Chapter 19: A Moment of Drunkenness

Someone was knocking on the window.

“Hello, your sushi.”

“Okay, thank you very much.”

Ailian opened the window and reached out to take the sushi box.

Immediately, she snapped her fingers.

The bustling night view of Tokyo was sliced away as if by a blade, the neon lights and traffic disappearing in an instant.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, a deep-sea world unfurled once more.

The dark blue water pressure flowed slowly, and a great white shark was chasing a school of fish.

Ailian sat back at the dining table and opened the sushi.

The salmon roe gunkan exploded in her mouth, the salty freshness dancing on the tip of her tongue like tiny pinpricks of light.

The tamagoyaki was warm and soft, its sweetness suppressed to just the right level.

The moment the fat of the fatty tuna melted in her mouth, it almost made her forget to breathe.

“Truly delicious.”

She held a piece of sushi, suddenly feeling a strange sense of melancholy.

‘It would be great if Student Gu could eat this kind of thing too.’

Ailian poured herself a glass of Kokuryu Nizaemon.

The liquid was crisp and clear.

She crossed her long legs, showing a rare moment of relaxation and enjoyment.

Because she had to wear a mimicry skin all day, the physical exertion was truly enormous.

“Hmm, I should write this in the observation log as well,” she muttered to herself.

“But drinking only Kokuryu Nizaemon lacks a control group. I’ll have another bottle of Katsuyama Diamond Akake later, or maybe a Burgundy red wine would be good…”

She spoke as if she were arranging a controlled experiment, dutiful and responsible.

But these were all excuses.

She simply liked to drink.

Whenever the observation target “Gu Yebai” popped into her head, the urge to drink would involuntarily surface.

At some point, her fair cheeks became stained with a flush unique to young girls.

The tips of her ears were also heating up slightly.

Her memory suddenly drifted back to a few days ago.

When Gu Yebai was explaining the problems she had gotten wrong, she could smell that clean yet somewhat self-repressed masculine scent on him.

It was like cold wind and snow, mixed with a hint of shabby poverty and the stubborn scent of someone who refused to bow their head…

She didn’t dislike that smell.

On the contrary, she cared about it quite a bit.

A man like him should have been unable to look after anyone else, yet he still treated her with kindness.

Even when the whole class was isolating “Ailian” as an ugly individual, he remained unmoved…

“Hey, why are you so good to me?”

Ailian spoke dizzily, as if talking to herself, yet as if Gu Yebai were truly right beside her.

“Could it be that you saw through me and realized I’m a higher-dimensional being?” She laughed, a hint of cunning in her drunken state.

“Or do you really have a fetish for ugliness? If a great beauty like this appeared in front of you now, would you actually be disgusted instead?”

“Haha, I know… you’re a kind, good baby.”

She swirled her wine glass, the liquid leaving thin arcs on the glass walls.

“Big sister likes good babies the most.”

“This kind of rare quality deserves a reward.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“And helping me with my cleaning duties and all that… I know, you know. That day you helped me, you ended up missing the last bus and had to walk home. You’re such a fool.”

Ailian was already quite drunk, her fingertips lightly tapping the rim of the glass as if tapping someone’s forehead.

“You’re a bit short on money.”

“Should I just give you some? It’s just a matter of modifying a string of code, anyway.”

But she quickly shook her head again.

‘But you’re lonely and a bit proud. Giving money directly won’t work. The key is that as long as you’re lonely, no matter how much money you have, you’ll still be lonely…’

‘And you don’t have a girl you like…’

‘For my next mimicry identity, playing a super beautiful girl to be your girlfriend isn’t out of the question… After all, you even called me your wife…’

‘But calling me your wife without permission is a bit too presumptuous, isn’t it?’

‘Do you even know how old I am, you little brat? Show some respect.’

She let out a wine-scented hiccup, the drunkenness surging up completely.

