After the Black Moonlight’s "Death Escape" Failed [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 60

Chapter 60: Sunset

◎ She walked out of the cage that imprisoned her ◎

The hint in Wen Fengyue’s eyes was far too obvious. Jiao Qingyin didn’t even need to use her brain to see what she wanted to do—especially considering where the other’s strange gaze had just been lingering.

Jiao Qingyin curved the corners of her mouth, flashing Wen Fengyue a smile laced with sweetness.

Wen Fengyue’s heart immediately began to thud wildly at the sight of that smile.

But what caused her heart rate to spiral even further out of balance came next—Jiao Qingyin hooked her palm with a fingertip. Then, a soft, light voice drifted into her ear: “Alright, Teacher.”

Wen Fengyue suspected her head was literally steaming. How could Jiao Qingyin be so… so—Wen Fengyue searched her entire mind but couldn’t find an adjective. After a long while, she could only squeeze out the word “cute.”

By the time she snapped out of her mental blankness, she found that Jiao Qingyin had unknowingly led her by the hand to the side of the vehicle.

This ship-car was one Jiao Qingyin had bought after her soul-migration. Its silver exterior was low-key and restrained; unlike most ship-cars with bizarre shapes, it leaned toward the aesthetics of cars from the Old Blue Star era—making it very close to the historical background of Satellite.

The plot that made Wen Fengyue’s heart itch was a fragment where Wei Ling and Cheng Xing shared a moment of intimacy in a car. They sat in the driver and passenger seats respectively, and after a long, lingering kiss, they made a promise to be together forever.

Detecting the owner’s approach, the door opened automatically. Jiao Qingyin suddenly remembered something. “Do you know how to drive?”

If Wen Fengyue didn’t, she would “reluctantly” have to play the role of Wei Ling herself. Thinking this, Jiao Qingyin cast an expectant look at her.

Wen Fengyue misunderstood the hidden meaning in that gaze. She couldn’t help but puff out her chest slightly, her tone carrying a hint of pride: “Leave it to me.”

Jiao Qingyin felt a bit of regret hearing this, but she was also quite curious to see what the other looked like while driving, so she took the lead and sat in the passenger seat.

Wen Fengyue had come into contact with manual driving while filming a certain historical movie. Unlike other actors who just pretended, she had treated driving as a skill and underwent complete, formal training.

She deactivated the autopilot robot in the driver’s seat, set it aside in its initial cube form, and then lowered her eyes to adjust the ship-car’s settings. Jiao Qingyin watched her movements shift from slightly stiff to practiced. Her expression was focused, and she didn’t even notice a strand of hair falling beside her cheek. Jiao found herself dazed.

Serious people truly are the most charming; that saying really makes sense, she thought, her heart itching. She wanted to touch Teacher Wen’s hair, kiss Teacher Wen’s ears, and do all sorts of things to Teacher Wen.

Under Jiao Qingyin’s gaze, Wen Fengyue’s operations became slower and slower, eventually coming to a stop. She turned her head, her face slightly flushed as she looked at Jiao Qingyin. “What are you looking at?”

They had left in a hurry today, so neither Wen Fengyue nor Jiao Qingyin had removed their makeup. Now, framed by the makeup that deliberately reddened the corners of her eyes, the flush on Wen Fengyue’s cheeks made her look even more radiant and moving.

Jiao Qingyin couldn’t resist reaching out and gently touching her eyelashes. Her sudden action startled Wen Fengyue, who instinctively wanted to pull back but managed to control herself, allowing the person before her to proceed.

Having successfully touched Wen Fengyue, Jiao Qingyin felt as if she had been tickled by a feather. She could hardly suppress the urge to kiss her.

“Where do you want to rehearse the scene?” she asked.

If she wanted to do it here, it wasn’t impossible—there were no other cars nearby, and the window glass was one-way privacy glass. No matter what they did in the car, outsiders wouldn’t see.

Conflict appeared on Wen Fengyue’s face. After a difficult internal struggle, she suddenly remembered something and her eyes lit up. “I know a place where the sunset is very beautiful.”

The ship-car started, levitated off the ground, and they set off.

The scenery outside the window retreated. Jiao Qingyin watched the pedestrians for a while until her ears caught a faint sound from Wen Fengyue.

“What?” Jiao Qingyin turned her head.

Wen Fengyue stared straight ahead, looking as if she were focusing on driving and hadn’t spoken at all. After a long silence, she finally spoke: “When you suddenly reached out, I thought…”

Wen Fengyue stopped halfway. Jiao Qingyin became curious about the unspoken words. “Thought what?”

She waited quietly. Wen Fengyue’s fingers slowly tightened around the steering wheel. A moment later, she spoke softly: “I thought my hair was sticking up again.”

The words were awkward, but Jiao Qingyin understood immediately. She wanted her head rubbed but was too embarrassed to say it.

