Be Careful

The journey from the Xianzhou 'Luofu' vicinity to Punklorde was originally scheduled to take only 12 system hours.

However, en route, they passed an Interastral Peace Corporation branch spaceport located on a desolate satellite.

Bai Heng contacted the branch's staff, asking them to prepare some local specialty pastries as a gift for Ruan Mei.

But to his surprise, his Interastral Peace Corporation P40 rank put considerable pressure on the branch's management.

Despite it just being a temporary resupply, the spaceport's management prepared a welcoming banquet and a team of staff to welcome him.

After Bai Heng spent some time explaining his intentions, a P34-level senior leader at the branch dismissed the welcoming party and took Bai Heng to the branch's trade goods transfer point.

Pastries and such lose much of their flavor if they aren't freshly baked.

Fortunately, the Corporation branch in this star system had recruited top pastry chefs from various planets. Before long, various pastries with local characteristics were baked, and Bai Heng selected a few packages to take aboard the starship.

Due to this little interlude, Bai Heng arrived at Punklorde a little later than planned.

Punklorde, 3:34 PM.

The starship parking lot, programmed with symbols and code, successfully recorded the data of Bai Heng's starship.

In recent days, many ships have visited this hacker planet.

Most of them came to observe the academic conference held in Punklorde tomorrow.

And the venue for the academic conference is the neon city that names the entire planet—Punklorde.

Bai Heng wasn't sure about the scale of this academic conference, but the fact that Ruan Mei, as a member of the Genius Society, was invited to attend, gave him a glimpse.

At least, the value of this academic conference was not a trivial matter in the eyes of such a genius.

Leaving the airport, Bai Heng hailed a taxi on the roadside, while Xiao Si was responsible for carrying the large bags of pastries and getting into the car.

Among them were both those bought when leaving the Xianzhou 'Luofu', and local specialties sent by the Interastral Peace Corporation branch.

When they arrived on this planet, they had already noticed the rain clouds brewing in the atmosphere. As the taxi drove onto the overpass, raindrops happened to fall along the towering, cloud-piercing buildings, drizzling and washing the city.

Bai Heng propped his cheek with one hand, observing Punklorde outside the car window.

This was his first visit to Punklorde.

But vaguely, he felt very familiar with this city, as if... he had once lived in this city.

Enveloped in rain and mist, the originally gray sky was still constantly jumping and flickering under the dazzling neon lights, as if all the colors had turned into data streams, integrated into the city itself.

No wonder the information showed that Punklorde is a planet where the boundary between day and night has long been blurred.

Through the slightly open transparent car window, Bai Heng felt the damp and cold air and the atmosphere of the city itself.

In this giant city composed of data networks and neon lights, the hard skyline was hidden in the lights. The high-rise buildings in the business district looked like square cages woven with light from a distance. In the distance was a wide lake, adjacent to the overpass.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, the traffic on the overpass was surging, and the car lights converged into a stream of light, and they were like a firefly bound to this arc-shaped, slender overpass, only able to run forward and look for an exit.

Bai Heng tasted the atmosphere of this planet or this city itself—loneliness.

Punklorde, in Bai Heng's eyes, seemed like a lost forest.

The high prosperity of the data network, on the contrary, shields the communication between people. In Bai Heng's home planet, this is a common problem.

And Punklorde, this planet gathering the world's best hackers, may be the final state of this problem.

After coming down from the overpass, the taxi drove directly to the Bololunzi Hotel located in the center of Punklorde.

Scholars and celebrities from across the star systems, including Ruan Mei, were arranged in this hotel.

However, tomorrow's Punklorde academic conference will be conducted online in the Interastral Network.

In fact, invitees do not necessarily need to come to Punklorde in person.

Therefore, Bai Heng speculated that in addition to this academic conference, they might have other purposes for coming here.

An system hour later.

Bai Heng arrived at the bottom of the hotel named Bololunzi.

Xiao Si held an umbrella for Bai Heng with his left hand, carried a few bags of pastries with his right hand, and looked up at the towering hotel in front of him, exclaiming:

"This hotel is too big, Bai-ge. I don't think I've ever seen such a tall hotel when I accompanied you to Belobog last time."

