Chapter 539: It's actually that?

Lin Bu Ran: Did you remember something again?

Alliance big shot: Uh... pretty much.

Lin Bu Ran:......

Lin Bu Ran: I knew it!!!!

Lin Bu Ran: I'll keep staring at you! (? -?)

Seeing these messages, Zhang Jie's mouth twitched twice. If Lin Ran knew that the biggest ghost had always been by her side, even arriving earlier than her at Zhang Jie's place, she would surely cry and make a scene right there.

"Let's talk about it later, let's talk about it later."

Zhang Jie put away his communication equipment; he still vaguely remembered that in the simulation he had carefully studied the plan of the 'Extraterrestrial Entity,' but in reality his brain simply wouldn't work, and he had forgotten some things.

Afterwards, Zhang Jie left together with Xiao Jiu, heading for the Alliance Research Institute.

Along the way, the atmosphere was somewhat strangely odd; specifically, the oddness lay in Zhang Jie's current attitude.

Usually, when Zhang Jie sat in Xiao Jiu's ship, he was either chatting with a few guys or reading the Stellar Daily; he never stared at Xiao Jiu like he does today.

This made her feel very uneasy.

"Driver, is there something on my face?"

"Nothing, it's just that sometimes I notice you seem a bit weird, Xiao Jiu."

"Is there something you're hiding from me?"

"How could that possibly be, driver? Hahaha...."

Zhang Jie could barely hold himself back; Xiao Jiu this little thing has already given itself away, don't you know!

Thinking of this, Zhang Jie still decided to tease this little thing.

"I was just saying, I've recently recalled some things related to Xiao Jiu and wanted to ask if they have anything to do with you; since you said no, let's just treat it as nothing."

After Zhang Jie finished speaking, he shifted his gaze, but his peripheral vision kept fixed on Xiao Jiu, wanting to see this little thing's reaction.

Sure enough, upon hearing the keyword, Xiao Jiu's pupils gradually dilated, and an indescribable expression welled up on her little face.

"Is... is what..."

"Um... pretty much... I raised a Ship Girl just like you, also called Xiao Jiu."

This made Xiao Jiu's facial expression even more indescribable; her gaze at Zhang Jie shed its pretense and became affectionate.

Zhang Jie knew that look; it's the gaze most Ship Lives give to drivers they have a good relationship with, and it's also the look Zhang Jie is most familiar with.

"Cough cough, driver, do you want to or should you think about it?"

Xiao Jiu let it slip, which happened to be exactly what Zhang Jie most wanted to see.

On the side Xiao Jiu couldn't see, Zhang Jie's mouth began to twitch upward, impossible to suppress—who understands! This little thing is just too fun!

Zhang Jie decided to tease Xiao Jiu properly!

"Eh, it's just a dream, feels so unreal."

"Let me tell you, in my dream I was so awesome, I directly wiped out a wave of cosmic calamities."

"So it's a dream; in reality I'm not that powerful."

Hearing Zhang Jie's words, Xiao Jiu couldn't help but become anxious; how could this thing go so wildly off her expectations!

"But humans, you really are that awesome...."

Xiao Jiu silently said that in her heart, but she still remembered the words the Ascended Being AI told her, not directly admitting it, still being stubborn.

"The driver is awesome! Maybe it's not a dream?"

"Pfft, alright Xiao Jiu, I've remembered, stop pretending."

Xiao Jiu's expectant gaze suddenly turned fearful; she hastily waved her hands at Zhang Jie, seeming to taboo discussing this topic.

"?"

"What's wrong, Xiao Jiu?"

"I don't know you! I truly didn't know you before, human!"

"No way! No way! Driver Mister, Xiao Jiu didn't know you before! Really didn't know you!"

Seeing Xiao Jiu's abnormal state, Zhang Jie was completely bewildered; he still hadn't figured out what the problem was.

"What on earth is going on?"

"Don't ask... don't need to ask... please..."

As the Ascended Being AI said, if this reason caused uncontrollable things to happen, Xiao Jiu would really cry herself to death.

Usually, she both hoped Zhang Jie would remember and feared that if he did, something terrible might happen.

One side fearful, the other side longing—this is Xiao Jiu's perpetual inner conflict.

But when this day actually arrived, Xiao Jiu's predominant feeling was still fear.

"Um, okay okay, I won't say more, don't cry...."

Xiao Jiu stopped speaking, hugging her legs and curling up in the corner, her body still twitching.

However, the ship was still flying normally; it seemed Xiao Jiu just had a bit of emotional loss of control, so Zhang Jie decided to give her some time to buffer.

Xiao Jiu curled up in the corner for a while, from the initial twitching to gradually calming, then slowly approaching.

It seemed she discovered nothing had happened, and her courage grew a little.

She shifted her body, slowly came to Zhang Jie's side, and poked him twice with her hand.

"Human?"

"What are you doing?"

"Human!"

"What are you doing?"

"Human human!"

"?"

Xiao Jiu caught their breath, started getting excited, kept circling Zhang Jie, but still didn't dare to touch them.

"What's wrong with you? You're all timid and shrinking."

"This... this can be said?"

"?"

"There's nothing that can't be said."

Xiao Jiu fidgeted for a while, seeing that there really seemed to be nothing, finally gritted their teeth and decided to sell the Deity-Seeker AI.

"It's... it's what the Deity-Seeker AI said: if I tell you about our matter, it will lead to unforeseeable terrible consequences."

"So I don't dare to say...."

"Deity-Seeker AI? Is this thing what brought you here?"

"Mm!"

Zhang Jie pondered, this doesn't quite match the information he received; he had thought Xiao Jiu was brought by some mysterious existence, but he didn't expect it to actually be his own Deity-Seeker AI.

Either Yunxiao and them didn't actually kill the Deity-Seeker AI, or the Deity-Seeker AI simply isn't dead at all.

"Humans... you really remembered everything?"

"That bastard actually deceived me..."

"Not really, this is something I figured out myself; if you had said it earlier, something might actually have happened."

"Then! Then is it no longer a problem?"

"Probably not, according to my thinking, this counts as completing the causal closed loop, so it shouldn't trigger any special cosmic correction force."

"Xiao Jiu, what happened after...?"

"Tell me about it."

"Mm!"