Black Hair, It's Lin Ran for Sure

No one knows what kind of space-time technology the trains of Skywing Spacetime utilize.

Like a magic trick, you close your eyes and open them, the doors open, and you can reach any corner of the world.

Even if it's the poles of the earth, even if it's some pitch-black and silent seabed, or even inside an erupting volcano!

Of course, most people wouldn't do something so suicidal and foolish.

These trains usually only travel back and forth between hive cities, serving as the only means of transportation between two such cities.

There is very little contact between hive cities, especially a place like Corrupt Hive City, which is in a remote area and is underdeveloped.

Attempting to reach another hive city using ordinary transportation—private cars, trains, or planes—is essentially impossible.

Each hive city is separated by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of kilometers, making them feel like two entirely different worlds.

The desert regions between hive cities are known as the badlands, an absolute forbidden zone for life. It is fundamentally impossible for any living being to cross those areas on their own.

Setting aside the harsh survival environment, the countless eldritch creatures wandering the badlands with their bizarre and dangerous traits, along with the miracle rifts, are enough to tear apart anyone who dares to cross.

Many influencers have ventured into the badlands alone for traffic and attention, but most of them go missing within a day of entering, never to be heard from again.

The record for the longest distance traveled on foot in the badlands is only thirty-odd kilometers. During a livestream, the influencer seemingly wandered into a miracle, triggering a disaster with extremely horrific consequences.

Before the eyes of all the viewers, that influencer turned into a puddle of substance somewhere between liquid and solid. The spine, still attached to the head, detached from the body and flew into the sky. Fine gray fuzz covered his entire body as he screamed in complete mental collapse, "They see me! They see me!"

Amidst the screams, the livestream feed was replaced by eerie colors. The electronic devices recording the stream grew strange tentacles and most were rendered useless on the spot. All the viewers watching that livestream were affected mentally to varying degrees.

Some went mad. A small number ended up like that influencer—their heads floating freely above the city like balloons after detaching from their bodies. Most, however, suffered from psychological trauma for years, often experiencing stress triggers from similar scenes.

After that incident, most hive cities strictly prohibited ordinary people from entering the badlands, with orders to shoot violators on sight.

For the majority of the time, the two hive cities do not interact with each other, and there is virtually no flow of information or materials.

Only a tiny fraction of people—the power elite of the hive cities and the high-ranking executives of major corporations—can freely travel to another hive city.

This opportunity was incredibly precious to her; if she missed it, she might never encounter a second chance in her lifetime.

It was truly difficult for a low-life like her to leave this hive city. Relying on savings to buy a ticket for Skywing Spacetime was unrealistic; a single ticket on the black market often sold for the astronomical price of hundreds of thousands of credit points, and even then, they were rarely available.

This ticket was vital to her. She had to seize this opportunity to leave this hive city.

Next month, the internal company selection for employee tickets would close.

She still had one month.

As long as she completed one more A-rank debt collection or higher, it was very likely she would catch the attention of those big shots.

Xu Xiaoyou shook her head, setting aside her chaotic thoughts for now.

She had just recovered a debt and earned a commission of over ten thousand credit points. Staying constantly high-strung would lead to mistakes, so she planned to relax for the next few days.

Xu Xiaoyou didn't even remember when she had started walking home. The cold wind whipped down her collar.

Xu Xiaoyou shivered, suddenly feeling unwell, her head burning and muddled.

'I think I have a bit of a cold,' she thought, taking out her phone. Dizzily, she found Lin Ran's avatar and intended to send her a message.

Yes, the avatar was a black-haired girl.

It's Lin Ran for sure.

That's what Xu Xiaoyou thought.

Xu Xiaoyou: I feel a bit sick, my head is spinning, and I think I have a cold. Can you pick me up at the door?

Xu Xiaoyou: Get some boiled water ready, and help me prepare a change of clothes?

Xu Xiaoyou: Is Anya asleep? Has she eaten dinner? How can she sleep without training!

Xu Xiaoyou: I'm at the door.

Inside the room, the black-haired girl looked after the sleeping little girl, curiously observing the home environment. She looked at the photo of the three of them on the table, lost in thought.

Just then, several messages arrived. Bai Youyou picked up her phone in confusion. Before she could check who sent the messages, the doorbell rang.

Upon opening the door, the blonde girl stood there, her small face clouded with a dazed expression. The coat draped over her shoulders made her body look small and frail, as if she might fall over with a single gust of wind.

"Yuzu, do you have a fever?" Bai Youyou had just started to ask when that figure fell straight into her arms.

The black-haired girl was slightly startled and instinctively caught the girl, holding her. A faint scent of alcohol wafted over. Just as she was flustered and at a loss, Xu Xiaoyou's faint voice came through:

"I'm leaving this place next month."

Bai Youyou glanced down and saw that Xu Xiaoyou's gaze was very earnest.

"When do you plan to leave?"

"Me?" Bai Youyou pointed at herself. "I'll leave as soon as I catch the criminal."

"Criminal?"

A moment of hesitation appeared on Xu Xiaoyou's small face, but she soon shook her head, seemingly not caring much.

"Where do you plan to go?" Bai Youyou asked.

"I don't know......" Xu Xiaoyou murmured.

Bai Youyou looked at the girl's muddled little face. This was the first time she had seen such an expression on her, and it looked quite cute.

Yuzu's inner self wasn't as steady as she usually appeared; who knew she had this kind of contrast?

She almost wondered if the girl was a yuzu fruit spirit from some tree; she really did have a unique, refreshing scent of yuzu on her. Was it the smell of her body wash?

Bai Youyou tried pinching Xu Xiaoyou's cheek. The girl only let out a small "ngh" and didn't move further.

Just as Bai Youyou found it amusing and was about to pinch her a few more times, the girl suddenly hugged her tightly, burying her entire head in Bai Youyou's chest.

Bai Youyou: "!"

Losing her balance, the two of them tumbled into the house.

She leaned back, her head resting against a cabinet, her arm protecting the girl in her arms so she wouldn't bump into any edges or corners.

The girl's messy hair was like a small animal's, rubbing lightly against her neck, causing a slight itch.

"We're good friends, right?" Xu Xiaoyou asked, sniffing.

Bai Youyou was confused for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah."

"Didn't you always want to know what I did before?"

"Want to hear it? The heartbreaking past history of the Great King Xu Xiaoyou."

"Can I really hear it?"

"It was in a junkyard...." Xu Xiaoyou spoke like a mystic, her tone intentionally mysterious, "A foul-smelling junkyard...."

"Pfft." Bai Youyou couldn't help but let out a soft laugh. She stroked the messy hair on the other's head.

Yuzu was actually quite cute like this. When her mind was clouded, she didn't act wild; instead, she seemed more honest and well-behaved. What was going on?

With such a rich imagination and her brain whirring along, what kind of good dream was she having right now?

Her body was so soft; holding her was like holding a talking little figurine. Bai Youyou began to miss the fat bear plushie on her large bed back home.

Just as she was thinking about how to settle the girl who had started talking nonsense, Xu Xiaoyou's next words made her feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

"I almost died today. I was really, really, really scared at the time."

"I just wanted to survive. To make something of myself, that's why I took so many risks."

"Those three guys...... I really had no choice!"