195: Strawberry cream, real temperature

When the thunder dragon mecha slowly descended into the Gena Ku, and the hatch opened, Gu Zhixia almost stumbled out of it.

Her black modified jk uniform was still neat, but her cold and beautiful face was etched with the exhaustion of battle. After the torrent of rage had completely vented, what remained was a surging tide of emptiness and lingering fear that threatened to drown her.

She did not linger in the Gena Ku, but instead rushed directly to the Bridge.

The moment she pushed open the door, she saw Lin Mo kneeling on the ground, and Gu Nianqiu, who was tightly hugging Lin Mo's arm, burying her Little Girl face in his embrace, silently sobbing.

"Sister..."

Gu Nianqiu heard the door open and looked up. Her eyes, red and swollen from crying like a Little Girl rabbit, instantly welled up with more tears when she saw Gu Zhixia standing there, completely unharmed.

"Waaah—Sister—!"

She let go of Lin Mo and, like a Little Girl swallow returning to its nest, stumbled into Gu Zhixia's embrace, bursting into loud sobs.

"I was so scared... I thought I'd never see you again... Waaah waaah waaah... That door... it wouldn't open... the soup got cold..."

Her fragmented and illogical cries pierced Gu Zhixia's heart like needles.

Gu Zhixia stiffly held her warm, crying Little Girl sister, feeling her body tremble, her nose filled with the familiar, faint milky scent of her. Yet, uncontrollably, the cold, small corpse from the illusion flashed before her eyes.

Two completely different sensations violently collided in her mind, causing her body to tremble slightly as well.

She wanted to say something comforting, but her throat felt as if it were blocked, unable to utter a single word. She could only tighten her arms, pulling her Little Girl sister even harder into her embrace, as if only then could she confirm that all of this was real.

Lin Mo silently stood up, leaving the space to the two sisters who had survived the ordeal.

He walked to the main console, pulling up the ship's damage report, but his gaze occasionally drifted towards the two embracing figures.

When Gu Nianqiu had thrown herself into his arms just now, he had completely frozen. As a man accustomed to solving problems with strength and logic, facing a Little Girl's soft tears and unreserved dependence, he was momentarily at a loss, only able to stand like a wooden man, letting her hug him, not even knowing where to put his hands.

Even now, the warmth of the Little Girl's tears seemed to linger on his arm.

After crying for a long while, Gu Nianqiu's emotions slowly calmed down. With a tear-streaked Little Girl face, she lifted her head from her sister's embrace and sniffled, asking, "Brother Mo... was that big bad guy... beaten away?"

"Beaten away," Lin Mo replied concisely.

"He's dead," Gu Zhixia added coldly, her voice still carrying a hint of unvanquished killing intent.

"Oh..." Gu Nianqiu nodded, half-understanding. She glanced at her sister's displeased expression, then at the expressionless Lin Mo. The oppressive atmosphere in the Bridge made her a little uneasy.

She sniffled, then suddenly remembered something. She broke free from her sister's embrace and ran back to her small kitchen.

Soon, she ran out again, holding a small plate. On the plate was an exquisite cream cake, adorned with fresh strawberries.

"Sister, Brother Mo, hurry and try it!" She held the plate out to them, a glimmer of light returning to her eyes, "This is what I... I just made... the 'Defeat the Big Bad Guy Celebration Cake'!"

Looking at the cake, Gu Zhixia's gaze was somewhat complex. In the illusion, those beautiful foods had ultimately become symbols of despair.

Lin Mo looked at the Little Girl's expectant eyes, then at Gu Zhixia's subtle expression next to him, and silently reached out, taking a small piece from the plate.

He wasn't very fond of sweets, but at this moment, he felt it necessary to do something to dispel the cold air of what he called "post-traumatic stress disorder" in the Bridge.

The cake melted in his mouth; the soft chiffon base, wrapped in sweet yet not cloying cream, and the slight tartness of the strawberries perfectly balanced the sweetness, blossoming into an incredibly real, happy flavor on his taste buds.

This was not an illusion, not data.

This was real, warm, carrying the Little Girl's body temperature and her heartfelt intention.

"It's delicious," Lin Mo said to Gu Nianqiu, giving a sincere and direct evaluation.

"Hehe!" Gu Nianqiu finally broke into a smile through her tears. Though still tear-stained, her smile was like the sun after a spring rain, instantly illuminating the entire Bridge. She pushed the plate closer to Gu Zhixia, her eyes full of expectation.

Gu Zhixia was silent for a moment, then finally reached out, picked up a small piece of cake, and put it in her mouth.

As that familiar, sweet taste melted in her mouth, her nerves, which had been as taut as steel, finally and completely relaxed at this moment.

Her eyes welled up, and she abruptly turned away, not wanting them to see her current state.

