Volume 6, Chapter 89 – Frost Sprites: Not Nearly as Harmless as They Look

“A… a baby?”

The words had barely left her lips before Bai Lianyue was practically throwing herself at Ailiya, the chocolate sundaes in her hands nearly sloshing over entirely. With the utmost care, she took the infant-form Xing Wu from Ailiya’s arms — her movements so gentle it was as though she were cradling something irreplaceable — and even her breathing softened. The light green loungewear made her skin look like fresh snow, and her long gradient hair fell forward, brushing against Xing Wu’s small face and carrying with it the faint scent of lily-of-the-valley.

“Baby~ so… cute, so… soft~”

Bai Lianyue’s dark-red eyes brimmed with unabashed delight, every trace of sleepiness gone without a trace. She dipped her head and gently nuzzled the tip of her nose against Xing Wu’s small cheek — the sensation warm and pillowy-soft — and let out a deeply satisfied sigh. The fine baby hair tickled her cheek and the tip of her nose, leaving a faint, delightful prickling sensation, and the smile at the corner of her mouth grew softer still.

Xing Wu went rigid from head to toe. Her violet eyes filled with sheer bewilderment.

Her annoying Mom had always been affectionate with her, sure — but the usual expressions of it were rather measured. A pat on the head at most. This level of uninhibited, unguarded closeness was an entirely new experience.

Warm breath washed over her face, carrying the sweet scent of chocolate sundae. Bai Lianyue’s long hair swept across her neck, sending a light ticklish ripple through her, and Xing Wu couldn’t help but scrunch her shoulders up.

“Goo… gah…”

Baby Xing Wu opened her mouth, trying to call out “annoying Mom” and let her know she was being tickled — but all that came out was soft, round baby babble. The indignity of it puffed out her little cheeks until she looked like a plump, round dumpling.

Bai Lianyue noticed none of this “protest” whatsoever. If anything, she found the expression even more endearing. She settled onto the sofa with Xing Wu in her arms, cradling the tiny body with both hands, and gently pinched her chubby little cheeks with the pads of her fingers, then poked at the soft roundness of her small chin:

“Baby… so cute… hehe~”

And then Bai Lianyue dipped her head again, pressing a gentle kiss to Xing Wu’s forehead. The kiss left a faint coolness behind, and Xing Wu’s entire body went stiff all over again.

The kiss was light — full of pure, uncomplicated fondness, without a single complicated thought behind it. As though Xing Wu were the most precious thing in the world.

Even as she kissed her, she murmured softly:

“Baby… be good… eat lots… and grow up… nice and big~”

Xing Wu stared up at the face so close to her own. In Bai Lianyue’s dark-red eyes, her own tiny reflection looked back at her — surrounded by doting and joy, the kind of love that held nothing in reserve. The frustration in her chest quietly dissolved, and in its place something warm and wordless settled in.

So this is what they mean by the dazed mode.

…Fine.

Fine. I’ll just go along with it.

And so Xing Wu accepted her temporary fate of being treated like a living doll.

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It’s not my fault I’m such a devoted and filial child.

Making Mom happy is a necessary duty, after all~

With that resolution made, Baby Xing Wu extended one stubby little arm and caught hold of the strand of long hair that had fallen within reach — soft, smooth, like silk between her fingers.

“Wuu-yah~”

She gave her little hand a small, contented wave, and the corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly — a small, wondering smile blooming across her face.

The very picture of a baby who was perfectly happy right where she was.

Bai Lianyue caught that smile, and her eyes lit up like twin stars:

“Oh! Baby… smiled! Good girl… good girl~”

The elf girl’s happiness only intensified. She drew Xing Wu close against her chest, cradling her there so the two of them could feel each other’s heartbeats. Her chin rested gently on top of Xing Wu’s head, and she began to hum — a soft, wandering, half-formed melody, voice warm and lilting, carrying a quiet smile within it. It was the sound of a spring breeze moving across still water, gentle enough to melt ice.

Held in that embrace, however, Xing Wu wore a rather different expression.

She stared, fixedly and at very close range, at the soft, abundantly present reality directly in front of her. Her small face went pink, and the emotion on her face was… complicated.

Jealousy … and more than that — envy .

…Wuwuwu… it’s so… so big…

Ailiya stood to one side, watching the warm scene with an expression of quiet contentment in her cherry-colored eyes.

At that moment, the door to the room opened again and Luo Fei’s figure stepped through.

The head of the Lingyuan family was dressed casually, a faint tiredness around his eyes — clearly he had just finished dealing with base matters and had come to find Ailiya by way of accompanying Bai Lianyue.

But when he saw the two figures curled together on the sofa, the weariness vanished instantly, replaced by a quietly moved smile.

“Nice. Very nice.”

Luo Fei walked over to the coffee table and sat down, helping himself to the chocolate sundae Bai Lianyue had left there. He dug out a spoonful and tucked it into his mouth, his tone carrying a note of quiet relief:

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“Good to look at… If things can be like this from here on out, that’s not bad at all.”

