“First are the daily necessities. Even if we’re going to the beach, we have to bring a change of underwear; then there are towels, toothbrushes, and things like that; and we’ll take two small water bottles because the Culture Class Teacher said we can’t drink seawater…”
After running three laps around the house and filling the large suitcase, Shen Ning finally walked out at her wife’s urging, only to see her partner empty-handed.
“Aren’t you packing your luggage?”
“Me? I finished long ago and already had someone take it over,” Xu Chuyao said righteously. “Did you think everyone was like you, only cramming at the last minute when they need it? I always prepare for a rainy day!”
In reality, she could put things into and take them out of the System Warehouse at will, as long as they were items she had pulled from it.
“Then let’s go~”
On the other side of the Academy, in the Class Advisor’s office within the office building, Yu Jing inserted a USB drive and clicked through the data page by page.
**[First Councilor, Marshal rank, Wen Shengqing, confirmed dead. Cause of death: Swallowed by Chu Cang after his serpent transformation. Further investigation confirms he served as the mastermind behind the Ghost Party and was the primary signatory of the Ghost Protocol.]**
**[General rank, Chu Cang, confirmed dead. Cause of death: Slain by Heavenly Thunder. Investigation verified his identity as the leader of the Ghost Party; all activities were conducted under his guidance. He was simultaneously the leader of the Supreme Society.]**
**[Councilor Zhou Tian, confirmed dead. Cause of death: Slain by Heavenly Thunder. One of the Ghost Party’s liaison officers, he illegally issued a large number of non-existent missions.]**
**[Councilor Domo, confirmed dead. Cause of death: Devoured by the snake-man.]**
It was over. It was all over. Everyone associated with the Ghost Party had died for various reasons during the turbulent events of these past few months.
It was truly clean.
Truly good.
Yu Jing looked out the window, where the midsummer sun made the ground look like a shimmering white expanse. She reached for her cup, only to find the tea had already gone cold.
*Knock, knock, knock—*
A knock sounded at the door.
“Come in.”
“It’s me, Teacher Yu. You’re back.” Cheng Chen stood at the door, rubbing his hands awkwardly. “I just heard you were back and wanted to come see… well…”
He had prepared a whole speech, but when it came time to speak, he didn’t know what to say. He could only scratch his head. “Well… it’s good that you’re okay. I’ll be going now.”
Yu Jing called out to him, setting down the cold tea in her hand. “Wait a moment.”
“Weren’t you going to invite me for coffee?”
—
[Kid, when do you plan on proposing? You aren’t really going to wait until graduation, are you? Although there’s only a bit more than a year left, that’s still too long. As someone who’s been through it, I have to remind you to seize love when you have it and charge forward bravely, you know?
Sender: Teacher Cheng Chen.]
Center City, Shengling Academy, Special Intelligence Department office. Xiao Si Nuo looked at the new message on his phone with a baffled expression.
Previously, you were the one saying I shouldn’t even think about marriage before graduation, and now you’re saying I should do it early—what, do you have a split personality?
No, that wasn’t it. Judging by the joy and smugness between the lines, could it be that his pursuit of love had been successful?
“Teacher Cheng, Officer Chuyao said that the Head Teacher is much stronger than you. You’ll definitely be henpecked in the future.”
After muttering a quiet comment, Xiao Si Nuo picked up his phone again and sent a message to the first name on his contact list:
[Flower, are you free today? I want to take you out for a walk.]
The beach vacation was only the beginning. After playing in the water for a few days, Xu Chuyao got bored and dragged Shen Ning all over the world.
“I’m doing serious business, an official business trip.”
That was what she said.
It wasn’t entirely accurate to call it just sightseeing, because she actually did find reasons sometimes.
For example, when they were traveling through a Northern European town, they would drop by a nearby mine, which she dubbed “work inspection.”
More than six months ago, the Rockmorgan Family had fallen silent, and the Ahab Financial Group had taken the initiative to retreat.
Now, the only ones still operating the mines were the Chen Clan and the newly entered Holmes Family.
