On the middle deck region of the Mass Effect, at the viewing platform where one could gaze into space.

Yu Sheng let out a long sigh, sat cross-legged directly on the platform, gazing into the vast, endless dark space beyond the protective barrier.

The dark "Black Star" floated quietly above, as a light scout ship skimmed slowly across its surface, the silhouette of the silver-gray ship distinctly standing out against the dark background, leaving a long arc-shaped trail of light flow released by its engine array.

"It's finally quiet."

Yu Sheng remarked softly.

Footsteps came from the side; he saw a few fluffy big tails appear at the corner of his vision. He turned his head to see Hu Li strolling leisurely over.

As she got closer, she plopped forward, rolling over into a fluffy silver-white little fox, then climbed onto Yu Sheng's lap, nudging his belly with her head, curling up comfortably with a lazy and drowsy hum.

Yu Sheng was startled by the little fox that suddenly nestled into his arms. After a moment, he laughed and reached out to ruffle the fox's head: "Full yet?"

"Full," Hu Li mumbled drowsily, her big tail coiling up and hanging over Yu Sheng's arm, "Sleepy."

Yu Sheng chuckled, saying nothing, only continuing to stroke the Nine-tailed Silver Fox's head.

In the action on the Holy Realm Planet, Hu Li consumed a lot. Not to speak of anything else, just the orbital descent had nearly depleted her usual three meals' worth at once. Then there was fighting the cultists, the Brass Knight guarding the facilities, and that Holy Entity, with not even a moment to eat, all while exhausting ammo supplies.

Such great exhaustion came at a price.

For example, the Mass Effect's cafeteria stock...

As for now, the girl wasn't hungry—she was motion sick.

"Savior..."

The little fox curled on his leg nudged her head again, uttering a drowsy sound.

Yu Sheng looked down: "What is it?"

"It's so quiet; it feels like there's never such a peaceful chance normally."

Yu Sheng laughed: "That's because Erin is off excitedly touring the space battleship—if she were here, could the environment be this serene?"

Hu Li's ears twitched: "Oh, no wonder."

Yu Sheng laughed, stretching his legs out, simply shifting into a lying position on the platform.

The silver-white little fox also changed positions, lying down beside Yu Sheng, resting her head on his arm. After a drowsy half-minute, she started to emit soft, gentle snores.

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 soft snores beside him.

The Black Star hung high above his head, like a corner of the universe carved out, leaving an undefined void—he quietly watched it like this, sometimes feeling as though the darkness might swallow him whole, sometimes feeling it was merely an illusion reflected in the dimension of reality, and at one moment, when staring at it, he felt as if he was looking at a mirror, the outside was him, and inside the mirror was also him.

These haphazard thoughts floated in Yu Sheng's mind, and as he bathed in starlight, he gradually felt his eyelids grow heavy. The gentle snoring and the warm sensation of fox fur brushing against him all called forth his drowsiness, finally causing him to unwittingly close his eyes.

The alloy surface of the viewing platform was very hard, but soon he felt as if he were floating, drifting in a gentle wind.

Then he saw a vague illusion standing before him, the illusion surrounded by distant starlight.

Another second passed, and Yu Sheng realized what stood before him was a huge mirror, and in the mirror was himself.

He frowned, realizing he had recently seen the same "illusion."

The immense "mirror" before his eyes was, in fact, the Black Star.

No sooner had this thought flashed in his mind than he saw the "mirror" rapidly begin to contract. Its edges began to exhibit noticeable curvature. Soon it became a dark celestial body, but the shrinking continued, and within a few seconds, the "planet" floating before him had contracted to be about his height.

Yu Sheng stared blankly at the "miniature planet" floating before him, suddenly feeling it resembled not so much a mirror as a shadow within a mirror.

...Whose shadow was it then?

The "cognition" that inexplicably rushed into his mind was agitating, but Yu Sheng seemed unconcerned about the noise in his head. He merely furrowed his brows slightly and curiously took a step forward, reaching out to touch the surface of the Black Star.

The dark surface, so black that no detail or outline could be discerned, rippled with rings.

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

The warm light approached and astonishingly took the form of a lantern—classical and elegant in style, with an iron shell and a layer of frosted glass lampshade. Then, above the lantern, a hand appeared, followed by a silhouette beside the light.

