How come I was the one being targeted?

As the flashes of memory and information merged into one, she slowly opened her mouth: "Could it be that this is a brand new..."

Click——

"Ah, you're still busy. Take a break."

The distressed voice coming from the door interrupted her thoughts. Ruan Mei turned her head, and the bright light coming from the corridor made her subconsciously squint her sore eyes. Bai Jun walked into the room and saw the messy floor. He couldn't help feeling a little helpless.

She completely treated Bai Jun's room as her own home. Her research notes were scattered everywhere, precious manuscripts were thrown on the ground, and there was a pile of books next to the desk. It was so messy that there was no place to stand.

"You're back... Hug me, I want to take a shower."

Ruan Mei stared at him quietly for a long time, then gently rubbed her sore eyes, yawned lazily, and naturally stretched out her hands towards Bai Jun, like a coquettish little girl.

"Where are you from, three-year-old kid..."

Bai Jun glanced at Ruan Mei with disdain, ignored her, and just bent down to pick up the manuscripts and notes scattered on the ground.

"Well, this will allow me to observe your life characteristics and forms up close."

This was the explanation she gave, and the same explanation she gave the last time she sneaked into Bai Jun's quilt.

Bai Jun rolled his eyes at her and handed her the notebook he had hidden in his arms. "By the way, this is the research notebook Black Tower asked me to give you. It records the data from the simulated universe during this period."

"Oh, thank you for helping me a lot."

Ruan Mei smiled gently and stepped her bare white feet on the floor.

She bent down and picked up the coat that Bai Jun had left here, casually draped it over her back, and gently tossed her waist-length black hair outside the coat.

The huge coat did not suit her body shape at all. It looked like a pair of pajamas that were two or three sizes too big. Even her perky buttocks were completely covered. The coat almost hung to the middle of her thighs, wrapping up her seductive body.

"I still have a lot of pastries left from yesterday. You can eat them."

Ignoring the notes and manuscripts on the ground, she slowly walked to the side with her feet as smooth and attractive as ice cream. She opened the lid of the thermal box and placed the one reserved for Bai Jun on the table.

"I'll eat later."

Bai Jun raised his head. Compared to when Ruan Mei first came here, there were some new equipment in the room, such as machines for cooking pastries, needles and thread for embroidery, brushes and inkstones. These were her hobbies that made her life quite elegant.

——Silk, music and cakes, embroidery and tea, each one must be of the best quality.

"The freshly pickled pastries tasted wonderful. Ten grams of sugar cubes, a dried salted plum blossom, a little lotus leaf, plum blossom, glutinous rice, and the fragrance of icing sugar."

Ruan Mei sat on the soft bed and casually threw aside the research notes that recorded the simulated universe data. She looked at the busy Bai Jun with boredom. He collected all the manuscripts and notes on the ground and piled them in the corner of the room. The layers of stacked papers formed a crooked mountain range in the corner of the room.

She ultimately chose not to tell Bai Jun about her speculation. Out of rationality and as a researcher, she felt that this should be verified.

"Can you help me comb my hair?"

Ruan Mei suddenly turned sideways, tied up her messy black hair, and revealed her flawless white neck.

"No thanks... I don't know how to comb other people's hair, and don't you want to take a shower?"

Bai Jun thought about what happened this morning, and shadows emerged in his mind, so he refused.

"Really...Okay, I'll listen to you, Mom."

Ruan Mei jumped out of bed and went to take a shower humming an unknown tune.

Bai Jun: o_0?

Is this woman really crazy?

Space Station Stories: Chapter 96 "Fireflies"

System time: 23:47:15.

In the support section, the spare parts warehouse is piled up with layers of spare parts in a messy yet never-wrong manner, which shows how meticulous the manager is.

It was another quiet night, the warehouse was empty and any sound was unwelcome here.

She sat quietly on the high ground as usual, flames dancing on her body and the Molten Knight's armor taking shape.

Through specific magical objects, she can greatly reduce her presence in the eyes of others and gain the rationality of short-term actions, but due to the disease of entropy loss, she can only rely on the medical cabin to maintain her life, which makes her unable to leave the "Sam" armor for too long.

Therefore, during most of her time in the space station, she would hide in the dark and use "Sam" to maintain her body's metabolic rate.

