With the city in sight, Will parked his Colossal Lightning Snake in a forest out of sight. He helped everyone off and unfastened their rope-belts. It was kind of depressing that this was the closest he'd ever get to driving a car. Well, maybe he could buy a blueprint and make one someday.

Rope untied, Will and the gang headed towards Dragon Flame City. Looking at the place, it was definitely as bright as a dragon flame. They had a lot of lights all over the place. It was big too. With night having fallen, it really stood out with its big smooth white glowy walls.

It took them a good few minutes to reach the gates. Of course, that was because his two mortal buddies couldn't use his footwork.

The line for the gates was long. But there was also an entrance for cultivators that was empty currently. He Wind Danced over to the cultivator entrance and asked a question.

“Can I bwing family thwough the cultivator entwance with me?”

The woman manning the entrance was a bit stumped, honestly. There was a rule against bringing mortals through the cultivator entrance, but there was also a rule against separating little kids from parental figures or caretakers. She decided to prioritize the anti-separation policy.

“Sure, hun.”

Then she noticed the sword the kid was holding. Unsheathed swords out in town were a nono.

“Do you have a sheath for that?”

Will shook his head.

The lady eyed the sword for a moment before reaching into the sheath bucket to her right and pulling out a sheath of the right size. She held the sheath out to the child.

“Try this.”

Will grabbed the sheath and sheathed Sarah. The second he held the sword in a way that wasn't pointing straight up, the sheath fell off the sword to the ground, cut like butter.

The woman stared at the sheath on the ground for a few seconds. As she did, Will talked to Sarah.

“I've never tried, let me see.”

After a moment she spoke again.

“Turns out I do. Huh.”

Will turned to the woman.

“Let me twy again. It's dull now.”

The woman shrugged and gave the kid another sheath. This time it didn't get cut apart. Will fastened the straps to hold it in place and smiled.

“Alright, hun, that's all. Grab your people and go on ahead.”

The people in question had just arrived, so he led them both through the entrance, and just like that, they were in the city.

Will turned to Xu Lanhua.

“So whewe's your husband?”

Surprisingly, she actually knew the answer to that. Or at least she knew where he was staying. He had talked about it a lot. Apparently all the food and stuff there was delivered in little tiny boats in little tiny rivers.

“Little River Inn.”

Will felt that was a shockingly quick response.

“Whewe is that?”

“I don't know.”

Will thought for a moment, before deciding to ask someone for directions. He Wind Danced back over to the lady he'd talked to before.

“Hey, do you know where Little River Inn is?”

The woman nodded, then started giving him directions, which Will copied and embedded. He thanked her, then headed back to his group.

“Got diwections. Fowwow me.”

They soon arrived at the Little River Inn after a bit of walking. They stopped at the entrance.

“Hewe it is. What now?”

Will was truly asking. He'd never done something like this before. Did they just go inside and ask? Did they wait for him outside? Wait for him inside? Break in? He had no clue. Luckily, Xu Lanhua had an answer.

“We go in and ask them to let him know we're here, then wait for him to come out and meet us.”

They walked inside and Xu Lanhua did just that. She told the receptionist she was Li Rencai's wife and asked if they'd let him know she was here. The receptionist nodded with a “sure, ma'am”, before grabbing a notebook from the table. She wrote something on it, tore off the piece she wrote on, and put it in a letter. Then she turned to the side.

It seemed like almost every inner wall here was a half wall. Because there was a raised little river behind all of them. There were even little sandbanks to the sides of it, though the sand seemed to be fake. Instead of grains it seemed like it was just one solid object that looked like it. It was probably so sand didn't get everywhere. Cute little boats rode through the rivers. Will thought the shape was like a pirate ship, but it was probably just based off of some kind of ship merchants used. But there were two big differences from a pirate ship that Will could see (other than its size). It didn't have a sail, and it looked to be made out of smooth, untarnished, light grey metal. The walls were also a nice blue color as well, which really tied the whole thing together.

One of the little boats was sitting in the water next to the receptionist. Even though the water was clearly flowing, the boat stayed in place, bobbing up and down like it was in the middle of a still pond. The receptionist placed the letter on its deck, then nudged the back of the boat. The boat started moving, as if it hadn't realized it was in a flowing river until it was nudged just now.