"That's because you haven't seen enough. A shareholder in the Belobog Corporate Council specially bought an uninhabited planet to please his daughter and built the most magnificent building complex in the entire universe on it. He even replicated a tower from a fairy tale in its entirety. If that tower hadn't collapsed, it would probably be the tallest building today." Bai Heng casually explained, while patting his shoulder, signaling him not to stand there in a daze.

"Oh, oh." Xiao Si nodded blankly, took a step forward, and muttered in his mouth: "There are such prodigal big shots."

If you think this book is good, please remember to add it to your bookshelf to avoid not finding it next time.

The two entered the hotel lobby. Bai Heng showed the electronic key card Ruan Mei gave him on his phone and checked in at the hotel front desk.

After the hotel front desk inquired and verified Bai Heng's identity, a waiter came forward to lead him to the 67th floor where Ruan Mei was located by elevator.

After exiting the elevator, Bai Heng said to the waiter:

"No need to see me off."

"Yes, sir." The waiter bowed respectfully, then stood elegantly in the elevator.

Only after Bai Heng and Xiao Si had walked a certain distance from the elevator did he slowly close the elevator.

The corridors of the Bololunzi Hotel were exceptionally spacious, enough for four attendants to push trolleys side-by-side.

Bai Heng looked at the electronic keycard in his hand and walked a hundred meters forward.

He finally found Ruan Mei's room.

"Give me the pastries," Bai Heng said to Xiao Si beside him.

"Oh, okay."

Xiao Si handed Bai Heng the still-warm pastries, scratching his head.

"Then, Brother Bai, I'll head down first. I'll find a hotel while it's still early."

"No rush, say hello to your sister-in-law first." Bai Heng pressed the doorbell. He hadn't explained the reason for coming to Punklorde to Xiao Si, so he assumed Bai Heng was here on business. "Sister-in-law? Brother Bai, is it... the one from the Herta Space Station last time?"

"Yes."

After the doorbell rang three times, footsteps approached from inside the room.

Then, the door opened, and a graceful figure appeared before Bai Heng.

Because it was early spring in Punklorde, the winter chill hadn't dissipated. It was also raining today, so Ruan Mei was wearing a woolen snow coat.

But perhaps because she was a researcher in the field of life, she could overcome the cold in other ways. The woolen snow coat had an off-the-shoulder, hollowed-out design, revealing her fair and delicate skin. Although the long snow coat covered her lower body, it still revealed a section of her fair calf, giving her a pure and lovely air.

She looked up, gazing at Bai Heng with a pair of gentle, watery, light-green eyes, and said softly, "You're here."

"Yeah, I bought some things on the way, so I was delayed a bit." Bai Heng held up the pastries, then pointed to Xiao Si beside him, introducing him. "This is my subordinate, the Astral Society's ace starship pilot."

Xiao Si grinned, calling out as Bai Heng had instructed, "Hello, sister-in-law!"

"Sister-in-law?" Ruan Mei looked at the red-haired boy, but after a moment, she accepted the title, saying, "Hello, I'm Ruan Mei. What's your name?"

Xiao Si scratched his head, saying with a smile, "Just call me Xiao Si, sister-in-law. Since I've already said hello, I'll be going now. I won't disturb you and Brother Bai."

With that, Xiao Si said goodbye to Bai Heng, not wanting to intrude on their alone time.

"Be careful," Bai Heng reminded him.

"Okay, Brother Bai, you be careful too." Xiao Si replied as he turned back.

"What do I need to be caref... damn it..." Bai Heng was suddenly speechless.

But after he left, Bai Heng had nothing to hide. He reached out and gently poked Ruan Mei's exposed shoulder, asking, "Aren't you cold?"

Ruan Mei didn't seem to mind this intimate gesture, shaking her head. "I'm not cold. Qing Tu prepared this outfit for me before I came. What do you think?"

"It suits you well. If it's convenient, I'd like to have a matching couple's outfit so we can wear them together."

Hearing Bai Heng's words, a gentle smile appeared on Ruan Mei's usually cold face.

"Okay, I'll contact Qing Tu when I get back. But before that, I need to do a routine physical examination on you."