Hanging up the phone, the young Chu Ze quickly changed his clothes and then ran all the way with Herta.
Herta didn't ask anything, just silently watched him, guessing where they were going to play.
But when they arrived at their destination and she saw Chu Ze reaching out with shining eyes, the petite Herta narrowed her eyes slightly:
"So the 'fun activity' you were talking about is a claw machine?"
"Yeah."
Chu Ze showed a wise expression:
"Unlike the ones in the arcade, there's no age limit for these claw machines in the mall."
"And this is my first time in every sense of the word. It feels particularly exciting to play!"
"What do you think, want to try it together?"
Herta tilted her head up slightly and silently looked at the guy's side profile.
She was wearing a gorgeous light purple dress, standing by the side like an exquisite doll.
But Chu Ze's eyes were full of the claw machine's claw, as if he were trying to make up for some regret, enjoying his rare free life to the fullest.
A moment later, she finally sighed softly:
"Sigh, what a childish game..."
"But since I'm free today, I'll play with you."
"Yay, thank you, little sis Ta!"
"...Call me Big Sis."
"Eh? Why?"
"Because even though I'm with you, I still feel bored."
Looking down slightly at Herta's tense, cute little face, Chu Ze didn't mind and directly kept his promise:
"Then I'll call you Big Sis Ta. When we grow up, you have to take good care of me."
"...Hmph, as for the future, let's talk about it in the future."
...
...
Like old photos sliding past his eyes, the surrounding scenery changed again.
Compared to the day they first met, Chu Ze's voice had become a little more mature.
"Big Sis Ta, my old mom is preparing for a business trip again."
"This time it's a long-term trip, so I guess I'll have to move with her to another star system."
"Oh."
In the corner of the park, this place had almost become their secret base.
Hearing Chu Ze's words, Herta didn't show much emotion.
After all, this was the interstellar era, and transportation was so developed.
And with the amazing talent she had shown in her childhood, she had already accumulated countless wealth. Interstellar warping was a very easy matter for her.
"After you get to your new home, remember to send me the address."
Herta said without looking up.
Chu Ze leaned over:
"To see me?"
"To visit your aunt."
Herta's expression was blank:
"Although this genius soars in the sea of knowledge, I still abide by the basic etiquette for elders."
"When I have some free time someday, I will go to visit your mother... and perhaps I can also see how someone is living in their new home."
Chu Ze immediately gave a thumbs-up:
"Full marks for childhood friend, full marks for tsundere!"
"...Be quiet, you're disturbing my reading."
"Oh, oh."
And so the surroundings returned to quiet.
The two of them went back to their own things, tacitly not disturbing each other.
Until at a certain moment, when Herta closed her book, she seemed to realize something:
"Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever seen your mother?"
Chu Ze nodded:
"After all, she's often on business trips and is rarely at home."
"But she's a very gentle person. Ever since my old dad passed away, she's been really, really good to me."
"Mhm, I can see that."
Herta glanced at Chu Ze's fitness equipment and attire.
For her own child, that mother never seemed to be stingy.
And compared to the other children of the same age on the Azure Star, Chu Ze's living environment was also significantly happier.
No oppression, and no spoiling. Just a very healthy and happy family.
"Anyway, she's a particularly tolerant person." Chu Ze said: "If I have the chance before we move, I'll introduce her to you."
"...Okay."
Herta seemed to be about to say something else.
But not far away, a dark shadow suddenly fell from the sky.
Chu Ze looked up, framed his eyes with his fingers, and made a binocular gesture:
"Big Sis Ta, look at the sky. What's that?"
Herta could already condense a rough power of the Path, making her vision clearer:
"That seems to be... a cryogenic pod."
"A cryogenic pod?"
"Right, the kind of device that can freeze a living body and prolong its survival."
A curious glint flashed in Herta's eyes:
"A bit interesting. I've never even seen this model before, and it wasn't shot down by the Azure Star's air defense..."
"Chu Ze, want to go and investigate together?"
Chu Ze didn't hesitate:
"Let's go?"
"Let's go."
The two hit it off and, shoulder to shoulder, rushed towards the fallen black shadow...
...
...
"......"
"...He was trying to save me..."
"...Auntie... I'm sorry..."
"........."
"......Eh? How could it be...?"
...
...
Consciousness gradually returned.
Chu Ze slowly opened his eyes.
And then he met Ruan Mei's face, which was close at hand.
Ruan Mei's fingertips were pressed against his forehead, the distance between them less than five centimeters. He could even clearly feel her breath.
He just looked at Ruan Mei, and Ruan Mei just stared at him.
Until a few seconds later, he closed his eyes again and fell back to sleep.
Ruan Mei: "......"
Her fingertips glowed.
A stinging pain came.
Chu Ze shivered and finally woke up from his groggy state:
"Hiss, it hurts, it hurts... I'm awake, I'm awake..."
"What did you dream about just now?"
Ruan Mei ignored his nonsense and asked directly.
And Chu Ze, after a brief moment of confusion, also immediately reacted.
Right, he didn't come here to flirt with a big sister.
This was an experimental session concerning his childhood memories.
"I forgot."
Chu Ze answered truthfully:
"My memory only stops before I went to sleep. If you hadn't reminded me, I would have thought I was taking a nap in my own home."
Ruan Mei removed her fingertips from his forehead.
Then she straightened up, and while continuing to write down the time, she stated her conclusion:
"It seems it's just as I guessed."
"Your memory is actually preserved in the depths of your brain. It's just that under external interference, you can't access that memory."
"I remember you once said that you had also used the Matrix of Prescience to trace back, but the Matrix had no reaction."
"Now it seems that it wasn't that there was no reaction."
"But that after you finished tracing back, the memory was immediately forgotten again..."
Chu Ze frowned:
"Is that so?"
"Mhm, because I just extracted the scene from your dream. This proves that the experiment was indeed successful, it's just that you didn't retain that memory yourself."
Ruan Mei explained:
"Do you want to know the detailed principle?"
Chu Ze shook his head:
"No, I don't think I can understand it anyway."
Ruan Mei said bluntly:
"Then I'll just state the conclusion directly."
"Although I don't know the reason, there is indeed an [external existence] interfering with you, and THEIR ability is very powerful."
"And neither an Emanator of Erudition nor your Xianzhou's Emanator of The Hunt can perceive THEIR existence..."
-------
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