The receptionist turned to them with a smile.

“Feel free to have a seat while you wait.”

They left the receptionist to her receptionist business and went over to sit on the comfy cushioned couch bench things while they waited.

They didn't need to wait long. In only a few minutes a man entered the room through a side door. His breathing was a bit heavy, and he seemed to have rushed. The man looked to be a bit shorter than average. Though Will couldn't be sure since everyone pretty much towered over him whether they were tall or not. Will could tell the man was taller than Xu Lanhua at least.

The man, Li Rencai, had a pretty friendly looking face, with very light stubble. His hair was a dark red, and he had it cut short, though the slight curl it had made it look a bit shorter. He didn't have the ponytail hair bun thing that Will had seen a lot of people having here.

Li Rencai spotted Xu Lanhua in a moment.

“Lanhua!”

With the confirmation that it was actually his wife that had come, his surprise had fully set in.

“And Yingran?”

Then, confusion joined it. How were they here so fast? He'd only left a month ago, and had just arrived a few days ago. Even that was only possible because the people he was meeting with here had sent a coachman with spiritual horses to pick him up.

Then he noticed the little kid sitting beside them. He racked his brain, thinking of everyone he knew. He thought of all the congratulations he'd given for births in the past three years, trying to find someone who looked similar to the child, ending up with only a handful who looked at all close. But none of those options made the kid being with his wife and daughter in this situation make sense. He gave up and decided on just asking the kid.

“And who might you be?”

Will answered.

“I'm Will.”

He knew it was probably a really unsatisfying answer, but it's not like he had a family name or a title he could add.

Li Rencai's eyes went wide for a single moment before he returned to normal, as if the shock was an illusion.

“Then, it's nice to meet you Will. I'm Li Rencai.”

Will smiled, pleased the man got it right on the first try. Li Rencai turned back to his wife, waiting for answers. Xu Lanhua sighed, before speaking.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“It's a long story. You should sit down.”

Li Rencai sat, and Xu Lanhua told him the whole story. At the start, the emotion on his face changed throughout the story, from anger, to guilt, to sadness, to worry. But when the story got to where Will showed up, he just looked confused. Other than the slightest bit of worry when he heard about the kidnapping attempt, the only change in his expression was the addition of even more confusion. He looked at the kid, seemingly hoping for some kind of explanation as to how.

Will just shrugged. He had no intention of giving a full rundown on his abilities and their origins. It would be a pain.

The man gave up and turned back to his wife.

“So what do you plan to do?”

She thought for a moment. She'd originally planned to just stay with her husband and head home with him when he left. He was supposed to be staying here for a while, so her time of arrival would be a few days before he'd start heading back home. Then once they got home she'd let Rencai handle the issue there and everything would be fine.

But that was a plan she'd made under the assumption that she'd arrive by carriage. And that their only means of transport would be a carriage. The whole snake thing kind of got sprung on her and she hadn't slowed down to reconsider her plans once they made it yet.

“I don't know anymore. I only had a plan for arriving by carriage.”

Li Rencai wasn't too surprised. He'd already come up with a plan himself, anyway. He smiled at his wife as he spoke.

“I'm already done with business, so I can just let them know I've found another ride.”

He remembered something, turning to look at Will.

“That is, if you'll let us ride on your pet snake.”

“It's not reawwy a pet. But yeah, of course you can wide it.”

Li Rencai smiled and nodded, then turned to his wife and daughter.

“That settles it then. I'll get our sleeping arrangements in order and we'll set off tomorrow morning after I let them know.”

Everyone agreed, and Li Rencai got up and went to the receptionist to get the room arrangement figured out. The result was one room for Li Rencai and Xu Lanhua, one room for Li Yingran, and one room for Will.

It was already past dinner so after Will dropped off everyone's luggage in their rooms, they all tucked in for the night.

—

Will slept like a rock. He needed it after how little sleep he'd gotten with the whole kidnapping and taming a Colossal Lightning Snake thing.

