Growing Stronger! A Promise to Firefly!

Lin Hai stood alone in the middle of the silent living room. Sparkle's faint fragrance still seemed to linger in the air.

Sparkle had returned to Penacony.

She had come to Lin Hai through the Contract Lucky Star, but because they were from two different points in space and time, her stay was limited.

Three to four hours.

That was the limit!

Lin Hai took a deep breath and walked slowly to the sofa. He sank into its soft cushions and closed his eyes, trying to calm his somewhat jumbled thoughts.

But just as he began to settle down, the Contract Lucky Star's panel appeared in his mind.

[Contract Lucky Star · Event log updated]

[Associated person: Sparkle]

[Dinner together: completed]

[Intimate embrace: completed]

[Passionate kiss: completed]

[Event chain requirements met, hidden reward activated: Second-Order Physique Enhancement (base value × 200%)]

Lin Hai's eyes flew open. Before he could think it over, a surging wave of heat swept through his entire body!

The sensation was not painful. Instead, it was as though every cell were leaping for joy! Being reborn!

His bones seemed to be tempered by an invisible force, becoming tougher, while his muscle fibers grew denser.

Lin Hai instinctively clenched his fist, clearly sensing the power it contained.

An even more remarkable change had occurred in his perception.

He looked up. On this silent night, visibility outside the window was limited.

Yet the paths of tiny flying insects appeared clear and... slow?

The ticking of the clock's second hand beside him also seemed drawn out.

Each interval between seconds became distinct.

Lin Hai smiled.

He smiled happily!

The world had not slowed down. Rather, his neural reaction speed and ability to track movement with his eyes had undergone a qualitative improvement!

"Is this... power beyond that of an ordinary person?"

Lin Hai could hardly contain his excitement.

He longed to grow stronger.

He longed to touch the possibilities of the extraordinary.

And now, he had truly set foot on that path.

This time, his physique had doubled. In the future, as he completed more contracts and events, more rewards would surely await him.

Lin Hai stood up and, unable to restrain himself, threw a punch.

The movement was swift and smooth, and the sound of it cutting through the air was sharp and forceful!

After finally suppressing his surging emotions, Lin Hai sat back down on the sofa.

He took another Lucky Star from his pocket.

It corresponded to Firefly.

He held the Lucky Star in his hand.

The next moment, a soft glow once again flowed silently through the living room, and energy spread out in ripples.

When the shimmering light faded, the figure of Firefly quietly appeared, standing beside him.

She looked at Lin Hai. "Did you... meet Kafka?"

"I did." Lin Hai nodded.

Although Firefly already knew that Kafka and Lin Hai had met, she still asked instinctively.

Lin Hai studied the girl before him.

"You look very weak..." His voice was full of concern. "It's more obvious than last time."

"Mm." Firefly gave a soft reply and did not deny it. "I can't stay away from the medical pod for too long."

Her voice was faint, yet it carried a quiet acceptance, as though she had long since grown accustomed to living with this frailty.

"I hope that one day, you can be completely cured."

But Firefly only shook her head slightly. "It's all right. This illness... there's almost nothing that can be done about it."

She had long since accepted that fact.

Lin Hai's gaze returned to the Contract Lucky Star, its soft light flowing in his palm.

A thought arose in his mind.

This star could cross worlds and create miracles. Perhaps... perhaps it could also bring about a miracle of life?

"Let me go to Penacony with you, to your medical pod," Lin Hai suggested.

But Firefly shook her head and refused again. "There's no need. Staying here... with you for a while is enough."

To her, a short stay in this warm, ordinary living room was far more appealing than returning to the medical pod.

"Then... is there anything you want to do here? Anything at all," Lin Hai asked.

He wanted to fulfill her wish.

At his words, a glimmer of longing flashed in Firefly's eyes. "I want to see fireworks... real fireworks, ones I can see and even smell, not ones simulated in a dream."

No matter how lifelike the splendor in a dream was, it was still separated from her by an untouchable layer of illusion.

"All right." Lin Hai agreed without hesitation.

It was late at night, but he immediately took out his phone and quickly placed an order on a delivery app.

He bought the largest legal quantity of fireworks he could find.

Lin Hai offered a generous tip, and the fireworks were delivered as quickly as possible.

Then he carried the large bag of fireworks downstairs himself, to an open area.

He lit them.

Brilliant streaks of light whistled through the night sky and burst open beneath the silent darkness, transforming into countless streams of fire and a dazzling rain of flowers!

Firefly leaned over the living room windowsill, her eyes wide as she gazed entranced out the window.

She even carefully pushed the window open, letting the night breeze carry the faint scent of gunpowder across her cheeks.

It was an incomparably real feeling of being alive.

A faint smile appeared on her pale face.

But happy times were always short-lived.

When Lin Hai returned to the living room, he could clearly see that her face seemed a few shades paler.

There was no time to waste.

Lin Hai hurried over and firmly took Firefly's hand, gripping the Lucky Star tightly in his other hand.

Firefly did not resist. She only cast one lingering look back at the fireworks still going off outside the window.

The next moment, a soft light flashed, and the two of them found themselves in Penacony, inside the medical pod filled with blue light and delicate instruments.

Firefly slowly lay back down in the device that sustained her life. The hatch closed, and some kind of energy began to circulate. A faint trace of color returned to her face.

"I'm sorry... sorry for the trouble," she said softly, her gaze wavering.

Lin Hai said nothing. He simply stood beside the medical pod, never taking his eyes off her.

His eyes were filled with worry that needed no words.

Firefly said, "Come find me... in the dream. At dusk, above the tallest building to the southeast."

Lin Hai committed the dream's coordinates to memory.

He bent down and lightly touched the glass cover of the pod with his fingertips, like a silent promise. Then he turned and left without hesitation.

He went straight to the hotel room Sparkle had booked and opened the door.

The room was quiet, the two Dream Pools resting side by side.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Hai lay down in one of them, feeling his consciousness gently drawn away as he fell into the vast world constructed by the Memory Zone.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in an incomparably magnificent dream.

It was dusk.

The sky looked as though it had been steeped in oil paint, drifting clouds flowing slowly across it like molten gold.

Following Firefly's directions, Lin Hai soon found the skyscraper to the southeast.

Riding an invisible updraft in the dream, he reached the top of the building.

Firefly stood at the edge of the rooftop, her back to him.

The golden glow of the setting sun cast a warm halo over her hair, and a gentle breeze brushed the hem of her dress.

She gazed quietly down at the city below, immersed in the dreamlike colors of dusk. Against the skyline, she looked both lonely and incomparably beautiful.

Like an oil painting frozen at the end of time.

Lin Hai slowly approached, his footsteps almost inaudible.

Firefly turned around, a gentle, slightly wistful smile blossoming on her face. The rosy light filling the sky was reflected in her eyes, as was his figure.

She said nothing. Instead, she stepped forward and gently embraced him, burying her cheek in his shoulder.

"Thank you, Lin Hai," she said softly, her voice like a sigh. "Thank you for the fireworks... That was the most real, the warmest light I've ever seen."

Lin Hai's heart felt as though it had been filled with something. He closed his arms around her, holding her tighter, wanting to pass that warmth and strength directly to her.

"I'll find a way to cure you completely, I promise!"