Xiao Leng laid on the back of the wild boar with her eyes closed and little mouth pursed, gently snoring.
She had actually fallen asleep.
Lin Yun couldn’t help but laugh. Xiao Leng was not as inexhaustible as he was. She was just a 6-year-old girl. She had been killing beasts the entire day and her body was exhausted. After she killed the wild boar, she must have felt relieved and had inexplicably fallen asleep.
Lin Yun took the tent and mattress from his space watch and set it up on the ground. He gently lifted Xiao Leng from the back of the wild boar and placed her in the tent, covering her with a blanket.
After that, he covered the trap again and slowly climbed up the tree. He waited for any prey that might come.
That night, Lin Yun was very productive. After killing various prey, Xiao Leng had also successfully risen to Level 3. In her sleep, her mouth moved ever so slightly and a sliver of a smile appeared on her small face as if she was dreaming something good.
Early in the morning, Xiao Leng woke up from her sleep and noticed that she was in a strange environment.
“Where is this?” Xiao Leng rubbed her still sleepy eyes and looked around.
“Oh, yes. A Big Brother wearing a mask brought me to the forest to play yesterday.”
Xiao Leng went out of the tent and immediately smelled an alluring smell. Nearby, Lin Yun had split the wild boar with his long sword and was roasting it over a fire. From time to time, he sprinkled some spices on the wild boar which had been roasted to a golden brown. It exuded a rich meaty aroma.
“Gulp!” Xiao Leng couldn’t help but drool. She hurried to Lin Yun and said girlishly, “Big Brother, is this pork for me?”
Lin Yun nodded with a smile, handed the wild boar to Xiao Leng, and said gently, “Eat slowly, don’t get scalded.”
“I’m so happy!” Xiao Leng quickly took the roasted wild boar with both hands and took big bites from it, making her entire face oily.
Lin Yun looked at Xiao Leng’s contented face and asked softly, “Is it delicious?”
Xiao Leng’s mouth was full. She garbled. “It’s delicious.”
Lin Yun laughed and said, “In that case, let’s continue to work hard today and kill more beasts. The more powerful the beasts, the more delicious their meat!”
Xiao Leng listened and nodded vigorously, her eyes resolute.
And so, a new day of monster hunting began.
With the lure of good food, Xiao Leng worked particularly hard to kill the beasts. At the end of the day, Lin Yun looked at his greatly increased EXP and laughed.
In the days that followed, Lin Yun and Xiao Leng killed beasts mechanically every day. Having continuously killed many beasts and gaining a lot of EXP, Xiao Leng successfully reached Level 5. By this time, ordinary beasts no longer gave Xiao Leng EXP. So, Lin Yun brought Xiao Leng deeper into the forest.
In the depths of the forest, all beasts were mutated. They were bigger, stronger, and faster. Some beasts also had special skills. For example, some could shoot flames and ice shards from their mouths and others were capable of short-distance flight. They were magical beasts.
Magical beasts were stronger and more intelligent. Lin Yun’s trap would not be able to fool a magical beast. If they wanted to kill a magical beast, they would have to fight it head-on. Furthermore, they had to prevent it from escaping.
Xiao Leng gradually realized that delicious food was not so easy to come by. Many times, she was seriously injured in a fight with magical beasts. If it were not for Lin Yun coming to her rescue, she would definitely have died.
How cruel was this for a 6-year-old child to experience this?
Finally, Xiao Leng decided to quit after one of her fights with a magical beast. She threw her sword to the ground, sat down, and shouted, “I don’t want to play anymore. I don’t want delicious food anymore. I don’t want to kill magical beasts anymore.”
Lin Yun was now only a little away from Level 6. He didn’t want to stop gaining EXP yet. So, he put on a stern face and said coldly, “No, how can we do things halfway?”
Xiao Leng looked straight at Lin Yun, her big eyes full of grievance. Suddenly, she pouted and tears began to fall down her cheeks like a string of pearls that had been broken. She cried loudly, “None of you love me. My father and mother abandoned me when I was born. My aunt doesn’t like to accompany me. Grandpa is so fierce. Even Big Brother doesn’t love me anymore. I’m nobody’s child…”
“Xiao Leng’s Affection -10.”
“This is not good. If my Affection with Xiao Leng drops, my attribute boost will be reduced.” Lin Yun was shocked and quickly tried to pacify Xiao Leng. What did he have to do to make the little girl happy?
