A Cosmic-Level Strategic Partnership Between a Cake and a Dog

March 7th stepped up behind our dear Stelle and tilted her head, immediately spotting the Cat Cake cradled in her hands.

Her pink eyes lit up at once, her pink lashes fluttering. The next moment, she was at Stelle's side.

"What a cute Cat Cake!"

Our dear Stelle saw a flash of pink hair pass by her. By the time she came to her senses, her hands felt much lighter. March 7th had already snatched the Cat Cake away.

"Hey, March, I found it first, okay?" The softness in her hands had been snatched away just like that, leaving Stelle thoroughly dissatisfied. She planted her hands on her hips, her expression displeased.

"Oh, I'm just going to take a look. I'll give it right back," March 7th said, though she had no intention of returning it at all.

She cradled the Cat Cake, stroking its soft tail and squeezing its equally soft cake body, unable to stop herself. Her earlier frustration at having led them the wrong way vanished.

"Blue patterns. I've never seen this kind before. Who was it made to look like? It's so pretty!"

The sky-blue color and touches of white in its patterns made March 7th reluctant to put it down.

She had seen the Cat Cakes of the Astral Express Crew and the others on the space station, but none had such cute colors.

"It's so cute! Even cuter than Pom-Pom. I really want to take it aboard the Express and squish it..."

The more March 7th looked, the more entranced she became. Her fair fingers kept kneading the Cat Cake's body, while Lin Feng, the Cat Cake in question, shamelessly let out an utterly blissful "Meow."

Poor him. He was now being played with in the palm of a pink-haired beauty's hand, with no means of resisting at all.

Yet he was more than happy about it.

But on second thought, he immediately realized something was wrong.

Wait! Shouldn't I be worrying about why the absorption of the disordered data flow was interrupted right now?

Oh no, I almost fell for it.

As a sigma cake, how could I lose myself in such gentle comforts?

Lin Feng wriggled, enjoying March 7th's tender touch one last time before immediately turning his attention back to business.

According to the system, since the disordered data flow he had absorbed didn't come from the Stellaron, Stelle must have had something else special on her.

That thing was what supplied the disordered data flow.

But what was it?

Lin Feng opened his beady eyes as wide as he could and looked Stelle up and down, from her leather boots to her slender calves and all the way up to her neck, but he couldn't find anything different about her.

"Meow—"

Lin Feng let out a puzzled sound.

His initial assessment was that it seemed to be something inconspicuous, probably hidden somewhere on Stelle.

Disordered data flow.

Just from the name, it sounded like something extraordinary.

If he could finish absorbing it, there would presumably be an even bigger surprise in store.

So next, Lin Feng had to make the necessary plans.

While he was in Stelle's hands, a prompt to absorb the disordered data flow had appeared, and as soon as he left her, the absorption had stopped.

That could indicate two things:

First, the absorption of the disordered data flow had a distance limit. So if he wanted to continue absorbing it, he had to stay close to Stelle, preferably right by her side.

Second, it required physical contact between their bodies; only through physical contact could he absorb it. Earlier, the absorption prompt had only appeared because Stelle was holding him in her hands.

But whichever it was, what he should be most worried about next was how, as a Cat Cake and one of Ruan Mei's experimental creations, he could stay close to Stelle.

He couldn't just go up and stick to her of his own accord. That would look far too deliberate. The entire Herta Space Station was under Herta's surveillance, and Ruan Mei and Herta might well be watching his every move right now.

That was absolutely out of the question!

He didn't want to go back to the cold laboratory and lie on an examination bed, with Herta opposite him holding a data analyzer. Just imagining the scene was terrifying.

He couldn't follow her openly, but he wasn't entirely out of options.

March 7th and Stelle would be testing the Simulated Universe shortly. If he could take the opportunity to sneak in, he might have a chance to get close to Stelle.

The Simulated Universe was different from reality. Everything that happened inside was random, and its various data all required randomness. Even Herta and Ruan Mei couldn't easily interfere.

As for what would happen after he came out of the Simulated Universe...

Lin Feng didn't know what to do yet, either.

Ideally, he would finish absorbing the disordered data during their time in the Simulated Universe.

Otherwise, he really couldn't think of any way to stay by Stelle's side like this.

Surely he couldn't waste his precious mimicry construction time and tell her:

Beautiful lady, my name is Lin Feng. May I get to know you in private?

Then take her by the arm and stride toward a corner.

He believed that what awaited him would not be an enthusiastic response, but a beating with a baseball bat.

"Meow!"

Having settled on his next plan, Lin Feng stretched out his tail. Just then, March 7th reluctantly set him down gently.

"Let me squish it a little longer~" March 7th was very reluctant to put the Cat Cake down, her eyes full of little stars of longing.

"Miss March 7th, Ms. Herta is already waiting. We should hurry. As for this Cat Cake..." Asta looked down and saw a text from Herta urging them to hurry. When she looked up, she noticed March 7th's reluctant expression and pursed her lips slightly. "How about this? After this Simulated Universe test is over, I'll personally ask Ms. Ruan Mei for you. What do you think?"

"Really?! Thank you so much, Asta!" March 7th's earlier reluctance vanished completely, and the excitement was practically written on her face. After speaking, she went over to Asta, linked arms with her, and planted a big kiss on her.

"See? Now that's a good friend. And look at you. What can you do besides rummage through trash cans?"

March 7th didn't forget to give Stelle a contemptuous look. After another glance at the Cat Cake, she turned and headed in one direction.

After only a few steps, she realized something was wrong and awkwardly backed up. "Um, which way was it to the Simulated Universe again?"

Asta and Stelle: ⊙_⊙??

Only after the three of them had gone some distance did Lin Feng sneakily poke out his Cat Cake tail, stretching it forward in an extremely furtive manner.

Once he was sure no one passing by had noticed, he slowly wriggled his whole body out.

Yes, step one complete. Next is step two.

Lin Feng turned his gaze to Peppy, who was slowly approaching with a ring in his mouth, and gave a crooked smile (unfortunately, as a Cat Cake, he couldn't manage that expression for the time being).

At the speed he moved, catching up with March 7th was simply impossible.

Only by borrowing some help could he successfully catch up.

For example, the four-legged Peppy in front of him.

Lin Feng: "Meow? Meow~ Meow?" (Brother Peppy, give me a ride. Name your price, okay?)

Peppy: "Woof, woof! Woof!" (Throw three hundred rings.)

Lin Feng: "Meow." (No problem!)

Peppy: "Woof." (Deal!)

A moment later, the cake and the dog had reached a cosmic-level strategic partnership.

Peppy crouched down, and Lin Feng turned his Cat Cake body sideways and inched onto Peppy's back. Then he sprang up, landing his entire cake body on it.

"Meow!" (Brother Peppy, charge! Giddyup!)