Penacony’s night sky was like velvet studded with diamonds, gently covering the Reverie Hotel.
Inside the Stellaron Hunters’ suite, the lights were bright, but the atmosphere was completely different from when Silver Wolf had been gaming alone.
A subtle mix of scrutiny, curiosity, and a faint undercurrent of expectation flowed through the air.
Baida’s arrival, especially her dramatic reunion with Silver Wolf, had undoubtedly thrown a boulder into the calm—relatively speaking—waters.
Kafka sipped her black tea elegantly, but her crimson eyes never truly left Baida, like the most precise scanner.
Blade, though still silent in the corner, occasionally cast glances carrying a warrior’s instinctual assessment.
Even Elio, the cat who seemed to know everything, only pretended to sleep, his ears occasionally twitching to catch every sound.
Silver Wolf sat pressed against Baida on the long sofa, as if unwilling to be separated for even a moment.
But she too could feel the silent pressure in the room.
She shifted uneasily, instinctively moving closer to Baida, as if offering silent support.
Kafka set down her teacup, the porcelain making a crisp sound against the table.
Her lips held that familiar, unreadable smile, her voice soft but with an undeniable guiding edge:
“Miss Baida’s return is truly a pleasant surprise.
To be able to cross…
well, ‘miracles,’ and find little wolf again—you must possess remarkable abilities, no?” Her words were like a soft thread, gently casting out a probe.
“After all, Penacony is no safe playground.
The Family, the Corporation, and all sorts of schemers…
an extra pair of hands always means extra security, doesn’t it?
Especially for a small group like ours.”
Baida immediately grasped the unspoken meaning in Kafka’s words: show your value, prove you’re harmless, and demonstrate why you deserve to be accepted.
She wasn’t surprised—she had even expected it.
After two life simulations, she understood well how precious and fragile trust could be.
She gently patted Silver Wolf’s hand, giving her a “don’t worry” look, then stood up calmly, facing Kafka and Blade with a slight smile.
“Of course, Ms.
Kafka.
I understand your concerns.
In fact, I’m curious myself—after everything I’ve been through, I want to see what I’m still capable of.”
She didn’t choose an open space, just stood in the center of the living room, closing her eyes slightly as if sensing something.
First came the combination of [Mechanical Ascension] and [Quantumization].
Baida’s form flickered almost imperceptibly, growing faint, like a holographic projection with poor signal.
Then, blue light particles like stardust began to emanate from the edges of her silhouette, her entire body taking on a translucent, immaterial quality.
“I’m accessing the hotel’s physical network,” Baida said, her eyes still closed but her voice clear, carrying an ethereal resonance.
“Hmm…
the firewall has three layers, fairly intricate structure.
Data flow mainly routes through guest entertainment systems and basic security…
Oh, the guests in the next room seem to be having some trouble in their dream—they’re calling room service.”
She could even “see” the information flowing through the network.
This wasn’t like Silver Wolf’s cracking through code and interfaces; it was more like a form of essential integration and perception.
Then, her right hand fully quantumized, transforming into a solid blue data stream, like a living tendril, gently reaching toward a decorative interface on the wall.
The data stream “seeped” into the interface without obstruction, then quickly withdrew and re-solidified into a physical hand.
The entire process was silent, triggering no alarms.
“I can quantumize part of my consciousness like this, briefly sneaking in the edges of dreamscapes connected to the network for preliminary reconnaissance,” Baida explained, opening her eyes and returning to solid form.
“I can’t stay long or go deep into the dream core, but gathering surface-level information and early warnings should be sufficient.” She looked at Kafka.
“For example, detecting certain unwelcome ‘guests’ in advance.”
A glint of appreciation flickered in Kafka’s eyes as she gave a light applause.
“Impressive.
Silent and unseen, like a ghost gliding through the sea of data.
Truly a unique talent.” She glanced at Silver Wolf with a smile.
“It seems our hacker here will have company.”
Silver Wolf looked at Baida, her eyes bright with pride, but then she pouted: “Hmph.
Fancy tricks.
For truly precise work, you still need my Aether Editing.”
Baida smiled fondly, not arguing.
This time, Baida made no dramatic gestures.
With a mere thought, an invisible yet mountain-heavy force expanded from her center, enveloping the entire suite.
Silver Wolf felt it most directly and intensely.
Her eyes widened almost instantly, instinctively pulling up her personal terminal.
On the screen, a soft yet incredibly resilient golden aura had formed around the icons representing network connections and data streams.
She tentatively fired a weak detection pulse.
The pulse struck the aura and vanished like a stone dropped into the ocean, not even a ripple, instead gently and firmly pushed back, as if warning her “no passage.”
“This…
this feeling…” Silver Wolf murmured, her fingers flying across the virtual keyboard in more complex tests.
“It’s exactly like before!
No…
even stronger!
More stable structure, more…
intelligent feedback?” She looked up at Baida in disbelief.
“Sis, your barrier is practically alive!”
Baida smiled and withdrew the barrier.
The invisible pressure in the room vanished instantly.
