Lu Mo gradually calmed down.
She went to take a bath.
Covered in blood, that sticky feeling was really unpleasant.
The little yellow chick was just as filthy.
It was so tiny that Lu Mo worried even a bit more water splashed on it might crush it.
After thinking it over, she eventually fetched a small pot from the kitchen, added some hot water, and placed the little yellow chick inside.
“Chirp~”
The little yellow chick hopped into the pot without much resistance.
Instead, it let out a joyful cry and began washing itself.
These things seemed to be carved into its instincts from birth.
Watching that bouncy little figure wiggling around in the pot, Lu Mo suddenly felt hungry.
She hadn’t eaten anything for half a day.
Maybe have some chicken legs…
Wait, no!
The little yellow chick is a friend, can’t eat it!
Lu Mo shook her head, and at the same time wrapped up her wet hair, changed into dry clothes, and walked into the living room.
Last night’s dinner still sat untouched in the kitchen.
On the dining table, the cake’s frosting had mostly melted, and the sponge had gone soft and collapsed.
“It should… still be edible, right?”
Lu Mo looked at the sad-looking cake, dipped her finger in some frosting, and put it in her mouth.
Mm, not spoiled.
So she cut herself a slice of cake and placed it in front of her.
She glanced at the spot where the man had sat, and at the paper crown resting by the edge of the table.
“Happy birthday to me, then.”
She muttered to herself again, then silently ate the cake.
“Chirp?“
At that moment, another sound rang out.
Lu Mo looked down and saw that the little yellow chick had somehow appeared at her feet, staring up at her curiously.
That sound seemed to say: You’re eating without me?
Seeing that tiny figure, Lu Mo couldn’t help but smile.
She bent down and reached out her hand, and the little yellow chick hopped on all by itself.
Then, she raised her hand and placed the little yellow chick on the dining table.
“Are you hungry too, little one?”
Lu Mo asked.
She had no idea whether the little yellow chick could understand what she was saying.
But the little yellow chick looked at her eating cake, then looked down at its own belly.
Soon after, it nodded at her seriously.
“Want some cake?”
Lu Mo asked.
But the moment she spoke, she realized it might not be a good idea to feed cake to the little yellow chick.
It was just born—could it even eat cake?
And besides, feeding an egg-based cake to a chick—wasn’t that a bit messed up?
The little yellow chick then approached her plate, looked at the soft, squishy cake, seemed to think it didn’t look tasty, and shook its head.
“Then… how about stew?”
The food in the stew was too big for the little yellow chick to eat.
“How about boiling some grains and mashing them into a paste?”
Looking at the little yellow chick, Lu Mo thought hard.
“Let me think about what you can eat… or should I just go outside and find some bugs?”
While thinking, Lu Mo noticed the little yellow chick slowly waddle over to her cup, look at the milk inside, and sniff it.
“!”
It was like it was saying: I want this!
“You want milk?”
“Chirp!”
Can birds drink milk?
Wouldn’t they get diarrhea?
Lu Mo felt a bit uncertain at that moment.
But looking at the little yellow chick’s eager eyes, Lu Mo couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
It should be fine, right?
After all, this is an otherworldly bird.
Things from another world can’t be judged by real-world logic.
Don’t worry about second-dimension stuff jpg.
“Chirp~”
The little yellow chick let out another sound, as if acting cute.
“Alright, alright, I’ll get some for you.”
Lu Mo was defeated by the little yellow chick, smiled helplessly, and quickly brought over a very small bowl with a bit of milk poured in.
She set the bowl in front of the little yellow chick.
The little yellow chick looked up at Lu Mo, opening its mouth.
“Huh?”
But the little yellow chick didn’t drink right away—instead, it looked at the bowl, then at Lu Mo.
“Chirp—”
That posture was just like a newborn bird asking its mother to feed it.
Human, feed me!
“You want me to… feed you?”
Lu Mo asked, mimicking a feeding motion with her hand.
“Chirp!”
The little yellow chick nodded, once again looking at her with utter anticipation.
In the end, Lu Mo gave in.
But she didn’t feed the little yellow chick like a mother bird would, by carrying food in her beak.
Instead, she found a dropper-like tool from her room, carefully rinsed it several times, sucked up some milk, and brought it close to the little yellow chick.
“Open up now, ah~”
“Chirp~”
The little yellow chick opened its mouth, and Lu Mo carefully controlled the dropper, letting the milk drip bit by bit into its beak.
The little yellow chick drank greedily, looking thoroughly pleased.
Lu Mo watched the little yellow chick and smiled.
But more than that, her gaze drifted toward the empty chair.
Did that man really just leave like that?
Will he ever come back?
She started to zone out.
“Chirp chirp chirp!!!”
The little yellow chick’s startled cries snapped her back to reality.
Looking down, she realized she must have pressed too hard just now.
The milk shot straight out of the dropper, splattering all over the little yellow chick’s face.
Its face was covered in milk, and the body she’d just cleaned was dirty again.
“Ah!”
“Sorry, little one, I didn’t mean to get it all over your face.”
Lu Mo quickly grabbed a tissue and wiped the little yellow chick clean.
Only then did the little yellow chick feel better.
It let out a sigh of relief, then, with its belly puffed out round, waddled over to Lu Mo’s hand and nuzzled against it.
It made a joyful sound.
“Chirp chirp chirp~”
Like it was giggling goofily.
“Okay, okay.”
Even though she couldn’t understand what the little yellow chick was saying, Lu Mo still smiled and responded, gently stroking its head with her finger.
After that, the little yellow chick made another sound.
