Sunlight slanted in through the porthole, laying a warm sheen across Angelina's smooth twin ponytails. She sat at the desk with a document in hand, but she wasn't reading.
Her gaze kept drifting to the empty chair opposite her.
Jelperta had gone to Valley Four again.
It had been like this for days now—every morning, Jelperta would get up early, dress neatly, and head for Valley Four. When she returned at dusk, there was always a smile on her lips that she couldn't hide.
Seriously… once she had someone she liked, she went and abandoned her sister.
Angelina set the document down, propped her chin on one hand, and looked out at the azure planet hanging beyond the glass.
She should be happy.
Jelperta had finally delivered the letter. Her relationship with that person had grown closer. Every day, she looked happier than the last.
Angelina was happy.
She just… didn't have much energy.
"Ange?"
A voice called from the doorway. Angelina turned and saw Jelperta standing there with a paper bag in hand, her expression carrying a soft, shallow smile.
"You're back early today?"
"Yeah." Jelperta walked around the desk and sat down across from her, then pushed the bag toward Angelina. "Mr. Bai Ling gave this to me. He said he couldn't finish the fruit brew Ivon gave him last time, so he wanted me to bring it back and share it with you."
Angelina opened the bag. Inside were two small glass jars—pale pink liquid glimmering under the light in a way that looked almost hypnotic.
She picked one up and turned it slowly in her hands, eyes flicking with quiet admiration. Then she murmured, half to herself—
"He's really good to you."
Jelperta, who could handle most things with ease, still couldn't stop reacting to every small move from either Angelina or Bai Ling.
"Mr. Bai Ling is pretty kind to everyone," she said.
"Is he?" Angelina smiled, popped the lid, and took a small sip.
The flavor was light—wild-fruit sweet-and-sour, more like a drink than alcohol.
"Good?" Jelperta asked.
"Mm. Not bad."
Jelperta opened the other jar too, drinking in small, careful sips. The two of them sat together like that—sharing the brew, sharing the silence, sharing the view of the planet outside.
After a while, Jelperta asked quietly, "Ange… you didn't go to Valley Four today?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I'm a little tired today. I wanted to rest." Angelina's voice was soft, almost weightless.
Jelperta turned slightly, studying her with the corner of her eye. Angelina didn't look bad—but she didn't look good either.
Jelperta swallowed another sip and asked in a low voice, "Ange… are you… carrying something?"
The question made Angelina pause, then she reacted quickly.
"Something? What could I be carrying?"
Jelperta didn't answer. She just looked at Angelina quietly—those wine-red eyes identical to the ones in Angelina's mirror.
For some reason, being looked at like that felt uncomfortable.
Angelina turned away, staring out the porthole again.
"I'm really fine."
Jelperta didn't press.
They kept drinking. In the quiet archive room, the only sounds were soft swallows and the faint clink of glass.
Bai Ling sat on a small stool outside his temporary home, a bottle of soda in hand, watching the distant lights.
Footsteps approached from afar—
light, lively, foxlike.
He turned his head and saw Angelina standing in the moonlight. She was smiling, but her eyes looked different than usual.
"Mr. Bai Ling."
"Hm? Just you?"
"I came to see you." Angelina walked over and sat on the stool beside him. "What—am I not welcome?"
Bai Ling didn't answer. He simply reached to the side, took another soda, and handed it to her.
Angelina accepted it, but didn't drink.
They sat shoulder to shoulder, staring at the lights crowning the hub district.
The breeze drifted past. Bai Ling spoke first.
"Jelperta's been more lively lately."
"Yeah." Angelina nodded. "She's been really happy these days."
"But you don't look happy."
Angelina's fingers twitched. She responded quickly, almost too quickly. "No. If Jelperta's happy, why wouldn't I be happy?"
Bai Ling didn't say anything. He just looked at her.
His gaze was calm—flat, even—
and yet it made Angelina feel like she had nowhere to hide, the same way Jelperta must have felt before.
Angelina lowered her head and looked at the soda bottle in her hands. The liquid inside caught the light in shifting, iridescent colors.
