The towering mecha moved silently through the night.
That night, Wang Luan did not stop to rest. She simply drove the mecha forward tirelessly, wanting to leave this wasteland as soon as possible.
She held the unconscious Yan Qiongye, occasionally placing a hand against his forehead to see whether he had woken up.
She was not sure when Yan Qiongye had fallen unconscious, only that she noticed him trembling from pain, impossible to rouse no matter how she called him. Thinking of how he had said he was cold the night before, she held him and sat in the driver’s seat.
Perhaps holding him really helped. His body, which had been constantly trembling, gradually calmed down.
Outside the mecha cabin, the sound of the wind was not as clear as Yan Qiongye’s breathing beside her ear.
She occasionally called Yan Qiongye’s name, but he never opened his eyes to answer her.
In the past, Wang Luan had always been the one taken care of. This was her first time becoming someone else’s support, and she could not help but feel that her relationship with Yan Qiongye had grown closer.
Yet she was also very clear that this was someone who was difficult to truly approach.
They were actually somewhat alike, both resisting forming close relationships with other people.
Yan Qiongye’s reluctance came from disdain—it was his confidence and arrogance. Hers came from fear. She had always felt like duckweed, unable to take root in this unfamiliar world.
But in this world, who could truly live in complete solitude?
A distance maintained for several months disappeared within just a few days, inevitably affecting her. Now she no longer felt like rootless duckweed in stagnant water, but more like willow catkins scattered in the wind, drifting emptily, not knowing where they would fall.
Realizing that she was gradually taking on the shape of melancholy, Wang Luan hurriedly checked the time. It was nearly midnight—no wonder she could not help but feel depressed.
People really should not let their thoughts run wild at night. She quietly took a breath of Yan Qiongye’s free-scented pheromones, and felt herself improve again.
With his long arms and legs, holding him was like holding a giant teddy bear. After a moment’s thought, Wang Luan simply rested her chin on his shoulder and continued to inhale.
When dawn was approaching, Wang Luan saw a massive black shadow appear on the horizon.
It was a mountain range, which meant they might be leaving the wasteland region. She immediately shook off the fatigue of staying up all night and increased speed, running forward until the sun rose, finally reaching the foot of the black stone mountains.
The mountains were covered entirely in black stone, still without a single blade of grass in sight.
Driving a mecha up a mountain was completely different from driving one across flat ground. As a novice driver just getting on the road, Wang Luan maneuvered the mecha up the mountain in all kinds of crooked, twisted postures.
On the uneven stone slopes, the mecha jolted violently. Sometimes a foot would step into a pit and the entire mecha would tilt sideways. While keeping the mecha balanced, Wang Luan also had to reach out to grab Yan Qiongye, who was about to slip off her, leaving her overwhelmingly busy.
Wang Luan climbed the mountain mainly to see whether there was anything edible. It would be good enough if the noise of the mecha could scare some living creature out of the cracks between the rocks. Who would have thought that she would not find any living creatures, but instead make another discovery.
After climbing to a not-too-high peak, Wang Luan stood at the summit and looked down, unexpectedly seeing the distant mountain peaks sink downward, forming a naturally shaped sinkhole. At the bottom of the sinkhole, she could see a faint patch of blue.
Was that a lake?!
Wang Luan immediately became excited, driving the mecha like a tractor. The way the mecha twisted rapidly as it sped away looked like a comedian.
“It really is a lake!” At the bottom of the sinkhole, there was a rocky shore and blue lake water. Half of the lake was exposed, shimmering under the sunlight, while the other half was hidden inside black stone caves, unclear to see.
The mecha, loaded with all kinds of miscellaneous items, descended from the sky and landed on the rocky shore.
After walking around and seeing no obvious danger, Wang Luan impatiently disembarked. She first settled Yan Qiongye, who slept like a sleeping beauty and showed no signs of waking, onto an air-cushion bed, then placed the still-bound Fifth Prince off to the side for loose keeping. After that, she grabbed her detector and rushed toward the lake to conduct a water quality test.
Yan Qiongye groggily opened his eyes. He habitually surveyed the surroundings, and before his gaze could fully settle, it was caught by the figure in the distance. Wang Luan stood on a large black rock, tidying up her heater, moving the heat-absorbing panels to a place where they could bask in the sun.
She was bathed entirely in sunlight. The slanting rays of the sun used the large stone beneath her feet as a boundary, dividing this vast sinkhole into light and shadow.
The background was a clear, shallow lake. One half, under the sunlight, appeared a transparent blue; the other half, in the shadows, revealed a glistening jade-green hue.
The contrast between the vastness of the sinkhole and the smallness of the figure, the contrast of light and darkness and of color, filled the entire scene with a kind of natural, offhand, peculiar beauty.
Wang Luan did not notice that he had woken up. After settling the heater, she once again ran lightly toward the lakeside.
Her body was smeared with oil from dismantling the airship, dust from traveling outside, and the smell of sweat. Seeing so much water, she really could not resist wanting to wash up.
The lake water was very shallow, only half a person deep, with most of it extending beneath the black rocks, like the opened shell of a giant clam.
Inside were also low rock caves. Wang Luan went right into an area shielded by the rock walls.
Her clothes were placed on a rock, and occasionally her arm would extend out from behind the rock wall.
Yan Qiongye shifted his gaze and saw the Fifth Prince lying on the ground, restlessly humming and muttering, occasionally suddenly shouting “Mama,” never settling down.
When he noticed Yan Qiongye looking over, the Fifth Prince abruptly fell silent upon meeting his gaze.
