Forty-Eight Moons Embracing the Stars

When Tang San returned to Dormitory Seven with that silver belt, Huang Fei was lying on his bed, "on standby."

To call it standby was, in truth, waiting.

Waiting for the system chime.

From the moment Tang San and Yu Xiaogang struck their deal under the Old Locust Tree, a string had been pulled taut in Huang Fei's mind.

He had deliberately stayed behind to ensure that this transaction went through without a hitch.

Now that Tang San was back, holding a shimmering belt, that string finally began to vibrate.

"Ding--"

It was here.

Huang Fei kept his eyes closed, the corners of his mouth curling into an imperceptible arc.

"Target Tang San detected obtaining the storage Soul Tool 'Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges'. Host has triggered the reward mechanism--generating corresponding rewards..."

"Generation complete. Congratulations to the Host for obtaining: 'Forty-Eight Moons Embracing the Stars'."

"Claim now?"

Huang Fei recited silently in his heart: Claim.

"Reward issued. Please proceed to an unoccupied area to retrieve it; a private space is recommended."

Huang Fei opened his eyes and sat up from the bed.

Tang San was fiddling with the belt on the bed opposite, looking as if he couldn't put it down.

The twenty-four pale blue gemstones emitted a faint, ghostly glow in the dim light of Dormitory Seven; it was truly beautiful.

"Huang Fei! Look!"

Tang San looked up excitedly, holding the belt up for him to see.

"This is the storage Soul Tool that Master gave me, called Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges! Every gemstone is a storage space!"

Huang Fei played along, putting on a look of surprise: "Yo, not bad. That Fart Master is actually quite generous."

Tang San choked slightly at the mention of "Fart Master" and gave a sheepish smile: "He said I don't have to take him as a master, just cooperate with him on some research. He even promised to help me find my first soul ring."

"That's great." Huang Fei nodded, his tone sincere, though he was thinking something else—you cooperate with him on research, I cooperate with you on research; that's only reasonable.

He stood up, stretched, and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Tang San asked.

"To bathe." Huang Fei said without looking back, "I've been lying down for two days until I'm practically growing mushrooms. Going to wash up."

Tang San said "Oh," didn't think much of it, and continued to lower his head to study his new treasure.

There was no bathroom in Dormitory Seven; work-study students had to go to the public bathhouse on the west side of the academy.

At this hour, there was hardly anyone in the bathhouse; most students were eating dinner or out engaging in activities.

Huang Fei pushed open the door to the bathhouse, and a wave of steam hit his face.

Empty.

He was the only one in the vast bathhouse. Several coarse cloth towels were neatly folded on a wooden bench, and the pool in the corner was filled with warm well water.

The setting sun shone in from the high clerestory windows, casting patches of orange light onto the floor.

Huang Fei walked to the innermost corner, confirmed no one was around, and took a deep breath.

"Retrieve."

A soft radiance emerged from his waist.

It wasn't a blinding golden light, nor a dazzling rainbow, but a gentle silver luster, like moonlight spilling onto the surface of water.

The light seeped out from his body, coalescing at his waist and gradually taking shape.

The entire process took less than three seconds.

When the light faded, Huang Fei looked down.

A belt was resting quietly around his waist.

The silver band was slightly narrower than Tang San's, but the texture was more refined, as if woven from some unknown metallic thread. It felt cool and smooth to the touch, light as nothing.

A ring of gemstones was embedded in the front of the belt in two staggered rows. Each one was a size smaller than Tang San's, but the quantity—it was double.

Huang Fei counted them.

Forty-eight.

He unhooked the belt, took it off, and held it in his hands to examine it closely.

The forty-eight pale blue gemstones were divided into upper and lower rows, staggered to look like two galaxies intertwined.

The luster of each gemstone was deeper than Tang San's; it wasn't a light blue, but a color between starry blue and deep-sea blue, with tiny, fragmented points of light seemingly flowing slowly within them.

The buckle of the belt was a crescent-shaped piece of silver metal, engraved with extremely fine patterns that could only be identified as stars and flowing clouds when viewed up close.

Overall, it was better looking than Tang San's.

It wasn't the kind of beauty that screamed "I'm more expensive than you," but rather the kind that declared "I am of a higher tier than you."

It was like placing a standard product next to a limited edition; the gap in class was visible at a single glance.

Huang Fei nodded in satisfaction and tried injecting his soul power into the belt.

In an instant, all forty-eight gemstones lit up simultaneously.

Then, a stream of information flooded into his mind.

Forty-eight independent storage spaces, each one twice as large as the one belonging to Tang San.

In other words, in terms of capacity alone, this belt was four times that of the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.

But that wasn't the part that surprised him the most.

Immediately following, a second piece of information emerged.

Integration.

Huang Fei shifted his thoughts, and as if the belt had sensed his intent, the entire thing suddenly transformed into a silver stream of light, flowing along his waist into his skin until it vanished without a trace.

He looked down and touched his waist; it was smooth and flat, with nothing there.

Yet, whenever he willed it, the belt would instantly re-materialize, perfectly formed.

Huang Fei couldn't help but laugh.

This belt could integrate into his body.

Tang San's Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges was a tangible belt that had to be worn.

It could be stolen, it could be snatched, and it could be seen by others.

Anyone who saw that priceless belt on his waist would be tempted by greed.

But his Forty-Eight Moons Embracing the Stars was fused within his body.

No one could see it, and no one could take it away.

This was true "storage."

Huang Fei tested the final function.

He tossed a small pebble he had picked up from the ground into the space of one of the gemstones, then tucked it into a corner and ignored it.

He began to bathe, slowly scrubbing away non-existent dirt while humming an off-key tune.

Once he finished, he probed his consciousness back into that gemstone.

The small pebble was still there.

But its surface seemed to have a faint, ethereal glow, as if it had been soaked in something.

Huang Fei took it out and turned it over in his palm, seeing no substantial change, yet he knew the Star Nourishment function was indeed working.

If left for a long enough time, this pebble might truly become a stone imbued with star power.

Of course, Huang Fei couldn't be bothered to wait.

He casually tossed the pebble back into the space, dried himself off, changed into clean clothes, and strolled out of the bathroom.

The evening breeze blew in from the playground, carrying the scent of ginkgo leaves.

The sunset on the horizon burned like a sea of orange-red, and a few early stars were already hanging in the sky.

Huang Fei walked back toward Dormitory Seven, his hands tucked into his sleeves, his pace unhurried.