And if he’d stayed any longer in that lazy alley, Tian Lu swore he might’ve turned into one of those old men who argued all day about which flavor of instant noodles was the best.
Of course, he was firmly on Team Beef-Flavored Instant Noodles.
Just a few minutes into standing by the store door, he was already munching on a handful of Original Salted Potato Chips.
Chomp. Snrk.
The crunch was satisfying.
“Hrmh.”
“Good.” Tian Lu muttered through a bite.
He glanced around the scorched alleyway again, the heat rising gently off the ground.
It had been a peaceful breakfast so far.
But right as he reached for another chip –
A tremor rippled beneath his boots.
Tian Lu immediately stopped his actions.
His gaze sharpened.
Another thud.
Followed by the rapid scuffle of feet, a dragging noise, and –
“Stop! I said stop, you silly girl!”
A girl’s voice echoed sharply from the main street bend.
Tian Lu turned his head toward where the sound was coming from.
A young girl stumbled into view, flailing as she was dragged down the alley by a thick, smoking leash.
On the other end of it, a beast stomped forward with wild glee in its glowing orange eyes.
The creature was squat and bulky, stocky and low to the ground.
Its lava-scaled hide shimmered with a dark bronze-red sheen, pulsing faintly with heat.
Glowing orange slits flicked back and forth like it was scanning everything at once.
Its wide jaw hung open, smoke leaking from its nostrils like a chimney during winter.
Its short, clubbed tail smashed into a crate on the side of the alley, reducing it to splinters in one swing.
“Little Liz!” the girl cried, planting her boots hard into the dirt.
“Where are you even going?! That’s not the market!”
The lizard let out a deep, rumbling sound that might’ve been a laugh.
Or a burp.
It charged faster, the leash jerking the girl forward like a kite in a windstorm.
“Wait! Wait wait wait!”
“My boots weren’t made for this!”
She skidded forward another two meters before her heels dug into a patch of half-melted stone.
Tian Lu’s brow twitched.
The girl wasn’t hurt.
But her hair was flailing wildly, long white braids whipping behind her as her goggles bounced on her forehead.
She was tall for her age – or at least, looked that way – but her limbs moved with the chaos of someone who had rushed out without thinking.
Ebony skin gleamed with a thin layer of sweat under the harsh orange sky.
Her beast-hide riding jacket was half unzipped, sleeves rolled up, pants tucked neatly into bootstraps that had long since given up trying to look clean.
The lizard finally slowed to a heavy stomp just meters away from Tian Lu.
It snorted once.
Then sat.
Right there on the ground like a smug, oversized dog.
The girl collapsed onto her knees beside it, panting, glaring, and shaking a dust-covered fist.
“Little Liz, I told you I was not running today!”
The lizard blinked once.
Its nostrils flared.
Its eyes locked onto Tian Lu’s bag of chips.
“No.” The girl warned, her eyes widening as she realized what was going into the head of her spirit beast.
Tian Lu glanced at her, then back at the lizard.
Little? What part of that is little?
That thing could probably swallow two children in one go.
The lizard’s intense stare never left the bag of chips. It sniffed the air, its nostrils flaring.
’Is it the chips?’
Tian Lu couldn’t help but feel a little proud. This was the finest product in the store, after all.
’This spirit beast got excellent taste.’
“It’s.”
“Fine.” Tian Lu spoke up. “Kid.”
The girl blinked, thrown off by the unexpected comment.
“Kid?! I might be even older than you, mist – ”
Before she could finish, Tian Lu swiftly grabbed a generous handful of chips and tossed them towards the lizard.
The beast’s reaction was instant.
Its body shuddered with excitement as the chips flew through the air, and with a sudden burst of speed, the lizard reared up.
Its short tail whipped behind it, and in a move that seemed almost too quick for something so stocky, it leapt forward, jaws wide open.
Chomp!
The chips disappeared in one go, not a single crumb wasted.
It didn’t even pause to chew, and yet, the satisfaction on its face was undeniable.
’Is this spirit beast really a lizard?’ Tian Lu thought, watching the creature’s sudden burst of energy.
It almost looked like it had transformed into a completely different being.
“Uh… what in the world…?” the girl blinked and rubbed her eyes.
Her spirit beast was now wagging its thick tail, almost vibrating in place.
The lizard huffed again, this time more dramatically, declaring the bag in Tian Lu’s hand as its one true prey with certainty.
The girl snapped back to Tian Lu.
“What did you feed my Little Liz, mister?!”
Tian Lu chewed slowly.
“Potato.” he answered. “Chips.”
The girl stared at Tian Lu.
“Potato… chips?” she repeated.
She looked completely lost.
Never in her life had she heard of something like that.
Was this man just naming random objects?
Her lips twitched.
“Is that even a real thing?”
“What is it?” the girl asked.
“Snack.”Tian Lu calmly brushed crumbs off his fingers.
“A snack?” Her brows furrowed.
She turned to her spirit beast again.
The lizard was still crouched low, tail thumping once, twice, as if it was waiting for a signal to pounce.
There was no doubt about it. It liked what it ate.
Maybe even loved it.
The girl tilted her head.
It should be fine, right?
If something was dangerous, her Little Lizard would’ve gone wild by now.
It once ate a whole sack of cursed lava fruit and only sneezed afterward.
This?
This was nothing.
“Where did you buy that, mister?” she asked.
That shiny bag clearly didn’t come from Scorching Soul City. She would’ve seen it in the markets if it did.
No, that kind of packaging… that name… even the smell… It had to be foreign.
Maybe even from outside the Molten Ashlands.
This man too.
His attire weren’t native. He had to be from somewhere far away.
