Chapter 54: The Courtyard of Flowing Lights and Memories
Chapter 54: The Courtyard of Flowing Lights and Memories
[Facing your question, Silver Wolf was instantly sweating profusely. However, you didn't make things difficult for her and resolved the embarrassment with a "Don't do it again."]
[Then, you asked Silver Wolf if there was a place to cook nearby. After learning that there was a restaurant in the amusement park that once provided meals for tourists and that she had also stockpiled food there. You personally went there and prepared a dinner.]
[As a canary in the upper-class social circle, you often come into contact with those noblewomen and deeply understand the principle that "To capture a woman's heart, you must first capture a woman's stomach." Therefore, you have developed excellent cooking skills.]
[Silver Wolf watched you make a sumptuous dinner with eager eyes. Her mood instantly became pleasant. After all, as an ultimate homebody, her daily diet is inseparable from snacks and prefabricated instant foods. Those things are okay to eat only a few times, but after eating them too many times, it's easy to get bored.]
[Now with you, Silver Wolf feels that at least she doesn't have to worry about food and drink in the future and can be a homebody who lives off her brother and does nothing. She can live a life of idleness.]
[You smiled and said nothing in response. You just silently made a sumptuous dinner with the ingredients here.]
[Although Silver Wolf is small in stature, she has a large appetite. After having a full meal. She immediately pulled you to try out several games that require friends to play together.]
[She is still as bad at playing but loves to play as always. However, this night, you didn't urge her to go to bed before twelve o'clock as you did before. Instead, you accompanied her all night until her eyelids began to droop and she rested her head on the game console's control interface. Only then did you gently cover her with a cashmere blanket.]
[After that, you walked out of the basement. To avoid making the sound of lifting the rolling shutter door and disturbing Silver Wolf, you directly used the Ether cassette to pass through the rolling shutter door and came outside.]
[Late at night, the snow in the great wilderness fell a bit more heavily. You leaned against the rolling shutter door of the basement and silently looked at the deep snow like willow catkins.]
[Gradually, you felt a bit sleepy, your vision began to blur, and you couldn't even feel the coldness around you... But just as you were about to close your eyes, the roar of helicopters and the rustling sound of drone swarms came from afar.]
[They're here again, just like pesky insects that can't be shaken off. You don't know how they found you, but you know that after you destroyed half of the headquarters of the "Punkrood Network Company," these people will never let you go.]
[But you don't want to run anymore because you know that your body simply can't support you to run very far. It's better to make a clean break here.]
Activating the Primordial cassette, Bai Heng shook off the snow on his shoulder and waited quietly for the approaching drone swarm.
But at this moment, as if also sensing the approach of those guys, Silver Wolf, who had just fallen asleep, lifted the rolling shutter door, her eyes filled with urgency.
When she saw Bai Heng standing silently in the snow, she let out a sigh of relief.
Then, she looked at the drone swarm in the sky, took out her weapon, and said:
"These people are like flies that can't be shaken off."
Knowing that Bai Heng was injured, she said with concern:
"You go inside and rest. Leave them to me."
Bai Heng didn't speak but just stood there silently.
When Silver Wolf tightened the jacket of her upper garment and was about to activate the quantum railgun, she suddenly sensed that the space around her was distorted.
"Brother?"
She uttered only one word, and then disappeared into the snow and was teleported to a safe area.
In the end, she could only hear three words from Bai Heng:
"Sorry."
...
Only Bai Heng was left on the snow. At this moment, he made one last edit to reality.
When the drone swarm and helicopters approached the closest range, Bai Heng activated the last procedure.
[Changing space parameters.]
[The Black Domain has been opened.]
"It's time to return things to their original owners."
In an instant, the night seemed to be obscured. Above the sky, all the stars lost their original colors.
Streams of data began to surge, filling the entire space. Blue light replaced the lonely night.
Members of the "Punkrood Network Company" and various organizations who came to chase and kill you were all pulled into this strange space.
This space is the "Black Domain" that all hackers have been longing for.
But they don't know that once they enter this place, they will never be able to get out.
[You released the Ether cassette in your hand and let it remerge into the "Black Domain."]
[But at this moment, another picture flashed through your eyes - it was a huge silver cocoon. It was wrapped by countless silk threads in the Black Domain, as if connected to every part of the Black Domain.]
[This is a picture you have never seen since your consciousness first entered the Black Domain. When various flowing lights flooded into your mind, in your vision, inside the huge cocoon, a girl with pinkish-white long hair, curled up, hugging her fair legs faintly appeared.]
[In the next moment, your vision fell into darkness.]
When Bai Heng woke up again, he felt a sweet fragrance seep into his body from the tip of his nose. His senses were still hazy. He barely opened his eyes a slit.
But at this moment, he found a pair of deep rose-colored eyes blinking slightly and looking at him curiously.
After Bai Heng realized the situation, the extremely beautiful girl with pinkish-white long hair and wearing a white evening dress turned around, put her hands behind her back, took a step back, and asked with a smile:
"How are you feeling?"
