茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Although the resident didn’t live in the same building, his house was still situated near the outskirts of the community. In the automated photos taken by the camera on his balcony, a few images captured the presence of the “monster”.

The moment he got his hands on the photos, Mr. Li triumphantly posted them into the housing community group, his Weibo account, and his Moments, declaring that he had found “evidence”.

Of course, this was simply evidence in Mr. Li’s perspective, in his belief that the photos had captured the “monster”. For others, the so-called monster that Mr. Li had highlighted in the photos was simply a small irregular shadow in the lower-left corner. It took up less than a twentieth of the entire image. After all, the owner of the camera was not primarily aiming to photograph that particular area, it was just captured incidentally.

Even after Mr. Li magnified the image, one could only vaguely see a shadowy figure appearing on the street outside the community complex in the early morning, looking like a composite shadow cast by the nearby street lamp and trees.

If it wasn’t for Mr. Li who had come forward to enlarge and highlight that spot, the person who had set the camera to take automatic photos would not have even noticed any strange object in his images.

However, despite the appearance of that photo, most people in the housing community were still skeptical about its contents. After all, the suspected monster in the photo was simply too blurry.

The camera’s moment of automation also failed to capture where it went afterwards. After a certain point, it simply vanished entirely.

“Mr. Li is a streamer, you know, those who do livestreams? They always need to find new topics. My daughter told me he’s currently broadcasting something about urban myths, you know, all those spooky stuff. In recent days, his subject has been about the process of investigating the monster he saw earlier. Very mysterious and all that.” The housewife said in a lowered voice, “So, we suspect that these incidents might be his own fabrications. For the past two weeks, he’s probably been collaborating with the person who was capturing the sunrise.”

Another housewife also voiced her concerns, “That’s right, he’s trying to make money from these livestream series, garner attention and conduct promotions. But if our community gains notoriety because of this, and other people genuinely start to believe that there’s something strange around, our property price and rent could plummet.”

“Indeed, we can’t let him create rumors as he sees fit. We have to stop him from stirring things up.” The housewife who had been informing Shiling’s Mom agreed.

When the conversation ended, the elevator had arrived at the floor where Liu Shiling and her mother live, so the mother and daughter alighted first.

As she walked down the corridor, Shiling’s Mom looked at the photo that Mr. Li circulated in the homeowner’s group, the so-called evidence of the “monster”‘s presence.

Observing the spot which had been specially highlighted and magnified, Shiling’s Mom, who had initially felt anxious and fearful, now felt somewhat relieved. That small cluster didn’t look like anything terrifying at all. However, looking at the postures of the dogs captured on the street outside the community in the photo, she was under the impression that perhaps the object in the photo might indeed exist and wasn’t simply photoshopped in.

“Mom, let me have a look.” Liu Shiling craned her neck to look at her mom’s phone.

Seeing that it wasn’t anything scary, Shiling’s Mom didn’t resist and handed her phone over.

Having seen the photo, Liu Shiling too, felt a sense of relief. The night she accidentally scared away the stray dogs by using the two coin knights “Chocolate” and “Ice Cream” to hastily assemble Bald Uncle’s eight-armed pet, she reported it to Bald Uncle the next day over a QQ Video call.

After hearing what happened, Bald Uncle told her not to worry. As long as she herself wasn’t spotted and nobody knew that the one behind it was her, it was fine. However, she needed to lay low for a while and not let people associate her with the “eight-armed pet” built out of coin-assembled particles.

Looking at the picture now, with such a distant, blurry image that hardly showed any clear outlines, it was impossible to see the two coins embedded within those small particles. Without any proof of the coins, even if this photo conclusively illustrated that a strange creature had shown up that night, there was no way anyone could link it to her.

It was good that she hadn’t been exposed… Little Fatty Girl breathed a sigh of relief.

“Does it look like a standing black crab?” Shiling’s mom chuckled, leaning over her daughter’s head.

“It’s not a crab!” Liu Shiling asserted instinctively and firmly.

Shiling’s mom was puzzled, “It does look like one, if not, what do you think it resembles?”

“It just… just…” Liu Shiling mumbled twice, thought for a while, and then said: “Anyway, it’s not a crab. Crabs crawl, they don’t stand.”

Shiling’s mom didn’t think much of it, assuming her daughter just found crabs a bit hard to eat and simply didn’t like this type of… seafood, and that’s why she would say that.

Returning home after dinner, Liu Shiling took the painting “Da Lu” had given her, and went back to her room with “Custard Pie”, who had also finished its cat food.

Sitting at the desk, Liu Shiling took out the portrait of Uncle Bald’s “OctoPet” that she had drawn a few days earlier.

This drawing was not the first version. She first saw the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster in her dream two weeks ago. After she found out that it was Uncle Bald’s pet, she drew the first version based on her dream memories. And in the following days, she re-drew several versions, made a lot of modifications, creations, and enhancements to enrich the details and make it more refined.