While bathing, Wang Luan heard the Fifth Prince suddenly go quiet outside. She stuck her head out to check the situation. Seeing that Yan Qiongye was awake, she sped up, and soon came out wrapped in her clothes, carrying a chill of cool water vapor all over her body.
“We’re in a mountain area now. I saw this lake and came down. I used the detector to test it—there are relatively higher amounts of two elements in the water, but it’s drinkable, so we can rest here for now. What do you think?”
“Alright. You’ve worked hard.” Yan Qiongye’s voice was hoarse.
After exchanging only a few words with Wang Luan and surveying the surroundings once, Yan Qiongye closed his eyes again.
He drifted in and out of consciousness like this. Before falling asleep, he saw Wang Luan moving a few pieces of the airship’s outer shell. After sleeping and waking again, she had already put together a small shelter. Every time he woke up, she was busy.
At the bottom of the sinkhole, the wind was blocked by the surrounding mountains and could not reach down. The nighttime temperature was unexpectedly suitable, far less cold than on the wasteland.
It was not until evening that Yan Qiongye regained some energy. The amount of rest he had gotten that day exceeded the total rest he had gotten over the past week, which was a novel experience for Yan Qiongye.
Perhaps his subconscious knew this was an environment where he could relax. Here, the only person who could hurt him—Wang Luan—would not hurt him, so he allowed himself to sink into a state of deep sleep.
If he were on the Imperial Capital Star, with other people around, no matter what, he would never allow himself to lose consciousness.
Wang Luan sat by the small shelter, gazing up at the starry sky. Her washed hair was roughly combed through with her hands and simply tied up, with many loose strands falling to one side.
“Cough, cough.”
Wang Luan turned her head and heard Yan Qiongye ask, “What are you thinking about?”
“Ah, just now I was thinking,” Wang Luan hesitated for a moment, then said in her hometown’s language, “Moonlight before my bed, I suspect it is frost on the ground.”
There was no bright moon, but the light of the brilliant galaxy was also like white frost, falling at her feet. She had been staring at the ground absentmindedly just now, because she had thought of this poem she had learned in elementary school.
In this world, anyone else would not know what she was talking about, but Yan Qiongye knew. Not only did he know what she meant, he could also keenly perceive the emotions hidden beneath her words.
“Are you missing your hometown?”
“…It’s just a sudden feeling.” Wang Luan had often had moments of such wistfulness before, but she had never spoken them aloud like this. Just as Yan Qiongye, in the past, would never have asked her such a question.
Yan Qiongye looked at her. “If you can’t sleep, you can teach me some more of your hometown’s language.”
Wang Luan recalled the fear of being dominated by an academic prodigy some time ago. In an instant, she cast aside her homesick mood and repeatedly refused, “Forget it, then. I don’t want to think about it anymore. I’ll just sleep!”
She wrapped her head and fell asleep. She probably did not sleep for very long. In a daze, she turned over and realized that the space beside her was empty.
Where did Yan Qiongye go?
She looked out in a daze. The sinkhole was only so big, yet she did not see Yan Qiongye anywhere. Now Wang Luan truly began to worry. She walked a full circle around the shallow lake, searching for any trace of Yan Qiongye.
When she passed the rock wall where she had bathed during the day, a faint splashing sound caught her attention. She looked over, and when she clearly saw the scene, her expression froze without warning.
Yan Qiongye was sitting with half his body in the water, his upper body leaning against the black rock. He was soaked all over. His skin, immersed in the water, was so pale it seemed to glow, like a handful of snow fallen onto black stone.
His hand was in the shadows below, and was…………
Wang Luan was stunned, staring at him.
As if sensing her gaze, Yan Qiongye lifted his head to look at her. The water droplets hanging from his bangs rolled down onto his arm.
Wang Luan snapped back to her senses, twisting away and rolling off like her backside was on fire. She rushed into the small shelter and buried herself into the corner between the bed and the wall, wrapping her head tightly in the blanket.
Help! Help!
Why, why would she run into her roommate doing that in the middle of the night, and why did she stare in shock and even get caught!
She wanted to leave immediately, return to her happy Blue Star!
And in her understanding, Yan Qiongye was the abstinent type. Although the cold, detached expression he had just worn while doing that was indeed very abstinent, but—weren’t you supposed to not have such low-level interests, Yan Qiongye?!
She was still in the middle of intense internal turmoil when the sound of footsteps made her instantly lie flat and play dead. When the cool, damp hand rested on her shoulder, Wang Luan’s breathing stopped.
Hand, hand, hand! Your hand! That hand was just now still…… anyway, help!
Yan Qiongye pulled down the cloth she had wrapped tightly around her head. “Are you trying to suffocate yourself?”
His voice was calm, as if nothing awkward had happened just now.
Yan Qiongye indeed was not embarrassed. On the contrary, seeing Wang Luan with a look like she was about to die made him find it somewhat amusing.
Natural bodily reactions always needed an outlet, and he was in a special period. This was perfectly normal. It was only Wang Luan’s shocked and evasive reaction that made the atmosphere incredibly subtle.
Even without any lighting, Yan Qiongye could see how her face, forcibly composed, was twisted from holding it in.
Feeling a cool hand touch her face, Wang Luan finally could not hold it in anymore. She opened her eyes and exploded, “Wait, take your hand away, this hand was just now—” She stopped halfway and shut her mouth.
Yan Qiongye rarely showed a teasing smile. “You saw very clearly.”
“But I’ve already washed it clean.” He deliberately stretched out his hand to show her.
What was most frightening was when someone who was usually proper suddenly became improper.
Wang Luan rolled up her bedding overnight and went to sleep on the mecha.
