Miss Meizi seemed a little moody, itching to unload her values.

Luo Yu leaned in the corner with her arms crossed, quietly watching, waiting for her to finish.

Cat-eared Xiao Jiu stood there dazed for a long time, then as Meizi lifted her head, turned, and left, she burst into tears with a wail.

“I want Grandpa. I want to go home. I don’t want to become like Sister Meizi… Xiao Jiu ran into a bad woman…”

She bolted into the home’s bathroom and, with her small hands, turned the lock.

Sobbing came clearly from inside.

“Huh?” Meizi froze. “This kid’s reaction isn’t what I imagined at all.”

“Of course it isn’t, you dumb woman.” Luo Yu frowned at her. “Did you think Xiao Jiu would clap happily after that speech and look forward to living your life?”

Meizi shook her head. “But when I told you the same stuff, Luo Yu, you just laughed.”

“I’m different. I’m the future Emperor.” Luo Yu smirked. “My self-control’s way above average. My mind never breaks.”

“…” Meizi said, “I think your mind’s already broken.”

“That’s why I’ll handle it.” Luo Yu smiled with confidence. “Across all heavens and worlds, only I stand supreme. Dealing with a kid? I’ve got it down.”

“Forget it.” Meizi sighed. “You people are impossible. I’m done. I’m going to sleep. I worried all night and didn’t sleep a wink.”

She went to her little room, tidied the clothes on the bed, wiped away the grime old customers had left, pulled up the quilt, shut her eyes, and fell asleep in a flash.

Luo Yu leaned on the bathroom door, listening to Xiao Jiu’s crying. She wiped the sweat on her forehead with her left hand.

She paced in place a few times. She was tired, her body a little weak.

“So little and already crying. What’s there to cry about?”

“Damn it. At my age, I can’t even sleep.”

Her lower belly started cramping again. She pressed a hand there, fished a birth control pill from her clothes, chewed it, and swallowed.

“The old geezer lied to me. It still hurts. I must be pregnant.”

She stepped out of the shabby house, thinking she’d go look at the moon and clear her head.

The rooftop view should be nicer.

Outside, she couldn’t find a ladder. One hand on her hip, she scoffed. How hard could it be?

She eyed the tile eaves, barely three meters high, and sprang for it in a flying lunge.

She pushed off with both legs and didn’t even clear ten centimeters. She couldn’t reach the edge.

“…” Luo Yu muttered, “Kinda awkward.”

In the end she stacked some hay and clambered onto the roof.

Dawn was near. The moon was fading in the white light, almost invisible. Luo Yu came up for nothing.

“…”

She sat on the tiles with her short skirt tucked under her, then peeled off her black stockings she’d worn for days and draped them lightly over her round thighs.

Her small feet dangled and swung in the air. Pale. Soft.

Luo Yu stared, entranced, at the tavern where the Champion was staying.

Out front, smoke and liquor never stopped. Firecrackers kept popping.

“Between me and that place, there’s a distance you can’t see or touch.” Luo Yu suddenly went off the rails, saying nonsense even she couldn’t parse.

She rubbed her head and let down her lone ponytail. Her loose hair spilled out and slid slowly across her chest.

She squeezed, toyed with herself for a moment, then kept sighing.

“By all logic, I should have a cheat. I even awakened the Noble Bloodline recently. I shouldn’t be the trash everyone thinks.”

“I’ve got to at least try. Can’t just slack off. Otherwise what’s the difference from those idiots who no-life Genshin Impact.”

While she muttered and spiraled, a sound came from behind her.

Luo Yu turned. The nine-year-old Xiao Jiu had somehow gotten onto the roof too. She stood there fidgeting, tongue-tied.

“Hm? Xiao Jiu.” Luo Yu blinked. “It’s three meters high. How’d you get up?”

“I jumped,” Xiao Jiu said honestly.

The little catgirl’s jumping wasn’t bad.

“…” Luo Yu remembered her own not-even-ten-centimeter jump and felt a little embarrassed. “So you’re saying I look pretty useless.”

“Luo Yu-jie.” After a good cry, Xiao Jiu had calmed down. Her stutter faded, but she was still timid. Head down, hands forming Naruto hand signs, she asked softly, “What are you doing up here…”

“Moon-gazing,” Luo Yu said casually.

