She Woke Up to the Female Lord's Legs

March 7th's voice echoed down the corridor.

The stifling air in the VIP Lounge was torn apart in an instant.

Himeko set down the copper kettle, and warm steam curled above the cup.

Asta clutched the Noctilucous Jade to her chest and scrambled up from the carpet. She gave her skirt two hard swats to dust it off.

Arlan gritted his teeth and straightened up too.

"Lead the way," the Female Lord said coolly.

Su Chen just wanted to get out of that oppressive room.

Keeping up the lofty air of a god was exhausting. The muscles at the front of his thighs were already aching.

He set off first.

His heeled boots crossed the soft velvet carpet and stepped onto the metal-grate corridor outside.

The heels struck steel with a crisp, steady rhythm.

Su Chen walked steadily, his back perfectly straight.

The hem of his black robe fluttered in the cold air.

But beneath the robe, his toes gripped the soles of his boots for dear life.

Those heels were too thin.

On a gridded floor full of gaps, one step an inch off would trap a heel.

He placed every step along the metal supports, relying on sheer core strength to keep his balance.

The Astral Express Crew and the space station staff followed behind.

March 7th walked off to one side, stealing glances at the god now and then.

The emergency lights overhead flashed red.

Broken glass and charred machine parts littered the floor.

Su Chen looked straight ahead and strode through a pile of ruined electronics.

Metal fragments crunched beneath his feet.

Nothing could halt those imperious steps.

The space station's alloy frame groaned under the strain.

The alarms were still sounding in the distance.

The group walked through the wrecked corridor in suffocating silence.

The medical room lay deep within the Base Zone.

The alloy isolation doors slid apart.

The sharp smell of medical alcohol rushed out to meet them.

Cool white surgical lights shone on a white hospital bed, bright enough to dazzle.

Several vital-sign monitors in the corner gave off monotonous beeps.

Su Chen stopped a meter from the bed.

Himeko and Welt came in behind him.

They deliberately slowed their breathing, afraid that even a heavy breath might disturb the Fourth Seat.

A gray-haired girl lay on the bed.

She wore a windbreaker with its zipper open, revealing a white shirt underneath.

A crystal glowing dark gold was slowly sinking into her skin beneath her collarbone.

It was the Stellaron.

The girl's eyelashes fluttered violently twice.

Her fingers clawed deep creases into the white bedsheet.

Her nails made a faint rasp against the fabric.

Stelle felt as though her head were stuffed with tangled threads.

Lots of people were talking nearby.

Their voices buzzed through what sounded like a layer of water, too muffled to make out.

She struggled to open her eyes.

The surgical lights stung them, drawing half a tear from the corner of one eye.

Her vision gradually cleared.

She did not see the ceiling.

Nor did she see a doctor in a white coat.

What filled her view was a pair of legs.

Long, straight, perfect legs wrapped in black silk.

The fabric clung closely to every contour.

Dark golden Geo patterns shimmered across its threads.

Stelle followed those legs upward.

Her gaze passed over an elaborate hem and stopped at a slender waist.

Then higher.

A face so beautiful she forgot to breathe.

Golden eyes held the cool detachment of someone looking down on all living beings.

Amber hair fell over her shoulders, its ends curling slightly.

Stelle's mind went blank for three seconds.

For a moment, the monitors seemed to fall silent.

She still had a hazy, burning memory of the Stellaron and a lingering fear of the Antimatter Legion.

But now that memory was kicked clean out of her head.

An instinct for trailblazing, buried deep in her genes, erupted like a volcano.

The thrill-seeker in her had taken over.

Stelle shot upright on the bed.

The sudden movement tugged the IV line in the back of her hand.

The monitor by the bed immediately sounded a rapid alarm.

"Watch out! The Stellaron might go out of control!" Welt shouted.

He gripped his cane, veins bulging across the back of his hand.

Light flashed across his glasses as cold sweat soaked his back.

Himeko jumped too.

She instinctively stepped forward, reaching behind her waist for her cutting gun.

Arlan lunged in front of Asta and threw out his arms to shield her.

The warning had barely left Welt's mouth.

Stelle threw back the white sheet.

Her bare feet hit the cold tile with a dull thud.

Like a stray cat spotting an open tin of food, she sprang forward without a trace of caution.

She spread her arms.

Then she flung herself straight at the Female Lord.

Her arms locked around those black-silk-clad legs.

Her cheek pressed against the fabric.

"You're so pretty, big sis! Let me cuddle you!"

The girl's clear voice rang through the medical room.

She had not merely grabbed the Female Lord's legs.

She even rubbed her cheek against the fine fabric twice for good measure.

A dazed little giggle rose from her throat.

Su Chen went rigid.

His scalp prickled.

Of course he recognized the gray-haired girl.

The universe's foremost wanderer, a devoted dumpster diver.

Had those hands touched a dumpster outside the space station half an hour ago?

Was there dirt on her cheek from who knew where?

Su Chen's stomach churned.

Every hair on his body stood on end.

But he could not pull away.

He was the Imaginary Divine Court's Fourth Seat now.

How could a god recoil from a mortal's embrace?

Not the slightest crack appeared in the Female Lord's eternally icy expression.

Her golden eyes looked down coldly.

Only Su Chen's hands, hidden inside his wide sleeves, betrayed him as they clenched into fists.

His nails dug deep into his palms, the pain making his eyelids twitch.

He immediately drew on the imaginary energy within him.

A dark golden light flashed over his legs.

An extremely thin film of Geo covered the silk in an instant.

Invisible to the eye, the film was as hard as crystal.

It kept Stelle's cheek and hands, laden with the spirit of trailblazing, from touching the fabric.

His divine attire was safe from being dirtied.

The air in the medical room froze.

March 7th's mouth fell open.

Her jaw nearly dropped to her collarbone, and her camera clacked against a button on her chest.

She could not believe what she was seeing.

The girl had just woken up and was treating a god like a pillow?

Himeko stood frozen.

Her hand hung halfway to her lower back, her knuckles white.

She had no idea how to handle a situation this absurd.

Every reassuring word she had prepared stuck in her throat.

Welt's cane struck the metal floor with a heavy clang.

He felt his last thread of reason about to snap.

This was someone who could crush the Doomsday Beast with a casual squeeze.

A terrifying power for whom destroying star systems was an everyday affair.

Did this girl with a Stellaron inside her want to take the entire space station to the grave?

Arlan's freshly bandaged wound split open again.

Fresh blood seeped through the white gauze and ran down his forehead into his eye.

But he did not dare blink.

Asta pressed the Noctilucous Jade hard against her chest.

The world had gone mad.

A billion credits had not bought her so much as a glance.

And this girl had woken up and grabbed the Female Lord's legs?

Everyone held their breath.

They waited for the god's wrath to descend.

Perhaps in the next second,

a meteor would crash through the ceiling, crushing the reckless girl into paste

and vaporizing the rest of them along with her.

The moment stretched on without end.

Cold sweat ran down Welt's temple and dripped onto his collar.

March 7th covered her eyes, unable to watch the carnage she expected.

Su Chen lowered his head.

His golden eyes stared coldly at the girl clinging to his legs.

Stelle was still grinning foolishly.

She was oblivious to the murderous looks all around her.

Her cheek stayed pressed to the cool Geo film as she rubbed against it in delight.

Su Chen gritted his teeth.

He fought the urge to kick her away.

He drew a deep breath, ready to give her a stern scolding.

Just then,

a crisp mechanical chime sounded deep in his mind.

[Ding!]

[Extreme fear and shock detected among the people nearby.]

[Shock Points collection target met!]

[Second Divine Court member mystery box unlocked!]