Chapter Twenty-Four

The three of them stared silently at the map, each trying to find a way to understand it. Meryl was the first to move; she leaned on the table with her hands and said in a soft voice, "Miss Map, reveal your contents!"

The other two looked at her with blank expressions, finding her behavior childish.

"What? Miss Cloud opened her doors for us the same way!" Meryl protested, objecting to their looks.

Alvin sighed helplessly, picked up the map, and examined it from several angles before saying hesitantly, "Maybe it needs blood!"

Meryl snatched the map from his hands forcefully, saying with annoyance, "All you ever think about is blood!" She then turned to Elena, who seemed to be seriously considering the suggestion, and said, "Elena, don't take him seriously."

Tulip, who had been watching TV, turned towards them, curious about the commotion. He got up from the couch and quietly went to sit among them.

"It looks like Tulip agrees with me — that's why he came over," Alvin said while gently pinching the child's cheeks.

Tulip nodded despite not knowing what the conversation was about.

"Leave the child alone!" Meryl said in annoyance, slapping Alvin's hands away from Tulip's now-reddened cheeks.

"Whose blood should I spill it with?" Elena suddenly asked, drawing the attention of the other three toward her.

"That's not something you say in front of Tulip!" Meryl protested, covering Tulip's ears. Alvin pushed her hands away and said sarcastically, "He'll get used to it. After all, blood has become unavoidable with all the changes in our world."

Meryl huffed in frustration. Alvin was right, but it was hard for her to accept that a little child like Tulip would have to witness blood and interact with it from now on.

"Besides, Tulip is a little man — he'll rule the world one day!" Alvin added encouragingly, grabbing Tulip's eager arm and shouting, "Tulip, future ruler!"

Elena slammed her hand hard on the table, silencing everyone immediately. In a frightening tone, she said, "One more word, and I'll throw you all out!"

She spread the map flat on the table again and began to stare at it, pondering how effective Alvin's suggestion might be.

Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind — maybe she could find something useful in the store.

The store was massive, housing millions of products, and searching through them would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. To save time, she said calmly, "Look for something useful in the store."

Unlike the adults, Tulip didn't understand anything. He patted Alvin's hand and gestured that he was confused about what they were searching for. Alvin didn't mind explaining everything in detail, wanting Tulip to feel like he was part of this — not just an extra, useless bystander.

Tulip smiled excitedly as he opened his store and began searching for something. Even though he didn't have much money, Alvin's words — "If you find something you think might be useful, send the link to the group chat." — were enough to make him search with focus.

Meryl, exhausted from the long search, lay down on the carpet. Even after half an hour of searching, she still hadn't found anything. Alvin, who was browsing the 'black market' section, suddenly felt the urge to go to the bathroom.

"Miss Cloud, could you prepare some juice and cookies for us?" Elena politely asked when she noticed Tulip deeply engrossed in his search. After all, he was just a little kid, and he would surely love those treats.

Suddenly, while Alvin was washing his hands, he received a private message from Tulip. Alvin opened it in surprise — Tulip was supposed to send links to the group chat, not privately.

It was a link from the store, accompanied by a message that read: "Alvin, I think this product is useful."

Was he unsure of himself? Or maybe afraid of being laughed at? Alvin didn't want Tulip to feel that way. He wanted the child to feel welcome among them — not isolated.

"I'll check it now. Thank you, Tulip. ⁦(⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠)⁩" Alvin replied, looking at the emoji with a silly smile... In his whole life, he had never used an emoji — and now here he was, using one! Well, desperate times called for desperate measures.

The product was a blue flame, described in its information as something used to reveal hidden objects! Upon returning to the room, Alvin sat back in his previous spot, pulled Tulip onto his lap, and said,

"Tulip has found something quite interesting."

Tulip froze in shock, his body stiffening — he hadn't expected Alvin to expose him like that!

"What is it?" Meryl asked, closing the store on her digital screen.

Alvin hummed as he looked at the product's price — 6,068 coins. To him, it was very cheap.

"Tulip, do you have the price covered?" he asked, gently pressing the child's cheeks.

Tulip hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"Excellent. Go ahead and purchase the product, then use it on the map."

"Why don't you do it yourself? You have plenty of money!" Meryl asked in confusion.

"Because the product is a limited-use ability. It can only be used by the one who buys it," Alvin replied with a small smile, then turned back to the still-confused Tulip and encouraged him to make the purchase.

