Chapter 12: Laigu Shi

Hearing familiar footsteps behind, Bai Hang's body froze suddenly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Bai Hang slowly turned their head, saw Heimu's familiar figure, and immediately sprang up with a "swoosh" like a spring, hands nervously clasped in front, eyes flickering, carefully forcing out a smile:

"M-Master… Master… have you finished your business?"

Heimu: "..."

Heimu's mouth twitched imperceptibly.

Heimu could clearly read several emotions from the Fox People girl's azure eyes: intense curiosity, and… a trace of fear that, despite effort to conceal, still lingered.

"So it was a misunderstanding…"

Heimu pressed a hand to their forehead, feeling a slight headache.

What on earth is going on!

Heimu tried to make their tone sound gentler, explaining: "You're overthinking it."

However, the doubt and fear in Bai Hang's eyes did not lessen; instead, Heimu's dry explanation seemed to reinforce their suspicion.

(Inner thought: It's over, it's over, the lady denied! That usually means things are worse!)

Heimu looked at Bai Hang's expression that said "I get it, I get it, you don't need to explain," feeling a wave of helplessness. "This can't be cleared up with just a sentence or two…"

It seemed language was pale. Heimu decided to switch to a more direct method.

Heimu said no more, and walked straight toward Bai Hang.

Bai Hang saw Heimu approaching, their heart instantly rose to their throat, and inside they screamed wildly: "Here it comes! It's my turn! Will they lock me up in that place too? What do I do, what do I do?"

Bai Hang instinctively stepped back half a pace, body leaning slightly backward, a posture ready to flee (though there was nowhere to run).

Heimu took in Bai Hang's obvious retreat, and their mouth twitched uncontrollably again.

"…Are you serious about that half‑step back? I'm really hurt, you know!"

Heimu forced down the urge to snark, ignored Bai Hang's defensive behavior, and continued, expressionless, walking up to them.

Bai Hang, seeing no retreat left, closed their eyes in despair, long white lashes trembling violently from tension, the whole body shrinking as if awaiting final judgment.

Heimu looked at the white Hu Niang before them, terrified enough to curl into a ball, feeling both annoyed and amused, with a hint of helplessness.

"Do I really look like a perverted sadist?"

Heimu extended a hand, not pulling out a lock or doing anything terrifying as Bai Hang expected, but with a soothing intent, pressed it onto Bai Hang's fluffy, snow‑white head.

"?!"

Bai Hang snapped open their eyes, the azure irises filled with astonishment.

Before she could react, a massive, filtered stream of information—mostly about Weng Fa Luo Si, about Golden Descendant, about Xi Lian's connection with the Iron Tomb, about those chains representing histories and memories of bondage rather than actual abuse— surged into her mind like a tide.

Only, this information lacked any part concerning the Pioneer.

Bai Hang instantly froze in place, eyes losing focus, the whole person slipping into a dazed state of information overload, mouth slightly open, looking a bit clueless.

Heimu withdrew their hand, no longer attending to Bai Hang who stood absorbing the data, turned and moved to the other side, elegantly floated down to sit, summoned the black‑purple System Panel again, and began browsing other files as if nothing had happened.

Black Curtain Lady's delicate fingers flicked quickly across the black‑purple System Panel, scrolling through the glittering Golden Descendant names, mentally weighing which next Persuasion target to choose.

Suddenly, her finger paused on a name, and the motion froze instantly.

Those dimly lit violet‑black eyes widened slightly, unusually, and even her elegant seated posture leaned forward a bit, showing inner unrest.

She looked again forcefully—yes, those three characters!

"Wait…"

She pointed at the name on the panel in disbelief, tone full of shock, "System, are you sure this is serious? Did I read it right? How is this guy… ending up here?"

On the panel, a completely different entity was listed—Laigu Shi.

【Hui, the system confirms, this is a database entry for the unit 'Laigu Shi', genuine and valid. You may choose to attempt to summon this unit.】

Heimu's mouth twitched again, feeling they were about to lose control: "Is this a question of whether to summon or not? To be precise, is this 'summonable'? Why is this guy also in the database?!"

In her mind instantly flashed various info about this Talent Club Chief: Divine Gift Audience, walking the path of Intellect, yet single‑mindedly seeking to create Destruction to wipe out their own creation!

The System Panel timely scrolled a brief introduction about Laigu Shi, matching the information in Heimu's memory.

【... In summary, the unit's information is complete and meets summoning conditions. Lady, you may proceed with a summoning attempt.】

"Summon him? Do I look like I'm fed up with life?"

Heimu pressed their forehead, feeling a wave of mental fatigue, "Only a fool would summon him! It's just idle nonsense making oneself uncomfortable!"

She didn't want any entanglement with such a deep‑minded being; just the thought of possible chain reactions made her scalp tingle.

After decisively filing this dangerous name into the "Permanently sealed, never touch" list, Heimu shook their head, pulling attention back to the immediate issue.

She recalled the earlier discussion about Black Tower, and a question rose in her mind.

"System, regarding 'Black Tower'… has it completely fallen, or…"

She chose her words carefully, "In some form… still exists?"

【Insufficient permissions, cannot access that level of information.】

The system's reply was concise and decisive.

Heimu was silent for a moment, not surprised by the result.

She gave a simple shake of the head, as if to brush off the complex issues: "Whatever, let's leave it at that."

The top priority is to reach that damned 30% Repair Degree!

Now only 2% short, and Xi Lian can be released from the lock.

"System, besides the Persuasion Golden Descendant pleasure task, what other ways can quickly raise Repair Degree? Even a little will do!"

The panel flickered a few times, then promptly presented a new Task:

【Special Resource Acquisition Task: Black Tower's 'Spare Parts'】

【Task Requirement: Go to Black Tower Space Station and, without triggering a large‑scale alarm, 'retrieve' an idle 'Black Tower Doll'.】

【Task Reward: 2% Core Repair Degree.】

Heimu: "……"

Her mouth corner twitched again uncontrollably.

What the heck is this?

The previous Task was to have her "steal a person," and this Task directly became "steal a doll"?

"Never mind…"

She rubbed the bridge of her eyebrows; although the Task looks absurd, the 2% Repair Degree is real.

She weighed it and thought that compared to continuing to "persecute" the tearful Xi Lian, going to the Space Station to steal a doll seemed… a slightly lower risk?

"The more lice, the less it itches; the more debt, the less you worry. Finish this Task first, then let the Xi Lian below… ease a bit."

Just as Heimu made up her mind, preparing to plan how to infiltrate the Space Station to "borrow" a doll, a rustling sound came from beside her.

She turned her head and saw Bai Hang finally recovering from the information shock.

But this Fox People girl's gaze… how did it become even stranger?