Bai Ming let out a soft chuckle, completely ignoring Celenova's wary expression.
She didn't have any intention of answering her questions, either.
"Hmm, so... if you don't behave, I'll just devour you whole. In that body of yours, you can't even disconnect or take your own life, you know."
"..."
Celenova felt a cold shiver crawl from the base of her spine all the way to the top of her skull.
Before, if Bai Ming had said something like that, she would have just dismissed it as a joke—a cheap scare. After all, while Bai Ming was always a bit too hands-on, she had never actually crossed the line.
But this time, Celenova wasn't so sure.
That glaring anomaly in the melody... that intense resonance... it was proof of either incredibly intimate contact or, at the very least, a profound soul-level connection.
If it were just one resonance, it might be fine, but the problem was that there were two.
This meant that in a very short span of time, Bai Ming had shared an intimate exchange with at least two people.
This woman wasn't the "all bark and no bite" type anymore.
Hearing those words now, Celenova felt that Bai Ming was truly capable of following through on her threats.
Though Celenova had to admit Bai Ming's face was top-tier, even the most beautiful face in the cosmos was still the face of an enemy to her.
The mere thought of being forced into... that kind of thing with Bai Ming sent a wave of revulsion through her.
It wasn't a matter of gender or species anymore; it was pure, unadulterated loathing!
And besides... if this woman really had those kinds of feelings toward the same sex...
Then all those things she'd done to her before—had they been driven by those thoughts all along? Perhaps she had just been more restrained back then and hadn't let it show.
This is bad!
Celenova suddenly remembered she was currently wearing a maid outfit handmade by Bai Ming.
She had always thought the somewhat revealing design was just a result of the woman's warped sense of humor, but now it seemed it might have been a very different kind of "interest" entirely!
A violent shudder snapped Celenova out of her spiral. She turned on her heel and hurried away, not daring to linger a second longer.
Watching her tremble at her own imagination, Bai Ming nearly burst out laughing.
Anyway.
After giving Celenova her warning, Bai Ming returned to the Boundary of Nihility, leaving only a single puppet behind to maintain contact with the outside world.
Once inside, time began to blur. She stayed there so long that the concepts of heaven and earth lost all meaning.
During this period, Celestial Sparrow Entertainment successfully completed the high-freedom exploration RPG they had been developing.
Acheron eventually tracked down Bai Ming, who stepped in to embed the game into the world of the Boundary of Nihility via the Originium platform.
The testing phase officially began.
The Masked Fools and Mourning Actors churned out a massive variety of stories to fill the world with content.
The Sin Thirsters were packaged as complex, high-difficulty reward missions that triggered randomly.
These rewards were tied to "wishing opportunities" and Credit Points; although the scale of the wishes was much smaller than the real thing, it was more than enough to send people into a frenzy.
Perhaps finding the whole endeavor amusing, Simulated Aha also took a proactive role in the game's construction, optimizing the experience over and over again.
As the game was officially announced and testing phases opened, more and more players were drawn in by the Originium, entering the world in the form of consciousness.
This surge of life force gave the quality of the world itself a massive boost.
Under the dual supervision of Celestial Sparrow Entertainment and Simulated Aha, both the game and the world functioned smoothly.
More and more Sin Thirsters were being successfully laid to rest, with efficiency increasing exponentially. Even the physical scale of the world began to expand spontaneously.
Overall, the project had entered a stable self-sustaining cycle.
With things going so well, Bai Ming decided to arrange a company retreat for Celestial Sparrow Entertainment.
The internal consensus was a bit split: the male employees wanted to head to Glamoth to pilot mechs and fight the Swarm, while the female employees preferred to splurge on a luxury trip to Penacony.
With a wave of her hand, Bai Ming settled it: they would go to both. All expenses reimbursed.
She was playing the part of the generous boss—mostly because it wasn't her money she was spending.
Once the affairs at Celestial Sparrow Entertainment settled down, things grew quiet for Bai Ming.
She devoted herself entirely to studying the Nihility Equation, becoming a total recluse. To speed up the process, she began alternating between the character cards of Acheron and Hysilens.
Following Bai Ming's advice, Acheron spent her time wandering the cosmos, bringing back interesting tales to share with Bai Ming at the Boundary of Nihility or the Space Station.
Herta, meanwhile, continued her research into the Elation Equation while maintaining the Simulated Universe alongside Screwllum, occasionally using her puppets to chat with Bai Ming to kill time.
Ruan Mei's research progressed in fits and starts.
Whenever she hit a wall, she would visit the Space Station to ask questions.
It didn't take long for her to notice the palpable, ambiguous tension between Bai Ming and Herta—a dynamic quite different from her own relationship with them.
However, Ruan Mei said nothing. She simply left behind a knowing, meaningful smile and acted as if she hadn't noticed a thing.
One had to wonder what she was actually tinkering with; she'd been at it for so long, yet she only seemed to have more questions and no finished product.
