Chapter 10: Has Chou Chou Disappeared?

“Mengmeng, thank goodness, you’re still alive!” Mu Shuiqi hugged Cui Mengmeng tightly. The worry that had been weighing on her heart since Mengmeng’s disappearance finally lifted.

She had been an orphan since childhood and grew up in a welfare home. Cui Mengmeng was her best friend, someone she cherished as if she were family.

Now that Mengmeng had returned safe and sound, the rescue team escorted them back to school and left.

She and Mengmeng shared the same dorm room. Both were sophomores in the Computer Science program.

Back in the dorm, Mengmeng urged her to wash up first, since she looked far worse—“ragged” was no exaggeration. Her face was smudged with dirt, and her once-beautiful hair was caked with dust.

Through the bathroom door, Mengmeng asked her where she had been and why she looked so battered. Not ready to talk about her journey into the Mystic Realm, she brushed it off with a flimsy excuse, saying she had gotten lost in a valley and taken a long time to find her way out.

Thinking of the Mystic Realm reminded her of Chou Chou—who was still tucked inside her down jacket pocket. But that jacket had just been thrown into the trash by Mengmeng for being too tattered to wear!

Without bothering to rinse off the soap on her body, she hastily wrapped herself in a towel and rushed out.

But the trash bin was empty—the garbage bag was gone! And so was Mengmeng!

Oh no… Mengmeng must have gone to throw it away.

Ignoring her appearance, she ran out into the hallway wrapped only in her towel.

The boys’ dormitory was right next to theirs, the two entrances not far apart. The moment she appeared before a crowd of boys in such a state, she knew there was no turning back.

“Mengmeng! Wait, Mengmeng!” she shouted while chasing after her. “My jacket!”

“Qiqi, why on earth are you dressed like that?” Mengmeng’s jaw dropped, and at the same time she noticed some boys whipping out their phones to record.

“My jacket! Don’t throw it away!” Mu Shuiqi snatched the trash bag, too anxious to care about anything else—she only wanted to find Chou Chou.

She searched every pocket, but Chou Chou was nowhere to be found.

She froze. Where could Chou Chou have gone?

“What are you looking for? Are you throwing the clothes away or not?” Mengmeng asked, completely baffled.

Unwilling to give up, Shuiqi rummaged through the entire garbage bag again, but still found no trace of Chou Chou.

“Whew—” A boy let out a whistle. “Nice body, beauty!”

The boys laughed.

Realizing her situation, she tightened her towel and bolted back to the dorm. Mengmeng sighed and carried the garbage away herself.

Shuiqi returned to her desk, looking utterly crushed, as though she had lost the most precious thing in her life.

Her journey into the Mystic Realm had felt like a dream, and only Chou Chou’s presence reassured her it was real.

But now… Chou Chou had vanished.

She slumped into her chair and let out a long sigh. She didn’t even know when or where she had lost him. Was it on the way back to school? Or while she was in the shower?

“Master, may I come out now?”

A childish voice, soft like a toddler learning to speak, floated down from above her head.

The dorm desks were tucked beneath the bed frames. When she looked up toward her bunk, she saw Chou Chou poking his head out, peering down at her.

His big golden eyes blinked like stars, framed by lashes so long they looked like fake eyelashes girls wore. He seemed timid and cautious, unfamiliar with this place and afraid to move recklessly.

“Chou Chou! I thought you went back to the Mystic Realm!” She leapt up, reaching to scoop him into her arms.

His wings were feather-light, and his body weighed almost nothing. She suddenly remembered—he had been starving for a long time, thin as a twig.

“Don’t joke, Master. Of course I swore to follow you to the end. A spirit beast without its master’s command wouldn’t dare to leave.” Chou Chou was both flustered and delighted by her embrace.

“I really thought you were gone. How did you know that was my bed? Thank goodness you didn’t hide in Mengmeng’s—she would have been scared to death!”

“I can smell your scent. I knew this was your bed.” Taking advantage of Mengmeng’s absence, he dove under Shuiqi’s blanket to hide.

“Chou Chou, you’re so smart!” she praised him. “What do you want to eat? My treat. I’ll make sure you never go hungry again.”

“What kind of food do you have here?” Chou Chou flicked his tongue.

“What do spirit-devouring snakes usually eat?”

“My favorite is, of course, demon spirits. They boost cultivation and power.”

“Do they fill your stomach?”

“Uh… no.”

“Then you still need regular food.”

“I’m not picky. I can eat whatever mortals eat,” Chou Chou said. “Though some spirit snakes prefer human blood and organs.”

He wrinkled his nose. “But I can’t stand the smell. Too foul.”

“No wonder you wanted to eat me when we first met,” she teased.

“That’s not it! I’ve never eaten a human before—I don’t like it. You were just the first I almost tried, because I sensed the strong power inside you. And… I’d been starving for too long. I wasn’t planning to be picky just that once.”

She heard Mengmeng’s footsteps outside and quickly gestured for Chou Chou to hide. “Don’t make a sound.”

Understanding immediately, Chou Chou slipped under her pillow.

Mengmeng entered, set the trash bin down, and lined it with a fresh bag, muttering, “Mu Shuiqi, you’re crazy today. Running out dressed like that—don’t you care about your reputation? Sure, you’re stunning and can pull off anything, but you don’t have to cheapen yourself for those boys’ eyes.”

“I was in a hurry. I thought I lost something important,” Shuiqi said with an apologetic smile. She didn’t care about gossip; as long as she lived honestly, rumors meant nothing.

“What was it? Did you find it?” Mengmeng asked, glancing at her before heading into the bathroom.

“Found it, don’t worry,” Shuiqi called after her.

Mengmeng didn’t reply.

Shuiqi climbed into her bed, grabbed a hair dryer, and began drying her hair. Chou Chou poked his head out from under the pillow. She gave him two packs of cookies to fill his belly, then poured him a bottle of milk from Mengmeng’s desk.

“What divine nectar is this? It’s delicious!” Chou Chou rubbed his belly in delight.

“Milk. Haven’t you ever had it? Don’t they have cows in the Mystic Realm?” she laughed.

“Maybe among mortals, but only nobles might drink it. Monsters like us roam around—we never see such things.” Suddenly, he remembered something. “Master, what about the demon core you picked up at Purple Mourning Lake? Where is it?”

She had almost forgotten. Thinking back, when the whirlwind rose, she had screamed in panic. That core must have been blown straight into her open mouth.

She touched her stomach. “It’s here.”

“What? You ate it?”

“By accident. Don’t worry, whatever my body can’t digest will come out intact.” She shrugged it off.

“No mortal has ever eaten a demon core. What if something happens to you? I’m afraid for you, Master.”

“I feel fine. And if it upsets my stomach, I’ll just go to the hospital. Our modern medicine is very advanced,” she reassured him.

But Chou Chou still worried. She had taken a demon core from Purple Mourning Lake, an act that had stirred great commotion. The Ice Nether King would surely notice.

And if he caught her… what would happen to his master then?