On the fourth night since arriving in the world of the book, Yuli slept soundly.
—At 10:30 p.m., after seeing Commander Song Xuanye clock out right on time, wearing a sleeveless gray undershirt and holding his light-brain in his sturdy arms, he had wandered into the room to her immediate right as though no one else existed, his attention fixed on the screen.
Leaving behind a faint, fresh scent of shower gel along the hallway.
Yuli had imagined that the Commander’s move would be rather casual, but she had not expected it to be this casual.
She had thought he simply would not bring a suitcase, and would come down after packing a few changes of clothes.
She had never imagined that he would not bring even a single item. His move consisted merely of taking a shower in his upstairs room and then coming downstairs to sleep!
Well, at any rate, the essential purpose of “sleeping in the room next to the Commander” had been achieved.
Yuli had no intention of paying attention to her superior’s privacy or personal hygiene details. She locked the door and climbed onto the bed with peace of mind.
The night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, she was awakened by Lingling knocking on the door.
“Miss, are you awake? I brought you breakfast.”
According to regulations, ordinary people who did not hold positions in the Sentinel Tower were not permitted to stay overnight inside the Tower.
Even Lingling, Guide Lier’s personal maid, was no exception.
Therefore, on the young miss’s workdays, Lingling had always lived alone in the villa, preparing meals at home each day and bringing them to her young miss at mealtimes.
There was a cafeteria inside the Sentinel Tower, but its cooking was not as good as Lingling’s, nor could it compare with the attentive care and thoughtful arrangements of a personal maid.
Besides, Lingling had to buy groceries and cook even when she was alone at home. It was still an expense, so they might as well spend a little more and let them both eat well.
Even after falling into poverty, the original owner had retained, deep in her bones, the aristocratic pursuit of quality of life.
Having a maid deliver meals did not count as breaking the rules. Guide Lier was spending her own salary, and since the Commander had said nothing, everyone else naturally chose to turn a blind eye.
“Coming.” Yuli washed up quickly, then hurried to open the door.
When the door opened, Lingling was holding a tray in her hands, with an insulated food bag hanging from her wrist as well.
“You knew we might be eating outside today, so you even prepared lunch boxes?” Yuli praised her.
A personal maid really was considerate!
Lingling’s task today was to take her on a tour of the base. The entire base—to tour all of it.
This was the task the Commander had assigned to Lingling after Yuli was discharged from the hospital.
He had said that becoming familiar with the environment again might help restore her memories and perception.
If Tuolan had not abducted her the night before last, she should originally have toured half the base with Lingling yesterday, then continued with the other half today.
Instead, everything had been piled onto today.
Yuli could already foresee that her light-brain’s step count would rank first in A07 today.
“Miss, you overestimate me. I brought breakfast. The market doesn’t open that early, and I haven’t bought the ingredients for a proper meal yet.” Lingling gestured downward. “This breakfast should have been prepared by Captain Qiji. It was already outside your door when I arrived.”
“…Oh.” Looking closely, there really were two fine, soft white hairs on the carpet outside the door. Yuli took the tray from Lingling. “Come in first.”
After closing the door, Yuli placed the tray on the table and began eating the millet porridge Lingling had brought.
Lingling let out an “eh.” “Miss, Captain Qiji prepared meat dishes for you. Aren’t you going to eat them?”
“The pure seafood in these shrimp cakes isn’t being farmed on a large scale yet. You can only exchange merit points for it in the Sentinel Tower.”
Lingling, do you think I don’t want to eat it?
It seemed the original owner had also been a carnivore, Yuli thought to herself.
She painfully shook her head. “I’m not eating it.”
The main reason was that she did not know when the tray had been placed there. She was afraid Tuolan might have passed by and casually dripped a few drops of something with unknown ingredients into it. Better to be cautious.
—That was right. The original owner’s dormitory really was on the same floor as the S-rank male protagonists.
Fortunately, with the Commander’s assurance, Yuli truly had not seen any sign of Tuolan from last night until now.
That unquestionably put her much more at ease.
After breakfast, Yuli changed clothes and tidied herself up a little before going out with Lingling.
To be honest, the villa’s geographical location was not even within the base’s residential district.
Following Lingling past the villa from the Sentinel Tower and entering the urban area, Yuli discovered that Lingling had to walk a very long way every day just to reach the market and buy fresh vegetables.
No wonder she had started trying to grow some vegetables herself at the villa.
Along the way, they passed vegetable sheds built by the residents, greenhouses, and various crop-processing factories.
The architectural style gradually shifted from the tamped-earth town they had seen on the outskirts toward increasingly modern residential communities.
Yet no matter where they walked, whenever they turned around, they could still see the military base’s towering Sentinel Tower rising into the clouds. It was magnificent, like a symbol of unwavering faith.
“I heard that the White Tower in the Central District is white on the outside, making it even more conspicuous.” Seeing her young miss lost in thought, Lingling could not help sighing. “If not for the Great Contamination in Area A, Miss, you should be in the White Tower right now.”
