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On the comfortably furnished bay window, Yu Qing's black hair spilled around her as she leaned slightly against the soft cushions, a book still open in her hand.

Such a well-behaved girl. She really had gone to sleep at ten.

Too bad she'd fallen asleep in the wrong place.

Xiang Changge took the book from her hand, slipped in a bookmark, and was about to set it with the few books stacked in the corner when she noticed the sketchbook on top of the pile.

It lay open.

Yu Qing was a good artist. Xiang Changge recognized the drawing on the exposed page at a glance.

Black-and-white lines outlined the view of City A from the Xiushan lookout.

The buildings in City A were sketched very roughly, with only a few strokes to suggest the tall towers.

Beside the forest covering Xiushan, the buildings looked especially haphazard.

Was Yu Qing unable to draw them?

Xiang Changge doubted it.

Maybe she simply didn't want to.

Xiang Changge didn't cover the sketchbook with the other books. She set it aside, then gently carried the sleeping beauty to bed.

A tablet had been left beside the pillow. Xiang Changge picked it up.

Perhaps she'd touched the screen or a button, because the tablet lit up. Its screensaver showed a group of puppies of various breeds happily bounding across a green lawn. Every one of them looked visibly delighted.

Xiang Changge set the tablet on the bedside table, then tucked the thin blanket around Yu Qing.

Maybe Xiang Changge had moved too lightly, or maybe Yu Qing was simply exhausted. Throughout the whole process, the only thing she did was nuzzle against Xiang Changge's arm when Xiang Changge lifted her in her arms. After that, she didn't move again.

The bedroom door opened and closed, and the room fell silent once more.

With only the reading lamp on, the room was a little dimmer than usual, but all the more conducive to sleep.

-

A little after one in the morning, Yu Qing woke from her dream.

Her eyes were half-open, their unfocused gaze vacant.

Something didn't seem right.

After a long while, the first question surfaced in Yu Qing's mind.

Why was only one lamp on? Had the other one broken?

It took her a little longer to remember that she'd been on the bay window. How had she ended up in bed?

Yu Qing instinctively glanced beside the bed. The space was empty. There was no chair, and no one was sitting there reading.

She looked away and blinked.

Had she sleepily made her way back to bed and forgotten?

She didn't know what she was thinking, but she felt strangely empty inside.

Another quiet night.

A faint sandalwood fragrance drifted through the air, mingling with the cool breeze from the central air conditioning. It was the perfect time to sleep.

Wait. Sandalwood?

Yu Qing sat up, clutching her blanket. On the low table where she'd shared dinner with someone that evening, a delicate little incense burner had appeared at some point.

A thin wisp of fragrance curled from it, drifting into her nose as if murmuring, You should get a good night's sleep.

Yu Qing stared at the incense burner for a long time.

At last, she had her answer, with absolute certainty.

Xiang Changge had been in her room.

She'd carried Yu Qing from the bay window back to bed, tucked her in, left the reading lamp on, and lit some sandalwood incense to help her sleep.

It probably wasn't the incense they'd made themselves that afternoon, since it wasn't ready yet.

So Xiang Changge must have asked the incense maker for some extra, ready-to-use incense.

And she'd chosen the same fragrance Yu Qing had picked while making incense that afternoon: sandalwood.

Yao Ningran had made jasmine-scented incense, Ge Bufan had made rose, and Chu Keke had made lavender. Only Yu Qing had made the scent she liked: sandalwood.

It was the same fragrance that now filled her room.

Yu Qing lay back under the blanket.

As she closed her eyes, a trace of contentment flickered across her face—so slight that only someone watching closely could have caught it.

Sleeping really was the happiest thing in the world. When she was asleep, she didn't have to think about anything or face anything.

And if she could have a good dream, that would be even better.

Tonight, it seemed the whole world hadn't abandoned her.

How strange.

The next morning, as soon as Xiang Changge opened her eyes, a system voice rang in her mind, like her own personal startup music:

"Ding—"

"Side quest: Help the female supporting character develop a habit of long nighttime sleep. Completed once. Current progress: 1/10."

"The female supporting character got more than five hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. The host has received a reward of 10 points."

