Chapter 34: Blue and White in Winter

The small nest.

The manor’s greenery gradually faded, leaving only a few patches of withered yellow in the vegetable garden, swaying gently with the wind.

The weather was getting colder.

Luti, who could never stay idle, was constantly moving things underwater in preparation for her “winter sleep.”

The two Starfire Falcons, having returned to the sky, were busy renovating their nest.

Under the tree, where a few scattered dead leaves remained, the figure holding a small booklet had changed to Du Lin.

Every day, Yinuo and Lucoco stuck close to Lucia’s side, focusing on learning holy magic.

Su Yue was as tired as a dog every day because Sebas had become her instructor.

In addition to her daily training, she had to go to the newly built blacksmith shop with Lucoco in the evening to learn forging.

At night, Lucia gave Lucoco private lessons, teaching her some simple alchemy knowledge.

At the **[Crossroads Market]**, there was a new guard with a slight limp but immense strength.

He always liked to gaze into the distance as if he were waiting for someone.

Outside the River Basin, Players and monsters clashed every day.

Merchants who dealt with Players sensed an opportunity and began setting up camps nearby, forming many small markets.

The Players who crossed the River Basin never managed to reach the manor.

Gradually, the little Saint, Lucoco, seemed to fade from the public’s view.

Within the **[Echo Territory]**, rumors of famine no longer circulated.

Instead, legends of a mysterious new god spread from small villages to the outside world.

Altars without statues began to appear more frequently, always adorned with devout candles and bouquets.

On a winter morning, on the deck of the ship.

Lucia withdrew the barrier, and the wind swirled down with fluttering, fine ice crystals, coating the fading green grass in a layer of snowy white.

Lucoco wore thick new clothes, her lips slightly parted as she exhaled small white clouds.

Her face was flushed red from the cold as her eyes chased the snowflakes dancing across the sky, filled with novelty.

The Blue Star, her home, never saw snow.

This was the first early winter she had ever experienced with snowfall.

Luti’s pond had frozen over with thick ice, and no one had seen her for several days.

Near the furnace in the blacksmith shop, Yinuo, Du Lin, and Su Yue huddled together around a fire, roasting something while laughing happily.

Sebas was shirtless, his beads of sweat reflecting the firelight.

He laughed heartily, swinging a hammer to strike the red-hot iron embryo.

The rhythmic clanging echoed through the wind and snow.

Two Starfire Falcons streaked across the sky, chasing and playing with each other as they flew toward the white forest in the distance.

—

The wind and snow grew heavier, draping everything in new clothes.

Gradually, the earth was left with only the rustling whisper of accumulating snow, softly announcing the arrival of the long winter.

Snowflakes shook off her long eyelashes.

Lucoco reached out, watching more snow fall into her small palm and melt into droplets of water that slid coldly across her fingertips.

Just as she was about to compose a poem about the snowy scenery, weird screams erupted from Du Lin and Su Yue in the snow.

Then, snowballs began to fly everywhere…

“Die! Massive Snowball Rasengan Jutsu! Ha!”

“Bakayaro! Behold my Snow-Snow Fruit: Blizzard Punch! Wahahahaha!”

Lucoco’s poetic mood vanished instantly.

She helplessly moved to sit on the edge of the deck… *Hiss*, her butt was so cold!

She quickly switched to a crouching position, resting her chin on her hands as she lazily watched the battle.

“Senior Lu, why are you just watching? Aren’t we companions?”

Du Lin shouted at her while throwing a snowball.

“Hmph! Do you want to be a leecher?”

Su Yue rubbed a large snowball between her hands and slammed it down.

“Yinuo, help me! Su Yue called you a leecher!”

Du Lin immediately moved to a different spot.

Yinuo nodded, yet she remained crouching on the other side, munching on a steaming roasted sweet potato.

Her tail wagged back and forth as she watched with great interest.

A few minutes later, seeing that she was about to lose, Du Lin suddenly dashed behind Su Yue.

With a mischievous grin, she held Su Yue’s head and tilted it upward, lining her up directly with Lucoco, who was yawning by the deck’s edge.

“Did you see it clearly?”

Du Lin lowered her voice.

“I saw it! White! And there’s a rabbit pattern!”

Su Yue’s eyes sparkled as if she had discovered some earth-shattering secret.

Lucoco didn’t hear their whispers; she just rubbed her sleepy eyes.

Seeing the two of them stop and look at her with strange expressions, she boredly waved her small hand as if asking why they had stopped fighting.

Seeing this, Yinuo opened her mouth and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Lucoco, they said white, and rabbits!”

