Chapter 12.2

Crocodile Child (2)

She asked Buche in a perplexed whisper, “What kind of animal does Gu Mingyuan belong to?”

Buche replied uncertainly in a low voice, “Probably reptiles… Why don’t you see if there are any lizard babies in the classroom to be friends with?”

Mu Le: “…”

Not just lizard babies.

Now, no baby dares to come near her.

No one dared to talk to her, except the little bully who looked around and mustered up the courage to ask her, “Um… Can you breathe fire?”

Mu Le: “I can’t right now.”

And she never will.

The little bully became bolder and asked, “Oh! My name is Ert, what’s your name?”

This question…

Mu Le remembered how Gu Mingyuan had thought for a long time before giving her the □□ item. He randomly selected characters from the interstellar dictionary to create her name and called her by it to see if she would respond. Fortunately, the character “Le” was quickly selected randomly.

Mu Le: “Le.”

He called her “Lele,” and she responded.

So…on Mu Le’s identification documents, her current name is…Gu Le. It feels a bit awkward, like a boy’s name.

Mu Le told the little bully, “Just call me Lele.”

The little bully looked at her in surprise and said, “Why are you so…”

He wanted to say “cute.”

After a moment of thought, he changed to a word he thought was more accurate: “Why are you so kind?”

Mu Le: “…”

Am I your grandma?

Why did you describe me as kind?

…Knowing that she shouldn’t argue with elementary school students too much, Mu Le didn’t say much.

The communication class was quite long. After exchanging only a few words with the little bully, he started making friends everywhere.

Mu Le also heard him say to others, “I’m not afraid of that dragon!”

As he said it more, others started teasing him. Someone even said to the little bully, “If you’re not afraid of her, then touch her horns!”

The little bully retorted, “Hmph. If you dare, why don’t you do it? Are you brave enough to talk to her?”

“Wow, only you dare.”

“Then are you brave enough to be friends with her?”

“Who says I’m not brave!”

Mu Le: “…”

Listening to these conversations, she felt like it was similar to the arguments between two little girls that circulated online. One would say, “My brother dares to eat poop!” and the other would respond, “My brother dares too!”

The daring little bully quickly turned back.

Mu Le saw his crocodile tail sticking out and swaying anxiously behind him. Then, he slapped the chair, as if making a determined decision, and raised his voice, “Lele, are we friends?”

Mu Le: “…I guess so.”

The little bully breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to cheer with his new classmates.

Mu Le: “…”

It seems that this breed, represented by Gu Mingyuan, is really strong in the animal world.

She coughed twice.

…How she wished she could breathe fire.

At least scare these kids a bit and make them quieter, so they wouldn’t be so noisy.

Mu Le flipped through her math textbook, glanced at the overly simple problems, and sensed how boring her future life would be.

Then she glanced at her Chinese textbook.

It was just too easy.

Even though she had just started learning the interstellar language a few days ago, the Chinese texts at her age seemed similar to third-grade English in her eyes.

Fortunately, the morning “classes” ended quickly.

All the textbooks were stored in the same non-networked e-book device, which could be closed and put into her pocket.

Children of various sizes packed up their textbooks and, under the guidance of the teacher, poured out of the classroom.

The little bully, Erte, already had a bunch of friends and walked out of the classroom surrounded by everyone.

In comparison, Mu Le was alone.

She even appeared a bit pitiful.

Kong He’an had been waiting at the school gate, and there were quite a few anxious parents like him.

It was mainly due to their racial instincts.

Some animals were accustomed to always being with their offspring, while others were good at free-range parenting.

These instincts, passed down since ancient times, were deeply ingrained in their genes.

As the end of the school day approached, Kong He’an anxiously paced back and forth at the school gate.

Soon, a large group of children rushed out like the opening of a university cafeteria.

To prevent trampling or other dangerous incidents, the school released students not by grade but by body size.

Children above 1.5 meters tall were the first to leave, followed by the second group consisting of children between 1.5 meters and 1.2 meters. When Gu Mingyuan brought Mu Le home, her height was still less than 1.2 meters.

Kong He’an watched helplessly as a small elephant, who wasn’t much shorter than himself, came out crying. He became even more worried about the “weak and helpless” Mu Le.

Soon, the second group of children came out as well.

Mu Le walked alone at the end.

Kong He’an tiptoed and stretched his neck to see. He couldn’t help but feel heartbroken at the sight of the lonely figure of the child from Gu Mingyuan’s family.

In comparison to the leading little crocodile, Mu Le appeared even more pitiful.

Kong He’an didn’t have time to go meet her.

He saw the little crocodile wave to everyone, saying, “I still have a friend behind, you go ahead!”

He bid farewell to his new friends and then walked through the crowd—towards Mu Le, who was at the end of the line.

Kong He’an: “…?”

By this time, Mu Le had approached the gate.

As she lifted her head, she saw the little crocodile with emerald green hair running happily towards her, taking a deep breath, and bravely raising his hand—

Mu Le: !!

Erte rested his arm on her shoulder.

Mu Le: …?

“My friend!” He announced happily and loudly, “Welcome! Come play at my house when you’re free!”

The childish and confident demeanor of the little crocodile was incredibly cute.

Mu Le couldn’t help but chuckle: “Sure, then…”

Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly felt a large shadow cast over her.

Mu Le and the little crocodile both looked up at the same time.

Gu Mingyuan stood in front of them, expressionless.

——————–

Author’s note:

Mu Le: Why does it feel like a scene of catching an affair…

Gu Mingyuan: ?