It was an unfamiliar woman, wearing a uniquely styled black coat, reminiscent of a trench coat, with heavy and solemn tones and patterns that even evoked thoughts of tombs and death.

Beneath the coat's collar and cuffs, Yu Sheng saw layers of bandages, bizarrely seeming to wrap the woman's entire body, even extending to her cheeks, covering a third of her face.

But the bandages didn't seem to be due to injuries, but rather some peculiar... garment?

Yu Sheng stared in amazement at the unfamiliar figure emerging from the Black Star.

Then he noticed that she was also staring back at him, equally amazed.

Yu Sheng almost took off on the spot: "Who are you?!"

It seemed like she almost took off too: "My Lord?!"

Hearing this, Yu Sheng was dumbfounded, and his first thought was a kind of marvel. He didn't expect this gothic avant-garde woman, with a hint of punk, to be a female priestess (he guessed, given the theological atmosphere in the details of her black coat), and then his amazement turned to how female priestesses these days had such a style—who in their right mind would wrap a nun in bandages? It looked cultish...

But he quickly remembered that he himself had a nun under his command who nonchalantly sliced people like dicing vegetables (and apparently, there seemed to be a squad of such nuns now), so he calmed down, steadied his expression, and raised a hand to greet the silhouetted figure that emerged: "Uh, hello?"

The silhouette emerging from the Black Star seemed to calm down as well. She leaned forward, raising the lantern as if to inspect something, her brows lightly furrowed: "... No, it seems not? But..."

Yu Sheng noticed that the figure was very blurry, only clear within the light of the lantern, while other areas appeared dim and translucent like an illusion, and perhaps it was a delusion, but the edges of the figure appeared to be distorting and shaking over time.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

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

"I can hear, but your form is very vague on my side, only a bit of aura is identifiable," said the strange-looking woman with bandages, her attitude surprisingly polite, even somewhat respectful, "Are you in the Inner Universe now? What's happening over there? How did you wake up?"

"How did I wake up? Erin kicked me awake with a morning leg..." Yu Sheng muttered instinctively but stopped short as he realized that the topic seemed different from what he thought, and his mind jolted, eyes glaring at the figure, "Wait, what do you mean? Do you know me?"

However, by this time, the silhouette was becoming ever vaguer, even the once steady lantern light flickered, and Yu Sheng heard around him a cacophony of noises, with only a few fragmented sentences reaching his ears:

"...Erin? Which Erin?! You just mentioned..."

"Hold on, the signal's too weak, I can't hear clearly," Yu Sheng hurriedly moved closer to the illusion of the Black Star, "Who are you? Where are you from? If I go back to ask around, I need at least a keyword, right?! Give me some information..."

Unexpectedly, his shout seemed to really reach her, as the lantern suddenly flickered, and he heard the last few fragmented words drift into his ears: "... This is the Lost Home, we have entered the Void Boundary, attempting to construct... engine... void... information difficult to transmit... need to establish a passage..."

Then the lantern flickered once more, and all illusions and sounds returned to nothingness.

Yu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

A heavy sensation of suffocation pressed on him.

He glanced down and saw a small silver fox resting on his belly, its head on his chest, deeply asleep.

It indeed felt a bit heavy.JPG.

However, the fox girl was acutely aware, and just as Yu Sheng opened his eyes and slightly stirred, she followed suit and opened her eyes as well.

Those golden-red eyes were bright, staring straight at Yu Sheng in the dark: "Savior, what happened to you? Nightmare?"

Then she abruptly rolled off, transforming into human form, helping Yu Sheng up while muttering, "Sleeping on the ground often leads to nightmares, unlike us foxes, we can sleep anywhere... Ah, is it because I was lying on your chest that you had a nightmare?"

"No, it's not related to you," Yu Sheng waved his hand, quickly replaying in his mind what he had just dreamed to avoid forgetting, while steadying his spirit and speaking, "I dreamed of a woman wrapped in bandages, claiming to be from some Lost Home, but the signal was too weak, she couldn't hear what I was saying, and I couldn't understand her meaning, but I somehow feel she seemed to recognize me... Oh this mess, do you get it?"

The fox girl kept staring at him with big eyes, her tails swayed behind, then she blinked: "I don't get it—but I'll accompany you to find Baili Qing and Master Yuan Hao, they are knowledgeable."

"Alright, let's go."