Who would’ve thought? What was supposed to be a simple stroll over to snag a balloon had turned into a ridiculously arduous ordeal.
The culprit? Just as Ye Zhibai and Guang Yu got up from the bench and headed along the grassy path toward the Brown Bear, the bear clumsily turned around. Without so much as a backward glance, it clutched its last two balloons and started shambling away.
Like hell it was getting away with that.
Come on… you’ve only got two balloons left. Wouldn’t it be sweet to hand them out quick and punch out early?
With those nearly-in-hand prizes slipping away like cooked ducks flying off, how could the Little Fox not freak out?
“Zhibai! Chase it, chase it quick! The awesome balloons are getting away—this is a disaster!”
“Chase what? Can’t you see it’s probably clocking out? Whatever, forget it. Let’s head back. I bet Yun’er and the others are almost at the front of the line by now.”
“But the awesome…”
“It’s for your own good.”
“?
It’s not that she didn’t want to chase—it was just that she didn’t have the face for it.
Sure, invisibility made it no big deal for her. The problem was, these balloons were meant for kids in the first place. If the Big Brown Bear had just been standing there, she could’ve snagged one without anyone noticing. But now it was walking away—did she really have to chase it down and beg?
Don’t overestimate the fragile heart of someone with mild social anxiety!
But just as Ye Zhibai steeled herself to beat a retreat, something happened that flipped her decision on its head.
The Big Brown Bear’s slow, heavy steps suddenly halted.
It seemed puzzled by the lack of noise behind it. The clumsy fabric body twisted around with difficulty to look back.
That motion just happened to lock eyes with Ye Zhibai, who was also turning to leave.
The air hung stiff for several seconds… then the Big Brown Bear slowly raised its massive paw.
This time, to better show off the balloons in its grasp, it moved one from its right hand to its left.
With both hands waving them, it shook them right at Ye Zhibai.
Little miss~ check it out, check it out—I’ve still got two balloons here! You sure you don’t want them?
That pissed her off!
Not because the Big Brown Bear was flaunting its balloons, but because the seams on its costume arms were shoddily done. When it lifted both arms with the balloons, the bear paws flapped wildly—and Ye Zhibai could clearly see the person’s hand inside, forced into a fist to grip the strings. The fist bulged right in the middle of each paw.
From where she stood, it looked exactly like the bear was flipping her the bird with both hands!
One wasn’t enough—it had to double down on the international gesture of friendship!
Intentional or not… Little Zhibai suddenly felt the sunshine lose its sparkle.
This jerk… not giving her the balloons and now mocking her to boot!
“Guang Yu…”
“Hm? You sure about heading back?”
“No… switch to battle mode. We’re taking this guy on. Those balloons are mine today.”
“Woo! I love it—cough, I love that fire in you! Only problem is, I don’t have a battle mode.”
“No worries, I was just talking big.”
“Oh.”
Of course she knew what they were made of—both of them together probably didn’t weigh much over a hundred pounds.
Her confidence came entirely from the maid misses lurking nearby! (With righteous confidence.)
Under absolute safety, wasn’t it perfectly reasonable for Ye Zhibai to take a stand and grab a balloon?
~~~
The Big Brown Bear shuffled ahead, Ye Zhibai trailing behind.
Don’t ask why she wasn’t saying anything—she’d been trying to communicate the whole time.
“Hey, yo? Um… buddy? Pal? Balloon? Hello? Stop for a sec?”
She mangled the Chinese and butchered the English, but the Big Brown Bear showed no sign of stopping.
Ye Zhibai was starting to wonder if it was some Easter egg planted by the amusement park—or maybe a robot programmed to auto-recollect at shift’s end.
“Zhibai… you sure you wanna keep following it?”
“Not sure.”
“The issue is, that big dumb bear doesn’t understand a word. And up ahead’s just a bridge pier. I got a bad feeling it’s luring us under there to gobble us up like some flood beast! Eek… getting scared now.”
