novelraw Chapter 60
Chapter 60
Chapter 60: The Shackles of Friendship Loosened
Xia Li, of course, knew that his friendship with Lucia was unbreakable.
However, every time Lucia stared into his eyes and asked him ‘What is our relationship?’, Xia Li would waver for a moment.
This wavering was not a questioning of their friendship, but rather a deeper self-doubt…
What exactly is pure friendship?
Xia Li felt that he was starting to blur the lines.
Holding hands crossing the road seemed normal. When he was a child, he often held hands with his friends when crossing the road; when drinking, they would share a bottle, taking turns; feeding each other was also especially common.
Back then, they were young, boys and girls mixed together, never paying attention to gender differences, and wouldn’t feel embarrassed about sharing the same straw when drinking soda.
Looking back at himself and Lucia…
Xia Li always felt something was wrong. The more he thought about this feeling of wrongness, the deeper he sank into it.
No… He was an adult now, and she was an adult dragon. Applying this friendship to a child’s way of thinking was problematic in itself.
Arriving at his doorstep, Xia Li took out his key to open the door.
Lucia, like a gust of wind, rushed past Xia Li. Holding her sheep plush toy, she performed a “Dragon Collision” onto the sofa.
Xia Li slowly changed his shoes.
After thinking carefully, he took out his phone and decided to ask someone for advice.
As the saying goes, the onlookers see more of the game than the players.
Summer Dawn: Peach, do you believe in pure friendship in this world?
Peach: 『Panda Man scratching his head』
Summer Dawn: Asking for a friend. He says that after being with a girl who’s purely a friend for a long time, he feels a bit confused about the boundaries of friendship.
Peach: Oh, I get it.
Peach: When your friend thinks this way, he probably already has feelings for the girl, right?
Peach: The moment you realize the friendship is changing, is the moment you start liking the other person.
Peach: Let me guess, that friend you’re talking about is actually you… No, wait, don’t you have Little Lu??
Summer Dawn: I told you, I’m asking for someone else.
Xia Li sent the message and tossed his phone aside.
He was already confused enough, and after Chen Tao said that, Xia Li felt even more messed up.
What onlookers see more of the game.
This clear-sighted onlooker obviously didn’t understand their relationship.
Brave hero, evil dragon, liking.
How could these three keywords possibly be connected?
He initially took Lucia in for self-protection.
To prevent the police from showing up at his door after Lucia was taken to the station, especially since he had disappeared for a week without leaving any trace. Explaining that would be a real hassle.
Xia Li chose to temporarily take in the evil dragon for his own safety.
For the sake of that gold coin, Xia Li decided to feed the dragon for a while.
Then, realizing the dragon’s curiosity about the human world and her lack of aggression, Xia Li, out of hospitality, decided to take her out for better food…
Later, he took her to buy clothes and pants, and even taught her how to do laundry and cook to integrate into life.
Later still, because Lucia couldn’t use chopsticks, Xia Li had to feed her rice noodles at her pitiful request. Later again, feeling sorry for her sleeping on the balcony, he let her sleep in his bed…
Later again and again…
Wait a minute.
If this “later” continues, the next step would really be sharing a bed.
Xia Li suddenly realized that every step forward in his relationship with Lucia stemmed from his sympathy for her.
It was indeed because this dragon was so pleasing to the eye and had such a good personality that he was moved to pity every time, so she was “taking advantage of his kindness”?
Xia Li began to deeply reflect on himself.
But “pitying her” didn’t equal “liking her.”
If he had been thinking from beginning to end that she was orphaned, helpless, silly, and sincere, and therefore wanted to take care of her a little, wasn’t this just an ordinary big brother’s compassion for a little sister?
It didn’t even have to be a little sister. If Lucia were a kitten, Xia Li would most likely adopt it too.
He entered the room wearing slippers.
As he passed the sofa, Xia Li couldn’t help but slow down and glance at Lucia, who was lying on the sofa playing dead.
From beneath the head of the little sheep, a pair of bright amber eyes secretly lifted, looking at Xia Li at the same time.
“…”
The most embarrassing thing for a dragon was that when she was secretly looking at the hero, the hero was also secretly looking at her.
◈◈◈
“What are you looking at?”
“…What are you looking at?”
Xia Li asked with a cold face, and Lucia also asked back with a calm face, their tone even somewhat similar.
After a moment, Lucia wriggled on the sofa like a big green caterpillar.
“I’m a little happy…”
Half of Lucia’s face was buried in the plush toy, her voice muffled.
Xia Li waited quietly for her to continue, “Today I received a gift for the first time, a human gift.”
Lucia’s voice was very soft, and she rubbed the sheep’s ears as she spoke.
Xia Li nodded, about to say, actually, the clothes I bought you before also count as gifts.
Then he heard Lucia’s next sentence: “Candy from a human cub, hehe…”
Xia Li: “…”
No.
No matter how you think about it, your first time should be with me, right??
The first time going to the mall, the first time taking the bus, the first time seeing a human metropolis… Then shopping, buying clothes, eating all kinds of new foods.
How could a little girl bribe you with a single candy?!
“However, candy is gone once you eat it, but this will always be there!”
Lucia patted the plush toy again.
She actually wanted to say this from the beginning, but being stared at by Xia Li made her shrink back.
Dragons never back down.
But in front of the hero Xia Li, she would always feel intimidated.
Xia Li’s gaze…
Made the dragon’s heart beat thump-thump-thump.
“Then you have to take good care of it,” Xia Li said with some relief.
Well, although he lost to the candy at first, his sheep won the revival round.
“Of course, I’ll take it with me to my grave.”
Lucia always said things that were shockingly serious.
“I’m going to work… As for that Record of Experiences, I’ll try to update it to 50,000 words in the next two days.”
As he spoke, Xia Li had already returned to his room, ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work.
He was just going back and forth in his own mind.
But did this silly dragon even know what “like” was?
Lucia couldn’t even categorize human emotions yet. Even if Xia Li asked her “Do you like me?” right now, and she answered “Yes,” it wouldn’t necessarily mean that it was true love.
This matter still needed to be considered carefully.
Clicking open the computer screen, Xia Li stared blankly at the unlocked computer for a while.
His mind was blank for a long time, his fingers tapping on the keyboard, then stopping.
Xia Li felt a surge of energy welling up inside him.
He wanted to say something, to hear something.
Looking up slightly towards the door, Xia Li said loudly in the direction of the living room,
“Lucia, do you like the humans in this world?”
After a moment of silence, Lucia’s voice came from the living room.
“…Yes, I like them.”
“What about me?”
“I like you too!”