Want to be human, but cube-like

After making the bucket and the razor blade [White Sheath] yesterday, I rushed off to find the witch. When I got home last night, I went to bed early because Alex wanted to get used to living like a normal person. It wasn't until this morning that she started to check how many new ingredients she could unlock now that she had a bucket.

Once milk is available, dairy products such as butter, cream, and cheese can be made, and milk can be added as a beverage to the shop. Salt can also be obtained by burning buckets in the furnace, and some pickled products and more sauces can be made.

She also redesigned and expanded the planting area, moved the unlimited water resources to another location, and modified the mob farm, making it more efficient now.

Yesterday, Alex noticed that Xiangzi was a little afraid of the ladders she had to climb to go up and down between the two floors, so today she made a radical change to the way she went up and down the stairs.

It's basically just a three-section wide, half-brick sloping spiral staircase built in the middle.

The sides are also enclosed by railings.

Even in Xiangzi's current slow, shuffling state, where he needs a walking aid to move, he can easily go up and down the stairs.

"If only Mom were here..."

After finishing, Alex clapped her hands, looked at her masterpiece, and muttered something to herself with some hesitation.

She wasn't really confident in her own aesthetic sense. In the past, she had only watched her mother manipulate her to build various structures. Basically, Alex, whose mind was blank, had neither thought about nor remembered how her mother built houses.

After clearing the mob farm and harvesting from both the planting and breeding areas, and organizing the resources, Alex looked at the glass bottles containing the golden liquid and then checked the five gold nuggets and one gold ingot in the box.

Last night, while inside the witch's barrier, she took a moment to collect some of the golden liquid in a glass bottle and brought it back. With this, she could apply the Weakness effect to the zombie villagers.

But getting eight gold ingots is still a long way off.

However, there's no longer a need to rush to farm resources. With the bucket, everything else can be done slowly.

Rather than waiting here for the monster farm to respawn monsters, Alex would rather go out and see something new.

It would be even better if I could be with Xiangzi.

Recalling her brief stroll through the mall the day before yesterday, Alex thought to herself as she left the floating island and went up to the third floor.

"Knock knock!"

He gently knocked twice on Xiangzi's door.

"The door is unlocked, please come in."

Alex didn't say anything, but Xiangzi knew it must be her, so he called out.

Pushing open the door, I expected Xiangzi to be lying or sitting on the bed, but instead I saw her sitting on the floor with her legs curled up, and in front of her was the electronic keyboard she had brought back from the rented room.

Wearing headphones, Xiangzi turned to look at Alex without saying a word, but his questioning gaze clearly asked her what was wrong.

"Aren't you bored since you can't go out from your room?"

Alex glanced at the electronic keyboard curiously and said.

"No, it's a good opportunity to practice piano and composing. I've been too busy and haven't touched it for a while."

Xiangzi tilted her head slightly, took off her headphones, shook her hair which had been pressed down for a long time, and said with a smile.

"You're the only one here at lunchtime, are you able to manage the business?"

Then, Xiangzi asked another question.

"No problem, I'm not too busy today."

As she spoke, Alex

He glanced again at Xiangzi's twisted foot.

Last night at the hospital, I also had my dressing and bandages changed. When I took them off, the redness and swelling weren't as bad, but I still didn't recommend moving around.

Upon closer reflection, the side effects of the Ender Pearl had almost no impact on him, but it was still quite dangerous for ordinary people like Xiangzi.

Even such a minor injury requires nearly ten days of rest.

"what happened?"

Noticing that Alex was staring at his feet, Xiangzi awkwardly curled up his small, round toes, which were like grapes.

She moved her calf slightly, but mindful of her sprained leg, she dared not move too much, so she just sat there with her leg turned to the side, letting Alex's gaze fall on the soft soles of her feet.

Feeling the stimulation of that gaze, her skin became somewhat hot, and her soles even felt slightly itchy. Xiangzi pursed her lips, and her cheeks flushed a little pink.

She didn't know why she felt embarrassed, even though there was absolutely nothing strange about it in Alex's eyes.

"nothing."

Alex shook her head, completely unaware of Xiangzi's strange behavior, and didn't voice what she had just been thinking.

"There shouldn't be many customers this afternoon. I plan to go out for a stroll. Call me if anything comes up."

She did want to invite Xiangzi, but he was in such a condition that he couldn't go out.

"……Um."

After a slight hesitation, Xiangzi nodded.

"Remember what I told you: try not to let others notice that you are different."

She whispered a word of advice.

Although he was still a little worried, he had already shared enough common sense with Alex. No matter how detailed the instruction, it wouldn't be as effective as letting her go out and experience things for herself. Alex had to go out on her own eventually.

"I'll bring you a present."

Having received a response from Xiangzi, Alex left the room. Before closing the door, she tilted her head and smiled at Xiangzi.

"No need for that... Be careful on the road."

Xiangzi closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, watching helplessly as Alex closed the door and left.

…………

P.S. I just casually wrote about a sprain, but only realized at the end that sprains are actually quite difficult for ordinary people to heal. I even specifically banned the life-restoring and sprain-healing effects for the sake of plot development. Now Xiangzi will have to stay home for a while.

As for Xiangzi's father, before the airing of "The Hen Card," I planned to give him only a few brief mentions, saying he would wake up and pull himself together, directly helping Xiangzi resolve his emotional distress. I didn't want to waste any more time on him. But after it aired, I'm honestly curious how "The Hen Card" will redeem him for making dumplings. Let's just pretend he doesn't exist for now and not write about him; he's not important anyway.

