The little girl caught sight of Ye Tianxie, and those jet-black eyes lit up at once, twinkling as if set with two tiny stars. “Yee-yaa-yaa, so you’re my master? Oh la la, doesn’t quite match what I pictured, though. I thought my master would be a weird uncle with a big bushy beard.”

“Why.” Ye Tianxie’s face stiff, three words popped out of the corner of his mouth — and even he didn’t know why he’d asked such a thing.

“Because if a cute little loli like me had a weird uncle for a master, then he’d definitely dote on me and give me yummy things to eat… hmm? Oh…” The little girl opened her small mouth, bit her finger, and strained to think for a good while before her eyes finally lit up. “Ah, oh la! It’s that thing called a lollipop, I think!”

Ye Tianxie’s expression twitched, and a sensation of not being able to breathe properly rose up in his chest.

“Yee-yaa-yaa, master, my name is Guoguo — the cutest, best-behaved little loli in all the world, Guoguo! What’s master’s name? Oh la la! Master doesn’t need to tell me — the cleverest little loli Guoguo has already seen it. Master’s name is Xietian. Oh la la, what a weird name.” The little girl’s tiny body spun an elegant turn in midair, as if showing off her adorable little self to Ye Tianxie. Her body was very small, and on closer inspection that little face of hers was exquisite beyond compare, a flawless beauty within the cuteness, untouched by a single blemish or a single speck of worldly dust. Her figure was slender; beneath her dress, two bare, delicate little feet dangled with their toes pointed naturally down, the skin from calf to toe as tender as snow, the tiny toes as if dusted with pearl powder.

Guoguo… your name’s the weird one! Ye Tianxie shot back inwardly. Then, turning the tables, he asked, “Who are you?”

Where had this thing sprung from? A hidden monster? No — he’d used Detection, and there’d been no information in response at all. A hidden NPC? Could there be an NPC this mentally destructive? And besides — that light just now, she seemed to have drifted right out of this ornament that had so bizarrely appeared here.

“Oh la la, I already said, didn’t I? My name’s Guoguo — the cutest, best-behaved little loli in all the world.” The little girl’s body drifted forward, floating lightly a bit closer to Ye Tianxie, then she blinked those starry-diamond eyes and asked, “Master, can you give me a lollipop to eat?”

“Do you even know what a lollipop is?”

“Oh la, nope.”

“…And you still want one!” Ye Tianxie nearly lost it. This was the World of Fate; there was no such thing as a lollipop here at all. And besides, this little girl gave off an indescribable strangeness from head to toe…

“Huh? But she told me lollipops are a loli’s favorite thing to eat. And I’m Guoguo, the cutest loli in all the world, so I really want one… Master, you’re my master! Now that you’ve got such a cute little loli, of course a master like you has to properly adore her and properly dote on her.” The little girl said, her face all innocence.

Ye Tianxie: “…Who is she?”

“Oh la! Not telling you!” The little girl’s answer was crisp and clean.

“…”

“Fine.” Ye Tianxie walked out of the Wild Wolves’ territory, talking as he went. “You answer a few of my questions, and I’ll give you a lollipop to eat.”

“Wah! Really? So what questions does master want to ask?” The little girl floated lightly along behind him, waving her arms and legs in excitement.

“Why do you call me master?” Ye Tianxie asked.

“Because you’re my master?” Guoguo blinked, and answered.

Three swaying black lines popped out on Ye Tianxie’s forehead. He steadied himself and asked, “Then why did I become your master?”

“Because you’re the first person Guoguo saw! The first person Guoguo sees is Guoguo’s master!”

The first person she saw? Scene after scene of how this little girl had appeared replayed in Ye Tianxie’s mind… Could she really have come out of the thing she left him? Then why had it shown up here… what mystery was hidden in all this?

“You came out of this?” Ye Tianxie stopped walking and lifted the black ornament hanging at his chest to ask. Seen from the side, its black surface was spread top to bottom with seven dim glows.

“Oh la la, yep, master saw it plain as day.” The little girl answered.

“Then why were you inside it? What exactly is this thing?” Ye Tianxie raised the ornament and held it up before Guoguo. Its strange shape and coloring had once led him to try to search for its secrets — precisely because this was the thing she’d left behind. So he never let it leave his body, not for a moment.

“Oh la. Dunno. Does master know?” The little girl’s face was all innocence.

If I knew I wouldn’t be asking you… Ye Tianxie shot back inwardly. He couldn’t help thinking it was a good thing it was him standing here — if it had been someone else running into a situation like this, there was no telling how they’d have reacted.

“Then what do you know.” Ye Tianxie said, his face full of helplessness, his gaze lingering on the jet-black ornament in his palm. How he’d once longed to find some kind of writing or the like hidden inside it, something that might let him trace the reason she’d left — even the faintest thread of a clue would do.

There were many things in the world that couldn’t be described by ordinary reason, and many things so marvelous they defied understanding. Like his meeting with her. Like her leaving. And like… the appearance of this bizarre little girl. His astonishment lasted only a very short while before he began trying to seek out the reason behind it. Perhaps all this inconceivable business before him had something to do with the answer he so longed to know.

But clearly, this little girl — who called him “master” without the slightest reserve and looked so easy to fool — wasn’t nearly as easy to fool as she appeared. However cute and innocent she looked, those darting, rolling eyes gave away her little cleverness… or rather, her little slyness.

“What do I know… mm.” Guoguo counted on her fingers, tipped her little face up and fell to thinking, then said vaguely, “I know… if master recites ‘the Hour of Fate’ once in his heart, something really inconceivable will happen.”

Ye Tianxie’s brow shot up. The Hour of Fate — that phrase seemed like something he’d just heard somewhere. He closed his eyes slightly and said softly, in his heart: The Hour of Fate!

The strange ornament gripped in his hand suddenly blazed with an instant of dim white light. And then, in his widening eyes, it swelled in a flash, and swelled again…

A heavy, weighty sensation came through his hand. Ye Tianxie’s gaze went blank, staring dumbly at the massive object in his grip. Still the same irregular, long-and-narrow shape, still the same seven differently shaped holes spaced around it, still reflecting the same dim seven-colored glow — but its size was now nothing like before. Its width of nearly thirty centimeters made it broader than almost any type of weapon, and its length was not far off from Ye Tianxie’s own height. The original cord, bizarrely, hadn’t been snapped by the strain; it hung empty and slack around his neck, while the end where the cord had once been attached was now gripped in Ye Tianxie’s hand, as though he were holding the hilt of some strange weapon.

This was…

(End of Chapter 10)