Chapter 71: A Rude Awakening

The second day.

Chen groggily returned to consciousness, enveloped by a sense of pressure that was at once familiar and deeply strange.

The first thing she registered was her breathing… it was shallow, slightly restricted. Her chest felt heavy, as if pinned down by something soft yet undeniably substantial.

She forced her eyelids to peel open, her gaze drifting downward.

And there she was. Precious Qiong had somehow managed to snuggle up to her again during the night. Right now, she was sprawled across her like a human-sized raccoon, the majority of her body weight pressing down on Chen’s torso.

Long, silvery-grey hair fanned out in a messy halo, a few mischievous strands having even found their way into the collar of Chen’s pajamas, tickling her skin. Qiong’s cheek was nestled comfortably in the crook of her neck, her breathing deep and steady. She was sound asleep, one arm wrapped securely around Chen’s waist, holding on tight.

Chen remained silent.

She had maintained her Bronya transformation for the entire night, and now, half her body was tingling with a pins-and-needles numbness.

“Hey… Precious Qiong…” she rasped, trying to shift her weight. “Your sleeping posture… could you try for something a little more elegant? I’m not your life-sized body pillow…”

The weight on her chest showed no signs of budging.

Instead, Qiong unconsciously nuzzled closer, letting out a vague, sleepy mumble and hugging her even tighter.

Chen heaved a sigh, resigning herself to the fact that breaking free immediately was not an option. She turned her head, gazing at the unchanging scenery outside the window and estimating the time. She still had to visit the Mechanical Settlement to find Svarog today, and March 7th and the others would likely be waking up soon.

This little lazybones had to be woken up.

Taking a deep breath, Chen used her one free hand to gently pat Qiong’s back, raising her voice a notch.

“Precious Qiong! The sun is shining on your butt! Time to get up! We have serious business to attend to today!”

Qiong’s brow furrowed slightly, a clear sign that her sweet dream had been disturbed, but her eyes remained stubbornly shut. She smacked her lips, a sleep-induced stickiness in her voice as she uttered a single, mumbled word:

“…Mom…”

Chen froze.

Three invisible black lines of pure exasperation seemed to slide down her forehead.

“Mom your head!” she couldn’t help but retort, gently pinching Qiong’s soft cheek. “Look closely, it’s me! Besides, your mom… uh, your mom has a bit of a gender issue in this universe. According to the established lore, you should be calling me Dad!”

An image of a male Kafka instantly flashed through her mind. Elegant, mysterious, dangerously handsome, holding a gun to someone’s temple and murmuring… ‘Listen to me.’ A Stellaron Hunter dad… The mental image was so cursed that she didn’t dare to dwell on it for another second.

Qiong, however, seemed to have heard none of it. In fact, the pinch on her cheek only made her… shrink further into Chen’s embrace. She even began to unconsciously nuzzle her head against Chen’s chest, letting out a soft, contented hum as if searching for a more comfortable position.

Chen felt her sanity beginning to fray at the edges.

If this continued, she wouldn’t just fail to get out of bed; she was liable to lose her composure entirely from this onslaught of unconscious affection and nuzzling.

She had to use her ultimate move.

Her eyes darted around the room as a wicked plan began to form. She leaned in close to Qiong’s ear and whispered in a tone of manufactured, wide-eyed panic.

“Qiong, wake up! Something terrible has happened!”

Qiong’s eyelashes fluttered, but her eyes remained closed.

Chen cranked up the urgency, injecting one hundred and twenty percent drama into her voice. “Your baseball bat! Your favorite Metal Bat! It’s gone! I think someone stole it!”

The words had barely left her lips.

It was as if she had flipped a master switch.

Qiong’s eyes, usually misty and distant, snapped wide open. In a single, explosive movement, she launched herself off of Chen, moving so fast it kicked up a small gust of wind. Her gaze, now sharp as a hawk’s, instantly swept every corner of the room.

Finally, her eyes locked onto the far corner of the wall, where the Metal Bat was leaning, perfectly safe and sound.

Qiong blinked. “…?”

The predatory sharpness in her eyes quickly faded, replaced once again by her familiar, dazed expression. She slowly turned her head to look at Chen, who was now propping herself up on the bed, a mischievous, ‘plan-succeeded’ grin plastered across her face.