The sound was exceptionally loud in the snowy field.

The clanging in the blacksmith shop stopped instantly.

Sebas’s figure was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a black teleportation channel on the ground that hadn’t fully dissipated.

*Swoosh!*

The little Saint’s face turned completely red instantly, and it seemed as though steam was rising from the top of her head.

A sense of shame and annoyance she had never felt before rushed to her brain.

A brilliant, intoxicating smile suddenly bloomed on Lucoco’s face.

Her eyes curved into crescents as she looked toward Du Lin and Su Yue.

Her small leather shoes slowly slipped off her feet, landing on the snow with a faint *thud*.

It was as if some kind of switch had been flipped.

White socks fell lightly, hanging from a snow-covered withered branch and swaying with the wind, looking as if they could be blown away at any moment.

**[Mimicry Deactivated]**!

Tentacles flailed!

“Sisters… let’s have a snowball fight, okay?”

Her voice was so soft and sweet it was cloying, enough to melt someone’s bones.

“Ah… ahahaha, it’s very cute, Lucoco.”

Du Lin felt a chill at the base of her tail.

She backed away with a dry laugh, her eyes flickering with panic.

“Lucoco! Yinuo saw it too!”

Su Yue pointed with a serious face at Yinuo, who was gloating while munching on a sweet potato and wagging her tail happily.

Su Yue tried to drag her into the fight.

*Whoosh!*

Lucoco turned into an afterimage and rushed off the ship.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and the corners of her mouth were pulled wide.

Her waving tentacles grabbed a large amount of snow, condensing it into a snowball larger than a head.

Her aura was menacing.

Su Yue didn’t realize the severity of the problem at all.

Instead, she looked excited and reached behind her.

“Du Lin! Let’s…”

She patted thin air.

Turning her head, she saw that Du Lin had already fled far away at some point, leaving two deep tracks in the snow that wound into the distance.

Wait, two tracks?

That other white figure even further away… was that Yinuo?

Su Yue looked confused.

She yelled in their direction, “Hey! Why are you running…”

*Swoosh—Thwack!*

“Ah!”

A giant snowball slammed into her, snow splattering everywhere.

It knocked Su Yue directly into the snow, creating a large, person-shaped pit.

At the same time, slippery tentacles streaked over.

With a cold and supple touch, they gently wrapped around Su Yue’s waist, binding her firmly.

As if intentionally, the tentacles began to move over her body with a playful, teasing probe.

It caused Su Yue’s heart to race, and her cheeks instantly flushed crimson.

In an instant, several icons appeared in her buff bar, but Su Yue didn’t have time to look closely…

“Sister, come play with me.”

Lucoco’s sweet, childish voice rang out behind her head.

It was as sweet as honey, carrying a heart-palpitating eeriness that reached the depths of her soul.

It felt like a feather scratching the tip of her heart, causing Su Yue to shiver involuntarily while her body grew slightly hot.

The slippery tentacles brushed over her arms, the side of her neck, her collarbone, and her cheeks.

The cold sensation tore against the heat being forcibly awakened within her body, creating an… indescribable, eerily pleasant feeling.

“Nn…”

A soft, pampered whimper escaped Su Yue’s lips.

‘Lucoco’s tentacles are so slippery and comfortable.’

‘It’s so strange… why do I feel this way?’

“O-Okay…”

Su Yue’s voice trembled violently, the end of her sentence almost melting into the air with a charm she didn’t even realize she possessed.

She subconsciously twisted her body.

It was meant to be a struggle, but it looked more like a restless, wordless invitation.

“Then… can you…”

Before she could finish, she was interrupted as her body was suddenly hoisted upward.

“Then here I come.”

Lucoco’s joyful chuckle was the spark that ignited the fuse.

“Eek! Lucoco!”

Su Yue’s soft tone suddenly spiked, filled with genuine panic and embarrassment.

“Wait! Stop! You can’t do this!”

The flush on Su Yue’s cheeks spread to the tips of her ears.

She waved her unbound hands in vain, trying to cover her flying skirt.

But that unmistakable flash of blue-and-white stripes, like the most innocent betrayal, finally fell into the sight of the person behind her!

The playful wind and snow vied to land on those fair thighs.

The radiating heat melted them instantly, leaving trails of crystal water.

“Oh!”

Lucoco’s sweet voice, filled with surprise and playfulness, was exceptionally clear in the wind.

“It’s blue-and-white stripes. It really is… so cute. Surprisingly pure.”

Su Yue felt as if all the blood in her body rushed to her head, only to be drained away in an instant.

