Li Nanzhu followed the sound of the bell, only to see a wobbly little figure slowly approaching from the depths of the medicine garden, surrounded by spirit plants.
Suisui was being escorted out like a star among moons, leaving the four of them completely stunned.
The spirit plants that had been playing all sorts of pranks just moments ago were now staying beside Suisui with extreme obedience, showing none of their earlier behavior.
A gold-patterned lingzhi held out its cap to shade it from the sun, moon-essence grass turned itself into a carpet beneath its feet, and even that savage man-eating flower king used its vines to clear a path for Suisui.
Even more exaggerated was Suisui’s empty skull, which was now filled with gifts from various spirit plants: spores of the gold-patterned lingzhi, silver leaves of the moon-essence grass, fire seeds of the explosive flame fruit... and even a few drops of nectar from the man-eating flower king, which were slowly trickling down its ribs.
"This..." Duan Xianxing’s jaw nearly hit the ground. "Why does a pile of bones get such good treatment? I get zapped until I'm charred on the outside and tender on the inside just for picking a mushroom! I can accept being worse off than those three, but look at it! It’s getting more than all of us combined!"
Suisui tilted its skull and suddenly pulled a mushroom spore flashing with lightning from between its ribs, handing it to Duan Xianxing.
Duan Xianxing, feeling flattered, reached out to take it.
Crackle!
The spore exploded in his palm, the electricity making his hair stand on end. The man-eating flower king let out another muffled 'guji guji' chuckle, and all the spirit plants shook their leaves as if they were collectively mocking him.
"Suisui, how could you let these spirit plants corrupt you!" Duan Xianxing cried without tears. "Give me back the cute Suisui from before!"
Li Nanzhu was carefully examining Suisui and noticed some glowing powder on its frame. "Is this... pollen from the spirit plants?"
Zhu Yinxi said thoughtfully, "These spirit plants treat Suisui so specially; it seems it has some connection with this cave dwelling." He pointed to the bell hanging from Suisui's tailbone. "Did you notice? Since entering the medicine garden, the rhythm of this bell has changed."
Indeed, the originally crisp ringing now carried a strange rhythm; every time it rang, the surrounding spirit plants would sway gently.
"I remember Seventh Senior Brother saying this bell was just an ordinary magic tool?" Li Nanzhu asked.
Duan Xianxing was busy patting his smoking sleeves. "Yeah! It's just a tracking bell worth three low-grade spirit stones at the bazaar... Wait!" He suddenly widened his eyes. "Could the original owner of this cave dwelling have used the same model?"
Liu Qingyang immediately rejected this answer. "A tracking bell is very common. If you could gain the closeness of these spirit plants with just a bell, it would be too simple. I think... it's still related to Suisui itself."
The four pairs of eyes fell upon Suisui once more.
Truly, Suisui's very existence was extraordinary. Since its birth, it had shown no hostility toward them. Furthermore, the trait of the iron-toothed rat was almost a legend; no one had ever truly seen a new life form emerge after their death.
Not to mention a creature like Suisui, which could not only move continuously but also absorb bones, with its intelligence steadily increasing.
Perhaps Suisui’s birth truly had a great connection to this place, but for them right now, there was no need to probe to the bottom of the matter.
"Then for now..." Even the usually carefree Duan Xianxing began to hesitate. If Suisui truly was born because of this cave dwelling, then taking it away would actually be harming it.
Seeing the four of them suddenly fall silent, Suisui tilted its head, seemingly unable to understand why the people before it had suddenly become unhappy.
Suisui tilted its skull and thought hard for a moment, then suddenly clattered over to the man-eating flower king and gently patted its flower disk with a bony claw.
To their surprise, the fierce man-eating flower king actually lowered its head submissively and spat out a crystalline seed from its pistil.
"Is this... a thank-you gift from the spirit plant?" Li Nanzhu leaned in curiously to observe.
Duan Xianxing pouted sourly. "Why doesn't it spit one out for me too..."
