Ye Lan returned to the rest area and was messaging Yu Xin to inform her that she would be leaving the capital today.
Yu Xin quickly called in response.
"Shall I organize a farewell party?"
"Hmm... that shouldn't be necessary."
"Then I wish you a safe journey."
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm."
Yu Xin and Ye Lan didn't have much emotional exchange, so the farewell was very simple, without any pressure.
After hanging up, Ye Lan put away her phone.
"All done! Farewells complete!"
It was rather sad, actually. Ye Lan hadn't met many people in the capital, and those she could say goodbye to seemed to be only four people, including the Leader and Ji Yun. It was too few.
But then again, Ye Lan wasn't skilled at socializing.
She had spent most of her time dealing with the Dream Narrator's dreams, leaving no time to go out and play.
In the end, the only loli she seemed to have met was Zhu Meng Yin Yun, who was with the Dream Narrator.
Sigh~
She had really been looking forward to meeting more lolis in the capital.
But in such an important and serious place as headquarters, there didn't seem to be many very young children.
It seemed this place wasn't like the bases in other cities, with not many "child workers."
"Never mind, let's just return to Yunzhang City now..."
Ye Lan decided not to think about it anymore.
Now she should book a flight ticket to go back.
But thinking carefully, that seemed a bit troublesome. Should she drive the newly acquired flying car back?
Ye Lan briefly calculated the distance and time, then immediately abandoned the idea.
Although she knew how to drive, she hadn't touched a car since getting her license.
If she were to drive now, she might end up in a fatal accident due to unfamiliarity. Truly scary.
But taking a plane was very troublesome... pretending was so tiring.
Ye Lan returned to her room and suddenly had an idea. She sent a message to the Leader.
[Leader! I'll book my own ticket and return by myself, taking some time to play on the way. No need for headquarters to waste resources on me. What do you think?]
The Leader quickly replied:
[Do you want me to have Ji Yun escort you?]
[No need, I'll manage on my own]
[Be careful]
[Okey-dokey]
Having obtained the Leader's consent, Ye Lan's lips curled into a smug smile.
Now it was perfect!
Then Ye Lan left headquarters, pretending to leave the area, and finally lowered her presence to reach an empty intersection.
"Theater Door! Open for me!"
Ye Lan raised one hand dramatically and called out a line just as dramatically.
She had been completely infected by Ye Yu.
The next second, the Theater Door opened before Ye Lan.
Ye Lan quickly entered without attracting anyone's attention.
Meanwhile.
In the Leader's office at headquarters.
The Leader looked at the message Ye Lan had just sent him, seemingly pondering something.
"She doesn't even want to honestly pretend?"
The Leader shook his head helplessly, not saying much more.
Anyone paying attention could check Ye Lan's movement route and see that she hadn't left the capital through normal channels.
Strictly speaking, this would be called disappearance.
If she suddenly appeared in Yunzhang City without other records, it would be rather intriguing.
To this end, the Leader had Ji Yun deliver his orders to the technical staff, directly erasing the mismatched information across domains on the network.
This way, it would be as if Ye Lan had never come to the capital, and it wouldn't attract any attention.
In the end, he, as a leader, still had to clean up after her.
As for that girl Ye Lan... she was probably already in Yunzhang City by now.
Just as the Leader had guessed.
Ye Lan had already returned to the Slacking Cottage in Yunzhang City through the Theater Door.
"Woo-hoo~ Finally back! Now I can finally return to the Night Watchers' base in Yunzhang City and cuddle with Bai Yu and the others!"
It wasn't just Ye Lan; Bai Yu and the others had been missing Ye Lan too.
During Ye Lan's time at headquarters, Bai Yu and the others would send messages every day expressing their longing. Otherwise, Ye Lan wouldn't have decided to return so quickly.
However, just as she was about to head to the Night Watchers' base, she suddenly thought of something and stopped.
"Hmm... it's probably better to stay at the Slacking Cottage until dark before going back."
After all, Ye Lan had one foot in the capital and the next in the Night Watchers' base in Yunzhang City. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed fishy.
To avoid exposing more secrets, it was better for Ye Lan to pretend she was on a plane.
It wouldn't be too late to go cuddle with Bai Yu and the others in the evening.
Right now, it was still morning.
It was about 8 AM, with quite some time until evening.
Moreover, today was also the troupe's performance day.
Later, Ye Xing would need to go with the troupe members to the Gaming Entertainment District in Qiyuan City to perform.
All preparations needed to be made during this time.
……
Rising Sun Troupe.
Ye Xing, wearing the Rising Sun Troupe's limited edition performance costume, was already prepared.
The Makeup Artist was helping other troupe members with their makeup, which should be done soon.
Now Ye Xing was sitting in the audience seats, waiting for the troupe members to finish their makeup.
Sitting beside her was the first one to finish makeup, the Announcer, the cute little loli Mo Tutu.
She was now wearing a beautiful formal dress, chosen earlier by Kong Yubai.
Originally, Mo Tutu wanted to dress more normally, but ended up being forced to wear this, and had now stopped thinking about it.
"Hmm... Mo Tutu, what are you thinking about?"
"Thinking about what the Dream Narrator said. I'm very interested in that origin of Stars."
"Ah~ Could it be you want to go find Them?"
Ye Xing expressed her shock.
"If you want to go find Them, don't take me along. It might attract many terrifying beings, possibly even ones our troupe companions can't handle. It's too dangerous!"
Ye Xing had an expression of wanting to distance herself from Mo Tutu, truly cowardly to the bone.
Mo Tutu glanced at her speechlessly.
"I didn't say I wanted to go find Them. I'm just slightly interested. I haven't even digested all the information you shared, and I don't have the ability to find Them anyway."
Ye Xing immediately let out a breath, her small hand patting her flat chest.
"Phew~ That's good. If you, Mo Tutu, want to court death, I would righteously cut ties with you, even though you're very cute right now!"
Mo Tutu propped her face with one hand, chuckling lightly: "My my~ Why is our great Spectator still so timid?"
"Hmm... What's wrong with being timid?"
"But what if one day we stumble upon an event related to the origin of Stars, and for some reason we can't avoid it? Would you still be so cowardly?"
"Ah... then we'd have no choice but to fight."
"See? So it's not a bad thing to be mentally prepared. After all, you always encounter so many strange things, you might encounter even stranger things. Don't you think?"
Hearing this, Ye Xing fell into thought.
That's true.
Since obtaining the Exceptional Star, she hadn't had much of a peaceful daily life to speak of.
She had encountered an extraordinary number of events during this time.
Who knew if the next event would be even more outrageous?