She turned her head, blinking her large, watery eyes.

“That… you’ve seen it all, can you… can you let me go?”

Her voice was soft and weak.

“The way you look when you’re shy, Sister,” Lucoco giggled like a little demon, “is so cute that I want to bully you a little longer.”

Hearing this, Su Yue’s body trembled.

“Then… then… be gentle…”

Her voice carried a thick, inseparable sense of shame.

But at this ambiguous tipping point, Lucoco suddenly shifted her tone.

“Su Yue is very good. I’ll let you go and go catch the sister who ran away!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the binding force vanished!

Lucoco’s figure flashed, turning into an afterimage of swirling snow.

Like a snowplow traveling at one hundred kilometers per hour, she left a long, wide track in the snow as she charged into the distance.

“Waaa!”

Su Yue cried out as she tumbled clumsily back onto the snow!

Her body was still hot, and her heart wouldn’t stop racing.

Su Yue clutched her chest, panting heavily as she watched the receding Lucoco.

Her face was full of embarrassment and annoyance.

She had already…

The flush on her face wouldn’t fade.

Su Yue looked at her buff list, and the most prominent one was **[Strong Charm – Countdown: 48 seconds]**.

“Isn’t Lucoco a Saint? Why does she have this kind of skill?”

A moment later…

The sound of hammering resumed in the blacksmith shop.

A while after that, Lucoco returned refreshed, a satisfied smile on her small face.

Du Lin followed behind with messy clothes, clutching her backside and pouting.

Her face was flushed, and her eyes held a mix of shame, anticipation, and… a hint of regret?

Yinuo had gone from standing upright to being on all fours.

Her four legs were trembling slightly, and her tail was drooping like a bullied wolf cub.

Seeing the three of them return, Su Yue immediately jumped forward.

She pointed to the other side and smiled proudly.

“Ah, you’re back! Look! The snowman I built. Doesn’t it look like Lucoco?”

She introduced her masterpiece.

Du Lin and Yinuo glanced at the “snowman,” turned their heads in unison, and tactfully chose not to comment.

“Oh, come on! You don’t think it looks like her?”

Su Yue was displeased and gestured as she explained.

“Look at this—”

“Sister Su Yue, I’m taking my shoes and socks back…”

Lucoco stepped forward and pulled her leather shoes from beneath the snowman’s belly.

“Oh, okay…”

Su Yue put her hands behind her back and shut her mouth.

“Eh? Why is one sock missing?”

Lucoco tilted her head.

She looked at the snowman’s other arm, then at the withered branch where the sock had been hanging, her brow furrowing in confusion.

“It was just blown away by the wind! Very, very far away!”

Su Yue spoke up quickly and decisively, but her hands behind her back were rubbing together uneasily.

“Oh… that’s a pity.”

Lucoco looked toward the valley, then took the sock from the snowman’s “arm” and tossed it lightly into the air.

“Ah! Why don’t you want it? What a waste!”

Su Yue jumped up, but unfortunately, she didn’t catch it.

“Let them be reunited.”

Lucoco raised her hand to watch as the white sock drifted away with the wind, flying into the distance.

Yinuo and Du Lin stared intently at Su Yue, their eyes full of suspicion.

***

At night, Lucia raised the barrier again.

The wind and snow were shut out, and the manor became quiet once more.

A cabin had been converted into a dining room, and the table was covered with steaming food.

Du Lin held a bowl of fragrant mushroom soup, her eyes reflecting the candlelight as she smiled shyly.

Lucoco leaned in Lucia’s arms, biting into a sweet roasted potato.

Her cheeks puffed out as she chewed, her eyes curving into crescents.

Su Yue was slumped in her chair, skillfully picking a piece of grilled meat from the plate and stuffing it into her mouth, chewing with satisfaction.

However, her gaze kept drifting toward Lucoco.

Sebas stood on the other side, tearing into a piece of freshly baked bread.

His eyes, however, were fixed on the strange metal in a basket, his brow furrowed in thought.

After finishing the food on her plate, Yinuo shyly shrunk toward Lucia’s side and whispered, “I… I want to hear Mother Lucia tell a story.”

Lucia smiled slightly, rubbed Yinuo’s wolf ears, and spoke softly.

“Then, today I will tell a legend about a snowy night… A long time ago, a girl got lost in a blizzard. She met a giant silver wolf…”

The candlelight flickered, casting a warm glow on everyone’s faces.

The story continued, the soft voice carrying a hint of mystery and tenderness.

Time seemed to slow down.

Snowflakes fell silently outside the barrier, like a blessing offered to this cozy night.