“The gift is proof of the love and affection between friends~”
Friends!
Love and affection!
Delwei’s eyes sparkled with little stars. Though she still didn’t fully understand, these two words stirred a surge of exhilarating emotion within her, making the tentacles inside her body dance with excitement!
She pulled off the satin ribbon and lifted the box lid, only to be overwhelmed by a massive surprise!
Delwei’s mouth gaped open, and she couldn’t speak for a long time.
There, on the velvet cushion, lay a fist-sized jade stone, white as congealed fat and exquisitely smooth and hard. It was one of the three pieces of Insect Jade from Ashley’s share of the dividends.
“Is this really okay? Is this really okay?” Delwei asked repeatedly, her tone filled with trepidation.
This was the kind of delicacy so precious that even holding it made one reluctant to eat it. In the wild, it often sparked fights with four or five peers of the same level—or even stronger ones—and winning was rare. More often than not, it left one covered in wounds, or even on the brink of death.
Even more commonly, there wasn’t even a chance to compete; one could only watch from afar, drooling enviously.
Yet the Blue-Haired Loli shoved it into her hands as if afraid she wouldn’t accept it.
“Why…?”
Instead of taking it, Delwei drew her legs in out of confusion, curling up on the chair with her whole body shrinking inward.
But as she glanced around and saw the other lolis happily receiving their gifts without any issue, she forced her lips into a smile and joined in, though doubt still lingered in her heart.
“I’ll go to the Cat House and get you ten of the biggest pearls…”
Delwei finally couldn’t stand the feeling and stood up to leave.
Ashley stepped across to block her, placed a finger on her little face, and stared into her eyes up close, saying earnestly:
“This isn’t a trade, okay? A friend’s gift expects no return, a friend’s help is only natural, and making you happy is precisely the meaning of me being your friend!”
“…I understand.”
Delwei slowly uncurled her small body and obediently let Ashley hold her in her arms.
For insects, this was a dangerous predatory position. For instance, spiders or antlions would use their powerful limbs to pin down prey, bite through the skin, inject digestive fluids, and once it dissolved into a sac filled with chyme, they could feast to their heart’s content.
Delwei’s heart raced with panic, fearing Ashley might suddenly turn on her, bite her neck, and repeat that process. But after receiving the gift, she inexplicably felt that Ashley wouldn’t do it. Perhaps this was what ‘friends’ meant—being able to resist eating the other, being able to give away something delicious…
She cradled the Insect Jade, her little tongue shyly poking out from between her lips to lick it bit by bit.
“Wu wu… so delicious…” Delwei’s voice trembled, her eyes widening slightly.
Ashley asked curiously, “You’re not swallowing it in one gulp this time.”
“If I swallow it straight down, I can’t control the absorption. My belly would swell into a ball, and it might even explode from the pressure. Full absorption takes at least a month.”
Delwei licked it like a huge lollipop. Rushing wouldn’t help, so she simply took her time.
Suddenly, she paused, touched her little belly, broke into a beaming smile, and turned to Ashley:
“I have a Little Flower now too!”
“Eh?”
Following her guidance, Ashley parted the fresh red wriggling tentacles and indeed saw an organ similar to her own structure, including the cavity connected behind the Fig.
” Insect Jade contains powerful primal life essence. It can simulate any biological structure. Though it doesn’t help much with survival or combat, if you have it, I want it too. Come, feel it!” Delwei invited, grasping Ashley’s little hand.
Ashley’s mood was a bit complicated—this part aside, everywhere else was so unlike a human, more like a living nested silicone doll…
“This is the fruit borne from our friendship… Ah, so soft, like baby octopus, soft and bouncy.” Her fingers pinched and played, her eyes growing brighter.
Thanks to the nerve connection shaped straight to the brain, Delwei shuddered all over as if electrocuted, going limp in Ashley’s arms. Her fingers clutched Ashley’s clothes, and she could no longer mimic human speech, only whimpering.
“So that’s… how Little Ai felt back then… I’ve never experienced it before… Is this what humans feel like…?”
While the two were engrossed, the watching lolis’ eyes gleamed with eerie light.
Especially Xixi, who covered her face and muttered, “Has my Little Ai turned into this? Nooo…”
“Once you’ve touched the Fig, we’re best friends.”
Ashley gripped Delwei’s shoulders, forehead to forehead, and murmured:
“Hey, my dear friend, can you do me a favor?”
–
The Miles Research Center was located deep in the mountains south of Fountain City.
Its founder, Miles Giblin, was a man of the Second Dawn Era, one of the first scientists to reach the surface—a brilliant star among humanity’s shining constellation.
However, due to the passage of time, it didn’t feel all that real when mentioned.
After showing her pass, Ashley passed through two checkpoints between mountains renovated into irregular geometric concrete structures and arrived before the white low-rise building in the rear.
This seamless hemispherical building, sixty meters in diameter, was merely the ‘lid’; the main research facility was buried deep underground.
From the mountain barriers to the strata isolation, all were designed to prevent dangerous substances from leaking or explosions from affecting nearby cities.
Ashley and Delwei entered a large elevator.
The elevator was open on all four sides with only a railing around it, like an open terrace.
Surrounding it was a massive pit over three hundred meters deep, bottomless at a glance, with only a row of red guide lights flashing alternately into the darkness.
Delwei, slightly tense, leaned against Ashley. Suddenly, a terrifying thought bubbled up in her mind—was this luring the pig in to slaughter? Would she be surrounded and subdued the moment they landed, stuffed into a concrete cell, and contained in a pool of strong alkali solution…?
Very possible!
She had read in books that deceiving and killing monsters was heroic in human culture.
But… but friends…
Wu wu wu…
Was it really friendship?
Had she been fooled by this cunning human loli?
She was so stupid…
Dazzled by a few sweet words…
The Insect Jade…
She’d only licked a few bites—would it be snatched back?
If she was tricking me…
I’d—I’d swallow the jade whole!
Not even a hundred hands could pry it from my mouth!
As Delwei spiraled in wild thoughts, the terrace elevator halted midair, slid sideways a distance, and reached an opening in the wall.
They entered the square passage, passing through layers of iron gates and mechanisms, until suddenly, bright lights flooded in.
The passage itself remained dim; the glow came from window-like rooms embedded in the walls.
At a glance, all sorts of bizarre creatures were contained there.
Some were like sculptures in freezing mist, others half-melted by strong acids and bases, some bound with high-strength fibers anchored to the walls at the ends, some cast in concrete cubes with only heads exposed, others pierced execution-style by Helix Spears forged from extraordinary materials…
Monster Lolita’s little legs trembled nonstop, her toes curling tight, her face etched with fear.
“What’s wrong?” Ashley asked, puzzled.
Monster Lolita looked at her, the edges of her pupils blurring with teary distortion, and asked in a quavering voice:
“Has… has my room arrived?”
Ashley was stunned at first, then couldn’t help laughing. “Almost there. This is your forever home~ Haha, just kidding. Look at you, scared silly. I just want to kiss you.”
She placed a hand on Monster Lolita’s shoulder and pointed to a glass curtain wall. Inside was a deep blue iceberg shrouded in ethereal mist.
The Bug Lolita born from the Nether Queen had been sliced into fragments and embedded in the ice, covered head to toe in ice crystals.
“This is…” Delwei’s eyes widened in shock.
“Can you talk to it? If you can convince it to join us, that would be great,” Ashley said.