He only woke up because Li Rencai kept knocking on his door. He'd come by earlier to wake Will up for breakfast but hadn't pushed it when he didn't get up. But now it was four hours past noon, and they were all ready to go.

As he was about to stop and wait for the kid to wake up on his own, Will opened the door, yawning. Looking at Li Rencai, the man looked more sleep deprived than him. Will knew why. It wasn't hard to tell considering the room arrangements. He didn't really care, though.

“Time to go?”

Li Rencai nodded.

“We're all ready.”

Will yawned again.

“Luggage?”

Li Rencai yawned after seeing Will yawn.

“All packed up and ready for you to store.”

He brought Will over to where the luggage was in the lobby, Xu Lanhua and Li Yingran standing beside it. Will put it all in a ring, and they set off.

After leaving the city, Will brought everyone over to where he'd left the snake. It was still there where he'd left it. He had Li Rencai show him where their destination was on a map. He noticed the city was named Duodibunu city. The concubine Xu Lanhua told him about had some backing, then. Moving on, he tied the rope-belt around everyone's waists, jumped onto the snake's back, and helped everyone else get up.

“~That way, please.~”

Will pointed directly in the direction of their destination.

“~Sure.~”

And with that hiss, they were off.

The ride was as uneventful as the last one. It was so smooth as to be boring. Will even ended up fiddling with his phone during the ride.

Even though the destination was farther this time, it only added two hours to the trip. By the time the city was in sight, it was only four hours past midnight. The only issue was the distinct lack of forest in the immediate area. Or anything else to hide a giant snake with.

But there was a forest where they were now, a very annoying distance away from the city to have to walk with a bunch of mortals. Will told the snake to stop, sighing. They'd have to walk. After getting everyone off and undoing the rope-belt, they started walking.

The walk was three hours long. By the time they reached the city, it was a bit after sunrise. Luckily, the gate wasn't an issue. They saw the people in their group and simply let them in.

After a bit more, they reached Li Rencai's house. It was huge. Annoyingly so. But Will was already annoyed after walking for so long, so whatever.

The guards at the front gate showed a look of shock seeing Li Rencai, then a look of fear.

“Open the gate.”

Li Rencai was also a bit annoyed. He'd never been mad at Duodibunu Lili before. She was just a poor girl pressured by her family into a marriage with him that she didn't want. He would've refused if they hadn't pressured him as well. He'd tried his best to accommodate her however he could because of that. He hadn't even consummated the marriage with her.

But no matter her circumstances, he couldn't accept what she did to his wife and daughter. The fate they would've suffered if this kid didn't happen to stumble upon them hurt to even think about. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

Li Rencai reached the front door first, holding it open for everyone else. He turned to a shivering maid.

“Where is she?”

The maid shivered even more. She knew who he meant. There was only one person he'd be looking for.

“U-upstairs, in her room!”

The man nodded and turned away from the maid as he started walking. Everyone followed close behind him as he walked towards Duodibunu Lili's room. When he reached her door, he slammed the door open, and walked in without waiting.

Duodibunu Lili was doing some knitting on her bed. When she heard the door, she jumped. Realizing it was her husband and not an intruder only calmed her down slightly.

“Wh-why are you here?”

Li Rencai scoffed.

“You still have the nerve to ask after what you did?”

Lili looked overwhelmed and a bit scared.

“Wh-what-what did I do?”

Li Rencai got even angrier.

“You almost got my wife and daughter captured by bandits and you're asking me what you did!?”

She “eep”ed, dropping her knitting supplies. She looked lost and afraid.

“H-h-huh?”

Li Rencai was fuming.

“Don't play dumb with me!”

She shivered, blocking her face with her arms out of fear as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

“Y-you're not making sense.”

Her voice was a bit quieter now.

Li Rencai felt like something was off. She seemed like she actually didn't know what he was talking about. He calmed down for a moment as he asked her something.

“Didn't you bribe and threaten all the servants to torment her until she had to leave?”

Lili looked shocked and a bit offended at the question, her arms lowering a tad.

“I wouldn't do something like that! Is that what she told you?”

She pointed at Xu Lanhua.

“She's lying to you!”

Li Rencai got annoyed again at the implication that his wife was lying after what she went through.

