"Caelus, we're about to investigate the hidden conspiracy of the Family in Penacony, can't you look a bit more energetic?"
On the way back to their rooms to prepare for the dream, March 7th exercised her body while whispering to Caelus: "Why do you look so nervous? We have little Twilight with us, who could possibly hurt us?"
"March, what you're saying really makes us sound like bullies relying on Twilight…" Caelus carefully looked around. Seeing that no one seemed to notice their sneaky behavior, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. "We're supposed to be infiltrating and investigating, of course we have to be secretive! This is the Family's territory. If we're too arrogant, maybe the Family will know what we're up to before we even get a chance to do anything."
"That makes sense…"
Sense my foot, the two of you have basically nothing to do with secrecy in this lifetime. The Family was already monitoring the Astral Express, plus with all the commotion you've caused along the way, it would be strange if they couldn't guess what you're up to.
They just don't care… Sigh, people walking the Paths always have a mysterious confidence in their own Emanator's strength. Giving the Dreamweaver a Harmony Emanator [Chorus Director] made him dare to confront Acheron. It's normal to look down on the Express crew with the help of the Order Aeon's reanimated corpse.
Twilight silently followed behind Caelus and March 7th, not joining their conversation or reminding them that the Family likely already knew the Express crew's movements.
This wasn't just because some information couldn't be told to them, but also because talking was tiring for her.
Unlike before when she was just lazy to talk, if previously Twilight's reluctance to speak was mainly a personality issue, now her body also had a significant impact.
Since the first onset of her illness, Twilight could feel her physical fitness declining significantly over the past month. Besides the increasingly frequent pain, the most obvious was the immense fatigue after activity, as if her stamina bar had been slashed down to almost nothing.
As expected, when people reach middle age, their physical condition plummets. The current Twilight was over 5 months old, which translated to being over 40 years old. It was normal for this situation to occur.
Fortunately, although she was getting older, her appearance hadn't aged. If this body really turned into an old lady while decaying, Twilight would have to silently open the system store shopping cart and buy herself a cheat.
Although a beauty fading with age was also a good way to explode gold coins, a wife playing pitiful and an old lady playing pitiful were fundamentally different in terms of exploding player gold coins…
"Little Twilight, what are you thinking about?"
Twilight looked up and saw March 7th running to her side concernedly: "Are you okay? Why have you been spacing out so much lately…?"
"It's nothing." Twilight shook her head, gently gripping her right hand. "I will protect everyone."
"Hehe, of course! With little Twilight around, it's like having the power of 100 million people backing me up!"
Caelus looked at Twilight and March 7th standing there, feeling complicated.
He didn't know if it was his illusion, but he felt that Twilight seemed to have become somewhat colder towards him over the past month… Sigh, that wasn't quite accurate either. Perhaps hot and cold described the situation better?
Previously, Twilight's affection for him was undeniable. She wished he would hold her directly every day, never leaving her side. Twilight's smile, rarely seen by others, was commonplace for him.
But during this period, Twilight rarely smiled at him.
Not only that, Twilight no longer clung to him like before, and sometimes Caelus's calls would even be ignored by her.
But sometimes she was excessively enthusiastic, even shaking him awake from bed late at night, demanding that the exhausted him take her out to play… Once or twice was fine, but after too many times, he, lacking sleep, really couldn't take it anymore.
Caelus couldn't figure out why this was happening. After thinking it over, he could only find one reason: Firefly. It seemed that after seeing him with Firefly that one time, Twilight's attitude towards him became increasingly indifferent… Lately, sometimes they couldn't even exchange words.
But he clearly hadn't done anything wrong? While feeling wronged, Caelus couldn't help but feel a little resentful. He was clearly acting together with Firefly to help find a cure for Twilight, why should Twilight resent him for it?
Sigh, thinking about it, the white-haired sister and Firefly were much more understanding. But he hadn't seen them for a long time either. He occasionally received a message or two from Firefly, but there was no news at all from White Hair, making him miss her dearly…
And as a bad woman proficient in human nature, how could Twilight not know Caelus's little thoughts?
She did it on purpose.
Playing hot and cold was an essential killer move for handling pure-hearted young boys!
Ahem, just kidding. Although she was mischievous, she wasn't malicious enough to deliberately use such tactics—she was just going with the flow~
Actually, the reason Twilight had become increasingly cold lately and often ignored Caelus was simple: it hurt too much when the illness struck. Even with Twilight's endurance, maintaining herself sitting there spacing out without disturbing others was already her limit. It was truly difficult to handle things happening beside her, let alone smile at Caelus every day.
Although there was pain control, this was her cheat. Naturally, it couldn't count during the performance.
And frankly, she had never treated Caelus coldly. Her recent attitude towards him was similar to her attitude towards the rest of the Express crew… It was just that Caelus was used to being treated preferentially.
As for the sudden enthusiasm sometimes… Well, the illness hadn't worsened to the point of being non-stop 24/7 yet. When it didn't hurt, she naturally wanted to spend more time with Caelus, creating more memories~
After all, she wouldn't live much longer. If she didn't make memories now, there would be no chance later.
But Caelus not only didn't understand but also disliked her good intentions… Please, she was silent precisely because she didn't want him to worry, okay?
She just wanted him to misunderstand a tiny bit so she could explode his gold coins…
Soon, everyone returned to their rooms, and Caelus also lay down in the dream pool.
During this period, he often entered the dream. Penacony in the dream was extremely luxurious, but it was far from making him willing to give up reality and indulge in it. After all, unlike Firefly, he didn't have a terminal illness.
He occasionally remembered the words White Hair spoke to him when she appeared beside him during his first dream entry… Honestly, he still didn't understand. Did White Hair think he was someone easily deceived by these materialistic appearances?
Caelus really wanted to ask this slender lady, but unfortunately, she was always elusive. He had no idea how to see her.
But this dream entry was different from usual. Maybe, like last time, he would see her as soon as he opened his eyes?
Thinking of this, his heart couldn't help but feel some anticipation.
After sinking into the sea of dreams, he felt a familiar aura approaching him… Yes, just like White Hair—
Suddenly, Caelus raised his hand and caught the slender palm that was about to touch his cheek.
"This time, I caught you…"
Caelus confidently opened his eyes, but was suddenly stunned. The person before him didn't have that sickly white hair, only a pair of calm eyes quietly looking at him.
"Caelus, what's wrong?"
"Ah, no, nothing…"
Caelus awkwardly lowered his hand, unable to hide the disappointment in his heart.
Why is it Twilight? Lately, she dragged him out almost every other night, he had held her hand enough already…
But how could he mistake Twilight's aura for someone else's?
Sigh, it must be due to lack of sleep recently…