And There's a Watching-Your-Wife-Get-Taken Segment Too

Unwilling to give up, Bai Luoming searched for Silver Wolf's ID again.

The system message was the same as before: "This user is temporarily inaccessible."

"?"

"She ran off just like that? But she didn't have to delete her account, did she?"

Bai Luoming was baffled. They had been playing just fine, but as soon as they quit, she had deleted him as a friend. It looked like she had even deleted her account.

As he spoke, he picked up his terminal and opened the delivery page. He had specifically chosen express delivery when he placed the order, but not only had there been no progress, the estimated delivery time in red had been pushed back by several more system hours.

A delivery robot hadn't even been assigned yet.

"What's going on? Is delivery always this slow?"

Bai Luoming stared silently at the words "Please wait patiently" on the screen.

He looked at the pieces of cardboard he had just laid on the floor and finally accepted that he would have to experience minimalist living again tonight.

There was nothing in his room right now, not even a place to lean against.

He could only lie back down beside the wall and shove an unopened roll of bubble wrap behind his head as a makeshift pillow.

The chill of the floor seeped through the thin cardboard and into his back, bit by bit.

He didn't find it particularly uncomfortable. Instead, he quickly settled into a comfortable position, picked up his terminal, and happily browsed interstellar short videos.

At first, the algorithm recommended goofy videos made by the space station's own employees.

One showed a maintenance robot packing and sealing itself inside a cargo crate, then going around on a conveyor belt over and over.

In another, a researcher argued with a cleaning robot over whether a bottle counted as "recyclable" or "hazardous waste," only for the robot to carry the researcher out with its mechanical arm.

Bai Luoming chuckled as he watched and casually liked several videos.

The recommendation algorithm quickly adjusted to his preferences.

The images on the screen changed, and pretty girls from different worlds began to appear.

Some performed graceful dances against a backdrop of stars, while others wore exotic clothes and introduced their local cultures.

Others brought the camera extremely close and playfully interacted with the screen in various ways.

Bai Luoming frowned, the smile fading from his face. "The atmosphere on platforms these days is getting more and more indecent," he said gravely. "It must be harshly criticized."

Yet his fingers never stopped moving as he spoke.

Bai Luoming not only liked every video he saw, but also added a few of the best dancers to his "Study Materials" collection.

Whenever he came across an account he had to follow to see future updates, he hesitated for only half a second before decisively hitting follow.

All the while, he kept muttering, "Preserving evidence. This is for in-depth research and academic criticism later."

After browsing for who knew how long, Bai Luoming felt his eyelids grow heavy. The videos were still playing automatically, but the music and voices from the screen gradually became distant and indistinct.

He didn't think much of it, assuming Himeko's coffee had left him with some lingering effects and his body hadn't fully recovered.

For the sake of his health, Bai Luoming promptly turned off his terminal, lay flat on the cardboard, and closed his eyes to sleep.

After all, he couldn't have word spreading that a Nameless had stayed up late and died suddenly the day after he joined the Astral Express Crew. Even Finality could get problems like tenosynovitis, let alone him.

As soon as Bai Luoming closed his eyes, he felt his consciousness gradually sink into a bottomless darkness.

Through the haze, Bai Luoming seemed to see a translucent pink jellyfish-like creature briefly appear, a soft light radiating from its body. It gently unfurled its tentacles, then quietly vanished before he could get a clear look.

When Bai Luoming could see again, he found himself standing in Herta's office.

"Am I... dreaming?"

Bai Luoming looked at the office, which was exactly as he remembered it, and felt somewhat surprised. Not long ago, he had been sleeping in his room, yet in the blink of an eye, he had arrived here.

The consoles, testing chambers, and enormous main screen were all in exactly the same places as in reality. Even the data window someone had forgotten to close on the desk was identical.

But there was no hum of running equipment here, and the space station corridor outside was deathly silent, without a sound.

He soon noticed an unusual sound coming from the corner of the room.

Herta was tightly bound to a chair with several loops of rope, her mouth gagged and her purple eyes wide. All she could do was direct muffled "Mmph" sounds at him.

"Interesting. So my subconscious actually wants to do this to Herta?"

Bai Luoming looked at the bound Herta, not expecting his subconscious to harbor such thoughts. Although he didn't think he normally thought that way, this was his dream, so he would respect himself for once.

"Hehehe, little Herta, let's see how you escape my clutches."

As he spoke, Bai Luoming moved to walk toward Herta, but the moment he tried, his feet seemed rooted to the ground. His body was completely immobile; he couldn't even move a finger.

He tried to break free of this state, but even when he strained with all his might, his body still couldn't move an inch.

"What's going on? Isn't this my dream? Why can't I move?"

Bai Luoming was puzzled. This was clearly his dream, so why did he seem to be the one restrained?

