In a state between dreaming and waking, Mian Mian found herself on a beach.
On the sand in front of her, a little girl with chignon hair and a traditional dress was squatting and carefully building a sandcastle.
The little girl seemed to notice her presence, she suddenly looked up at her. After seeing Mian Mian, she gave her a bright smile, waved her hand, signaling her to come over and play.
Mian Mian subconsciously walked toward her.
But before she could take a few steps, several black shadows sprang up behind the girl. They covered the girl’s mouth and took her away. Despite the little girl’s struggles, it was in vain, she could only stretch out now towards Mian Mian to ask for help as best as she could.
Seeing the girl being captured, Mian Mian hurriedly chased after her. But as she ran, she discovered her body felt extremely heavy, as if it were filled with lead, making it difficult for her to lift her feet with each step.
Moreover, the sand beneath her feet unexpectedly turned into quicksand. With each step she took, she sank a little deeper, until her legs were completely buried in the sand, preventing her from moving at all, she could only watch helplessly as the girl in distress was taken further and further away from her...
Mian Mian woke up from the nightmare to find herself lying in bed with her quilt slowly moving upwards.
Along the direction of the quilt, she saw a dark figure of a Shadow Ghost standing by the bed. It was very carefully lifting the two corners of the blanket, placing them on her, its movements extremely gentle, as if it were afraid to wake her.
Upon waking, Mian Mian and the Shadow Ghost made eye contact, causing the ghost’s movements to pause. After a dumbstruck moment, it let out a mournful cry and rushed out of the room.
Mian Mian hurriedly scrambled out of bed and chased after the Shadow Ghost.
However, the Shadow Ghost floated extremely fast. By the time she pursued it downstairs, it had already disappeared into the shadow of Mu You, who was in the store’s front desk playing on his phone.
Mian Mian sprinted over, desperately leaning down and looking around Mu You’s shadow, but she could no longer find any trace of the Shadow Ghost.
"Awake?" Mu You looked at her.
"Mu You, where’s Meng Meng?" the little girl hastily looked up at Mu You.
Mu You glanced at the shadow on the ground.
Through the shadow, he could see the Shadow Ghost was in the Shadow Space, clutching a Shadow Fur Ball, shivering in the corner.
"If you block it , obviously it will not dare to show up." Mu You said, shaking his head at her.
"I... I just want to talk to her..." Mian Mian lowered her head, feeling a bit dejected.
"Don’t hurry. The intelligence of the Shadow Ghost is like a newborn baby now, vulnerable and sensitive, especially when it is facing you. If you want to communicate with it, you need to make it feel safe. Let it come to you voluntarily rather than chasing after it abruptly, which will only scare it away." Mu You said.
"How should I do it?" Mian Mian hurriedly turned to Mu You.
"It’s simple, just smile more."
"This Shadow Ghost is born to protect you, to dispel all your pain. It’s the purpose of its existence, seeing you happy will make it feel at ease. On the contrary, if you frown all day, it will also feel the pain." Mu You explained.
After listening, Mian Mian quickly tried to relax her facial muscles, attempting to make the expression of a ’smile’.
However, a lifetime spent in darkness had trained her into a habit of stoicism. To her, ’smiling’ was an unfamiliar term. Now when she forced herself to smile, the result was a series of disjointed expressions.
As she complained, Mian Mian continued to practice in front of the mirror, earnestly kneading her cheeks for the expression of a smile.
"Happiness has many ways of expression, you don’t necessarily have to smile..."
Mu You chuckled, he took a temporary identity card from the drawer and handed it to her: "This is yours."
Mian Mian subconsciously took it, glanced at the card, the signee name was ’Mu Mianmeng’, and next to it was a picture of a little girl with black hair and black eyes. The girl was very pretty.
"Who is this familiar-looking girl with the same surname as you?" Mian Mian curiously turned to look at Mu You.
"Of course it’s you..."
"Me?" Mian Mian was surprised, she unconsciously looked at the picture again and the signee name next to it, looked up at him, corrected: "I’m called Mian Mian!"
"I know, but Mian Mian is a nickname. You need a formal name to live a normal life on Earth in the future." Mu You said with a smile.
This identity card was the result of Mu You’s hard work in the afternoon. He had registered Mian Mian as a ’wandering orphan from another world’ that he had picked up a while ago and had been living in the shop for some time.
This was not uncommon in recent times. The Space Fissure meant that creatures from other realms often percolated onto Earth, and occasionally there would be children. After the public test, there were dedicated laws: adopting these inter-space orphans required strict inspection for eligibility, meeting various requirements to adopt. Orphans without a carer would be sent to an orphanage.
Of course, the normal adoption process wouldn’t be so quick, but Mu You was an insider and had just cooperated with the government (Knowledge Ancient Tree), so they didn’t make things difficult for him on this trivial matter. He had green lights all the way which made her residency application quick.