Want to be human, but cube-like

The light snowflakes landed on Xiangzi's nose, like a gentle persuasion.

"Excuse me……"

She hesitated, then turned around.

"I might need to bother you for the night..." "It's snowing so heavily, why don't you stay?"

Almost simultaneously, the two people facing each other spoke at the same time.

Then he was taken aback.

In an instant, beautiful

The crimson blush covered Xiangzi's entire face, and under the streetlights of the winter night, her cheeks seemed to be steaming.

"I... I mean... I'll pay for the accommodation tomorrow..."

His lips trembled as if he wanted to say something.

"Okay, then come in first."

But Alex had already taken Xiangzi's slender hand, which was starting to turn pale, and led her back into the house.

As they closed the door, the familiar warmth enveloped them once again, a comfort that was intoxicating.

"Um...sorry to bother you."

Xiangzi, whose words were interrupted, opened her mouth but didn't dare to repeat herself. Her eyes darted away slightly, and she could only say a polite word in a soft voice.

As for the expenses... let's talk about them later.

"As expected, the temperature system in this world is quite troublesome."

"They're saying something I can't understand again," the girl thought, looking up at Alex, who was a head taller than her.

"I felt it yesterday. If it gets too cold at night, I will lose blood. It is quite dangerous to be out in this kind of weather."

She seemed quite happy, and as she spoke, a faint smile appeared on her lips without her even realizing it.

She's happy that she's willing to stay; is she... lonely?

Xiangzi suddenly realized that this seemed to be the first time she had ever seen Alex smile.

That delicate face seemed to be enhanced by that smile; the slightly curved eyebrows became even softer, and her crystal-clear red eyes, like blood agate, shimmered with a faint light under the refraction of the lamp, as if they could speak, probing.

It's really nice.

She was never stingy with her praise for others, but for some reason, Xiangzi remained silent at this moment, passively letting Alex lead her.

Perhaps it was because those soft, delicate, and fair little hands were so warm that she didn't know how to react.

The two walked back to the bathroom door on the third floor.

"Go take a bath first, I'll get you a new towel later."

As she spoke, Alex released her hand and turned to go back to her room.

Suddenly freed from that warm shelter, her delicate fingers, once again exposed to the cold air, almost instinctively tried to reach out and reclaim the warmth they had felt before.

But this brought Xiangzi back to her senses, and she immediately clasped her hands together in a somewhat helpless manner.

"Ah, by the way..."

Then, Alex turned around again, as if she had remembered something.

"I need to get you something to eat first. Your health is really too low, it's dangerous."

Alex glanced at Xiangzi's health bar, which was barely half full, and then turned and walked downstairs without responding to his gesture that seemed to reject her kindness.

"call……"

After standing there blankly for more than ten seconds, Xiangzi turned around and went into the bathroom, somewhat dejected.

What's wrong with me?

Looking in the mirror, at the blue-haired girl with a tense little face, who seemed to have never relaxed.

Xiangzi asked himself these questions.

She took off the clothes she had just changed into, her delicate skin exposed to the air, shivering slightly from the sudden chill. She gently turned on the shower.

The rising steam dripped onto the girl's body, wetting her delicate form and causing her soft blue hair to cling to her snow-white back.

It made her look a little disheveled.

But in fact, Toyokawa Shoko was already in a sorry state tonight.

Looking back on everything that has happened since this evening.

They all couldn't escape Alex's ever-deepening influence on her.

She suddenly realized that she was being tested step by step, and when she came to her senses, the high walls she had built had already been completely dismantled.

Its unsightly appearance was completely visible.

And... why is it that I'm now able to so casually let her hold my hand?

I looked down at my little hands, which had been held many times tonight.

The little blue hedgehog, who had always kept its quills taut and was wary of everything around it, seemed to have unknowingly lowered its guard around the silver-haired girl.

And this process only took one short night.

She lowered her head, pressed her forehead against the tiled wall, and let the hot water flow onto her face, obscuring her vision.

"She's become weak again..."

Soft whispers echoed in the bathroom.

…………

P.S. I wonder if anyone will think that Xiangzi's inner wall might have broken down too quickly, but please pay attention to what she went through tonight. First, she was rescued by a hero, then she fainted from a terrifying scene, woke up to a stunningly beautiful face at close range, then felt oppressed by his physical presence, and mistakenly thought he was taking advantage of her kindness. Then, she wanted to leave because of the guilt she felt for involving others, then she accidentally entered another world, became curious about the identities of the people in that world, and was finally forced to seek help from them. During this time, there were several intimate encounters involving more than holding hands.

Alex's combination of punches would leave anyone bewildered.

Volume 1: Chapter 14 Sky Island Survival, but No Lava Bucket?