"Mr. Bai Ling."
"Hm?"
"Do you think…" She lifted her face, searching his expression for an answer. "Do you think someone can be happy because another person is happy—and at the same time feel a little… sad for themselves?"
Bai Ling deliberately turned his eyes to the night sky.
"Of course. That's normal."
"Normal?"
"Being happy for someone else can be sincere. Being sad for yourself can be sincere too." His tone stayed even. "Those two things can exist together. They don't conflict."
Angelina didn't know what to say.
Far away, a tower light blinked on, coloring the night with a little more brightness.
After a long silence, she spoke again, very softly.
"Mr. Bai Ling."
"Hm?"
"I remember… there was someone who used to wait for me."
Bai Ling stayed quiet, listening.
"Whenever I came back late from deliveries, I'd run into him in the corridor." Angelina's voice wavered, like she was testing the words. "Later I found out… he was waiting there on purpose."
She paused.
"But I never told him how much I liked that."
"Why didn't you say it?"
Angelina smiled—but it was a smile with bitterness in it.
"Because… like Jelperta… I was scared." Her eyes lowered. "Scared that if I said it… I'd lose even what I had."
She gripped the bottle more tightly.
"And then… he left." Her voice thinned. "I don't know why. I don't know the reason. He just disappeared—suddenly. And the words I never said… stayed unsaid forever."
"Angelina."
"Hm?"
"Jelperta is you," Bai Ling said calmly, "but you are not Jelperta."
Angelina lifted her head.
Bai Ling looked at her, expression unchanged.
"What she did is her choice. What you didn't do is your regret." His voice was steady. "Those two things can't cancel each other out."
Angelina stared.
"You… you mean—"
"I mean," Bai Ling said after a brief pause, "if you have something you want to say too… it's still not too late."
Angelina froze.
In the moonlight, Bai Ling's eyes were quiet, unruffled—
and yet there was something in them that made her feel warm.
Her brows softened. A real smile finally formed.
"Mr. Bai Ling, you really are good with words."
"I'm not." Bai Ling shook his head. "I'm just telling the truth."
Angelina looked at him for a moment, then stood.
"Then I'll… head back to the Dijiang and rest."
"It's late. Be careful."
"Mm."
She took a few steps. Her gait was lighter than when she arrived. Then, as if remembering something, she turned back.
"Mr. Bai Ling."
"Hm?"
"If one day… I write a letter too…"
She stopped there, didn't finish, and her figure gradually dissolved into the night.
Bai Ling remained seated, soda in hand.
…Yeah. This soda really was pretty good.
When Angelina pushed the door open, she saw Jelperta sitting at the desk, holding the empty jar.
"You're back?"
"Mm." Angelina walked over and sat beside her.
"Ange, where did you go just now?"
"Valley Four."
"To see Mr. Bai Ling?"
"Yeah…"
Jelperta lowered her gaze, thought for a moment, then looked up again.
"Ange… do you also like Mr. Bai Ling?"
Angelina blinked. "Why are you asking all of a sudden?"
"Because…" Jelperta hesitated. "The way you look at him… it's different from me."
Angelina looked at her—those identical eyes now serious and focused.
At this point, there was nothing left to dodge.
"Jelperta."
"Hm?"
"You're right." Angelina's voice was calm. "I do like him. But the way I like him isn't the same as yours."
"Not the same?"
"Mm." Angelina nodded. "You want him to live well. You want to be able to see him every day. I want that too."
She paused, then added softly—
"But I don't need him to respond to me. Keeping things as they are… might already be good."
Jelperta stared at her, stunned.
"But…"
"No 'but.'" Angelina reached out and gently ruffled Jelperta's hair. "You have your kind of liking. I have mine. They don't conflict."
Jelperta opened her mouth, but couldn't find words.
"And besides," Angelina continued, "I talked with Mr. Bai Ling a lot today."
"…About what?"
"About the person who used to wait for me."
Jelperta listened in silence.
"I told him I never said how much I liked it."
She paused.
