Chapter 161
On the sixth day of the first lunar month, comics are updated.
This episode begins with the joyous New Year from Gu Hongying's perspective.
The activity of catching the Nian monster was finally declared over. The sky had already brightened. Gu Hongying opened the door with a feeling of panic and fatigue. What blew in his face was warm air mixed with the tempting aroma of food, and... people busy preparing at the table.
In the previous eighteen years, his parents were like a ghost who had been missing for a long time. Although they tried their best to come back every New Year's Eve for the family reunion, they would leave in a hurry after staying for only a few hours.
The situation this year was special as Gu Hongying had to join the team to catch the Nian monster. He thought that when he returned, even if the lights were on at home and the food was warm on the table, there would be no other people around.
But he didn't expect that his parents would be waiting for him at home, just like countless ordinary families and countless ordinary reunions.
When he was rushed to take a shower and change clothes, he still had a sense of unreality and fantasy. Perhaps it was because the water under the shower was too hot and made his nose a little sore, but soon, he smiled widely - someone was waiting for him outside the door, waiting for him to join them for the long-awaited reunion dinner.
…
When they actually sat down at the dinner table, all the slightly pretentious feelings were thrown out of the way. Gu Hongying sucked in the food like a whirlwind and ate his meal as fast as if there were eighteen little gray ghosts following him.
"Eat slowly, be careful not to choke." His mother, Gu Xingzhu, pushed a bowl of soup in front of him, "No one is competing with you for it."
"Oh no, oh no—"
Gu Hongying's cheeks were puffed up, and he looked like a hamster. He didn't know why he was so hungry. Maybe it was because he consumed too much spiritual energy?
Only after he had eaten nearly half of the dishes on the table did he feel alive. Gu Hongying leaned back contentedly, and then he felt his eyelids starting to twitch.
[Eat and sleep, this is the happiness of the New Year! ]
[嘤嘤, if we go to a buffet with the way they eat, we’ll definitely bankrupt the boss hahahaha———]
[Although Yingying's parents have tried their best to accompany him, it is still very sad to see Yingying's mental activities.]
[I have a feeling that today's update will be very easy. Will it be just a daily routine?]
[Hey! The person in front, please don’t raise a flag!]
Amid the laughter of the comic readers, Gu Hongying, whose eyelids were drooping and who was about to meet Zhou Gong, suddenly jumped up from his chair as if he had been stabbed: "Dad!!!"
"I'm here." Huo Hanzhi pushed his glasses, "What the hell are you yelling about?"
"Dad, can you help me cook two more dishes?" Gu Hongying smiled ingratiatingly. If he had a tail behind him, it would have turned into a propeller by now. "I have a friend who has no food to eat!"
"You can cook, but it will be cold by the time you take it over, right?" Huo Hanzhi asked curiously, "Why don't you invite people to your home to eat with you?"
Gu Hongying showed a smug smile on his face: "Hey, I can draw a spell to keep warm, so I'm not afraid of the cold!"
Huo Hanzhi quickly realized that Gu Hongying was avoiding his second question. He opened his mouth to say something when he saw Gu Xingzhu shaking his head slightly at him.
"Okay." Huo Hanzhi stood up. "Since you've asked me to do it, I'll do it with reluctance and show you my skills."
In the comic, Gu Hongying affixed densely packed heat preservation talismans onto the packaging box with great momentum, and his actions made the comic readers more and more confused:
[Logically, I think the food should be packed for Tutu, after all, they have the best relationship...]
[You said it was “normally”—TuTu is in the Plant Tribe now! According to the setting of the Plant Tribe where everyone dotes on their children, TuTu will 100% be surrounded by a large group of people asking about her well-being when she returns. She may be poor, but she will definitely not go hungry!]
[I'm not curious about who Yingying is given to, I'm just curious about where Yingying went? The box is almost flooded with the insulation paper!]
[I ordered a bag of spicy noodles. The place I went to was super cold.]
While the readers were still discussing, Gu Hongying had already walked out the door, carrying a lunch box with a new shell made of talismans. After the door closed, the smile on his face faded slightly and he muttered to himself.
Turning the page of the comic, there is an extremely familiar world of ice and snow, dense vertical ice, a rugged road created by ice blocks, and countless intertwined and swirling ice chains that are thicker than a person.
There was not a trace of New Year atmosphere in this world, and it still exuded a terrifying chill. The only vibrant color was the red tassel on the boy's right ear, which was locked by an ice chain.
The tassels hang quietly, and if you have not seen them go crazy, you would just think they are a special decoration.
Gu Hongying did not cover up his footsteps. When he stepped into the core of this icy and snowy area, the seemingly resting boy already knew it.
When Gu Hongying first saw the boy's black and white eyes, she was frightened and wanted to step back, but after seeing each other frequently for half a year, they developed a strange friendship - of course, it could also be a friendship that Gu Hongying unilaterally recognized.
"It's late, senior!" Gu Hongying smiled widely, "Happy New Year!"
After half a year of training, even though he had not completely cut through any chain, Gu Hongying's physical condition had undergone tremendous changes. He held the lunch box covered with thermal insulation talisman paper in one hand, and with the other hand, with his palm facing up, he condensed a palm-sized metal cone.
Gu Hongying waved his hand, and the metal cone was firmly nailed to the ice platform more than five meters high under Shi Wan's feet. He tested the strength and the smile on his face became a little happier.
There was something wrong with the icy land behind the Kunlun Mountain. If there was even the slightest error in the spells and gestures, there would be problems. In addition to this strict restriction, he was also ridiculously required to perform the matching movements quickly. Gu Hongying's tongue was almost tied.