"Two fried eggs, two slices of tomato, two servings of cabbage... and top it with the hamburger lid, done!"

Looking at the egg burger in front of her, Alex nodded in satisfaction.

This is probably the first hamburger she's made for someone else in the past two days.

After all, no customers had ever visited the burger shop.

All I can say is that the kitchen refrigerator's preservation technology is really strong; these ingredients still look very fresh even after two days.

Alex poured another cup of hot water, placed it on the tray, and carried the tray back to the third floor.

She went into the guest room where Xiangzi had slept before, placed the plate on the bedside table, and then went back to her own room, where she took out a stack of bath towels that were still in good condition from the drawer under the wardrobe.

As she approached the bathroom, the sound of the shower still emanating from inside. She knocked on the bathroom door.

"Toyokawa? I've brought the towel."

The sound of water gradually faded, and a few seconds later, a fair and slender figure vaguely appeared in front of the hazy glass bathroom door.

"……Um."

The bathroom door opened slightly, and Xiangzi's flushed face, flushed by the steam, came closer, revealing his wet, light golden amber eyes. He blinked and looked at Alex, and you could see tiny water droplets dripping from her trembling, long eyelashes.

Like a tiny petal, still covered in raindrops, swaying in the wind after a light rain.

"I made you an egg burger and left it in the room where you used to sleep. Remember to eat it before you rest."

Alex shoved the towel in her hand into her hands.

"……Thanks."

After a moment's hesitation, Xiangzi's voice, barely audible, came through the whispered thank you.

"I have other things to do. If you need to find me, come to the portal downstairs."

It's unclear whether Alex heard Xiangzi's thanks clearly. She just blinked, finished speaking, and turned to leave the third floor.

……

Alex admitted that she was indeed eager to explore the Sky Island world downstairs.

After all, this was the only thing she had discovered since coming into this world.

It's something familiar.

She was even more familiar with her current body than Alex was.

Push open the oak portal.

Once again, I returned to this small, empty world.

Everywhere she looked, there were squares that brought her peace of mind.

So let's start by watching it again from the very beginning.

Taking out the quest book from her quick access bar, Alex once again opened the instruction manual that she had never been able to understand before.

"First, we need to find the 'counter' block on the sky island?"

Alex quickly spotted the icon on the first page of the quest log. It was the one in the middle of a row of squares under the small pavilion not far ahead after she came out of the portal.

"and then?"

She walked over and patted the counter, but there was no response, and she couldn't take it off.

Looking back at the mission book, based on Alex's memories of using mission books with her mother in other worlds, the icon should show a checkmark after completing the objective, and the reward next to it should be available for collection.

But this task book remained completely unresponsive, just like before, appearing to be nothing more than an ordinary book.

In that case, this book can only be a simple instruction manual.

I thought I would finally be able to claim all the rewards mentioned above.

Even so, it's still much better than her groping around in the dark.

However, since the tasks and rewards on the task list are just simple icons and cannot be interacted with, she doesn't need to follow the process.

It's best to simply build this world as a floating island for survival.

Alex flipped through the table of contents of the quest book again. Besides the prologue she had been reading, there were five more chapters. After flipping through them one by one, she found that they were all ingredients that were unlocked sequentially and some recipes.

In order, the first two villager professions you can unlock are farmer and butcher, from which you can buy basic plants and animal meat.

Looking at the later chapters, we see fishermen who can trade fish, cartographers who make more rare ingredients, and priests who sell otherworldly ingredients such as materials from the Nether and the End.

Wait... a cartographer and a priest?

She tilted her head in confusion.

Are these two types of villagers engaged in selling these things?

Flipping back through the table of contents, Alex found the "Villager Trade Overview" chapter that she hadn't noticed before.

She then realized that the professions of the villagers in this floating island world were completely different from those in the world she had been to before.

For example, the items sold by shepherds have become various dyes, as well as Nether quartz and fluorite.

The stonemasons' traded items also became various types of rocks and concrete.

As for weaponsmiths, they sell all kinds of ores, such as iron ore, gold ore, copper ore, as well as redstone, lapis lazuli, diamonds, and even Nether alloys and forging templates.

Netherite! ?

Alex's eyes widened in surprise.

This weapon maker is incredibly skilled.

After a sigh, she continued flipping through the pages.

However, after searching around, Alex couldn't find obsidian and lava buckets, two relatively important resources on the Skypiea.

So, is there no lava bucket in this sky island survival adventure?

Therefore, it is impossible to build a cobblestone generator or go to the Nether.

She put away the mission sheet and looked around.

It seems that time flows much faster in this world than in the outside world. Looking up at the sky outside the floating island, the night sky, which was pitch black before, has now begun to turn slightly white. The white moon cube has descended, and in its place is another bright cube that is shining.