Chapter 60: Above the Stars

After leaving the Dark Moon Commerce, Lu Yu directly took the little hamster to the largest nearby supermarket.

“Is a human supermarket really this beautiful?”

The little hamster’s eyes widened with excitement, its ears perked up, and its mouth agape in awe, similar to Lady Liu entering the Grand View Garden—a scene filled with curiosity.

Previously, when it was hungry, it could only sneak into small convenience stores to pilfer some snacks, always fleeing with its tail between its legs, fearing being caught, beaten to death, or eaten, without a moment to look around.

This was the first time it boldly stepped into such a grand and luxurious supermarket. The dazzling array of goods on the tall shelves left it momentarily stunned.

After communicating with the cashier, Lu Yu procured a disposable QR code access sticker and placed it on the still bewildered Little Hamster. He flicked his finger against its forehead, causing the Little Hamster to subconsciously cover its head.

Before it could get angry, the Little Hamster saw Lu Yu hand over a child’s shopping basket with a smile, saying:

“Go ahead and choose whatever you like—don’t be shy with me!”

“Really… Can I really pick anything I want?”

Although it had been agreed upon earlier, the Little Hamster still found it hard to believe when the time actually came to do so.

“Of course!”

After receiving an affirmative answer, the Little Hamster, feeling slightly elated, dragged the basket—which was huge for it—forward. As it passed by two aura-sensing hounds, its fur instinctively stood on end and its heart started to beat faster.

The two sniffing hounds lazily glanced over, noticed the access sticker on the Little Hamster, and withdrew their gaze without stopping it.

At that moment, the Little Hamster suddenly felt like it became a member of human civilization. It too could live in the sunlight and be respected.

However, after taking just one step, a scanning red light suddenly swept over, causing it to stiffen and memories of unpleasant past experiences surged in its mind. It instinctively wanted to flee into the shadows, but on looking back and seeing Lu Yu smiling and nodding at it, it found courage.

“I can’t let those abnormal cultivators look down on me!”

Emboldened by his gaze, the Little Hamster held its head high and, after the machine scanned the access card and beeped, the red light withdrew.

“Hmph, this red-eyed metal monster is nothing special!”

The Little Hamster let out a sigh of relief, then happily roamed around the snack area, picking out its favorite items.

Lu Yu thought it would take a while to choose, but five minutes later, the Little Hamster came back, dragging a basket filled with ten bags of tomato-flavored chips and several caramel puddings.

Lu Yu thought maybe the Little Hamster didn’t understand the prices, so he reminded it: “You can choose more; this is just a few dozen dollars. The budget I gave you is twenty thousand.”

“Hmph, don’t need to tell me that, but if I choose too much and can’t finish, it could go to waste. Wasting food is bad!” the Little Hamster retorted with a huffy turn of its head, adding: “And you, abnormal cultivator, do you look down on me? If I can exchange for snacks this time, next time I can do better and get even more!”

Although the little hamster was trying to hide its emotions, Lu Yu still saw hope and desire in its eyes, like a little cat that had been abandoned, looking for love through cautious and well-behaved acts.

Lu Yu fell silent, a vision of the Little Hamster alone in a dangerous abandoned city district overrun with demons suddenly appeared in his mind.

Facing uncertain dawns, shivering on countless nights, enduring the pain of the Soul-capturing Demonic Cloud slicing its soul because of the fear of being discovered, it had to grit its teeth and bear it, not daring to make a sound even in agony.

Even though the soul could be healed afterwards, the process was painful and prolonged.

And with its intelligence and capacity for thought, the pain only intensified.

Having experienced the beauty of human civilization and contrasting it with its loneliness, it would deliberately imitate the human living environment, stealing the food of humans… these actions, besides satisfying hunger, were more about giving itself a sense of existence.

But it never gave up, tirelessly searching for the meaning of its existence!

All its ferocity was just a cover for its inner fragility.

And Lu Yu

was the first to tell the Little Hamster that it was needed.

It saw a glimmer of hope!

