“Why are you here today?”
The frail and pure girl asked softly, just a simple question.
Hiding alone in a place like this, having someone around was always better than being alone.
“Today is Shen Ning’s big day. The school is bustling with activity, and many guests have arrived. I took advantage of the crowd and the chaos to sneak out quietly without anyone noticing.”
“So, a lot of guests came?”
“Yeah, there were even some celebrity singers. Before leaving, I heard them sing a few lines. Not bad, but not as good as you.”
The pure girl smiled faintly. “But I play bass in the band, I don’t sing.”
“Ah, that…”
Xiao Si Nuo scratched his curly hair awkwardly, trying to explain: “It’s basically the same thing anyway. I think if you were the lead singer, you’d definitely sing better than them. Ahem, by the way, I brought you some stuff.”
He picked up a large bag by the door and started pulling out items one by one.
“I bought you a new Hot Water Kettle. It’s cold, so drink more hot water. This is a new foot-soaking pomelo from the convenience store; it just arrived recently. The weather’s cold, so soak your feet in hot water more often. This is a Bath Flower Wine Sprayer; again, cold weather means more hot water baths…”
After emptying the large bag, he carefully took out a string of Flower Stickers from a small pocket on his clothes.
“These are for hanging at the living room entrance. They’re said to bring good luck. I hung them up for you.”
Xiao Hua stood nearby, watching as Xiao Si Nuo stepped on a stool and hung the Flower Stickers on the eaves of the living room.
“Don’t worry. Even though I’m not tall, I often dodge and weave in school. During PE sparring sessions, few dare to stand opposite me. My classmates all call me the Demon Muscleman…”
Ding dong.
The doorbell interrupted Xiao Si Nuo’s self-introduction.
“It must be Shen Ning. Strange, today is her big day; why would she have time to come here? Could it be some new news?”
He ran over and opened the door, only to see an unexpected person.
“Goddess Yao? What are you doing here?”
Xu Chuyao stepped inside and looked around. The room wasn’t large, but the furniture was arranged neatly and tastefully. There was even a string of flowers hanging in the living room.
“You usually hang out here, right? And are you dating?”
Xiao Hua blushed and didn’t dare say anything. Xiao Si Nuo scratched his curly hair and babbled incoherently: “No, no, no, Goddess Yao, please don’t tell anyone… I mean, don’t say things like that.”
“Right! I didn’t know before, but it turns out Goddess Yao and Shen Ning have been a couple for a while. I only found out today when I saw that video downstairs.”
Thank heavens, finally something to change the subject.
As soon as the girl’s name was mentioned, Xu Chuyao’s mood noticeably sank. She sighed quietly and sat down on the sofa.
“Shen Cha said you found a lot of information on the missing persons cases. Let me see.”
Without hesitation, Swina called the driver to the airport, boarded the plane, and headed to their destination.
Just as Ya Yong City was to Ya Ha City’s Financial Group, Locke Morgan had a family-led city called Freiden Free City. In the west of the city lay a large valley, where the Research Institute was located.
They were on a small private plane that could land directly in the valley.
Shen Ning sat by the window, watching the sun slowly set, and quietly drifted off to sleep.
Beautiful dreams were fleeting; Dream Masters were eternal. In her dream, she returned once again to the mine, back to the day she was fifteen.
But this time, she thought about the encounters in Ya Yong City, about that “Peace Dream Quality.”
“Uncle Liu, Uncle Li, are you there? Can you hear me?”
She tried to greet the surroundings, but only received furious roars in response. All the Mutations charged wildly toward her, their sole goal to tear her apart.
No, this wouldn’t do.
Shen Ning wanted to recreate the dream she had in Ya Ha City, but failed. The irrational monsters charged at her just like before. Except for the Mining Pickaxe in her hand, there was nothing she could communicate with them through.
Forget it, better to end this quickly.
The girl raised the Mining Pickaxe, ready to strike, when suddenly she noticed the Mutation before her stop moving.
Not just that one, all the Mutations froze mid-action, standing there as if someone had pressed pause.
“Uncle Liu?”
This time, after a few seconds, she heard a faint response.
“Er Shen Cha Fei, still awake this late?”
“No, I should be… resting.”
You can’t enter here without resting.
After a while, the frozen Mutations’ deep voices spoke again:
“Ren Shen Ning, you came too early. And this place is worse than the last.”
This place? Worse than the last?
If the last place was the Ya Ha Tower, then this must be the valley Research Institute.
“I didn’t come on my own,” Shen Ning chose to be honest with the elders, “I was forcibly brought here.”
“I see. Then there’s nothing to be done.”
After this, the Mutations fell silent. The quiet mine went on for an unknown length of time—maybe minutes, maybe tens of minutes—before—
“Er Shen Ning.”
Uncle Liu’s voice grew more distant, and the scene before her faded, “Here, be careful with creatures like us. Before you can control them, not every sound can be trusted…”
Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep.
“Attention passengers, we are about to arrive at the destination, Freiden Western Valley Airport.”
