Chapter 122: Stealing a Moment of Leisure to Return to the Starship

After finishing lunch, Du Yun felt exhausted, her back aching and her limbs heavy. She longed for a moment of rest, but the endless tasks—making pastries and the like—kept her constantly occupied. Just as she was feeling frustrated, an idea suddenly struck her.

"Douzhi, can I return to the starship at any time now?" Du Yun asked in her mind. Douzhi had been busy with a task she had assigned him over the past few days, and he had been so occupied that he had barely spoken at all.

"Master, I haven't finished my work yet; please don't disturb me," Douzhi replied, his voice tinged with helplessness, though he still answered her question earnestly. "The space-time rift scanning program has been restored. As long as you mentally recite 'Flash Warp,' the countdown will begin."

"What? It’s that simple?" Du Yun’s first reaction was disbelief; it seemed too easy. Her second reaction was an urge to try it immediately—she was simply too tired and needed to get back to the starship to rest.

"Flash Warp! Flash Warp!" Du Yun repeated the words in her mind. Sure enough, a countdown box appeared in her field of vision, showing ten minutes remaining.

"Oh no! I haven't found a place yet!" Du Yun felt a pang of frustration. She had only thought about going back to sleep, completely forgetting that she hadn't found a secluded spot. With a house full of people, it would be a disaster if she suddenly vanished into thin air.

Du Yun hurriedly told her sister she was heading to the village grocery store. Not waiting for a reply, she dashed out of the courtyard as fast as her legs could carry her.

She had no intention of going to the grocery store. Just as she couldn't vanish in front of her family, she couldn't disappear at the store either. Her target was the tall crop fields by the riverbank to the south of their home.

It was the peak growing season for the corn and sorghum. The towering, lush green stalks were dense enough to hide anyone who stepped inside. Even if someone were just a few meters away, they wouldn't see her as long as she remained silent—perfect for her current situation.

Du Yun moved swiftly. In just a few moments, she had vanished from the path leading to the river. Her sister, Du Zhi, chased after her for a few steps, but seeing her figure disappear along the narrow path by the cornfield, she couldn't help but smile bitterly. "This girl runs so fast! I was hoping to ask her to pick up some salt on her way back."

Du Yun zipped through the cornfield, scanning the surroundings with her mental power. Seeing that no one was around, she finally calmed her racing heart and let out a long breath.

With just over three minutes left, Du Yun caught her breath and crouched in the furrow of the cornfield, looking around aimlessly while waiting for the countdown to end.

Suddenly, a splash echoed from the distance. Du Yun was highly sensitive to such sounds. Shortly after she had first transmigrated here, it was a similar splash that had led her to a basin full of fish, which she had enjoyed in a delicious cruciferous fish and tofu stew.

"What’s going on this time?" Though she was hidden in the cornfield, her mental power could extend outward. She closed her eyes to scan the nearby riverside and instantly pinpointed the source of the sound.

Fish! Du Yun’s eyes lit up. However, this time the fish wasn't completely stranded; it had only swum into shallow water and needed to flop around to get back out. Watching the fish flick its tail, ready to swim away, Du Yun felt a surge of anxiety and subconsciously used her "collect" function on the live fish.

*Pop.* An icon of a live fish appeared in one of the slots in her storage grid. Du Yun stared at it, stunned, before a wave of excitement washed over her.

"Douzhi, Douzhi! Can the storage grid hold live fish?" Du Yun’s voice was filled with excitement. She felt as if she had opened the door to a new world. If it could hold live fish, did that mean it could hold other animals? Or perhaps, could it even hold people?

"It can hold living things?" Douzhi was also quite surprised. He carefully scanned the state of the fish and fell silent for a moment before replying, "The fish is slightly unstable for now. It’s fine to store food ingredients, but do not try to store people."

"Food is fine, but don't store people?" Du Yun repeated, feeling a strange sensation in her heart. She managed to scan a few more fish into her storage before the countdown hit zero, leaving her no time for further thought.

As the brief sensation of dizziness faded, Du Yun found herself standing in her quarters aboard the starship *New Hammer*. The surroundings were quiet, save for the faint hum of the engines, which allowed her to finally relax.

"Whew, finally, I can get some real sleep!" The physical fatigue hit her hard, but she still managed to stumble into the washroom for a quick shower. She walked out, dazed and hair still dripping, and collapsed onto her bed, ready to sleep.

"Why are you sleeping without drying your hair?" As she drifted into a hazy sleep, Du Yun heard someone speaking beside her. Exhausted, she assumed it was the Captain, mumbled something, and turned over, leaving the person standing there in restless hesitation.

"What should I do about this?" The person was not the Captain, but Ji Yun.

As a zombie who had been exposed to blue light for an extended period, he had recovered to a level that was even more zombie-like than a half-zombie. He possessed human memories and emotions, but lacked a sense of human identity. It was as if his past life as a human and his current existence were two separate souls, unable to identify with or merge into one another.

The Captain, fearing that someone with his immense power would become a menace if left on Blue Water Star and hoping to study his behavioral patterns, had invited him to accompany them to the Imperial Star. Ji Yun had readily agreed.

Consent aside, the journey was tedious. Ji Yun had noticed the various ventilation ducts in the starship and, finding it interesting, had crawled through them to see what the other humans were doing. He had ended up in Du Yun’s room by chance, and upon seeing her asleep, had subconsciously uttered a phrase only a human would say.

"Dry hair..." Ji Yun’s hand gently brushed through Du Yun’s messy, damp hair, his red eyes deepening with emotion.

"Du Yun... Ji Yun..." Ji Yun’s movements were clumsy but as gentle as he could manage. He picked up a towel from nearby, slowly wrapped her long hair, and began to wipe it bit by bit, as if he were handling a peerless treasure, acting with the utmost caution.

"Dry hair... to sleep..." Ji Yun slowly recalled his own memories, then looked at the human woman before him. He realized with a start that even in the years he had spent as a human, he had never had the opportunity to be this close to a young woman.

"So fragrant..." A faint smile appeared on his slightly stiff, handsome face. *So fragrant.*