Chapter 22: Speeding Up Time
Hilo was sent away.
Kuro named Luo Xi as Bai before leaving.
Night Star Lan stared at Luo Xi, who lost her true name, not knowing how to react.
“Luo Xi, don’t you care at all? Your name just got traded off casually by Kuro. The loyalty of a human should be worthless to you, right?”
“Kuro’s will is my will, and she can make decisions for me. A name isn’t that important to me. You calling me Luo Xi instead of Hilo means you don’t like it. Since you don’t like it, whatever, sell it.”
Luo Xi replied expressionlessly, completely unaffected by losing her name.
Night Star Lan had no idea how to explain.
It wasn’t like she disliked “Hilo.”
She just wasn’t used to it because of preconceived notions.
But explaining this would surely be complicated.
Night Star Lan decided not to dwell on it anymore.
“But what if Kuro decides to trade ‘Luo Xi’ too? Would you still feel okay with it?”
“I’d refuse,” Luo Xi answered without hesitation.
“Luo Xi” meant something special to her.
It was Night Star Lan’s personal nickname for her.
Like a bond tying them together.
If she lost that bond, Luo Xi could sense Night Star Lan’s mood drop.
This was something important to her.
And besides, she just didn’t want to.
Simple reasoning.
After getting the satisfactory answer, Night Star Lan happily hugged Luo Xi.
“Hehe~ Do you really like this nickname? You can even use it as your name. It’s pretty good, but ‘Luo Xi’ sounds better!”
Originally, “Luo Xi” was used to fool her when they first met.
It was just her original name reversed.
But Night Star Lan adored it, making an indelible impression in her heart.
Even after revealing the truth, she still liked calling her “Luo Xi.”
After all, it sounded nice and had meaning.
It’s not like Luo Xi introduced herself as anything else at the beginning, anyway.
For Night Star Lan’s suggestion, Luo Xi shook her head.
“My new name is Bai, but please just call me Luo Xi. It’s yours alone.”
“Mmhmm~ Got it! Like marking territory. Luo Xi is only mine!”
Thinking this way made Night Star Lan very happy.
After a month, Luo Xi finally “got it.”
At least she showed some emotional intelligence.
Once things settle down, that’s when complete-body Luo Xi time!
Night Star Lan looked forward to that day.
Of course, next came checking on Hilo’s story.
The now ex-commodity Hilo, with [No Bullshit] power, would become the biggest snake oil salesman ever.
With his ability to trade for anything without cost, regardless of others’ agreement, he would seize control over everything.
Not just physical commodities, but also non-materials like power, emotions, and life itself.
It was absurdly powerful. Lower-ranking star holders couldn’t bring such a huge change to modern society.
“Hilo’s pretty awesome too; fast-building a commercial empire, living up to the crazy [No Bullshit] effect.”
Night Star Lan casually commented, asking Luo Xi to stop the recording, deciding she didn’t need to worry about Hilo anymore.
Now, she was more concerned about which friend Kuro would bring back next.
The first generation was the dream narrator.
The second generation was Hilo.
Who would the third be?
Curious.
Probably another long wait.
“Why is there no skip option? With this pace, Kuro probably needs a year, two years at most, to gather nine first generations! Living without internet and friends is torture…”
Night Star Lan and Luo Xi were attached at the hip for months.
At the beginning, they wanted to stick together 24/7.
Recently, every moment seemed spent together, without a moment apart.
Night Star Lan’s desire for being close returned to normal, less desperately hungry than before, wanting to devour Luo Xi.
In layman’s terms, the honeymoon phase was over.
Night Star Lan lay listlessly on Luo Xi.
“Luo Xi, can you speed up time? Like ‘whoosh,’ a week would pass.”
“You wanna experience that?”
“Mainly, I can’t wait to know who Kuro brings next.”
“Okay.”
Luo Xi took Night Star and Night Lan’s hands, a silver glow in her eyes.
In the next second,
Night Star Lan felt everything accelerate around her.
The sky changed rapidly. Even small movements sped up drastically, quite surreal.
Sunsets and sunrises.
Day turned to night.
Night Star Lan felt like many days passed, yet didn’t sense time passing for herself.
Without Luo Xi’s help, her time would have rushed along with the world.
Luo Xi truly lived up to her status as the origin of stars.
Speeding up time was effortless for her.
Suddenly,
Luo Xi stopped time acceleration.
Everything went back to normal.
Daytime froze in place.
“Phew~”
Breathless Night Star Lan finally exhaled, feeling exhilarated.
A time-accelerated world was suffocating and weird.
Novices like her couldn’t adapt quickly.
Then, Luo Xi calmly said, “Kuro is coming back.”
