(Don't ask, if you ask, it's loyalty)
(If you ask again, it's that she ran off with her)
(Who is she? Hmm, the Emperor's little one (girl))
~(If you want to see that original girl, just say so~ arrangements will be made later)
A heavy smell of rust mixed with motor oil and burnt air pierced fiercely into her nostrils.
Every breath felt like swallowing a handful of cold, metallic grit.
Leticia struggled to open her eyes, the back of her head throbbing with a dull pain from pressing against the hard deck.
In her field of vision, several dim emergency red lights dragged out nauseating, long afterimages.
This was not her single bed.
She pushed herself up with her elbows, and the metal deck beneath her let out a creaking groan.
Then, she saw her own hands.
Those hands, the skin was white as snow, the fingers slender, and so well-proportioned that there wasn't a single thin callus.
Perfect like a work of art.
And they completely did not belong to a corporate slave like her who tapped on a keyboard every day.
Her heart stopped for half a second.
A strange sensation surged through her entire body like an electric current.
She could clearly perceive every inch of muscle lying dormant and the outline of every bone within this body.
Light, flexible, yet containing a power she had never experienced before.
Leticia held onto the cold bulkhead and stood up unsteadily.
This was a narrow metal corridor with exposed piping, the walls covered in scratches and stains.
The flickering red light stretched and shortened her shadow on the ground, like a silent ghost.
Not far away, a vaguely intact cabin door reflected a blurry outline.
Leticia moved over, every step treading on shattered reality.
In the reflection was a young girl.
A... strange young girl so beautiful it left one speechless.
Her long, jet-black hair was like a waterfall, her features exquisite without a single flaw, and her pair of pupils, under the red light, were a pure, light-devouring pitch black.
Leticia raised her hand and touched her own face.
The young girl in the reflection did the same.
Her fingertips were cold, her skin warm.
This real tactile sensation shattered her last shred of hope.
She had really... become another person.
Just as Leticia's brain was being stirred into a mess by this immense sense of absurdity, a faint groan came from behind her.
The sound was as thin as gossamer, yet it instantly pierced through the silence of the place.
Leticia turned around abruptly.
In the corner of the corridor, a curled-up figure had appeared at some point.
It was also a young girl, seemingly even younger.
Her tattered white robe was stained with blood and filth, and her brilliant golden hair lay dully on the dirty deck.
She was covered in wounds and unconscious, and around her body, a layer of almost imperceptible shimmering light flickered on and off.
Transmigration, transformation, and also a... mysterious beautiful girl lying by her side.
She was familiar with this kind of opening.
But when the protagonist became herself, the bone-deep chill made her teeth chatter.
She forced herself to calm down, crouched down, and approached carefully.
Getting closer, she finally saw the painful little face, brows tightly furrowed, with teardrops hanging on long eyelashes.
Before she could even think, her heart gave a sharp twitch.
That was not fear, but a stranger, more overbearing emotion.
Like a beast awakened from its slumber roaring in her chest, telling her that the curled-up thing in the corner was hers.
No one was allowed to touch it.
This thought came without any reason, yet it carried an unquestionable ferocity.
Her hand reached out uncontrollably, and just as her fingertips touched the cold forehead of the Blonde Girl—
Boom!
A current surged from her fingertips, straight to the top of her skull!
Protect her! Must protect her!
This thought was no longer an option, but a brand, an instinct!
"Damn..."
Leticia looked at the strange face in the cabin door reflection, then looked at the unconscious Blonde Girl on the ground, and muttered in a hoarse voice that only she could hear.
"This opening isn't just hell mode, it's also a damn forced bond with a fragile, limited-edition SSR."
Before the words fell.
— —!!!
A shrill alarm tore through the silence without warning!
The sharp buzzing almost pierced her eardrums, and all the emergency lights in the corridor instantly turned to the most urgent blood red!
A cold, synthesized electronic voice echoed throughout the cabin.
"Warning! External threat detected! Forced docking initiated!"
"Hull outer armor damaged by 73%! Docking locks failed!"
"Repeat! Docking locks failed! Intrusion countdown... ten, nine, eight..."
Pursuers!
Leticia's pupils constricted; these two words cut through all the chaos like lightning.
They were fleeing! And the enemy had caught up!
"Seven... six... five..."
Adrenaline surged; she had no time to think, her body acted before her brain.
She grabbed the Blonde Girl, half-carrying and half-dragging her up, protected her tightly behind her own thin body, and staggered toward the bridge at the other end of the corridor.
Must leave!
"Four... three... two..."
The countdown was the Grim Reaper's death warrant.
"One!"
Boom——!!!
Amidst the deafening roar, the nearby docking hatch was torn apart and melted through from the outside by a terrifying force!
A scorching wave of air mixed with metal fragments rushed toward her; Leticia instinctively turned sideways, using her back to shield the girl in her arms.
Several hot fragments instantly sliced through her arm, bringing a burning, intense pain.
The alarm stopped abruptly.
The world fell into a deathly silence.
Only the "hiss" of electricity and the "drip" of molten metal remained.
Then.
Thud.
A heavy, metallic footstep came from outside the torn hatch.
Thud.
The footsteps were unhurried, each one feeling as if it wasn't stepping on the deck, but directly onto Leticia's heart.
Thud.
The pressure in the air increased exponentially; it was a kind of pure, undisguised malice.
Leticia bit her lower lip hard, her blood almost freezing.
She could feel the Blonde Girl in her arms trembling even more violently, letting out fearful mumblings.
Through the twisted metal door frame, Leticia saw a huge silhouette shrouded in shadow.
The pursuers had arrived.
Desperation had descended.
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