CHAPTER 356: CHAPTER 356: CLOUD WORLD (QUE ZELIAN) 4

"Twenty-five years." Xiao Jinsheng mused.

Twenty-five years, the exact age of Que Zelian.

She couldn’t help but speculate, could there be two Que Zelians?

Just like Yu Yunxiao and his shadow?

One lived twenty-five years outside.

And one lived twenty-five years in another world, the current Cloud World?

As soon as this thought arose, Xiao Jinsheng shook her head to dismiss it.

Her intuition told her that the orange-red bird was Que Zelian.

There was no situation like Yu Yunxiao and his shadow.

She couldn’t gain more useful information from Qing Sangbiao.

Xiao Jinsheng could only return, preparing to read the thoughts of the orange-red bird.

Just as she was about to leave, Qing Sangbiao called out to her.

Flapping its wings, it flew to Xiao Jinsheng’s eye level.

Its gaze landed on the string of fruit in her hand: "Aren’t you going to eat these fruits?"

"Do you want to eat them?" Xiao Jinsheng inquired.

She reached out and picked some more from a nearby tree.

She broke off a small bunch and handed it to Qing Sangbiao.

"Why did you pick more? You could have given me the ones in your hand." Qing Sangbiao was puzzled. "These fruits won’t be fresh if left for long."

"But Que Zelian gave these to me, I can’t give them to you." Xiao Jinsheng explained with a smile. "I can give you what I can prepare."

"But they’re all the same fruit." Qing Sangbiao was confused.

It only understood not to waste food.

In its flock, if someone couldn’t finish their food and left it lying around,

it would fly over to help eat and prevent waste.

Even though every time it helped, those birds would hit it.

Once Qing Sangbiao confirmed that Xiao Jinsheng just planned to eat the fruits later and wouldn’t waste them, it felt relieved and flew away.

It needed to check outside which bird was wasting food so it could help again.

Xiao Jinsheng turned back, searching for the orange-red bird.

She saw that he had already returned outside the cave, resting with closed eyes on the branch of a tree.

The mini Star Stone she found was tightly grasped in his claw.

Upon hearing Xiao Jinsheng return, he merely opened one eye briefly before closing it again.

The orange-red bird: smells like another bird.

Xiao Jinsheng paused her hand, prepared to greet him.

"I heard that." Xiao Jinsheng said straightforwardly.

"Hmm." The orange-red bird, whose thoughts were heard, remained calm inside and out.

Seeing the behavior that was identical to Que Zelian’s.

Xiao Jinsheng interacted with him, her thoughts jumping quickly.

Her gaze fell on the Star Stone in his claw: "I heard from Sang Biao that you’ve been looking for stones."

"Is this the kind of stone you’re searching for?"

"No." The orange-red bird shook his head.

"Then what kind of stone are you looking for?" Xiao Jinsheng prodded further.

Upon hearing this, the orange-red bird finally opened his eyes.

His gaze met Xiao Jinsheng’s, yet he said nothing, thought nothing, and closed his eyes again, reminding her: "It’s late, even birds need their rest."

"But I’m human." Xiao Jinsheng argued.

"Humans need rest even more." The orange-red bird retorted.

"I’m a stone." Xiao Jinsheng countered again.

Dealing with this challenging Xiao Jinsheng.

The orange-red bird reluctantly opened his eyes, looked at her, and said seriously: "If birds don’t sleep early, they’ll lose feathers; if humans don’t sleep early, they’ll lose hair; if stones don’t sleep early, they’ll crack."

"Do you want to sleep early?" The orange-red bird directly issued a soul-searching question.

Xiao Jinsheng went silent for a moment, then shook her head at him: "But in an unfamiliar environment without familiar company, I can’t sleep."

"You can find someone familiar." The orange-red bird replied.

"But here, you’re the only one I’m familiar with." Xiao Jinsheng said with a smile as she reached out to him: "Will you keep me company?"

"I won’t." The orange-red bird refused decisively.

"Hahahahaha." An ill-timed burst of laughter suddenly echoed.

The orange-red bird and Xiao Jinsheng looked down to see Carrot Caicai laughing foolishly.

Meeting the orange-red bird’s questioning gaze, Caicai snorted: "You’ll regret it."

"This carrot came with you, so it should be something familiar." The orange-red bird gazed away from Caicai and reminded Xiao Jinsheng: "It can accompany you to sleep."

"Yes, Host, I can sleep with you." Caicai eagerly nodded.

"Hmph, you can stand on the tree as punishment."

After several invitations, all rejected by the orange-red bird.

Xiao Jinsheng was both upset and annoyed.

She hugged Carrot Caicai and ran into the cave.

Caicai was quite cooperative, too.

He jumped onto the stone bed, transforming into a plush cotton doll for Xiao Jinsheng to use as a pillow.

Lying with her head on Caicai, Xiao Jinsheng could still see the orange-red bird perched on the tree outside the cave.

From her position, she could see the orange-red bird standing on the branch, his posture unchanged.

"Silly Que Zelian." Xiao Jinsheng whispered softly behind his back as she stared at him.

Hearing the noise she made, the orange-red bird remained motionless.

"I’m starting to hold grudges now."

"I’m deducting your points; your score is now down to..."

"Wait, how many points did you have left before? I need to check."

Xiao Jinsheng’s dissatisfied muttering sometimes rose, sometimes fell, echoing from inside the cave.

The orange-red bird, listening quietly, gradually noticed the murmurs getting weaker.

Accompanied by it was the shallow breathing sound of someone peacefully asleep.

With his sharp senses, he listened to the soothing sound that calmed his heart while absorbing the Star Stone in his claw.

Unaware of the time, suddenly there was a ’bang’ as something heavy fell inside the cave.

The orange-red bird anxiously turned to look and saw it was Caicai, transformed into a doll, falling off the stone bed while Xiao Jinsheng remained peacefully asleep.

The Caicai doll remained unaware of the passage of time, blowing colorful bubbles and snoring.

Hearing it, the orange-red bird’s expression instantly turned cold.

Unable to endure it any longer, he finally jumped down from the branch, mimicking flight.

Predictably, he fell headfirst into the pile of leaves.

Shaking the dust off his feathers, he clambered with his claws towards the cave.

At the cave entrance, he grabbed a few strands of grass and plugged Caicai’s bubbling mouth inside the cave.

Sure enough, once plugged, the cave instantly quieted down.

Feeling the temperature inside the cave drop.

The orange-red bird looked up at Xiao Jinsheng on the stone bed.

He saw she was asleep with her clothes on, but they seemed thin.

He hesitated for a while, before stepping on Caicai below, using its head to climb back to the stone bed.

With some effort, he covered Xiao Jinsheng’s back with the special dry grass on the stone bed.

Ensuring she wouldn’t catch a chill, he felt reassured and jumped off the bed, landing on Caicai’s belly, getting ready to leave the cave.

But just as he reached the entrance, there was more commotion from the stone bed.

As Xiao Jinsheng turned over on the bed, she was just a hair away from rolling off and hitting the ground.

The orange-red bird panicked inwardly, realizing he couldn’t rush over in time to catch her.

In his anxiety, as Xiao Jinsheng was about to hit the ground, he transformed into a cloud mist and flashed over.

And as Xiao Jinsheng rolled off the bed, she fell right into a familiar embrace.

Awakening with open eyes, she first saw the half-covered by red hair, familiar warm white chest.