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  **Chapter 14: The Reason for Wandering Is a Certain Paramecium**

  One afternoon, just as Jiu Xiao and Kiana were about to enter a restaurant for lunch, Kiana touched her backpack, which had become tattered from their constant traveling. She suddenly looked shocked and said to Jiu Xiao:

  "My card’s gone! Do you have it?"

  Jiu Xiao stopped with his hand on the door and checked his own pockets. Then he opened up Kiana’s bag and started looking through it carefully, unwilling to believe it. But inside was nothing but a bunch of canned food and clothes. That’s when he noticed a hole had been torn in the back of the bag.

  "We’re screwed... Don’t tell me it fell out of that hole?"

  "So what do we do… Should we go back and look for it?"

  "Let’s retrace our steps and see if we can find it."

  That evening, both Jiu Xiao and Kiana had expressions like they’d just watched Siegfried die in front of them. They hadn’t found the bck card along the way. Hours of combing through the area had left them exhausted.

  "I don’t think we’ll find it… Jiu Xiao, what do we do now..." Kiana looked pitiful. She knew she’d messed up. Without the card, they had no money, and without money, they couldn’t eat or find a pce to stay.

  "There’s nothing else we can do. We’ll have to py it by ear. Without cash, we’re not going anywhere. Let’s try the police station. Maybe someone turned it in. If not... we might end up sleeping under a bridge. Thankfully, I checked the map a few days ago. We’re already in Shenzhou territory, so at least we won’t get shot by some random passerby for sleeping on the street."

  Jiu Xiao rubbed Kiana’s round little face, trying to lighten the mood with a joke. But truthfully, he had no idea what to do either. Their month of luxury had made them forget they were supposed to be searching for Siegfried. They’d gotten so caught up in enjoying life, and now, suddenly turned into beggars, they were left completely unprepared.

  The bad news was that the police uncle said no one had turned in the bck card. The good news was he offered to let them stay the night at the station.

  He originally wanted to call their guardians, but upon hearing the two were relying on each other while searching for their father, he fell silent for a long time.

  The next day, they said goodbye to the police uncle. He offered to drive them somewhere, but they refused. He ended up giving them a few hundred yuan out of his own pocket. That part they didn’t refuse—after all, you can’t survive without money.

  With only a few hundred yuan between them, Kiana became very frugal, only eating one bowl of food per meal and never compining about hunger. Still, Jiu Xiao secretly bought her extra food—he knew one bowl wasn’t enough to fill her up.

  That night, they found a not-too-big, not-too-small cave to rest in, curled up together under a wool bnket.

  In the dead of night, after confirming Jiu Xiao and Kiana were sound asleep, a white-haired dumpling snuck into the cave in the dark. They quietly pced the bck card beside Kiana and left.

  "Finally got a chance to give them the card back. Good thing the old cn leader told us to keep following them. If we hadn’t, that card would’ve been lost for good."

  "Those two girls are so well-behaved, so strong... If it were me, I’d be bawling my eyes out and totally helpless."

  Two white-haired figures chatted not far from the cave.

  ———

  The next morning, Jiu Xiao was woken by Kiana shaking him with joy. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw her beaming face. He had no idea what happened, but seeing her smile always made him feel healed.

  Kiana cheerfully waved the bck card, then handed it to him.

  "Jiu Xiao, look! The bck card’s back!"

  "How did it come back? Did you go find it? Or was it in your backpack and we missed it?"

  "I dunno! I just woke up and found it beside me. It must’ve been the great Lord Homu who heard my wish and brought it back to me! I’ve decided—I'm gonna worship Lord Homu from now on!"

  She csped her hands together, knelt down, and assumed a prayer pose she’d learned from TV. She used to scoff at the idea of Lord Homu, but now she was his most loyal follower.

  Jiu Xiao gave her head a gentle knock, which produced a satisfying *bonk* sound.

  "Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no such thing as Lord Homu. Someone must’ve picked it up—or maybe stole it—and then returned it."

  "Eh! Really? I thought it was a miracle or something!"

  "You really are a paramecium, dumb Kiana."

  "You’re the dumb one! So what should we do now? Should we find the person who returned it and demand to know why they took it in the first pce? Then I, the great miss, can give them a solid beating!"

  She raised her tiny fists. Over the past month, they hadn’t defeated many Honkai beasts, but they had taken down several bad guys causing trouble.

  Jiu Xiao turned the card over in his hand, deep in thought. "No idea… but whoever it was probably meant no harm. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have given it back."

  Then suddenly, something clicked.

  "Hey, what if it was your dad, Siegfried? Maybe he’s been following us this whole time. Maybe he’s the one who gave us the card?"

  Hearing that, Kiana began looking all around—but no sign of Siegfried.

  She thought about it and realized… yeah, Siegfried was probably avoiding her. But he never said she *shouldn’t* look for him. So that meant what she was doing now wasn’t wrong. He hadn’t tried to stop her, and he even helped her.

  With that thought, Kiana turned to Jiu Xiao and gave him a mischievous little smile.

  "Stupid old dad is probably watching us from somewhere right now. Should we give him something to do?"

  "Oh? What thing—wait, wait, wait, what the hell are you doing!" Jiu Xiao had the same thought—might as well give his never-before-seen future father-in-w something to do. But halfway through his sentence, he regretted it, because...

  Kiana grabbed the bck card and hurled it straight into the forest.

  Then she cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and shouted, "Stupid old dad! Whether your beloved daughter eats today is up to you now!"

  "You—you... You really *are* a paramecium! I give up..." Jiu Xiao held his forehead in exasperation. She was too fast. He hadn’t been able to stop her at all.

  "Eh heh."

  "Don’t 'eh heh' me! What if it *wasn’t* Siegfried? If that card doesn’t come back, we’ll really be sleeping on the streets forever!"

  "Ah… really? Then what should we..."

  "We're screwed..." Jiu Xiao shrugged. After a month together, he already knew Kiana was totally a paramecium—always acting first and thinking ter. But so what? He chose this girl himself. If she’s a paramecium, he’d just pamper her.

  And so, another day of sleeping rough and going hungry began.

  But luckily, the next day, the bck card found its way back to them again.

  Then Kiana, *convinced* it really was Siegfried, tossed the card again—*this time into a river*.

  Not far away, two Kasna cn members covered in mud and leaves rolled their eyes.

  "6."

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