Chapter 72: No Qualifications
Nighttime.
Night Lan and Blank were in a room together.
Night Lan had just taken a shower and was nervously sitting on the bed.
Today, she wasn’t resting in White Paint’s room.
Because Blank said she wanted to sleep with her, claiming it would be more reassuring to cuddle with her at night.
Night Lan had inexplicably agreed.
But now, she couldn’t help feeling a bit out of control and anxious.
Sleeping next to her idol!
This wasn’t like Night Star, White Paint, Eypar, or Lan Feng Su Yu.
Every time she slept with a new girl, for some reason, it always felt weird.
Wait, doesn’t that make it sound like she’s some kind of terrible Loli?
She wasn’t that at all.
And there’s nothing strange about it.
Night Lan was a noble single lady, and today she was just making an exception by acting as a pillow for someone!
Yeah, that’s it.
At that moment, Blank emerged from the bathroom after her shower.
Seeing Night Lan sitting upright on the bed, Blank smiled gently, “Sorry to keep you waiting, Night Lan.”
“Uh, it’s fine…”
“Let’s sleep.”
“Um-hum.”
The lights in the room were turned off, and the surrounding environment quickly grew dim.
Night Lan and Blank lay on the bed in silence, without saying a word.
Suddenly, Blank spoke up.
“Night Lan, I can’t sleep. I’m worried that if I close my eyes, I might forget you, and then I’ll end up somewhere I don’t even know. Just thinking about it makes me scared.”
“……” She was scared too.
“What do you think my future will look like? Maybe I won’t be me anymore, and Blank won’t be Blank. Even if I believe that Night Lan will always remember me, if I forget Night Lan, it would feel so terrible…”
“……” She felt terrible too.
“Clearly I’m so important to myself, I should really cherish and remember things well. I should be grateful for your promise to always remember me, but if I forget everything, I might end up treating you like a stranger. I don’t want to become that way. At the very least… let me remember you, who has given so much for me…”
However, to these tiny hopes, Blank could only feel a sense of powerlessness.
It was precisely because she knew it was impossible that she felt so uneasy.
Just then, Blank felt a small body hugging her.
Night Lan had pressed her face against Blank’s arm, her expression hidden in the dark.
Then a soft voice came.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind. I will make it happen. I will save you. Just sleep peacefully. If you forget me, I will make sure you remember, even if I have to keep starting over. I will grant your wishes, please believe me…”
“Ah…”
Blank’s lips parted slightly, moisture forming in her eyes, eyelids and cherry lips gently closing.
“Um, I believe you.”
As soon as the words left her lips, Blank’s breathing quickly stabilized.
With a smile, she drifted into dreamland, simply because there was a reassuring presence beside her.
……
Late at night.
Two figures, one big and one small, lay in bed, the atmosphere incredibly serene.
Suddenly, something strange happened.
The figure with milky white hair gradually emitted a faint light, slowly disappearing from the bed without leaving a trace.
The petite figure clenched her fists, which had just been gripping the clothes of the person beside her, filled with unwillingness.
“……”
Night Lan sat up on the bed, staring blankly at the now empty spot beside her, speechless, the atmosphere overwhelmingly oppressive.
Only after the real loss did she truly understand how painful this feeling was, as if her heart was in a tight grip.
“Ha…”
Night Lan’s breathing began to hasten, and she instinctively clutched at her chest.
“Wish Machine… help me…”
The stars within Night Lan flickered in response, but it didn’t grant her a wish.
For an Extraordinary Star to interfere with an Ordinary Star was already at the limit of what it could do.
Besides, she couldn’t make a wish of equal magnitude again so soon, or her body simply wouldn’t be able to handle it.
What the Wish Machine could provide right now was just a little bit.
But that was enough.
If previously there was no hope at all, now the Wish Machine had provided hope.
As long as there’s hope, the ending could be reversed.
Night Lan’s breathing gradually steadied, her bright blue eyes gazing out at the dark night, moonlight spilling through the window onto her face, reflecting the determination in her eyes.
“Blank, just wait a moment. I will come to your side soon.”
Meanwhile.
On a deserted stage, enveloped in darkness, only the weak moonlight shining through the skylights offered some illumination.
A figure stood on stage, eyes suddenly opening, looking around in confusion.
“Who am I? What should I do?”
The milky white-haired figure’s mind was a blank, like a newborn baby.
Nothing was remembered.
But she knew this place seemed to be a stage, and she wanted to make a sound, to sing.
“Ah…♬”
A melodious voice echoed on the stage, bringing a different atmosphere to the dark quiet night.
Her human identity had vanished, now reborn as a Star Eclipse, unseen by anyone.
A song passed by.
The milky white-haired figure stopped singing, unsure of what to do next.
Perhaps wandering, or perhaps singing endlessly.
Is that it?
At that moment, heavy footsteps suddenly echoed in the quiet surroundings, slowly drawing near the stage, accompanied by a series of sharp claps.
Clap, clap, clap—
The milky white-haired figure turned her gaze, confused, and saw a tall figure stepping out from the shadows.
It was a magician dressed in old-fashioned attire, smiling as he fixed his gaze on the figure on stage.
“What a wonderful song! I was drawn here by your voice. It seems you are a bit lost, my lady. Don’t you know where to go next?”
“Yes.”
