### Chapter 31: The Art of Storytelling
#### Pinghaishi: The City
“Ah-choo!”
Nestled in the lounge, Nylan suddenly sneezed, causing several little lolis to jump slightly.
“Is Nylan catching a cold?” came Baili’s voice, full of concern.
“Mmm… probably not. Just an itchy nose.”
Nylan rubbed her nose, with a hint of bewilderment in her sky-blue eyes.
Why did she just sneeze out of nowhere?
Could it be someone was thinking about her, and she sensed it?
Although scientifically unlikely, the possibility existed.
But Nylan quickly brushed it off.
“So, what does everyone have planned today?”
“Nope, Xingyin is still slacking off too.”
Under the influence of Xingyin’s “Fish-Counting-First” star, the other lolis followed suit, indulging in their leisurely day.
Nylan had no objections. Lazily passing time wasn’t so bad.
Having a bunch of lolis stick to her like glue—was there anything more fun than that?
No way!
#### Inside the Rising Sun Theater
The troupe members were brainstorming ideas for the grand performance, mainly assisting the group leader with magical effects.
The group leader handled the primary design, while others offered creative input.
As for Nianstar who was the audience performer, she was busy clinging onto the wish princess and slacking off.
That’s pretty much how it went down.
Everyone had their roles very clearly delineated!
Nianstar joyfully nuzzled the soft and fragrant wish princess, having no complicated thoughts, essentially turning into a mindless snuggle bot.
Though the wish princess had a role as an assistant within the troupe, she didn’t serve anyone outside of being an audience performer.
She could be considered a personal assistant.
Whatever. It’s just a formality anyway.
“Wish Princess, do you know what Cutie Mo is up to right now?”
“Spreading the faith.”
“Buh? Meow?”
Back in the night watcher’s rest area…
Nylan was utterly baffled.
“What on earth is she doing? What’s spreading the faith mean? Is she joining some evil cult!? No way! Once she gets back, I’ll interrogate her hard! Anyone who joins a cult is trouble!”
“What cult?”
Since Nylan was speaking loudly, her words attracted the curious stares of the surrounding lolis.
Seeing this, she scratched her head awkwardly and changed the subject to cover up.
“Oh, nothing much. Ahem, I’ll tell you about the legendary three great cults since we have free time…”
Of course, these “cults” were just inside jokes in the ACG circle. She covered it by changing the subject.
Forget about Cutie Mo spreading the faith. It meant nothing to her now.
…
Time slowly passed.
#### In the Capital Headquarters
The leader was watching footage from the hero cemetery in his office.
When Motu visited that morning, he naturally was visible in the surveillance video.
But shortly after he toured the cemetery, he vanished from the scene.
The leader couldn’t reach him, which felt eerie.
“The cemetery eats humans?”
The leader fell into deep thought but remained calm.
Before leaving, Motu mentioned his analysis on divination intelligence and guessed there might be another realm there, something extraordinary.
So if he vanished suddenly, it wouldn’t be too surprising.
As it turned out, things happened almost exactly as Motu predicted.
No matter whether through divination or analysis skills, Motu was top-notch.
But the question remained:
How long would he disappear, and when would he come back?
These were unknown factors.
During his update on Nylan’s status, Motu also mentioned the first-generation star eclipses.
Those were super novas surpassing all current star eclipses in power, even more absurd than typical supernovas.
Just like the dream narrator, the leader had felt helpless from the last encounter.
Now, Motu alone was facing a similar threat.
Just thinking about it gave her chills.
Currently, all the leader could do was activate the causal law star.
This star wasn’t usually used except during crises.
Just like the previous dream narrator incident.
The appearance of those first-generation eclipses surely warranted the use of such stars due to their power.
Like the heart-will class stars, the causal law star acted beyond standard specifications, making it somewhat effective regardless.
However, its constraints were huge.
The leader herself wielded a heart-will class star.
But heart-will stars had their downsides—being dependent on one’s inner strength, they weren’t stable.
Night watchers with other heart-will class stars had appeared before.
For instance, Hu Jiuge, a sunlight night watcher, with her star capable of creating absolute defenses based on willpower. Unfortunately, she sacrificed herself.
Star eclipses and stars were connected, and mutual inhibition was common knowledge.
The leader’s star would only be used in serious crises, such as national emergencies.
Until they confirmed the true state of the hero cemetery, no action would be taken recklessly.
They just had to wait and see if Motu returned with good news.
Or, three days later, the leader might lead a sunlight night watcher to investigate.
How nerve-racking a wait.
—
### On the Other Side
#### Star Eclipse Realm of the First Generation Star Eclipses
Cutie Mo was vividly recounting Night Star’s epic feats starting with minor events—the rescue of Baili story.
Saving a girl near d*ath and reviving an experienced night watcher turned star eclipse, Bai Yuan.
Due to Lotus Flower adapting this story into a puppet show that played at the theater for Nianstar now and then, Cutie Mo knew it by heart, able to narrate it perfectly.
Even one story proved Night Star’s incredible abilities.
But Cutie Mo wouldn’t stop there.
Then came the events in the doll city involving Lotus Flower.
An ultra nova star eclipse event where everyone present could sense how dire it was, no matter from their previous knowledge as night watchers or current perceptions as star eclipses.
Cutie Mo told the audience about an incident involving Night Star and Nylan.
It was one of the popular puppet shows often performed on stage.
With Cutie Mo’s involvement, plus her storytelling prowess and detailed puppetry, the events became incredibly enthralling, stunning the star eclipses who listened intently.
Despite being full of hostility initially, they let go of their disdain and focused, captivated by stories of Nylan’s deeds.
While they had transformed from night watchers to star eclipses, their soul still yearned for the life before.
Even though the new star eclipse embodiment combined star eclipse awareness and the original body’s obsessions, souls still held parts of their former self.
After all, these star eclipses were originally loyal night watchers.
