Shi Linglin lifted her skirt and curtsied.
Compared to two years ago, her movements were elegant and proper, as if she had truly become a real maid.
“Hmm!”
Yun Ruoxi nodded indifferently, but her attention quietly shifted to the world on the right.
A rough, earth-gray stone wall occupied most of that world.
Several purple crystals were embedded in the stone wall, emitting a faint, translucent purple glow.
The left and right worlds were completely different, with a black line as the dividing line between them.
She raised her hand. On the left side of the black line, her fingers were long and slender with distinct knuckles, and black nail polish coated her neatly rounded nails.
On the right side of the black line, however, her fingers were noticeably shorter, and pink nail polish covered the nails.
Ever since she released her doppelganger during a mission, this had become the world as Yun Ruoxi saw it.
It felt a bit like a split-screen co-op game called It Takes Two that she had played before her transmigration.
At first, she was very unaccustomed to it and often made small mistakes.
Later, relying on her powerful Brain Domain Computation, she adapted and could keep both bodies running normally at the same time.
However, once the main body engaged in high-intensity combat, most of her Brain Domain Computation would be occupied by combat analysis.
She then had to reduce the computational allocation to the other body.
The external manifestation was sluggish reactions and sudden blankness.
If both bodies fought simultaneously, mistakes would become even more frequent. So before she could solve this problem, she deliberately avoided placing both bodies in danger at the same time.
After all, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. The other body was her guarantee of a peaceful life in the future.
If she hadn’t deliberately wanted to use her doppelganger to open another alternate identity, infiltrate the main cast to get some screentime—making up for her loss as a villain who couldn’t appear in the first few episodes of the second season—and also needed the doppelganger to guide the main cast so the plot would develop in the direction she wanted, she wouldn’t have even considered letting the doppelganger appear on screen.
In this perilous Star Sea, being a pretty background character wasn’t such a bad thing either.
Yun Ruoxi closed her eyes and allocated most of her Brain Domain Computation to the doppelganger.
Although the doppelganger’s supernatural power was formidable, it had emerged far too late.
Before the main body reached its mission destination, and while the anime plot was still in the first episode, before the doppelganger’s appearance scene, she needed to thoroughly improve the doppelganger’s strength.
It would be too awkward if she couldn’t join the main cast because her power was too weak.
“Xi, I’ve missed you so much.”
Lin Zhen clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white from the force.
Tears the size of beans fell one after another.
They say the dead white moonlight is the true white moonlight.
Yun Ruoxi, who had sacrificed herself to stay in hell, gave Lin Zhen that kind of feeling.
Over these five years, the more he recalled the past, the more beautiful that experience became—the brighter the girl’s smile in his memories, the sweeter that kiss.
Although Yun Ruoxi herself hadn’t meant it, with her deliberate flirtation and performance, Lin Zhen’s feelings for her were far more sincere… and far more obsessive than she had imagined.
Whether all this would turn out good or bad was still uncertain. Only time would let Yun Ruoxi experience it firsthand.
“My Xi, my Xi (crawling on the ground in darkness)”
“Lin Zhen’s cry at the start really broke me. What is this, a deceased wife memoir?”
“To be honest, Lao Xi stayed in the Saints’ Hand Society for five years. She’s probably already Bo Shi’s shape by now.”
The barrage scrolled across the screen. Lin Zhen, kneeling on the ground and crying, twitched his ears.
Blue Lulu’s shouting outside the building traveled through the metal along the way, entering his ears with precision.
“Lin Yun, open the door! Lin Yun, open the door meow!”
“I brought you the star energy metal you wanted, meow! Come out and see me, meow!”
Lin Zhen’s reminiscence was interrupted. The pain and nostalgia in his eyes instantly reigned in, replaced by a barely suppressed anger and coldness.
But the next second, that anger and coldness were replaced by helplessness.
If it were anyone else, coming to disturb his day of remembrance without any urgent matter, he would definitely find them and settle the score.
But the one who came was none other than Blue Lulu—that brainless, stubborn cat who wouldn’t listen to anyone.
That left him somewhat helpless.
After all, truth be told, he was the one who had provoked her first back then. Being entangled now could only be attributed to her stubbornness, not entirely her fault.
A blue light flickered in Lin Zhen’s eyes.
He moved at high speed along the Alloy Ground his hand touched.
The wall, the first floor, the lobby… his line of sight finally arrived outside the Alloy Building.
He saw Derrick, who had a beautiful pair of seven-colored pupils and a helpless expression on his face, and Blue Lulu, with her long blue hair.
Metal Sight.
This was one of the powerful combat skills Lin Zhen had developed over the past five years through continuous training, based on his supernatural power [Metal Reconstruction]. The inspiration came from the girl’s powerful sensory ability back then.
She could use telekinesis as sensory extending roots. Why couldn’t he do the same?
So after some research, he could extend his senses to any place connected to the metal he touched.
Recalling the inspiration for this ability, an unconscious gentle smile appeared on Lin Zhen’s face.
Even though you’ve been gone for so long, you’re still helping me.
“Has the hot-blooded male lead been turned into a bitter love type? What has Lao Lin been turned into?”
“Lao Xi’s kindness can never be repaid.”
***
Outside the door, Blue Lulu scratched the gate with a grating sound. The friction of metal against metal made Lin Zhen’s ears ache.
He snapped out of his memories, knowing that if he didn’t give Blue Lulu a precise, firm, and undeniable answer this time, she would never leave and give him peace.
“Sorry, I can’t see you. Because I don’t like you, and I don’t need the star energy metal you brought.”
The Alloy Gate vibrated slightly, faithfully replicating Lin Zhen’s voice.
The moment Blue Lulu heard the four words “don’t like you,” her blue cat ears immediately drooped.
Tears welled up in her eyes, but her mouth still refused to admit defeat.
“Hmph, this is the hundredth time I’m telling you, Blue Lulu doesn’t like you at all, meow!”
With that, she gave a cold snort, dropped the metal sphere on the ground, turned, and disappeared from the door in a flash of blue light.
In the air, faint sobbing could still be heard.
Derrick, standing nearby, was knocked off balance by the blue light.
He barely steadied himself and, seeing the gate open for him as if signaling him to enter, the blue light suddenly came from behind him again, knocking him into a spin that lasted a good dozen rotations.
“Lin Yun, I don’t believe you don’t like me, meow! You clearly patted my head before, meow!”
Blue Lulu charged headfirst into the Alloy Gate, leaving behind only her crying shout.
“Sigh, what a pair of star-crossed lovers! Sigh!” Derrick got up from the ground, his face full of misery.