Chapter 133: The Day Code Fell in Love (3)

Bai Yao stood at the bathroom doorway, her gaze dropping downward.

The black-haired youth hastily lowered his shirt’s hem. He stood up, expressionless, looking at her.

He was tall and somewhat slender. The loose T-shirt hung on him like a child wearing an adult’s clothes, the empty hem emphasizing his frail frame.

His tone was calm and even. “Why are you in my room?”

Bai Yao lifted the corner of her mouth. “This is my room now. Your room is next door.”

Just then, Van Gogh returned, explaining to the youth, “Shi Jiu, this is Miss Bai Yao.”

Van Gogh then whispered to Shi Jiu, “The room next door is bigger, with a bathtub in the bathroom for soaking. The conditions are much better there. If you move there, you’ll definitely sleep more comfortably.”

When Li Shenjue brought these two survivors onto the ship, he gave the best room next to him to Ruan Jiaojiao. As for Shi Jiu’s arrangements, Li Shenjue left it to Van Gogh.

Knowing Bai Yao would board midway, Van Gogh naturally reserved the best remaining room for this young lady.

Thus, Shi Jiu ended up in this small room.

At the time, Shi Jiu did not object, but Ruan Jiaojiao was very displeased that her brother was assigned such a poor room. It was through this room dispute that Ruan Jiaojiao learned of Bai Yao’s presence.

Shi Jiu’s eyes rested on Bai Yao.

Though her attire was simple, the clothes, shoes, and hair accessories she wore were all expensive items that cost a fortune.

He didn’t understand why Bai Yao refused to stay in the good room reserved for her, nor did he intend to inquire further.

His mind drifted back to that recent scene—how much had she seen?

His thin lips pressed lightly. Without wasting words, he gathered his few belongings and left the room.

Bai Yao, however, asked curiously, “Is he Ruan Jiaojiao’s brother?”

Van Gogh nodded. “Yes, but I heard they’re not blood siblings. Before the destruction of Planet M42, Miss Ruan met Shi Jiu during her escape. They went through several life-and-death situations together, and Shi Jiu saved her multiple times. Their bond is strong, so they became like brother and sister.”

When Li Shenjue led the team on the mission, he thought it would be a simple rescue operation for survivors. But upon arriving at Planet M42, they realized the dangers there were far greater than anticipated.

Not only was rescuing people difficult, but their own team almost perished.

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In the end, they only managed to rescue Ruan Jiaojiao and Shi Jiu from that planet.

Van Gogh hesitated before saying, “Shi Jiu is an orphan and can only follow Miss Ruan back to her hometown. He’s introverted and dislikes socializing, so...”

Bai Yao glanced at him. “I’m not going to bully him.”

Van Gogh smiled honestly.

In truth, if Bai Yao wanted to bully someone, others could understand why. Li Shenjue was her fiancé, yet he now had an ambiguous relationship with Ruan Jiaojiao.

It was natural for Bai Yao to dislike Ruan Jiaojiao, and since Shi Jiu was Ruan’s brother, there’s a saying: ‘Love for the house extends to the crows upon it.’ Of course, hatred could extend the same way.

But Shi Jiu seemed very young; it was unclear if he was an adult. Being an orphan naturally evoked sympathy.

Van Gogh left.

Bai Yao closed the door, sat on the bed, and carefully took the clothes out of her bag, folding them neatly. As for the matter of Ruan Jiaojiao and her brother, she didn’t care.

What troubled her was something else. She had been in this world for almost half a year and hadn’t found any beautiful, strong, tragic potential romance interests. That unreliable system, which abandoned the word “romance” and vanished, was utterly useless.

Bai Yao took out a packet of seeds from her bag—rose seeds she had brought from Earth’s botanical repository. Her university thesis was to observe Earth life growing on planets outside the solar system.

Planets already developed into tourist spots had no observational value, so she chose a planet in the Andromeda galaxy.

It was a barren world, yet its soil could sustain plant life and remained undeveloped by humans.

She only needed to plant the seeds there and leave a monitoring device nearby before departing.

While traveling through space, humans lose their sense of time. Her wristband vibrated twice, emitting the clear, melodious voice of a little girl.

“Sis, sis, it’s ten o’clock at night now. You should go to bed!”

Bai Yao lay down with a facial mask on, replying perfunctorily, “Got it.”

A pale blue light glowed from the wristband as a hologram of a little girl with twin ponytails popped up.

“Sis, Mr. Bai said you can’t stay up late! Staying up late makes you ugly!”

“Sis, go to bed quickly!”

“Or I’ll tell Mr. Bai you’re up late again!”

“I’ll have him scold you!”

The little girl chattered nonstop. Bai Yao forcibly shut down the wristband, the image disappearing, and the room finally quieted.

The Bai family’s enterprise spanned multiple fields, including artificial intelligence. Any electronic product inevitably involved the Bai family.

Bai Yao had set the wristband’s AI to appear as a little girl. Her father, in an effort to remind her to stay healthy, had implanted countless health alerts into the AI.

But she was young—how could she possibly sleep at ten o’clock?

Calculating the time, Bai Yao sat up, peeling off her face mask as she got out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. Her foot suddenly kicked something at the bedside: a glass tube rolled to her feet.

Next door.

Shi Jiu had rummaged through his few possessions multiple times but couldn’t find what he wanted. He bent over clutching his abdomen, biting his lip hard, his pale, porcelain-like face growing even paler.

His face buried in the blanket, his grip on it tightened, veins bulging on the back of his hands, knuckles whitening.

There was a knock on the door.

He raised his head, sweat dampening his forehead hair, his panicked eyes brimming with vigilance.

The knocking continued.

Clumsily, Shi Jiu got out of bed and nearly fell when his feet hit the floor, but he steadied himself by grasping the wall. Slowly, he walked to the door and asked with a dry voice, “Who is it?”

A girl’s voice came from outside. “I’m Bai Yao. I’ve come to bring you something.”

Shi Jiu stood still for a moment, then reached out to crack the door open a slit.

His room was dimly lit by a small lamp, darker than the hallway light. Hidden in the gap, he revealed only half his face. His dark eyes stared blankly at the person outside, more gloomy than a creature lurking in a corner.