Although Liu Shiling’s drawing was not extraordinary, among children of her age, it could be considered quite satisfactory. Her kindergarten teachers had praised her work, and at least everyone could recognize what she was drawing.

She had thought her drawing was okay, but when she put the painting that “Da Lu” had given her next to her work and compared them, the gap was glaringly obvious.

If it had been before, Liu Shiling wouldn’t feel the need to draw as well as others. After all, she is a great wizard, as long as she could use magic, that’s all that mattered. She was going to fight monsters with Uncle Bald and Chicken Wing Sister in the future, so it didn’t matter if her drawings weren’t good enough.

But thinking about her mom’s comment that the eight-armed pet she had created with “Chocolate” and “Ice Cream” looked like a crab, and the two aunties in the elevator earlier, one saying it looked like the shadow of a tree, and the other suggesting it resembled an octopus, she felt a bit gloomy—clearly in her mind, the eight-armed pet she created should be very imposing, how could it resemble a tree, an octopus, or a crab?

Looking at the “OctoPet” she drew on the paper, she thought the problem might lie in this “design draft”. It was her inadequate drawing skills that led to the final creation of the “OctoPet” lacking momentum and not being imposing at all.

Liu Shiling took out a new sheet of paper and buried her head in drawing again, this time more attentively and meticulously.

“Custard Pie” crawled onto the desk, lay down next to Liu Shiling, tucked in its forepaws, yawning and keeping her company as she drew.

This time Liu Shiling drew very carefully, first outlining the contour in pencil, then coloring with watercolor pens bit by bit, depicting the imposing octo-pet in her imagination.

After finishing, Liu Shiling evaluated it herself, furrowed her little eyebrows, then stood the drawing in front of “Custard Pie” and asked, “Custard Pie, does it resemble what it’s meant to?”

Custard Pie retracted its neck, partially opened its mouth, looking at the drawing and then at Liu Shiling, with its eyes wide round.

“Oh right, you’ve never seen Uncle Bald’s pet.” Liu Shiling sighed, put down the drawing, took out several tissues, and began to tear them into very very small bits.

Custard Pie came over, sniffed at the pile of “paper bits”, then sneezed, blowing the pile of paper bits away.

Looking at the paper scraps fluttering all over the sky, Liu Shiling helplessly glared at Custard Pie. It wasn’t the first time this fellow had sneezed because of the paper scraps, but every time she prepared the paper scraps, it still insisted on joining the fun. Stubborn as a mule, just like a mischievous child.

Liu Shiling was controlling two coins, making them quickly spin around the room. Then, those scattered paper scraps were swiftly gathered together and began to form a shape.

Yes, Liu Shiling was going to use these tiny paper scraps to replace the metal shavings from outside to construct the “Eight-Armed Pet”.

These days, she embraced Uncle Bald’s principles of “staying low-key, not exposing, not being discovered”, so she didn’t dare to assemble the “Eight-Armed Pet” outside with coins. Instead, she played with it secretly at home – being able to build such a “monster” at will as a boss to simulate battles, how could she resist playing?

She had originally planned to secretly bring some sand back from outside using two magic coins, sneakily putting it in her pocket and bringing it home without anyone noticing, then playing with it in her room.

But it had taken her a few days to carefully bring the sand home, and before she even had a chance to play with it, she came back from her after-school classes the next day to find that all the hard-earned sand was gone. It had been discovered and cleaned up by her mother.

Shiling’s mother was particularly diligent about cleaning Liu Shiling’s room, especially after Custard Pie came into the picture. This created quite a predicament for Liu Shiling, so after some consideration, she thought of substituting the sand with paper tissue scraps.

Using paper scraps influenced by the coins to form the shape of the “Eight-Armed Pet” was much more challenging. The basic construction methods were considerably different and the result was so flimsy that it seemed like it would fall apart at any moment. But it was playable, barely.

Most importantly, paper scraps were easy to clean. Once cleaned up, she could prepare new ones for the next playtime session without having to painstakingly sneak them from outside like before, avoiding the risk of her mother finding out.

Of course, neither the paper scraps nor the metal shavings used to create the “Eight-Armed Pet” at home were as big as the one she had first assembled outside; it had shrunk to a mere thirty centimeters in height.

Looking at the newly assembled “Eight-Armed Pet”, Liu Shiling squatted down in front of it, propped her chin up with her hands, and studied it with a furrowed brow. She didn’t feel like playing anymore, because it really looked… somewhat like a crab standing upright.

The design sketch was poor!

The construction was bad!

The “Great Wizard” Liu Shiling, quite frustrated, let out a breath, causing the “Eight-Armed Pet” in front of her to scatter. Custard Pie, who was lurking in the background, slowly creeping up on the “Eight-Armed Pet” in a hunting stance, was startled by the sudden explosion of paper scraps and let out a meow before bolting underneath the table.

