Do You Want to Become an Aeon?

The familiar outfit, the familiar face, and that glaring flash of red.

Who else could it be but Sparkle?

Lin Feng's nerves, which had only just relaxed, instantly went taut again. His heart gave a violent jolt.

This was the Simulated Universe! A closed world created by Herta, whose entrance had already been shut!

How could a Masked Fool be here?

The looping time, the torn images—everything pointed to this out-of-control, irreversible bug.

And at this very moment, a Masked Fool who had no business being here had popped up.

Lin Feng had to suspect she was part of the bug too.

After all, the entrance to the Simulated Universe had closed after he entered.

Stelle and March 7th had gone in first; he was the last one.

Where had this fourth person come from?

At the thought, Lin Feng tightened his grip on his bat. It was all he had to rely on right now.

He stared fixedly at the girl before him, already picturing the horrifying scene that might unfold the next second—Sparkle's body tearing apart bit by bit like the Voidrangers before her, a hideous True Sting crawling out of the shredded flesh, fixing its greedy, scarlet eyes on him, then pouncing!

Every muscle in his body tensed as he took a stance, ready to swing at any moment.

But his battle-ready posture made the girl in red before him burst out laughing.

She blinked her pretty red eyes and bounced toward Lin Feng, one step at a time.

Jingle, jingle—

The bells at the tips of the girl's shoes rang out crisply, echoing through the deathly silent, distorted space.

A sly, teasing smile hung on her face, and she held her hands behind her back like a little girl visiting an amusement park.

"Hands and feet are fine, all limbs intact, thinking normally, stress response is normal too, hmm..."

Sparkle tilted her head, pressed a finger to her cheek, and gave Lin Feng a solemn once-over before nodding to herself.

"Not bad. Looks like you haven't been assimilated by this verification data."

"In that case, Director Sparkle can rest easy."

She changed the subject, a deeper meaning entering her smile. "But that also indirectly shows that Their judgment is good. How could someone who even caught the big mechanical head's attention be insignificant?"

The big mechanical head?

And who are They?

Lin Feng took a deep breath, but his grip on the bat loosened a little without his realizing it.

Something's not right!

This isn't a bug!

That whole string of clear, fluent speech had obviously been meant for him.

There was no mechanical looping like with Kafka, nor did any extra option boxes pop up.

This was the living, breathing Masked Fool, Sparkle herself!

Having reached that conclusion, Lin Feng felt his heart sink heavily and a chill shoot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

How had a living person, a Masked Fool, broken through Herta's space station defenses and entered the Simulated Universe while it was running?

And she had appeared right beside him with such precision, when he was at his most isolated and helpless.

Following me!

Watching me!?

A guess that made his scalp tingle surfaced in Lin Feng's mind.

Could she have been observing his every move, even everything he had experienced in this virtual world?

"Fool, what are you after?" Lin Feng suppressed the storm raging in his heart and spoke in a low voice.

This wasn't his first encounter with Sparkle.

Last time, he had still been in Cat Cake form.

And now, in a human body, he was speaking with this elusive Fool for the first time in the truest sense.

"Don't be scared, little guy. I have no intention of hurting you."

Sparkle lowered her eyes slightly, as though weighing her words, and said unhurriedly:

"After all, a 'creation' possessing such rich thoughts and intelligence is itself quite [Elation]."

"But Director Sparkle likes it. No reason needed."

She suddenly raised her eyes, her smile radiant, her tone carrying a hint of fervent admiration.

"If They like you, then I, Lady Sparkle, like you too!"

"Hehehe~"

Sparkle's eyes curved with her smile as she bounced up to Lin Feng again, the clear ringing of her bells sounding almost right beside his ear.

"Actually, Lady Sparkle has wanted to chat with you for a long time, but the right opportunity never came along."

The girl was almost half a head shorter than Lin Feng. She rose on tiptoe and lightly draped a fair, delicate arm over his shoulder.

Lin Feng's body went rigid at once. He didn't dare move a muscle.

He had no doubt that if he made the slightest wrong move and displeased the great figure before him, she would have him thoroughly dealt with the next second.

The strength of someone capable of silently breaking into the Simulated Universe was impossible to gauge.

"Don't be nervous. Relax, relax~"

Sparkle pursed her lips and extended her other hand, gently beckoning toward Lin Feng's cheek from a distance.