Jiao Qingyin’s lips curved upward. When Wen Fengyue stopped at a red light, she placed her palm on the other’s head. Wen Fengyue froze, then felt Jiao Qingyin’s fingers slide into her hair and give it a rub.

“Mm, it was sticking up.”

The hair by Wen Fengyue’s ear was brushed aside, revealing her crimson ear. Jiao Qingyin followed her heart and gently pinched the earlobe that attracted her most. The texture was exceptionally good, so she didn’t stop, pinching it again and again.

“Don’t…” Wen Fengyue let out a suppressed plea for mercy.

Jiao Qingyin could feel the earlobe becoming significantly hotter. Clearly, if she continued, their car wouldn’t be able to drive normally. A ship-car from behind flew over their heads. Jiao Qingyin withdrew her hand, listening to her own laughter. Wen Fengyue drove with her head down, not daring to make any more requests that would distract her.

But if Jiao Qingyin wanted to continue… she could pull over and let the other play however she wanted.

Just before the sun vanished completely, the ship-car reached a winding mountain road. It was deserted; as far as the eye could see, there were no other people or vehicles besides them.

Jiao Qingyin opened the convertible mode. The evening breeze blew directly against them, making their hair dance. The temperature was perfect. Wen Fengyue unconsciously accelerated, their shadows reflected on the mountain walls as if they were chasing the sunset.

Upon reaching the summit, Wen Fengyue stopped. Jiao Qingyin got out first and stood by the front of the car; soon, Wen Fengyue walked to her side.

“I used to… occasionally come here.”

The sunset dyed Wen Fengyue’s hair with a layer of pale red. The wind tossed her hair like scattered fragments of fallen gold. Without turning her head, Jiao Qingyin could feel the sadness in the other’s tone—not heavy, but enough to make her purse her lips.

“This place is like… my secret base. I come here when I don’t want to be found.”

“But before today, I’ve only seen the sunset here once. I usually only have time to come in the early hours of the morning. When I reach the summit like that, it’s just in time to see the sunrise.”

As Wen Fengyue spoke, she tucked her silver hair behind her ear. When she spoke the last sentence, she retracted her gaze from the sky and turned to Jiao Qingyin. “I thought before that if one day I brought someone here to see the sun, I must really like that person.”

She wasn’t good at sweet talk, and she didn’t mean this as a confession, but Jiao Qingyin’s heart was still poked into softness. She reached out and took Wen Fengyue’s hand.

Wen Fengyue was stunned. Her first reaction was that Jiao Qingyin was comforting her; her second reaction was… “Are we rehearsing the scene?”

Sigh, what a blockhead.

Jiao Qingyin grumbled inwardly. She looped her arm around Wen Fengyue’s neck and, without answering whether it was a rehearsal or not, grabbed her and kissed her.

After the kiss, she whispered a promise: “In the future… whether it’s sunrise or sunset, I will come with you. You’ll never be alone again.”

Hearing this right after being kissed, Wen Fengyue’s heart pounded wildly. However, her expression looked dazed, as if her brain had understood but hadn’t yet commanded her facial nerves to react.

Once she fully digested the sentence, she snapped out of it, quickly hugged Jiao Qingyin, and asked urgently: “Did you remember the lines wrong, or—is this for real?”

Wen Fengyue’s tone was extremely apprehensive, in contrast to her arms which were locked tightly around Jiao Qingyin’s waist with an air of never letting go. Jiao Qingyin couldn’t help but glare at her—was her attitude just now not solemn and serious enough?

So she said intentionally: “I remembered the lines wrong.”

Wen Fengyue instantly tightened her arms, hugging Jiao Qingyin with a force that felt like she wanted to knead her into her chest. A few seconds later, keeping her head buried in Jiao Qingyin’s neck, she spoke through slightly gritted teeth: “I don’t believe you. You were clearly being serious.”

“Then why did you ask me?”

“I just wanted to ask!”

“Then I remembered the lines wrong.”

“Jiao Jiao!”

Seeing Wen Fengyue fly into a complete flustered rage, Jiao Qingyin laughed heartily, then hugged her back and gave her a loud “mwah” on the chin.

Night.

Wen Fengyue intended to listen to Jiao Qingyin and go to sleep early, but after lying in bed, she couldn’t summon any drowsiness. She rolled over and started counting sheep. But every time she got halfway, Jiao Qingyin in her school uniform would jump in front of her, smiling and asking what the teacher was doing, telling her to come play.

Wen Fengyue desperately wanted to play, but the moment she reached out, the image vanished, leaving her in the empty bedroom of the real world. It turns out a bed is lonely when it’s too big… Wen Fengyue rolled over again, wrapping herself tightly in the quilt.

After a while, she couldn’t take it anymore and reached out to grab her device from the nightstand. Maybe I can fall asleep if I look at my device, she thought.