Xu Lanhua had a look of confusion.

“What reason would I have to lie about you?”

“To make him hate me!”

Xu Lanhua looked even more confused.

“Why would I want him to hate you?”

Lili looked aggrieved.

“So you can keep him all to yourself!”

Everyone was confused now. Li Rencai spoke up.

“Weren't you forced to marry me by your family?”

Now Lili looked confused too.

“Huh? Why would my family force me?”

“To make connections? Because you're the only daughter in a martial arts family that practices martial arts for men?”

She looked confused, then shook her head.

“They wouldn't send me away for something like that.”

“Then why did they send you away?”

Lili pouted grumpily.

“They didn't!”

“Then… why are you married to me?”

Lili blushes slightly.

“Because I like you!”

Li Rencai looked shocked.

“Then why do you always look at me like I hurt you?”

She looked aggrieved.

“Because you did!”

She started crying a little.

“Huh?”

She started crying for real this time.

“You didn't even look at me on the night of our wedding!”

Li Rencai was starting to feel guilty now.

“I didn't want to force you to sleep with a man you don't love.”

It finally hit her what had been going on all this time. She pointed at Xu Lanhua.

“So she wasn't telling you bad things about me?”

Li Rencai spoke quickly.

“No! We both just pitied you!”

Xu Lanhua nodded in agreement.

Then Li Rencai remembered what he came here for.

“Wait, if you didn't do the bribing and threatening, then who did?”

Lili had forgotten about that. But, if Xu Lanhua didn't lie to make her look bad, then did that mean something really happened?

“Wh-what actually happened to her?”

Xu Lanhua explained the story to her. Only, unlike Li Rencai, instead of being confused, she was crying.

“I-I'm so sorry that happened to you!”

She got off of the bed and ran over to Xu Lanhua, hugging her. She was pretty short, only an inch or two taller than Li Yingran, so her face ended up in her chest.

Xu Lanhua was surprised, but calmed down after a moment.

“It's okay. Nothing bad happened in the end, so it's fine.”

Li Rencai spoke again.

“So were you the one who bribed and threatened the servants?”

Lili shook her head furiously. Xu Lanhua blushed, since Lili's face was still in the same spot as before. Then Lili thought for a moment and started crying harder.

“I-I think I might know who did it…”

Li Rencai asked immediately.

“Who!? Who is it!?”

“I-it might have been my little brother.”

“Huh? Why?”

She sniffled.

“Be-because I was c-complaining about how much I hated you…”

She looked up at Xu Lanhua as she said it, making it clear who she was talking to. Li Rencai was a little mad at her again, but his anger quickly faded when he thought of how bad he'd made her feel all this time.

“I'm s-s-s-sorry.”

Xu Lanhua looked down at her.

“It's okay. You didn't mean to.”

She started crying even harder.

“You're so nice to meeeee.”

Will felt like it was about over now. He was satisfied somewhat. It was kind of like that one show on the TV in his hospital room when the remote fell in a way that hit the power button and he couldn't reach it since it had fallen to the floor. It wasn't peak entertainment, but it wasn't bad. It was even better than the show from that one time, since he actually had some context instead of having it turned on midway through a random episode. Though both certainly shared the similarity of making him feel like he was too young to watch them. It was clear they had forgotten he was here considering the subject matter.

But he was tired now.

“I need a bed.”

Li Rencai was reminded of Will's presence.

“Sorry about all that. Family troubles. You'll understand when you're older.”

Will noticed that the man sounded dishonest on the last line. It almost felt like he was making fun of him for pretending to be a child. Except he was a child. He wasn't even pretending to act like a child the age this body was. He shrugged it off. He was too tired to care.

Will was led by Li Rencai to a guest room. Once they were inside, he closed the door behind them. His face changed to a serious expression immediately. He turned to Will.

“What do you want with my family?”

Will wasn't expecting this. He thought he was just being led to a place to sleep.

“Huh? I wanted a wide.”

“You can stop pretending, now, ‘Will’.”

He emphasized the word. Will sighed internally. He probably needed to take this seriously, now, didn't he? He focused up, putting away his sleepiness for now.

“How am I pwetending?”