“I’m already 19 years old. I’m already an old lady… hic. On our planet, by 19, people already have their second child. We’re a matriarchal society. A little puppy like you would be eaten alive in minutes over there…”

That was the thing about alcohol.

The more blurred one’s consciousness became, the more one wanted to frantically pour it down their throat.

As if by drinking just a little more, one could suppress those messy emotions and return to being that rational and efficient Miss Alpha.

[Beep! Observation: Your cognitive abilities are declining. Please exercise moderation in your drinking.]

[Beep! Observation: Your happiness levels are rising. May I ask what pleasant event occurred?]

[Beep! Observation: Your heart rate is still climbing.]

“Shut up, shut up!”

Ailian threw a slipper at the AI control system that kept beeping and popping up warnings.

Thud.

The slipper hit the center of the screen, bounced, and landed on the carpet.

After a brief silence, the AI control system spoke again in its emotionless tone.

[Beep! Shall I start the live broadcast of Gu Yebai’s life for you?]

Ailian crossed her arms over her chest.

“Hmph, at least you’re sensible.”

She kicked her long legs even higher, though her tone was feigned seriousness.

“Although peeking is immoral behavior, this is for the sake of understanding him and giving him a return.”

At the very least, she had to know what Gu Yebai’s desires were.

What kind of girls he liked.

What kind of hardships he faced in life.

Oh, right.

Today, the class representative seemed to be planning something against Gu Yebai because he had ranked second in the exams.

He had teamed up with the athlete, Huang Maomao, intending to give Gu Yebai a hard time.

Hmph, she didn’t know who was backing that guy for him to be so arrogant.

“Bullying me is one thing, but if you bully Gu Yebai, I’ll make sure you get more than you bargained for.”

A cold light flashed in her purple eyes, carrying obvious killing intent.

The screen lit up, and the image cut in.

The next second, Ailian froze instantly.

“Oh my God! He’s taking a shower!”

[Beep! Personal privacy issues detected. According to the social and moral norms of Earth and Atlantis civilizations, watching a member of the opposite sex naked is considered immoral and is not encouraged. Shall I close the live broadcast?]

Ailian’s face heated up.

“Dammit, zoom in! Zoom in for me!”

“You’re already my AI support system, what are you naggin’ about?”

“Ahem, this is for the sake of observing the health status of the individual Gu Yebai! It is necessary to observe the entire body.”

The AI control system immediately complied.

The image was pulled closer, and closer…

The subtle textures of the skin and pores were excessively clear.

Ailian stared at the screen, forgetting even to blink, as if she were reading a profound thesis or some important data…

“Oh, oh, oh, this is good! This is a feast for the eyes!”

Ailian picked up another piece of sushi.

“He’s really something. His body is great. In Earth terms, you really can’t judge a book by its cover! Recording function! Save it to my D drive, and back it up to the cloud while you’re at it! By the way, if I ever die in the line of duty, remember to destroy it for me immediately, understand?”

[Beep! Video download complete! Backup complete! Command executed!]

She had been watching him all this time…

When he left the cemetery all alone, when he went home by himself to write his novel, when he cried while eating duck leg rice because he thought of his parents…

Ailian was always watching.

Sometimes, she really wanted to hug him.

Or perhaps she should just stand before him in her true form, with a mischievous, sinister grin, and tell him:

“Sorry, I’m actually an alien.”

“Since you know my true identity, I have no choice but to kidnap you to Atlantis.”

“Alright, say goodbye to your Mother Earth, and come with big sister.”

She could even make her lines sound more villainous.

“There’s no point in calling for help, because no matter how much you scream, no one is coming to save you. Accept your fate, hehehe.”

Immediately after, a spaceship would descend from the sky, and a beam of light would fall vertically, sucking him up like a feather.

In her imagination, Gu Yebai would struggle, maybe curse at her, glare at her, or show a look of disappointment.

But in the end, he would still be taken by her to a place where only she knew the coordinates.

A place where no one would ever hurt him again, a place where he could only obediently look at her.