Even if it might be a trap, even if it was treated merely as a tool, after thinking it over, it resolutely stepped into it.

After Lu Yu kept his promise, instead of going on a shopping spree, it chose only what it needed(BREAK)

because it felt that was all it was worth!

It wasn’t devaluing itself; instead, it was content and joyful after its trust hadn’t been betrayed(BREAK)

Lu Yu suddenly thought about his past life; in fact, most people are like the Little Hamster in life, aren’t they?

Having read many books, traveled many paths, learned to think, after facing setbacks, they too feel lost and clueless, not knowing how their past knowledge will serve their future, if they will ever succeed or remain nameless and achieve nothing, possibly dying silently or living inexplicably. But all of this…

Is unimportant!

We are just dust in the cosmos, mere drops in the river of time. Be bold in pursuing what you wish to do, clear about who you want to become. Riches, fame, and the views of others along the way are all illusory. Life shouldn’t be a blank slate filled with hedonism, fame, and fortune, written in sloppy handwriting.

If the heart is like the morning sun, everywhere it looks will be like the rosy clouds of dawn.

If you miss the afterglow of sunset, there will still be a sky full of stars.

Such a Little Hamster should never be looked down upon or ridiculed!

Lu Yu hid his smile, squatted down, and touched its little head, praising sincerely: “Yes, the Little Hamster is the most amazing!”

“Hmm hmm, at least you have good eyes,” said the Little Hamster, visibly delighted by the praise. Its mouth involuntarily curled upward, but it quickly pretended to be indifferent, saying with an air of grandeur:

“And that’s nothing. Remember the time I ran rampant in the convenience stores…”

Lu Yu put it on his shoulder and, while queueing to check out, listened quietly to its so-called glorious past without interruption, simply being a peaceful listener.

He heard the Little Hamster’s story about how, after wandering for three days and nearly starving to death, it found half a bag of discarded tomato-flavored chips, and after eating its fill, felt incredibly happy—those chips tasted countless times better than standard hamster feed.

It mentioned why it bought caramel pudding—it couldn’t find chips at its favorite convenience store on its first birthday last month; it found pudding instead. Because the pudding was too heavy, it nearly got caught and was almost hit with a broomstick, almost losing its life, but in the end, it managed to escape using its unrefined shadow abilities.

On that birthday, the sweet pudding made the Little Hamster very happy; it liked the flavor very much.

When it came to birthdays, the Little Hamster thought of its mother and hung its head, its bright eyes dimming a bit.

Not out of missing her, but because…

It forgot!

It forgot what its mother looked like…

Before becoming a transcendent being, its memory capacity could only store roughly half a year’s worth of events.

Since it was a full moon old, it had been bought by a little human girl and lived with her since, watching anime, TV shows, and learned much about the human world together. That was the happiest time of its life.

In the end, when she tired of keeping a hamster and was about to throw it away, it secretly opened the cage during the night, snuck into the sewers, and consumed an affiliate’s blood to mutate into a transcendent being. It has been wandering for three months now.

It bore no resentment towards the little girl, just some regrets. On many nights, it fantasized that—perhaps—a mother would have provided a warm embrace…

At that moment, the Little Hamster looked at Lu Yu, who was paying at the checkout, hoping for him to express some opinion, whether words of comfort or praise. Yet, Lu Yu remained silent until they left the supermarket and still hadn’t said anything.

“Heartless humans!”

Disappointed for not receiving a response, the Little Hamster felt upset, thinking the abnormal cultivator was being disrespectful. It huffed into a pocket and curled up, not wanting to speak.

Unless that abnormal cultivator bought it three… no, two more bags of chips and praised it five times, it would forgive him!

“Did I say something wrong…”

Waiting for a long while, the Little Hamster still didn’t hear from Lu Yu. Tossing and turning in its thoughts, it began to feel anxious, wondering if it had annoyed the abnormal cultivator with its chatter.

Regretting its garrulous nature, the Little Hamster, which craved love, also felt particularly sensitive and insecure. Maybe all its courage had been spent on the journey to find itself.

