Chapter 714: Dreaming Beneath the Stars

Aboard the Mass Effect, on the observation platform on one side of the mid-deck area that overlooked space.

Yu Sheng let out a long breath. He sat cross-legged directly on the platform, gazing at the vast, boundless dark space beyond the protective barrier.

The dark "Hollow Star" hung silently above. A light reconnaissance ship was sweeping across the black star's surface at low speed, its silver-gray hull clearly silhouetted against that dark backdrop, the light streams from its engine array tracing a long, arcing trail.

"It's quiet now."

Yu Sheng murmured softly.

Footsteps approached from the side. He spotted several fluffy big tails appearing at the corner of his vision and turned his head to see Hu Li strolling over unhurriedly.

When she got close, she flopped forward, rolled on the spot into a fluffy silver-white little fox, then climbed onto Yu Sheng's lap, nuzzled her head into his stomach, curled up, and let out a couple of comfortable whines, sounding drowsy and dazed.

Yu Sheng was startled by the little fox that had suddenly burrowed into his arms. After a moment, he smiled and reached out to rub her head. "Full?"

"Full," Hu Li mumbled sleepily, her big tail curling around Yu Sheng's arm. "Tired."

Yu Sheng chuckled and didn't say anything more, just kept his hand busy stroking the fur on the nine-tailed silver fox's head.

During their operations on the Sacred Ground planet, Hu Li had expended a great deal of energy. Not to mention the orbital drop headbutt alone had burned through about three meals' worth of her usual consumption. On top of that, she'd fought cultists, fought the Brass Knights guarding the facilities, fought that Holy See—there hadn't been even a moment to grab a bite, all of it spent consuming ammunition reserves.

Such huge consumption came at a cost.

For example, the Mass Effect's mess hall inventory...

As for now, now this girl wasn't hungry—she was sick of food.

"Benefactor..."

The little fox curled on his lap nuzzled her head again, making a hazy sound.

Yu Sheng looked down. "What's up?"

"It's really quiet. Feels like there's never such a peaceful chance."

Yu Sheng grinned. "That's right. Erin isn't here—she rushed off excitedly to tour the spaceship. If she were here, could it be this quiet?"

Hu Li's ears twitched. "Oh, that explains it."

Yu Sheng smiled. He stretched his legs out and changed position, lying directly on the platform.

The silver-white little fox also shifted positions. She lay down beside Yu Sheng, resting her head on his arm. After half a minute of drowsiness, she began to emit a soft, even purr.

Hu Li had three virtues: she could eat, she could sleep, and she was fluffy.

Yu Sheng looked up at the sky, listening to the little purrs beside him.

The black star hung high overhead, as if the universe had gouged out a corner, leaving an undefined void. He looked at it silently. Sometimes he felt that darkness might suck him entirely in; other times, it seemed like just an illusion reflected on the dimension of reality. Then for an instant, when he stared at it, he felt as if he were looking at a mirror—himself outside the mirror, himself inside the mirror.

These jumbled thoughts drifted through Yu Sheng's mind. Under the starlight, his eyelids grew heavy. The soft purring in his ears and the warm fluff rubbing against him all summoned drowsiness, and eventually, without realizing it, he closed his eyes.

The alloy floor of the observation platform was hard, but soon he felt as if he were floating, drifting on a gentle breeze.

Then he saw a blurry phantom standing before him, with distant starlight reflected around it.

A second later, Yu Sheng realized that what stood before him was a huge mirror, and in the mirror was himself.

He frowned, aware that he had seen a similar "illusion" not long ago.

This "mirror surface," colossal as if spanning heaven and earth, was actually the black star.

No sooner had the thought flickered through his mind than he saw the "mirror surface" before him begin to contract sharply, its edges showing a distinct curve. It quickly became a dark celestial body, but the shrinking continued. In just a few more seconds, this "planet" floating before him had shrunk to about his height.

Yu Sheng stared, dumbfounded, at the "miniature planet" floating before him. Suddenly, he felt it wasn't like a mirror anymore, but more like a shadow within the mirror.

...Whose shadow was it, then?

The "perception" that had inexplicably surged into his mind was stirring, yet Yu Sheng seemed not to mind the noise in his head. He merely furrowed his brow, took a curious step forward, and reached out a hand to touch the surface of the black star.

Ripples spread across that pitch-black surface, which had shown no detail or outline.

The next second, he saw a warm light emerge from the center of the ripples!

The warm light drew closer—it took the form of a lantern, classical and elegant in design, with a frosted glass shade inside a wrought-iron casing. Then a hand appeared above the lantern, and a figure emerged beside the light.

