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Golden Hour.
Silver Wolf walked beside Sol with her head hanging low, as if she had lost all her dreams.
She was now a wolf without freedom, no longer the Wolf King of the internet…
She could not understand it. She had clearly held every advantage, and everything had gone exactly according to her plan.
Yet in the blink of an eye, Sol had turned defeat into victory, and she had ended up like this.
Sol had done nothing at all—he had just stood there watching.
Silver Wolf raised her head and looked at Sol urgently. "One more bet. I want to bet one more time."
She refused to accept this. She wanted another round.
This time, she would definitely catch Sol slipping up.
Sol was in a good mood and said with a smile, "But you've already lost your freedom to me. It seems you don't have anything left to wager."
"..."
Silver Wolf felt even worse.
Right—she had already lost her freedom. There was nothing left to gamble.
More importantly, now that she had lost her freedom, it seemed Elio's script for her was completely impossible to complete.
"I'll give you a chance."
Sol gently stroked Silver Wolf's head, like petting a cat. "If you can make me feel pleased, I can give you another chance to gamble. I might even just let you go."
This was a carrot dangling in front of a donkey—something to look at but not eat. Still, it made the donkey work much harder.
"Make you…" Silver Wolf looked at Sol, somewhat dazed. "Feel pleased?"
How was she supposed to make this guy feel pleased?
From a biological perspective, pleasure was the body releasing a hormone called dopamine.
In theory, stimulating games, delicious food, growth in strength, jokes—any of these could bring pleasure.
Of course, with her solid theoretical knowledge, Silver Wolf knew that the instinct of reproduction engraved in genes was the strongest stimulant for that hormone.
Severe reproductive desire meant having children. Mild reproductive desire could even be resolved with a left and right hand… or a kiss…
Silver Wolf shuddered.
No. No way. Absolutely not.
Whether mild or severe, it was all far too advanced for her. Just imagining the techniques from restricted videos being used on herself made her feel like ants were crawling all over her body.
Even if satisfying reproductive desire was easy mode, she could not accept it.
She would just honestly help Sol find some fun instead. There had to be a way.
With her glorious record of cheating seventy-six accounts to the top, it should not be difficult.
Not difficult?
Just as Silver Wolf was agonizing over this, she saw two familiar figures.
...
Golden Hour, a quiet alley behind the commercial street.
"Stop right there! Don't run!"
"Stowaway, you're surrounded—you won't get away!"
"I advise you to surrender early. Once you're caught, you'll suffer less!"
Five or six young men and women in security uniforms sprinted forward at full speed, shouting ahead.
"..."
The silver-haired, oval-faced girl said nothing, running forward in high-heeled shoes without looking back.
Confess and be treated with lenience—rot in prison.
Resist punishment—chance tolive for ten thousand years.
As a member of the Stellaron Hunters, wanted by the Interastral Peace Corporation for years, she understood this basic principle well.
This time, she could only blame Silver Wolf for being unreliable. The smuggling method she had provided made far too much noise.
"Damn it, how is this one running so fast?"
The young man named Rozak was panting heavily, his face twisted with excited exhilaration.
As an elite captain of the Bloodhound Family, it had been a long time since he had encountered such a spirited stowaway.
This boiling rush of blood—how delightful!
Come on, stowaway. The faster you run, the more excited I become!
"Captain, are you sure she's the stowaway we're supposed to catch?"
A few subordinates felt uneasy seeing their captain's distorted expression and asked hesitantly. "According to the Family's intel, the intruder was a tall silver mech called SAM on the Interastral Peace Corporation's wanted list. They say it's a burly man two or three meters tall inside!"
The captain really looked like a pervert. Following him like this was embarrassing.
"It's definitely her!"
Rozak did not slow down, speaking with absolute certainty. "If she weren't a stowaway, why would she run?"
"Stowaway, stop running!"
Anyone who could be chased by him for this long had to be a stowaway!
There was definitely something wrong!
If you didn't chase me, I wouldn't run.
Firefly thought silently as she heard the shouts behind her.
Although their reasoning process was wrong, the conclusion was correct.
She was carrying a script this time—to save Penacony. And it was inconvenient to use the SAM armor right now, so she had no choice but to yield to them.
At that moment, seeing the railing not far ahead, Firefly stopped.
"Hahaha! You've run into a dead end—surrender obediently!"
Rozak surrounded her with his team, hands on his hips, laughing smugly. "Heh heh heh heh!"
The subordinates twitched at the corners of their mouths, feeling like they were the villains instead.
"Let go of that girl! Let me handle this!"
A gray-haired girl with golden eyes descended dramatically, shouting sharply.
Eight winds of valor, murderous aura soaring—answering the call to protect!
Galactic Baseballer, reporting in!
The safety of beautiful girls would be protected by her!
"It's you—so we meet again."
Firefly smiled gently, her eyes curving as the corners of her lips lifted.
Meeting a long-unseen companion under circumstances like these was truly moving.
"Eh?"
Stelle blinked her golden eyes and said narcissistically, "Miss, I know I'm very popular, but don't try to pretend you know me just to raise your favorability!"
This girl was very pretty and looked familiar. She had seen her before.
Where was it? She had forgotten.
Fine—she had fallen for her looks.
"?"
"!"
Firefly tilted her head, then remembered that Stelle was currently suffering from amnesia.
That was fine too. A silly Stelle was also very cute.
"Well, well, well—so there's an accomplice!"
"Heh heh heh, this is a huge merit!"
"We have five people, you only have two—the advantage is ours!"
Rozak was overjoyed, growing even more eager.
One stowaway was not even worth a third-class merit.
But a stowaway group—that was practically next year's year-end bonus secured!
"Heh heh… heh—!"
The rampant laughter came to an abrupt halt.
Whoosh!
The five pursuers vanished into thin air, teleported straight to the edge of Golden Hour.
"See? This is Aether Editing. You just do this, then that…"
Silver Wolf stood beside Sol, carefully explaining and teaching him the techniques of Aether Editing.
This had been agreed upon earlier—now that there was a chance, she was putting it into practice.
Hopefully, once Sol learned happily enough, he would let her go.
"Mm. Very impressive, but it'll need to be explained a few more times."
Sol nodded, studying seriously.
Aether Editing was a way of using Imaginary Energy, and since Nous had opened the Path of Erudition to him, it would be a waste not to learn it.
"Boss!"
Stelle looked at Sol with delight.
She had been thinking of visiting him to trigger a quest marker.
Who would have thought they would meet here? What a coincidence.
"Silver Wolf?"
Firefly stared at Silver Wolf in shock.
This time, Silver Wolf had no part in the script.
And who was the person beside her?
A new member of the Stellaron Hunters?