“With your aptitude, Miss, you would definitely be a high-level Guide even after arriving at the White Tower!”
A07 Watchtower had imitated the layout and structure of the Central White Tower, but the central tower, which served as its symbol, had not been painted.
Seen from afar, it was a solemn silver tower, its cold radiance as sharp as a blade.
This distinction, like the fact that Commander Song had never altered his military rank designation, represented a certain attitude held by Base A07:
They were surviving through their own efforts in a dangerous situation, not rebelling against the Federation.
—Even though, over the past four years, none of the exploration teams they had sent out had encountered a single rescue team from the White Tower, nor had they received any communication from the Central District.
Many people in Area A had begun to think that the Federation had abandoned them.
It was hardly surprising that they would develop such thoughts.
The light-brain network currently used by the residents of A07 was the internal network restored by the base. It could not connect to the outside network.
The internal network had many restrictions. When the current A07 exploration teams went out and entered contamination zones, their signals would be interfered with and blocked, resulting in a brief loss of contact.
The same thing happened if an expedition team traveled too far from the base, beyond the range covered by the signal.
Only after the mission was completed and they had left the contamination zone, or after they had returned within a certain distance of the base, would the little green light beside their names on the contact list come on again.
As for the master switch for the signal connecting them to the outside world, it was located in the Central White Tower—and it was one-way.
In other words, even if A07 finished repairing its large communications device for external contact, if the Central White Tower had already completely severed communications with the entirety of Area A, then all their efforts would be meaningless.
However, because of a shortage of rare resources, the large device for external communications had yet to be fully repaired.
Therefore, without seeing the facts with their own eyes, they could speculate that the Federation had abandoned them, but they could not kill the matter with one stroke and declare that to be the definite outcome.
That would be unfair to any rescue teams that might exist—or might have been exploring toward Area A all along.
Lingling’s thoughts turned over and over. She waited for her young miss to say a few emotional words, but after waiting a while without receiving a response, she turned her head and discovered that her young miss was sneakily staring at her… light-brain?
Lingling: “…Miss?”
“It’s getting late.” Yuli glanced at the clear, blazing yellow sun hanging high in the sky and coughed lightly. “It looks like we won’t be able to finish touring the base anytime soon. How about we take a taxi for the rest of the way?”
She had no sense of belonging to this world at all. What did she care about the White Tower or anything else? Yuli had discovered something even more terrifying: the available balance on her new light-brain was zero!
A great big egg-shaped zero!
An A-rank Guide’s salary should not be low, Yuli thought. The original owner’s salary must have been entrusted to Lingling for safekeeping.
She had seen many mechanical vehicles on the streets in the urban district, resembling rickshaws. She did not know whether they were expensive.
With the original owner’s bearing as an aristocratic young lady, she should be able to afford a ride, right?
“Miss!” Lingling warily covered her wallet. “Money must be spent where it matters. Aside from your food and clothing, I have to save the rest of it carefully for you.”
If communications were restored in the future and the young miss went to the White Tower, she would need some property to rely on.
Besides, because the young miss’s food and clothing had never been neglected, her salary… could only be said to be enough for her needs. In reality, there was not much left to save.
Lingling did not dare to sell the gifts those captains had given the young miss for circulating currency without permission, either.
Now that the young miss’s perception was damaged, she might face unemployment in the future. Her savings certainly could not be spent carelessly!
Yuli pulled a long face. “Then how about this? We won’t buy groceries today. I’ll take you to mooch a meal at the Sentinel Tower cafeteria, and we’ll use the grocery money to take a taxi.”
Lingling had trained her physical stamina by walking to buy groceries every day. Yuli could not do that—she was so weak.
During summer vacation, the amount of exercise Yuli got each day at home had been five hundred steps. Today, with the survival buff in effect, she had toured everything with great dedication and had already walked twenty thousand steps.
No matter what anyone said, Yuli refused to move another step. Her legs felt like they were trembling.
“Lingling, I’ve rubbed my feet raw too.” She pitifully displayed her reddened heels.
Lingling looked exactly like Yuli’s best friend, so Yuli felt a strong sense of familiarity with her. She had no trouble acting a little spoiled while speaking to her; it came as naturally as water flowing downhill.
Sure enough, Lingling’s expression filled with reluctance.
“Then… all right.” Lingling noticed that the young miss had not recalled anything along the way. She thought for a moment, then coughed lightly as well. “Then, Miss… do you know how to take me to mooch a meal?”
“That’s easy.” Yuli sprang up and snapped her fingers. “Mooching a meal is nothing!”
……
Mooching a meal was nothing.
Yuli discovered that she had still thought too simply.
She had forgotten that the Sentinel Tower cafeteria was the cafeteria for Sentinels and Guides.
Looking at the various spirit entities of all sizes in the cafeteria—some standing, some flying, and all furry—Yuli was dumbfounded.
Lingling lowered her voice and asked beside her ear, “Miss, which table should we sit at? I see an empty one over there in the corner.”
