novelraw Chapter 60: Above the Stars
Chapter 60: Above the Stars
Above the Stars After leaving the Dark Moon Chamber of Commerce, Lu Yu took the little Hamster directly to the largest Supermarket nearby.
"Are human supermarkets really this beautiful?"
The little Hamster's eyes widened, its ears perked up with excitement, and its mouth hung open as it curiously gazed around like a country bumpkin seeing the big city for the first time.
In the past, when it was hungry, it could only sneak into small convenience stores to steal some snacks, always fleeing with its tail between its legs, terrified of being caught, beaten to death, or eaten. It never had time to observe its surroundings.
This was the first time it had ever walked so openly into such a huge and luxurious Supermarket. The dazzling array of products on the tall shelves left it momentarily stunned.
After communicating with the Cashier, Lu Yu got a disposable QR code pass and stuck it on the still-dazed Little Mouse. He flicked its forehead, causing the Little Mouse to instinctively cover its head.
Before it could get angry, the Little Mouse saw Lu Yu hand it a child-sized basket and say with a smile:
"Go on, pick whatever you like. Don't be polite with me!"
"Can I… can I really pick anything?"
Although they had agreed on this long ago, now that it was actually happening, the Little Mouse still found it hard to believe."Of course!"
After receiving a definitive answer, the Little Mouse felt a bit light-headed as it dragged the basket, which was huge for it, forward. When it passed two Spirit-Sniffing Hounds trained to detect spiritual lifeforms, its fur instinctively tensed, and its heart began to race.
The two Spirit-Sniffing Hounds glanced at it lazily, saw the pass sticker on the Little Mouse, and looked away without stopping it.
At that moment, the Little Mouse suddenly felt like it had become a part of human civilization.
It too could live in the sunlight, and it too could be respected.
However, just as it took a step, a red light suddenly scanned over it, causing its body to stiffen.
Bad memories flooded its mind, and it instinctively wanted to flee into the Shadow, but when it turned around, it saw Lu Yu smiling and nodding at it.
'I can't let the Pervert Cultivator look down on me!'
His gaze suddenly gave the Little Mouse courage.
It puffed out its chest and held its head high. After the machine scanned the pass, a beep sounded, and the red light retreated.
"Hmph, this Red-Eyed Iron Skin Monster is nothing special!"
The Little Mouse breathed a sigh of relief and then successfully entered the snack aisle, starting to run around happily, picking out its favorite things.
Lu Yu thought it would take a long time, but five minutes later, the Little Mouse returned, dragging a basket containing ten bags of tomato-flavored Potato Chips and a dozen caramel puddings.
Lu Yu thought the Little Mouse didn't understand the prices and reminded it, "You can pick more. This is only a few dozen yuan.
The budget I gave you is twenty thousand."
"Hmph, you don't have to tell me! But if I pick too much, I won't be able to finish it.
If it expires, it'll be a waste of food!" The Little Mouse turned its head away and said huffily, "Besides, are you looking down on me, Pervert Cultivator? I can get snacks this time, and I can do even better next time to get more and more snacks!"
Although the little Hamster tried its best to hide its emotions, Lu Yu could still see the hope and longing in its eyes, like an abandoned kitten trying to win its master's love through cautious good behavior.
Lu Yu fell silent, an image suddenly appearing in his mind: a little hamster, all alone in a dangerous Abandoned Urban Area infested with countless Demonic Beasts.
Living day to day, trembling through countless nights, having its soul sliced by the Soul-Snatching Demonic Cloud. Because it was afraid of being discovered, even if the pain made it roll on the ground, it could only grit its teeth and endure, not daring to make a sound.
Even if its soul could be repaired afterward, the process was painful and long.
And having intelligence, the ability to think, only intensified this suffering.
Because it had experienced the beauty of human civilization, the contrast made it feel even more lonely. It would deliberately imitate human environments, stealing human food… these actions, aside from filling its stomach, were more about giving itself a greater sense of existence.
But it never gave up, striving to find the meaning of its own existence!
All its ferocity was just a cover for its inner vulnerability.
And Lu Yu, was the first person to tell the Little Mouse that he needed it.
He had let it see a glimmer of hope!
