“Big Sister, please be patient. We’ll be docking soon!”
A crisp female voice sounded from the direction of her crimson gaze.
From the shadows, a white-haired girl in a maid outfit slowly walked out and came before the throne in small steps.
She gently grasped the right hand of the gray-haired girl on the throne, looked up, and revealed a sweet smile.
The next second, the progress bar reached the end. Episode 1 of the second season of 《Starfall》 was completely over.
Ignoring the audience who howled every episode because they had to wait another week for the next one, many viewers were very interested in this new character suspected to be a villain.
But few anticipated that the character’s true identity was actually Yun Ruoxi, who had the highest support among the audience.
After all, according to the development favored by most literary and entertainment works, Yun Ruoxi should be like those “princesses captured by a dragon,” obediently staying in the Asha Star system waiting for Lin Zhen and the others to rescue her.
Even if the princess turned dark and became a villain, as a key character linking the first and second seasons, she should at least appear at a crucial point in the later episodes!
But here she appears at the end of the first episode, completely changed, even with a different hair color. What’s up with that?
But this was exactly the effect Yun Ruoxi wanted. Truth mingled with lies.
She wanted to appear openly in the camera shots while keeping the audience always guessing her true identity, thus sparking a wave of discussion about her identity in the community.
In the second season, as a villain, she couldn’t stick close to the main cast like in the first season to steal the spotlight and show off her character. So a little bit of public opinion manipulation was necessary.
Yun Ruoxi, whose right hand was held by Shi Linglin, slowly closed her eyes, pretending to be successfully comforted by her. In reality, she had already used telekinesis to spread her perception outward.
‘It’s time…’
Under the guidance of the starport’s pilot ship, the fleet slowly entered the starport’s waiting inspection area for secondary confirmation.
For example, whether there were any unauthorized additions or removals of ships, or modifications to the interior of the ships.
To prevent forces from using the pretext of reporting ships to bring contraband or criminals into the starport, this confirmation was very necessary. Historically, it had successfully stopped many invasion attempts in advance.
Scanners capable of penetrating metal swept back and forth over each ship. When they encountered a situation suspected of having hidden spaces, the Public Security Department would send people to board the ships for direct confirmation.
In this situation, to prevent any abnormality from being detected by the Public Security Department’s detectors, inside the Caged Bird warship, not only would the comprehensive detection and monitoring devices that Dr. Forefinger had installed specifically for her temporarily shut down most of their functions to reduce power, but also the AI controlling the warship, 【Canary】, would temporarily hibernate, handing over control of the warship to another ordinary AI.
This was the best opportunity Yun Ruoxi could get in the first half of the second season to search for Dr. Forefinger’s hidden hand.
Whoosh!
Invisible telekinesis, in its weakest and most concealed state, carrying Yun Ruoxi’s perception, quickly swept across the entire ship while the starport staff were inspecting the battleship.
With her combination of Level 3 Stellar Energy Control and S-Rank Brain Domain Computation, even if her telekinesis swept right under everyone’s noses on the warship, no one could detect it.
Unless there was a Level 4 star energy user with perception detection supernatural power, it would be completely undetectable.
Warehouse… nothing. Deck interlayer… nothing. Cockpit… nothing.
Her telekinesis swept layer by layer, but Yun Ruoxi did not find any hidden hand that Dr. Forefinger had set against her. But she still did not let down her guard.
She had betrayed Dr. Forefinger time and time again. If this guy still thought he could completely control her with just 【Pavlov’s Dog】, then that would be too unworthy of Dr. Forefinger’s status as a Level Five Researcher.
Yun Ruoxi was almost certain that Dr. Forefinger had set a hidden measure that could directly destroy her on a physical level—this was also the biggest obstacle to executing her second season strategy.
‘Oh well, if I can’t find it, I can’t find it. The second season has already started airing. As long as he intends to use this hidden measure, it will most likely appear in the camera shots. Then I can use an omniscient perspective to see what’s going on.’
To guard against the hidden measure, Yun Ruoxi had deliberately reserved a large amount of Popularity Points as an emergency measure.
As long as she knew the type of hidden measure, she could completely exchange Popularity Points for the corresponding skills to evade it. So she was not anxious about the progression of the plot.
The starport Public Security Department’s inspection of the fleet took two hours before it completely ended.
Although Dr. Forefinger was sometimes a bit stupid and a bit naive, his technological level was indeed beyond question.
The “birdcage” space he had specially designed for Yun Ruoxi to carry out missions in the Positive Universe was not discovered by the Public Security Department.
The Public Security Department staff confirmed it on their terminals. The entire fleet was allowed to proceed into the starport for maintenance.
-“Pole Group Third Transport Fleet, cleared!”
Pole Group was the shell company of the Saints’ Hand Society in the Positive Universe, specially used to disguise the identity of the Saints’ Hand Society’s fleet.
In fact, because it feared investigation by the Empire, Pole Group, as a shell for an evil force, was actually cleaner than most cross-galactic corporations. In a sense, this was also a dark joke.
“Sister, the fleet has docked. Wait here for a moment; I have something to deal with first.”
Shi Linglin opened the monitor, confirmed that the battleship had stopped steadily, then released Yun Ruoxi’s hand and said goodbye to her.
As if worried that Yun Ruoxi would miss her, she walked to the exit of the birdcage, then suddenly stopped and turned back to say: “Sister, don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”
Tap, tap, tap…
The alloy walls closed, the footsteps faded away, and the entire space returned to calm. From beginning to end, the gray-haired girl never looked up at her even once.
“Cold and ruthless, but you get to eat chicken steak to your heart’s content.”
“Really, she didn’t say a single word.”
“A kuudere villain.”
“The white-haired maid little sister is unwanted. If no one wants her, I’ll take her away.”
Seven days in the real world were but a moment in the anime world.
After the first episode ended, the anime screen in the upper right corner of Yun Ruoxi’s field of view seamlessly transitioned to the second episode’s scene. The camera followed Shi Linglin’s retreating figure.
And when Yun Ruoxi thought about what would happen next, she couldn’t help but laugh secretly in her heart. The meeting of these two was too interesting, too delightful!
Shi Linglin left the birdcage, first went to her room to change into common casual clothes, and then disembarked from the Caged Bird battleship.
Demand drives development. On the starport, which has a huge throughput of ships all year round, there were various service and entertainment facilities specially built for visiting ships.
From shops and restaurants at the low end, to massage and baths at the high end, and even the unmentionable “step-on-your-back” service industry, everything was available here.
Shi Linglin stood outside the entrance of the port area, squinting as she surveyed the lively entertainment district before her. Then she strode in.