Chapter 139: Shu Shu’s Surprise.

Shu Li awoke to the rhythmic sound of knocking.

“Sperien, are you awake?”

The voices of his three friends came from outside the door, with Budeno’s especially loud.

Shu Li crawled out from beneath his soft pillow, his hair sticking up in every direction. Kneeling on the blanket, he yawned and replied, “I’m awake, I’m awake.”

Before going to bed in the early hours of the morning, he had made sure to close the door tightly.

He had been in such a hurry to reach the desert the previous night that he seemed to have forgotten to close it, allowing Angel to discover that he was not in his room. Since the three of them had come knocking first thing in the morning, they were sure to ask where he had gone last night.

He needed a good excuse to make his lie convincing.

Shu Li shifted into his full-sized form, put on loose-fitting pajamas, and opened the door.

The three young Fairies stood in a neat row outside.

“Sperien!”

Disio was the first to pounce. He wrapped his arms around Shu Li and rubbed against him vigorously, complaining, “We waited for you for so, so long last night! We stayed up until midnight! Why didn’t you tell us when you came back?”

“Uh... stop rubbing against me... I haven’t washed my face yet.” Disio nearly knocked Shu Li to the floor. Shu Li steadied himself and pushed him away.

As Disio grew older, he was becoming increasingly sturdy. Of the four Little Fairies, he was now the most powerfully built.

Refusing to be outdone, Budeno and Angel embraced Shu Li from either side and nuzzled him too.

“Was the king especially strict? He didn’t even let you return to your room until midnight?”

“The king?” Shu Li’s pointed ears twitched. He pushed his two friends away as his mind raced.

Could it be... that they thought he had spent last night studying in the king’s room?

What a perfect excuse!

“The king wasn’t strict. It’s just... there were quite a lot of things I didn’t understand.” He scratched his hair and felt that his little flower crown had returned to its original form.

No matter what shape the little flower crown took, it always reverted to its original form the following day.

He recited an incantation, and the little flower crown immediately transformed into a hair clip.

“Sorry I made you wait all night,” Shu Li apologized, feeling slightly guilty.

“It’s fine!” Disio waved a hand. “Angel mainly wanted to borrow your notebook, so Budeno and I kept him company and studied while we waited.”

“We studied until midnight, and now I’m so hungry!” Budeno clutched his stomach pitifully. “Sperien, hurry up and wash. Let’s go eat breakfast!”

Angel smiled sweetly. “After breakfast, lend me your notebook so I can copy what I missed.”

Seeing nothing unusual in his friends’ expressions, Shu Li knew that he had successfully bluffed his way through.

“No problem.”

He moved quickly, running into the washroom to brush his teeth, wash his face, and tie back his hair. After changing clothes, he cheerfully headed to the dining hall with his friends.

Budeno ordered a huge platter of food and ate with both hands, stuffing his cheeks until they bulged.

“Don’t choke,” Angel warned him.

“Mm-hmm—” Budeno nodded repeatedly without slowing down in the slightest.

Disio bit into a piece of fruit and said indistinctly, “Don’t worry. He won’t choke.”

Shu Li could not help laughing at the sight of him wolfing down his food.

Fortunately, Budeno had learned magic that helped him digest food. Otherwise, given how much he ate, he would have become enormously fat long ago.

Sayah walked past carrying some food and greeted them warmly. “Good morning, my little darlings!”

“Good morning, Sayah!”

The Little Fairies greeted her in return.

Sayah looked at Shu Li and winked. “Sperien, don’t study so late from now on!”

“Ah, oh, I... I know.” Shu Li smiled awkwardly.

Seeing Sayah reminded him that she had helped him deceive Angel in the early hours of the morning.

Had she deliberately mentioned it now as a warning?

Why?

Could she know that he was often absent from his room at night?

That was entirely possible!

Shu Li lowered his head and gnawed his fruit.

Ever since they first arrived in the Elven Kingdom, Sayah had looked after their daily needs. Perhaps she had discovered long ago that he frequently slipped out in the middle of the night!

What Shu Li found strange was why she had said nothing and even helped cover for him.

After breakfast, Shu Li lent his notebook to Angel. Angel happily took it back to his room to copy the missing notes, while Shu Li entered the courtyard with Disio and Budeno to greet the fruits hanging from the Mother Tree’s branches.

Disio and Budeno were genuinely there to greet them. Shu Li was using the greeting as an excuse to communicate with the Mother Tree.

“Oenomysis, there’s something I need to ask you.”

The fact that Sayah had discovered him missing from his room yet had not exposed him struck Shu Li as deeply suspicious.

Was Sayah the only Elf who had noticed? What about the other Elves and the Elven King?

Most of the Elves living in the Crystal Castle were Saint Mages or Mage Sovereigns, with extremely powerful perception. Forget the Elven courtyard—the entire Elven city was probably within their perceptive range.

Ten years ago, Shu Li had still been a Mage Apprentice and barely understood how perception worked. He had assumed that his fruit-stealing activities with the Mother Tree had gone entirely unnoticed.

Even after his perception improved, force of habit had caused him to overlook the issue altogether.

Only after what happened last night did he finally realize that all his supposed sneaking around had probably taken place right beneath the Elves’ noses.

He needed the Mother Tree to confirm it.

“What is it?” the Mother Tree answered gently.

“Do all the Elves know that we’ve been stealing fruits?” Shu Li asked directly.

“...Yes,” the Mother Tree admitted.

Shu Li: “!!!!!”

The confirmation nearly made him leap into the air. Remembering that his two friends were beside him, he could only crouch and pretend to pull weeds around the Mother Tree.