Like it was saying: Human, I didn’t get enough?
“I didn’t get enough?”
But the little yellow chick’s belly was already nice and round by now.
What else could it want to eat?
The little yellow chick pointed with its wing at the floor that hadn’t been cleaned up yet.
What it meant was…
Eggshells.
“You want to eat eggshells?”
Lu Mo gestured in the air.
“Chirp!”
The little yellow chick gave an affirmative answer at that moment.
Eating eggshells.
That wasn’t unheard of in the real world.
But the little yellow chick eating eggshells…
Lu Mo couldn’t shake the feeling that the scene was a bit odd.
Seeing Lu Mo spacing out, the little yellow chick tilted its head and made a confused sound.
“I got it.”
Lu Mo snapped back to reality and spoke.
She quickly walked over to the bloodstains, picked up the eggshells one by one, rinsed them clean, and placed them in front of the little yellow chick.
“Chirp~”
The little yellow chick, as if spotting a treasure, lit up with excitement and hopped around joyfully.
But it didn’t keep the eggshells for itself—instead, it picked out a few pieces and pushed them toward Lu Mo with its little wing.
“Huh?”
Lu Mo was a bit taken aback.
“I have to eat these too?”
“Chirp!”
The little yellow chick nodded.
Did the little yellow chick mistake her for one of its own kind now?
Lu Mo thought to herself, looking at the enthusiastic little yellow chick with a hint of helplessness.
Refusing would probably be rude.
Then I’ll just pretend to take a bite.
With that thought, she picked up an eggshell and opened her mouth.
But the moment her lips touched the shell, Lu Mo suddenly felt…
The eggshell seemed to melt!
It turned into a warm current, resonating with the pale golden part of the flame in her chest, and instantly merged into her body!
It was a surge of life.
The warmth flowed through her entire body.
Not only that.
As the life force flowed through her chest, the pale golden part of the flame became more and more prominent.
She could also feel that the spark in her chest seemed to have grown more solid.
Eggshells… could actually do this?
Lu Mo was stunned.
They’d only known each other for such a short time, and the little yellow chick had already surprised her twice.
Could it really have ancient bloodline?
Lu Mo guessed.
At that moment, the little yellow chick had already wolfed down the remaining eggshells and let out a satisfied burp.
“…”
Then, its body suddenly jerked, and it collapsed onto the table.
Holy crap!
Lu Mo was startled.
Did it actually eat itself to death?
She immediately grabbed the little yellow chick to check on it.
Soon after, she saw its peaceful expression and felt its steady breathing.
It wasn’t dead.
It was more like… asleep.
A stronger wave of life pulsed outward with each heartbeat of the little yellow chick.
One moment it was bouncing around, and the next, it suddenly powered down and fell asleep.
Seeing that the little yellow chick was fine, Lu Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief.
How to put it…
It really was just like a little kid.
She gently rubbed the little yellow chick with her finger, and it seemed to find it comfortable, wiggling its body.
“The little cloth pouch…”
She looked at the bloodstained little cloth pouch.
The little yellow chick couldn’t stay in a nest like that.
But where could it stay now?
After thinking it over, Lu Mo eventually got up, cradling the little yellow chick in her hands, and tiptoed back to her own room.
She placed a small pillow on the nightstand and set the little yellow chick down on it.
“Let’s go with this for now—”
Looking at the little yellow chick sleeping soundly on the pillow, Lu Mo smiled with satisfaction.
Then, she left the room and quietly closed the door behind her.
And so, the living room was left with only her again.
She pretended nothing was wrong as she cleaned up the dishes.
She carefully scrubbed the bloodstains off the floor, running the mop over it several times.
After finishing all that, she wiped the sweat beading at her temples and sat down on the sofa.
The living room was dead quiet.
And at that moment, she felt cold again.
That cold was more of a mental thing.
She stood up from the sofa and walked into the study.
She suddenly didn’t want to stay in the living room anymore.
Didn’t want to stay in the living room…
The study was empty too.
Still a mess, with books piled up like mountains.
Still with the notebook spread open on the desk.
But the handwriting in the notebook had stopped at yesterday’s early morning.
The notebook seemed… forever frozen on yesterday.
Lu Mo looked at that chair and asked the empty air:
“Are you coming back?”
No one answered her.
“You didn’t really get taken away for being too awesome, did you?”
She spoke again.
“Forget it, I’ll just go out and look for him…”
Staying home waiting wasn’t going to solve anything.
She’d recovered some strength, her injuries had eased, and she could go out now.
She still wasn’t ready to accept that reality.
Before leaving the study, she glanced at the notebook spread open on the desk.
Until the very end, the man had been researching ways to fuse strange fires.
But who would have thought?
The strange fire fusion succeeded on the very night he left, right in front of a little yellow bird.
That was a bit ironic.
Lu Mo gently closed the notebook, her gaze sweeping over the other notebooks beside it.
Those books recorded the man’s research over all these years.
“Codename Infinite… no, Codename: Prometheus.”
The man’s taste was still so chuunibyou.
Lu Mo thought, taking out that notebook and opening it.
Flipping through a few pages, she saw the original title written in the notebook.
<An Investigation into the Authenticity of the Dusk Egg, an Exploration of Its Contained Life and Fire Seed, and the Usurpation of Authority>.
This notebook was about that egg.
About the little yellow chick.
Lu Mo stopped flipping.
She didn’t read any further, silently closing the notebook and placing it at the very bottom of the stack.
After that, she changed into her going-out clothes, pushed open the door, and walked out of the cabin alone.