“But it’s daytime…”

“Then it’s a sunrise.” Luo Yu waved at the guilty-faced little catgirl. “Come over here to sis.”

“Okay.”

Xiao Jiu trotted over, glancing left and right for a place to sit, but Luo Yu grabbed her waist and pulled her straight into her arms.

Luo Yu shouted with glee, lifting both hands. Hunger flashed across her face. She licked her lips. “What a tasty little girl. Time for me to dig in!”

Xiao Jiu jolted. “Huh?”

“Crap, my inside voice slipped out. Habit, habit.” Luo Yu withdrew her hands in a hurry and went serious. “Don’t mind me. Kidding.”

“Oh.” Xiao Jiu nodded. She fell quiet, seemed to gather her words, pressed her lips together, then whispered, “Luo Yu-jie, can I go home? I really want to be with Grandpa…”

“Nope.” Luo Yu shook her head. “You’re my star—cough, my little sister now. Your grandpa doesn’t want you anymore.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“But…” Xiao Jiu’s eyes wrinkled up as two tears squeezed out. “When I grow up I don’t want to become like Sister Meizi. I don’t want to hang around men.”

“Aiya.” Luo Yu smiled and flicked, rubbing the cat ears on her head. “That’s just Meizi talking crap. How could I let a tasty—cough, a cute kid do that kind of thing.”

“Don’t try to fool me.” Xiao Jiu shook her head fast. “If I don’t become Miss Meizi when I grow up, what can I even do? I can’t do anything…”

“There’s plenty.” Luo Yu shrugged. “You can farm. You can hunt monsters. Or be my sta—”

“Luo Yu-jie, don’t try to fool me. I know everything.”

Xiao Jiu spoke through tears. “So many people in Lan City are sick now. Grandpa too. Me too. I cough every day for a long time. When I grow up I’ll be soft and fragile with no strength, maybe even paralyzed. How can I work…”

Luo Yu’s face twitched. “That old geezer told all that to a kid?”

“Grandpa said long ago Lan City is a sick city, a town said to be cursed by the Demonic God. Men here are destined to become beggars. Women will end up prostitutes. And one day the Demonic God will swallow everyone. You too, Luo Yu-jie. Me too. Sister Meizi was right… This is the fate of Lan City’s Lower Demons…”

“Ugh, your grandpa’s telling horror stories again. Stop listening to that old codger’s nonsense.” Luo Yu covered Xiao Jiu’s mouth, stared into the distance, then slowly let go.

“Luo Yu-jie, what are you looking at? That looks like the tavern where the Champion just stayed.”

Luo Yu nodded. “Yeah.”

“If only the Champion would act,” Xiao Jiu sighed. “But that party seems to be just passing through. They won’t do anything.”

“Don’t worry.”

Luo Yu ruffled the little catgirl’s hair. “It’s fine, Xiao Jiu. I, Lady Luo Yu, will act. I’m about to become the great hero of the Demon Realm. I’ll save Lan City. And I’ll be the one to kill that useless Champion.”

Xiao Jiu gave Luo Yu’s extremely skinny body a sweeping, skeptical look.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Xiao Jiu shook her head hard. “What good are you, Luo Yu-jie? You look weak as hell. You probably can’t even beat me.”

“…” Luo Yu went quiet for a moment. “Just believe me.”

Xiao Jiu clearly didn’t. She gave a perfunctory “oh.”

Luo Yu: “…”

“But… thanks anyway, Luo Yu-jie. Talking to you makes me feel much better.” Xiao Jiu slowly managed a smile.

“Talking to you makes me feel worse.”

“…”

“Oh, right. Have a candy.” Xiao Jiu pulled a sugar-coated hard candy from her clothes and handed it to Luo Yu. “Grandpa said when you’re sad, eat something sweet and you won’t be sad.”

“That so?” Luo Yu unwrapped it, slipped it into her mouth, and felt a slight peppery tingle bloom on her tongue. She gulped it down. “It’s pretty good, just kind of weird. Where’d you get this, Xiao Jiu…”

“This one?” Xiao Jiu scratched her head, eyes pure. “Sister Meizi stuffed it into my hand just now. She said to be sure to get you to eat it.”

“?”

Luo Yu’s expression changed drastically.