Asta awakens

"Thank you, Lin Chen."

"If it weren't for your help, I'm afraid I never would have had a chance to wake up."

She gazed at the black-haired young man standing just a step away.

Asta pressed her rosy lips together and gave him a rather lovely smile.

"Ahem... you're welcome."

"Tell me, what exactly happened here on Herta Space Station?"

Lin Chen responded coolly and cut straight to the point.

In truth, Asta's reaction had surprised him a little.

She knew he was the one who had urged March 7th to drug her.

Yet instead of blaming him, Asta thanked him with apparent sincerity.

Though he felt somewhat taken aback,

Lin Chen's opinion of Asta also changed slightly.

"A little over two weeks ago, the Department of Intelligence reported an anomaly involving Midnight Singing."

"Several teams from the Security Department went to investigate, and then all of them mysteriously disappeared."

"After that, strange things kept happening aboard the Space Station. Every department reported missing personnel."

"I tried contacting Madam Herta several times, but I never received a response."

"Transportation and transmission equipment also failed one after another. Herta Space Station became a true island in space."

She rubbed her faintly throbbing temples.

A solemn expression appeared on the pretty face of the girl whose long pink hair lay in disarray.

Lin Chen could clearly see the guilt and fear in Asta's beautiful eyes.

Perhaps Asta, who had personally endured this uncanny calamity,

was still shaken by it even now, and blamed herself all the more for her helplessness.

"Go on..."

Lin Chen spoke slowly. Usually so casual and carefree in his actions,

he now wore a seriousness he rarely showed.

"Strangely, the unrest we expected never came after that."

"Apart from the singing at midnight, everything aboard the Space Station seemed normal."

"But... the research progress reports submitted by each department gradually became identical."

"They seemed to repeat the previous day's content forever."

"Later, after a high fever, my mind began to grow muddled too."

"Although I occasionally remembered that I ought to do something, I would feel lost again a moment later."

"Ugh... I feel awful..."

Before she finished speaking, Asta pressed her right hand against her lower abdomen.

A faint flush seemed to rise over her previously pale face.

An extremely complicated look seemed to spread through her clear, lake-blue eyes.

"Asta, are you all right? Does something hurt?"

Sitting beside the bed, March 7th furrowed her delicate brows, her face full of concern.

Seeing Asta like this made March 7th's heart ache.

Trapped aboard the isolated Space Station, Asta's mind had suffered terribly.

If the Astral Express hadn't arrived in time, and if Lin Chen hadn't provided his special medicine,

what would have become of Asta?

March 7th didn't even dare imagine it.

"Phew... don't worry, March 7th. I'm fine."

"It should just... just be an aftereffect of regaining my senses."

"Mr. Lin Chen, is... is there anything else you'd like to know?"

"I'll be good and tell you everything."

Asta casually answered March 7th's concern, then turned her gaze toward Lin Chen.

With her rosy lips lightly pursed, the girl's clear, beautiful eyes

revealed a look Lin Chen had never seen before.

Wasn't Asta... acting a little strange? That look in her eyes...

She's calling me Mr. Lin Chen? Her attitude seems completely different from before.

Could the Low-Quality Sanity Pills have been too weak?

Is this woman still not in her right mind?

He frowned and looked toward Asta.

Lin Chen instinctively took two steps back, maintaining a sensible degree of caution.

Acting on instinct,

Lin Chen wondered whether he should increase Asta's dosage.

However, he only had seven [Low-Quality Sanity Pills] left.

According to his original plan, he still needed to set aside shares for the other outside helpers.

"Asta, what do you think about what's happened on Herta Space Station?"

Lin Chen continued questioning her, deciding to test Asta first.

"All these strange incidents seem to have started with the eerie singing at midnight."

"If we can find the source of that singing, perhaps we'll have a chance to break the curse."

"But we've already tried that before."

"No matter where on the Space Station we monitored the midnight singing, its rhythm and volume were exactly the same."

"Mr. Lin Chen, I'd like to hear your thoughts..."

She lightly pursed her rosy lips and smiled sweetly.

The pink-haired girl raised her brows slightly, looking at Lin Chen with a hint of anticipation.

This woman... she's actually rather charming like this.

Ahem... now isn't the time to think about that.

His wandering gaze drifted below Asta's snow-white neck.

He stole a brief look at the graceful curves of her snowy bust beneath her astronomy uniform dress.

Lin Chen shook his head firmly to calm himself down a little.

"I do have a few preliminary conclusions and theories."

"But some of them are still purely theoretical."

"We'll need more information to establish what's actually going on."

The corners of his mouth lifted into a somewhat nonchalant smile.

Lin Chen resorted to his old tricks again, giving Asta evasive answers.

Meaningless words that said nothing at all? He would leave her to puzzle them out.

Although Lin Chen already had a plan for tonight,

until he could be certain Asta was completely trustworthy,

he wouldn't reveal a single detail.

"March 7th... is Mr. Lin Chen always this cautious?"

Asta leaned close to the Trailblazer girl's ear and whispered.

"I don't know either!"

"Anyway, that guy Lin Chen is really crafty."

"Be careful, Asta. Don't let him trick you!"

March 7th raised her willow-leaf brows. After a moment's hesitation, her expression turned earnest.

"March 7th... I'm actually a little curious."

"Are you and Mr. Lin Chen in that sort of relationship?"

She seemed quite concerned about certain things.

Still whispering, Asta softly asked her question.

"Wh-what sort of relationship?"

"A-Asta, don't get the wrong idea. He and I aren't in that sort of relationship!"

"That's right, Lin Chen is a scoundrel and a pervert. I don't like him at all!"

A faint blush appeared on her fair, jade-like face.

March 7th hurriedly waved her hands, putting on an air of absolute conviction.

"So that's how it is. I understand..."

Having received March 7th's answer, Asta's rosy lips curved slightly.

She revealed a rather peculiar smile.

Her gaze settled on Lin Chen, and an unusual degree of concern appeared in her beautiful eyes.

Hearing March 7th's glowing appraisal of him, Lin Chen's face darkened.

What was this supposed to be?

He hadn't done anything at all, yet he'd already become a scoundrel and a pervert.

If he really did whatever he pleased, wouldn't he end up collecting every nasty label there was?