"T-That scared Paimon to death…"
"Thank you, Qiu Nian!"
Paimon patted her chest in lingering fear before flying over and thanking him.
"Haha…"
"If you're going to thank someone, thank Guoba."
Qiu Nian chuckled softly and glanced toward Guoba.
At that moment, the enormous Geovishap—seeing that Guoba had taken its attack without a scratch—immediately curled into a ball and rolled away in panic.
Guoba watched it flee.
He even jumped up and waved toward the direction the Geovishap had escaped.
Then he happily ran back to Xiangling.
"Guoba… y-you're actually this amazing?!"
Xiangling crouched down and stared at him in shock.
Guoba seemed to understand her praise and began wiggling happily.
"Guoba is seriously that tough?!"
"He took a lightning shockwave head-on and nothing happened!"
Xuehua was stunned watching the scene.
The chat exploded.
[Wait… what?]
[The way Qiu Nian threw Guoba was hilarious.]
[That thing is built like a tank.]
[Guoba didn't even know what happened—he scratched his butt like it was nothing.]
[He even waved goodbye to the Geovishap.]
[So what exactly is Guoba?]
[He looks like a chubby yellow cartoon bear, but he has that strange symbol on his back.]
[Some content creators analyzed it—it looks like a fusion of Geo and Pyro symbols.]
[Two elements?!]
[Pyro explains the fire breath… but what about the Geo part?]
[I'm telling you, Guoba isn't simple.]
[Xiangling has known Guoba way longer than Qiu Nian, right? Then how does Qiu Nian know Guoba is that durable?]
[He threw Guoba like he already knew nothing would happen.]
"Thank you, Guoba!"
Paimon flew beside Xiangling and gratefully thanked him.
Everyone gathered around.
"My goodness…"
"With a body like that, Guoba could probably work as a hammer for Old Zhang at the blacksmith shop."
Hu Tao stared at Guoba in amazement.
[I'm dying.]
[Hu Tao is too funny.]
['Use him as a hammer'—I can't.]
Xingqiu stroked his chin thoughtfully and nodded in agreement.
"So… what exactly is Guoba?"
Paimon asked curiously.
"You should let Xiangling answer that," Chongyun said, turning toward her.
"Well… actually, I don't really know what Guoba is either."
Xiangling scratched her head before beginning her story.
"When I was little, there was a day when it suddenly started pouring rain."
"I wanted to pick some Violetgrass, so I pushed through the storm."
"But halfway there I was exhausted and starving."
"I stumbled into a cave and found a small shrine inside."
"So I sat down next to it and took out two spicy meat buns from my bag."
"I ate one."
"And placed the other one in front of the shrine."
"I meant to rest a bit before eating it, but I accidentally fell asleep."
"When I woke up, the bun was gone."
"And in its place… there was this mysterious creature sitting beside me, staring at me."
Xiangling smiled and looked at Guoba.
"That mysterious creature… was Guoba, right?"
Lumine asked.
"That's right."
"I asked Guoba if it tasted good, and he nodded."
"Then I dug through my bag and found some dried meat and asked if he wanted more."
"He nodded again."
"And just like that, I made a new friend."
"Since then, Guoba and I have been inseparable."
Xiangling finished with a smile.
"Then where did the name Guoba come from?"
"You probably didn't have a name for him at first, right?"
Paimon asked.
"I named him after my favorite childhood snack."
Xiangling laughed and shook her head.
[That's such a cute story.]
[Why does 'cute' feel like the perfect word for that?]
"I see…"
"I never expected you had a story like that."
"It's kind of like me and Paimon."
Lumine said with a smile.
"It really is a bit similar."
Paimon nodded happily.
"But…"
"Why did Mr. Qiu Nian seem to know Guoba's body was that tough?"
Xingqiu suddenly turned toward Qiu Nian.
[Xingqiu asked exactly what I wanted to ask.]
"If he didn't already know and wasn't confident in the outcome, he wouldn't have thrown Guoba like that," Chongyun added.
"Exactly!"
"Even Xiangling didn't know that, yet you did!"
Hu Tao finally realized the same thing.
"That's right, Mr. Qiu Nian—how did you know?"
Xiangling asked curiously.
Could it be that Qiu Nian had met Guoba before?
At that moment, Lumine and Paimon also looked at him with curiosity.
Qiu Nian calmly met everyone's gaze.
"Xiangling, do you remember that I visited Wanmin Restaurant half a month ago?"
"Half a month ago…"
"Oh! I remember!"
"You even praised my cooking and said it had improved!"
Xiangling nodded excitedly.
"Then do you remember where Guoba went at that time?"
Qiu Nian continued.
"I… actually don't remember."
"There were too many customers that day."
"Most of them had come early from Chenyu Vale to celebrate the Lantern Rite."
Xiangling thought carefully before shaking her head.
Now that she thought about it…
Guoba had indeed disappeared for a while that day.
When she stepped outside the restaurant for a moment—
She noticed that Qiu Nian had also left his seat.
There was still half a bowl of rice left on the table, and most of the dishes were untouched.
So she didn't clear the table.
After a long while—
When she came back out again, Qiu Nian had returned.
And around that same time…
Guoba had also quietly reappeared in her sight.
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