She logged into her alt account, habitually clicked into Jiao Qingyin’s Star-net homepage, and dazed at her photos for a while. Then she followed the comments into the fan site, supporting every comment praising Jiao and fighting back against every negative one like a fanatic little fan.

She had done the same a few days ago, but today she accidentally clicked a link in the comments. The page redirected to a lifestyle forum. She was about to exit, but a thread title on the homepage caught her eye. She couldn’t help but click it.

“What should I do if I like my straight female roommate?”

“As titled, I’ve never liked anyone before until I met my roommate. I realized I could like a girl. I don’t dare confess for fear of being hated, but I can’t control myself. What to do? Note: My roommate likes to hug and cuddle with me, sometimes she even kisses me. Could it be she isn’t straight and likes me too?”

Wen Fengyue’s heart raced. She immediately scrolled down to see how experienced people analyzed this. However, the first comment was a blow to the head: “OP, wake up. Only straight girls hug and cuddle with girls like that. You have no hope; better to just give up.”

The thread was filled with advice for the OP to turn back, and it seemed many had been emotionally scarred by chasing straight women. The list of replies was a history of blood and tears; the theme of the thread had completely warped.

Wen Fengyue closed the forum with a grim face. Now she definitely couldn’t sleep.

On the other side, Jiao Qingyin finished her shower and crawled into bed smelling like shower gel. She intended to just sleep, but after thinking about it, she picked up her device. She planned to send Wen Fengyue a “goodnight” message to urge her to sleep, but upon opening the messages, she found five or six unread messages from her.

She had given Wen Fengyue the nickname “Al,” and the other’s avatar had been changed at some point to a strawberry doodle.

Al: “Jiao Jiao?”

Al: “Want to have lunch together?”

Al: “So many people are surrounding me.”

Al: “[Puppy peeking.jpg]”

Al: “Jiao Jiao, are you mad at me? I know I was wrong…”

Al: “I’m off work, can I come find you?”

Each message was separated by thirty minutes to an hour. Just by looking at the text, Jiao Qingyin could imagine the scene of Wen Fengyue finishing a scene and checking her device for a reply. Feeling guilty, she replied immediately: “After getting back yesterday, I set my device to silent and Do Not Disturb, so I didn’t see your messages until now.”

She had enabled those modes to prevent another accidental video call from Lin Chu. She hadn’t expected it would cause distress to Wen Fengyue first. She lingered on the puppy emoji for a few seconds and then found a cute one to send back:

“[Kitty crying.jpg]”

Almost the instant her message was sent, Wen Fengyue’s side showed “Typing…”. It lasted a long time. Just as Jiao Qingyin wondered if the other was writing an essay, a string of emojis was sent over.

“[Puppy spinning happily][Puppy scattering flowers][Puppy silly grin]”

Jiao Qingyin had already walked to the door of Wen Fengyue’s room. Seeing these cute puppies, she couldn’t help but laugh. Her hand didn’t hesitate when knocking. After two thuds, she asked: “Can I come in?”

The moment she finished speaking, she heard a chaotic commotion inside the room, like a heavy object hitting the floor. Worried Wen Fengyue had fallen, she opened the door directly.

“Wen—”

Jiao Qingyin’s voice cut off halfway. Seeing Wen Fengyue sprawled on the floor, struggling with her quilt, her worry turned into a laugh she couldn’t hold back. She stepped forward, but instead of rescuing her as Wen Fengyue expected, she hugged the other person—quilt and all.

“Jiao Jiao!” Wen Fengyue was in a panic.

“I’m not letting you out,” Jiao Qingyin said smilingly as she lifted her back onto the bed, then rubbed Wen Fengyue’s head. “Just sleep like this.”

Wen Fengyue was shocked for a second that Jiao could easily lift her and the quilt together, but she was quickly conquered by the gentle head rub. She didn’t even realize what was about to happen when Jiao Qingyin kicked off her slippers and climbed onto the bed.

The bed Wen Fengyue slept in was a double; it had two pillows and a spare quilt, which facilitated Jiao Qingyin’s actions. She hugged the defenseless Wen Fengyue, pulled the other quilt over herself, and turned off the lights.

Wen Fengyue finally reacted, beginning to stutter: “Sl-sleeping together?”

She had anticipated this in her dreams and imagination countless times, but there was a key difference between those and the current scene—in her dreams, she could move! Not being able to move was one thing; after all, even doing nothing was fine as long as there was physical contact. But—separated by two layers of quilts, she couldn’t feel anything!

For a moment, Wen Fengyue’s resentment nearly became physical, projecting through the dark onto Jiao Qingyin. Jiao Qingyin pretended not to feel a thing, hugging the person in her arms tighter like a giant stuffed toy.