"Mr. Bai Ling said… if I have something I want to say, it's still not too late."
Jelperta's eyes brightened.
"Then… will you say it?"
Angelina thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I already said it."
Before Jelperta could react, Angelina looked at her and asked:
"Jelperta—what kind of person do you think Mr. Bai Ling is?"
Jelperta thought carefully.
"Gentle. Quiet. He remembers people's footsteps. He cares about how others feel."
"And?"
"And…" Jelperta's ears reddened. "…He's really good-looking."
Angelina burst into laughter.
"You…" She shook her head, smiling, then looked toward the blue planet beyond the window.
"Jelperta."
"Hm?"
"If I wrote a letter too—one for Mr. Bai Ling—what do you think he'd think?"
Jelperta froze.
"Y-you… also want to write to Mr. Bai Ling?"
"Not that kind of letter," Angelina said quietly. "Just… something I want to tell him."
"What kind of thing?"
"Think carefully," Angelina murmured. "Something you remember too."
"Something I remember too…?"
"Mm."
Angelina didn't explain further.
Jelperta didn't press.
When Bai Ling woke up, he finally saw a message—thanks to the fact that no one came pounding on his door today.
It was from Chen Qianyu.
She'd developed a new technique and wanted Bai Ling to take a look.
In a way, Bai Ling was half her teacher—he'd only taught her a few moves.
But those moves were effective. Every single one.
He couldn't say for sure how good Chen Qianyu's swordsmanship was overall, but one thing was certain:
She was an absolute genius with the blade.
Bai Ling got dressed, stuffed two bottles of soda into his pockets, and set off.
As he did, he couldn't help thinking—
Had he been living a little too comfortably lately?
All day long, either hanging out with pretty girls or sitting at home drinking sweet soda.
And besides…
This soda really was delicious.
It took a few minutes to reach the protocol-teleport point. Bai Ling didn't hurry, just wandered through the hub center, watching how much it had changed.
The once-ruined areas had been fully repaired—so new you couldn't even tell they'd ever been destroyed.
The roads outside had been cleared and maintained. You could barely see any trace of the riftlanders.
Back then, they'd been everywhere.
He returned to the Dijiang via protocol transfer.
The moment he stepped out, a familiar figure flashed past in front of him.
The little penguin.
He hadn't seen her in a while.
And beside her, as always, was Perica—the two of them moving like a pair.
They seemed to notice Bai Ling returning. The duo heading toward the bridge paused and turned.
"…Mr. Bai Ling?"
"Yeah. Chen Qianyu asked me to check out a new technique. Didn't expect to run into you two."
Perica's expression tightened into a professional calm.
"Valley Four's erosion phenomena have largely subsided. We're now handling the resettlement of disaster refugees. Overall, things are improving."
"…?"
While the two of them spoke, the little penguin stood to the side, eyes never leaving Bai Ling's face.
"What is it, Administrator?"
The little penguin didn't answer immediately. She stared at Bai Ling, examining him seriously for a moment before speaking.
"…Have you… gained weight lately?"
"…Huh?"
Bai Ling reflexively touched his face. He didn't feel any difference.
Sweet drinks did make you gain weight if you had too many—
but he hadn't expected it to be that fast.
And of all people, the little penguin was the one saying it.
"Pfft."
Perica was the one who laughed. She quickly reined it in, then returned to a composed expression.
"Since Chen Qianyu is waiting for you, please go ahead. But after that, please pay more attention to your communication device. There may be matters we'll need to ask you to handle."
"…Me?" Bai Ling scratched his head.
Perica nodded, voice steady.
"Chief Steward Qin Jiangchi is willing, but stretched thin. She has even requested personnel support from the Dijiang. I recommended you, and the Administrator also believes you have the capability to take over most of Valley Four's affairs."
"We'll discuss the details later," Perica added. "Chen Qianyu is already asking me whether you've arrived on the Dijiang."
"…Alright."
Bai Ling still didn't fully understand what had happened—
but he had a sinking feeling.
His good life…
might finally be over.
....
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