“You’ve been behaving strangely lately,” I said straightforwardly. I don’t like to beat around the bush.

I continued to walk forward as I made that remark, because Harry and Arsenal had already walked far ahead of us.

“Oh yeah, Lil Bing, tomorrow…”

“What’s up tomorrow?!” I suddenly became nervous and my heart started racing.

Raffles saw me panicking and laughed. He especially liked to smile nowadays, and his smile was really charming. The bashful Raffles was really disappearing under Harry’s tough training.

“I am doing research and an on-site investigation tomorrow. I need your help.” I let out a breath of relief at that. “Phew. Alright.” It’d be best to head out tomorrow, since that would mean that Arsenal wouldn’t have any ‘surprises’ waiting for me tomorrow.

I was terrified of being rushed into marriage by Elder Alufa.

“So, you’ll have to take a break from training tomorrow,” Raffles continued, taking up a tutor’s attitude.

“Mm, alright. Will Harry be there too?” I asked naturally, because Harry had always been my partner in the field.

Raffles’s expression stiffened, and he looked away as he answered with a low voice, “Mm, he will be there too.”

I nodded. “It’s better to head out with him. It’d be safer to have all three of us on a mission. What are you studying tomorrow?”

“Right, I’m going to study the Day Monsters.” Raffles got excited when I brought up the study. “We’ll bring the lucid birds with us tomorrow.”

“Why are we bringing them with us?” I asked confusedly.

Raffles smiled at me and he started talking rapidly. “Train them to hunt. Lucid birds grow up very quickly in order to survive at the end of the world. Actually, it’s not just the lucid birds who do this, but also the flying corpses like Second Sis because it would be difficult for them to survive as a baby. This is an evolution in genetic adaptation. It’s amazing!” Raffles would chatter onlike a machine gun whenever we talked about science.

We seemed to have gone back to our good old times. It made me happy and relaxed. I asked closely to maintain the mood, “How fast do they grow?”

Raffles’ eyes were filled with excitement. “Flying corpses’ pregnancy period is about thirteen to fourteen months. The baby that they give birth to would be like other animals’ young, able to walk the moment it lands. Then, it would grow tremendously at a speed of around seven times’ that of humans’ growth. Then, they would reach maturity in three years, with their physical form roughly similar to a twenty-one years-old human.”

“So fast!” I exclaimed in surprise.

“But then, their metabolism would slow. Their youthhood would be much longer than ordinary humans’. They live longer than ordinary humans too.” 

“Wow!” I began to calculate in surprise. “In other words, Second Sis’s children would be as old as me in three years’ time!”

“Yes. Plus, I injected human DNA for them. So, Second Sis’ children would look very similar to humans. I really want to see Second Sis’ children.” Raffles looked up into the night sky as though he was looking forward to Second Sis coming to Noah City to give birth to more babies.

Looking at him watching the night sky, I remembered something and said, “Oh yeah, Raffles, make something to replace Brother Qian Li.”

Raffles was stunned and he looked down at me. “Why?”

I smiled mysteriously. “Someone intends to pick Brother Qian Li but he is always in the sky. How are they ever going on a date?”

Raffles looked surprised. “Who picked Brother Qian Li?”

I pointed to the front and blinked at Raffles. Raffles immediately understood and got excited for Brother Qian Li. “That’s great! I will go and build one right away. This is simple. Now that we have sufficient simulated blue crystals, we can realize twenty-four hour surveillance control!”

As expected! Raffles is invincible!

Raffles started to stare in front of him as his hand began to draw a draft in the air.

“I suddenly recalled that tomorrow is a great day!” he suddenly said as he drew. His gaze continued to fix forward while he used his other brain to converse with me.

I immediately became anxious again. “What kind of a great day?!”

“Confession day,” he replied. “520, I love you,” he said gently. He spoke with such a gentle voice as though he was murmuring sweet nothings to me. My heart began to race uncontrollably. I turned away with guilt and chuckled drily, “Yeah, that’s great. I just realized that. Haha. It turns out that your world is pretty similar to my world. 520 means I love you.”

“Your world?” He suddenly stopped drawing in the air and he stopped in his steps. He looked at me in surprise.

My heartbeat accelerated as his gaze fixed upon mine.

“Lil Bing.” He extended his hand and gripped my arm gently. “What do you mean by your world?”

As my heart was racing, I couldn’t calm myself down to think. I didn’t know why I’d become less calm and less like myself recently. “I… I…”

“Lil Bing, I…” He wanted to say something but paused. He then asked carefully, “Should I ask? Did you not lose your memory at all?” He seemed to be able to read my mind. No, he might have seen through me long ago.

Maybe Harry, Arsenal and all the others had seen through me too. However, as kind as they were, they hadn’t asked. They’d protected my heart so I wouldn’t feel hurt again.

I lowered my head and furrowed my eyebrows. The secret that I had kept in my heart seemed to be pushing off its seal. It was dying to come into the world, dying for another person to share the burden with me.

“Lil Bing, did something happen in the place that you were at before you, which made you not want to remember it? That’s why you sealed it off and it became your world?” He thought I was referring to another world in my head.

I took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Raffles, do you remember that I asked you about parallel worlds when we came back from Raffles City?”

He was stunned.

The cool night breeze blew against my face and told me clearly that I had no practical ways of returning ever, that this was my reality now. The person standing before me was the one that I trusted the most, relied on the most, he might even be one of my family members who I never wanted to leave my side.

“The world I came from is entirely different from yours. There were mountains and rivers…” Raffles slowly let go of my arms as I spoke. Then, he took a step back. It was the first time I’d seen shock and disbelief cross his face.

I continued as my heart ached, “There were trees, flowers, rice paddies, wheat, apples, watermelons, bananas, cats, dogs, and all kinds of animals…” Tears began to well up in my eyes, my family’s laughter and my friends’ voices beginning to fill my head as I took a stroll down memory lane.

Luo Bing, let’s knock those in the next class dead during tomorrow’s basketball match!

Luo Bing, remember to double-check your answers for tomorrow’s test.

My dearest Bing Bing, tomorrow is my birthday. You can be absent but your present must be here.

Bing, let’s go skating this Saturday.

Brother Bing, show mercy during this weekend’s game.

Brother Bing, how do the punches go again? I forgot.