Suisui tucked the seed into its ribs and ran over to the moon-essence grass. The grass immediately shook off three silver leaves, which automatically floated into Duan Xianxing's hands.
"For me?" Duan Xianxing reached out his hands in surprise, only for the leaves to turn to ash the moment they touched his palms.
"Pfft—" Liu Qingyang couldn't help but laugh out loud. "It seems the spirit plants still prefer Suisui."
Suisui seemed very satisfied with this result and clattered over to the gold-patterned lingzhi.
The gold-patterned lingzhi shook its cap and sprayed a cloud of gold powder, dyeing Duan Xianxing's hair—which he had worked so hard to clean—back to gold.
"Hey!" Duan Xianxing wailed. "Are you all targeting me on purpose?"
The man-eating flower king's three eyes narrowed into crescents, and a 'guji guji' sound came from its pistil; it was clearly snickering.
Zhu Yinxi watched this scene thoughtfully. "The spirit plants' attitude toward Suisui is indeed extraordinary."
Li Nanzhu crouched down and gently touched Suisui’s skull. "Do you... have some connection with this place?"
Suisui struggled to understand Li Nanzhu's words for a while before finally shaking its head. Such a question was still too advanced for it at the moment. Suisui chose instead to simply hug Li Nanzhu's hand.
Li Nanzhu merely closed her eyes. "Suisui... do you want to stay here?"
The medicine garden suddenly went quiet. All the spirit plants stopped swaying, and even the man-eating flower king retracted its flailing vines. Only the bell on Suisui's tail occasionally let out a crisp ring. Li Nanzhu felt as if something were blocking her throat, and the other three fell into silence as well.
"Suisui..." Her voice trembled slightly. "The spirit plants here like you so much, and the spiritual energy is so abundant..."
Duan Xianxing rarely refrained from joking, merely scratching his still-smoking gold hair. "Actually, maybe if this little guy stays here..."
"And they seem to treat you like a treasure," Liu Qingyang added as he tightened his headscarf, his gaze sweeping over the now-quiet spirit plants.
The cap of the gold-patterned lingzhi drooped slightly, the silver leaves of the moon-essence grass hung listlessly, and even the man-eating flower king pulled back its vines, its three eyes looking watery.
Zhu Yinxi’s jade flute lightly tapped Suisui’s skull. "If you choose to stay, we can periodically—"
Click-clack!
Suisui’s entire skeletal frame suddenly came apart, the bone fragments flying like snowflakes scattered by the wind before reassembling in the blink of an eye.
It pressed its skull firmly against the tip of Li Nanzhu's shoe and gripped her skirt tightly with its bony claws, with such force that it pulled several wrinkles into the fabric.
Li Nanzhu’s tears suddenly fell, pitter-patter, hitting Suisui’s skull. She hurriedly tried to wipe them away, only to find the teardrops being absorbed by the bone.
Even more miraculously, a lustrous glow appeared on Suisui's skeletal frame, like porcelain silvered by moonlight.
"It..." Duan Xianxing’s eyes widened.
Zhu Yinxi’s jade flute spun in a beautiful arc. "It seems the answer is very clear."
"Suisui, Suisui..." Looking at Suisui's determined choice, Li Nanzhu could no longer control her sobbing. Her voice was broken, forced out from somewhere deep within, carrying a tremor that was foreign even to her.
The only thing she could do was hold this tiny skeleton tightly, like grabbing onto a piece of driftwood while drowning.
Ever since waking up in this world, she had lived like an outsider.
She knew everyone’s ending; she knew she was just a stepping stone on the heroine's path. Even her senior brothers' care felt as if it were separated by a layer of frosted glass—beautiful yet unreal, liable to shatter at any moment.
Tears blurred her vision. As a transmigrator, she had actually found her home in a pile of bones within this fictional world.
"I..." She opened her mouth, her throat feeling as if it were stuffed with wet cotton. Suisui's cold bony claws pressed against her cheek with a slight 'click-clack' sound.
All the insecurity she had felt since transmigrating suddenly broke through the dam.