This was their first time sharing a bed. After the initial emotions passed, Wen Fengyue became happy again: though it was different from the imagined scenario, essentially, what was happening was Jiao Qingyin holding her to sleep…!

Jiao Qingyin had intended to supervise Wen Fengyue’s early sleep, but she found that her arrival hadn’t helped. Instead, it made the other even more excited. Development was contrary to her original intention. After a thought, she reached out her left hand and covered Wen Fengyue’s eyes.

Wen Fengyue: “!”

The room was already pitch black. Jiao Qingyin’s action didn’t affect her vision, but its only purpose was to make her close her eyes. Feeling the ticklish sensation of fluttering eyelashes against her palm, Jiao Qingyin spoke in a low voice: “Be good, go to sleep.”

Her slightly raspy voice was extremely effective. Wen Fengyue went still almost instantly. Jiao Qingyin chuckled and rubbed Wen Fengyue’s cheek like rewarding an obedient puppy.

Soon, her breathing became long and steady. Wen Fengyue thought she would sleep poorly due to her volatile emotions, but hearing Jiao Qingyin’s calm breathing, she involuntarily felt drowsy. The person beside her possessed a power that made her feel at peace.

“I’ve given you special permissions,” as Wen Fengyue drifted into a deep sleep, she heard Jiao Qingyin’s voice. “Next time I don’t reply, just call me via video. For you, I’m always free.”

Wen Fengyue opened her mouth. she felt like she answered Jiao Qingyin, but she might have said nothing as she fell into a dreamland.

She slept very deeply, and her dream was as beautiful as reality. However—

In the middle of the night, the sleeping Wen Fengyue was startled awake by the vibration of her device. There was only one possibility for someone to contact her at this hour without regard for the time—her foster parents.

Wen Fengyue got up quickly and declined the call request before Jiao Qingyin could be awakened. She realized that due to shifting in her sleep, she was now in the same quilt as Jiao Qingyin. The other’s warm body was very close—if not for the interruption, she would have been holding her.

Thinking about what this call had cost her, Wen Fengyue’s already ugly expression darkened further. Then, the device lit up again. This time it wasn’t a call but a message. Unsurprisingly, it was from her “Foster Mother.”

Wen Fengyue didn’t want this night disturbed. However, between devices bound by kinship, there was an emergency connection feature. She was certain that if she didn’t reply, her foster mother would use it to force a connection and make her face reality. This was meant for checking on family safety, but in Wen Fengyue’s “family,” it was a shackle.

Wen Fengyue wanted to leave the room to reply without waking Jiao Qingyin, but Jiao’s leg was draped over her. If she moved, she would likely wake her. Having no choice, she dimmed the screen to the minimum and checked the messages with a cold face.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“We are at the Starship Leap Center. We will arrive at your place at 10:00 Blue Star time tomorrow. Come pick us up.”

“Reply quickly.”

Wen Fengyue sneered and typed: “No.”

Needing to confirm Blue Star time before a leap meant they knew very well it was the early hours of the morning for her. Did these people think she had no temper, or had they discarded their last shred of decency?

She had no interest in why they were coming to Blue Star, but feeling the warmth of Jiao Qingyin beside her, Wen Fengyue felt some of her plans should be moved forward. She intended to deal with the people and things that troubled her, and she would do it well.

“Are you okay?” Jiao Qingyin’s voice came. Wen Fengyue stiffened slightly.

She turned off the screen. “Sorry, I woke you up.”

“What do you have to apologize for?” Jiao Qingyin sat up and turned on the bedside lamp. Her expression looked much colder than usual in the dim light. “The ones who woke you up are the ones in the wrong.”

She straightened the messy quilt and huddled closer to Wen Fengyue, eventually leaning against her shoulder. “Who is it?”

After a brief second of silence, Wen Fengyue chose to confess everything. She was exposing her scars and her past incompetence. She felt a bit embarrassed; she didn’t want Jiao to see this side of her, but since she asked, she didn’t want to hide anything.

Jiao Qingyin listened quietly to her narration, from the childhood pain to her gradual tolerance after growing up. Wen Fengyue analyzed her inner thoughts clearly. She admitted her past inaction was a mistake and stated her current thoughts word by word: “I won’t let this continue.”

At that moment, the foster parents initiated an emergency connection. A sharp question rang out: “Wen Fengyue! How dare you say that! We raised you for so many years—”

Wen Fengyue and Jiao Qingyin locked eyes. In the dim environment, she saw light in Jiao’s eyes. That light was what had deeply attracted her in the first place, making her want to change and live well. She actually smiled amidst her foster parents’ curses.

“I will handle it.” Wen Fengyue’s tone was firm and confident. The brilliance that had been suppressed for years broke through its cage in this moment, blooming from her.

Jiao Qingyin took her hand and laughed softly. “Mm, I believe you.”