0153 Fairy Project

Right at that moment, Moumou suddenly displayed a side of resilience she had never shown before. She actually went off entirely by herself to challenge a Water-attribute magical beast that she was completely incapable of defeating at the time, and miraculously succeeded in obtaining a Water-attribute magical beast core. Although it was later proven that the core had been secretly handed to her by Lance, when Moumou brought it back, Huanluo had truly been taken aback.

The same went for the subsequent siege of Ecasia. Moumou always seemed to emerge at the most critical moments to pull off game-changing feats. Yet, afterwards, she would invariably brush it off with a smile, endlessly explaining away her actions with identical excuses like, "It was just a coincidence," or "I was just lucky this time." Given her usual lack of initiative and utter insignificance in terms of strength, everyone gradually came to accept this explanation. Thus, this group of individuals, brought together by sheer fluke, formed a hierarchical leadership structure that progressed in the order of "Liangyin, Huanluo, Lance." No one had ever expected—or even dared to imagine—letting Moumou take the helm.

Yet, upon arriving at this Magical Beast Forest, Moumou was executing her duties as the leading captain with flying colors. Huanluo comfortably readjusted her sitting posture, watching with keen interest as Moumou, not far away, shamelessly and slickly pestered the Fairy Sister. Suddenly, an inexplicable sense of deja vu welled up in her heart. Huanluo cast a sympathetic glance at the flustered Fairy Sister, who was struggling to keep up with Moumou's pace, and sighed inwardly: *Why do I get the distinct feeling that you're about to be seduced by Moumou as well? Wait, why did I think the word "again"?*

Compared to Huanluo, who played the role of the hands-off boss, Moumou's situation was considerably more complicated. Fortunately, though the Fairy Sister spoke with an ethereal grace and dressed quite like an elf, she turned out to be unexpectedly gullible, easy-going, and approachable. Before long, Moumou had successfully extracted nearly all the information she wanted about the Fairy Sister, save for her given name.

For instance, the Fairy Sister was indeed a member of the Night Ghosts; she was born with a powerful affinity for communicating with nature; she was a total foodie; she was already three hundred years old; and she possessed such-and-such vital statistics...

Well, while none of this was exactly crucial intelligence, the Fairy Sister finally caved under Moumou's dual-pronged assault of tail-wagging, starry-eyed cuteness combined with the promise of sumptuous dinners and breakfasts, ultimately agreeing to act alongside Moumou tonight just to ensure her "master chef" wouldn't perish unjustly in this unfamiliar forest.

Having gone through untold hardships to finalize the agreement with the Fairy Sister, Moumou waved tearfully at Huanluo to signal that they could finally set off. Without missing a beat, Huanluo obediently stood up and walked over. Meanwhile, Moumou excitedly grabbed the Fairy Sister's delicate hand and chattered incessantly like someone claiming credit for a grand achievement: "The Fairy Sister agreed! She agreed!"

The Fairy Sister did not pull away; instead, she wore a healing, beatific smile as Moumou swung her hand back and forth like a handbell. Hearing Moumou chant, "She agreed, she agreed," she even nodded cooperatively to signal that she had indeed given her word.

Seeing the joyous expressions of the two before her, Huanluo felt obliged to offer some response. She casually asked as a formality, "Agreed to what?"

Moumou beamed at Huanluo, her eyes flashing with the clear, triumphant message of *"I've been waiting for you to ask that,"* and replied, "Why, she agreed to take us to find the Night Ghosts, of course!"

"That's right, I agreed..." The Fairy Sister nodded with a smile, but then she instantly caught herself. "Wait, no, that's not right! That's not what you told me just a moment ago..."

Before the Fairy Sister could finish her sentence, Moumou aggressively cut her off. "...As if! Little Luo, look, the Fairy Sister is truly a kind soul. The moment I explained our intentions, she agreed! In exchange, I'll take care of all her meals for these next few days."

"Is that so?" Seeing the Fairy Sister's helpless expression and Moumou's unwavering look of utter conviction, Huanluo immediately guessed what scheme Moumou was hatching. She went along with the flow, leaning forward slightly and donning her trademark, utmost earnest expression as she addressed the frantically flustered Fairy Sister, who was at a loss for words: "Well then, thank you so much. I leave it in your care."

The Fairy Sister, who had been constantly bamboozled by Moumou's ruffian-like talk, was suddenly struck dead in her tracks by Huanluo's display of "deadpan sincerity." She stammered for a long while, utterly unable to cough up a single word of refusal. Her large amber eyes widened as she darted them around in wide-eyed innocence, desperately searching for a way out. Yet, caught in the pincer movement between Moumou and Huanluo, escape proved futile. With her mouth hanging open in silent defeat for half a day, the Fairy Sister could finally do nothing more than lower her head and let out a faint, barely audible murmur of assent.

Seeing that the matter was practically in the bag, Moumou immediately flashed a smug look from the blind spot behind the Fairy Sister, her eyes communicating to Huanluo: *See? Aren't I amazing?* Ignoring Moumou's gloating, Huanluo lowered her gaze to look at the aggrieved, head-hanging Fairy Sister before her, and shot Moumou a stern look that clearly said: *You started this mess, you fix it. Go handle her right now.*

Moumou shrugged indifferently, casually resting one arm over the Fairy Sister's shoulder and leaning her head lightly against the elf's. Without a trace of awkwardness—as if the person who had been teasing her mercilessly just a second ago was merely someone who happened to look identical—she addressed her smoothly, "Now that you've joined us, you can place your order. What would you like for dinner tonight? I'll cook it for you."

"I am not eating anything you cook, you bad person." The Fairy Sister was not as forgetful as Moumou had hoped. Her cheeks flushed red with indignation at Moumou's teasing. She quickly wrricled out of the embrace and retreated behind Huanluo, using Huanluo's height as a barrier to completely isolate herself from Moumou. Right now, she looked precisely like a startled, fluffed-up kitten with its claws out.

"Are you really not going to eat?" Moumou played along with the Fairy Sister's tsundere act, resting her chin on her right hand as if deep in thought, while her gaze casually drifted down to linger on the Fairy Sister's stomach.

*Rumble...* As if on cue to test Moumou's hypothesis, the Fairy Sister's stomach let out a very uncooperative growl. The Fairy Sister's face turned beet red. She practically curled into a ball behind Huanluo, her voice dropping to a whisper so faint one would have to strain to hear it: "Well... even then, I won't eat what you make."

"Your loss." Without pushing further, Moumou gave a grand wave of her hand like a hands-off boss and sauntered over to take the seat Huanluo had just vacated, settling down comfortably. "In that case, I'll just have to leave tonight's dinner to you, Little Luo. Do your best. I'm really looking forward to that pot of Cold Night Herb soup from last time. So bitter... Ah, the true flavor of life~"