“Tripping on flat ground? That’s so stupid!”

Yexing’s eyes welled with tears. The pain that surged through her mind nearly made her pass out.

Luckily, the two bodies didn’t share injuries.

Ye Lan had passed out because her body’s self-protection mechanism kicked in. Yexing had only felt a little of the pain coming from the other body.

That’s how it is with one soul.

“Waaah… waaah…”

Yexing rolled around for quite a while before she finally recovered.

“What the heck happened? I was running, and then suddenly I had no strength…” As soon as she came around, Yexing started complaining.

“And I have no idea where they’ll take me if I’m injured. A hospital? But I don’t have any money—I can’t afford the medical bills! What am I supposed to do? Ahh… Does that mean I’ll have to sell the house and sleep under a bridge?! Damn it…”

Yexing rolled around on the bed. As she did, her oversized shirt slipped down considerably, exposing a large expanse of her pale skin and leaving her nearly half-dressed. She looked cute, if a little underdressed.

Her hair had grown a little messy by the time she finally stopped and tried to think calmly. Then, a sudden idea struck her.

“Maybe I should… give up on that body?”

But as soon as the shameless idea popped into her head, Yexing lowered it dejectedly.

“No, wait. They’re both me. How could I give one up?”

She was numb. Completely numb.

Now that she thought about it calmly, finding a rich, pretty girl to support her didn’t seem so embarrassing after all.

Of course, whether the other girl would agree was another matter.

Who’d be bored enough to take home two useless little gluttons who didn’t want to do anything and raise them?

Yexing sat on the bed, hugging her pale little legs. Her round toes, plump as grapes, kept gripping the blanket beneath her feet, betraying the complicated feelings in her heart.

“Forget it. I’ll wait until Ye Lan wakes up before deciding…”

……

Night Watchers Base.

A petite, black-haired girl lay on a bed in the medical department, her head wrapped in white bandages. She slept peacefully.

Four people stood outside the door.

Three of them were Bai Tu, Cai Xun, and Bu Jie, who had brought Ye Lan back.

The fourth was the attending physician treating Ye Lan’s injuries.

“Going by what you’ve told me, it’s a miracle this child survived a fall at that speed. And she doesn’t have any particularly serious injuries. I expect she’ll be up and running around in just a day.”

The attending physician looked over the examination report in their hands and quickly reached a conclusion.

The main reason was that Ye Lan had been treated by a Night Watcher with healing-type Stars. Otherwise, her injuries wouldn’t have recovered so quickly.

Cai Xun sucked in a sharp breath, feeling as if everything he knew about the world had been turned upside down.

“Unbelievable. Is this little girl made of iron or something? She took a fall that bad and she’s fine?”

Bu Jie patted him on the shoulder with a self-mocking look.

“Aren’t young people these days all this tough? We’re just a couple of useless old guys.”

Cai Xun brushed his hand away in annoyance. “Get lost. I’m still young—you’re the old guy!”

The attending physician left soon afterward.

Bai Tu ignored the two men fooling around, opened the door, and went in to check on Ye Lan, who was lying in bed.

As Bai Tu looked at her cute face, her gaze grew distant, as if she’d been reminded of something. A flicker of sorrow passed through her eyes.

“She really looks like her… And I’m glad she’s okay.”

While Bai Tu sat there staring blankly, the figure on the bed slowly opened her eyes.

“Mm… An unfamiliar ceiling.”

As soon as Ye Lan opened her eyes, she realized she was somewhere unfamiliar.

If nothing else, this must be a hospital, right?

“Bu Jie, come look! The little girl’s awake!”

“Holy crap! She really is! I thought she’d be out for days. What an iron will!”

Hearing the unfamiliar voices, Ye Lan turned to look. Three strangers came into view.

She remembered seeing those three before she passed out. Were they the people who’d saved her?

As Ye Lan wondered about it, a black-haired young man leaned over beside her bed and held up two fingers.

“What’s this?”

“Two?”

She was a little afraid to talk to strangers, but Ye Lan still answered softly. She also pulled the blanket up to cover half her face, as if that might make her feel a little safer.

The black-haired young man opened his mouth, looking utterly shocked.

“Oh no! Her body’s fine, but she must’ve hurt her brain! She can’t even tell ‘two’ from a peace sign!”

Ye Lan: “?”

Hearing that, Ye Lan suddenly wanted to get up and kick this random goofball.

But someone soon got revenge for her.

A blond young man slapped the black-haired one on the head, sending him stumbling aside.

“You idiot, go play somewhere else. Don’t scare her.”

After shoving Bu Jie aside, Cai Xun put on a friendly expression and smiled gently.

“Little miss, don’t mind that idiot. What’s your name, and where do you live? Do you have your parents’ contact information? That way, we can get in touch with your family and let them know you’re okay.”

Little miss?

Hearing that form of address,

Ye Lan realized this was the first time she’d appeared in front of strangers as a little girl. But she had no idea how to interact with people in her current identity.

“Um, my name is Ye Lan. I live alone. My parents have passed away.”

Cai Xun was dumbstruck. He pressed on, “Wait, you live alone? Is there no one looking after you?”

“No. I’ve always been alone.”

“Yikes—that doesn’t make sense. Don’t you have any other guardian? What the hell is going on, letting such a little kid live on her own?”

Bai Tu searched for Ye Lan’s identity records, but the results showed no little girl named “Ye Lan” in the city.

She couldn’t find a single trace of information.

Every child was added to the online records after birth. No matter what, there should’ve been something.

But she’d never seen a record this completely blank.

“Is she undocumented?”

Bai Tu guessed that Ye Lan’s parents had secretly had her and never registered her identity.

But she couldn’t figure out why they’d do that.

Maybe they had some strange purpose in mind.

Ye Lan had no idea the girl beside her had already imagined an entire backstory for her. Her own thoughts were a mess.

【My body doesn’t hurt anymore. Medicine is so advanced now, but the medical bills must be huge, right? I don’t have anywhere near that much money. Should I ask those three kind people for help? But how could I ever pay them back?】

Bai Tu was thinking too. Then she made up her mind.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-three.”

Ye Lan heard someone ask her a question and answered without thinking.

Yes, her real age.

That number left all three of them completely baffled.

Only then did Ye Lan realize how ridiculous that sounded, so she quickly corrected herself.

“Eighteen. Yes, I’m eighteen!”

Bu Jie was baffled.

“She’s supposed to be eighteen?! Come on, don’t lie! Which eighteen-year-old girl I know is as short as you?”

Ye Lan’s cheeks flushed red. She looked adorably silly.

“Then… fourteen…”

“Fourteen? Kids these days are nearly as tall as adults by fourteen. Are you… severely malnourished?”

“Hmph!”

Ye Lan pulled the blanket over her head and sulked underneath it.

She wasn’t talking to idiots.