Seeing that Bai Heng had not yet recognized the current situation, the girl with pinkish-white long hair said in a teasing tone:
"I'm not an angel sister, and you're not dreaming. You are indeed in the Black Domain. And I am also real."
"So... who are you?" Bai Heng had calmed down and felt his throat was a bit hoarse and could barely speak:
The girl turned her back, took a few elegant dance steps, and said:
"The rememberer of the"Courtyard of Flowing Lights and Memories,"or, I also have a name that people living in Punkrood are more familiar with -"
She dragged out her tone and slowly uttered two words:
"The Dead."
When he heard this name, Bai Heng's expression froze slightly.
"The Dead"? The inventor of the Ether cassette? The "sage" who abandoned his physical body and attacked the Black Domain.
Before Bai Heng could speak, the girl named the Dead said proudly:
"How is it? Surprised, right? In your hearts, the Dead should be a middle-aged bald scientific research uncle, not a young and beautiful girl like me who is as delicate as a flower."
"... It is quite surprising." Looking at Miss Dead's smug look of "Praise me," Bai Heng's mouth twitched slightly: "So, Miss Dead, can you tell me the current situation?"
"Your reaction is very 平淡." The Dead seemed a bit sad but still said responsibly:
"You were almost dead just now, but I saved you. The reason for saving you is that the Black Domain hasn't been opened for hundreds of years. The last time your consciousness entered it, I was still asleep."
"And this time, I just happened to wake up and was curious about your appearance, so I conveniently restored your body to its original state."
Bai Heng pondered slightly and said:
"You saved me?"
"Yes." Miss Dead nodded slightly and said: "But the price is that you must stay in the Black Domain forever."
When saying this, Miss Dead's tone was a bit heavy, but after a moment, her tone changed again:
"Of course, if you are willing to make a deal with me, I can let you out."
Bai Heng looked at this girl who always seemed a bit unreliable and said:
"A deal to exchange for freedom. Miss Dead, you can tell me about it."
"I..." Miss Dead's mouth curved into a smile and said: "I need all your memories, including erasing all memories related to you. After that, no one in the world will remember you anymore."
If the other party hadn't revealed her identity as the rememberer of the "Courtyard of Flowing Lights and Memories," Bai Heng might think her request was a bit strange.
But now that he knows this identity, this condition seems reasonable.
A ghost wandering in the Black Domain, continuously receiving all memories from the interstellar network for hundreds of years and thus embarking on the path of "memory" is reasonable.
"Is that all?" Bai Heng asked:
"That's all." Miss Dead's expression became a bit more serious.
Staring into those eyes without malice, Bai Heng finally nodded.
"Then fine, I accept."
Seeing Bai Heng accept, Miss Dead smiled and put her hands together and said:
"In that case, let's have a small ceremony before the transaction."
"Ceremony?"
"Yes." Miss Dead stretched out her slender hand and lifted the skirt of her white evening dress and said: "After all, it has been hundreds of years since someone stepped into the Black Domain. So, would you like to dance with me?"
After a moment of silence.
Bai Heng replied: "I refuse."
Miss Dead was slightly stunned. She put one hand on her chest and said:
"Eh? Choosing to refuse in this atmosphere... Ah, I know. There must be a problem with the language conversion system, and you didn't fully understand."
She repeated it and gracefully extended her hand:
"May I ask, would you like to dance with me?"
Bai Heng replied: "Refuse."
Miss Dead showed a troubled expression and said:
"Hmm... Could it be that... you want to see my troubled expression? Hey, is bullying me so interesting? Alas, I know. What I did was indeed a bit excessive, but I will definitely explain it as much as possible later - Now, just relax your body and mind, okay?"
Since the other party had said so much, Bai Heng had no reason to refuse. But he still felt that he should try to avoid contact with the woman in front of him as much as possible.
Finally, he sighed helplessly and said in a tone:
"It's my honor."
[You took Miss Dead's hand wrapped in the white evening dress sleeve and felt the warmth in her palm. You danced with her in this Black Domain following her steps.]
[After the dance ended, Miss Dead gracefully curtsied and her eyes sparkled as she said: "Then, goodbye, Mr. Bai Heng."]
...
[When you wake up again, you find yourself on a snowfield.]
[You know nothing, remember nothing, and wander aimlessly until the escort ship of the Interstellar Peace Company arrives at Punkrood. They arrest you on the charge of "causing the network paralysis in the nearby star regions of Punkrood."]
[But just as you are about to be escorted to the prison of the Interstellar Peace Company.]
[A professor named Edmond confirmed the fact that you have lost your memory. He discussed this with the company's council.]
[He seems to value your ability to use the Black Domain to cause the network paralysis of Punkrood and even surrounding planets. So he made a request to the council.]
"This person is mine. Let him stay in the Interstellar Astronomical Society. I will guarantee for him."