Night

Su Ming slowly opened his eyes. His vision was dim, with only a faint light seeping in from the porthole, barely outlining the room's shape.

Above him was an unfamiliar ceiling, carrying the lingering scent of recent construction. He paused for a moment to reflect before realizing he was in a new room aboard the Pansy.

The living quarters on the Youth Civilization have disappeared along with the train's dismantling.

He raised his hand and looked at his digital wristwatch—it was four o'clock in the morning in another world.

After completing that large-scale teleportation yesterday afternoon, although he didn't faint immediately, his condition was visibly weak.

Zijin then took him back to this room to rest. His memory broke at a point of exhaustion, and he didn't even remember when he fell into a deep sleep.

He only had a vague recollection that Zijin seemed to have cast some kind of spell on him.

Su Ming sat up from the bed and used his "Darkvision" to look around. The room was much more spacious than the train, but still much smaller than the captain's cabin of the White Triangle.

The ship now has to accommodate over a thousand people, and living quarters are cramped. Only he and Zijin can enjoy a single room.

The room was somewhat cluttered, piled with many unopened packages and boxes, all personal belongings transported from the train.

Su Ming felt thirsty and went to find a cup. His eyes swept across the bedside table and he found that his thermos had been carefully found and was placed on the low cabinet next to the bed.

A warmth filled his heart. He picked up the cup, unscrewed it, and drank the warm water inside in one gulp. Then, he noticed the white bone fragment placed beside him.

The bone fragment bore familiar, delicate handwriting. Time seemed to instantly rewind to several months earlier, to the morning after they had narrowly defeated the Ice Beauty Yexiya. At that time, Zijin had also left a note like this.

There were no lights installed in the room, clearly indicating that the electrical team hadn't yet covered them.

Su Ming pushed open the door, and outside was a rather long corridor with neat rows of doors on both sides.

He looked at the door directly opposite—number 002, which should naturally be Zijin's room. He wondered which audacious student had made her room number plate into the shape of a round Eggplant.

Hopefully, this person won't get caught by Zijin.

He subconsciously turned his head to look at his number 001—his number plate was a pattern of intersecting bones.

Very well, just wait until I find out who did it!

****

There was only one temporary exposed power line in the corridor, with an LED light emitting a cold white glow hanging every ten meters or so; it was clearly a temporary measure.

Su Ming walked along the passage towards the hatch leading to the deck, reading Zijin's message on the bone fragment as he did so:

"It's two in the morning, and that girl Beianqi, is completely on fire, dragging me along to assemble those complicated piping systems in the lower deck. She's having a blast with this giant 'mechanical building block' game, showing no signs of getting tired."

"I secretly cast a ' Sleep Spell ' on her twice during the process, but it had no effect whatsoever; she didn't even notice the Magic Power fluctuations."

"In the end, the ' Concussion Spell ' worked. I knocked her unconscious and carried her back to her room."

Su Ming was speechless. He now understood how he had fallen asleep back then. Fortunately, Zijin was much gentler towards him than she was towards Beianqi.

"Therefore, I will get up later. Due to a large number of people working overtime last night, I have informed them that the start time this morning will be postponed to 7:30. However, there are a few minor issues that need to be addressed first."

"First, based on the actual work situation and staff feedback on the first day, Younier believes that the existing personnel grouping needs to be optimized and adjusted. The management team has drafted a preliminary plan, which you need to confirm one last time before work begins."

"Secondly, the ship's existing water purification equipment is severely insufficient. We anticipate needing to replenish at least 600 tons of fresh water and prepare 100 tons of standard-compliant boiler water before the official departure. This is a high priority and should be arranged as soon as possible."

The modern, high-efficiency boiler that Su Ming is replacing has extremely stringent requirements for water purity, far exceeding drinking water standards.

For example, the salt content requirement for drinking water is only 0.05%, while this delicate large boiler requires it to be less than 1 in 100,000.

All I can say is that they eat better than humans.

"Finally, the team responsible for the bridge construction... well, you'll see for yourself."

The last sentence seemed somewhat nonsensical. Su Ming had just finished reading it when he reached the cabin door.

He pushed open the cabin door, and a blast of fresh air, carrying a chilly edge, rushed in, and the view suddenly opened up before him.

The moon had disappeared, and the deep sky was filled with glittering Stars, silently illuminating the vast, boundless ice plains below.

All around was a hazy silvery white, except for the dark seawater exposed beneath the broken ice layer beneath the "Pansy" keel, which looked like a huge piece of black jade embedded in it.

Su Ming took a deep breath and exhaled white mist, but it wasn't as cold as he had imagined.

Firstly, they had left the extremely cold inland areas and arrived in the relatively warm coastal region; secondly, it was now March 6th of the Stars calendar.

The watch shows the current temperature is -3°C, which will rise above freezing during the day.

Spring, when all things begin to revive, has already quietly spread its breath across the cold earth.

