The Comic-Con venue was Qihai City’s landmark building—the Dome.
To be fair, many cities around the world had buildings called “domes.” It wasn’t a special name for any particular stadium or arena; it was just a general term for those massive oval-domed structures.
That fun fact was something Ye Zhibai had just learned from searching an encyclopedia app.
Which meant she could now regard Guang Yu’s ignorant exclamation with the lofty disdain one might reserve for a complete dimwit.
“The Dome?! What kind of dome? A giant egg? Ye Zhibai, snag one for me! This Comic-Con must be tastier than I imagined… cough, I mean, way more fun!”
“Don’t say it like that, Guang Yu. I know you never went to school, but we can’t be this clueless. Listen up: a dome is probably a giant ostrich egg.”
“Ostrich…!”
Oh god, the way the Little Fox’s eyes lit up, drool practically pooling at the corners of her mouth—Ye Zhibai just couldn’t bear it.
When she broke the news about the Dome’s true nature, Guang Yu’s dreams shattered into reinforced concrete. Her tail drooped, and she shrank into the corner of the car, sulking in silence.
That was exactly why you never told a kid who believed in Santa that he wasn’t real.
It was just too cruel!
The exceedingly luxurious luxury sedan, driven steadily by the Head Maid from the front seat, swung around with a smooth turn of the wheel. It glided past the raised parking barrier without a hitch and headed straight ahead in search of a spot.
The old man managing the parking lot wouldn’t dare stop a car like that.
Even if he couldn’t recognize the make, he could sure as hell see that license plate with its five sixes!
The old man thought to himself, Tsk tsk tsk, a plate that flashy? Gotta be worth a gold bar at least!
The Head Maid pulled the sedan neatly into a sideways spot, killed the engine, and glanced back. The Eldest Miss seemed to be clutching at thin air with her bare hands.
Sigh… As expected, even after waking up, the Eldest Miss had improved a great deal, but restoring her intelligence to normal levels would be a long road ahead.
She picked up a baseball cap from the empty passenger seat and handed it respectfully to the back.
“Eldest Miss, we’ve arrived. Please put on this hat after you get out—and don’t take it off unless absolutely necessary.”
“Hm? Oh, sure… but the sun isn’t that harsh today. It’s not super hot.”
“No, it’s got nothing to do with the sun, Eldest Miss. Besides enjoying yourself, you also have a social obligation to fulfill.”
“Social obligation?”
“Yes, the social obligation of not causing a riot. If you walk around the Comic-Con without this hat, I estimate there’s over a hundred percent chance of disrupting order in the venue. We’re not here to make trouble for the organizers. The baseball cap won’t eliminate every risk, but it’s better than nothing—so please wear it.”
“…”
Fine.
So she was a threat to public order now, was she?
Little Zhibai, the “nation-toppling beauty,” finally compromised with societal order and donned the cute pink baseball cap.
Little Qiu’s strategy guide had laid it out clearly: the Comic-Con venue was crawling with photographers snapping away at anything good-looking. Ye Zhibai didn’t want to admit it, but she had to face facts.
—She was seriously hot right now!
Pressing down the brim of her baseball cap with one hand, she trudged ahead, her face mostly obscured. But that flowing silver shimmer trailing behind her, combined with her undeniable aura? No way to hide those.
If I walk fast enough, no one will notice me!
Guang Yu scurried along on her short little legs, struggling to keep up with Ye Zhibai’s long strides. The Little Fox was huffing and puffing from the effort.
“Huff… Slow down, slow down! Ye Zhibai, did you buy tickets? I checked online—two hundred bucks a pop, and you need reservations!”
“No need. I already transferred the money to Little Qiu. She bought them for us. Two people in a group buy counts as a discount deal.”
“Oh… Cool. Not sure if that limited-time discou… whatever this word is will work.”
“Discount.”
“Oh! Not sure if that limited-time discount coupon works—eighty percent off on top of the eighty percent off? Layered discounts saving enough for four drinks!”
“I suspect you’re better at internet surfing than I am… You’re turning into a phone pro.”
“Ehehe… I’m not that great.”
“I wasn’t complimenting you.”
