My Girlfriend is a Cold and Aloof Sickly Beauty 181

Chapter 181: Two Fairies Living in the Mountains

As soon as Xiao Luohan made eye contact with the dazed white cat in front of her, she knew that Cang Ling was adding her own “personal touch” again.

Jiang Xue had become a white cat, then what was she?

She looked down at herself, fluffy white fur, paws of a canine, then her gaze shifted to the large tail wrapped around her, and her expression became complicated.

“Jiang Xue?” she called out tentatively, relieved that she could still speak human language.

“It’s me,” the cat opened its mouth, its tone troubled. “Uh… I didn’t expect this scenario…”

“Me neither, perhaps Cang Ling likes Elder Sister’s fox form too much, and having spent so much time with the white cat, she mixed in some of her own thoughts while weaving the dream,” Xiao Luohan replied, looking around. “This isn’t anywhere I’ve imagined before, it looks like some kind of nest.”

They were lying together in a giant nest lined with soft cotton, but the material of the nest itself was unclear, its shape a bit like a bird’s nest.

“Then let’s go outside and explore,” Jiang Xue said, standing up. “Although it shouldn’t be necessary, but if it’s Cang Ling… I think we should check the surroundings for safety.”

She hadn’t forgotten that Cang Ling’s livestreams mostly involved horror games. What if she had placed some ghosts nearby…

“No rush, let’s see if we can transform into our human forms with our minds,” Xiao Luohan said, closing her eyes and focusing on her human form.

In Jiang Xue’s vision, the white fox before her was enveloped in a white light, instantly transforming into Xiao Luo, only naked.

Xiao Luohan didn’t open her eyes after transforming, keeping them closed for a while, then frowned and said, “I can’t conjure clothes.”

Jiang Xue also tried, but during the transformation, based on her “experience” from various works she had seen, she tried to imagine her fur turning into the white dress she wanted, and when she opened her eyes, she was indeed wearing it.

Although it was a simple design, and it was just a fluffy white dress, it was better than being naked.

She quickly shared her experience with Xiao Luo, and after Xiao Luo also conjured a white dress, they started climbing out of the nest.

Although they were in their human forms, their cat and fox ears and tails remained. As Jiang Xue climbed, Xiao Luohan, following behind, could see her fluffy cat tail swaying with each movement.

Since this was a dream, and nothing they did here would affect reality, Xiao Luohan couldn’t help but reach out to the cat tail.

First, she gently touched the tip of the fur with her palm, then closed her fingers around it.

Jiang Xue, who was focused on climbing, shivered, her body tensing.

“L-Let go of my tail!” she said, flustered.

Xiao Luohan, however, didn’t let go, but instead smiled and invited, “You can also touch my tail.”

Jiang Xue: …

She felt like they were playing some kind of large-scale VR game, the kind with a two-player mode where you could prank your teammate.

But she was happy to be pranked by Xiao Luo, so she let go, jumped back into the nest, and also touched the fluffy white fox tail.

This touch, however, led to more. The fox tail wrapped around Jiang Xue’s arm, then her body, even brushing against her inner thigh when she was distracted.

This made Jiang Xue unable to focus on exploring the surroundings, or even worry about potential ghosts. As she fell onto the soft cotton, ticklish, she pulled Xiao Luohan down and did the same to her with her cat tail.

“Does this feel unproductive?” Xiao Luohan suddenly asked, looking up at the dim light source above, like a starry sky.

“No, it’s like playing an open-world, 3D single-player game, just wanting to interact with NPCs or other players, admire the scenery, and listen to music. What’s wrong with that?” Jiang Xue said, lying beside her. “I’m just curious about what’s outside the nest. Is this also like the ‘mindscape,’ with everything outside the initial area being blank?”

“Then let’s go and see,” Xiao Luohan, having had enough fun, suggested proactively.

Before climbing, Jiang Xue tried to imagine flying, and when she opened her eyes, she was floating upwards.

She flew out of the nest in one go, through a narrow passage, towards a light at the end.

When she reached the light source, the view before her opened up.

It was the mountain village where Jiang Xue’s two grandmothers lived!

“I did imagine what this place looked like when you were little,” Xiao Luohan said, flying out and standing beside her. “Especially that deep pond in the mountains, where you said you used to swim, although it’s now a fishing area.”

“But that’s not the main point.”

She walked ahead of Jiang Xue, heading in a specific direction with familiarity.

Jiang Xue followed, curiously looking around, and when she saw the familiar scenery, accompanied by the guqin melody she had heard not long ago, she suddenly understood.

“Is this where the traveler and the runaway bride lived in seclusion?” she asked.