"Current point balance: 10 points."

As the system made its announcement, celebratory sound effects played in the background, as though it were a major holiday.

Xiang Changge sighed and raised the back of her hand to shield her eyes, as if that could block out some of the noise-like effects.

System: "8802, aren't you happy? You've only earned 10 points, but those are 10 points! This is a historic breakthrough past zero. Shouldn't you be cheering with joy, jumping out of bed full of confidence, and declaring that you'll keep up the good work?"

Xiang Changge: "..."

So it was official: the system was a chatterbox.

System: "..."

It was heartbroken. Why was it on standby twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week? Was it because it didn't need sleep? Of course not! It was so it could share the host's success and joy the moment she woke up to a new day!

Why wasn't she grateful to have such a thoughtful system? Why wasn't she celebrating her good fortune at meeting a system as perfect as it was?

A chatterbox? How was it a chatterbox? It didn't even have that plugin! This was slander!

As if she knew the system was fuming in secret, Xiang Changge waited a moment before saying languidly, "A comfortable environment, the sleep-aiding incense I went out of my way to buy from the incense maker, and all the effort I put in yesterday to keep her from sleeping during the day..."

"If she hadn't slept longer last night, I'd have had to wonder if time had secretly advanced and she'd turned into a robot that didn't need to rest."

So it was only natural that Yu Qing had gotten a long stretch of sleep last night.

Still, one day of changed habits didn't mean much. Xiang Changge would have to keep at it if she wanted Yu Qing's sleep schedule to truly normalize.

The system didn't care what Xiang Changge prattled on about. It was happy, and that was all that mattered.

Now that Xiang Changge had some points, the system could properly give her access to a loan—no, that should be called the "Special Circumstances Feature."

That meant Xiang Changge could redeem a physical form for the system in advance, then gradually earn points to pay back the amount she'd borrowed.

-

By the time Xiang Changge reached the main house, Yu Qing had already been playing the piano in the music room for over an hour.

As Xiang Changge stepped out of the elevator on the fourth floor, the closer she got to the music room, the clearer the lilting melody became.

Xiang Changge didn't know what Yu Qing was playing, but it didn't sound as oppressive as the piece she'd played on Xiang Changge's first day there.

Unlike yesterday, the sky was overcast that morning, as if it were building up to a downpour.

They'd had only two sunny days, and now the rain was coming again.

Xiang Changge actually preferred sunny weather.

The weather in the apocalypse was unpredictable. Even a sunny day meant blazing heat hot enough to roast a person dry, like a tiger pouncing on its prey.

The weather here was different. The breeze was gentle, and even the sunlight only felt like a kitten pawing at you.

Peering through the music room's half-closed door, Xiang Changge saw that the lights were off. The slender girl in white pajamas with flared sleeves sat at the luxurious black piano. Her thin, pale fingers danced across the black-and-white keys, and she seemed to dance along with the music.

Beyond the window, the gray sky made even the treetops look dust-covered and dull.

The pale figure sitting quietly at the piano, lost in the music and her own thoughts, was the only bright thing in that moment.

Xiang Changge knew nothing about music and had never learned to play piano, but she thought Yu Qing played beautifully.

At least it didn't sound like noise.

But even if it had been noise, it wouldn't have mattered. The young lady had no neighbors. No one would complain.

Perhaps Yu Qing sensed her there. After playing a short passage, she turned her head toward the doorway.

A tall, slender figure leaned against the door. Xiang Changge had no idea how long she'd been standing there.

Yu Qing's long lashes fluttered. She looked away and rested both hands on the keys, no longer glancing at Xiang Changge.

Her brief question echoed through the room, her tone a little cool. "...Did you need something?"

After waking from a long sleep that morning, Yu Qing had found too many things in her room that were out of place.

The book she hadn't finished the night before had been thoughtfully closed and set aside, next to the sketchbook she'd left open.

Though the only picture visible at a glance on top was a quick sketch of the view from the Xiushan lookout, Yu Qing quickly closed the sketchbook, as if trying to hide a secret.

She'd wanted to put it in a drawer, but couldn't stop herself from wondering: Had Xiang Changge looked at it?