Even if it was praise, it was for Guang Yu’s learning ability.
The girl had started out not even knowing how to swipe a screen— she’d just jab at it with her finger. And now? She’d already mastered coupons!
But really, the biggest discount was that Guang Yu got in without a ticket at all, saving an entire child’s fare.
Wasn’t that the ultimate deal? Guang Yu noticed that Ye Zhibai wasn’t heading toward the winding queue at the Dome’s main entrance. Instead, she was circling around the building, like she was searching for something.
“Ye Zhibai, the main gate’s that way. I can already feel the AC blasting out.”
“Don’t rush. Why hurry when we don’t even need tickets? I have to meet up with Little Qiu first. The Comic-Con is secondary—making friends is the main event.”
Put more plainly:
Even if she lined up now, she didn’t have a ticket in hand!
The ticket was on Little Qiu’s phone!
Ye Zhibai whipped out her phone again and double-checked the location pin from Little Qiu’s latest message.
“Yezi, I’m here already. At Gate 3. Come straight to Gate 3—I’ll be waiting. Say the code phrase when you arrive.”
“What code phrase?”
“Anything works, as long as I can tell it’s you. Like, just yell, ‘I’m Yezi!’ Then I’ll know which one you are.”
Holy crap… no, really, don’t.
Using her 2D culture online handle in real life? Ye Zhibai knew it was normal in those circles—online friends meeting up IRL did it all the time—but it still felt painfully embarrassing!
She should’ve picked a cooler username from the start. Yezi sounded like Little Flop-Veggie. Something like Ye the Heavenly Emperor? Now that had gravitas!
Whatever. No more chuuni nonsense. It was just a code phrase—way easier to say than that one trendy “Reincarnated in another world, all-you-can-eat delights” crap from before.
Circling the Dome like this perfectly showcased Ye Zhibai’s directional idiocy.
She managed to loop from Gate 2 all the way to Gate 1, realized she’d gone the wrong way, backtracked through Gate 2, and finally headed for Gate 3.
In the end, Guang Yu spotted Gate 3 first!
“Ye Zhibai! Come back! Are you heading for Gate 4? You passed it!”
Damn it… This is the downside of never shopping at big supermarkets in my past life. I get lost so easily!
Ye Zhibai adjusted her baseball cap, swallowing the shame of being even more directionally challenged than the Little Fox. She hurried to the front of Gate 3.
She tilted the brim up just a bit, revealing her cool, spiritually charged pale purple eyes, and scanned the entire scene at Gate 3.
That said… Little Qiu didn’t seem to be there?
There were plenty of people streaming through Gate 3, but hardly anyone lingering.
The few who stopped were chatting in small groups, laughing before moving on.
Clearly, none of them were Little Qiu.
The only one who’d been standing there forever was a little girl leaning against a pillar, playing on her phone—back turned.
She definitely wasn’t it.
The kid looked even shorter than Guang Yu! That tiny frame screamed elementary schooler.
Little Qiu was basically a high school senior—an adult!
Ye Zhibai’s first thought was that the girl must be waiting for her parents.
She shifted her position slightly to keep searching for Little Qiu.
But in that little sidestep…
The girl’s profile came fully into Ye Zhibai’s view.
And suddenly… Ye Zhibai’s eyes lit up.
Just to clarify: I’m not a lolita fetishist. Even if I were, it’d be 2D lolitas only—real life is off-limits, okay?
But this loli in front of her was just too dreamy!
Cough… Sorry, “dreamy” was the only word in Ye Zhibai’s head right then.
The little girl had long cherry-pink hair and matching cherry-pink eyes. Standing by the gate, she looked like she was under a blooming sakura tree, ethereal and floating.
She wore a black-and-white princess dress adorned with cat patterns, paired with white mid-calf socks—innocent yet pure.
But most striking was the kid’s vibe… It didn’t match an elementary schooler at all.
She had on massive headphones, listening to music—not earbuds, but big gaming headset-style ones.
Ye Zhibai’s immediate reaction?
—So cool!
Lolis could be this cool too?!
You do you, being cool. Yeah, I’m shocked.
But still.
Where the heck was Little Qiu?!