“Yes, living a secluded life in the mountains, away from the world, free to do as they please, without any constraints,” Xiao Luohan nodded. “But this is the most idealistic ending, and precisely because it’s not possible in reality, I brought it into the dream.”

She had also realized recently that, due to her past experiences, she had a sort of “social mysophobia.”

To put it more seriously, she didn’t want anyone besides her close acquaintances in her social circle. Her saying to her elder sister today that she “didn’t want to be entangled with scum anymore” was also a form of self-protection.

But she couldn’t stay in a vacuum forever. To make friends, broaden her horizons, and gain experience, she had to meet all kinds of people along the way and then gradually filter out those who were suitable for her, removing the unsuitable or even harmful ones.

Meeting Xiao Luohan’s gaze, although Jiang Xue couldn’t fully understand her thoughts, she could still guess.

Instead of expressing her own feelings, she smiled and took Xiao Luo’s hand. “Then we’re two fairies living in seclusion in the mountains now!”

Even though they had known each other for almost a year, and Xiao Luo had been in this world for ten months, Jiang Xue could still occasionally sense a subtle melancholy in her.

In the popular online term, Xiao Luo would occasionally exude a “faint death wish.”

But it wasn’t world-weariness, but rather, triggered by her hopeless past and the trauma she had suffered, she would unconsciously reveal the despair she had been enduring, showing it to those closest to her without reservation.

Being able to show her scars, and gradually reduce the frequency of such occurrences, replacing them with new, happy memories, was also a commendable improvement.

They settled down on the mountaintop, in a small bamboo hut with a pavilion.

Inside the hut were various fabrics and sewing supplies—all collected by Xiao Luohan while playing Non-Dream. Outside, there were empty flower shelves and a vegetable patch—these were things Jiang Xue felt were necessary.

While Xiao Luohan sat on a bamboo stool, designing clothes, Jiang Xue tilled the land outside with a hoe, and after the soil was loosened, she planted the seeds of her favorite vegetables.

After watering the field, humming a tune, and placing the flowers, which had bloomed with her will, on the shelves, she looked around and suddenly said with regret, “There’s no screenshot function here!”

It would be great if there was a screenshot function. When playing management simulation games, she loved taking screenshots after completing a stage, and looking back at them later gave her a sense of accomplishment.

She returned to the hut and told Xiao Luohan about this. Xiao Luohan stopped what she was doing, stared at the clothes for a long time, and didn’t say anything.

Indeed, this was just a dream, a fleeting illusion, disappearing upon waking.

…No, there were still things that remained, just not as tangible as photos or screenshots.

“It’s okay, we can memorize the scenes we like and draw them after we leave,” she replied, recalling the “mindscape,” which was now gone along with the sealed passage.

They had placed many things they both liked there, but unfortunately, they couldn’t go back.

All the scenery and furnishings now only existed in their memories.

Their memories were the only things that remained.

Thinking of this, Xiao Luohan looked at an empty corner of the bamboo hut.

With her memories, the bamboo hut unfolded like a box.

The bookshelf, the desk, the cushions from the “mindscape,” the drawings on the table, the vase with plum blossoms, the red Scream bottle, even the diary that had turned to ashes and moths during the crossing, all reappeared, filling the space.

“…Do you think I can create a small world with my brush?” Xiao Luohan murmured, as if asking Jiang Xue, or perhaps just talking to herself.

Not just preserving the objects in her memory, but also adding new things whenever she thought of them.

“Of course you can, but to reach the level of ‘creation,’ you need years of accumulation and practice, experience, imagination, talent, and skills,” Jiang Xue nodded, sitting down beside her and imagining an empty glass sphere, holding it in her palm. “Look, just like a DIY snow globe, you can put all sorts of things inside, make it beautiful, to your liking, or even turn it into a complete ecosystem.”

“Then I’ll first sketch my ideas in my sketchbook, and when my skills improve, and my ideas are enough to form a complete world, I’ll combine them,” Xiao Luohan said, looking intently at the empty glass sphere in Jiang Xue’s hand. “I think that’s how the works I love and am immersed in were created.”

“It’s just that some worlds are small, revolving solely around the romance of two people; while some worlds are as vivid as reality, even the characters outside the main storyline and perspective can have their lives, futures, and endings deduced from various clues.”

After listening attentively and seeing her lost in thought, Jiang Xue encouraged her, “If you find this interesting, then let your imagination run wild! I’m also planning to practice my drawing skills when I have time. After all, my major requires drawing, and drawing the cases and herbs I have to memorize will definitely help.”

She handed the empty glass sphere to Xiao Luohan, walked to the area that replicated the mindscape, picked up the diary she thought she would never see again, and gently caressed the cover.