Movie emperor mode, activate!

Take a close look. This Cat Cake was called Xiaoshuai, and he was lying comfortably in the corner of a square table.

Several electronic devices on the table flashed with light. With a crackle, the light from the devices faded.

[Data stream absorption complete...]

[Evaluating the total volume of the data stream]

[Conclusion: This data stream can sustain a mimicry construct for one minute]

Success!

Lin Feng was ecstatic, but his inner caution made him immediately suppress his emotions.

He cautiously poked out half his "head," his beady eyes darting around the empty space.

Only after confirming that neither the pink-haired figure nor any other staff members were in sight did he let out a long breath. His soft, squishy body even trembled slightly as he relaxed.

Heaven knew that while he was absorbing the data, his heart—if Cat Cakes had one—had practically been pounding in his throat!

Although he had ultimately relied on his small Cat Cake body and agile—relatively speaking—wriggling to slip under the table in time, he clearly remembered that just before his consciousness sank completely into the data stream, he had caught a glimpse of Asta out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to have sensed something, turning around and looking in his direction!

But Asta definitely hadn't seen him. Otherwise, she would have caught up to him by now.

As the lead researcher of the Herta Space Station, she would never allow any other unexpected incidents to occur on the station.

Fortunately, he had finished absorbing the data stream. Now he could sneak back, and absolutely no one would discover that a Cat Cake had tiptoed into the master control zone.

That's right...

No one will find out!

Yes, that has to be it! Lady Luck has finally sided with me this time!

Now that he had his precious "one-minute transformation card," all he had to do was retrace his path to Ruan Mei's laboratory without anyone noticing, find a safe corner, and he could experience the long-lost feeling of standing on two feet!

Plan complete!

...Probably.

Though he was trying to encourage himself, even Lin Feng felt that his words rang a little hollow.

For a pastry that moved by wriggling, the journey from the master control zone to Ruan Mei's laboratory in the living quarters was no less than a snail race.

Along the way, he would have to pass through several corridors full of people, and take that damn elevator again, where people could get on or off at any moment...

Forget it. If I could get here, I can take a gamble and go back the same way.

He gathered his courage again, his round body laboriously changing direction as he prepared to put his escape plan into action.

First, the standard procedure as always—probe with the tail!

He carefully extended the little tail, whose symbolic value far exceeded its actual function, to the edge of the table and waved it from side to side like a tiny radar.

Safe!

His tail couldn't detect anything, but the ritual was important.

Next came the most crucial step—landing!

He turned onto his side, took aim at the narrow patch of shadow between the table and the console beside it, calculated the angle, and squeezed hard, trying to use his pastry body's elasticity to "launch" himself toward that relatively concealed landing spot.

"Splat!"

The expected contact with the cold floor never came. Instead, there was a faint thud as he struck something soft and springy, warm with body heat.

Lin Feng's entire pastry body went rigid. His blood—if Cat Cakes had any—seemed to freeze.

Extremely slowly, he lifted... er, lifted the upper part of his body, which he couldn't tell was his head or his body, bit by bit. His beady eyes strained upward.

The first thing that came into view was a shapely, well-proportioned calf, wrapped in a pristine white over-the-knee stocking made of high-quality material.

His gaze moved upward, past the hem of a well-tailored lead researcher's uniform skirt, to... a delicate, girlish face tilted slightly downward, wearing an expression of mild curiosity and scrutiny.

A few strands of long pink hair hung over her shoulders, glowing softly in the light of the master control zone.

Asta crouched down and looked at eye level at the Cat Cake that had bumped into her calf and now seemed to have turned to stone. A hint of surprise flashed through her clear eyes.

"Huh?" she murmured. "How... did a Cat Cake get here?"

She reached out a slender, fair finger and gently poked Lin Feng's body, which had grown even bouncier from tension.

The sensation against her fingertip made her eyes widen slightly.

"This is one of Madam Ruan Mei's creations. This coloring and texture..."

Asta quickly recognized Lin Feng's "origins." As the space station's lead researcher, she had a basic understanding of each of the genius collaborators' projects.

But then her brows furrowed slightly, revealing the caution characteristic of a lead researcher, along with a trace of puzzlement.

"But Madam Ruan Mei's laboratory is in the living quarters, a long way from the master control zone.

"Little one, how did you get all the way here?

"And this seems to be... the location of an energy monitoring node?"

Her gaze swept thoughtfully over the devices beside her, which had just resumed normal operation.

A storm was raging in Lin Feng's mind:

I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed! I thought of everything, but I never expected to run straight into the line of fire!

I even ran into it myself!

How am I supposed to explain this?

Say I came out for a walk?

Can Cat Cakes talk?

Who would believe that?!

He could sense the scrutiny in Asta's seemingly gentle gaze. It was more than mere curiosity about a cute creation.

The more critical the situation, the more unusually useful the brain became.

Wait! She "caught" me on the spot, and she's already seen me anyway, so I might as well do nothing. After all, I'm just a Cat Cake.

What could a Cat Cake possibly do?

Right?

Right! That's what I'll do!

Movie emperor mode, activate!

Lin Feng immediately suppressed every glimmer of "intelligence," trying to make his beady eyes as round as possible. A pitiful layer of moisture quickly gathered in them—or so he believed.

Then his entire pastry body curled up slightly, and he let out a faint, trembling—

"Whimper..."

He perfectly portrayed a poor Cat Cake that was frightened, lost, small, and helpless.

It was simply perfect. On a scale of ten, he would give himself a hundred points!