The light from the Light Brain illuminated the path ahead. The cave floor was strewn with rubble that looked very much like volcanic rock.

Jiang Zheyu found that the deeper she went into the cave, the hotter it became.

The biting cold she had expected from an underground cave never materialized.

’This cave is clearly quite warm, so why was that water so bone-chillingly cold?’

"Is the groundwater here?" Jiang Zheyu asked Shan Xun.

"This isn’t groundwater. It’s spring water from the rocks near the volcano." Shan Xun glanced at her. "The water here is warmer. You won’t catch a cold."

Jiang Zheyu froze for a moment when she heard that. She remembered the Mecha seemed to have flown quite far from the Research Institute’s base.

’So he came all this way just because he was worried I’d catch a cold? He brought me to a volcanic spring just so I could bathe?’

"Captain Shan, you’re really kind," Jiang Zheyu said, looking at Shan Xun sincerely.

Shan Xun glanced at her, said nothing, and turned his head away. ’Wasn’t it just because he was worried she’d use cold water, catch another cold, and fry her brain with a fever again?’

’He was someone who knew how to correct his mistakes.’

Soon, the two of them came to a subterranean lake. Wisps of steam hovered over the water’s surface, a clear sign that it was warm.

Shan Xun prudently stopped and turned to leave. "You go ahead and wash up. I’ll be outside. Just call me when you’re done."

"Alright, alright," Jiang Zheyu quickly agreed.

Shan Xun left. He walked to a bend in the passage, crossed his arms, and leaned against the wall to wait.

After Shan Xun left, Jiang Zheyu looked in the direction he had gone, only to see he had disappeared around the bend.

"Shan Xun, are you still there?" Afraid he had simply abandoned her, she couldn’t help but call out.

After all, she didn’t know her way around this Deserted Star.

Although she didn’t think Shan Xun would do such a thing, being all alone prompted her to call out anyway.

"Here." His curt, one-word reply carried from around the bend, amplified by the cave’s resonant echo.

Even though it was just one word, hearing his voice slowly put her at ease.

And so, she decided to start her bath.

Jiang Zheyu slipped the Light Brain from her wrist and set it on the ground by the water’s edge. Then, she slowly reached out, dipping her hand in to test the temperature. It was just right—not too cool, not too hot.

A beam from the Light Brain shone directly onto the water, making the surface glitter and shimmer.

She had no idea how deep the water was, so she didn’t dare to just jump right in.

Slowly, Jiang Zheyu undressed, folding her clothes in a neat pile to the side. She then cupped her hands, scooping up water to pour over her body and face. She scrubbed away all the insect blood and made sure to wash her hair as well.

’It’s such a pain. Every time I kill one of those things, I get splattered with its blood.’

Jiang Zheyu sat on a clean slab of rock, slowly pouring water over herself. The water sloshed gently. Warm droplets trickled down her fair skin and through her raven hair. They fell like raindrops onto the stone below, splashing into tiny blossoms and creating a crisp, clear sound.

The sounds echoed through the cave, making what should have been faint noises remarkably distinct. It was like an echo with a heavy audio filter—long, crisp, and rich in texture.

Around the bend, Shan Xun’s expression darkened as he leaned against the wall.

His hearing was incredibly sharp, so the sounds reached his ears as if amplified, lingering around him without fading.

From the rustle of the female taking off her clothes to the sound of splashing water, every detail reached his ears with piercing clarity.

The thought of the female bathing...

A flush of heat crept into Shan Xun’s dark expression.

’It must be because I haven’t seen a female in over a hundred years. That’s why I’m like this.’

But his mind conjured images of the female’s soft, pale hands... the slender, delicate line of her neck when she looked up... Her skin was so fair, as if carved from exquisite jade. The skin beneath her clothes... must be even more so...

"Fuck..." Shan Xun cursed under his breath. While despising himself for his lustful thoughts, he couldn’t stop his Adam’s apple from bobbing as he swallowed.

Meanwhile, as Jiang Zheyu was washing, she suddenly felt a tickling, crawling sensation on her calf. She instinctively glanced down and saw a centipede, a horrifying blur of countless legs, scuttling up her skin.

"AH!" Jiang Zheyu cried out, slapping the centipede away. She scrambled to her feet and backed away, her expression panicked.

"What’s wrong!" Shan Xun shot out from around the bend on instinct, thinking she was in danger. Worry instantly consumed him.

His body moved faster than his mind could think.

The moment he rounded the bend, despite the distance, he saw it all: the female’s bare, snow-white back, her dark hair tumbling in a messy cascade, a waist so slender he could wrap a hand around it, the curve of her hips, her pale calves...

Shan Xun froze, his gaze fixed. Just as Jiang Zheyu started to turn her head, he threw himself back around the corner in a panic, slamming his broad, solid back hard against the wall. The impact sent a shower of dust and pebbles raining down.

"N-nothing! I’m fine!" she called out, still startled from the scare.

She glanced hurriedly toward the bend in the passage, but Shan Xun had already ducked back behind the wall. Jiang Zheyu had no idea he’d just gotten a full view of her back. Besides, she thought, he was so far away, he couldn’t possibly have seen anything clearly.

When she saw that Shan Xun hadn’t come any closer, she breathed a sigh of relief. ’After all, I’m not wearing anything. It would be incredibly embarrassing if he saw me.’ She called out again to explain, "A centipede just crawled up my leg and startled me, that’s all. It’s fine now. I knocked it away."

’It’s a wild cave, after all. A few bugs are to be expected. But a centipede... all those legs... It was so disgusting and creepy crawling on my skin.’

The thought of other unseen insects lurking nearby made Jiang Zheyu speed up her bath. She finished washing in a hurry and quickly got dressed.

"Captain Shan, I’m done," Jiang Zheyu called out toward the bend after she was dressed. "Do you want to come wash up?"

For a long time, there was no reply.

Shan Xun was still pressed against the wall, his complexion somehow even worse—a dark, feverish flush. The image was seared into his mind, impossible to banish. A searing heat coiled in his lower abdomen.

’Right now, he almost hated his own excellent night vision.’