Girl in the Box: Please tell me why I was reincarnated as a mimic monster!

“Is that so… That makes sense. You’re high school students now, right?” Mrs. Li said with a smile. “It’s only right that you prioritize your studies. You should head back now and come visit again when you have time.”

"Thank you auntie."

They met briefly, and that was enough for Li; she dared not hope for more. She was very grateful that her parents were well; compared to Xuanze, her life was quite fulfilling.

"What are you going to do now?" Ning asked, but she knew very well what Li was going to do next.

"Is there even a question?" Li said firmly. "Of course, I'm going to find my mom's ring. Please stay with me for one more day."

"No problem at all."

Chapter 30 Going Home

On the last morning, Xiaoqiu left home early as usual. After packing her things and carrying her bag, she left the house. Later, she encountered an unexpected person at her doorstep.

"Brother Xuan?"

Xiao Qiu looked at the person who was already standing at the door in surprise. It was rare for him to be sitting at the door so early, and what was even more surprising was that he had actually gotten up early today. The spring morning was still a bit chilly. He was wearing the same clothes as when they met a week ago, except that his black overcoat had been mysteriously burned off. He looked exactly the same as before.

"Oh. You're up." Xuanze stood up and dusted himself off.

"What are you doing?" Xiao Qiu frowned. "How can you get up in this cold weather?"

"Does it surprise you that I can get up?" Xuanze asked.

"Yes, I'm very surprised." Xiao Qiu rolled her eyes at him. "Normally you'd still be fast asleep at this time, and you wouldn't get up until at least midnight."

"You really know me well..." Xuanze said calmly, "But I'm a little different today than usual."

“Yes, it really is different.” Xiao Qiu naturally picked up where he left off. “So, where is Brother Xuan?”

"Let's go, aren't you going to school? I'll take you."

"…………? What's wrong with you…?" Xiao Qiu looked somewhat surprised.

"It's nothing," Xuanze said casually. "Just consider it a spur-of-the-moment decision to take you to school."

"That's really suspicious..."

"Say whatever you want. Do you want to be late?"

"I don't want to. If you want to come, then come."

Xiao Qiu ignored him. To avoid being late, she didn't have time to worry about anything else. Since Xuan Ze wanted to come along, she figured she might as well let him. The two walked towards school, a strange sight to the people on the street. They knew most of the children in the orphanage, especially the two oldest ones.

However, it was rare for Xuanze to come out with Xiaoqiu. The two walked silently without saying a word. But Xiaoqiu seemed to already know what Xuanze was thinking. Having spent so much time together, she could somewhat guess what he was thinking. They remained silent until they reached the school gate. Because Xiaoqiu was quite a noticeable person at school, their appearance at the gate attracted the attention of some people.

"Alright," Xiao Qiu said to Xuan Ze, turning around. "I've arrived."

"Hmm." Xuanze nodded casually. "Then, I'll head back."

"Um……"

Xiao Qiu nodded, waved to him, and then turned and walked into the school gate. She knew that Xuan Ze was probably going back to that place again.

…………

After escorting Xiao Qiu to school, Xuanze went to the place he had arranged to meet the other three, but there was no one around. He took out his phone to check the time, confirming that he had been stood up. Then, he found a place to sit down. Soon after, the three people he was waiting for appeared in front of him with a flash of silver light.

"Oh," Xuanze joked, "I didn't arrive that early either, only about an hour ago."

"...Am I seeing things?" Li asked, doubting her own eyes. "Xuanze arrived even earlier than us?"

"You didn't see wrong, Sister Li." Xiao herself found it unbelievable, "because I saw the same thing."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ning said helplessly, pulling the two back to reality. "Didn't we agree to meet here yesterday? Isn't it only natural that the Demon King would be here?"

Here's what happened: because of some personal matters, they spent another day dealing with them, so they contacted Xuanze by phone and postponed the time by one day. So today is the morning of the eighth day.

"I'm sorry, Xuanze," Li said apologetically. "We had some things to take care of, so it took us a while."

All Li did was retrieve her parents' wedding rings and anonymously return them. Li initially wanted to do more, but after careful consideration, she realized she had already done enough; anything more would be superfluous. For her parents, this was sufficient. Therefore, Li had no regrets.

"It doesn't matter," Xuanze said indifferently. "Anyway, I'm already used to it. Besides, I just did some things."

"So, have you finished your work?" Li asked.

“Of course,” Xuanze said calmly. “It’s just sending that little girl to school; it’s not like it takes much time.”

"Oh, you went to take Xiaoqiu to school, right?"

"Could it be anyone else? All the other kids were directly educated by Miss Fang in the orphanage."

"I can rest assured that."

Li smiled; this was probably Xuanze's own way of saying goodbye. Now that they had said goodbye properly, there shouldn't be any major problems going back now.

Although Li used up a lot of magic in anger yesterday, she still has enough magic left to send all four of them back to the other world.

Silver magical light rose from the ground, creating the same scene as that day. It continuously infused magic, opening a portal to another world, and the silver light bathed all four of them in its glow. On the other side of that portal lay their world, a fact all four knew perfectly well. Xuanze waved his hand and stepped into the silver portal without any further introduction.

