Chapter 288 The Thirty-Third Day of Entering a Xuanhuan Novel

Chapter 288: Day 33 in a Fantasy Novel

Gan Feng looked at Xie Xuandu, who was sporting a black coal ball on his head, and the undisguised, blissful smile on Xie Xuandu's face that mixed doting affection with possessiveness. He felt like his brain was short-circuiting.

He briefly lost control of his expression, revealing a mix of shock, bewilderment, and a hint of awkwardness that screamed, "Did I just witness something I wasn't supposed to see?"

So this Xie dude was into fluffy things after all?!

Xie Xuandu naturally noticed Gan Feng and the ever-changing look on his face.

His gentle, refined smile remained unchanged, and he even gave Gan Feng a rather friendly nod of acknowledgment.

A smug, barely concealed satisfaction lingered on his face.

See, he thought to himself, on his head was his beloved.

Meanwhile, An Yi on his head merely flicked his tail lazily, indifferent to Gan Feng's presence, and even casually pawed at Xie Xuandu's topknot ornament.

Gan Feng's face showed just the right amount of surprise and respect. He quickly stepped forward, cupped his fists in salute, and said, "Senior Xie!"

After the formalities, he habitually glanced around Xie Xuandu's side but didn't see the familiar figure in white. He couldn't help but ask, puzzled, "Senior Xie, why isn't Senior An accompanying you?"

As he spoke, his gaze ultimately couldn't resist—driven by intense curiosity and scrutiny—drifting toward the top of Xie Xuandu's head: that pitch-black, fluffy, almost featureless thing that clashed utterly with Xie Xuandu's elegant, otherworldly image.

The little ball sat there steadily, its bushy tail swaying unconsciously, brushing against Xie Xuandu's hair.

Gan Feng hesitated for a moment, but ultimately couldn't suppress his burning curiosity. He looked at the black coal ball and asked cautiously, "This... Senior Xie, what is this?"

Xie Xuandu was in an excellent mood at the moment, with his beloved perched atop his head and the soft, warm sensation still lingering on his fingertips.

Seeing that it was Gan Feng—someone he was reasonably familiar with—asking, he surprisingly didn't ignore or mock him. Instead, he was all smiles and warmth, even with a hint of barely concealed, almost boastful pride.

He raised his hand and gently stroked the fluffy back of the creature on his head with a natural ease.

The incredibly soft texture under his fingers deepened the curve of his smile. His tone carried an air of obviousness, as if introducing a rare treasure:

"This is a dinosaur."

Gan Feng: "..."

System: "..."

An Yi: "..."

He felt his face flush.

Gan Feng's expression instantly froze. His eyes bugged out, his jaw dropped so far you could've fit an egg in it, and he was frozen solid on the spot.

D-Dinosaur?!

His inner voice let out a mental screech. Do dinosaurs even exist in this world?! No wait! That's not the point! Even if dinosaurs existed here, how the hell could it look like this?! This is clearly just a fluffy ball! You can't even find its face!

And it's perfectly round! Extremely fluffy!

What the hell does this have to do with a Tyrannosaurus rex, a Diplodocus, or a Triceratops?!

(A flat, crackly electronic tone from the system also carried a glitchy, exasperated pause: "...Based on this system's database comparison, this form shares 0% similarity with any dinosaur. This is obviously not a dinosaur, right?!")

(His thoughts were a whirlwind): Is he messing with me?! What part of this thing looks like a dinosaur?! Does Xie have some kind of eye problem?! Wait...)

An utterly absurd yet strangely plausible thought suddenly dawned on him—could Xie be... a time traveler too?!

That's why he knows the word "dinosaur"?!

But is his understanding of dinosaurs wildly off-base?! Or was he a total dino nut before he crossed over?

He looked at the black coal ball proudly declared "dinosaur" on Xie Xuandu's head, then at the unfeigned delight and easy composure on Xie Xuandu's handsome face. An overwhelming sense of defeat and a desperate need to vent surged through him, leaving him completely speechless. He completely lost his poker face, gaping like a fish.

Just then, the "dinosaur" that Gan Feng was mentally ranting about seemed amused by the mental meltdown happening below. A faint, hushed, breathy, barely suppressed chuckle escaped its throat: "Heh... haha..."

The sound was soft but clearly reached Gan Feng's ears. Then, a clear, resonant voice he knew all too well spoke directly: "It's me."

Gan Feng shuddered awake, instantly snapping out of his frozen state.

He stared at the black coal ball in disbelief, his eyes widening even further, as if trying to burn holes through that fluff with his stare!

S-Senior An?! That voice... it's Senior An!

Senior An is actually... a Spirit Beast?!

No—judging by the ability to freely shapeshift and the unfathomably deep aura, this must be a mythical beast in human form!

With that thought, his gaze toward Xie Xuandu instantly filled with an indescribable mix of awe and a hint of bizarre admiration.

Senior An is a mythical beast in human form, and he might be in that kind of relationship with Xie... hmm...

Gan Feng sucked in a sharp breath. Monster romance!

Interspecies romance! Truly the cultivation world—they really go all out! Mad respect! Not messing with that!

But he quickly calmed down and seized on the key point.

Senior An had never been surprised by his system from the start, and could even hear his conversations with it... The time traveler wasn't Xie—it had to be Senior An, no question!

No wonder!

Maybe Senior An also has a system, just one he can't hear.

An Yi crouched on Xie Xuandu's head, taking in Gan Feng's entire mental journey—from shock to collapse, then to filling in the blanks himself and now looking on with awe—along with the system's merciless commentary. He heard it all clearly.

He was completely unfazed, and even found it a little amusing.

He'd called himself a dinosaur originally to tease Xie Xuandu, but as luck would have it, he'd ended up teasing Gan Feng and the system instead.

Fine, whatever.

As for whether he was actually a dinosaur... He couldn't be bothered to explain the whole messy story. Keeping his puffball form was comfy and low-maintenance. Out of boredom, he even flicked his bushy tail, the tip of his tail grazing Xie Xuandu's earlobe.

Xie Xuandu couldn't hear Gan Feng's and the system's inner exchange, but he took in every last one of the spectacular, ever-shifting expressions on Gan Feng's face—from initial surprise and confusion, to the shocked petrification at hearing "dinosaur," to the dawning realization upon recognizing An Yi's voice, and finally settling into that look of mixed awe and a touch of strange admiration.

Xie Xuandu's eyes narrowed. Gan Feng knows what a dinosaur is?

His mood soured instantly. Maybe I should just find some excuse to off Gan Feng after all.

His smile faded. He stopped paying attention to Gan Feng, who remained standing there with a somewhat dazed expression, and continued walking down the street at a leisurely, unhurried pace, with his priceless "little dinosaur" perched on his head.