Click!

While the Little Hamster was lost in its thoughts, the familiar sound of automatic doors heralded their arrival—not at the home of the abnormal cultivator, as it assumed. Poking its head out to offer Lu Yu a way out, it instead saw a familiar scene.

“Is this… the convenience store I used to visit? What is this about? Could it be that he’s tired of my boasting and plans to hand me over to them?”

But before the Little Hamster could come to grips with the situation, it saw Lu Yu approach the cashier, point to its head, and say:

“Sorry, my Little Hamster stole quite a few things from here before. We’ve caused you trouble. How much were the losses? I’m willing to pay tenfold as compensation.”

As these words fell, the Little Hamster, which had been planning a swift exit, froze, tilting its head to look at Lu Yu’s profile. In its deep black eyes, a storm of indescribable emotions began to churn.

“Oh no… Sorry, I’ve only started working here a few days ago and I’m not quite sure of the details, let me call the manager… Manager, please come over…”

The cashier, a young woman, blushed at Lu Yu’s charismatic appearance and, flustered, stuttered and fetched the manager.

After the manager became aware of the situation and learned it concerned the little hamster known for stealing snacks, although surprised, he wasn’t aggressive. He stated he couldn’t recall the exact amount, but a three hundred yuan token compensation would suffice.

Lu Yu nodded, left three thousand yuan behind, and then visited all the convenience stores the Little Hamster had frequented, compensating a total of over five thousand yuan.

Although the aggregate value of everything might have only amounted to a few hundred yuan, he found significant meaning in the act.

Once everything was sorted, it was already eight-thirty in the evening. Carrying a bag of snacks, Lu Yu walked on the path home.

Throughout this process, the Little Hamster didn’t utter a word. It just stared fixedly at his profile, as if wanting to commit it to memory forever.

He would embrace it, consider it family, apologize for its mistakes, and lead it out of its dark past…

Somewhere along the way, the figure of Lu Yu began to overlap with the warm embrace the Little Hamster had imagined in its mind.

Its wait seemed to have finally paid off!

Lu Yu patted the Little Hamster’s head, everything being conveyed without words.

“Wuu wuu wuu, you abnormal cultivator, who asked you to do this, wasting money… I’ll pay you back in the future…”

The Little Hamster retreated back into the pocket, its body quivering. Although it tried to hide its tears with a tsundere demeanor, the longing was palpable.

Lu Yu chuckled, the last barrier between him and the Little Hamster gone.

Unbeknownst to them, a figure stood atop a white tower, silently observing them—or perhaps observing everything in the city—with a solitary and tranquil presence that didn’t fit in with the surroundings, as if not from this era.

After comforting the Little Hamster, Lu Yu spoke to the Little Spider in his pocket, currently consuming dream fragments to replenish its strength:

“Good work!”

Although an ounce of spider silk isn’t back-breaking, it isn’t easy either.

“Ying ying!”

The Little Spider shook its head earnestly, indicating it wasn’t too difficult at all, its delicate face breaking into a smile as entrancing as blooming flowers.

To it, being able to spin silk, make money, and relieve its master’s burden was a delight.

In its void treasure chest, a second Little Hamster doll made of its silk had appeared.

A family should always be together!

At this moment, under the dim light of the street lamps, which blurred vision, a gentle breeze with a hint of coolness caressed the cheeks, bringing a sense of peace and tenderness.

Lu Yu looked up at the starry sky and reached out as if grasping something. With earnestness, he declared:

“From now on, we will enjoy the evening breeze every day and see the scenery above the stars together. No one is allowed to fall behind on this journey!”

“Ying!”

The Little Spider raised its hand; it would try hard!(BREAK)

The Shadow Hamster snapped back to reality, and said with tsundere pride:

“Squeak!”

Don’t underestimate the Little Hamster. The ones who need to keep up are you!

Simple promises hold beautiful expectations.

Lu Yu was happy; he had an additional family member, more liveliness, and… more responsibility.

What comes next is the creation of skill-based secret foods…