The next moment, a fox mask Lin Feng had never seen before emerged from his body out of thin air and floated back into Sparkle's hand.

Lin Feng: ??!

His mind buzzed and went completely blank.

This mask... When did it get on me? How come I didn't feel a thing?!

Having retrieved the mask, Sparkle giggled, her voice full of playfulness and pride. "I, Director Sparkle, never do anything I'm not sure of."

She spun the mask once on her fingertip, then suddenly leaned in close, her breath fragrant.

"So... little guy, do you want to become an Aeon?"

Become... an Aeon!?

Boom—!

Those words were like a nuclear bomb dropped into his mind, instantly blasting all of Lin Feng's thoughts to pieces.

His pupils shook, and he opened his mouth, but didn't say a word.

Sparkle's words reminded him of the system.

Ever since he had entered the Simulated Universe, the system had seemed to be blocked by something. No matter how Lin Feng called for it, there was no response.

After all, the system had said from the very beginning—

[This system will assist you in starting from the lowest rung of life (Cat Cake form), devouring and evolving, until you finally embark on the path to becoming an Aeon!]

That was becoming an Aeon too!

But he didn't know what the Fool was after, so naturally he couldn't believe her—at least not now.

"All right, don't get so worked up~"

Sparkle nimbly turned around and came before Lin Feng once more, extending a slender finger to gently press it against his slightly parted lips.

"No need to be so surprised. Something this [Elation] might seem a little crazy to you, but to Director Sparkle, it's just a trivial little matter."

As soon as she finished speaking, Sparkle took another step closer, her smile growing even brighter.

She reached out with both hands and gently cupped Lin Feng's face.

They were pressed very close together. Lin Feng could clearly smell the fresh, girlish fragrance unique to her, and could even feel, through their clothes, a heartbeat from her palm that was just as fierce as his own.

"Your heart's beating a little too fast~"

Sparkle's tone carried a hint of amusement and a trace of regret so faint it was almost imperceptible.

"It's just a shame this body belongs to that Little Grey Hair. Lady Sparkle really does want to see what you actually look like."

"See you. I don't even know what I should call you."

"Should I call you little guy? Or..."

"Would 'visitor from another world' be better?"

At the words "visitor from another world," Lin Feng's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints!

His greatest secret had been spoken aloud so casually!

The lingering warmth on his cheeks vanished entirely in that instant, leaving only icy terror.

Sparkle had withdrawn her hands. She turned her back to him and waved casually, as though it were an ordinary farewell.

"See~ you!"

Snap—

Another crisp snap of her fingers.

Before the suppressed cry of alarm in Lin Feng's throat could escape, the entire world before his eyes flipped over and collapsed with a roar!

Countless fragments swept past his body, sucked into an endless, pitch-black void.

And before him, at the far end of the equally shattered void, he saw something.

An indescribably enormous mechanical head!

It floated silently at the end of the universe, as though it had existed since time immemorial.

At the very center of the head was a red point of light. At times it blazed as dazzlingly as an exploding supernova; at others it grew so faint as to be imperceptible, returning to deathly silence.

The hairs all over Lin Feng's body stood on end.

He could clearly sense a gaze—a gaze beyond comprehension, beyond dimensions—watching him coldly through that red point.

There was no need to guess.

That was the big mechanical head Sparkle had mentioned!

The Aeon of Erudition, Nous!

Whoosh—

The next second, endless darkness swallowed everything. Lin Feng's consciousness began to sink rapidly, falling into silence...

"That's it, he's responding!"

In a daze, Lin Feng heard a familiar voice.

His eyelids felt as heavy as mountains. He tried desperately to open them, but couldn't muster the strength.

Fortunately, his consciousness was gradually returning, and sensation was slowly coming back to his limbs.

He could feel that he was lying on something soft.

That meant his current body wasn't a Cat Cake, but a human body.

"Ah—"

His eyelids finally opened a crack, and a sliver of light reached his retinas, as though someone had pressed his brain's power button.

"He opened his eyes!"

"Okay, okay!"

This time, there were two familiar voices.

March 7th and Stelle!

Lin Feng's eyes snapped fully open, and he instinctively raised a hand in front of them, adjusting to the glaring light overhead.

A cheerful voice rang out beside his ear.

"You're awake? The surgery was a success!"

"Congratulations, you're a girl now!"