Chapter 148: Snow White and the Seven...

"Bad guys always say they aren't bad guys." The yellow-clad boy appeared before the green-clad boy, raising his arm to block Momotaro's attack. The impact of the sword back against the forearm sounded like clashing steel, and the rebound sent a numbing vibration through Momotaro's arm.

"Wait a minute, Third and Fourth. They're my friends." Just as the Calabash Brothers refused to stand down and the tension between the two sides grew thicker, a gentle voice drifted from the forest, and a girl with skin as white as snow slowly stepped into view.

"Snow White Sister." Seeing the girl appear, the Third and Fourth brothers beamed with happy expressions, put away their stances, and bounded over joyfully. Behind Snow White stood five other young boys of a similar age, unmistakably the remaining five of the Seven Calabash Brothers. While anyone else might not have known what to make of this scene, Zhuang Xiaoyuan was completely lost for words.

Who knows which witch had gone and beaten up the Snake Spirit and the Scorpion Spirit? The original Seven Dwarfs had been usurped by the Seven Calabash Brothers, and yet the Calabash Brothers by Snow White's side looked utterly natural. This bizarre fairytale world was truly shattering Zhuang Xiaoyuan's worldview.

"Long time no see, Snow White. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Cinderella emerged from behind Zhuang Xiaoyuan and the others.

"It certainly has been a long time, ever since I left the royal palace. Didn't my brother come with you?" Snow White had spotted Cinderella the moment she came out, so she wasn't surprised now.

"Your brother has gone missing. Nobody can find him anywhere, and somehow, ever since the prince vanished, all sorts of frogs have been appearing near the palace." A fleeting look of melancholy mixed with confusion crossed her face. If not for the prince's disappearance, she wouldn't have been seized by her stepmother and the others on some casual pretext.

"Ahem, pardon the interruption, but if I'm not mistaken, the prince might have turned into a frog. According to the lore, that's a transformation curse that can only be broken by true love's kiss." Hey, wait a minute, what kind of nonsense is this? The prince Cinderella found turned out to be the Frog Prince, and what's more, he was Snow White's brother! This crossover is so seamless that I actually find it strangely compelling.

"Eh, really? Good thing I didn't eat him." Surprise flickered across Cinderella's face.

"Eat him... Frogs are beneficial animals, you can't eat them, and they carry a lot of parasites." Imagining the Frog Prince being caught and boiled by Cinderella, she couldn't even bring herself to picture such a brutal scene. This was a fairytale, after all, a fairytale! Taking a deep breath to forcefully suppress the wild thoughts in her mind, Zhuang Xiaoyuan put on a serious expression and asked Snow White, "Ahem, Snow White, we came here to ask you about the witch. Cinderella said you know where she is?"

"The witch? Ah, you must mean her. She's right at the palace, probably on the top floor." Tilting her head in puzzlement, Snow White glanced at Cinderella and pointed her index finger back in the direction Zhuang Xiaoyuan and the others had come from.

"The palace..." The group's gazes turned toward Cinderella, who had acted as their guide.

"Well, um, thanks for protecting me all the way here, I'll leave the rest to you guys, good luck! Snow White, let's hurry back, I'm going to stay at your place for a few days." Wearing a slightly awkward expression, Cinderella grabbed Snow White's hand and hurried deep into the forest. As the two of them, accompanied by the seven Calabash Brothers, rapidly faded into the distance, they left only a few people standing alone in the chilly wind.

"Oh right, right! To show my apology, take this as a gift. Bye-bye!" As if feeling a pang of guilt, Cinderella dashed back out, thrust a tiny pumpkin into Zhuang Xiaoyuan's hands, and scurried back into the woods.

"This... a pumpkin?" Lowering her head to examine the miniature pumpkin, she couldn't see anything special about it. Could it be a pastry? How are we supposed to share just one? No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than the pumpkin in Zhuang Xiaoyuan's hands suddenly expanded, transforming into a luxurious pumpkin carriage.

"Oh oh, how marvelous! We don't have to walk anymore." Seeing the pumpkin carriage appear, Wen Hui's face lit up with eager interest as she began circling the vehicle, inspecting every exquisite detail.

"Momotaro, can you drive a carriage?" Although they had acquired a wonderful mode of transportation, knowing how to drive a car didn't necessarily mean one knew how to handle a horse-drawn carriage.

"Leave it to me, you can rest easy." With a solemn expression, Momotaro climbed into the driver's seat at the front of the carriage. Zhuang Xiaoyuan and Chu Miaomiao teamed up to coax the hyperactive Wen Hui into taking a seat inside the luxurious pumpkin carriage.

"Hyah!" As Momotaro cracked the whip, the wooden wheels of the carriage began to turn, and the pumpkin carriage rolled toward the royal palace.

"Xiaoyuan, I'll send people to pick you up after you get back." Inside the pumpkin carriage, Chu Miaomiao sat on Zhuang Xiaoyuan's right beneath Wen Hui's glare, clutching Zhuang Xiaoyuan's right hand tightly as she looked up with her small face and spoke. Her expression remained as calm as ever.

"Wuwu..." For some reason, seeing Chu Miaomiao's actions stirred an uncomfortable feeling deep within Wen Hui. Without thinking twice, acting on a sudden impulse, she stood up from the opposite bench, moved to Zhuang Xiaoyuan's left, linked her arm through Zhuang Xiaoyuan's left hand, and made a face at Chu Miaomiao across Zhuang Xiaoyuan. "Hmph~ We don't need you meddling, we can get there ourselves!"

Even though this scenario was something the former Zhuang Xiaoyuan could only dream of, what was going on? Why could she feel a faint killing intent? Was this the legendary Shura field? When she was still a boy, she was never treated as a member of the opposite sex, but after turning into a girl, she had unexpectedly become a magnet for women.

Whoa, the killing intent was getting heavier and heavier; she couldn't take it anymore. Amidst the glare-off between Wen Hui and Chu Miaomiao, Zhuang Xiaoyuan broke free from both of their grips and sat alone on the opposite side. Although she had occasionally taken advantage of situations out of habit from her male personality, when things got real, Zhuang Xiaoyuan turned coward. Truly, there was a good reason why she had stayed single for so long. "Ahem, well, someone coming to pick us up would be great, but the Bone Demons blocking our path are very powerful. If the people sent are too weak, it'll only cause casualties."

"Did you hear that, expressionless cat? Xiaoyuan said not to send anyone, we can handle it ourselves." Zhuang Xiaoyuan's relocation forced Wen Hui and Chu Miaomiao into a direct face-to-face confrontation. Wen Hui crossed her arms, accentuating her increasingly mature chest, and looked down at Chu Miaomiao with a smug expression.

"Idiot Hui, Xiaoyuan clearly agreed to my proposal. Can't you even understand that? As expected of someone whose chest grew over the past few years while her brain didn't." Chu Miaomiao's expression remained unchanged, but Wen Hui clearly saw a look of contempt in her eyes, coupled with a helpless gesture of spreading her hands as if emphasizing that Wen Hui was beyond saving—a sight guaranteed to make anyone furious.

"You... you're as annoying as ever." Wen Hui gritted her teeth.

"Ah, we finally agree on something. How unpleasant." Chu Miaomiao replied with a flat expression.

"Hmph" x 2. Both of them let out a simultaneous cold snort and turned their heads away.