78: Can't take it off

The small body in his arms stiffened slightly.

Immediately, Gu Nianqiu broke free from his embrace, lifted her small face, which still had traces of tears, and then bloomed into a smile more brilliant than the stars.

“Pfft.”

She burst out laughing, her eyes curving into two adorable crescent moons.

“I knew you’d say that!”

Her tone carried a foxy shrewdness and understanding.

“But, just saying it isn’t enough.”

She took Lin Mo’s hand and, without explanation, pulled him towards the two comfortable recliners on the other side of the deck.

“Come, watch the stars with me!”

The recliners’ material was cool, but in the crisp, cold night wind at high altitude, it brought a strange sense of comfort.

The two lay side by side, leaning back slightly, their gaze completely connecting with the boundless deep space.

Beneath them, thick, ocean-like clouds surged silently under the moonlight.

Above them was an entirely different ocean.

The night sky here was completely different from what they remembered of Blue Star.

There was no magnificent Milky Way, stretching across the sky, formed by billions of stars.

Instead, there were several enormous, elongated, colorful bands of light.

They were like pigments accidentally dripped by a deity while painting, slowly flowing, intertwining, yet not encroaching upon each other, on this deep black velvet canvas.

One was a serene emerald green, extending from one end of the sky to the other, its light soft, like a sleeping river of jade.

Another was a hazy light purple, more like a wisp of thin gauze, lightly shrouding a dense cluster of stars, making their light appear dim.

In the furthest distance, there was also a thin, flowing streak of fiery gold light, moving a little faster, like a goldfish patrolling the night, agile and elegant.

And the stars themselves were not a monotonous white.

Some were fiery, a pure blue like sapphires.

Some were deep, a dark red as if congealed blood.

They did not twinkle, but simply, steadily, projected their unique light onto this world.

This starry sky was unfamiliar, vast, yet breathtakingly beautiful.

An ineffable tranquility enveloped the entire deck.

Only the almost inaudible, low hum of the Natural Selection’s engines, as it cruised steadily in the stratosphere, proved they were not motionless.

“Brother Mo.”

Gu Nianqiu’s voice, in the silence, had a dreamlike tone.

“Hmm?”

“Can the stars in the sky be picked?”

She asked so innocently, so matter-of-factly, as if asking if an apple could be picked from a tree.

Lin Mo turned his head and looked at her pure eyes, which reflected the colorful bands of light across the sky.

He did not laugh at her childishness.

He just seriously refocused his gaze on the deep night sky.

“They can’t be picked.”

His voice was calm, as if stating a simple fact.

“We can’t even… truly touch them.”

“We can only lie here quietly, like this, bathed in their light.”

“Oh…”

Gu Nianqiu nodded, as if understanding, yet not quite.

She was silent for a moment, her small hand unconsciously gripping the armrest of the recliner.

“The night is so beautiful.”

She sighed sincerely.

“I truly hope that one day, our ship can become like them.”

Her hand pointed to the brightest, slowly flowing emerald green river of light in the sky.

“Powerful, beautiful, able to traverse this darkness freely.”

The young girl’s wish quietly shifted from simple admiration to an anticipation for the future.

She was no longer just the little girl who needed protection.

She was also, in her own way, thinking about this ship and their future.

Lin Mo could feel the seriousness in her tone.

He looked at the river of light; against its backdrop, the entire Natural Selection seemed so tiny.

But, this ship possessed infinite possibilities.

“It will.”

Lin Mo spoke, his voice carrying an undeniable certainty.

“When our ship is strong enough.”

He turned his head, meeting Gu Nianqiu’s hopeful eyes, and, word by word, made an incredibly grand promise.

“I will take you all to explore the universe.”

“Then, we can swim in whichever river of light we want.”

Gu Nianqiu’s eyes instantly lit up.

That light was even more dazzling than any star in the sky.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“No lying!”

“No lying.”

“Pinky promise!”

Gu Nianqiu suddenly sat up, extending her fair, slender pinky finger towards Lin Mo, her small face filled with a solemn expression.

Lin Mo looked at her serious little face, also sat up, and smiled helplessly.

He extended his hand, and with his strong pinky, gently hooked hers.

“Pinky promise, a hundred years, no changing.”

Gu Nianqiu recited the ancient and childish rhyme, her smile so bright it could melt the coolness of the entire night sky.

Only after completing this important ritual did she contentedly lie back down.

“It’s a deal, no backing out!”

“Mhm, no backing out.”

The two stopped talking.

Silence once again returned to the deck.

Only the crisp, cold night wind continued to blow tirelessly.

The wind lifted Lin Mo’s clothes and stirred Gu Nianqiu’s adorable skirt.

They lay side by side, quietly gazing at the unfamiliar, magnificent sea of stars above them.

Clouds surged beneath their feet, and colorful bands of light flowed above their heads.

At this moment, time seemed to slow down.

No monsters, no dangers, no suffocating pressure of survival.

Only this rare, luxurious, tranquil time.

And a new home, where they could rely on each other.