Of course, she wasn't the only one keeping Bai Ming in mind. Fu Xuan and Qingque were as well.
Qingque was very blunt about how much she missed her. Fu Xuan was a bit more stubborn and "tsundere," but Bai Ming could tell the Master Diviner was eagerly looking forward to another home visit.
Huohuo remained her usual socially anxious self, mostly keeping in touch with Bai Ming and Qingque online and remaining a loner in the real world.
As Bai Ming settled into her quiet routine, Elio finally began to stir again.
After a period of silence, the Stellaron Hunters resumed their operations. The name Kafka, alongside Jingliu, soon echoed across the galaxy.
Over on Punklorde, the little Silver Wolf was blissfully unaware of the cosmic chaos. She was currently locked in a battle of wits with the IPC—specifically, Pearl.
Since Bai Ming had a decent relationship with the Strategic Investment Department, the two weren't exactly bitter enemies.
It was more that Silver Wolf had a childish streak; she wanted to utterly defeat Pearl as the ultimate proof of her "clearing" Punklorde.
Currently, Punklorde had practically become a private stage for the duel between those two.
Pearl wanted the Aether Editing technology, while Silver Wolf wanted to take Pearl down. They traded blows back and forth.
Even Pearl had to admit that Silver Wolf's hacking talent was extraordinary, noting that the day the girl might actually win was fast approaching. Moved by this talent, Pearl extended an invitation on behalf of Diamond for Silver Wolf to join the Strategic Investment Department as one of the Stonehearts.
Silver Wolf turned her down, of course.
Her plan was to finish the "tutorial village" and then head off to find Bai Ming. She had no intention of finding a day job. Pearl, however, hadn't given up and kept pestering her.
As for Amphoreus, aside from the booming tourism industry, things remained largely the same. However, Hysilens and Cerydra had started making a name for themselves while traveling with the Astral Express.
Some cosmic busybodies had even dubbed them the "Tyrant and the Sword Knight."
In Glamoth, the tide of war had shifted drastically in favor of the Iron Cavalry thanks to the addition of Bai Ming's Swarm.
However, given the vastness of the territory, ending the war completely wasn't something that could be done in just a few years.
The Astral Express itself went through quite a lot.
Even though the crew was small and heavy hitters like Welt hadn't boarded yet, the Drytron mechs Bai Ming had gifted them more than made up for it with sheer firepower.
Bai Ming had claimed they were just "prototypes" and told them to just ask for a replacement if they broke.
Himeko, however, could swear she had tried her absolute hardest to put them to the test.
Her exploits included, but were not limited to: piloting the Drytron Alpha Thuban into the heart of an interstellar war to mediate between two civilizations, engaging the Antimatter Legion, fighting alongside a Giant of Light against an Intergalactic Criminal, hunting down the Star-Pickers with said Giant, and even staring down a supernova.
They had even stuffed all the Stellarons the crew collected into its core for containment.
Yet, the Drytron-Alpha Thuban—which possessed self-repair capabilities—didn't have so much as a scratch on it.
By the time Himeko realized she probably couldn't break the thing if she tried, the Astral Express had already become legendary across the stars.
A neutral mediator with an Aeon as a patron, good relations with several major factions, and a dedication to solving Stellaron disasters... the reputation of the Express was unparalleled.
Additionally, that woman Evernight wasn't in any rush to freeze herself.
She claimed she wanted to prepare properly and wait for the "right moment." Heaven only knew when she thought that moment would be.
In this manner, several years passed.
Bai Ming finally completed her work on the Nihility Equation, reaching a 99% analysis rate.
If it hadn't been for the Acheron and Hysilens character cards—and the fact that her processing speed increased as her understanding and endurance grew—she might have been stuck there until the main story actually began.
But now...
"Shouldn't Mr. Yang be boarding soon? When exactly did he and Void Archive get on the Express?"
Bai Ming actually really wanted to see Welt. At the very least, she could use him to find the hidden Solar System and Earth. Maybe she'd have a chance to go visit Kiana and the others later.
As for whether Aha knew where they were...
Probably, but Bai Ming didn't really want to ask THEM.
Besides, in her memory of that Sparkle collaboration, the plot took place inside a supercomputer. If she couldn't physically get there, there was bound to be some kind of trouble involved.
"Forget it, let's not overthink. Now that my 'divine skill' is complete, I can finally solve the problems facing Acheron and Herta. It's been ages since I pulled. Let's see what I get."
Bai Ming stretched lazily.
Then, she finally selected the gacha menu!
One pull deducted. The familiar sight of the Express streaking past appeared.
This time, the figure emerging from the train car made Bai Ming's eyebrows shoot up. A mature woman with blonde hair interwoven with golden branches stood before her.
"The Titan of Reason, Calypso? Another Equation? You're not even going to let me rest, are you?"
Bai Ming felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL