### Chapter 5: d*mn It’s Too Harsh
Night Lan suddenly realized that this little loli in front of her might work at the Night Watcher Base, and her portable snacks could be taken to the battlefield as backup supplies. She thought that was pretty cool.
Would she end up working alongside this loli in the future?
Just thinking about it made her super excited!
After all, Night Lan had always been into eating, and having a friend who could cook was just the best.
She really wanted to be friends with Neko Shinna.
Night Lan was wondering if she could get Neko Shinna to start learning at the Night Watcher Base earlier to get used to it.
After all, there were already quite a few lolis there.
There was the young-looking fourteen-year-old loli like herself, along with White Fish and Zero Meow. Even foreign Night Watchers seemed to have younger ones, like that blonde loli she saw next to Xi Xia last time.
It looked like the Night Watcher organization was some kind of shady company, but at least they didn’t assign dangerous missions to minors.
At this point, Neko Shinna suddenly stopped talking and started staring at Kong Yu Bai.
“Are you the Blank Songstress?”
“Mhmm.”
“I thought so! I love your songs. When will you release something new?” asked Neko Shinna eagerly.
Even though Kong Yu Bai was currently in retirement, people could notice her quickly if they ever saw her.
Sometimes no one talked about her, but once she appeared in public, her presence became huge.
As a former world-renowned songstress, her fans were everywhere—men, women, young, and old alike.
Having a fifteen-year-old fan like Neko Shinna wasn’t unusual at all.
Facing the fans’ demands for new songs, Kong Yu Bai responded gently, “I apologize, since I’m in retirement, I probably won’t be releasing new works frequently.”
“Ah, that’s too bad.”
Kong Yu Bai glanced at Night Lan behind her and continued, “But I know someone else who sings equally well. You can think of her as the new Blank Songstress; if I have any ideas, she’ll sing them out instead.”
“Who is she?” asked Neko Shinna curiously.
Kong Yu Bai walked up to the contemplative Night Lan and patted her head.
“It’s her. You can call her the Starry Sky Songstress.”
In that moment, Kong Yu Bai had established Night Lan’s new identity and replaced the nameless songstress on the song website.
This was one of the functions of Existence Interference—existence replacement.
Night Lan snapped out of her thoughts and felt a new power bestowed onto her. She stared at Kong Yu Bai in disbelief, wanting to yell out, “What’s wrong with you!?”
Kong Yu Bai whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry. I just gave you a professional name. Otherwise, being called the ‘No-Name Songstress’ would be too lame.”
“Oh, well, problem solved.”
Neko Shinna nodded after hearing the nickname.
“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Well, enjoy your snacks. If you want anything more, I can make it for you. Cooking is my strong suit.”
With that, Neko Shinna left the room and headed to the kitchen. She happened to catch sight of the chef preparing food.
“Oh, Shinna, did you help the guests make their food? Sorry for bothering you again.”
“No worries, I like doing that. Plus, I got to meet my idol. I’m so lucky I made the food for them.”
“Ah, I see. Thanks a lot.”
“You’re welcome.”
After bidding farewell, Neko Shinna quickly returned to her room and started searching for ‘Starry Sky Songstress.’ She soon found the person.
Surprisingly, she only had one song.
“The song ‘Forget-Me-Not’ must be a cover. Strange.”
Driven by curiosity, Neko Shinna clicked play, and beautiful, soothing music filled the room.
“Wow, nice!”
After finishing the song, she immediately shared it with a good friend who also loved lounging around.
Even though the Starry Sky Songstress only had one piece, the Blank Songstress said she might release new works in the future, so it’s worth looking forward to.
“That’s awesome.”
Neko Shinna started looping the song while thinking about other things.
By the way, her family seemed to want her to study somewhere. They said she could work there in the future.
Where exactly was it?
“They say I’d be able to research cooking there, which is what I like doing. So, my job would be making food for others.”
Neko Shinna was very curious and enthusiastic about it. Making delicious meals was what she originally did for the people around her.
When praised, she felt a sense of accomplishment and pride that nothing else could match. That’s why she occasionally cooked for customers at restaurants and asked for their feedback in private rooms.
If praised, she felt great. If criticized, Neko Shinna felt disheartened, then worked even harder at cooking.
That was her current daily routine.
Back in the private room…
Night Lan happily gorged on snacks, looking totally thrilled.
The girls weren’t too familiar with each other, and their relationship wasn’t that close—it was mostly because of Night Lan that they gathered.
They could be described as somewhat harmonious.
White Paint sat beside White Fish, remembering how Night Lan treated her like she did with White Fish, and felt a bit nostalgic.
White Fish noticed White Paint’s emotional changes and asked, “Sis, are you thinking about something happy?”
“Mm, a bit.”
“Can you tell me about it, White Fish?”
“Later.”
“Okay, I’m looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, Night Lan and Kong Yu Bai were still discussing the ‘Starry Sky Songstress.’
“Ugh, I don’t really want to be a songstress. I just do it for fun.”
“Ah, it wouldn’t hurt to try. I’m really looking forward to seeing you become a popular songstress.”
“But being too well-known is annoying.”
“What’s wrong with not being known? Everyone knows about the Starry Sky Songstress, but no one knows about Night Lan; I could keep it a secret. You just share your songs online under a hidden identity.”
At these words, Night Lan felt much less resistance inside.
Actually, it sounded pretty okay.
Since she wasn’t a professional songstress and didn’t need to join any companies, and there was no capital involved, if singing was just a hobby and she didn’t have to work, being a net idol was fine.
“Whatever, I’ll give it a shot. Being a laid-back songstress isn’t bad.”
In the end, Night Lan accepted Kong Yu Bai’s suggestion, mainly because it wouldn’t interfere with her daily life.