Most of the Spirit Ore produced by a mine consisted of common types; only a small amount was X Crystal.
The latter was basically taken over by the Rockmorgan Family, while the former was used by the Chen Clan to manufacture traditional products, such as sprays or new types of batteries.
What was being unearthed today was the latter, carried away truckload after truckload.
Watching this scene, Xu Chuyao suddenly had a question:
“Hey, tell me, if this Spirit Ore is ground into powder and made into spray with effects similar to caffeine… should this mine be considered agriculture or industry?”
“This… Miss Xu, it is whatever industry you say it is,” the mine manager said, wiping sweat from his brow. “As for which department manages it, I suspect it might be the resource department.”
“Oh, I see. Never mind then.”
Leaving the mine and the Northern European town, the two of them drifted along until their travels brought them to East Asia.
The local department received them warmly, and someone even proactively invited Xu Chuyao to “inspect their work.”
“We’ve had a major discovery today, so we specifically invited Miss Xu to take a look.”
A researcher wearing a helmet and holding small tweezers spoke excitedly.
“What kind of archaeology are you doing?”
“We are from the Archaeology Department, part of the cultural sector.”
Xu Chuyao glanced at him, then looked at the sealed black box next to him.
“Data!” the man said. “We mainly study materials preserved in electronic devices from the Spirit Age.”
So that was it.
Their main mission was to recover as much data from the old era as possible.
Unfortunately, most people back then used solid-state storage, which was easily damaged; mechanical hard drives were rarely preserved, having to survive all sorts of physical trauma.
“We found a suicide note in the box written by the original owner to his friends and family. It said if he passed away unexpectedly, they must absolutely destroy all his hard drives. But clearly, his friends didn’t follow his instructions.”
“We believe there must be important secrets hidden inside!”
“Uh… I wouldn’t be so sure.” Xu Chuyao felt this sounded a bit familiar, so she lowered her voice. “How about this? Once you fix it, send a copy to me as well.”
At this moment, Shen Ning was in their local hotel room, organizing their luggage, making the bed, and arranging their daily necessities neatly.
It was normal to do these things every time they reached a new place. Except for Chuyao.
It was truly strange. How come she never had to organize luggage? She had things to use no matter where they went.
“Stop cleaning for a second. Are you going to do it or not? Hurry up and say it,” the Suppressed Reflection urged.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to do it.”
Shen Ning sighed and sat on the bed. During this period, though it was said that Chuyao was taking her on a vacation, Chuyao was actually the one having the most fun.
She ran around every day, looking here and there, and when she came back tired at night, she would just collapse onto the bed.
Even though it was a trip for two, she had actually been neglected.
Under the “incitement” (or rather, the defense of justice) from the reflections, she finally decided—to use her ability on her wife for the first time.
‘BUTTERFLY, PLEASE FLAP YOUR WINGS AND CREATE A CAUSAL STORM TO GRANT MY WISH—MAKE CHUYAO INITIATE TONIGHT, AND…’
“Be more specific!” the Suppressed Reflection said coldly. “If you’re this vague, how is the Butterfly Effect supposed to know what you want!”
The Broken Shadow massaged its temples. ‘It’s normal to be too embarrassed to say it out loud. It’s her own ability anyway; she just needs to understand it in her heart.’
The Milky Ning Reflection added, ‘Chuyao said that love should be spoken out loud!!’
In the end, Shen Ning was still too embarrassed to actually say the words.
She didn’t know what the result would be.
At dusk, Xu Chuyao returned as usual, exhausted from playing. She took a shower and collapsed onto the bed.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed.
“They sent it over that quickly? *Cough, cough,* Shen Ning, you aren’t allowed to peek.”
After turning off the lights, the glow of the phone screen illuminated her flushed little face.
Half an hour later, she rolled over to face Shen Ning, her breath smelling like orchids.
“Shen Ning, I heard that… after getting married, once a day is better. Think about it, wasn’t the last time all the way back in last month? Why are you being so negligent?”
She had actually struck first.