This warehouse happens to have a window that directly overlooks the reception platform.

Grammer's genetically modified warriors did not have the right to dream, so she would always watch the lights on the platform light up and go out at night, and the ships enter and leave the airport, until the dawn of the system came.

"System time 23:47:15, which means this time tomorrow..."

A heavy mechanical sound was heard, and then quickly dissipated into the silent space.

Dreams were still too far away for her. She stared at the endless darkness, as if the faint light in the distance was like distant eyes, glancing at her indifferently.

"Why die?"

Even as she realized her consciousness was fading, only the remaining memories kept replaying in her mind - the swarm of insects that covered the sky and the earth broke through the front line, and she flew towards the swarm wrapped in flames. The ashes of the swarm fell like snow, and below were the blackened remains of the knights.

She didn't have time to hold a bouquet of flowers and offer a final memorial to the cavalrymen who sacrificed one after another.

Their lives bloomed in an instant and then went out, like a string of genetic codes, only numbers, and never had their own names.

She stared at the endless darkness, but still couldn't find the answer.

"Why live?"

In the dead silence, she was like a flame melting into the sea, leaving only a faint spark that kept moving towards the light, moving forward...

After an unknown amount of time, she opened her eyes and slowly uttered a new answer.

——If life really has meaning...then the only meaning of life is to live until tomorrow.

This was the answer she got from Bai Jun, whom she had only known for less than half a month but left a deep impression on her.

The opportunity to choose between life and death, she realized for the first time that everyone should have the right to choose, and that they can firmly and loudly refuse a fate that cannot be regretted and a predetermined ending.

She liked the answer very much.

She really wanted to get new things from Bai Jun. She really wanted to continue chatting with him, to have dinner with him, to walk side by side in the corridor, and she really wanted him to continue combing her hair...

However, in order to obtain the new life predicted by Elio, she must complete Sam's mission.

The molten fire dissipated, and the girl's figure reappeared in the cold warehouse. The green lines on both sides of her cheeks that linked to "Sam" quickly disappeared from her skin, and the heat on her body surface also receded.

But why did her heart ache?

Being such a hypocrite, am I really qualified to stand by his side and be his friend?

The bangs covering her eyes were dripping with water, which flowed down her cheeks.

As if to block out all other sounds, as if to immerse herself in sorrow, large tears fell one after another.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I lied to you."

The girl's fragile cry melted in the cold window.

--------------

Feeling like waking up from a deep sleep, Bai Jun opened his eyes and saw the familiar ceiling and metal walls.

Smelling the faint body fragrance of orchid in the air, Bai Jun's expression froze, and he gradually regained his memory of where he spent the night last night.

He didn't know what kind of inspiration Ruan Mei suddenly had last night. She seemed to be trying to verify some topic and kept him up all night. The countless manuscripts scattered on the floor were proof of this. Bai Jun lowered his head slightly and found that Ruan Mei, who was supposed to be sleeping in the bed, was inexplicably sticking to him again.

The seductive body was wrapped only in a thin sheet, her soft cheek was gently pressed against Bai Jun's chest, and the fragrance between her hair was constantly touching his nerves.

"It's already three o'clock in the afternoon. I really can't stay up all night next time..."

Turning his head to look at the wall clock, Bai Jun suppressed the helplessness in his heart and gently pushed away Ruan Mei who was clinging to him.

Bai Jun casually tied his silver hair into a high ponytail, picked up his coat, and quietly left the room.

In stark contrast to the previous few days, the atmosphere in the space station was gloomy, an inexplicable sense of depression permeated the air, and everyone's face seemed to be covered with a layer of dark clouds.

He first walked to the reception platform and wanted to go out to bask in the sun, but the person in charge told him that people were not allowed to go out of the space station during the next few days. Bai Jun felt a little confused. Could something have happened during the whole morning he slept?

So with this question in mind, Bai Jun prepared to go to Heita's office to inquire about the details.

He came to the deck of the main control compartment and found several members of the defense department surrounding Alan, who had a sad face, and they were talking about something.

"Alan?"

"Hmm? Bai Jun, where did you go last night?"

Alan turned around and found Bai Jun, pushed away the staff around him and ran towards him quickly.

"I was too busy testing things last night to go back. Besides, did something happen in the space station? Why do everyone's reactions seem so strange?"

