Volume 1 Chapter 34: Girls Who Pretend to Be Mature Must Be Punished
After entering the tunnel, Amber threw several snowflake balls at the entrance again.
The spreading ice crystals instantly froze the whole entrance layer by layer.
If there were still pursuers behind them, it would at least delay them for a while.
This ocean tunnel seemed to have no end.
The tunnel walls were covered in a strange blue glow, and the glass on both sides was filled with fish made from paper cutouts and simple drawings.
They twisted stiffly behind the glass.
In truth, there was no water inside the glass at all.
There were only wavy lines, as if pretending to be moving water.
There seemed to be no patrolling guards in the tunnel.
The two girls slowed down a little, but they still carefully watched their surroundings.
After all, no one knew whether another monster would suddenly jump out of the darkness ahead.
I wonder where this place leads...
An exit?
Or some unknown space?
Mm, as long as it doesn’t lead directly to the Disaster Beast.
After all, we still don’t know what that barrier really is...
Bai Muxue’s thoughts drifted farther and farther away.
She did not notice that Amber in front of her had already stopped walking.
Thump.
Without reacting in time, Bai Muxue walked straight into Amber’s back.
“Uwa!”
But the expected pain did not come.
A thin pale-yellow shield gently blocked Bai Muxue before she could hit Amber’s slender back.
Even with a little distance between them, the girl could still clearly feel the warmth and faint fragrance coming from Amber.
“Ah... sorry...”
Bai Muxue came back to her senses at once.
Her pretty face turned red as she softly apologized.
“My my, I know our mature little Miss Xiao Xue likes to think deeply.”
“But when walking, you should still pay attention. Don’t zone out so easily~”
Amber turned around and looked at Bai Muxue, whose face was red, with a teasing smile.
Hearing those mocking words, Bai Muxue became annoyed.
Hey! What are you saying!?
What do you mean I zone out easily!?
You’re the one who suddenly stopped for no reason!
“I-I was not zoning out! Don’t talk nonsense!”
No matter what, it was true that Bai Muxue had bumped into Amber.
She knew she was in the wrong, but she still puffed out her lips and stubbornly argued back.
“Oh~ Then could it be because I’m too tall, so I blocked little Xiao Xue’s view~?”
Facing the angry Bai Muxue, Amber even raised a hand and compared their height difference, a sly smile appearing on her lips.
Looking at this little girl, whose face still looked young but always liked pretending to be mature, Amber could not help feeling secretly proud.
Especially now, when Bai Muxue’s cheeks were red, yet she still refused to admit defeat.
“You!”
Bai Muxue was almost exploding from anger.
Fine, take back what I said before.
This brat is nothing like she looks.
She’s the kind of person who can make your blood pressure rise instantly!
Although Bai Muxue’s current body was small and flat, she always thought of herself as a mature working adult.
So she normally did not care about the things ordinary girls cared about.
But that did not mean someone could openly mock her physical features in public!
She was angry, shaken, and freezing inside.
Ever since becoming the Bai family’s young miss, even someone as cold and distant as Miss Shen had obediently let Bai Muxue touch her.
When had she ever suffered this kind of loss!?
When dealing with the emotional and artistic Qin Xiyao, or the reserved and distant Shen Jingyi, whose weakness she held in her hands, no matter what they said or did, Bai Muxue could always handle them easily.
But “working adult” Bai Muxue rarely suffered a loss when facing Amber, who was clever, playful, and impossible to predict.
For some reason, she even felt the same helplessness she once felt when dealing with Tang Xingwan during her rebellious phase.
Looking at someone’s “angry from embarrassment” little face, Amber narrowed her honey-colored eyes and raised the corner of her lips with teasing pride.
Hmph! That’s what you get for acting cold and distant in front of me!
Clearly, you look cuter like this.
What’s the point of always keeping a serious face and pretending to be mature...
Amber secretly laughed in her heart, feeling that her revenge had succeeded.
To be fair, she liked the current Bai Muxue more.
This version could throw a tantrum and act stubborn.
Not like before, when she carried an unapproachable feeling of distance and maturity.
Amber shook her head, throwing away her wandering thoughts, then crooked her finger toward Bai Muxue.
“Alright, enough joking. Come look at this.”
“Hm? What is it...?”
Bai Muxue frowned and walked forward, looking in the direction Amber pointed.
There was a painting hanging on one side of the tunnel wall.
But the surroundings were so dark that even when Bai Muxue moved closer, she still could not clearly see what was in the painting.
“Do you know the person in the picture?”
Amber snapped her fingers.
A ball of pale yellow light slowly rose into the air, pushing back some of the darkness around them and allowing Bai Muxue to clearly see the painting.
Under the light, the outline of the painting slowly appeared.
It was a portrait of a young girl.
But strangely, the girl’s face was covered by a dark stain of ink, making it impossible to see her real appearance.
When Bai Muxue looked farther ahead, she saw that both sides of the tunnel were filled with the same kind of portraits.
On every portrait, the girl’s face was hidden by that unnatural black ink.
It was as if someone had purposely erased her existence.
The scene made Bai Muxue feel a chill run through her body.
What exactly...
Her eyes moved across the paintings again and again.
Suddenly, at the far end of her vision, a girl wearing a gothic-style long dress appeared.
Her elegant figure looked completely out of place in this strange tunnel.
“Sigh... look more carefully, my young miss...”
The girl’s soft sigh sounded beside Bai Muxue’s ear.
Before Bai Muxue could react, that lovely figure disappeared into the endless darkness, as if she had never appeared at all.
That person again...
Bai Muxue frowned more deeply.
Her dark eyes were full of confusion.
What does she mean by “look more carefully”?
Her eyes swept over the portraits once more.
Suddenly, a strange feeling of familiarity rose in her heart.
This... no way...
As if realizing something, Bai Muxue opened her small mouth slightly in disbelief.
“Well? Did you notice anything?”
Seeing that Bai Muxue had stayed silent for so long, Amber tilted her head.
Bai Muxue was startled and quickly came back to her senses.
She hurriedly shook her head.
“I don’t know her.”
“Mm, I see.”
Amber had not expected much anyway.
She lightly laughed, patted Bai Muxue on the shoulder, and said in an easy tone,
“I read the sign on the wall. Once we pass through here, we can reach the emergency passage. Let’s go, let’s go.”
Seeing Amber already walking farther away, Bai Muxue quickly shook her head, swallowing all the shock and doubt in her heart, then hurried after her.
Of course Bai Muxue knew. How could she not know?
All the paintings around them...
Every single one of them was a painting of herself.