A red-and-black umbrella appeared before him without warning, its lowered edge hiding the upper half of its owner's face.

The surrounding lights dimmed with her appearance. Several faintly glowing jellyfish-like creatures swam slowly around her, radiating a dim light.

A figure stepped out from beneath the umbrella, her footsteps light and soundless.

Although Bai Luoming hadn't seen the rest of Penacony's story, thanks to the wealth of fan works, he recognized the newcomer from what he saw.

"You're... Evernight?"

Evernight's previously unhurried steps paused for an instant.

She raised her eyes, and for the first time, clear surprise showed in her gaze beneath the umbrella.

She didn't speak immediately. Instead, she walked a circle around Bai Luoming, as though examining an interesting collectible.

Only after confirming that the familiarity in his eyes was genuine did she softly ask, "What a surprise. I didn't expect you to know me, darling."

"Uh, am I supposed to say I don't know you right now?"

Evernight stared at him for a moment, the smile quickly fading from her face.

She clearly didn't accept such a perfunctory answer.

So she raised the handle of her umbrella and gently pressed its tip beneath Bai Luoming's chin, forcing him to lift his head and look at her.

Her tone was still as gentle as a lover's whisper, but her words carried a possessiveness that sent a chill down his spine.

"You knew perfectly well who I was, yet you still dared to flirt around everywhere."

"You already had me and Little March, which should have been enough, but you just had to get involved with so many girls. You were even willing to cooperate with that sort of examination... How naughty."

As she spoke, Evernight took another half step toward Bai Luoming, bringing her lovely face close to his as she whispered:

"Darling, tell me, how should I punish you?"

Bai Luoming was utterly confused.

Bai Luoming was trying to explain himself, but unexpectedly, Evernight raised a hand, and he couldn't get a single word out. Clearly, Evernight wasn't going to accept his explanation.

She simply turned her head toward the imaginary Herta in the corner and deliberately asked her in an innocent tone, "Does he have a point?"

Herta struggled again in the chair, but with her body restrained, all she could do was make angry, muffled noises.

Evernight closed her umbrella and casually set it aside.

Copying what Herta had done not long ago, she hooked a finger beneath Bai Luoming's chin and slowly but firmly drew the two of them closer together.

Bai Luoming couldn't back away or turn his head. He could only watch helplessly as Evernight's lovely face grew larger and larger in his field of vision.

She stopped just before their lips touched.

She carefully observed his reaction, a smile returning to her lips, then deliberately drew back a fraction.

"Darling, I don't much like that reaction," she asked softly. "What? She can do it, but I can't?"

Bai Luoming had just opened his mouth when Evernight gave him no further chance to answer, silencing every word he might have said.

She completed the "oral examination" Herta had performed earlier.

At first, her movements were relatively restrained, but when she noticed Bai Luoming trying to break free, she instead intensified her demands.

In the corner, the imaginary Herta tried to break free of her bonds, the chair scraping harshly across the smooth floor.

In the end, Herta fell over along with the chair. Watching the two of them, Herta could only make muffled noises as a tear rolled down from the corner of her eye.

The whole scene was absurd and chaotic, while also full of undisguised provocation.

After they parted, Evernight remained close against his lips and offered a serious assessment.

"Hmm, I feel like you're not being very cooperative, darling. Is it because someone else is here, and you're not used to it?"

Bai Luoming rolled his eyes inwardly at her words. Cooperate? How am I supposed to cooperate? Then remove these restraints!

Right now, he was like a helpless husband, unable to move at all, much less cooperate.

Though there was someone beside him who was even more like a helpless husband.

Evernight still seemed dissatisfied. Her fingers slowly slid down Bai Luoming's collar, as though she intended to take the "examination" further.

Just then, unstable ripples suddenly appeared at the edges of the dream, like the surface of water after a stone had been thrown in.

The faintly glowing jellyfish around her went out one after another.

The office walls also began to twist and peel away.

Evernight seemed to sense something and stopped.

She could feel that a certain existence closely connected to her consciousness was violently rejecting the dream because of what she was doing.

A trace of displeasure flashed in her eyes.

Evernight withdrew her hand and frowned. In a tone of exasperation at someone's failure to do better, she murmured, "Honestly, so disappointing. You can't take it already?"

"Sigh, what a shame. Who knows how long it'll be before I get another chance like this?"

The next moment, the red-and-black paper umbrella snapped open, completely blocking Bai Luoming's view.

The dream shattered on the spot.

Bai Luoming jolted awake on the cold cardboard, his heart pounding so hard it felt ready to burst out of his chest.

He gasped for breath, his mind completely blank, unable to remember anything that had happened in the dream.

The terminal beside him was vibrating violently and continuously, its urgent ringing echoing through the empty room.