So, it wasn’t a big deal.
Zero Meow kept munching on snacks, completely forgetting her previous worries.
If she were a cat, she would be an orange tabby.
“Yummy~”
Mo Tu sat alone in a corner, snacking silently. He thought the human emotions he was witnessing were uninteresting.
He found it more entertaining to predict the past misdeeds of certain people back at the base.
At that moment, Night Lan choked on a snack and immediately grabbed a nearby drink.
Gulping down the drink—
“Haa, haa—” she burped.
Just then, she noticed something amiss.
“Wait, why does this taste weird?”
Her head started spinning, and she began to blush.
She looked at the bottle.
“Why is it alcohol!?”
Beside her, Zero Meow commented, “Because I accidentally ordered wine before, and you didn’t check. Now look what happened.”
“Ji!”
Drinking the wine, Night Lan realized the party couldn’t go on anymore.
She had such a low tolerance for alcohol—one sip would make her drunk; two sips, dazed; and with that big gulp just now, she definitely couldn’t continue.
Seeing this, Mo Tu couldn’t help laughing.
“Pfft! Hahaha! This is amazing. Looks like tonight won’t be boring after all. I can laugh the whole night away.”
Hearing this, Night Lan glared at Mo Tu angrily.
“You think this is funny?! Stop laughing!”
“I can laugh if I want. Because of you, this boring small gathering turned amusing. It’s driving me crazy!”
Night Lan’s face flushed even more red from anger, wishing she could jump at Mo Tu and bite him.
She should’ve never invited him here.
He might have been helpful, but he had a nasty sense of humor, and rewarding him with wishes was the only way to repay him properly.
Why was she so stupid to invite him?
Under the influence of alcohol, Night Lan’s anger grew even stronger.
Just as Night Lan was about to lash out, Kong Yu Bai stood up with a smile and said, “Looks like tonight’s gathering has to be put on hold. Night Lan needs to rest. What do you think?”
White Paint and White Fish nodded in agreement.
“It would be better to bring her back to rest. Drunk girls shouldn’t stay out late.”
“You’re right,” White Paint agreed.
Zero Meow sighed and complained, “Who knew this fool would drink random drinks without checking. Anyway, I should’ve placed the wine elsewhere.”
Upon seeing this, Mo Tu also stood up.
“Well, I guess I’ll be going. Please take care and don’t stay out too late. Although I think no one will get into trouble anyway. Bye.”
With a wave, Mo Tu left the room.
Kong Yu Bai addressed the remaining three, “Then I’ll take Night Lan back to her quarters. Do you guys have any plans?”
White Fish looked at the leftover snacks on the table. “I think we shouldn’t waste the food. Besides, there aren’t many snacks left, so we can finish them before leaving.”
“Sure, thanks.”
Kong Yu Bai then carried the somewhat tipsy Night Lan away.
Zero Meow saw the remaining sweets and felt worried.
“Grr… If we eat like this every night, I’ll turn into a ball.”
Zero Meow cared deeply about her figure.
She often drew using herself as a model; changing models would be quite melancholic.
“It’ll be fine. Only tonight. If we get fat, drag Night Lan down with us!”
White Fish watched Zero Meow muttering to herself and decided Zero Meow was absolutely too cute.
…
Back at the Night Watcher Base, Kong Yu Bai carefully brought the tipsy Night Lan to her resting quarters.
“Night Lan, you can sleep here tonight.”
“Whatever.”
Right now, all Night Lan wanted was deep sleep, wherever that was.
Kong Yu Bai smiled and added, “By the way, Mo Tu is indeed a strange person. He didn’t change much, neither in the past nor present, right?”
“Wait, that guy has been a weirdo all along, and if he were a villain, he should be wiped out. It’s insane.”
Night Lan’s voice was loaded with resentment, fueled by the alcohol.
“He thinks of me as an idiot and treats me like a joke, it’s so infuriating!”
“It seems Night Lan harbors deep resentment towards Mo Tu.”
“Umhm! I’ve always wanted to play a small prank on him, but verbal retaliation doesn’t seem to bother him much. It’s so frustrating…”
Under the influence of alcohol, Night Lan’s rage intensified.
Meanwhile, Kong Yu Bai brought Night Lan to a room.
She gently laid the black-haired loli on the bed and covered her with a blanket.
“Get some rest tonight. We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow, okay?”
“Mmm…”
Night Lan pulled the blanket over her face, voice still full of resentment towards Mo Tu.
“He laughed at me just now, I won’t forgive him…”
As sleep slowly consumed Night Lan’s consciousness, she muttered, “d*mn Mo Tu, hurry and regress… let me show you.”
She fell asleep, the sound of steady breathing echoing.
The fluctuations of the stars shimmered faintly.
Whose starlight was it?
Surely not Kong Yu Bai’s.
Feeling the starlight, Kong Yu Bai smiled wistfully.
“What a pain… Mo Tu, you better watch it. Angering a vengeful girl with this star power is foolish.”
Now, Kong Yu Bai could almost read Night Lan’s starlight.
Others may have restrictions when they made wishes through the ‘Wish Machine,’ and success wasn’t guaranteed, but with Kong Yu Bai as the medium, Night Lan needed only a strong desire to wish.
That longing wasn’t just talk; it required specific emotions—sometimes anger, sometimes sadness, or even despair. As long as she produced a wish in those conditions, the Wish Machine would respond.
Would there be a price?
It was unknown, perhaps there wasn’t one.
“If there is a serious price, can I bear it?”
Kong Yu Bai smiled gently at Night Lan’s sleeping face, filled with affection.
Thus, dawn arrived.
…
Morning.
Mo Tu woke up and looked at his reflection, lost in deep thought.
“This is harsh…”
