Runes • Rifles • Reincarnation
85. Let Me Hold Her

Jin Shu reached up to his ear, removing the earring that hung there. Its glossy black surface caught the sunlight, gleaming like polished obsidian. He held it out in his palm for everyone to see before beginning his explanation.

“I’ll start from the very beginning so you can understand the absurdity of what I’ve been through. It all begins with this earring.”

“It’s your storage device, right? I don’t see many that aren’t rings or bracelets,” Chen Ai Yun commented.

Jin Shu nodded. “I did mention it before…” He paused, glancing at Li Xue. “Oh, well, I guess not all of you were present. Did anyone get a chance to explain my… situation to Li Xue?”

Biyu nodded. “I told her everything.”

“Good, thank you, Biyu.” He smiled warmly at her before continuing. “I believe I mentioned finding a stash of items. This earring was among them, as was a strange fang that Yin’er occasionally used as a chew toy.” He paused, chuckling softly, the memory catching him off guard. He then slipped the earring back into his ear.

“She hadn’t touched it in a long time, so it was left forgotten in a corner of the earring. That is, until I was checking my elemental affinities, when the fang suddenly went wild, releasing the roar of a dragon.”

He paused again, frowning slightly as a thought crossed his mind. Why did the fang do that?

My spirit was awoken by your interaction with the elements. Jinshu answered from within his mind.

Jin Shu nodded to himself before resuming his explanation. “As you all know, after that, things escalated quickly. All I can say is that the fang launched itself at me, knocking me unconscious. What happened to it after that?”

“It lodged itself so deeply into your head that we couldn’t remove it,” Chen Ai Yun replied, her voice steady but with an edge of concern. “I managed to stop the bleeding and set up a barrier around your brain, but the fang slipped past my Qi like it was nothing, dissolving inside your skull.”

Jin Shu shivered at the thought. “That’s... kind of gruesome.”

He paused, imagining what might have happened if the fang had been a weapon instead of a container for Jinshu's soul, before considering the implications. Jinshu’s soul… or technically mine? Both? A headache threatened to form just thinking about it. Ah, whatever. Too much to unpack right now.

“There was a soul housed inside that fang—a dragon soul.”

“An actual dragon soul? As in the mythical creatures that haven’t been seen in millennia?” Li Xue asked, leaning in with a curious gleam in her eyes.

Jin Shu gave a slight smirk. “Even more special than that—but I’ll get to that later.” He took a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing.

“The fang gave me a dream, but not just any dream. It was a vision of a dragon’s life—the one whose soul was contained within it.” His voice grew wistful. “It started with a baby dragon, still in its unhatched egg. It felt as if I were truly there… and in a sense, I was there.”

His eyes unfocused slightly as memories surfaced—distant yet vivid. “That baby dragon… I was the son of the Dragon Clan’s Patriarch—the Azure Dragon. Or rather, the Azure Dragon of that time, not the original. Much like Yin’er, I was born in the Core Realm. For powerful species, it’s common for their offspring to be born at that level.”

Beneath the table, Yin’er suddenly perked up, then crawled out, rubbing a paw over her eyes in a sleepy manner.

“Did you call me?” she asked drowsily.

Jin Shu laughed. “I didn’t, but I’m glad you’re up now so you can listen to my story.”

Still looking half-asleep, Yin’er nodded and attempted to climb onto his lap.

“Uh, Yin’er… you’re a bit too big to sit on me now.”

“What?!” Her drowsiness vanished in an instant, replaced by wide-eyed shock. Then—

“Waaah!”

For the first time since she was a few months old, she burst into tears.

Panic seized Jin Shu. He frantically searched for a way to calm her down. A snack? No, he didn’t have anything on hand. Then, an idea struck him—he couldn’t let her sit on his lap right now, but there was a way she could in the future.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” he coaxed. “I have a way for you to sit on my lap again. Do you want to know what it is?”

Yin’er peeked up at him, tears still clinging to her lashes, dark streaks dampening the silver fur around her eyes.

“W-what way?” she blubbered.

“I can teach you a technique that will let you take on a human form. If you do that, you’ll be smaller, and you can sit on Daddy’s lap again. How about it? Wanna learn?”

Her sniffles quieted, and then—vigorously, she nodded.

“Alright, this is—”

Wait. I can teach it to her so she can use the transformation technique right away, Jinshu interrupted.

Oh? Let’s do that, Jin Shu agreed.

Lean your head down and touch foreheads with her.

Jin Shu followed the instruction, pressing his forehead gently to Yin’er’s. She blinked up at him, curiosity flickering through her tear-filled golden eyes. Then, a soft light shimmered between them. As it pulsed, her eyelids fluttered shut.

Jin Shu pulled back.

“What was that?” Biyu asked. The others gave him questioning looks, clearly wanting an explanation as well.

“It—” Before he could answer, a silver glow enveloped Yin’er, obscuring her form.

Everyone’s eyes snapped to her as the light pulsed and then slowly faded.

Where a husky-sized tiger cub had been, a tiny child now stood.