“You're a transmigrator. The soul of a grown adult in the body of a baby. Just like I was.”

Well, that wasn't quite true. He was a kid in the body of a baby. And a baby in the body of a baby.

“I'm not a gwown aduwt.”

“You can stop acting now. Don't you think you're a little old for baby talk? I was in the same situation, I know you can talk normally.”

Will was annoyed now. It's not like he enjoyed talking like a baby either! He couldn't control it!

“Shut up!!! I can't hewp it! Stop bwagging!”

Li Rencai was a bit surprised. It turned out he was more talented than this guy at something.

“So you admit you're a grown adult?”

“I'm not!”

Sarah butted in at this point, talking to Will.

“What the hell is going on? Do you know what he's talking about?”

Li Rencai spoke before she could follow up her question.

“You're still planning to lie about it?”

“I nevew weached aduwthood.”

Li Rencai was surprised again. He hadn't considered that possibility. He'd just assumed any other transmigrators would be the same age as him. So this guy was a high-schooler?

“Fine, kid in the body of a baby, that better?”

Will nodded.

“Yeah.”

Sarah was completely blindsided.

“Will, what are you talking about?”

“As well? Also, you were too lazy?”

Sarah noticed he hadn't answered the lazy part. She let it be for now.

“So is that guy the same?”

Will didn't see a coworker symbol, and it definitely sounded different.

Sarah was once again blocked from speaking Li Rencai.

“It doesn't change the question. What do you want with my family?”

“I wanted a wide.”

“If you just wanted a ride you would've left after you tamed the snake. Try again.”

Will felt like the reason he hadn't left was pretty obvious, but whatever, since the big detective here couldn't solve the case alone, he'd give a few hints.

“What happened befowe I got the snake?”

“A kidnapping attempt. After you slept in a room with my daughter.”

“Yeah.”

“So is it because you wanna sleep with my daughter?”

Where the hell did he get that from? And now he seemed like he was getting angry about it too!

“They'd get kidnapped!”

“So it was out of the goodness of your heart?”

“Yeah. Mostwy.”

“Why mostly?”

Will saw the man getting angry again. Likely at another imagined instance of Will liking his daughter.

“I was bowed.”

Li Rencai wasn't expecting that one.

“Bored?”

“Yeah.”

“So you just… saved them out of boredom?”

“And goodness.”

It was also for points but he kept that to himself. It wasn't that big a part of why he saved them, anyway. Honestly, he hadn't actually thought of not saving them. It just hadn't crossed his mind. It wasn't because he was a saint, of course, it more a mix of sleep deprivation and that he thought of it in response to there being danger if they continued in a carriage. But it actually sounded even better if he added that in without the end but, so he did.

“Honestly, the thought of leaving them behind never really cwossed my mind.”

“Huh. Well, I'm sorry for doubting you like this, then.”

He thought for a moment, abruptly changing topics.

“What was your life like? Before here.”

“Bedridden.”

“Ah. I'm sorry to hear that. What with?”

Will shrugged.

“No matter how many tests they wan, they could never figuwe it out.”

“How many tests did they run?”

Will counted them in his head.

“Twenty-thwee I think. May have been mowe.”

“Wow. The medical bills must've been crazy. So they ended up defeating the Black Dragon, then?”

Huh?

“What? Bwack Dwagon? Medical biwws?”

“The one that came from the SSS-rank gate on a deserted island? The one that had a break because it wasn't found in time? And medical bills, like you pay for medical stuff.”

Will was flabbergasted. What gate? What's a gate? Why was it SSS-rank like some kind of gacha pull? And why would you pay for medical stuff? Isn't that the point of taxes or whatever?

“What awe you talking about? What gate? Why is it ranked wike a gacha pull?”

“The gates! The ones that came with the advent of mana! The ones full of monsters that the awakened fight?”

Will remembered something. That's it! Now it makes sense.

“You had hawwucinations!”

Li Rencai stared at the kid.

“Do you really not know what I'm talking about?”

“I do. You're talking about youw hawwucinations.”

Li Rencai realized something.

“We must be from different worlds.”

That actually made a good bit of sense when Will thought about it.

He still didn't understand the idea of medical bills, though.