A feeling of joy welled up in Su Ming's chest until he turned his head and saw the superstructure of the ship behind him.

The bridge's exterior facade is nearly half complete, but its originally neat outline has been covered by a jagged, crisscrossing network of deep trenches. Various large, sharp bone spikes, resembling the fangs of ferocious beasts, extend wildly from the gaps. The spaces between these spikes are also inlaid with countless skulls!

"Very well! You're itching for a beating, aren't you!" Su Ming gritted his teeth and whispered, his fingers tightening so much that he almost crushed a piece of bone.

****

"President Su." A male voice broke the silence of the early morning, coming from above.

Su Ming looked up at the sound and, using the beam of light from the temporary searchlights on the bridge, saw that Ruixiuli was sitting on the outer edge of the top of the bridge.

This Master Rank Curse Blade user, recognized by all within the undead faction as second only to Zijin in combat prowess, had his long legs hanging casually, his posture exuding a touch of untamed laziness.

Beside him was a petite figure, also wearing a bright yellow vest representing the security department.

"Are you... on night shift?" Su Ming asked, slightly surprised.

"Yes," Ruixiuli nodded. "We've been assigned to guard the bridge and surrounding deck area tonight." As he spoke, he flashed the word "Security" printed on his vest.

The other person sat in the shadows of the lamplight, silent. But that didn't stop Su Ming from recognizing her from her silhouette: Jielusi!

"Why did you bring Jielusi out with you?" Su Ming asked. The girl's condition had not fully recovered.

Ruixiuli shrugged, his tone matter-of-fact, "President Su, bringing her out will make it safer for everyone resting inside."

Jielusi gave a disgruntled "humph" and turned her head to the other side. "I... can control it a lot more now!"

"President Su, I just happened to get an extra dinner," Ruixiuli, pulling a packed lunchbox from his vest pocket. "The taste is alright; the logistics team caught quite a few fresh fish from the water during the day."

Upon hearing this, Su Ming felt a sudden nausea in his stomach. He nodded and said, "Thanks then."

With a flick of his wrist, Ruixiuli tossed the lunchbox toward Su Ming, sending it tracing an arc.

In the night sky, a swift, ghostly emerald green shadow flashed past without warning! The lunchbox vanished into thin air!

Su Ming's temple throbbed, and he shouted irritably in the direction the shadow had disappeared, "Qiluo! It's 4:30 in the morning! Aren't you asleep?!"

"Hmph!" A muffled, food-filled voice came from afar, tinged with a hint of self-righteousness, "You drained so much of my Magic Power yesterday, and I've been sleeping since the teleportation ended, okay?!"

"The restaurant should still have some late-night snacks on hand," Ruixiuli added. "There are quite a few people on duty, so the logistics team is always prepared."

"The restaurant is clearly empty! I've already checked!" Qiluo said, accompanied by the clatter of an empty lunchbox being thrown onto the deck.

"... It's because you 'went to see' the restaurant that it's empty!" Su Ming said indignantly.

Just then, Jielusi, who had been sitting quietly beside Ruixiuli, suddenly stood up and stretched out her arm! In an instant, the girl's eyes lost all their light and emotion, becoming empty and cold.

The unicorn's ears perked up, and with a sudden burst of power from its four hooves, its entire body darted to the side!

With a muffled "thud," a cage made of pure shadow energy and covered in thorns appeared out of thin air where Qiluo had just stood, and suddenly closed and contracted.

If she hadn't dodged quickly, she would probably be trapped inside by now.

"Wow!" Qiluo, who had almost been hit, looked up in shock and saw that the petite pink-haired figure leaping down from the top of the high bridge!

A thin, dark curtain of light, seemingly woven from the solidified night, unfolded behind Jielusi, shimmering with an eerie glow. In her hand, she gripped a long... broom?

"Why did you hit me!" Qiluo took off running on all fours, frantically dodging on the deck, her voice filled with grievance, "You're not part of the cafeteria security team!"

"Littering!" Jielusi's voice was icy. Her yellow security vest fluttered in the wind as she swooped down, the two large, eye-catching characters clearly printed on the back: Cleaning!

"Waaaaah!" Qiluo screamed, and with a "whoosh," she unfurled a pair of wings that shimmered with starlight, took to the air, and began her desperate escape.

The figures of a man and a beast chased each other into the distance.

Su Ming gazed at the pair of strange, luminous wings on Jielusi's back, gradually fading into the night. "What kind of magic is that?"

Zijin uses wind magic to fly, but she has never practiced dark magic, which is why Su Ming has never learned dark magic flying techniques.

"The name will be ' Gossamer Wings of Darkness '," Ruixiuli said, rising to his feet. "Now that you're Magister, you've reached the learning threshold."

Can you teach me?

"Of course," Ruixiuli replied, "You can come find me whenever you have time." As he spoke, he began to walk in the direction where Jielusi and Qiluo had gone, "I need to go and keep an eye on them."

"Hard!"