“It’s not a real bear… Let’s pass the bridge pier. If it doesn’t stop after that, I’m done following. Yun’er said there were only five people left ahead—next-next round’s ours. Plus, don’t trouble the maid misses. Some of them are still tailing us… I think I just glimpsed the Head Maid flash by.”
“Fine. If it doesn’t stop past the pier, we snatch the balloons outright! Can’t go home empty-handed. Zing… so awesome.”
You’re the real flood beast here.
Up ahead, the path led to a decorative stone bridge built by the amusement park.
Tourists crossed above on the bridge, but below was a rest area. At peak playtime, hardly anyone ventured down there. The bridge piers underneath were a total ghost town—perfect shady spot.
The instant Ye Zhibai stepped under the pier and the harsh sunlight vanished, a wave of natural AC washed over her, cool and refreshing.
“This place is pretty chill… Later, bring Yun’er and Zihan here to cool off. Feels like discovering a secret base or… huh?!”
Boing!
Little Zhibai had been chatting unguardedly with Guang Yu when she smacked right into something soft and squishy!
She stumbled back a couple steps to steady herself.
Ye Zhibai shot an annoyed glare ahead and saw the Big Brown Bear had come to a sudden halt.
~~~
That impact had been her rebounding off its poofy costume back.
Slowly.
The hefty fabric bear turned around with a dopey, endearing look… and once more flipped her the bird—no, lifted the balloons!
Uh…
Had it finally noticed someone trailing it?
Seeing this, Ye Zhibai stepped forward casually and pointed at the balloon in its left paw.
“This one… can I have it?”
The Brown Bear nodded slowly.
“And this one over here…? There are two of us—can I take both?”
The Brown Bear nodded again.
Oh ho! You’re pretty understanding, aren’t you, Big Brown Bear!
You can’t see Guang Yu, just me standing here, but you buy the “two people” line? So earnest!
Well, if it was offering, Little Zhibai wouldn’t stand on ceremony.
She took the balloons one by one, freeing its paws at last. No more accidental middle fingers.
Here you go, Guang Yu—the balloons you’ve been craving are finally ours. Take the first bite!
Uh…
Guang Yu?
Why’d she go quiet all of a sudden? She’d been yapping nonstop before.
Ye Zhibai tilted her head to look and saw Guang Yu had shrunk back against the pier wall at some point.
She was clutching her mouth, doubled over in barely-suppressed laughter—like she was plotting mischief or had spotted something hilarious!
Even more telling, the starlit glow in her eyes was just fading.
Ye Zhibai knew that was the afterglow of her Divine Power activating some scanning ability.
What did you just check out?!
But clearly, Guang Yu wasn’t spilling. If it was a bad idea, why say it out loud?
No way.
Something felt off— not in her favor.
Gotta bail!
Ye Zhibai turned to slip away with the balloons.
But suddenly, her vision lurched backward.
Ambush?!
In that instant, the Big Brown Bear ahead lunged out, grabbing her arm. Its bear face thrust forward aggressively, startling Ye Zhibai into dropping the balloons.
And it didn’t stop there. Like unleashing a barbarian charge skill, it bore down on her, shoving her backward until she hit the corner under the pier.
~~~
The force was light, gentle—barely enough to budge her body.
But to Ye Zhibai, it felt anything but!
Even in a costume, it was a massive brown bear bearing down!
Her face went pale; her feet slipped out, and she thudded to the ground.
The Big Brown Bear swiftly extended a paw to cradle the back of her head.
Hey!! Don’t be so damn gentle when you’re the one scaring her!
That originally cute, chibi bear face now looked to her like a snarling maw ready to devour!
Where were the Maid Corps girls? The reliable Maid Corps? Save her!
For some reason, the maids stayed silent. At least Guang Yu…
Oh… Guang Yu was picking up the fallen balloons.
You traitor, scumbag!
Thud!
“Waaah!! Zhibai! This thing’s zero awesome! It hurts—I’m dying! Lemme try the other one…”
Thud!
Guang Yu…
Sometimes I think you’re a total dimwit.