Tulip took several minutes to think it over, reading the product information multiple times in the process. Eventually, he reached out and clicked "Purchase," prompting the following message to appear:

{The purchase has been successfully completed!

You've obtained the product: [Green Flames] for 6068 coins.}

Alvin took Tulip's hands and gently opened them to prepare for receiving the product. Both Meril and Elena leaned in curiously to get a closer look at Tulip's hands.

Suddenly, something appeared… a small, transparent, jelly-like creature, roughly the size of a palm. Tulip brought it closer to his eyes for a moment, but quickly felt a jolt of fear when the small thing moved.

Alvin held Tulip's hands steady to prevent the creature from falling, then turned to Meril and said, "Look it up."

Meril nodded instantly and began searching, while Tulip remained stunned by what he was seeing. "It's… a living creature!" Elena whispered in astonishment. Wasn't the product supposed to be a power? Then why did a creature appear?

"It's a Belita!" Meril spoke, a hint of amazement in her tone. "A Belita is a small creature with a soft, flexible, jelly-like body. Its internal organs consist only of… a heart, veins, and arteries."

Meril looked at the creature for a moment, then raised her gaze to the three of them and saw that they were waiting for her to continue speaking. She cleared her throat before saying, "They are harmless parasitic creatures. They can merge with the bodies of living beings through the skin without causing them any pain or harm."

"Are there really harmless parasites?" Elena asked with a puzzled tone.

"It says here that Belita creatures cling to others because of their deep fear of loneliness. They seek love and emotional warmth to stay alive, and in return, they offer certain abilities, like… blue flames that help locate hidden things."

Tulip felt as if he were looking at himself—just in a different form. He too had been alone in the desert, always forced to hide because of the harsh treatment he received from the gypsies, who said he was a cursed child just because his skin was different from theirs.

He had searched for someone to love him, to hold his hand and treat him with kindness, but all he ever found was cruelty and hurtful words… until yesterday. He had been eating some raw meat when three strangers appeared.

Tulip thought they would hurt him like the others—beat him and call him a cursed child. But against all his expectations, Alvin embraced him and helped him heal. He bathed him and bought him clean clothes.

And in the evening, he bought him many things he had never seen before, saying, "These are toys for you to play with!" Tulip hadn't understood what that meant until Meril and Elena played with him late into the night.

While Elena was telling him that they should play quietly so they wouldn't wake Alvin and be forced to sleep, many emotions were flooding his heart to the point that he felt as if his heart might burst.

Tulip brought the little creature close to his face until it touched his cheek. He wanted to tell it, "I feel you!" but his voice didn't come out as usual.

Suddenly, he felt a light chill on his cheek, and then the creature disappeared from his hand. Tulip was still trying to process what had happened when Elena shook him with concern: "Get it out of Tulip's body!"

"Elena, calm down!" Meril shouted in concern. "The Belita isn't harmful!"

"There's nothing to confirm that!!"

Meanwhile, there was something moving inside Tulip's head, but it wasn't painful or disturbing. On the contrary, it felt soothing and made his head feel incredibly light!

[Tulip, can you hear me?]

A voice came from inside his head! His gray eyes widened in shock. It was a soft voice… soft like rose petals.

"Yes." He answered within his mind.

[My name is Bluebill. Would you like to be friends?] The small creature spoke gently.

"Yes..." Tulip said hesitantly, his cheeks turning pink with embarrassment.

"Tulip!" Alvin shook the child when he remained silent. "Can you hear me?"

Tulip raised his head to look at Alvin, gave a small smile, and then nodded. Alvin exhaled all the air he had been holding in his chest out of fear. Tulip quietly wrote something and sent it to their group chat.

"Bluebell and I are friends now!"

"Who is Bluebell?" Elena asked in shock. Where did this name 'Bluebell' come from now?

"He's the Pelita creature I bought a little while ago!"

"Oh, that's so cute!" Meryl said with admiration. Alvin moved her face away from his and then asked, "Is he hurting you?"

Tulip immediately shook his head and waved his hand, then quickly wrote something and sent it to the chat: "No. We talked a little, he's very nice to me."

"On this happy occasion..." Elena said as she brought the map closer to Tulip, then continued, "Could you ask your little friend how to see what's hidden on this paper?"