She thought of her tragic death in the original story, of the pain of the First Senior Brother being hunted down, of the Second Senior Brother's death after his heart in the Dao shattered, and of the Seventh Senior Brother's soul being scattered after he sought revenge for the First Senior Brother.
She was afraid of their kindness—that warm, genuine care. She feared it was merely a path printed in a story script, a pre-programmed sequence.
"Little... Little Junior Sister?" Duan Xianxing's voice lacked its usual playfulness. He stood there helplessly, charred marks still on his gold hair. This usually heartless Seventh Senior Brother now had a face full of clumsy concern.
Li Nanzhu suddenly realized she was shaking. She stared intently into Suisui's empty eye sockets, where the jumping blue flames reflected her wretched image.
"Why..." Her voice was hoarse. "Why did you choose me?"
She knew.
There was no character named Suisui in the original story.
This bond was an accident that exceeded the script, a weed growing outside the lines of fate.
Because of this, she was even more terrified—what if Suisui's choice was also being controlled by some invisible force? What if all this warmth was ultimately just a whim of the story's author?
Suisui's skull gave a sudden 'click' as it tilted.
It broke free from Li Nanzhu's embrace, its bone fragments clattering to the ground and reassembling to form a crooked little flower in her palm.
Then it reached out a bony claw, gently tapping her heart, then its own ribs.
—I choose you, because it is you.
Li Nanzhu's tears fell even harder.
She finally understood what she was afraid of—she feared this bond was too real, so real that if she truly lacked the power to change things, if she ultimately had to face the original ending, the pain would be heart-wrenching.
But now, Suisui had chosen her. Not because of the plot, not because of fate... it just... chose her.
"Suisui..." Her voice was so quiet it was almost inaudible, her fingers unconsciously stroking Suisui's smooth bone surface. "Do you know... that I actually..."
She suddenly choked up.
How could she tell a skeleton that she was merely an outsider who had seen through fate?
How could she explain that her hesitation wasn't out of a lack of trust, but because she was too afraid of losing everything?
Suisui tilted its skull, the blue fire in its sockets flickering.
It reached out a bony claw and gently touched Li Nanzhu's wet cheek, then pointed to its own ribs—there was a shallow crack there, as if made by a sharp weapon.
Duan Xianxing crouched down, for once not joking around. "Little Junior Sister, are you... afraid of something?"
Li Nanzhu suddenly looked up, meeting her Seventh Senior Brother’s clear eyes. This person, who was always so carefree, now had eyes filled with a complexity she couldn't read.
"I..." Her nails dug into her palms. "I’m afraid all of this is fake..."
Suisui clattered and shook once more.
It escaped Li Nanzhu's arms, its bones scattering across the ground before reassembling under everyone's surprised gazes.
This time, it formed a simple scene:
A tiny skeleton holding a ball, and a hand reaching over, its fingertip gently touching the skeleton's cold skull.
—That was the scene of their first meeting.
Li Nanzhu's breath caught.
Suisui had no memories of the past; it only knew that at that time, it was her finger that first warmed its cold bone. This bond was that simple, that pure—unrelated to the original story, unrelated to fate.
"I understand..." She pulled Suisui into a tight hug, feeling the slight vibration from the skeleton. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Suisui rubbed its skull against her chin, its bony claw gently patting her back as if to say: it's okay.
Zhu Yinxi also spoke softly, "All things have a spirit. Its choice is the answer."
Duan Xianxing threw an arm around Li Nanzhu's shoulder. "Who cares about the reason! Suisui chose you, and we chose you. Isn't that enough?"
Liu Qingyang silently untied his headscarf—which had been dyed somewhat green—and tied it around Suisui’s neck in a crooked bowtie. The fluorescent green headscarf against the white bone appeared somewhat hilariously cute.
Li Nanzhu held Suisui tight and broke into a smile amidst the glowing specks of light from the spirit plants.
The bell on Suisui's tail let out a crisp ring, appearing to chime in harmony with her heartbeat.
This time, she finally felt it for real—this warmth was real.
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