He had to distract her!
Lin Yun hurriedly sat down next to Xiao Leng and asked, “Xiao Leng, what’s your name?”
Xiao Leng cried and wailed. “My name is Xiao Leng. Big Brother even forgot my name.”
Lin Yun broke out in a sweat and hurried to explain. “I’m asking, what’s your surname. Your name cannot be just Xiao Leng, right?”
Xiao Leng sniffled. “Xiao Leng is the name my aunt gave me. My aunt said, my father abandoned my mother and my mother abandoned me. So, I don’t deserve a surname. My name is just Xiao Leng.”
When Xiao Leng talked about this, she seemed even sadder and her tears seemed to come out of their own accord.
He had made things worse. Anxious, Lin Yun hurried to console her. “But you have your Aunt and Big Brother. Your parents are also still alive. My mother is already dead.”
Xiao Leng suddenly stopped crying. She turned to look at Lin Yun with eyes that were red and swollen from crying.
It worked! Lin Yun quickly put a sad expression on his face and said to Xiao Leng, “When I was a kid, every time I asked my father ‘where did my mother go?’, my father always replied that she had gone far away. Father’s face would be somber and he would be sad for many days after that. And I would cry for a long time because of my mother’s abandonment.”
“Where did Big Brother’s mother go?” Xiao Leng asked curiously.
“When I grew up, I finally understood. The so-called far away place is just a lie. My mother has long been dead. Otherwise, my father wouldn’t be so sad. So, I didn’t cry anymore. Otherwise, Father would be even sadder.”
Lin Yun talked about the past calmly and the sadness suddenly surged in his heart. With a deep sigh, he looked at Xiao Leng and stopped talking.
“Big Brother, you mean that when Xiao Leng cries, you and Aunt will also be sad?” Xiao Leng’s confused eyes looked at Lin Yun. She seemed to sense Lin Yun’s sadness and suddenly forced herself to smile.
“Big Brother, Xiao Leng will not cry anymore, so don’t be sad.”
Looking at Xiao Leng’s kind eyes, Lin Yun couldn’t help but hug her. He said softly, “Xiao Leng is such a good girl. Now that Xiao Leng is smiling, Big Brother is not sad anymore.”
At such a moment, how could Lin Yun treat Xiao Leng as a virtual NPC in Skynet? He felt clear that Xiao Leng was a living, breathing person!
Xiao Leng gently held Lin Yun’s hand, as if comforting him. After a while, she slowly raised her head and asked, “Big Brother, do you think my parents are dead, too? Is it possible Aunt lied to me because she was afraid I would be sad?”
Lin Yun looked at Xiao Leng’s questioning eyes and couldn’t help but try to console her. “Not necessarily. It’s possible they really had something to do and had abandoned you because they had no other choice. So, you should get stronger and one day become strong enough to go look for your parents yourself to find out the truth.”
Xiao Leng nodded and her little face suddenly became serious. She said firmly, “Xiao Leng will definitely become the second strongest person after Big Brother. In the future, I will find my parents and personally ask them why they abandoned me!”
Feeling Xiao Leng’s resoluteness, Lin Yun was stunned. In the past, he had also made a vow to make his father proud of himself. However, because of Feng Ke’s abandonment, he wallowed in pain. How could he have forgotten about his father?
Lin Yun looked up at the dark clouds in the sky. At this moment, was his father polishing that medal and awaiting his return in the dilapidated two-story building in Clearwater City?
Lin Yun stared at the sky and let his mind wander. A few blue snowflakes fell slowly down, melting at the corner of his eyes.
It was snowing.
No matter how beautiful the strange blue snow was, how could it compare to a cup of warm water in his hometown?
Lin Yun slowly gathered his thoughts. He saw Xiao Leng staring at him with her eyes wide open and couldn’t help laughing. He touched Xiao Leng’s head, smiled, and asked, “Do you know how to build a snowman?”
“What’s building a snowman?” Xiao Leng asked curiously.
“Let me teach you.”
Lin Yun took Xiao Leng’s hand and began to teach her to make a snowman. This game made Xiao Leng very happy. After a while, the two had made a huge blue snowman and inserted some branches as its nose and eyes. Xiao Leng jumped up and down happily at the snowman.
“Xiao Leng’s Affection +20.”
Lin Yun looked at the exuberant Xiao Leng. Affected by her happiness, he also felt happy.