The three sisters exchanged smiles, then walked hand in hand into the portal. A soft silver light enveloped them, and as the light faded, the familiar Perseus Tree appeared before them, along with Zhou Dong sitting beneath it, cradling the Azure Blade and meditating with his eyes closed.

As if sensing the presence of the four people, Zhou Dong opened his eyes and stood up.

"You're back." Zhou Dong used this short sentence to express his welcome.

“Yes,” Li smiled, “we’re back.”

On the eighth day, Li returned to this world. No matter how much she missed the people on Earth, her home was now in this world, and this was the only home she could return to. If she could, she truly wished the other two were here too.

"Haa..." Xuanze took a deep breath, "The air here is so much better."

“Yeah, I didn’t even notice that until you mentioned it.” Ning agreed with Xuanze’s statement. “This world is definitely better.”

“I think both sides have their own advantages…” Xiao said as she took off her bracelet. “The other world is very convenient, but I still prefer this magical world.”

"So," Li asked with a smile, "how does it feel to be home?"

"Hmm..." Xiao stretched, "I really want to take a nap..."

"Is it really that tiring..." Li said with a wry smile.

Xiao must have had the most difficult seven days. The language barrier and lack of basic knowledge about Earth caused her a lot of headaches. She has been studying hard these past few days, trying to keep up with the times. According to Ning, she should now have a modern mindset. Moreover, this trip seems to have made her a bit more mature.

"Hmm... I'm alright." Xiao tried hard to fight off sleepiness. "Is there anything else to do?"

"If you can't hold it in, you can go back and get some sleep first," Li said considerately. "Ning and I are going to let everyone know we're safe. After all, we didn't tell them we were delayed by an extra day, which probably made a lot of people worry."

Because the fact that Li and her team suddenly delayed their return until today was not communicated to the people here. No matter how advanced a smartphone is, it can't transmit information to an area without signal, right? So, this half-day delay most likely caused problems and made others worry. Thinking of this, Li decided to meet with everyone later to let them know she was safe, since it was their fault.

"Then I'll head back to the Demon King's castle first..."

Xuanze waved his hand, yawned, and left.

"Oh, see you next time."

The three sisters bid farewell to the Demon King. No one knows how the demons have fared these past seven days, but it's said that the demons become uncontrollable without their king; however, that doesn't seem to have happened. Well, the demons can't remain leaderless for long, and it's about time Demon King Xuanze went back to work.

"Then I'll go back and rest for a bit..." Xiao yawned, took out her phone and scanned it against the door lock. "Ah... this is my phone..."

Having lived on Earth for seven days, she assumed the card she carried was an adventure card symbolizing her identity, so she casually took something out of her pocket, only to find it was her own phone. She seemed to be getting used to that world; she put her phone away and then reached out to touch the crystal ball embedded in the door.

After the crystal ball on the gate recognized Xiao's identity, it opened the door, and Xiao yawned as she walked in. At this moment, Zhou Dong walked over from the island in the middle of the lake and stopped in front of the two of them.

"How was it?" Zhou Dong asked, "How did you feel about this trip to Earth?"

"Huh?" Ning asked, puzzled. "Wait a minute, how come your tone has become so modern in just one week?"

“Oh…” Zhou Dong explained, “Because the knowledge level connects the present and the past, I am somewhat influenced by the current culture. However, to understand it in more detail, one needs to actually experience it.”

"Heroic spirits are so convenient..." Ning thought of the heroic spirits in a certain work.

"Why don't you go and see what this world looks like these next few days?" Zhou Dong patted their heads. "You two have really worked hard. You have successfully created this world as you envisioned it."

"It's still a long way off." Ning wasn't arrogant. "It's still quite a distance from the world they imagine."

"Well, let's take it slow." Li nodded. "It's also getting closer to their wishes... Speaking of which, Zhou Dong, what do you think of the world right now?"

"What is the world like now...?"

Zhou Dong fell into deep thought.

The world today is in a state of disarray, not a world where everything is available or can satisfy all human needs. However, it is precisely because of this that humanity, as survivors, has been given considerable creative space.

Think about it. Is it better to erase a blank sheet of paper filled with pencil writing and rewrite it, or to start writing on a completely new blank sheet of paper?

A blank sheet of paper erased with an eraser will always retain some traces of the past, some good, some bad. Rather than that, it's better to take out a brand new sheet of paper and start rewriting. The world is like that now, because of Seric, the world has been almost completely reset, existing as a brand new "blank sheet of paper."

What they are about to do is to rewrite a world on this blank sheet of paper.

"I don't know how to evaluate this..." Zhou Dong gave a vague answer, "However, I believe that what you two did was correct, and I think Lady Nao and Lady Relfa would also think so."

"That's enough for me," Li Tiantian smiled.

She did this not for herself, nor for the world, but solely for the wishes entrusted to her by those two. Zhou Dong had the closest relationship with those two, and based on his understanding of them, he should be able to arrive at the same conclusion as them. His words were enough to motivate Li to continue working with all her might.