The group leader approached her, extending a gloved hand, seemingly inviting her.
“So, do you have any interest in joining my theater group? We’re currently in need of a performer skilled in singing.”
The milky white-haired figure looked down at the leader’s hand. After a few seconds, she placed her own hand on it.
Seeing this, the group leader knew the outcome and couldn’t help but smile with joy.
“Welcome to the Rising Sun Theater Group! You can call me the group leader. We have a tradition that members refer to each other by codenames, and you shall be called the Singer.”
“Alright.”
“Now, let me take you to meet the other members. They are all excellent performers just like you.”
“Um…”
And so, the group leader led the milky white figure away from the stage and into the fold of the theater group as their new singer.
……
Dawn broke.
Mo Tu opened his eyes in bed, a contemplative look flashing in his gaze.
What had happened?
Why was the information in his mind so chaotic?
It seemed like he was missing a lot of things that shouldn’t be missing.
“My head hurts.”
Mo Tu simply decided not to sleep and got out of bed to take a walk.
As he walked down the corridor, he spotted a black-haired loli dashing by, vaguely seeing her wearing headphones, seemingly lost in music.
He recognized her.
She was the Extraordinary Star Holder from the future—Night Lan.
“Hey, Night Lan.”
Hearing the voice, Night Lan stopped and turned to see who called her.
“Mo Rabbit?”
Mo Tu immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
“What kind of new nickname is that? It sounds so weird.”
“Isn’t it cute?”
“Well, sorry, but the word ‘cute’ is basically non-existent in my territory.”
“If I turned you into a loli, then it should fit, right?”
“What kind of evil witch are you?”
Mo Tu was too exhausted to complain.
He didn’t know if Night Lan had dreamt some beautiful dream today, but she was throwing around such terrifying jokes.
Could it be she had that thought all along?
Mo Tu shook off the ideas in his head and casually asked, “Why were you running so urgently? Did something interesting happen?”
“Um…”
Night Lan stared at Mo Tu intently, letting out a light sigh.
“Looks like you’re not always so reliable, huh? The suffering on this land can only be dispelled by me!”
“Uh…?”
Why didn’t Mo Tu understand a single word from this loli?
Is it a generation gap?
Or did he miss some details?
With that thought, Mo Tu took a deep breath.
“I’ve noticed there are huge gaps in the information in my mind. For some unknown reason, a lot of it has inexplicably disappeared. Do you have any leads?”
Mo Tu’s instincts told him this loli definitely knew something.
Night Lan fell into contemplation.
It seemed she was debating whether or not to tell Mo Tu.
“Then again, the current Mo Tu is too weak. He’s not reliable at all; telling you would just be pointless.”
“Hey, that’s a bit harsh.”
He, a Sunlight Night Watcher, being called unreliable by a little loli?
If word got back to headquarters, it would be a complete joke.
Those who didn’t know would think Mo Tu simply wasn’t qualified at all.
Feeling the urgency, Mo Tu thought it was time to save his reputation.
“I might be able to help you; what can it hurt to try?”
“Um, okay.”
Upon hearing Night Lan agree, Mo Tu focused intently, ready to carefully listen to what she was about to say.
However, he could only see Night Lan’s lips moving, but strangely enough, he couldn’t hear a word, as if the information she was trying to convey was blocked.
“What? No way…?”
Mo Tu’s pupils widened slightly, falling into shock.
Night Lan noticed his expression and couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
“I told you, you can’t hear me. I might as well handle it myself.”
With that, Night Lan turned to leave.
“Wait.” Mo Tu called after her. “What are you going to do?”
“Um… I’m going to try to become a Songstress.”
After saying this, Night Lan walked away.
Mo Tu didn’t call her back.
He was busy analyzing what Night Lan had said.
“What does ‘becoming a Songstress’ mean? Ugh, things are starting to get murky—does that mean I have no qualifications to get involved in this?”
With that thought, a grin appeared on Mo Tu’s face, almost resembling anger.
“Where do you get off saying I’m weak? Such arrogance! You think you can stop me from getting involved? Well, let’s see if you can!”
Mo Tu’s expression hardened, and he stopped his self-talk.
Since he couldn’t directly divine the high-level existence, he would approach it from another angle.
For that, he needed a lot of information.
If that “Blank Songstress” truly existed, then she would definitely leave many loopholes brimming with discrepancies in the world.
Just because others couldn’t perceive it didn’t mean Mo Tu couldn’t.
His stars were specifically designed to organize this sort of detail.
In the time that followed, Mo Tu quickly learned about the gaps in the Songstress industry.
Once he confirmed what kind of being the “Blank Songstress” was, he would move on to other matters.
She shouldn’t be observable, nor should her information exist in the world; that seemed to be her existence.
Immediately after, Mo Tu began to divine peripheral events, trying to gather information piece by piece about the “Blank Songstress.”
This method had a high success rate and wasn’t nearly as likely to fail as direct divination.
The drawback, however, was that it required a lot of information for groundwork, which was mentally and physically taxing.
Time flowed gradually.
Eventually, Mo Tu finally unearthed those starry bits of information from a sea of data, gradually piecing together the final result.
“Isn’t this it?”
Mo Tu lifted his gaze, a subtle smile forming at the corners of his mouth.
His target was:
The Rising Sun Theater Group.
