I'll remember you, Ling An

Jinzhou, Pan Hua Restaurant.

Panhua, the proprietress, watched the two people and one cat devouring their food with a look of satisfaction.

She couldn't help asking, "Ling An, how does the newly improved secret-recipe cat food taste?"

Ling An pressed the switch. "Delish!"

Across from him, Chixia and Tide Sis had cheeks flushed red from the spice.

Ling An glanced at them just as his Terminal received a message.

He immediately understood and jumped down from the table.

"Where are you going?" Tide Sis put down her chopsticks, her gaze piercing.

"Uh... the Public Security Bureau needs me for something!" Ling An hastily lied.

"Huh? How come I didn't get a message from the Public Security Bureau?" Chixia asked curiously.

She met Ling An's aggrieved gaze head-on.

Chixia, just eat your food right now.

Please stop talking.

With a subtle smile, Tide Sis bent down to look at Ling An.

Her dazzling golden eyes left him feeling rather nervous.

Chixia's interest was piqued too, and she said brightly, "Let me guess who you're going to see!"

"The Magistrate? No, I think she's busy right now."

"Yangyang? No, Yangyang has her own things to do..."

"Could it be Baizhi? But she's been holed up in the Research Institute lately..."

"Sanhua? That shouldn't be it. Sanhua's been busy lately too..."

Chixia rattled off one name after another as though reciting a menu.

With every name she uttered, Tide Sis's gaze grew a little more intense.

Ling An closed his eyes and swallowed.

Stop listing them, sis.

I'm begging you.

If she kept going, he would be meeting God soon.

Tide Sis raised a hand to interrupt Chixia's guessing and said softly:

"So our Ling An has been living quite the colorful life these past few days."

Ling An awkwardly pressed the switch. "It's... it's been all right."

Tide Sis lowered her eyes and whispered into Ling An's ear, "It's Yinlin, isn't it?"

Ling An's heart jolted.

Sure enough, he couldn't hide anything from Tide Sis.

His reaction had completely given him away.

Ling An simply nodded. "Yeah..."

Forget it. I'm doomed either way, so I might as well get it over with.

But Tide Sis's expected reaction never came. Ling An cracked his eyes open and stole a look.

Tide Sis was still in front of him, merely murmuring a warning:

"When you're a kitty, anything goes. But when you're Crownless, you're mine alone. Understand?"

Joy sprang into Ling An's eyes.

He nodded vigorously.

Tide Sis, you're just... too kind!

Still, did Tide Sis have some fixation on his true Crownless form?

Such domineering possessiveness.

Could Tide Sis's tastes really run beyond ordinary humans?

Ling An didn't dwell on it and set off toward the coordinates Yinlin had sent in her message.

A bright moon hung high overhead, casting its light over an elegant pavilion.

Beneath it, Yinlin waited quietly.

Moonlight caressed her exposed skin, pale as porcelain and jade.

Catching sight of Ling An out of the corner of her eye, she turned with a smile.

"You're here."

Ling An gave a small nod and jumped onto the railing.

He pressed the switch and said, "I'm Ling An, a Jinzhou Patroller."

"Pfft." Yinlin couldn't help covering her mouth as she laughed, her eyes flickering slightly as she looked at him.

"There's no need to pretend around me. I know you can talk."

Ling An chuckled inwardly.

Sure enough, not everyone is as clueless as Ma Xiaofang.

"Relax. I know your secret, and you know mine. That's fair."

Yinlin rested a hand on her leg as she sat down and leaned her head lightly against the railing, her eyes barely an inch from Ling An.

She was referring to the fact that Ling An knew she had once been a core member of the Soul-Return Mutual Aid Society.

"The Puppet Master has been imprisoned. The Soul-Return Mutual Aid Society..." she murmured. "It's finally over."

"Do you regret it?" Ling An asked.

Yinlin shook her head. Then, as though something had occurred to her, she smiled warmly at him.

"I'm Yinlin, a Jinzhou Patroller. I stand up for what's right, punish evil, and uphold the good."

Ling An looked into her eyes, unable to keep his face from reddening.

She was imitating the way he spoke through the Gourd.

He coughed twice. "Sometimes, life leaves you no choice."

In the stillness of the night, they were the only two in the pavilion.

Yinlin lounged against the railing and reached a slender finger toward Ling An.

Ling An didn't dodge, letting her fingertip touch his nose.

"Who exactly are you?"

"Me?" Ling An fell silent for a moment, then declared, "If you don't mind, you can call me the Jinzhou Flying Feather Hero."

Chixia, sorry for stealing your title.

As he finished speaking, Ling An felt a tingling sensation from her fingertip, accompanied by Yinlin's gentle voice:

"Not being honest, are we?"

Ling An rubbed the tip of his nose awkwardly.

Yinlin hadn't used any force, though it had already been proven that even her full strength could barely hurt him.

Still, he didn't dislike this strange sensation.

"I'm very curious about you now." Yinlin stared straight at Ling An.

His performance at the Soul-Return Mutual Aid Society's base had far exceeded her expectations.

From beginning to end, Ling An had acted only twice.

The first time, he tore through every obstacle and stopped the Puppet Master.

The second time, the mechanical constructs the Puppet Master took such pride in had been like paper before him.

It was as though nothing could withstand a single spear strike from Ling An, this unassuming gray cat.

No one could know how violently her emotions had shifted throughout it all.

No one but her.

It had been like riding a roller coaster with her heart in her throat, plunging up and down.

Ling An studied her, thinking that curiosity could kill more than cats.

Having personally sent her adoptive father to prison, Yinlin had undoubtedly just experienced an upheaval in her life.

At this moment, her heart was no different from the moon suspended before them.

Pure white, yet hollow.

He said calmly, "There's no need to figure out what I look like. Everything you see is me."

"Is that so... how fascinating."

Speaking slowly, Yinlin extended her arms toward Ling An.

Without standing on ceremony, Ling An jumped into them.

The sound of a steady heartbeat reached his ears, making him pause.

Until then, he had always viewed everyone with the "lofty detachment" unique to someone who had transmigrated.

Whether it was Tide Sis, Yinlin, or anyone else he had met along the way, long before he came to Solaris...

He had already known their names and understood their personalities to some extent.

Only now, listening to Yinlin's steady heartbeat, did he finally realize.

Every person he met in this world was a unique individual.

They had their own pasts, their own lives.

That weighty heartbeat was the clearest proof.

The night breeze was cool, her embrace comfortable, and her lap soft.

The lovely night and beautiful scenery made Ling An close his eyes.

Yinlin's soft voice drifted into his ears:

"I'll remember you, Ling An."

After an unknown stretch of time, he woke from his nap.

Yinlin was already gone.

With a contented smile, Ling An drew a torn, slightly worn piece of paper from his chest.

He unfolded it, revealing a crudely drawn sketch.

He had found this drawing while searching the Soul-Return Mutual Aid Society's camp.

By the moonlight, he could just make out the figures on it-

The figures on the far left and right, dressed in Patroller uniforms, were Yinlin's parents.

The masked figure in the middle, looking rather goofy, was the Puppet Master in his younger days.

And the little girl standing at the very front, looking innocent and carefree...

Was Yinlin as a child.

Judged solely on artistic skill, the drawing was quite clumsy.

But hidden within this worn drawing was the entire story behind the Soul-Return Mutual Aid Society.

Ling An could imagine how the young Yinlin had gripped her pen, standing on tiptoe to reach the tabletop.

Stroke by stroke, trying to sketch her happy family.

Yet time had changed everything.

The people in the drawing had died or parted ways, leaving only the girl who drew it, wandering alone through Jinzhou's nights.