Yekase wrestled down the itch to go inspect Lu Yao’s double-decker bunk, and dressed her own room like a tidy garden.

Through the window, the spherical sky-dome cast a city scene like a painted bowl.

Lights blinked at the most soothing brightness and rhythm, like fireflies breathing on animated silk.

…meow.

Rice Rice slipped through the door crack like a shadow and hopped onto the sill.

Yekase stroked along his spine, fur flowing under her palm like grass in wind.

One human, one cat, four eyes locked like two moons meeting on a pond.

They say cats love staring contests, like dueling lanterns.

If you look away first, the cat crowns itself ruler and raises hell at home.

Yekase couldn’t let that happen, so she pinned her gaze to Rice Rice’s eyes like arrows.

The Staring Contest, fierce.

They froze in place for ten minutes, time turning to ice in a glass.

“You two at war?”

Liu RuoYuan’s voice came from the door, and Yekase turned by reflex, losing the match at once like a dropped flag.

The younger sister had just showered, in a T‑shirt from her teens, hanging loose to mid‑thigh like a lazy sail.

A towel draped her shoulder; damp hair scattered water beads like rain on leaves.

Ambition Divine Ship had modern Sorcery floor heating, so that summer look never felt cold, like sunlight underfoot.

“I’m done. Lu Yao’s door’s closed, no sound. Want to shower first?”

“Middle of the day?”

“Just an early test. The tub’s great, the tub.

If I could soak while eating ice cream, even better…” Her voice faded, fridge lights blinking like a cave.

Yekase thought, no plans to go out, a bath would be nice, like steam smoothing a map.

But she felt drowsy; afraid she’d doze off in the tub, she chose a quick nap first like folding a fan.

Time slipped.

By the time she opened her eyes, night had settled like ink.

Classic, like fate ticking.

She stretched wide like a cat, walked into the bathroom, opened the faucet, and scrolled her phone on the toilet like a lighthouse in a harbor.

Professor F had sent updates on talks with the Official Heroes, like letters carried by crows.

Sure enough, they wanted to speak with fists, like drums before battle.

They kept a sliver of decorum: good public opinion on this side drew protests, so they agreed to retreat one step like a tide.

If they won, they’d recognize the chosen code names as Honorary Official Heroes, and stop interfering when the organization wasn’t at risk, like guards lowering spears.

They even minted a new term, like a shiny coin.

Three bouts in total, against three Official Heroes.

Yekase wanted the Beast King Squadron’s thoughts, and to check on Crimson Field and Wang Zhewei, like testing strings before a song.

After bathing, she slipped into loose sleepwear, strolled to the main console, and set the portal to Valhalla’s door like a ring of light.

She walked into the bar, and several people were there like constellations in a low ceiling.

“What, no one went home?”

Crimson Field sat facing her; hearing the voice, she lifted her head and gave a small shake, like grass in breeze.

Beside her, Wang Zhewei tucked up her legs and curled in the booth corner, motionless, silent as a stone.

Yekase slid into the other seat, like a leaf taking a place on water.

“…Doctor.”

Her voice was small, like a thread.

“Kicked out by family?”

Crimson Field grimaced and winked beside her, failing to stop Yekase, like hands swatting smoke.

She muttered, “Why poke the sore?” like a finger to a bruise.

“Trouble doesn’t vanish by being ignored.

Talk early, end early. Crash on my couch and at least survive tonight,” Yekase said, casual as smoke.

“…Doctor, how did you become a woman?” Wang asked, voice muffled like a pillow.

“Me? I was dodging my old boss’s search, so I changed faces, like swapping masks.

To be thorough, I switched gender and age too,” she said, like a snake shedding skin.

“Aren’t you afraid? Becoming someone else, the old you gone…”

“I was scared, sure.

For about ten minutes. Then I wasn’t,” she said, like storm clouds passing.

She remembered first thinking about it and seeing new possibilities, a fresh save file opening like a sunrise.

Hope and joy rushed in, washing fear away like a wave.

“Your old you isn’t erased.

Your teammates are still here.

I hid for a long time in a rental, head down making gadgets, speaking to no one,” she said, like a mole in earth.

“But my home…”

“They don’t recognize you.

Live anyway,” she said, like a hand pushing a door.

Wang Zhewei’s gaze at Yekase carried a thread of anger and grief, like red and blue ink mixing.

“Doctor, you’re an inventor admired by the Professor.

You’re so confident, so forceful, so justified, because you know you can smash your ties to the world and rebuild them…” like a hammer and chisel.

“You don’t even need self-identity, because your sheer presence makes others define you…” like a bell commanding a chorus.

Yekase nodded. “I do think ‘self-identity’ is dumb, like arguing with a mirror.

What people do isn’t a fixed character sheet sitting on a shelf.”

“If I suddenly want a smoke, that doesn’t mean I’m not Yekase, like clouds changing shapes.