Even if it might be a trap, even if it was just being used as a tool, after thinking it over, it resolutely stepped into it.
After Lu Yu fulfilled his promise, it didn't go on a wild shopping spree.
Instead, it chose only the portion it needed.
Because it felt that this was all it was worth!
It wasn't that it looked down on itself, but rather a sense of contentment after its trust was not betrayed.
Lu Yu suddenly thought, in his previous life, wasn't he, and even most people, just like the Little Mouse in their own lives?
Having read many books, walked many roads, and learned to think, yet after being struck down, they would also feel lost and helpless, not knowing what use their past knowledge would have for their future. They wondered if their future selves would remain unsuccessful and unknown, or even have nothing at all.
Perhaps they would die in obscurity, or live on for no reason, but all of this…
was not important!
We are but dust in the universe, droplets in the river of time. We should boldly do what we want to do and understand what kind of person we want to become.
Wealth, fame, and the opinions of others during the process are all illusions. Life should not be a blank sheet of paper, nor a messy one scribbled with wine, women, wealth, and qi, filled with fame and fortune.
If the heart is like the morning sun, all one sees is the morning glow.
If you miss the sunset's afterglow, there will still be a sky full of stars.
A Little Mouse like this should not be belittled or ridiculed!
Lu Yu's smile faded. He crouched down, stroked its head, and praised it seriously, "Yes, Little Mouse is the best!"
"Hmph, hmph, so you do have good judgment," the little Hamster was extremely happy after being praised.
The corners of its mouth curled up instinctively, but it quickly put on a nonchalant expression and began to lecture with authority:
"This is nothing. Back when I ruled the convenience stores…"
Lu Yu placed it on his shoulder and, while waiting in line to check out, quietly listened to it recount its past glorious experiences.
He didn't speak, just acted as a silent listener.
He listened as the Little Mouse spoke of how, after wandering for three days and nearly starving to death, it found a half-eaten bag of discarded tomato-flavored Potato Chips and was overjoyed after eating its fill.
That was a delicacy countless times more delicious than hamster food.
He listened as it explained why it bought the caramel pudding.
Last month, on its first birthday, it found the pudding after failing to find chips at its usual convenience store. But because the pudding was too heavy, it was almost caught and hit with a broomstick by a store clerk, nearly losing its life.
In the end, it escaped using its unpracticed shadow ability.
But on that birthday, the sweet pudding made the Little Mouse very happy.
It loved the taste.
Speaking of birthdays, the little Hamster thought of its mother.
Its head drooped, and its bright eyes dimmed a little.
Not because it missed her too much, but because…
It forgot!
It had forgotten what its mother looked like…
Before becoming an Extraordinary Lifeform, its brain capacity was only enough to hold about half a year's worth of memories.
It had been bought by a little human girl after it was a month old and had lived with her ever since. They watched anime and TV together, and it learned a lot about the human world.
That was its happiest time.
In the end, she got tired of it and didn't want to keep a hamster anymore.
On the day it was to be thrown out, it secretly opened its cage, ran into the sewers, and ate the blood of a Servitor to transform into an Extraordinary Lifeform. It had been wandering for three months now.
It didn't resent the little girl, it just had some regrets. On many nights, it had imagined that its mother must have had a very warm embrace…
Thinking of this, the little Hamster looked at Lu Yu, who was paying at the checkout, wanting to hear his opinion—be it comfort or praise.
However, Lu Yu remained silent and didn't acknowledge it even after they left the Supermarket.
'Heartless human!'
Not getting a response, the little Hamster was very unhappy.
It felt that the Pervert Cultivator didn't respect it at all. It sulkily burrowed into his pocket and curled into a ball, refusing to speak.
Unless the Pervert Cultivator bought it three more… no, two more bags of Potato Chips and praised it five times, it would forgive him!
'Did I say something wrong…'
After waiting for a long time without Lu Yu trying to talk to it, the Little Mouse tossed and turned, feeling uneasy. It wondered if it had been too chatty and made the Pervert Cultivator dislike it.
It felt a little regretful, regretting why it loved to talk so much.
It longed for love, yet it was exceptionally sensitive and insecure.
Perhaps all its courage had been spent on its journey of searching.
Click!