But that didn’t change her current life-or-death crisis!
Ye Zhibai admired her own composure—no expression even now. Superhuman.
Her face icy cold, she stared down the Big Brown Bear, her tone freezing (terrified) to the extreme.
“You… better back off. I’m telling you—no, warning you. I don’t appreciate your amusement park pranks. This isn’t funny. Get lost, or else… my little sister does flying kicks. You get it? Flying kicks.”
“Pfft… heh…”
Hm?!
Laughing at Yun’er’s flying kicks?!
A muffled chuckle erupted from inside the costume.
It was already stifled laughter, muffled further by the thick fabric, so the original voice was hard to make out.
But roughly… sounded like a girl?
Girl or not, she wasn’t holding back!
She’d said let go!
Ye Zhibai’s wrist was pinned firmly under the Big Brown Bear, leaving her unable to budge. She strained to lift her foot and kicked at the bear’s belly, but it felt like a tiny puff of cotton batting against a massive quilt—no effect whatsoever.
Holy crap!
Was her current strength really so pathetic that it couldn’t even match a single cricket? Was she just helpless prey now?!
It was utterly humiliating.
But unless there was no other choice, who would want to pull out this ultimate trump card?
She had warned it… Big Brown Bear.
Everything happening now was entirely its own fault.
Ye Zhibai’s eyes turned sharp and fierce as she took a deep breath.
With resolve, she unleashed her final ultimate move!
“Help——!” she cried out flatly.
Why not just call for backup, right?!
Alas, the bridge overhead was packed with people, and Ye Zhibai’s soft little voice couldn’t carry through the din at all. The Maid Corps might as well have gone offline—there wasn’t a peep from them.
As for that heartless Guang Yu, she was covering her mouth in mock grievance, poking at the balloon shards on the ground like a total airhead.
Yet every now and then, she would spread her palms in a gesture, as if signaling to Ye Zhibai, “Don’t be scared—it’s just a little thing. We all know what’s up.”
Oh, come on… a little thing? Give me a break.
Ah… the bear’s head was inching closer and closer.
Its plush ears had already flopped right onto her skull.
It even deliberately shook its head side to side, like it was trying to terrify the poor little Zhibai, while letting out muffled “Rawr rawr!” growls from inside the costume.
No need for that. She already felt her soul on the verge of floating off to the afterlife.
But right then—
The laughter from inside the costume suddenly grew clearer and more distinct.
The chuckles faded, and a voice finally emerged sharp and clear.
“Pfft… Little Bai, did your big sis scare you? Isn’t this brown bear of mine super fierce? Rawr!”
Ah… she was being sent straight to paradise.
In what she thought were her final moments before the bear finished her off, she seemed to hear Sister Liang’s voice.
Huh?
Sister Liang?!
Even Ye Zhibai, whose face was a barren desert of expression, couldn’t hide a flicker of shock.
At last, the Big Brown Bear slowly released her wrist.
Under Ye Zhibai’s stunned gaze—
The bear’s head split open.
Well, not literally—it was the zipper on the costume’s head being tugged down from the inside, top to bottom.
Little Zhibai’s eyes grew wider and wider… until the person inside practically clambered out on all fours, struggling free at last.
Cascades of long hair like purple satin spilled out, paired with an elegant loose half-sleeve shirt and form-fitting capri pants.
And most tellingly… that ample chest.
It rivaled the mountain of fluffy stuffing now discarded on the ground alongside the bear costume!
The one who had panted and wriggled her way out of the suit was none other than Chi Yuliang.
With a casual flick of her hair, she sent beads of sweat flying—earned from being trapped in that stifling outfit for so long.
“Whew… that thing’s a sweatbox. Zero airflow! Morning, Little Bai—your big sis is here to see you. Oh… and Little Guang Yu’s around too?”
“Morning… good?”
——”You all head out first tomorrow and keep an eye on your surroundings. Sis might pop up right by your side at any moment, teehee~?”
She had known Chi Yuliang would show up, but not like this.
Way too savage!