Silver hair, smooth as silk, cascaded down to her small, bare feet. A miniature dark silver robe adorned her body, two tiny holes in the back allowing a pair of delicate silver wings to poke through.

Her eyes—still a soft, glowing gold—blinked open, and she beamed up at Jin Shu.

“Did it work, Daddy?” the human-formed Yin’er asked.

“Uh-huh. Here, look for yourself.”

With a thought and a casual wave of his hand, Jin Shu gathered the water element in the air, shaping it into a round, reflective mirror. The gesture wasn’t actually necessary, but doing it without one just felt… off.

Yin’er leaned in, studying her reflection carefully. After a moment, she pointed to the mirror, then turned to Jin Shu with wide, curious eyes.

“Who’s this cute girl?” she asked, completely sincere.

Jin Shu chuckled. “That’s you, of course.”

“Oh.” She turned back to the mirror, tilting her head. “Hmm…?”

Parting her silver hair, she revealed a golden mark on her forehead—the character for king (王). She tapped it experimentally, then closed her eyes. A moment later, when she opened them again, a small golden tiara had appeared atop her head, and the mark had vanished.

Without hesitation, she flapped her tiny wings, lifted herself into the air, and hovered above Jin Shu’s lap. Then, with a satisfied plop, she settled herself down, wiggling until she found a comfortable spot.

She looked up at him, her too-big golden eyes sparkling with joy.

“Hehe! Yin’er can sit on Daddy’s lap again!” she cheered, slipping into her old way of talking in her excitement.

Jin Shu patted her head, smiling. “Yes, you can.”

Raising his gaze, he suddenly realized that the gathered women had gone unusually quiet. When he looked at them, they were all staring at Yin’er—wide-eyed, breathless, and absolutely smitten.

It was Tian Li who finally broke the silence.

“C-cute…” she whispered, as if the sheer adorableness had knocked the breath from her lungs. Then, louder—

“L-let me hold her! No—I must hold her! Give her to me!”

She shot up from her seat and lunged, leaping across the short distance between them with alarming speed.

Jin Shu barely had time to register the movement before she was already upon him, hands outstretched like greedy claws, reaching for Yin’er.

But Tian Li was up against a veteran in dodging such situations.

Before she even fully launched herself forward, Yin’er had already sensed the incoming danger. Without thinking, she vanished from her spot in a blur of silver.

Tian Li’s hands closed around empty air.

Instead of capturing a tiny, fluffy child, she collided straight into Jin Shu.

With a yelp, they both toppled over—chair and all.

Jin Shu barely had a moment to process what happened before he felt something soft envelop his face for a brief instant.

Then, rolling from the force of the impact, he landed flat on his back.

Dazed, he turned his head—only to come face-to-face with two white-capped peaks.

His gaze trailed upward.

Tian Li’s flushed face hovered mere inches from his own.

“Sorry,” Tian Li whispered, blinking bashfully. Then, with a sudden burst of defiance, she added, “B-but you got more than enough compensation!”

Jin Shu frowned. “Compensation?”

He was about to ask what she meant when the memory of a certain soft sensation on his face resurfaced. His eyes flickered downward instinctively—before snapping back up just as quickly.

Cough.

With an awkward clearing of his throat, he shot to his feet, only then registering the barely suppressed giggles rippling around the table.

And the loud, uninhibited laughter of Yin’er.

“Ahahaha! Ehehehe!” The little silver-haired girl floated above them, doubled over midair, laughing so hard she could barely keep herself steady—zipping around like a drunken fairy.

Jin Shu shook his head, exasperated, and leaned down to help Tian Li up.

“Haha! You can’t catch me, Auntie!” Yin’er teased from above, sticking her tongue out playfully.

“You—!” Tian Li bristled in frustration. “I already asked you nicely not to call me that! Can’t you say Big Sister Li instead?” Then, as if struck by inspiration, she smirked. “Or how about you be my baby and call me Mommy?”

Yin’er shook her head so vigorously it looked like a rattle drum. “Nope! You’re Auntie! Hehe! And unless you marry Daddy, you can’t be my Mommy!”

Jin Shu sighed. Here we go…

Tian Li, however, seemed to take the remark more seriously than expected. She turned to glance at Jin Shu, an oddly contemplative expression crossing her face.

His instincts screamed at him to shut this down immediately. He blinked at her in warning.

Yet instead of dismissing the idea outright, Tian Li simply hummed thoughtfully.

“Uuu… hmm… maybe?” she murmured to herself.

Jin Shu decided it was time to steer the conversation firmly back on track.

“Alright,” he announced, clapping his hands. “Let’s sit back down. There’s still more of my story left.”

Tian Li nodded absently and returned to her seat, a wistful expression lingering on her face.

“…hard, not like a girl’s soft body…” she mumbled under her breath.

Jin Shu didn’t catch the whole sentence. The part he did hear, he wisely chose to ignore for the sake of his own sanity.

He could literally imagine what his younger soul would be thinking in this situation—because, well, they were one and the same.

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