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

Cold sweat poured down Shu Li’s back. It felt as though ten thousand furious beasts were stampeding through his mind.

No wonder the Elves had been especially enthusiastic toward him on the day the Mother Tree produced her first fruit. Every one of them had wanted to pet him, and they had practically competed to shower him with gifts.

So his “secret” operation had been common knowledge all along!

And here he had imagined that he could help the Elves, then quietly disappear without taking any credit.

“You never asked.”

The Mother Tree’s tone was utterly innocent.

“If I don’t ask, you simply won’t tell me?” Shu Li was truly defeated by her.

“Yes. There are certain things I cannot tell you unless you ask first.”

Shu Li heard a trace of helplessness in the Mother Tree’s voice, but he did not investigate further. He was still immersed in his shock.

He had originally worried that once Fruit Number Three was transferred here, the Elves would find it strange that such a large fruit had suddenly appeared on the Mother Tree’s branches.

There was no need to worry now. Not only would the Elves not find it strange, they would probably be overjoyed.

“When you lured me to Vanaku back then, did the king tacitly permit it?”

“No. The king didn’t know. When he found out, he was furious and nearly tore out my roots.”

For some reason, learning that the Elven King had been angry immediately improved Shu Li’s mood, and the corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily.

He had known it. There was no way the king would allow a tiny cub to enter dangerous Dark Elf territory and undertake such a dangerous task.

At the time, the Mother Tree had been confused and secretive. She had acted first and reported afterward, which had once made Shu Li suspect that she was a bad tree.

In truth, she had been corrupted by dark power at the time and was only a single step away from becoming one.

“Sperien, we already pulled all the weeds over here!” Budeno asked in confusion. “Why are you digging holes?”

Shu Li looked down and discovered several small pits in the soil.

“Uh, I’m clearing out the roots,” he said with complete seriousness. “If you don’t remove them properly, the weeds will grow back.”

“Oh—so that’s it! Then we’ll help!” Budeno pulled a little weeding shovel from his storage ring.

“I’m almost finished here. Let’s go to the orchard and see whether they need any help.” Shu Li stood, recited a brief incantation, summoned the water element, and condensed it into a sphere of water to wash the dirt from his fingers.

The Saint Mage Danlov had entered meditation at noon the previous day and still had not emerged from it. According to Ilio, he was about to break through to the rank of Mage Sovereign, so his meditation would last at least three days.

The Little Fairies were beside themselves with joy when they heard that it would take three days.

No extra lessons!

Although Shu Li had used asking Danlov about magic as an excuse, he was delighted that they did not have to attend class.

“Let’s get Angel and go together!” Disio said.

“All right!” Budeno ran straight to Angel’s window, bent a finger, and knocked excitedly. “Angel, Angel! Have you finished copying the notes?”

He loved working in the orchard more than anything. He could pick fruit and eat at the same time. Nothing could be better!

Angel had just finished copying the notes when he heard Budeno’s booming voice. He raised his voice in reply, “I’m done.”

“Sperien says we’re going to the orchard. Are you coming?”

“Yes!”

Good friends naturally did everything together.

Soon, the four young Fairies spread their wings and flew excitedly toward the orchard.

Along the way, Shu Li kept a perfectly straight face as he greeted the Elves they passed.

The Elves knew his secret but pretended not to. He now knew that the Elves knew his secret, but until either side acknowledged it, he would pretend not to know that they knew.

The Little Fairies spent the entire day working and playing.

That evening, Shu Li needed to invent a better excuse if he wanted to return to the desert and deceive his friends successfully.

Although the Elves knew his secret, he did not want his friends to learn about it yet.

From the day they were born, the four of them had been closer to one another than to any of the other Little Fairies. They were good friends who told one another everything, cared for and encouraged one another, and had grown up together.

If his friends learned that he was sneaking into the desert at night to eavesdrop, they would undoubtedly become excited and insist on accompanying him.

Whether they could actually go was beside the point. The desert was dangerous, and the adventurers were hardly kindhearted people. Shu Li could not allow his friends to come to harm.

Therefore, he had to conceal the truth and act alone.

After observing his friends throughout the day, Shu Li was certain that they completely believed he had studied with the Elven King the previous night.

He decided to use the same excuse again.

“What? You’re going to study with the king again?” Disio’s ruby-red eyes widened when he heard Shu Li’s explanation.

“Yes. There’s some dark-element magic I haven’t managed to understand.” Shu Li raised the magic book in his hand. “You don’t have to wait for me tonight. Go to bed early.”

“Then you have to come back early too!” Angel embraced him and nuzzled against him.

“I know.” Shu Li patted his back, released him, tucked the magic book beneath his arm, and walked in the direction of the Elven King’s room.

The Elven King’s room was quite some distance from the courtyard where the Elf cubs lived, and reaching it required passing through two corridors.

Shu Li extended his perception as he walked. After passing through one corridor and confirming that no one was nearby, he hid in a corner and instantly shrank into his smaller form.

He put on his defensive equipment, covered it with a black hooded cloak, and furtively flew back the way he had come.

When he reached the courtyard where the Elf cubs lived, he pressed himself against the corner of a wall and secretly observed his surroundings.

Excellent. The lights were on in all his friends’ rooms.

Reassured, Shu Li skimmed past the bushes and flew toward the Mother Tree’s trunk.

However, he did not know that three Little Fairies were hiding furtively only ten meters away.

Like Shu Li, they wore black hooded cloaks and had deliberately concealed their auras. As they watched him fly toward the Mother Tree, their faces were filled with confusion.

When Shu Li plunged headfirst into the Mother Tree’s trunk and vanished, all three Little Fairies stared in utter disbelief.