Chapter 137: Chapter 137: When I learn more things, I will help you find out what happened

She did not know anything about healing muteness. In the sci-fi world, there were doctors, machines, scanners, and treatments for all sorts of things, but here she had none of that.

She did not even know if his muteness was from injury, fear, poison, curse, or something else in this beast world she had no name for. But the moment she saw the quiet sadness in his eyes, she made a silent decision in her heart.

One day.

If she could find a way, she would help him.

Even if it took asking her useless system a thousand times.

Even if she had to search through the whole tribe’s healing knowledge.

Even if she had to bully the dream beast god she invented herself.

She would try.

Lin Huahua reached out and touched his throat very gently. "Does it hurt?"

Hu Baiyu shook his head.

"Do you want to speak again?"

This time he paused.

A long pause.

Then he looked at her.

His hand moved to his throat, then to his chest, then to her lips, and finally to her face. The meaning came slowly, but when Lin Huahua understood it, her eyes grew hot.

He did want to speak.

But mostly because he wanted to call her name.

Lin Huahua’s mouth trembled a little. "You want to say my name?"

Hu Baiyu nodded.

The cave became very quiet.

Even Mu Qingyi, who had been respectfully pretending not to listen, stopped moving completely. His deer ears turned slightly toward them, and his expression softened with old sadness because he already knew Hu Baiyu had carried this pain for a long time.

Lin Huahua tried not to cry because she had cried too much lately and did not want to become the kind of female who leaked water every time someone was sweet to her, but her eyes still stung.

She leaned down and hugged Hu Baiyu, wrapping her small arms around his neck and pressing her cheek to his damp white hair.

"You do not have to say my name for me to know," she whispered. "I already understand you."

Hu Baiyu froze again, but this time it was different.

Not fear.

Not pain.

Something deeper.

His arms slowly came around her waist, holding her carefully at first, then tighter when she did not pull away. His face pressed lightly against her shoulder, and a low rumble moved through his chest, not quite a purr, not quite a growl, but something full and trembling like his heart had too many feelings and no voice to release them.

Lin Huahua stayed there for a while, letting him hold her, and her tail slowly curled around his side in a soft unconscious motion.

After some time, she pulled back just enough to look at him. "When I learn more things, I will help you find out what happened."

Hu Baiyu’s eyes widened.

Lin Huahua lifted her chin, trying to look confident even though her ears were still red and her voice was still soft. "Do not look at me like that. I am very capable now. I made feet protectors."

Mu Qingyi almost dropped the clean bowl.

Lin Huahua immediately turned her head. "What was that reaction?"

Mu Qingyi lowered his eyes with great seriousness. "Nothing. I am only moved by your talent."

"You do not look moved."

"I am deeply moved."

"You look like you want to laugh."

Mu Qingyi’s deer ears twitched once, betraying him completely.

Lin Huahua narrowed her eyes. "You too?"

Hu Baiyu quickly lifted both hands, as if surrendering on Mu Qingyi’s behalf, then pointed at the foot protectors drying near the fire and gave her a very solemn nod.

He believed in them.

Probably.

Hu Baiyu then stared at her for one second.

Then his shoulders shook.

He was laughing again.

Lin Huahua gasped. "You are laughing at me."

He shook his head quickly, but his eyes were bright and his mouth was curved in a way that completely betrayed him.

"You are. You think my feet protectors are funny."

Hu Baiyu touched his heart, then pointed at her, then touched his own lips and shook his head, trying to explain that he was not laughing at the footwear, he was laughing because she was cute.

Lin Huahua did not accept that explanation at all. "No. You are guilty."

She reached for his lion ear.

Hu Baiyu’s eyes widened.

This time he tried to escape, but she was still on his lap, so she immediately grabbed his ear and tickled the soft base again.

Hu Baiyu’s whole body jolted, his silent laugh returning as his big hands caught her waist to keep her from falling.

Lin Huahua laughed too, the earlier heaviness easing into warmth, and for a moment they were back to playing like two foolish cubs on the fur while Mu Qingyi finally allowed himself to laugh quietly from the side.

Hu Baiyu, despite being much stronger, did not stop her. He let her tickle him, let her climb higher on his lap, let her little hands attack his ears while he only defended enough to keep her from tipping over. His heart felt so full it hurt.

This was the same female who had once made his silence feel like a shame, and now she was sitting on him, laughing, promising to help him, telling him she understood him.

It was too much.

Too sweet.

Too dangerous.

His hands tightened a little on her waist without him realizing it.

Lin Huahua stopped laughing first because she felt it.

That small change.

The room had grown warm from the fire, but the warmth that suddenly reached her was different.

Hu Baiyu had gone still beneath her again, and when she looked down, his blue eyes were no longer only soft and happy.

They were darker now, heavy with an emotion she was beginning to recognize even though it still made her panic every time.

Her breath caught.

She became aware of everything at once.

How she was sitting across his lap.

How his hands were around her waist.

How close his chest was.

How his hair brushed her arm.

How his breathing had deepened.

And then, all at once, Lin Huahua felt him grow beneath her.