"Well, I'm sorry, we need to go find the others first," Li said apologetically. "We need to say hello to them first."

"Go ahead without worry." Zhou Tai nodded, holding the Azure Blade. "I'll take care of things here."

"Ah."

That day, Li and Ning were busy greeting and apologizing to their friends. Many people felt uneasy because they had been delayed by a day. Time travel was something beyond their understanding, so it was understandable that they would feel uneasy about it. Some people even got angry because of it, but everyone welcomed the two back safely.

This experience made Li feel more deeply that this was her home, her true home.

In the following days, the two threw themselves back into preparations for the harvest festival. Ryo held meetings to work intensively on plans for that day and some competition rules, while Ning buried himself in the research of related equipment. Dealing with Kana every day was quite tiring.

Days passed by, the sports field was completed, more teleportation gates were set up, and because the scale was reduced, the number of times it operated each day increased. The research and development of related equipment was also completed, the plan was finalized, and everything was ready.

All you need to do is wait for the day and night to change.

Chapter 31 Harvest Celebration

“There are so many people…”

"Yes... there are more people than expected..."

Looking at the sea of ​​people at the venue, Kuroba felt a headache coming on, while Finoir beside her wore a wry smile. They were currently on their way to the Harvest Festival venue, but they had encountered a small problem: the crowds.

Because almost everyone was given time off during the festival to allow everyone to participate, and because they underestimated the number of people, the current situation has arisen. However, according to information from those ahead, Yuri is currently using spacetime magic to forcibly expand the space around the venue, creating more space for visitors to move around.

Since it was a holiday, the school had naturally given the children a break as well, and they were probably accompanying their parents to the harvest festival. Now that the children were temporarily away from school, the teachers had some free time. Fino figured she had nothing better to do, so she suggested to Kuroba that they go check out the harvest festival venue.

Kuroba had already made such a plan, so he agreed to Finoer's idea. Afterwards, the two left the school and headed to the harvest festival venue somewhere in the maze. However, they were now stuck outside the venue because there were too many people, causing the flow of people to be congested, and there had been no movement here.

Kuroba and Finoer were both involved in the planning, so they knew the approximate number of attendees for the festival. However, the number far exceeded their expectations, and it was because of this problem that things turned out this way. The two waited listlessly for the crowd to clear, but a long time had passed and the crowd showed no signs of moving.

“Finoir,” Kuroba asked, “how long until the opening ceremony?”

"Hmm... let me see..."

Finoer took out a palm-sized crystal plate from her waist pouch.

"What is this?" Kuroba asked curiously when he saw the thin crystal plate.

“This was given to me by Li.” Finoer touched the thin plate with her finger. “It seems to be something called a terminal.”

"So... this is a copy of the phone!?"

Fino Er used this action to wake up the terminal's standby screen. Magic flowed within the crystal plate, forming an image that displayed the time. In short, it was a replica of a mobile phone, which Li and Ning had crafted into a version more suitable for this world. Although it didn't have as many functions as a real phone, and due to time constraints, it was currently only a few pieces rushed out, so it was still just a prototype.

However, as long as it works, that's enough.

“It’s eight o’clock…” Finoer said. “It’ll start in half an hour.”

"Huh? Really?" Kuroba was stunned. "There are so many people, then that means...!?!"

Before Hei Yu could finish speaking, a silver light emanated from the depths, enveloping everyone in its intense glow. However, despite its intensity, the light caused no discomfort or glare. Upon opening their eyes, they found themselves in a silver world, causing a stir among the crowd.

After the silver light disappeared, everyone was standing in an unfamiliar place, but they all recognized the scene from somewhere. That's right, it was on the promotional poster for the harvest festival. This must be the venue.

"Wow... this scale..." Kuroba exclaimed in surprise, "Truly worthy of being called the Time-Space Dragon King... After expanding the size of this space with his time-space powers, he can actually accommodate so many people. With so much magic power, there must be at least ten thousand people..."

Although it was much smaller than the stadiums on Earth, it was the most suitable venue for this world. It was enough to accommodate 10,000 people. As everyone looked in surprise at where they were, a magical projection suddenly appeared in the center of the venue. At the same time, the crystal panels around the venue also began to circulate magic and display images.

"Ah, cough cough, can everyone see that?"

"The process has already begun."

"Hey..."

In the video, the girl, Li, tentatively waved to see if the device was functioning properly. Then, Ning's voice came from off-screen, reminding Li that filming had begun.

"Ahem!" Li coughed lightly twice, feigning calmness, and then said, "Please forgive me for using such a rough method to send everyone directly to the venue, because there are too many people, and our passageways are basically congested. I am very sorry for this oversight caused by our miscalculation. Our construction team is currently working urgently to widen the passageways, so the situation should not occur when everyone leaves today."

At that moment, the image on the crystal panel shifted to the passageway outside the venue. A murmur rippled through the crowd; they seemed to have witnessed something unbelievable. But Kuroba knew that it was most likely the surprise Riku had been talking about.