Same way, if you suddenly become a girl, you’re still Wang Zhewei.

Even if everyone denies you, that’s their mistake, not your fault.”

“But I’m ordinary.

I can’t live alone.

All my relationships—”

“You still need other people’s opinions to convince yourself?” like borrowing wind for your sail.

Crimson Field stepped between them, head up, trying a serious glare like a kitten sharpening claws.

“Enough, Doctor!

Not everyone’s as badass as you,” she needs comfort!”

Behind her, Wang said in a flat tone, like a calm lake: “In our squad, Crimson Field fights best.

Fang Tang and I are weakest.

But she has hacking, and me… I’m good at nothing.”

“Not true,” she snapped, like a match striking.

Last month, if not for your warning, we’d have walked into a trap!”

“But wasn’t it Sister Lin who found the trap?”

“She needed you steadying her to bring out her skill…” like a hand on a bow.

“But I…” she faltered, like a wingstutter.

Yekase folded her arms and watched them slide into a teen drama duet, sweet enough to stick like honey.

She thought back: with any teammate, even with Ivaris, her girlfriend then, she’d never done this, like a page that was always blank.

Only now did she wonder if her EQ was simply too low, like a radio that won’t tune.

She left them and stepped out for air, like a window opening.

Time to consider the Official Heroes’ three-bout match right in front of them, like mountains on the road.

They slyly withheld their roster, calling it privacy, really to keep Yekase and Professor F from preparing, like fog hiding blades.

You could expect a targeted lineup, like knives picked for exact cuts.

Ling Yi’s “Flame Lady” would likely show, like a spark in dry grass.

The other two… no information yet, only shadows.

She felt easy about Lu Yao; the squad robot alone made power overflow like a dam.

Gu Xiangshi may be the future head of the Huaxia Branch, but he isn’t yet strong enough to bring cadre-level help, like a tree not yet full-grown.

Jiang Bailu has only fought once since awakening her Sorcery; against Li Erpao, she only supported from the side, like a moon beside the sun.

Yekase has no method against superpowers, unique and uncopyable, like stars you can’t bottle.

She could only hope for Jiang Bailu’s own insight, like a seed finding light.

After circling the thoughts, she chose to peek at what Lu Yao was doing alone, like lifting a curtain.

As a complete top-tier alchemy floating island, the Labyrinth City craftsmen ensured no corner of Ambition Divine Ship escaped its master’s gaze.

It was so basic a function that Ariana hadn’t bothered to introduce it, like air you forget to name.

Yekase went to the main console, shrank the four control interfaces, and revealed the island-wide projection beneath, like maps under glass.

Through it, she could see in real time where Infinite Power flared, or simply where someone moved, like ripples.

She zoomed to Lu Yao’s room.

One person inside, movement value at zero, like a clock that stopped.

Lu Yao was motionless, like a statue inside a shell.

If not now, when?

Of course, Yekase held no dirty desire toward Lu Yao.

It was a little leader’s concern, from a deputy and executor, like checking a lantern.

She came to the exterior wall, circled to directly below Lu Yao’s window, like a fox under a ledge.

She fired up the Levitation Spell and Oz Floating Disc, making a hidden foothold at the right angle outside, like a step carved in air.

She looked straight through the window—

—curtains.

She’d hung curtains!

She really didn’t want to be peeped!

“Grrr…”

Yekase bit her nails, unwilling to surrender this once-in-a-century chance, like a hunter blocked by reeds.

It wasn’t about peeping anymore; it was a clash of layouts and will, like chess stamped on walls.

Lu Yao, even living in someone else’s home, sealed herself away, like a turtle in its shell.

Then slept on a child’s bunk bed, like a boat too small for its river.

What a pitiful, adorable late-stage single lady, like a plum left on the branch.

In a Japanese light novel, she’d be the classic iceberg-first, pushover-later doomed heroine, like snow yielding to spring.

Right—use the Phase Shifter and walk through the wall.

With her many magical gadgets, Yekase was ready to be unreasonable, like thunder ignoring rules.

She listened against the wall, confirmed no movement, flipped the little switch, and let her body turn intangible, like mist losing weight.

She slipped through the outer wall and stepped into the room, like mist crossing a gate.

No lights were on, the room a cave.

Only a laptop with its lid open cast a dim glow, the lone star in the dark.

The child’s bunk sat where the bed was meant to go, like a small stage set.

Top unseen; lower bunk already made with a mattress like a quiet raft.

Lu Yao slept inside, like a pearl in a shell.

Her height was above average for a woman, yet she curled like an infant, a tight ball barely fitting the space.

She hadn’t changed clothes; hair scattered over the pillow like moss.

In that odd posture, she slept soundly; between her arms wrapped around her head, her breathing came even as waves.

Yekase fell silent, even her thoughts holding their breath like birds.

She slipped back through the wall the way she came, and, with the disc gone, dropped onto the grass like rain.