“Just a little self-defense trick,” she said modestly.
But everyone understood that this “little trick” could hold back an army in a critical moment.
As for [I Reckon It’ll Work]…
Baida quietly kept that hidden.
This ability was too extraordinary, too dependent on her unstable “conviction,” so until she had earned absolute trust and understood more of this world’s rules, it was better kept as a trump card.
After the demonstration, the room fell into a brief silence.
Kafka and Blade exchanged a glance.
Though still silent, the sharpness of their scrutiny had noticeably softened.
Baida had proven her worth with action, and her willingness to be open—at least partially—was evident.
But another, more direct and personal question soon surfaced.
Silver Wolf couldn’t hold back any longer.
She tugged at Baida’s sleeve, looking up with those big eyes, still a little red from crying, filled with confusion and intense curiosity.
She pointed at Baida’s face, then gestured to her own memory:
“Sis…
you and that Herta…
what’s the deal?” Her tone was conflicted.
“Why do you look so much alike?
Like…
like twins!”
This question piqued even Kafka’s interest, and Blade’s gaze refocused.
Elio’s tail stopped swaying, as if waiting for an answer.
Baida was silent for a moment, a complex expression flickering across her face—nostalgia, helplessness, and a faint trace of sadness.
She sat back down beside Silver Wolf, letting out a soft sigh.
“It’s not just ‘like,'” she said quietly, with undeniable certainty.
“We are twins.”
“Wh…
what?!” Silver Wolf shot upright, her mouth forming an O, wide enough to fit an egg.
Kafka’s eyebrows also lifted slightly; this answer had clearly exceeded her expectations too.
“I’m the older sister, born a few minutes earlier,” Baida continued, her tone calm, as if stating a fact unrelated to herself.
“But…
some things happened after that.
We were apart for a long time and walked different paths.” She omitted the details of the simulations, the system, and her “foolish” period, offering only a vague but reasonable explanation.
She looked at Silver Wolf’s shocked expression and found it amusing. New chapters come out on g.com first.
She couldn’t help reaching out to ruffle her soft gray hair, teasing: “So, by that logic, Herta is also your sister.
One day, I can formally introduce you.”
“No way!!!” Silver Wolf recoiled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, jumping up with a look of pure horror and resistance.
“That bad-tempered, arrogant old woman who banned my accounts?!
I don’t want to be her sister!
Absolutely not!”
Seeing her react so strongly, Baida couldn’t help laughing out loud.
Kafka hid her smile behind her sleeve, her shoulders shaking slightly.
But after her initial refusal, something flickered in Silver Wolf’s eyes—a calculating gleam.
She grabbed Baida’s arm, her tone suddenly urgent and hopeful:
“Wait!
Sis!
You’re her older sister, right?
Her real sister!” Her eyes sparkled.
“Then…
can you get her to unban my accounts?!
Just the first few!
Then I wouldn’t have to sneak into IPC HQ to crack her firewall!
That plan is super complicated!”
Baida’s smile froze instantly, replaced by obvious awkwardness and…
guilt.
She rubbed her nose, her gaze shifting.
“Uh…
well…” Baida let out a dry laugh.
“Bronya, I think…
if I suddenly showed up and said, ‘Hey, sis, long time no see, can you unban my other little sister’s accounts?’…
she might not be so agreeable.”
She imagined the scene.
With Herta’s personality, she’d probably either mock her or just “clean up the garbage” directly.
Choosing her words carefully, she said: “More likely, she’d feel…
provoked in some incomprehensible way, and then…” Baida paused, offering a more vivid metaphor: “…she’d warp her Herta Space Station right over Penacony and reason with us using her main cannon.”
Silver Wolf: “…” She pictured it and shuddered, deflating like a balloon.
“…Fine.
Plan A is out.”
Just then, a calm consciousness wave, carrying an ancient rhythm, once again clearly transmitted into everyone’s minds—from Elio on the cat tree:
[Yes.
Such an action would cause an unacceptably large deviation in the script.
Denied.]
Concise and direct, shutting down that avenue completely.
Silver Wolf let out a groan and collapsed back onto the sofa like a deflated ball.
“Fine, fine, I get it…
I’ll do it myself.”
Baida looked at the deflated Silver Wolf, then at Elio, who seemed to have everything under control, and Kafka, who maintained her mysterious smile.
Her emotions were complicated.
The ability verification had passed for now, and her relationship with Herta had been partially revealed.
She knew she had stepped into a vortex far more complex and real than the simulation worlds.
But when she felt the unreserved dependence and trust radiating from Silver Wolf beside her, a resolute strength filled her heart once more.
No matter what lay ahead, no matter how her reunion with Herta would unfold, at least in this moment, she had found a harbor to dock in—and she would become one of its steadfast guardians.
She gently wrapped her arm around Silver Wolf’s shoulder and whispered her promise: “We’ll figure out the account issue eventually.
For now, get some rest, okay?”
In the room, the discussion about abilities came to an end.
A new bond, built on shared secrets and common goals, was quietly taking shape.
And Penacony’s night was still long.