Just as the Little Mouse's thoughts were running wild, the familiar sound of an automatic door rang out.
It thought they had arrived at the Pervert Cultivator's home and peeked its head out, ready to give Lu Yu a way to make up, but what met its eyes was a familiar scene.
"This is… the convenience store I always go to.
What's going on? Does he dislike my bragging and plans to hand me over to them?"
Before the Little Mouse could react, it saw Lu Yu walk up to the Cashier, tap its head, and say:
"Excuse me, my Little Mouse stole quite a few things when it ran away before, causing you trouble. May I ask how much was lost? I'm willing to compensate you tenfold."
As his words fell, the Little Mouse, which had been ready to bolt, froze.
It looked up at the side of Lu Yu's face, its beady black eyes instantly welling up with an indescribable storm of emotions.
"Ah… I'm sorry, I've only been working here for a few days, so I'm not sure.
Let me get the Store Manager. Store Manager, could you come over here…"
The Cashier was a young woman who blushed instantly upon seeing Lu Yu's max-level charisma.
She became flustered, unsure of the situation, and stammered as she called for the Store Manager.
After the Store Manager learned what had happened and realized it was about the little mouse that always stole snacks, he was surprised but not aggressive.
He said he couldn't remember the exact amount and that three hundred yuan would be enough as a symbolic gesture.
Lu Yu nodded, left three thousand, and then went to every convenience store the Little Mouse had been to, compensating a total of over five thousand yuan.
Although the total value of all the items was probably only a few hundred, he felt it was very meaningful.
By the time everything was settled, it was already eight-thirty.
Lu Yu carried a bag of snacks as he walked along the path home.
Throughout the entire process, the Little Mouse said nothing, just stared blankly at the side of his face, as if trying to commit it to memory forever.
He would tolerate it, treat it as a Family Member, apologize for the wrong things it had done, and lead it out of its gloomy past…
At some point, Lu Yu's figure gradually overlapped with the warm embrace it had imagined in its mind.
Its long wait seemed to have truly been rewarded!
Lu Yu stroked the Little Mouse's head.
Everything was understood without words.
"Wuwuwu, you Pervert Cultivator, who asked you to do that? What a waste of money… I… Little Mouse will pay you back in the future…"
The Little Mouse shrank back into the pocket, its body twitching.
Although it tried hard to use its feigned arrogance to hide its tears, its feelings of attachment were still palpable.
Lu Yu smiled faintly.
The final barrier between him and the Little Mouse was gone.
Neither of them noticed a figure standing atop the White High Tower, quietly watching him, or rather, watching everything in the city.
Aloof and calm, it was out of place with its surroundings, as if it did not belong to this era.
After comforting the little Hamster, Lu Yu spoke to the Little Spider in his pocket, who was eating Dream Fragments to replenish its energy.
"Thank you for your hard work!"
A jin of Spider Silk, while not enough to cause serious harm, was not an easy task either.
'Ying ying!'
The Little Spider shook its head earnestly, indicating that it wasn't hard at all.
The corners of its mouth turned up, and a smile blossomed on its delicate face, captivating like a hundred flowers in bloom.
From its perspective, being able to spin silk to earn money and support the family, to help reduce its Master's stress, was a very happy thing.
In its Void Treasure Chest, a second doll of the Little Mouse, made from Spider Silk, had appeared.
A family should always be together!
At that moment, the dim yellow light of the streetlamp blurred their vision.
A gentle, cool evening breeze caressed their cheeks, bringing a sense of tranquility and tenderness.
Lu Yu looked up at the countless stars in the sky, reached out his hand, and made a grasping motion as if he had caught something.
He said seriously,
"From now on, we will feel the evening breeze every day and go see the scenery above the stars together. No one is allowed to fall behind on this journey!"
'Ying!'
('ᴗ')*
The Little Spider raised its hand.
It would work hard!
The Shadow Clipping Rat snapped back to its senses and said arrogantly:
'Squeak!'
Don't underestimate Little Mouse! You're the ones who need to work hard!
A simple promise, filled with beautiful hope.
Lu Yu was very happy.
He had gained a Family Member, a bit more liveliness, and… one more responsibility!
Next, it was time to create the Skill Secret Food…