Next up is Aiyin's turn. Since Xiangzi can't go out, it's Mom's turn to pamper her baby!

Volume 1: Chapter 68 Being Out of Place in the World

So, where should we go today?

Emerging from the alley behind the burger joint and standing in front of the street, Alex took a deep breath of the slightly noisy, murky air, and then fell into a daze.

Although she said she was curious about the world and the city and wanted to explore, once she actually went outside, she didn't know where to go.

I subconsciously opened the mini-map.

The densely packed little portraits filled every corner, and the neatly planned streets and houses of all sizes offered almost no reference value.

The sense of order within the chaos made Alex feel helpless, so she closed the minimap again.

Looking at the mini-map makes it even harder to explore.

But she actually relies quite heavily on the mini-map, as does her mother. When they go out, they always look at it every three steps, constantly paying attention to what might happen around them.

Rather, it's because her mother had this habit that Alex carried on this dependency onto herself.

While this way you won't miss out on new things and it adds a bit of safety, it reduces the sense of adventure of exploring the world.

Before encountering the unknown, it is inevitable to be mentally prepared.

I glanced back at the clock on the wall inside the hamburger shop through the glass window; it was almost 2:30.

It seems I've spent quite a bit of time on the Sky Island.

On a weekday afternoon, after lunch break, there are fewer pedestrians out having lunch.

Across the street, the shops that were still under renovation started clanging and banging building materials again.

The setup was so slow that Alex almost wanted to go up and help.

From the day she came into this world, she saw that the shop across from her family's hamburger shop was under renovation, but after so many days, there was still no sign of progress.

It's been six days already, a whole week. If it were her and her mother, they would have built so many houses by now.

Without paying any more attention to the shops across the street, Alex headed towards the mall that Xiangzi had taken her to the day before yesterday.

She decided to start by exploring places she was familiar with.

……

But soon, Alex found herself standing in an open space in the mall, looking around blankly.

This scene seems familiar.

Last time, it was Xiangzi who told her to stand here and not move, but this time, it was Alex herself who didn't know where to go.

She passed by the cosmetics store that she wasn't interested in—Alex had never worn makeup—and then she passed by several clothing stores with different styles—her closet was almost overflowing with the clothes her mother had made for her.

After wandering around the bookstore twice, Alex walked out with a blank mind. If it were enchanted books, she might have been somewhat interested—Alex was quite interested in the age-restricted area of ​​the bookstore, but she didn't know her age and didn't have any identification with her, so she couldn't go in.

Alex's assessment of the console game demo store she passed next was that it wasn't as exciting as fighting helpless zombies and skeletons in the monster farm.

After that, she wandered around the supermarket, stopping and starting, but didn't see anything that could pique her interest.

Finally, Alex could only walk out, feeling depressed and lost in thought.

Along the way, she actually saw quite a few new things, or rather, they were all things that Alex had never seen before.

But she couldn't feel that urge to learn about something or to accomplish something.

Even when faced with a dazzling array of goods, Alex couldn't think of anything she wanted or anything she needed.

Why is this?

Looking around, she saw groups of people walking past her, chatting and laughing, and even those who were alone seemed to have a clear goal in mind.

That's right, it's because...

She couldn't find her target.

With her eyes slightly lowered, Alex recalled what she had done that day.

Did she have a goal in mind when she came out?

No, before today, in these past few days, did she have any goals she wanted to achieve?

Suddenly, Alex recalled the look she had seen when Xiangzi turned back to look at her as he practiced at the keyboard just before she left home.

Unlike herself, her eyes held a will that she could not yet comprehend.

that

It is self-confidence, and a desire for something, a firm emotion that one does not possess.

Alex seems to have indeed not yet escaped the confusion that has plagued her since she came into this world.

She only temporarily suppressed this confusion in her heart because she met Xiangzi.

Because of Xiangzi's suggestion, she first set the goal of running the hamburger shop well. Then, because of her deal with Xiangzi, she set two more goals: to help him solve the witch threat and for the two of them to exchange and learn common sense between different worlds.

Spending these past few days with Xiangzi dispelled Alex's anxiety and loneliness, as well as her fear of facing the unknown world alone.

But what Xiangzi could never dispel was the sense of confusion in Alex's heart.

She was still confused because the burger shop wasn't something Alex genuinely wanted to run well; it was just a medium through which she longed for her mother.

She will remain confused because the witch threat that Xiangzi suffered has been resolved, and the goal of exchanging and learning common sense from the two worlds is not a concept that can be specifically quantified.

She still couldn't shake off her confusion because Alex hadn't found her purpose in life, nor the meaning of having to see the sun rise tomorrow.

She was completely different from everyone else here.

Even if she were standing right here, on solid ground, breathing the same air, she could reach out and touch everything in sight, and speak to anyone she could see.

But Alex still felt that there was an insurmountable distance between her and everyone else.

She was out of place in this world.

A familiar sense of loss suddenly rose from the bottom of my heart once again.

Alex experienced that strange feeling of suffocation once again.

She raised her hand, gently placing her index and middle fingers on her delicate collarbone and the graceful curve of her neck, feeling the steady pulse beneath her fair skin, each powerful beat.

'You can't breathe either?'

Suddenly, the question that the white-haired, heterochromatic-eyed little girl had asked her resurfaced in Alex's mind.

A strange impulse arose in her heart; Alex, eager to do something, turned her head.