At the spot she pointed to, a small white rabbit with long ears and red eyes was quietly curled up, occupying the seats.
Its ears trembled slightly as it looked toward them.
After confirming that they were looking at it, its body gave an almost imperceptible shudder. It seemed to have suffered a social-anxiety attack, pressing itself farther into the corner in an attempt to lower its presence.
Yuli hurriedly waved to show her goodwill. They were not going to fight it for the seats.
“That table won’t do. Someone’s there… um, a spirit entity. Follow me.”
Yuli took Lingling’s hand and carefully skirted around the spirit-animal obstacles on the way before reaching another unoccupied place in a corner.
“You sit here and don’t move. I’ll go line up to get the food.” Yuli’s little face was solemn. “Don’t move under any circumstances. We can’t afford to compensate anyone if we step on something.”
“Understood!” Lingling sat up straight with perfect seriousness.
There were serving windows on both sides of the cafeteria. After looking around for a while, Yuli instinctively realized that the quiet girl standing with her back to them was the owner of the little rabbit they had just frightened.
She immediately headed toward the line where the girl was standing, wanting to apologize to her face-to-face as well.
“Hi.”
Just as Yuli opened her mouth to greet the girl, someone tapped her shoulder first.
“Mas—Guide!”
Yuli turned around and saw the youth’s clear, shining heterochromatic eyes.
“Qiji?”
A post-exercise flush colored Qiji’s face. The hair on his forehead was slightly damp with sweat, and fine beads of sweat dotted the tip of his nose. He had probably just come from the training field.
He was wearing a thin white training outfit. The fabric seemed to be made of some unknown material and had been soaked through by sweat, turning semi-transparent and revealing the outline of the youth’s lean, sinewy muscles.
A strong but not unpleasant masculine hormonal scent surged around him.
There was even a hint of his own unique sweetness.
Affected by the heat radiating from the youth so close to her, Yuli’s gaze drifted away from the large wet patch across his chest. She pretended to make small talk. “You came to get food too?”
So white—sure enough, it was really pink…
But could someone tell her why the youth who had been wearing an absurdly adorable elementary-schooler hoodie yesterday, looking so well-behaved and easy to coax, had such a… substantial body when he changed into training clothes today?
Well, as expected of a Sentinel.
“Yeah! Guide, did you know I’d just finished training and come looking for me so we could eat together?”
Qiji seemed to remember something. He changed from patting her to poking her, lightly prodding the girl’s shoulder as he asked happily.
His master had said yesterday that he had to restrain himself in public and could not hug her the moment they met. Bai Yan had also said that his master had lost her memory, so he could not be too enthusiastic and frighten her.
Snow Wolf, reduced to the size of a dog, circled around Yuli in both directions, its large, fluffy tail swinging back and forth as it affectionately rubbed against her calves.
“Um… no.” Yuli answered honestly.
Qiji’s eyes widened, and he was clearly stunned. Anxiously, he lightly poked the ticklish spot at the small of the girl’s back again. “Master, I didn’t call you by the wrong name just now.”
Yuli glanced backward from the corner of her eye.
Good. The white-rabbit Guide had indeed been frightened away.
The girl had hurriedly run to the serving window on the opposite side.
“Stop fooling around.” Yuli slapped Qiji’s hand away.
She was trying to mooch a meal discreetly. If he acted like this, he would easily attract attention.
Besides, both she and Lingling had deliberately put on masks. How had he still recognized her?
Snow Wolf anxiously drooped its airplane ears and began circling Yuli in wide loops. Qiji asked in a small voice, “Then, Mas—Guide, can I find you and eat with you?”
What difference did that make?
The squad members behind Qiji, all wearing training clothes in the same color, fell silent one after another.
The vice-captain, whose face was sporting a few bruises, stepped forward. “I’m sorry, Guide Lier. The captain just came out of solitary confinement, and his condition hasn’t adjusted yet… He’ll be a little clingy with you.”
“Actually, ever since you fell unconscious, his condition hasn’t exactly been good. He’s relatively—Ow!” As he spoke, the vice-captain accidentally pulled at the wound at the corner of his mouth. His expression twisted for an instant from the pain. “…The captain is relatively irritable toward everyone except you.”
And violent, too!
Really?
Yuli looked at the heterochromatic-eyed youth with his head lowered, wanting to pull at her skirt but not daring to, his eyes ringed with aggrieved redness. She could not sense much of the “irritability” the vice-captain had mentioned.
Seeing her remain silent, this somewhat shy vice-captain Sentinel gathered his courage and asked, tactfully and somewhat embarrassedly, for a favor. “If possible, could you… could you please calm him down a little?”
The row of Sentinels behind him nodded in unison.
They really did not want to get beaten up again!
“You don’t need to provide deep treatment.”
The vice-captain remembered the rumors about Guide Lier’s damaged perception and confused memory, and carefully explained, “You only need to release your spirit entity and let it touch Snow Wolf.”
“Once is enough. Even just letting it smell you will do. It’ll feel much better.”
At least then, during afternoon training, it would beat them a little less violently!