Chapter 63: Dreamland

Description

After washing up.

Inside Ye Yuan’s bedroom, Mu Bai wanted to lie on the bed and scroll through her phone for a while, but she was immediately entangled by a “human body pillow” and couldn’t move at all.

Seeing that Ye Yuan seemed exhausted, she helplessly gave up the idea of playing with her phone and closed her eyes to sleep.

‘A Power Bank needs to have the self-awareness of a Power Bank…’

To be fair, although the Train was absolutely safe, it completely lacked the sense of tranquility found in a modern, peaceful society.

Her nerves, which had been tense for so long, were finally able to relax.

Unexpectedly, Mu Bai fell asleep very quickly.

Her body instinctively held Ye Yuan tightly.

Ye Yuan was indeed a bit tired, but not from the labor of being a host; in fact, she hadn’t really done much.

The reason she appeared mentally fatigued was that she had been in low spirits since the incident not long ago.

Even though she was the one Mu Bai had turned to—even though Mu Bai had expectations of her—she had been unable to do anything.

What was the meaning of her existence to Mu Bai?

When it was just the two of them, she could take responsibility for protecting Mu Bai.

But now, with the addition of Mo Cha and Tang Shifu’s combat power, Mu Bai no longer needed her protection alone.

What remained seemed to be only the experience of their initial meeting and mutual support.

This kind of connection…

wasn’t solid enough.

Just this level of intimacy was far from sufficient.

She wanted, so badly, to go a step further…

she wanted to be comforted, she wanted to be satisfied.

Something that had been missing all along felt like it was constantly being filled by Mu Bai, yet it only made Ye Yuan even more restless.

She craved more love.

If they were just friends or teammates…

the “love” she could receive was too little.

How could she endure that?

Under the influence of the [Power Bank Constitution], as Ye Yuan breathed in the sweet scent lingering near the tip of her nose, her emotions gradually calmed.

Then, she drifted into dreamland.

***

“It’s ten o’clock, time to get up!”

Mo Cha had been knocking for ages without waking the two of them, so she pushed the door open abruptly.

She saw the black-haired figure and the small white bundle tightly entangled on the spacious, soft bed.

This wasn’t a bed on the Train; it was perfectly large enough for two people to sleep occupying their own halves.

Consequently, the scene before her was a bit ambiguous…

It was somewhat beyond the bounds of friendship.

Mu Bai was bleary-eyed and didn’t realize anything was wrong.

As she crawled up from on top of Ye Yuan, the wide collar of her nightgown slipped off her shoulder, suddenly exposing her delicate shoulder and smooth, fine skin to the air.

Mo Cha hurried forward to pull the collar back up.

But as Mu Bai sat up, her exquisite neckline and collarbones were still fully visible.

Her cream-white long hair draped over her shoulders like a curtain, displaying all that beauty to the person standing before her.

The fatal part was that Mu Bai was completely unaware of how enticing she looked at the moment.

Realizing Mo Cha was tidying her collar, although she didn’t know why the nightgown needed tidying, she cooperatively leaned even closer.

Mo Cha’s movements stiffened, a rare occurrence for her.

She couldn’t decide whether to let go or to take the opportunity to pull the girl into her arms and pet her hair.

“Do you two… usually sleep huddled together like this?”

Tang Shifu couldn’t help but ask a soul-searching question.

‘Is this what true best friends do? Have Mo Cha and I been too distant all this time?’

Tang Shifu fell into deep thought.

Mu Bai heard the question and finally woke up completely.

Perhaps due to the sleeping environment, she had slept exceptionally well this time.

Even though she had a Talent to restore stamina and energy, no previous sleep had been as lingeringly pleasant as this night’s.

It had left her a bit dazed.

“This… you guys know my Talent. On the Train, there’s often not enough time to rest properly, so we can only increase physical contact like this to make full use of my Talent,” Mu Bai explained.

That was exactly what Ye Yuan had said at the beginning.

The reason was so legitimate that she had found it very convincing back then.

It was just that, looking at the scene now, she felt her dignity was slipping away a bit…

As if she were some kind of sleeping tool.

Tang Shifu and Mo Cha glanced at each other and both nodded silently.

It was indeed logical.

“Anyway, you two get out first and wait for me to change!”

Mu Bai said, shamed and annoyed.

Once Tang Shifu and Mo Cha had left, Mu Bai changed into her black dress.

Turning around, she realized that Ye Yuan was clearly awake but had buried herself under the covers.

‘Does even Ye Yuan stay in bed and act spoiled?’

“Yuan, it’ll be time for lunch soon after we get up. We have to go out and buy supplies this afternoon. If you don’t get up now to put something in your stomach, eating a full meal directly won’t be good for your digestion,” Mu Bai said, shaking the bundle of blankets.

“Mmh…”

Ye Yuan’s voice came from inside the blankets, muffled.

“Then I’ll go wash up first,” Mu Bai said, already off the bed.

Only after Mu Bai left did Ye Yuan slowly pull the blankets down.

A lingering blush remained on her fair, cold face, and even the indifference in her eyes had melted like ice and snow into a pool of spring water.

It was precisely because she realized she must look very strange that Ye Yuan had wrapped herself in the blankets to keep anyone from seeing.

She had dreamed of Mu Bai.

In the dream, she was more assertive than in reality, taking the step that she didn’t dare to take in real life.

This was the heart she had never dared to face directly.

So…

this was what she truly wanted.

***

In the living room, Mu Bai ate a sandwich for breakfast while continuing to follow the news.

It could now be confirmed that there were many Players hidden in this world.

While it didn’t affect their safety, she couldn’t let the presence of these Players interfere with their plan to gather supplies over the next few days.

Therefore, collecting information was also necessary.

Unsurprisingly, news across various platforms was indeed mixed with many reports related to Players.

For instance, incidents of mysterious injuries occurring in various places, or the sudden appearance of many fugitives in illegal possession of firearms who were now being wanted.

A few days ago, these things could still be suppressed, but over the last two days, violent incidents had been increasing everywhere.

The number of special trauma patients received by hospitals was also gradually rising, making it impossible to completely block the information.

She estimated that in a few more days, the authorities would investigate and figure out what was going on.

The Train System didn’t forbid Players from revealing their identities.

If they had the right channels, a small number of Players might choose to trade information with the authorities, or even…

it was very likely that Players already existed among the official staff.

Scrolling further down, Mu Bai’s pupils constricted.

[A Certain Western Giant Conglomerate High-Profile Acquisition of Gold, Causing Fluctuations in Gold Prices]

In the comments section, some speculated if there was going to be a war over there, while others said it was related to the skyrocketing silver prices.

Mu Bai felt that at this point in time, anything involving gold highly likely involved Players.

It might even be a Player who also owned a Level 3 Train and was a high-ranking executive in that conglomerate…

“Yuan, aren’t there regulatory mechanisms in the West?”

Mu Bai held her phone out to the side so Ye Yuan could see the news on the screen.

“There are, but large conglomerates over there usually have the ability to bypass local controls,” Ye Yuan answered.

‘Tsk, geographical advantage again.’

Mu Bai sighed.

Fortunately, the four of them hadn’t planned to buy gold through normal channels anyway, otherwise they would certainly have been affected by the gold price.