Chapter Twenty-Four: The Resting Area

The Next Day

Inside Uncle Liu’s Wooden House

“Lie, since you’ve finished telling the story, why don’t you show your sister around the inner city you’re always talking about?”

Li Le sat on a stool, still wrapped in a gray cloak, this time without the hood. Tapping her finger lightly against the tabletop, she watched Lie with a gentle smile.

“Squeak, squeak—” The ball of fur on her shoulder echoed her words.

Lie pouted, reluctant for the story to end, and turned to complain, “Sister, you always stop at the best part on purpose…”

Li Le only smiled, saying nothing. That was precisely her intention—to leave him wanting more, so she’d always have a reason to dig for information. If she let him finish the story all at once, what excuse would she have to probe for secrets?

“Alright, Sister, I’ll take you for a stroll in the inner city. But you have to promise to tell me three stories when we get back,” Lie bargained.

Li Le arched a brow with a laugh, holding up a single finger. “One,” she countered.

Lie’s eyes widened. “Sister, just one? That’s too few! At least two—”

Sitting by the table, Li Le looked at him with an amused, half-smiling expression, as if about to say something.

Lie hurriedly added, “If you tell me two stories, I’ll introduce you to Ji and the others!”

Li Le raised her brows and replied slowly, “Actually, I was just about to agree to your terms…”

Lie’s gaze was faint. “…Sister, why didn’t you say so sooner?”

Li Le tugged at her loose cloak, smiling. “You didn’t give me the chance.”

Flustered, Lie scratched his head and sighed, “Fine, Sister. I’ll take you out. Where would you like to go?”

Without hesitation, Li Le replied, “Let’s walk along the trading belt between the inner and outer city. I want to see those places you mentioned—the blacksmith district, the beast tamers’ garden, and the rest area… all those areas that exist independently within the inner city, outside the Thirteen Districts.”

Li Le spoke briskly, clearly having mapped out the route in her mind long ago.

The inner city was generally divided into thirteen districts. Beyond these, three special zones stood apart: the blacksmith district, the beast tamers’ garden, and the rest area.

The blacksmith district, as the name suggested, was where weapons were forged. Don’t be misled by the name—the area was expansive and home to many skilled smiths. Most of the fine and standard weapons in Cloud City originated there. For example, the javelin Bai used during his patrol, or the swords and blades hanging on the wooden house’s wall, all came from this place.

Of course, once Li Le moved in, Bai confiscated all those weapons to prevent her from accidentally hurting herself, storing them away in the utility room. Thus, she’d only caught a fleeting glimpse.

Next was the beast tamers’ garden, reminiscent of places from Li Le’s former life where wild animals were domesticated. Here, specialized trainers bred and raised beasts fit for riding or for other unique purposes—companionship, training, and the like.

Human strength was limited; even in peaceful times, few would choose to migrate on foot, let alone in this perilous, ever-threatening world. Thus, beasts of endurance, resistant to the corrosive mists and suitable for taming, became essential for travel.

Lastly, the rest area. Despite its name, adults were generally forbidden entrance. Instead, it served as a training ground for the city’s young—where children from different districts honed their combat skills and competed with one another.

In this world, the young were precious and fiercely protected, yet that protection did not mean they could live idly. Quite the opposite—they faced rigorous trials and battles from an early age to better adapt to the harshness of the world ahead.

The rest area was precisely such a place. There, the young were stripped of their guardians’ protection and left to spar with their peers from other districts. If a child was weak, even with hidden masters ensuring their safety, a bruising defeat was hardly uncommon…

These zones consumed a significant share of Cloud City’s resources. Naturally, only the offspring of the upper echelons or those with great potential could enter.

To Li Le, this place was much like the elite schools of her former world: designed to nurture the best, where only the strongest thrived.

Ever since she’d learned about these areas from Lie, Li Le had been deeply interested in visiting. Of course, there were other miscellaneous spots, but she’d set her mind on these three for now. After all, one must take things one step at a time.

When she finished, Lie tilted his head, hesitant. “Sister, the blacksmith district or beast tamers’ garden is fine—I can ensure your safety in those places. But if you want to visit the rest area, I’m afraid Tooth and his gang will give you trouble. I might not be able to protect you…”

“If only Ji and the others were here… But their parents took them to the central tower’s trading hall. Without them, Tooth will definitely come looking for trouble…”

Lie looked troubled. If he went alone and got beaten, so be it. He could always get his friends together for payback later. But if he brought his sister along, it would be humiliating to be beaten in front of her, and even worse to see her get hurt on his watch.

Li Le simply smiled at his concerns. She rose and retrieved a piece of black iron, about the size of her palm, from her pack.

Wasn’t that a raw iron billet? The very one they’d bought together at the market yesterday. What did she want with it?

Lie was puzzled, his small head full of questions.

Then his eyes widened in shock.

Li Le’s fair, slender hand gripped the iron billet and squeezed. The metal yielded beneath her palm, caving in as though it were no more than soft clay.

A faint smile played on Li Le’s lips as she released her grip, revealing five clear finger marks pressed deep into the iron.

Her fingers were delicate and pale, their tips tinged with healthy pink—nothing about them hinted at the strength that had just crushed solid metal.

She placed the misshapen billet on the table, tucked her hands back into her cloak, and smiled at Lie, whose worldview seemed to be crumbling before his eyes.

“Can you take your sister with you now, Lie?”

The ball of fur on her shoulder added its timely agreement: “Squeak—”