Why does the world show a health bar? !

"How did you sleep last night?"

"I slept very well, thank you."

"It's no trouble. Anyone would have done the same."

On the way to their destination, Li Mo and Tanjuro exchanged these brief words. After that, they fell into a long silence.

Taking advantage of this time, Li Mo began to sort out his situation. The clothes he had brought from the other world were in tatters, but the rest of his outfit was relatively intact. As for the lunchbox, it was nowhere to be found. Perhaps in a few decades, experts would discover that plastic lunchboxes existed during the Taisho era.

Most importantly, his phone's screen was shattered. Fortunately, it still worked. Earlier, he had completely turned it off. In the Taisho era, there was no place to charge his phone.

—And he hadn't brought a charger.

"Li-kun, are you Chinese?"

"Yes."

Here it comes, the routine identity check? No problem, he was prepared.

Tanjuro asked, "Li-kun, are you a student studying in Japan?"

"I was, but not anymore. At least for now, I don't know where to go. I'm just a homeless person."

Li Mo wasn't lying. Just a day ago, he had been a high school student in Japan—just in another world.

Sometimes, brief information was more convincing. The more you said, the more likely you were to slip up.

Kamado Tanjuro said, "Don't worry, I don't intend to pry into your background. If you have nowhere to go, you can stay at our humble home."

"That's not really appropriate..."

Having just arrived in this world, he had no money to support himself. Figuring out how to get his first bit of cash was indeed difficult.

But if he were to freeload... Li Mo's pride felt like it would explode. The conflict between his physiological and psychological needs made him uncomfortable.

After a moment, Li Mo said, "Sorry for showing you such a weak side... Later, I'll go to Tokyo and see. Big cities usually have plenty of opportunities to make money."

If working didn't work out, he could always resort to shady methods. With his ability to take hits, ordinary thugs wouldn't stand a chance against him.

He hadn't thought of it earlier. Japan during the Taisho era had already undergone the Industrial Revolution.

"Cough, cough~" Kamado Tanjuro listened to Li Mo's words, coughing twice in the cold wind. "I'd like to ask you to stay."

"Huh? Why?" Li Mo was surprised. "If it's out of kindness, please don't. I have hands and feet; I won't starve."

Kamado Tanjuro said, "It's not just that. Actually, my wife is pregnant. I'm in poor health, and we need someone to help around the house. Tanjiro and the others also like you very much. So, please stay. As for food, don't worry. We have enough."

Snow piled up in the forest, and winter was a season of silence. No crops grew during this time, and all living beings relied on stored food to survive. That black bear had likely woken up hungry in winter because it hadn't stored enough fat in autumn. It had chased Li Mo in desperation and was ultimately killed by Kamado Tanjuro.

Li Mo said, "I'll stay until then."

"Good."

With that, the topic ended. Kamado Tanjuro didn't ask any more about Li Mo's past. He seemed to sense that such questions would only trouble him.

The two arrived at the location of the black bear's carcass. Tanjuro had already processed it earlier; now, they just needed to carry it back.

"After a whole night, no animals came to eat the carcass?"

"It's winter. Animals rarely move around during this season."

"Is that so?"

Li Mo felt that couldn't be the real answer.

After carrying the remaining useful parts of the black bear back to the Kamado household, Li Mo asked Kamado Kie about this and got a different answer.

"It's because other animals consider this area the territory of a predator," Kamado Kie explained.

From this, Li Mo found his answer. Yes, even though Kamado Tanjuro looked frail, he was likely a naturally strong man with a Demon Slayer Mark and possessed the advanced technique of **"Transparent World."**

He was indeed the strongest predator in the area.

"I've already heard from Tanjuro. Li-kun, are you staying?"

"Yes. I'll be troubling you for the days to come."

"I couldn't be happier. I've been wondering who would take care of Tanjiro and the others once my belly gets bigger. If it's you, Li-kun, I can rest easy." Kamado Kie smiled brightly.

The Kamado family were all good people.

Finally, Li Mo asked the question that had been weighing on his mind. "Mrs. Kamado, aren't you worried that I might be a bad person?"

"Someone who can play so happily with children—both Tanjuro and I believe you're not a bad person."

"I see..."

So, someone who could play with children wasn't a bad person?

Was that a compliment to his youth?

That was great.

Li Mo's mood lifted. He didn't mind being treated like a child. Humans were contradictory creatures. If adulthood was like entering a city, those outside wanted to get in, while those inside wanted to get out.

Coming back to his senses, he asked, "Mrs. Kamado, when you were pregnant with Takeo, who took care of Tanjiro and Nezuko?"

"It was my mother, Tanjiro's grandmother. But... she passed away last year."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright; it's been a while. The only regret is that it was Tanjiro who found her when she passed." Kamado Kie's gaze turned to Tanjiro, who was playing in the yard.

Even while playing, he kept an eye on Takeo, fulfilling his role as the eldest son.

"Tanjiro has a very keen sense of smell, almost like a hunting dog. On the day my mother passed, it was Tanjiro who noticed that her scent had changed," Kamado Kie murmured.

"I see," Li Mo said.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Li-kun, how old are you?"

"Eighteen."

He had just celebrated his birthday not long ago. Li Mo wouldn't forget the original owner's birthday, but he calculated the time based on the main world's timeline.

"Ah, so you're only a year younger than Tanjuro?"

"Yes, I think so."

Kamado Tanjuro was nineteen, just a year older than Li Mo. He had known this for a while. Tanjuro had Tanjiro at the age of fourteen, which seemed early. But considering the era, was it really that unusual?

Come on, this was the Taisho era.

Later, Li Mo noticed that after learning his age, Kamado Kie's eyes took on a subtle change. He couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy.