One Glance, a Hundred Years

Bai Zhou's body collapsed with a thud. The rising rock barriers crumbled, and the empty opera hall fell silent.

Xu Xiaoyou surveyed the wreckage, knowing that the security forces of the Dream of the Ocean and the other fixers from Section 6 would soon arrive.

The grand performance was over. Before the actors made their exit, she still had things to do.

Xu Xiaoyou flipped her hand, and colorful dyes surged upward—they were Bai Zhou's memories. Light shone onto these chaotic pigments, refracting scenes that played out like a film, showing everything that had happened in the opera hall tonight.

After extracting a portion of the dye and leaving only a few fragmented images, she stuffed the monochromatic, altered memories back into Bai Zhou's head.

Then, she used 【Concealment of Traces】 to erase every proof of her existence from the venue.

Just as Xu Xiaoyou was about to leave after finishing all this, she noticed a gaze fall upon her.

Turning her head, she saw a familiar figure from the past.

Angelina just stood there in the distance, quietly watching her. Across a hundred meters and through a mask, their eyes met in that moment. That lance was still stained with the girl's blood. The other girl was heavily injured, as evidenced by her slow healing speed; the wound on her abdomen was still seeping blood, nearly soaking through her clothes.

She was already taller than Xu Xiaoyou. The innocence on her face had been replaced by a hardened resolve, and her eyes held only exhaustion and numbness, like a soulless shell walking the world. Had she really recognized Xu Xiaoyou? Or did she simply find her familiar and was struggling to remember who this person was?

In those memories that were far too long for a young girl, Xu Xiaoyou might have already been forgotten, like a speck of insignificant dust.

Was that outfit her divine endowment?

In a daze, Xu Xiaoyou seemed to see the thin, small figure of the past again, the one who used to follow her around, wanting her head patted, hugging her while crying and begging her not to leave, promising to be so good and obedient.

What was she thinking at this moment?

Neither of them spoke to break this peaceful silence. A gradually rising white smoke drifted to Xu Xiaoyou's shoulders, then obscured the lower half of her face. Her figure finally vanished into the haze, and Angelina also slowly turned to leave before the people from Section 6 could react and seal off the opera floor.

Xu Xiaoyou didn't know whether to be relieved or troubled, but Angelina hadn't forgotten her. She knew the other girl had learned the whole truth. Perhaps their next meeting wouldn't be so peaceful.

The next day at noon.

Inside the room, a one-foot circular window offered a full view of the coastline. The alarm clock ticked away the time.

The cruise ship had docked three hours ago. The weather outside was quite nice. After a night of heavy winds and waves, the sky was as clear as a blue wash. On this island hundreds of kilometers away from the Star of Art, seabirds cried and soared. People on the shore were engaged in beach ball battles, floating on the waves in duck-shaped swim rings, or lying in the sun for a tan. There was no need for sunscreen, as the radiant star was essentially just a gaze from the distant starry sky; the lush vegetation in this area was maintained by a climate device built on the island by the Withered Flower family.

Tang Xin came to the door and knocked: "Are you up, Yuzu?"

A slightly weak voice came from inside, and the door opened. She saw Xu Xiaoyou's rather pale face; the girl looked like she had a fever and was quite weak.

"You look..."

"I haven't adjusted to being at sea. Probably just motion sickness," Xu Xiaoyou said casually.

Tang Xin naturally didn't believe her. While having breakfast in the restaurant earlier, she had heard the crew members talking about something happening on the opera floor last night. The entire floor had been sealed off this morning under the pretext of equipment maintenance.

She also thought about how Xu Xiaoyou had suddenly messaged her last night asking for support buffs. It was hard to imagine what she had been doing behind her back.

For Tang Xin, as long as they were under this starry sky, even if Xu Xiaoyou were in the Star of Art hundreds of kilometers away, she could still trigger the resonance of the stars and bestow a blessing.

Xu Xiaoyou let Tang Xin into the cabin. The room was a total mess, with clothes thrown everywhere and the bedding soaked with sweat. The suitcase lying on the floor was open, and the surrounding area was a disaster zone; empty energy drink bottles rolled around, in close contact with expensive evening gowns, short-sleeved shirts, and underwear, with visible stains on them.

She had run a high fever last night. She had intended to draw from the hundred-faced die before the battle to see if she could get lucky, but she ended up drawing a weakness debuff. She had been burning up nearly to the point of unconsciousness for the latter half of the night and only broke the fever at noon.

Her already weak body, coupled with the strain of last night's battle, had made things even worse. Seeing Xu Xiaoyou's hand trembling imperceptibly as she took the sandwich, Tang Xin couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"It's hard to imagine what you were up to last night."

"I brought you breakfast—a chicken sandwich and milk. Is milk bad for you when you're sick?"

As she spoke, Tang Xin confiscated the bag of milk right in front of Xu Xiaoyou.

"Don't actually treat me like a patient," Xu Xiaoyou said helplessly.

"Go down to the Fountain of the Gods hotel later. I'll be there soon."

Xu Xiaoyou said casually while eating the sandwich.

"You're the special guest for the new episode of the Paranormal Explorers variety show. The audience is looking forward to your debut."

Tang Xin furrowed her brows. "Why are you only telling me this now? And didn't we agree this was just a vacation?"

"With great power comes great responsibility," Xu Xiaoyou said vaguely. "I wasn't willing at first either, but the director knows Priller from the Withered Flower family—that business tycoon in the cosmetics industry. I'm returning a favor, maybe..."

"It's always like this. You never discuss anything with me in advance. First it was last night's family ball and a whole bunch of other things, then this morning's concert, and now you want me to join some variety show in the afternoon. You only give me a casual order after it's already happening."

"Do whatever you want. As long as you're happy."

Seeing Tang Xin leave the room, Xu Xiaoyou looked up. This was the first time she had seen the other girl show such an expression; it seemed she was truly angry.

She thought for a moment and sent an email to the show's director through the curtain. If Tang Xin really didn't want to do it, she would just cancel the special guest segment for this episode of Paranormal Explorers.

After replenishing her strength, she also left the Dream of the Ocean and went onto the island.

Meanwhile, in a certain deck of the ship above, in a passage leading to the VIP cabins, a cleaning lady worked tirelessly with a mop to clean every corner. She couldn't afford to offend any of the guests on this floor; every one of them was a big figure in a family or a tycoon in some field.

In her impression, these rich people couldn't stand even a grain of sand, especially when dealing with laborers like her who were of lower status. They would find fault in every way. If they saw a stain in the hallway, she might not even be able to keep her job.

She didn't hate the feeling of cleaning, though. Wiping away all the grime gave her a strange sense of satisfaction, and she couldn't help but hum a little tune.

Suddenly, she noticed a figure appear in front of her. Looking up, she saw it was a man. Despite the relatively hot and dry weather on the island, he wore a long windbreaker, wrapped up tightly.