Mino carefully finished cooking breakfast, then stepped out of the hall into the courtyard, ready to call Mu Liang to eat.
At that moment, Mu Liang was carving a piece of wood with his military knife, with two carved wooden planks placed beside him.
"Mu Liang, breakfast is ready." Mino approached.
"What are you making?" she asked, tilting her head.
"A drawing board." Mu Liang set aside the wood. He dusted off debris and stood. "After breakfast, we'll head back to the camp."
"Why return? We already moved everything." Mino blinked, puzzled.
"Aren't we following the scouts?" she asked.
"Don't you want to leave something for your sister?" Mu Liang led her into the hall. He sat by the firepit. "What if your sister returns one day and finds you gone?"
Mino's pale realization: she'd only thought to seek her sister, never that her sister might actually return.
"Think carefully—leave clues only your sister would understand." Mu Liang glanced at the pot of meat soup, pleased she finally grasped his meaning.
"Let me think…" Mino sipped her bowl, brow furrowed.
They only had limited water left.
"If you're hungry, eat—fuel for work," he urged, handing her a skewer of roasted meat.
Mino absentmindedly accepted, mind still on the puzzle.
Finally she pleaded, "Mu Liang—what clue should I leave?"
He had the perfect suggestion: "Did you and your sister have any childhood agreement?"
"She told me to wait for her return." Mino's eyes darkened—now that deal seemed impossible.
"Any secret codes—signals only you two know?"
"A code?" Mino's eyes brightened. "Our door code!"
"What was it?" Mu Liang asked, intrigued.
"Long-eared rabbit and short-eared cat." Mino recalled that when her sister went out hunting lizards, she feared Mino would open the door for strangers—so only the correct code would unlock it.
"Then draw those images—and any message you want, too."
Mu Liang sliced two white cloth pieces, thinking Mino couldn't write. He wasn't certain this world even used Chinese characters—but they spoke Mandarin.
"Isn't that wasteful?" Mino fretted over the cloth.
"A message for your sister is worth it." Mu Liang invited her outside the hall. He nailed the cloth to a drawing board—a sketch from his special-forces training.
Mino followed obediently.
"Use charcoal to draw your message." he instructed, handing her the board.
"How do I draw?" Mino looked baffled.
"Sketch on the ground first, then copy onto the cloth." Mu Liang suggested. He prepared a second board and sharpened the charcoal on a rock.
"Okay." Mino knelt uncertainly.
Mu Liang signaled Little Xuanwu to pause at the camp's edge. Seeing Mino's tangled rabbit ears, he gently encouraged, "Mino, draw a long-eared rabbit for yourself, and a short-eared cat for your sister."
"Oh!" Mino's eyes lit as she understood, beginning her sketch on the shell.
Mu Liang perched on the shell's rim over the turtle's head and surveyed the camp to plan his composition.
Scratch-scratch-scratch…
Charcoal traced across the white cloth, capturing the huts and surroundings. Two hours later, Mu Liang completed the piece titled "Hometown."
"Done." He signed the lower right corner with the characters for "Hometown." He returned to Mino and peeked at her work—then struggled to contain his laughter.
Mino's style was true childlike abstraction: a long-faced rabbit grinning wide, a short-eared cat with uneven eyes, a giant turtle with a person standing atop it in full grin—and only the house resembled the blueprint. Truly kindergarten-level.
"Finished!" Mino beamed, charcoal smudges across her cheek.
"Can you explain what it means?" Mu Liang asked, barely able to keep straight face.
"Sure!" Mino eagerly pointed: "Since I didn't wait at home, I left with Mu Liang to find my sister. If my sister returns, she'll follow us—her target is Little Xuanwu."
"Well, that's… something." Mu Liang thought—he had no hope her sister would ever interpret this. It was just a comforting pretense.
"Right? I'm sure my sister will understand." Mino held up the painting proudly.
"Pack it into the wooden box and bury it in the camp's foundation." Mu Liang winced inwardly: only a divine sage could decode this. He half-considered keeping it as a "black history" memento.
"Okay." Mino scampered off for the box.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]