Qiong tilted her head, her brain seemingly still trying to reconcile the frantic alarm about a stolen bat with the reality of it being right where she left it.

“Pfft… Hahaha!”

Chen finally broke, unable to hold back her laughter. She sat up fully, rubbing her numb shoulder. “You’re awake now, aren’t you, my little Precious Qiong? So it seems the correct way to wake you is to threaten your beloved baseball bat, huh?”

Qiong, now completely awake, finally understood that she had been tricked. But looking at Chen’s gleeful laughter, she didn’t seem angry.

She just puffed out her cheeks, turned her face away, and mumbled quietly, “Mean.”

“Yes, yes, I’m mean,” Chen chuckled, reaching over to ruffle her messy hair. “Hurry up and get out of bed. Go wash up and get ready. I’ll go see if Teacher Dan Heng and March 7th are awake yet. We have to go see a certain little big guy today… so chop chop!”

With that, she nimbly rolled out of bed and stretched her own somewhat stiff limbs. Her mind was already racing, calculating how she should act when she saw Svarog and Clara later, considering she’d already paid them a secret visit last night. And then there was the matter of Lord Bronya’s state of mind after their little ‘guidance’ session.

Meanwhile, Qiong obediently crawled out of bed and walked to the corner. She picked up her Metal Bat with reverent care, cradling it in her arms as if to confirm it was real. Only then did she slowly begin to change her clothes.

“Precious Qiong, what are you doing?!”

Chen had just finished stretching her shoulders when she turned around and saw Qiong about to pull her pajama top off.

A vein in Chen’s temple twitched. She crossed the room in a near-instant, her voice rising an octave as she grabbed Qiong’s arm just as it was about to lift the hem of her shirt.

“Stop! Stop right there!”

Stunned by the sudden grab, Qiong froze, clutching her jacket and looking up at Chen with a blank expression. “Changing clothes. Leaving.”

“You can’t change clothes in front of me!” Chen felt that vein in her temple threaten to pop again. “Quickly, get back to your own room to change!”

Qiong blinked, seemingly not comprehending why she couldn’t change here. She looked down at the hand gripping her arm, then back up at Chen’s slightly frantic expression.

Suddenly, her little mouth formed a pout, and a layer of mist quickly glossed over her eyes. She looked at Chen with an expression that screamed ‘I’m being bullied,’ and said softly, “Don’t want to move. It’s… warm here.”

She even deliberately hunched her shoulders, pairing the action with that pitiful gaze, attempting to weaponize her cuteness to get her way.

Chen was speechless.

Looking at Qiong’s ‘damsel in distress’ act, she was caught somewhere between annoyance and amusement. ‘This little one… has she been learning bad habits? She even knows how to play the pity card now?’

“None of that!” Chen remained unmoved. She held up a finger and gave Qiong’s smooth forehead a light flick.

Thump!

“Ouch!”

Qiong immediately clutched her forehead, the watery mist in her eyes instantly turning into real tears brought on by the sting. She pouted, looking even more aggrieved.

“If it’s cold, then go back to your own room and get dressed quickly! No slacking off!” Chen stood with her hands on her hips, striking a pose like a strict older sister. “If you dawdle any longer, breakfast… uh, there might not be any decent breakfast in the Underworld, but there should at least be hot soup, right? If you dawdle any longer, the soup will be gone!”

At the mention of potentially missing out on food, Qiong’s attention was slightly diverted. She looked at Chen’s determined expression, then touched her flicked forehead. She finally seemed to realize that playing the pity card wasn’t going to work today.

“…Oh.”

She responded dejectedly, slowly pulling her arm free from Chen’s grasp. Then, looking back every few steps with a pitiful expression, she clutched her precious baseball bat and shuffled out of Chen’s room, heading toward the room next door that she shared with Dan Heng.

Watching Qiong’s retreating back, which looked for all the world like an abandoned puppy disappearing through the doorway, Chen finally let out a sigh of relief. She shook her head, a smile playing on her lips, a mix of fondness and exasperation.

“That little ancestor…” she muttered to herself, before starting to quickly get ready herself.

[Elysian’s Note:

Having a good time with the story?

Every single bit helps immensely:

Thanks a ton for making this journey possible!]