However, although the paper scraps were blown apart, they didn’t float around indiscriminately. Under Liu Shiling’s control of the two coins, they quickly came back together, shrunk into a ball and returned to the table.

Liu Shiling discarded all the paper scraps into the trash can, then went to the living room and said to her mother, who was focusing on something on her phone with a frown, “Mom, Mom, I want to learn to draw.”

Upon hearing her daughter’s voice, Shiling’s Mom was taken aback. She looked up at Liu Shiling and asked, puzzled, “But haven’t you been drawing all along?” Then it dawned on her, and she said, “Oh, you must have seen the drawings Zhou Lutong sent you, and now you want to draw too? But… you’re already in a literacy class, aren’t you?”

Liu Shiling replied, “I need to attend the literacy class as well. I can go to a drawing class in the afternoon.” Learning how to read is crucial; she has much more to learn. As Uncle Bald instructed, a great wizard needs a wealth of knowledge.

Upon hearing this, however, a hint of hesitation flashed across Shiling’s Mom’s face. She pondered a bit, seemed to have made a decision, and was about to agree when she heard her daughter say, “Mom, let’s not go to drawing class. You can teach me how to draw. Teach me how to draw Custard Pie!”

Shiling’s Mom was a bit surprised and laughed, “But I’m not good at drawing, honey.”

Liu Shiling confidently said, “Mommy’s last drawing of the custard pie was beautiful! I want to first learn how to draw from you, then Uncle Bald, Xiao Mei, and Da Lu. When kindergarten starts, I can learn from my teacher! I want to learn every one’s… not martial arts skills…umm…drawing skills…”

Watching Liu Shiling retreat back into her room, followed by her tail-wagging custard pie, Shiling’s mom felt a sigh of relief.

Originally, due to the sale of her house and her previous savings, there were no financial concerns, even in bringing up Liu Shiling all by herself up to college. But after some recent events, she had to start to budget and try to cut down unnecessary expenses.

The fees for Liu Shiling’s interest classes were not low, having already enrolled her in a literacy class, adding another drawing class made her hesitate especially if Liu Shiling lost interest in it after a short time, that would be a great waste.

However, after some thought, she decided to let Liu Shiling enroll in the drawing class. The painting that Zhou Lutong sent was indeed impressive; having seen it she was quite taken aback. If her daughter could reach that level, it would be an advantage for her future school life. Maybe she could win a prize, which would make it easier for her to get into a better school. She didn’t want to stifle any of her daughter’s interests.

Unexpectedly, Liu Shiling changed her mind at the last moment, asking her mom to teach her. Probably because she didn’t want to go to extra enrichment classes. This girl seemed a bit of homebody right now, always enjoying herself playing house or playing with her iPad in her room.

But Shiling’s mom felt a little guilty about teaching drawing. She had no training in it. The custard pie cat she drew last time was, in her opinion, just average.

Thus, after seeing Liu Shiling close her room again, Shiling’s mom picked up her phone, opened the browser, and started searching for keywords such as “teaching daughter to draw,” “children’s quick drawing tutorial,” and so on.

Liu Shiling, now in her room, took out her iPad, logged onto QQ, found Uncle Bald’s avatar, and prepared to ask Uncle Bald about his methods of learning to draw.

What actually happened was she felt her mom’s hesitation and difficulty, so she decided not to attend the painting class.

The old Liu Shiling wouldn’t have noticed this. Back then, the only thoughts in her little head were: I want to eat this, I want to play with that, I want to play with XXX, I want to watch XXX cartoon, that looks like fun, that looks yummy, those kids playing together look so happy – I want to join them, the cartoons are so good – I want to watch more…

Her attention was only enough for these, her little brain couldn’t hold other thoughts, and she wasn’t able to understand others’ feelings.

However, ever since she got the “Magic Coin” and became the “Great Wizard”, she noticed the responsibility on her shoulders. She started to pay more attention to the people around her, particularly her mother, with whom she spent most of her time.

Apart from joining Uncle Bald and Chicken Wing Sister to defeat monsters, her biggest motivation to get stronger was to protect and care for her mother.

Oh, and to protect the world by the way.

She noticed that recently, when she wanted to eat something while out, her mother would sometimes hesitate, looking rather troubled. Every time this happened, she would change her request, either by saying she was not hungry, she didn’t want to eat it, or she wanted to go home to see custard pie, and not eat out.

Liu Shiling, at present, doesn’t understand the issue of money and doesn’t know why her mother hesitates and looks troubled. She just simply doesn’t want her mother to have such feelings.

So when she saw her mother’s expression and hesitation, she knew her mother was having difficulty, and changed her request right away.

However, her plan and idea to learn drawing haven’t changed.

Today, she added a new requirement for the “Great Wizard”: she must be good at drawing!