He smiled — easy, untroubled — and his gaze drifted absently to the transparent box sitting on the table.

It was the box Ailiya had set aside earlier.

Inside, the Frost Sprite was beating its translucent wings steadily, its ice-blue body catching the light and scattering it in clear, jeweled fragments. It looked utterly docile and harmless.

“What’s this? Quite cute.”

Luo Fei raised an eyebrow, continuing to eat his sundae as he wandered over to the box.

Looking at the sprite’s large, dewy eyes within, he tilted his head with mild amusement.

“Why’s it shut up in there?”

And he reached out a hand.

He hadn’t even touched the box yet when —

“Don’t touch it!”

Ailiya’s voice cut through the room — firm, leaving no room for argument.

Luo Fei’s hand froze midair. He looked at her in puzzlement. “What’s the matter? The little thing doesn’t look dangerous at all. Keeping it locked in a box seems rather cruel — shouldn’t we let it out to move around a bit?”

He genuinely could not see what threat a palm-sized sprite could possibly pose. Every Corrupted Beast and Malevolence vassal he had encountered before had been a thing of terrifying menace — this Frost Sprite wasn’t even in the same category.

He couldn’t make heads or tails of why Ailiya was suddenly so serious.

Ailiya shook her head, gaze grave as it settled on the Frost Sprite within the box:

“Taro… this thing is dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

Luo Fei stopped completely, staring at Ailiya in disbelief.

And Ailiya looked back at him with an entirely unsmiling face, her reply measured and certain:

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“This creature is nowhere near as harmless as it looks.”

Meanwhile, at the core battlefield in the heart of the Veiled Domain — the site of the Malevolences’ clash.

Not long after Xing Wu had finished her investigation and departed, a five-person team was picking their way carefully through the broken ruins. They wore the Divine Kingdom’s specially made expedition gear, gold cross emblems of the Divine Faith stitched across their chests, and carried an assortment of detection instruments and weapons — an investigation squad dispatched by the Divine Kingdom to gather intelligence.

“Captain, the residual energy here is extremely dense. This must be the core of the Trinity’s confrontation.”

The squad’s sole female member, Lena, crouched down, the detector in her hand emitting a steady series of soft beeps as complex data scrolled across the screen.

“However, no Malevolence remains have been found so far…”

At that, Karen — a broad, solidly built middle-aged man, and the squad’s captain — spoke in a low voice:

“Keep searching. Even fragments will do. As long as we can bring something back to the Divine Faith, the mission is complete.”

A Malevolence’s physical remains — even fragments — were of incalculable value.

Beside him, the squad member Marcus carried a heavy firearm, scanning the surroundings with an unsettled expression:

“Captain, it’s too quiet here. Not even a bird in the sky. Something feels off.”

His gaze swept across the rubble heaps nearby. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something in the dark gaps between the stones was watching them.

“Obviously. What living thing could survive where three Malevolences just finished fighting?”

Karen gave a dismissive snort. “Regardless — pick up the pace. Collect what fragments we can and pull out. Don’t linger.”

The team members muttered their acknowledgment and quickened their search. The beeping of the detectors and the scrape and clatter of rubble being turned over rang out with unusual clarity in the stillness of the battlefield.

And then — one of the team members suddenly cried out:

“Captain! Look — over there!”

“Hm?”

Karen’s brow furrowed.

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The team turned in the direction of the outstretched finger — and there, atop a pile of rubble not far off, was a small blue shape.

An ice-blue sprite. Identical in every way to the Frost Sprite Xing Wu had taken back with her.

It beat its translucent wings in a slow, steady rhythm, perched at the top of the rubble, ice-blue eyes watching them in quiet stillness. It looked perfectly docile and harmless.

“What is that thing?”

Marcus frowned, puzzlement flickering through his eyes.

“Never seen anything like it.”

“A fairy? Looks like something out of a storybook.”

Karen muttered, brow creased tight.

Something about this Frost Sprite’s eyes bothered him. Too calm. Unnervingly so.

But before any of them could react further — more blue shapes began emerging from every direction.

Some squeezed out from the gaps between rubble. Some came flying out from behind charred, blackened tree trunks. Some rose slowly from the depths of the fissures below. In the span of barely ten seconds, dozens of Frost Sprites had appeared throughout the battlefield — their ice-blue forms glowing faintly in the dim surroundings, transparent wings beating with a low, collective hum as they drifted, gradually, toward the team, drawing inward.

“H-how are there so many?!”

Lena’s face went white. She stumbled back a step on instinct, nearly dropping the collection container in her hands.

The Frost Sprites maintained that same docile, harmless appearance throughout. They made no aggressive sounds. They released no energy. They simply drifted closer — and closer — quietly encircling the team, forming one vast ring with the squad trapped at its center.

Their ice-blue eyes settled as one on each member of the team.

No hostility.

But —

An uncanny wrongness that made the skin crawl.

“…What in the world are these things??”