### Chapter 10: Forced to Take a Nap
Night Lan returned to her resting room and flopped back onto the bed.
She stared at her luggage by the bedside, feeling like crying but holding back her tears.
“Everything was packed neatly, and then I got tangled up in another mess! Ji!”
Though the luggage was just for show anyway, she’d drop it off at the theater later. But since this was her preparation for going home, she had to unpack everything again.
Now she suspected this incident wouldn’t wrap up anytime soon. There was no way it’d be resolved within a day.
She’d originally planned to inform her friends in Yun Chang City that she was heading back today. She’d now have to break the news to them.
“Mmm… might as well grab something to eat first, and bring some back for Night Star.”
Night Lan hadn’t eaten anything yet because of all the packing, and Night Star had been busy too, so both were starving.
As Night Lan was about to leave the room, she bumped into Night Feather who was also leaving.
Night Feather looked slightly surprised to see Night Lan.
“Night Lan, didn’t you say you were heading back?”
“Mmm… turns out I have to stick around for a while longer for various reasons.”
“Oh? What a twist of fate. In that case, I’ll continue protecting you for a bit longer. But I have to go to the Trials Ground to enhance my powers. We’ll chat later.”
Night Lan understood.
Night Feather probably needed to hit the training grounds or something like that.
Even if she was a bit of a middle-school-drama queen, she did seem surprisingly dedicated.
Maybe she wanted to maintain her cool master vibe.
After all, calling herself The Lord of Darkness required some serious street cred.
Night Feather left after that.
Night Lan headed to the cafeteria to get food to take back to her room.
Arriving at the cafeteria, she glanced around and noticed there weren’t many people there.
The Watchers worked on unpredictable schedules. There weren’t set work hours, so there wasn’t a flood at the cafeteria either.
Night Lan enjoyed this system since it meant she didn’t have to fight through throngs of hungry students.
“Hmm… what should I eat today?”
Night Lan mumbled to herself and quickly decided on noodles as a good choice.
She placed her order and waited for it, knowing they’d call her when it was ready.
Of course, she could ask an AI to deliver it, but she preferred doing things the old-fashioned way.
Sitting at a table, Night Lan waited, and then a woman walked over with a tray full of food.
“Is anyone sitting here?”
“Nope…”
“Great, I’ll take your spot then.”
“Be my guest.”
Night Lan felt a little nervous.
This spot should be where her senior usually sits. Was it okay to take her place?
Just as Night Lan was pondering this, the woman eating suddenly spoke up.
“Excuse me, are you from the Night Watcher headquarters? I’m curious—have I never seen such a tiny girl there?”
“Yes, uh, I am a Night Watcher. But I’ve come from another city, so I’m not from the main branch,” Night Lan replied hesitantly.
“Oh… I always felt it’s odd to have kids as Watchers. You, such a cute kid, should be enjoying school life. The atmosphere at headquarters can be pretty oppressive for someone your age.”
Night Lan wasn’t sure how to explain being an adult when treated like a child.
“I… actually, I’m an adult…”
“Oh… Sorry, I misjudged. There are actually some Watchers who stay young because of the Stars. But seeing someone as adorable as you is rare indeed.”
The Watcher seemed like quite the social butterfly, able to chit-chat comfortably even on first meeting.
Not knowing this was the Watcher headquarters, Night Lan almost thought the woman had an ulterior motive!
And why did she still call her a “kid” even after finding out she was an adult?
“Isn’t twenty too young to call me a kid!?”
“Young lady, may we meet, and I’m Qi Xing. I’m somewhat of an elite here. If we ever need to work together, we could look out for each other.”
“Uh… I’m Night Lan. Pleased to meet you.”
“Night Lan, that’s a splendid name. Then we’re practically friends now, right?”
“Possibly?”
Night Lan didn’t expect such a far-fetched friendship. They barely knew each other.
Qi Xing sighed softly.
“I’m conflicted. Last night I overslept and only realized then that a Star Eclipsed occurred. Team leader was furious, though I never sleep that deeply.”
“Hmm…”
Listening to Qi Xing’s woes, Night Lan guessed she must’ve fallen into a dream, forgetting about it upon waking.
Missing the alarm… that had to be Star Eclipses’ fault.
Getting chewed out for that made no sense.
Cautiously, Night Lan suggested:
“Could it be the Star Eclipses’ fault?”
“Are you saying I slept heavily because of Star Eclipses? That can’t be. Blaming something like that wouldn’t make for a very good Watcher.”
Hearing this, Night Lan remained quiet.
Seems leadership hadn’t spread information about this incident, but it would soon.
Then Qi Xing said resolutely, “Right, tonight I’ll make sure not to oversleep again!”
“Hmm… I think you might find yourself forced to doze off.”
“Why?”
“Well… it’s complicated.”
No need to explain that further.
Then her food arrived.
“I should go now. Hope to see you another time.”
“Be safe then.”
Night Lan left the cafeteria with a newfound impression of Night Watchers.
“Qi Xing seems like an easy person to talk to.”
With that, Night Lan grabbed her food and left the cafeteria.
Qi Xing watched Night Lan go and mulled over what she had said.
“Will she really be forced to sleep tonight? For what reason?”