It was a woman he didn't recognize, wearing a peculiar black coat. The coat was like a trench coat, its colors and patterns heavy and solemn, even evoking graves and death.

And beneath the collar and cuffs of this coat, Yu Sheng saw layer upon layer of bandages. These strange bandages seemed to be wrapped around her entire body, even extending up to her cheeks, covering a third of her face.

But those bandages didn't seem to be for wounds—rather, they were some kind of peculiar... clothing?

Yu Sheng stared, mouth agape, at the unfamiliar figure reflected from the black star.

Then he realized she was also staring at him, equally dumbfounded.

Yu Sheng nearly jumped out of his skin. "Who are you?!"

The other party also seemed to nearly jump. "My Lord!?"

Yu Sheng was stunned by the reply. The first thing that crossed his mind was a feeling of admiration—he hadn't expected that this woman, whose style was Gothic, avant-garde, and a bit punk, was actually a female priest (he guessed, since the details of that black coat carried a bit of theological atmosphere). And then that admiration turned to a thought: What was up with female priests these days? Who in their right mind would wrap their nun in bandages like that? She looked like a cultist...

But then he remembered that under his command, there was a nun who regularly used a machete to cut people like chopping cabbage (and now there seemed to be a whole regiment of such nuns). His mindset instantly calmed down. He steadied his expression, raised his hand, and greeted the emerging figure. "Uh, hello?"

The figure that had emerged from the black star's surface seemed to have calmed down as well. She leaned in a little, lifted the lantern as if to illuminate something, and frowned slightly. "...No, not quite? But..."

Yu Sheng noticed that her form was very blurry—only the area within the lantern's glow was clear; the rest of her shadow was faint and transparent, like an illusion. And whether it was an illusion or not, the edges of her figure were gradually showing interference and flickering over time.

"So, can you hear me?"

Yu Sheng frowned, realizing that the "connection" between them seemed very unstable.

"I can hear you, but your appearance is very blurry on my end—I can only identify a hint of your aura," the bandaged woman with the strange style spoke. For some reason, her tone was surprisingly polite, even carrying a hint of respect. "Are you in the Inner Universe now? What happened on your end? How did you wake up?"

"How did I wake up? Erin woke me with a kick in the morning..." Yu Sheng muttered subconsciously, but before he finished, he realized that what she was referring to might not be the same thing. A jolt went through his mind, and he stared wide-eyed at her. "Wait, what do you mean? Do you know me?"

However, the figure before him had already become even more indistinct. Even the warm glow of the lantern was swaying unsteadily. Yu Sheng heard a cacophony of noise around him, with only a few fragmentary sentences reaching his ears:

"...Erin? Which Erin?! Did you just mention..."

"Wait, the signal's too weak. I can't hear clearly," Yu Sheng quickly leaned closer to the black star apparition. "Who are you? Where are you from? Even if I go back and ask around, I need a keyword to look up! Give me some info, okay..."

Unexpectedly, it seemed his shout really was heard by the other party. The lantern suddenly flickered, and he heard a final few fragmented words drift into his ears: "...This is the Lost Home. We have entered the Void boundary, attempting to construct... engine... Void... difficult to transmit information... need to establish a channel..."

Then the lantern flickered one last time, and all visions and sounds vanished into nothing.

Yu Sheng's eyes snapped open.

A heavy, suffocating pressure pressed down on him.

He looked down and saw the silver-white little fox lying on his stomach, head resting on his chest, sleeping soundly.

That was quite heavy. JPG.

But the fox girl had sharp senses. The moment Yu Sheng opened his eyes and moved, she opened her eyes as well.

Those golden-red eyes sparkled. In the darkness, she stared straight at Yu Sheng. "Benefactor, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

Then she rolled off, transformed into human form, reached out to help Yu Sheng sit up, and muttered as she did, "Sleeping on the ground easily gives you nightmares. You're not like me; we foxes can sleep anywhere... Ah, was it because I was lying on your chest that gave you a nightmare?"

"No, it's not your fault," Yu Sheng waved his hand. He quickly replayed what he had just dreamed in his mind to keep from forgetting it, then composed himself and spoke. "I dreamed of a woman wrapped in bandages. She said she was from the Lost Home or something, but the signal was too weak. She couldn't hear me, and I couldn't make out what she meant. But I feel like she might know me... Ah, this is all a mess. Do you understand?"

The fox girl still stared at him with big eyes, her many tails swaying behind her. Then she blinked. "I don't understand—but I'll go with you to find Bai Liqing and Grandmaster Yuan Hao. They have knowledge."

"Okay, let's go."