A broadcast sounded overhead. The girl slowly opened her eyes and looked outside the window, finding that night had completely fallen. The moon was hidden behind the edge of her view, invisible.
She exhaled lightly, the glass fogged up with a layer of white mist.
Since returning from Ya Ha City, every night’s dream was a trial. But only just now had she succeeded.
“That means it wasn’t your own effort alone.”
The reflection on the fogged glass tipped its hat like a detective, “It was due to external objective conditions.”
The Milky Ning Reflection’s words stunned everyone… no, all the Reflections, who came out running to stare at her.
Even Shen Ning herself didn’t know why there was such a stir.
“You… you actually, you actually…” The Sexually Repressed Shadow pointed at her speechlessly.
“What’s wrong, everyone?”
Milky Ning Reflection blushed slightly, “Did you just realize I’m actually pretty smart?”
The Broken Shadow looked at it suspiciously: “How can you give advice on this?”
“Right, that’s what surprised us!” The Sexually Repressed Shadow asked, “Are you cheating? How can you ignore the laws of temporal continuity?”
As the tactical support reflections, they could only solve two kinds of problems for Shen Ning: one about combat, the other about combat and Yao Yao’s romantic battles.
Other questions were limited by temporal continuity rules and couldn’t be answered.
“I know, because Yao Yao told me.”
Milky Ning Reflection was even stranger than them, “Didn’t you hear?”
Broken Shadow: “Hear what?”
“Yao Yao said, ‘What are we supposed to do?’”
Milky Ning Reflection, like a school kid, seriously counted on her fingers, “Take good care of yourself, be cautious, observe more, think more, and act carefully.”
Shen Cha twitched at the corner of her mouth.
No wonder everyone else couldn’t speak, but you were the only one chatting away, taking notes as you listened?
“See, this question just now fits what Yao Yao said: think more.”
“So you can say it because Yao Yao said it?”
“Exactly, otherwise no way.”
Milky Ning Reflection blinked innocently, “Can’t you guys?”
The Sexually Repressed Shadow was speechless in an instant.
“You’re invincible, kid, really invincible.”
Is this the power gained after abandoning independent thought?
In her heart, Shen Ning told them to stop arguing and get to the conclusion.
“I think it’s the influence of external objective conditions.”
Milky Ning Reflection was straightforward, “Last time this happened, we were about to go to Ya Ha Tower. It’s happening again, which means the place we’re going has the same kind of thing.”
As their own Reflections, they could quickly browse through their original’s memories.
As for what that same thing was, Shen Ning already had guesses.
But Uncle Liu said in the dream, although it was the same thing, the Research Institute was worse than Ya Ha Tower.
The girl felt a growing tension about the upcoming journey.
“Listen to Yao Yao,” Milky Ning Reflection said, “Observe more, think more!”
Xu Chuyao crossed her beautiful legs on the sofa, flipping through Xiao Si Nuo’s Investigation Notebook bit by bit.
The notes were detailed, arranged by timeline and relevance, with her own conjectures and some insider news, like a certain newspaper stopping publication shortly after releasing a certain issue.
Xiao Hua returned, holding a steaming cup of hot water, which Xiao Si Nuo quickly took.
“I’ll do it, be careful not to burn yourself. Goddess Yao, have some tea.”
Xu Chuyao put down the Investigation Notebook, lifted the teacup, and took a sip: “Not bad. With so little, you actually managed to investigate this far.”
She guessed it was some kind of experimental subject and even marked it on the notes.
At first, Xiao Si Nuo thought she was referring to the tea, but hearing the latter half, he shyly said, “Well, mainly because Xiao Hua provided key information.”
Xu Chuyao tapped the notebook with her finger. “This is useful. Keep it safe for now.”
She stood up from the sofa, stretched lazily, then looked at the two seriously.
“I’m giving you two choices now. First, I tell you the truth behind everything. But answers are just answers; nothing will change, and you won’t get anything from it.
The second choice is to follow my instructions to investigate something and use that to take down our enemies once and for all!
If you choose the first, just keep your resentment inside, and nothing will happen. The second choice is difficult, exhausting, and carries certain risks.”
After hearing Xu Chuyao’s words, Xiao Hua didn’t hesitate: “I choose the second. No matter what, I have to find out what happened to my father. If he’s gone, then…”
She bit her lip, “At least I want to avenge him.”
Xiao Si Nuo hesitated for a moment, then reached out and grabbed Xiao Hua’s hand: “I choose the second too.”
After years of searching for answers he’d long dreamed of, he chose the other path. He had originally only been investigating for fun and never followed through. Everyone with eyes knew why.
Xiao Hua urged, “You’ve already helped me a lot. There’s no need to…”
“Xiao Hua, actually I lied to you.” Xiao Si Nuo smiled at her, “My nickname among classmates isn’t Demon Muscleman; it’s Bold Liu, because I’m the only one daring enough to spar with Shen Ning in PE!”
Then he looked at Xu Chuyao: “Goddess Yao, please give the orders. What do we do next?”
“Spirited. But don’t call me that anymore. Call me Officer.”