To most people on Earth, traveling is a very troublesome matter.
They often need to take a taxi to the airport or high-speed rail station, undergo security checks, line up to check tickets amidst a crowd, and then board various modes of transportation in sequence.
If they are going abroad, they also have to fill out entry cards.
Passports for some countries require going to the embassy in advance for a visa, and sometimes even explaining themselves repeatedly to a visa officer to prove they won’t stay illegally.
It is a hassle.
But for Bai Xialin, none of these troubles exist.
Going to any corner of the Earth is merely a matter of inputting a string of commands.
No need to enter a station for ticket checks, nor any need to endure the bumps of a plane or train.
She only needs to sit on the sofa and wait for a cup of pour-over coffee to cool, and her destination is reached.
“Ah…”
Bai Xialin murmured softly.
Over the past two days, Gu Yebai’s travel records had been completely integrated into the surveillance.
Sometimes, she couldn’t help but think about it.
‘How wonderful it would be if I could take his place.’
‘I want to take him to a candlelit dinner for just the two of us, and I want to quietly cause some mischief in a room where no one will disturb us—to lock him up and watch him show a shy expression because he is at a loss.’
Unfortunately, she was ultimately just an observer.
This time, with the identity of ‘Bai Xialin’ in Donghai, would she really be able to create a story that belonged to them?
— Ding-dong.
— [SEOUL SPECIAL CITY HAS BEEN REACHED]
The AI central control system’s steady mechanical voice came through.
“Okay, I understand.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Bai Xialin walked to the door and stopped in front of a full-length mirror, looking at herself for a few more moments.
When playing ‘Ai Lian,’ she had always hated looking in the mirror.
But now as Bai Xialin, she couldn’t help but repeatedly check that face in the mirror, as if she could never see it enough.
“Well, I’m heading out.”
— [WISHING YOU A SMOOTH JOURNEY AND A FRUITFUL LOVE]
“I told you, it’s just research, not love.”
Just a moment ago she was in Linchuan; now, she was already standing in the women’s restroom of a shopping mall in the Seodaemun District of Seoul.
Next, she would first go to see the android parents she had left in Seoul.
They had become senior executives at Samsung Group and were, in a very real sense, successful people in this city.
‘The phone number, if I remember correctly…’
Bai Xialin took out her phone, scrolled through her contact list, and quickly found those two familiar names.
“Hello, I’m back.”
“Please send a car to pick me up. I’m in Seodaemun District.”
“Just pick me up at Ewha Girls’ High School.”
“Yes, my alma mater.”
After ending the call, Bai Xialin walked out of the mall and strolled along the street.
This was an area she used to frequent, and the streetscape was almost identical to her memories.
Since she had arranged to meet her android parents at Ewha Girls’ High School, she simply decided to go back to the school for a look first—and, incidentally, to take another look at the past.
“Ah, Senior Bai!”
“It’s really you!”
Several young girls walked toward her.
They wore navy blue suit jackets paired with dark pleated skirts, leather shoes, and dark over-the-knee socks.
It was the iconic British-style uniform of Ewha Girls’ High School.
“You are…”
“It really has been a long time!”
“We heard you went to study abroad. Are you back for the holidays?”
Several girls quickly surrounded Bai Xialin, their voices carrying excitement they couldn’t hide.
Ewha Girls’ High School was one of the top girls’ high schools in the country.
As an institution for cultivating elite women, it did not emphasize ‘youth,’ but rather order, competition, hierarchy, and a sense of superiority.
Most students maintained a polite but distant relationship with one another.
However, Bai Xialin had been the exception back then.
She was an existence revered by all the girls in the school.
Her grades always remained steadily in first place, she was remarkably beautiful, and her temperament was outstanding.
Her family background might not have been the wealthiest, but her existence itself was a total multidimensional strike to her peers.
“Yes, I’ve returned.”
“Next, I plan to go to Donghai to study.”
“Weren’t you going to New York?”
“Well, plans changed.”
“My parents are being transferred to Donghai for work.”
Bai Xialin offered a polite and gentle smile to the few girls who looked somewhat familiar, though she could no longer recall their names.
The so-called transfer was merely an excuse.
The real reason was simply because Gu Yebai was about to go to Donghai, and she had to go there as well.
“Is Senior Bai not planning to come back?”
“Without Senior Bai here, school is really lonely…”
“Can we walk with Senior Bai for a bit?”
Back then, Bai Xialin had organized a band and single-handedly managed a girl group project.
As a player ranked in the top ten on the Korean server, she had once faced off against a veteran T1 midlaner in an offline invitational tournament.
The story of her completing a solo kill with Zed was still frequently mentioned today.
Her grades never wavered from the number one spot.
She was well-bred and always wore a perfectly measured smile.
Talent scouts had once humbly invited her to participate in variety shows or even debut directly, but she had always shaken her head and refused.
To Ewha Girls’ High School, Bai Xialin herself was a legend.
Some said she hadn’t joined any established clubs back then.
Others said that the most difficult academic clubs in the school had all sent her invitations, which she had declined one by one.
It was only later that people began to mention that name.
It wasn’t officially announced, nor was it written on the school bulletin board.
It was just that at some point, junior girls began to whisper at the end of the hallways, saying that someone seemed to be preparing a strange club.
— The NASA Club.
At first, no one took it seriously.
After all, at Ewha Girls’ High School, clubs were never places meant for satisfying fantasies.
What they discussed there was philosophy, international relations, and social structures—not space and extraterrestrial civilizations.
But as it turned out, that matter was true.
Rumor had it that she indeed started a small-scale club.
There weren’t many members, but every single one of them was someone whose name appeared on the honor roll.
They didn’t practice, didn’t perform, and didn’t participate in any school showcases.
They just closed the door and drew the curtains in a classroom after school.
When someone walked past, they had occasionally overheard fragments of conversation.
It was orbital mechanics, the Fermi Paradox, and “If civilizations exist, why have we not yet been found?”
In more exaggerated versions, a certain class was even mentioned.
That day was supposed to be just a regular extended discussion.
But for some reason, the topic was led toward whether extraterrestrial life existed.
The teacher’s conclusion was very conservative.
But Bai Xialin had proposed a path for counter-evidence on the spot.
It wasn’t an emotional rebuttal.
Nor was it a whimsical hypothesis.
It was an entire set of rigorous logical deductions that were unsettlingly precise.
Supposedly, for the second half of that class, the teacher hardly spoke again.
“Senior Bai…”
“Senior Bai!”
Unconcealed adoration was reflected on every face.
They looked up to her and imitated her, treating her as a projection of some kind of future.
As long as Bai Xialin still stood in some corner of this city, they would feel that their lives would no longer hold any regrets.
They hoped Bai Xialin would remain in Seoul forever.