Luo Cheng had a dream. He dreamt he was in his university dorm room, surrounded by his roommates.
"I got it! I got it!" Luo Cheng clenched his fist, looking at the rainbow gate that had opened. His roommates crowded around.
"Holy shit? You got it just like that?"
"How many pulls?"
"Did you hit the pity?"
"This is called a single-pull miracle! I knew it! This is my bond with Daiwa Scarlet!"
"You've got a hammer for a bond! You've used up all your luck for this lifetime. You'd better start eating well for the rest of it."
"Get outta here!" Luo Cheng watched the phone screen. The rainbow gate opened, and a figure quickly ran out...
"Teio?"
"Hahaha!" The people around him burst out laughing.
"It's a spook! That's what you get for showing off!"
"So that's your bond with Teio, huh? You spook with Teio every single time. Unbelievable."
"Have you already maxed her out?"
"Screw it, I've still got a whole pity saved up. I'm not scared, alright!"
"That's right. We're all guaranteed-pull people. Why waste your life essence on pulls? Come to Africa with me and become a chief."
Luo Cheng clicked the pull button again, and a flash of white light appeared before his eyes.
...
"Are you awake, Trainer?"
A soft sensation came from the back of his head. Luo Cheng opened his eyes and saw the girl with the pale face and tranquil golden eyes looking down at him.
"Cafe... no, you're..."
"Sunday Silence."
"Silence," Luo Cheng rubbed his eyes, noticing they were a little wet.
"Did you have a nightmare, Trainer?"
"Huh?"
"You've been shouting 'No pity, no pity' for a while now. I was wondering if you were having a bad dream."
Luo Cheng rolled over, lying on his side on Sunday Silence's lap. "A nightmare... it should be an interesting dream. I was remembering a time from long ago..."
"Was Trainer's life good before?"
"It wasn't that good. I just came from a very ordinary family, and I was a very ordinary person. I'd get so nervous speaking in front of people that I'd be speechless, and I'd be scared to death just trying to team up with a strange girl."
"That doesn't sound like the Trainer you are now."
"Maybe the me from that time is already dead, and what's lying here now is just a relic named 'Luo Cheng'."
Sunday Silence gently patted his cheek. "That works out perfectly. I'm dead too. Let's have some fun together, as two relics."
He was restrained by all sorts of things when he was alive, so after death, he could do whatever he wanted.
Luo Cheng smiled and sat up from Sunday Silence's lap.
"Thank you for the hospitality."
This was probably the best pillow Luo Cheng had ever used, even better than Seiun Sky.
"You should wake yourself up first. You look hazy. Go wash your face and get something to eat."
"You're right."
Luo Cheng opened the door, and a gust of wind blew in, splashing water all over his face. Without him noticing, the rain outside had become so heavy. The shock instantly sobered him up.
This location isn't great. Every time he entered Cafe's support card story, it was always a miserable, continuous rain. The first time, Luo Cheng came down with a fever for three days. With this much rain for three days, the rivers should have overflowed long ago, but the water level hadn't even risen.
Luo Cheng took a step back, looking at the gloomy scene outside the door.
"Are you awake? If you're awake, I'll tell you the results of my investigation."
"You found the 'audience'?"
"No." Sunday Silence shook her head. "But I found that people in the support card story have a faint impression of our real world. It's like a sense of déjà vu. They feel like they did something, something that didn't happen in this world but happened in the real world."
"Who are they?"
"Many of them. The people you know have this feeling more or less, but the only one who currently has a distinctly different feeling is Agnes Tachyon."
"Is that so?" Luo Cheng clasped his hands behind his back.
As expected of Tachyon, she's so sensitive. But unfortunately, her opponent is too ethereal.
"What if we spend more time here? Will their perception become even more obvious?"
"That's something that only time can prove." Sunday Silence sat on the bed, kicked off her shoes, propped up her thighs wrapped in white cotton socks, and lay down. "What's next, Trainer? Do you want to continue the investigation?"
"Yes. Since there are people who have this sense of déjà vu, it's possible that some people already know. I hope you can find them."
"What if I can't?"
"Then we'll just have to try another method."
"You're basically treating me like free labor. Don't go too far, Trainer."
"This is something I can only rely on you for, Silence. There's no way I can monitor so many people. You come and go without a trace. I can't even get into a locked room."
Sunday Silence lay on the bed, propping her face up with her hand, a playful smile on her lips.
"In that case, you have to give me something in return. I can't be the only one working."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Give some of your items to Cafe. Give her the best training resources and the best training plan."
"No problem."
Cafe is also one of Luo Cheng's horse girls, so he would definitely train her with all the resources he had.
"And there's me, too." Sunday Silence wiggled her feet. "Come give me a massage. I've been running for a long time."
Luo Cheng came to the side of the bed.
"Just a foot rub?"
"What else? Are you planning to combine with me? No, Trainer, right now I'm on top and you're on the bottom. You have to listen to me. If you satisfy me, then maybe. After all, for us two 'deceased', this is just another form of entertainment and pastime."
Sunday Silence wiggled her feet. Luo Cheng held one in his hand. Her dainty foot was just the right size for him to hold perfectly. Who would have thought that such a soft, small thing could possess the power to kick through steel plates? Luo Cheng massaged the arch of her foot. Through the cotton sock, he could see the pale, tender flesh inside. As Luo Cheng stroked her, Sunday Silence's long calf muscles twitched slightly.
Sunday Silence looked exactly like Cafe, even their body proportions were identical. They were like symmetrical reflections in a mirror, so it was hard to tell them apart just by their appearance. But once you touched them, you'd find the difference. Sunday Silence's body had a wonderful resilience. Every touch would create a subtle ripple in her muscles. Her physical condition had reached the limits of what a body could be.
"What is it, Trainer? Are you lost in thought looking at my body?" Sunday Silence hooked her toes at him, her eyes filled with a smile.
"I'm thinking about the difference between ghosts and humans. I feel like you're no different from the other horse girls."
Both the texture and the scent were the same as a living person's. Her body temperature was a bit lower, but that was just on the surface. Inside, it was still very warm. What was the difference between a ghost like this and a human?
"Hmm, I didn't expect a Trainer to think about such things. My soul is a bit special. I can maintain my form from when I was alive. Others can't achieve this level. They are just a bunch of formless, lonely souls."
"I see..." Luo Cheng massaged her small foot. Even in the horse girl worldview, Sunday Silence was an extremely special existence.
"You've played with people quite a bit in the game world, Trainer. Your massage technique is very skillful."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Of course. For me, nothing is more important than being interesting. And you are very interesting, Trainer." Sunday Silence's lips curled into a grin. "You make me very happy. Since that's the case, let me give you some pleasure too."
With that, Sunday Silence flipped over and took off her socks. "My feet are much more powerful than that who only does dance steps. Want to give it a try?"
"Absolutely."
"Trainer, are you in here?"
A knock came from outside.
"Guinea pig-kun? We've come to get you."
The voices of Cafe and Agnes Tachyon came in.
"Looks like he's not here..."
"The light is on. Someone must be inside. If he's not answering the door, guinea pig-kun might be in some trouble. I'll go get the key, Cafe. You stay here and watch."
The sound of footsteps faded.
"Looks like someone's coming." Hearing Cafe's voice, Sunday Silence's enthusiasm disappeared. She put her socks back on and looked at the man in front of her. "Let's go, Trainer. The conversation's over, and we should go back. As for today's postscript, I'll come find you again when I get the chance."
She leaned in close to his ear, gently bit it, and then held his hand to press the exit button.
Before their eyes, Cafe and Agnes Tachyon, who had just entered the room, turned into fragments and vanished.