Under such brutal and inhumane destruction, Gu Hongying relied on himself and developed another way of saving energy—using magic as little as possible and relying more on his physical fitness.
For example, now, after confirming the strength of the first metal cone, Gu Hongying made a few new ones by following the same method. Then he stepped on the metal cones that he had nailed on the ice platform and easily flipped onto the ice platform.
While he was doing this, the black and white eyes were always staring at him.
Shi Wan asked softly: "Come up... for what..."
"I have nothing to do during the New Year, so I want to continue my cultivation here." Gu Hongying said, "My father's cooking is delicious, would you like to try it?"
Although he called him "senior", Gu Hongying actually regarded him as a friend.
Shi Wan blinked.
Gu Hongying's eyesight is now very good, so good that he can see the ice particles on Shi Wan's eyelashes.
Gu Hongying suddenly felt very uncomfortable, feeling sorry for Shi Wan. He lowered his head to open his lunch box which was covered with insulation talismans, revealing three dishes, a soup, and even a plate of dumplings inside.
The vegetables were emerald green, the meat was temptingly oily, and the plump white dumplings lay in the shrimp soup, next to the delicious-looking fish.
Gu Hongying smiled warmly enough to infect others: "Thank you for your teaching me in the past six months. I should treat you to a meal."
Gu Hongying picked up a dumpling, looked at the red tassel under his earlobe, and asked in a low voice: "Is there any way to stop this thing?"
If he moved a little more vigorously, the red tassels would dig into his back, bringing him new pain.
"It doesn't matter." Shi Wan said, "I'm already... used to it..."
He always spoke with a weak voice and could seldom finish a complete sentence without taking a breath. He said, "What...stuffing?"
Gu Hongying was stunned for a moment, and said sadly: "Then we have to open the blind box."
Through the plump white dumpling skin, Gu Hongying felt that the color of each dumpling filling seemed to be different—it seemed that his father cooked dumpling fillings of different flavors in one.
Gu Hongying passed the box of hot dumplings to the customer and asked, "How about you order one first?"
"This? This?" Gu Hongying picked up the ones that Shi Wan wanted to eat and fed them to his mouth. Both of them were very careful in their movements, for fear of disturbing the red tassel on his earlobe.
Shi Wan took a small bite, and suddenly a faint smile appeared in his eyes: "Sweet."
[Don't give me a knife
[It’s a warm scene, but I always feel like there’s a knife… No! It’s a big holiday!]
[Very good, I have PTSD...]
[What secret does Shi Wan have? Urgent! Urgent!]
[I'll log out and check again. Are you sure it's a hot-blooded youth comic? It shouldn't be written as "hot-blooded youth comic" but read as "all-member sword collection"? ! ]
[I started looking for a quick-acting heart-saving pill for myself...]
Yu Tu pointed his finger at the comment that was curious about what secret Shi Wan had, and was distracted for a while before turning to the next page.
Tian Yan did not dwell too much on the warmth of this moment, but instead used a few shots to end the meal scene.
Yu Tu noticed some details that few readers noticed: Shi Wan said he was full after eating only one sugar-filled dumpling. An adult who looked like a teenager could not have such a small appetite. Moreover, in all the scenes where Shi Wan appeared, no one mentioned that he needed to eat, as if... Shi Wan didn't need food at all.
Shi Wan said he couldn't eat anymore, so Gu Hongying had to pack up his lunch box with regret. He used the metal spike he had nailed on the ice platform and jumped off the ice platform lightly.
Gu Hongying was not willing to waste these palm-sized metal cones, so he pulled them all off and used them to smash the ice chain that he had set his eyes on. Gu Hongying had been challenging this chain for the past six months, and now he had smashed more than half of it and was about to succeed.
The onomatopeia of ice-smashing sounds floated in the picture, and the comic gave a close-up of Gu Hongying, so Shi Wan, who was locked on the ice platform, only occupied a small corner in this picture.
Gu Hongying smashed a whole page of ice. After turning the page, with a "click" sound, the ice chain broke completely and turned into light snowflakes that fell on the ice surface.
"yeah!!!"
Gu Hongying jumped up from the spot and happily spun around on the ice like a happy puppy.
[Wow! Congratulations to Yingying for finally destroying the first ice chain. It was so hard!!!]
[They say that everything is difficult at the beginning, but I finally got through the beginning. I am so relieved! I am indeed a fan of Yingying’s career!]
[Come on, Yingying! Let’s try harder and rescue the beautiful boy Shi Wan! Go, go, go!!]
Under the ice platform, Gu Hongying was delighted. On the ice platform, Shi Wan was staring at the scene quietly. Gu Hongying's figure was reflected in his black and white eyes, small and like a ball of hot flame.
He didn't say anything, but if Gu Hongying turned around and looked carefully, he would find that Shi Wan's face seemed to have turned a little paler, very slightly.
Yu Tu stared at the shot of Shi Wan and suddenly turned a few pages forward. He took a screenshot of the ice platform under Shi Wan's feet from the previous pages and dragged it to this page for comparison. In the ice platform more than five meters high under Shi Wan's feet, there were two pieces of incorruptible bone fragments next to each other, and one of them had disappeared.
Either it was invisible due to the angle, or it disappeared completely after the ice chain broke.
Yu Tu didn't know what this meant, but he thought it was not a good thing. Shi Wan obviously knew something, and the comics showed his mental activity.
[The person chosen is Gu Hongying, who seems to be not bad. ]
Ice particles melted on his eyelashes and condensed into a thinner ice mist.
【The dumplings are sweet and delicious. 】