Bai Jun interrupted Alan who was about to ask questions and expressed his confusion.

Alan blinked at first, then seeing the confusion on his face, he put on a serious expression.

"Ah, well...how should I put this? Anyway, please follow me for a moment."

After taking Bai Jun to a secluded corner, Alan looked around again, fearing that the content of their conversation would cause unrest in the surroundings.

"Simply put, a swarm of true stinging insects has appeared near the space station. If it were just a swarm, it would be fine, but the problem is that observation equipment has revealed that among them is an extremely rare, super-large individual, the 'Giant True Stinging Insect.'"

"Giant stinging insect?" Bai Jun leaned against the wall and listened silently.

"Yes, the giant true stinging insects are large enough to directly destroy half of the space station. To prevent the insect swarm's attack, Miss Ester activated the space station's first level alert, but she didn't directly tell everyone the reason, which is why everyone in the space station was in a panic."

As if he felt that what he said was a bit too much, Alan put away his serious expression and instead showed a reassuring smile.

"But Ms. Heita said that giant stinging insects are lazy and generally not aggressive. As long as you don't provoke the insect leader, the giant stinging insects won't attack. So just wait out these two days and nothing will happen. I guess that's why Ms. didn't tell the other staff members."

After Alan finished explaining, he hurriedly left, saying that he needed to go to the Defense Department for a meeting to arrange relevant plans.

After understanding the whole cause of the incident, Bai Jun had to give up his plan to go out to bask in the sun and idly pondered what he should do to pass the time.

"Bai Jun, are you free?"

"Samuel?"

A familiar girl's voice suddenly sounded from behind him. Bai Jun subconsciously turned around and saw the girl's figure.

It's really strange... With Bai Jun's current strength, even if the robin used the power of harmony to eliminate the sound and came behind him, he would be discovered instantly, but he was completely unaware of Samuel's footsteps. Even if he was lazy, this shouldn't be the case.

"Are you free now? I want to take you around my favorite place."

The girl's expression was a little haggard, and there was an inexplicable sadness in her gentle and clear eyes. If you listened carefully, you could also detect a slight hoarseness in her voice.

"I'm free, but Samuel...are you okay?"

Bai Jun thought for a second and asked worriedly.

"Of course I'm fine. I was just scolded by the section chief this morning. But it doesn't matter! I've already finished my current work, so...so..."

"Samuel's favorite place must be great. I'm looking forward to it."

The girl forced a smile on her face, not knowing how to continue speaking. Bai Jun, who was looking at her, smiled and nodded.

I don’t know if it was Bai Jun’s illusion, but after hearing his promise, the girl seemed to be relieved as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

The girl took Bai Jun through the crowded main control cabin and took the elevator to the support cabin where she worked.

The crowd nearby suddenly became much quieter. The two walked in the area where only maintenance workers and staff members came and went. They turned at a complicated intersection, followed a long passage, and finally arrived at a remote spare parts warehouse.

Then, the girl found a box among the messy spare parts that was large enough for two people to sit down.

"This is the most secluded place in the support section. Not many people come here usually. I really like quiet places, so most of the time when I have free time I come here to laze around... You won't laugh at me, will you?"

The girl's words were a mixture of truth and lies, but her feelings were extremely sincere.

"Why would I laugh at you? As a friend says, work isn't about earning value; it's about labor in exchange for compensation. Taking a break from work is how you earn value for yourself. I was even lazier than you when I was working at Xianzhou."

"Bai Jun, you always comfort people like this."

The girl pursed her lips and laughed softly, then she took out a small bottle from her pocket.

"I want to show you something."

The bottle contained a few small insects emitting faint light. Then she unscrewed the bottle cap and released all the fireflies inside. In the dim and cold warehouse, the fireflies seemed to dot a few stars in the sky.

"These beautiful little creatures are called fireflies. Although they are beautiful, their lifespan is very short. Once outside the greenhouse, most of them will not survive more than three days..."

Bai Jun didn't understand her intention and just listened silently.

"But fireflies are amazing creatures. They might fly towards a candle, or suddenly age, but every night before that, their light will be brighter than the stars."

The girl stared at the fireflies that were gradually emitting light and murmured her thoughts.

"Tell me, if the fireflies already knew their fate, could they still emit a light brighter than the stars?"