"It's alright," she mumbled, dropping two stiff words with a heavy nasal tone.

"Yay! That's great!" Gu Nianqiu didn't notice her sister's unusual behavior at all. She clapped her hands happily, "Since you both like it, I've decided! To celebrate that all three of us are safe and sound, tonight, I'm going to make an invincible, super luxurious, full Manchu-Han banquet with land, sea, and air dishes!"

As she spoke, she ran back to her small kitchen. Soon, the clatter of pots and pans, and the sound of her humming an off-key tune, came from inside.

That familiar, warm scent of daily life, once again filled the entire Bridge.

Lin Mo walked to Gu Zhixia's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with her, looking out at the deep and beautiful star sea outside the window.

"We've gained new power," Lin Mo broke the silence, briefly explaining the ability of the "Nightmare Form."

"Fighting the enemy with their own methods, huh?" Gu Zhixia said softly, her emotions now adjusted, her usual coolness restored. "It's better than being played for a fool."

"Yes."

Neither of them spoke again.

But they both knew that some things had changed.

The nightmare meticulously orchestrated by The Collector, far from breaking them, had instead acted like a whetstone, sharpening the bond between the three of them, making it even tougher and more incisive.

They were each other's spear, each other's shield, and each other's... only family.

Outside the window, colorful nebulae slowly flowed, and the Natural Selection, like a lonely yet steadfast ark, carried three scarred but tightly clinging souls, continuing its voyage into the unknown, boundless deep space.

That small cream cake, adorned with bright red strawberries, seemed to possess a peculiar magic. As the last bit of sweetness melted on their tongues, the cold mist of "trauma" in the Bridge seemed to dissipate considerably.

Gu Zhixia did not return to the Gena Ku. She simply found a corner, leaned against the cold metal wall, hugged her knees, and watched her Little Girl sister busy herself in the small kitchen. She said nothing, but her phoenix eyes, usually sharp as knives, softened as never before. She was, in her own way, confirming her Little Girl sister's existence, feeling this hard-won, real warmth of life.

Gu Nianqiu, on the other hand, had completely regained her vitality. She seemed to want to vent all the fear and loneliness she had accumulated in the illusion through cooking. She tied her small body to the kitchen counter, humming off-key songs while stirring a pot of fragrant soup with a ladle almost as big as her, muttering to herself.

"Hmm... Sister was startled, so she needs to supplement 'courage protein.' Brother Mo used his brain too much, so I need to add 'calming seaweed'... And, we defeated the big bad guy, so we should add some 'Victory crab roe' to celebrate!"

Lin Mo sat on the throne of the main console, not disturbing them. He was replaying the extremely dangerous mental war they had just fought.

"World Tree, analyze the logical architecture of the 'Nightmare Form' and compare it with the 'Endless Corridor' illusion I encountered before, then establish a primary 'Mental Defense Whitelist.'"

"[Command confirmed. Whitelist being established... Gu Zhixia's and Gu Nianqiu's soul spectrums will be given the highest priority. Any mental pollution attempting to simulate, distort, or attack this spectrum will be automatically identified and intercepted.]"

"Good," Lin Mo said, looking at the invisible firewall composed of emerald green data streams generated on the screen, firmly protecting the sisters' mental cores. He breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He had made a mistake once, and he would never make it a second time.

Just then, Gu Nianqiu ran over with a steaming bowl of colorful, highly suspicious-looking thick soup, offering it to him like a treasure.

"Brother Mo, quick, try it! This is my latest invention, the 'Calming and Courageous Three-in-One Deluxe Mushroom Soup'! If you drink it, you won't have nightmares anymore!"

Looking at the unidentified floating objects in the bowl, Lin Mo's perpetually icy face, for a rare moment, showed an extremely subtle twitch. He was silent for two seconds, then still took it, and then, expressionlessly, took a small sip.

An indescribable, complex taste, a mixture of seafood saltiness, fruit sweetness, mushroom umami, and the bitterness of some herb, exploded on his taste buds.

"How is it, how is it?" Gu Nianqiu looked at him with expectant eyes.

Lin Mo's Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he struggled to swallow the mouthful of soup. He looked at the Little Girl's clear, unblemished eyes, and finally, against his better judgment, nodded.

"...The effect should be very good."

"Yay! Success!" Gu Nianqiu jumped up happily, then excitedly ran off to offer it to her sister.

Watching her back, Lin Mo silently placed the bowl of soup aside. He decided that he would find an opportunity later to secretly pour it out.

However, just as this thought arose.

Without warning.

As if a movie screen had changed, or someone had casually added a stroke to a painting.

A war fortress, entirely black and with a ferocious, rugged design, appeared silently outside the Natural Selection's viewport.

It had no energy fluctuations, no spatial ripples, as if it had always been there, from beginning to end.

thanatos.

Lan Yue's flagship.