody old woman commented.

“Mama, look at that big brother and big sister, they’re so strange,” a curious little girl chimed in, tugging at her mother’s hem. She looked up with an innocent expression, always asking her mother about everything.

“Has cosplay become so popular now that people are doing it on the streets…?”

“…”

Burying her head, Bai Qiao could only pull Bai Chen forward, quickening their pace.

“Beep!”

“What was that? A strange thing. No signs of life, but it seems someone is trapped inside…”

Bai Qiao truly wanted to twist off Bai Chen’s constantly scanning head and sew his incessant mouth shut.

“Hah… finally…” Bai Qiao let out a long sigh of relief, the gate guard staring at her with a look of utter shock. She was finally back.

The familiar sights around her remained unchanged. Of course, she had only been gone for a mere three months. Still, it truly felt as if ages had passed, as if a lifetime separated her from this place.

The residential area was much sparser. Bai Qiao indeed breathed another sigh of relief. After all, it was a villa district, usually quiet, especially at this time when most people would be at work.

However, Bai Qiao genuinely wished from the bottom of her heart not to encounter anyone she knew. It would be incredibly awkward.

“Hey! Bai Chen?”

Bai Qiao froze mid-turn. It was as if her worst fears had materialized. That punk kid again… Truly unrepentant, daring to show up here once more.

Bai Qiao couldn’t help but inwardly mutter.

“Bai Chen! All these days, I’ve etched this humiliation deep into my mind! I am no longer the person I once was!”

“…”

“Qiao, who is this? Is he sick? Do you know him?” Bai Chen asked, pulling lightly on Bai Qiao’s sleeve with a cold expression.

“No, I don’t know him,” Bai Qiao replied with an equally cold expression.

“Oh! Found a girlfriend, have we? *Pah!* Changed girlfriends again, did you? This one’s quite nice, actually…” The punk youth seemed entirely oblivious to their cold demeanor, his spirits still soaring as he spoke.

“So, young lady, I’m just trying to be kind… to warn, to warn you… Wh-what is this? A sword? Wh-where did you get that? Th-this is just a toy, right…?” The punk youth’s tone shifted dramatically, his voice rising in alarm.

‘It doesn’t look fake at all! Ahhh!’

“Let’s go…” Bai Qiao quickly stepped forward, grabbing Bai Chen and hurrying away. What a joke! If people in this world saw inner energy or anything similar, it would cause utter chaos.

How could they possibly expose it?

“D-don’t think, d-don’t think I’m afraid of you! It’s j-just a t-toy, that’s all! I, I…”

The punk youth’s voice gradually faded into the distance. Finally, Bai Qiao stood before the villa. It was still the same; nothing had changed.

If not for the person beside her, Bai Qiao might have doubted whether she had ever gone missing at all, or been to that inexplicable place.

Her finger trembled slightly as she pressed the doorbell.

“Who is it?” The voice was just as she remembered. ‘Mama…’

Bai Qiao’s body trembled slightly. This wasn’t a dream; she was finally… home.

“Mom…”

“I told you, child, next time you run off, you need to tell me first!”

Her mother brushed past her. Bai Qiao swallowed her words, watching in utter despair as her mother embraced Bai Chen first.

“Oh, is this your girlfriend? Look, what a beautiful girl! Eh? Young lady, why do you look a little pale?”

Bai Qiao: “…”

Bai Chen: “…”

****