The girl stared at him blankly, seemingly stunned by his sudden outburst.
The boy, on the other hand, rubbed his chin and thought for a moment before looking up at Yang Kai. "Then you're the younger brother!"
Yang Kai: "..."
"Younger brother!" the girl cried out joyfully, finally fulfilling her dream of being an older sister. The target was a bit off from what she'd imagined, but it seemed acceptable enough.
And just like that, Yang Kai became the younger brother.
It wasn't a result he had anticipated, but he had no choice but to accept. Both children were staring at him with burning intensity, as though the slightest hint of refusal on his lips would result in his blood staining the void and his life ending in the underworld.
Yang Kai felt crushed under the weight of their gaze.
Being a younger brother to two children who appeared to be barely into their teens felt deeply unnatural to Yang Kai. But when he considered their actual ages and generational standing, he supposed he wasn't losing out—in fact, he was coming out ahead.
"Younger brother!" the girl called out to him again, her pair of clear, azure eyes gazing at him expectantly.
Yang Kai understood what she wanted, but pretended not to notice, turning his head to the side.
The girl stepped forward and called out once more: "Younger brother!"
Her voice suddenly dropped three degrees, like a bitter winter gale.
Every hair on Yang Kai's body shot upright in an instant, the corner of his eye twitching. He scratched at his face and said, with great humiliation: "Big sister..."
Yang Kai felt his face burning. He kept telling himself that a true man could bend and stretch, that as long as the green hills remained, there'd be no shortage of firewood. Compared to his own life, what was one little "big sister"? Besides, it wasn't as though he was losing anything.
The girl's face instantly bloomed into a radiant smile. Without Yang Kai seeing any movement on her part, she flickered to his side, bounced up, and patted his head with her small hand: "Such a good boy!"
A vein on Yang Kai's forehead throbbed, and he barely restrained his killing intent.
"Ahem..." The boy cleared his throat lightly from the side.
Yang Kai was, of course, a man who knew when to read the situation. And since some things were easier once you'd broken the ice, he cupped his fists toward the boy and said solemnly: "Big brother!"
The boy nodded with an air of great maturity, clearly very satisfied with Yang Kai's performance.
Yang Kai was actually rather curious what the two of them were called. Now that they were all "family," it only made sense to find out.
The two children exchanged a glance and both shook their heads. They had been without names since the moment of their birth. What the outside world called them—Taiyang Zhuozhao and Taiyin Youying—were merely titles and epithets others had pinned on them, not their true names.
Yang Kai mulled it over for a moment. "Then let me give you some names. Otherwise it'll be hard to address each other going forward."
The two children looked at each other and had no objections.
Yang Kai thought for a long while, coming up with several names, but none of them seemed to satisfy the pair. In the end, they took a great liking to the words "Yellow" and "Blue."
And so the two children—one became Yang Kai's Big Brother Yellow, the other became his Big Sister Blue.
Big Brother Yellow and Big Sister Blue had harbored dreams of being an older brother and sister since time immemorial, fighting endlessly over it and sparking a conflict that shook the heavens, until today, when Yang Kai had stumbled into their territory aboard the Giant Spirit. Only then had their wishes finally been granted.
But dreams were one thing. Having become an older brother and sister, neither of them had the faintest idea what they were supposed to do.
Yang Kai helpfully pointed the way: "Being an older brother or sister—the most important thing is to take good care of your younger brother!"
Big Brother Yellow and Big Sister Blue nodded in unison. Big Sister Blue even adopted a mature, grown-up manner: "Big sister will definitely take care of you. If anyone ever bullies you in the future, come tell me, and I'll stand up for you."
For a moment, Yang Kai felt tears threatening to spill. All that endurance and humiliation had, by some twist of fate, landed him two powerful backers.
Though these were backers he could hardly invoke lightly—everything in their path was annihilated. Who would dare casually let them venture out? And even if he told anyone about this, nobody would believe him.
Yang Kai gave a light cough and said: "It's always been me bullying others—nobody bullies me. But Big Brother Yellow, that thing next to you... your little brother here went through a great deal of trouble to bring it over. Don't you think you should give it back? There's no principle by which an older brother snatches his younger brother's things. An older brother and sister are supposed to take care of their younger brother, after all."
That half-person-tall blue crystal—Yang Kai hadn't even had time to absorb it after bringing it over before Big Brother Yellow had claimed it for himself.
Big Brother Yellow turned his head and glanced at the blue crystal. "You want this?"
"Mm!" Yang Kai nodded vigorously.
"Then take it!" Big Brother Yellow said with supreme generosity, tossing the blue crystal in front of Yang Kai.
Yang Kai cupped his fists with undisguised delight. "Thank you, Big Brother Yellow!"
He hastily stored the blue crystal in his Small Universe.
Big Brother Yellow looked enormously pleased with himself, shooting a provocative glance at Big Sister Blue. The girl immediately grew somewhat indignant, flicking her finger forward. A yellow crystal of roughly the same size was drawn from some unknown location to hover before her, and she tossed it to Yang Kai. "You can have this one too."
Yang Kai's eyes blazed like two miniature suns. He snatched the crystal away with frantic haste and stored it in his Small Universe, then turned to the girl and thanked her with genuine heartfelt sincerity: "Thank you, Big Sister Blue!"
This really was an unexpected windfall...
Big Brother Yellow gave a soft snort, raised his hand and gestured. Another blue crystal materialized before him and slid in front of Yang Kai.
Yang Kai's jaw dropped, his mind momentarily dazed by this sudden onslaught of good fortune. But his hands didn't slow for an instant as he tucked the blue crystal away. "Thank you, Big Brother Yellow."
Before his words had even faded, a yellow crystal was pushed in front of him by the girl.
"Thank you, Big Sister Blue."
"Thank you, Big Brother Yellow!"