Alien Hotel.

Chapter 660 Half a Day of Fleeting Life
Momo felt more and more that this was a very strange place—there was no sun in the sky, but the sky was clear and bright. It was said that the border area outside was in the dead of winter, but the valley was as warm as spring. The high mountains on both sides of the valley were layered and continuous, but a huge gap appeared abruptly in part of the mountain. There was a dense black forest in the gap, as if it had been forcibly "cut" in. The forest stretched from the mountain pass to the end of the field of vision.

She didn't know how large this space was, because there seemed to be many strange "extensions" connecting to this place. The black forest beyond the mountain pass was just the most obvious one. The tall tower to the north could also lead to an alternate dimension called the "Temple of Omens." The giant bean stalks seemed to grow out of thin air from the clouds in the mountains. There was also a path that went directly through the mountain barrier. It was said that it led to a magical kingdom ruled by a cat king. That kingdom was larger than the valley itself, but only the king, his servants, and the cats could see its entrance...

“We can’t get past this, I’ve tried before, meow,” Bell said lazily from the side. “The king said that a gibbon is a gibbon, and a cat is a cat; their souls are different.”

Momo listened attentively. She could understand some of what Lingdang said, but not all of it. When it came to the valley, she couldn't understand most of it. But she didn't care about the parts she couldn't understand at the moment, because the place itself was like a bizarre dream to her.

At the end of the town stands a large castle, and she and Bell are currently lying on its roof. Although there is no sun here, it doesn't stop them from sunbathing. The Gibraltars love rooftops. In their homeland, many Gibraltars even designate a small area on their completed houses to sleep on whenever the weather is fine.

She hasn't slept under a clear sky in ten years.

Momo thought, if this really is a dream, then at least let her lie on this rooftop a little longer.

“That big guy you just saw is my boss, Meow, a really powerful human,” Bell spoke up again. This fellow human with powerful psychic abilities is a member of the Special Operations Bureau. She serves as an attendant to a powerful “Deep Diver,” which is an enviable job in Gibraltar society. “He had a fight with an artificial saintess a while ago, but he’s back to his old self in just a few days. He has incredible vitality, Meow.”

Momo gave a muffled "hmm," gently biting a small wooden stick between her teeth.

This "stick" is made from the tender branches of a plant called "Valera," which is said to grow only in a small patch of wetlands on a colony planet controlled by the Borderlands. The stick is soaked in the highest grade catnip extract—a specialty of the Borderlands, the purest and most potent "mint stick" in the entire universe.

In the remote Terra, in the independent city-states of the Jipros, a small box of this brand of "Mint Sticks" is almost equivalent to a week's income for an average person. But in the Secret Service, it is distributed free of charge to psionic servants as part of their employee benefits, with quotas so plentiful that they can even use it to entertain friends.

The reason for this perk is that high-quality catnip sticks can enhance the psychic power of the Gibraltars... Anyway, that's what the great Gibraltar psychic master and catnip connoisseur Cosette says.

"Awesome~~" Bell rolled over, gently tugging at Momo's arm with her tail, then reached out and lightly touched Momo's mechanical ear on its head. "Does this hurt, meow?"

"Uh, it doesn't hurt," Momo instinctively flinched, but quickly relaxed. She hadn't been with her fellow countrymen in this situation for a long time, so much so that she needed to readjust to many things. "It just feels numb occasionally, and there are some sounds in my head... but it doesn't bother me after I get used to it."

“It should be repairable, meow,” Bell said seriously. “The Special Operations Bureau has advanced medical technology, and Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain has the technology to regenerate bodies. If all else fails, you can try Boss Yu Sheng’s weird ‘magic.’ Last time, an Eileen fell from the sky and shattered, and I saw her companions dig up some clay, mix in a few drops of blood, stir it all together, and they glued her back together, meow~”

“I…” Momo hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. “Several very skilled doctors in the Flying Feather Starfield examined me. They said my body is stable now and I don’t need treatment. Moreover, the living metal has already achieved a balanced symbiotic relationship with my central nervous system. Forcibly separating and recreating it would actually affect my body. As for more radical and thorough treatment options, perhaps there are some… but I feel that if I did that, I wouldn’t be myself anymore.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so conservative,” Bell said, squinting in the sunlight as she chewed on a mint stick. “But if you think it’s good this way, that’s fine. You can change your mind whenever you want. That’s what the boss always says—the margin for error in life is very high, meow. Ah, he didn’t add ‘meow’ when he said it.”

Momo thought for a moment, then said very sincerely, "Thank you."

"Nothing, meow," Bell waved her hand casually, then seemed to remember something and said seemingly casually, "You've been living a pretty stressful life these past few years, haven't you? You haven't relaxed yet?"

Momo hesitated for a moment: "Yes... but why bring this up all of a sudden?"

"Because you never add 'meow' to your speech."

Momo was momentarily stunned: "...Huh?"

“Gipsy people don’t meow when they’re stressed,” Bell said, pulling a mint stick from her little box and handing it to her new friend. “Here, have another one, consider it a celebration of the start of a new life. This is a great place~~ After you’re done, I’ll take you to visit the King’s cat tree, he has lots of cans there!”

Momo stared blankly at the mint stick handed to her, listening to the other person's lazy voice. It took her several seconds to wake up as if she had just taken a bite. She took the thing instinctively, but seemed afraid that if she moved too much, she would break this bizarre dream that she didn't want to wake up from.

But she didn't "wake up," everything was real, and the mint stick felt real to the touch in her hand.

“Thank you,” Momo said softly, then hesitated for a moment and added, “...meow.”

……

Little Red Riding Hood looked up at the castle rooftops in the distance. From this angle, she couldn't see the people on the rooftops, but the wind blowing through the streets carried the fresh scent of hair conditioner—and catnip. "Let's get those houses on the east side of town ready. Each house can accommodate four people—let's start with that," she said casually to the golden tumbleweed beside her. "Later, quite a few Blackrock Station 'employees' will be staying here permanently, and our town is really going to get lively."

"Okay, okay, I'll clean the house, arrange accommodations, take care of the kids at home, and keep an eye on those mass-produced dolls with missing limbs who came back from the front lines, to prevent any of the unrepaired ones from running around..." Rapunzel slowly put away the large clump of hair she used to shield herself from the storm, muttering with a look of utter despair, "You all went when the fighting was going on, so why am I left to clean up the mess?"

"Nonsense! We weren't taking you, were we? It's because you owed so many practice tests back then!" Little Red Riding Hood glared at Rapunzel. "Look at you, you're a senior in high school..."

"Since you know I'm a senior in high school, don't assign me so much work! Cinderella's been so bored these past few days..."

Little Red Riding Hood remained silent, calmly staring into Rapunzel's eyes until the latter began to feel uneasy. Then, she waved her hand helplessly, "Alright, alright, go and call Cinderella. You don't need to worry about arranging the dormitories. Go back to your room and study."

Her words were like a pardon to the long-haired princess, who ran off to the other side of town with her golden hair flying in the wind: "I know, I know, I'll go get her right now! Then I'll go find someone knowledgeable to ask her some questions!"

Little Red Riding Hood felt something was off as she listened to the distant shouting, but before she could figure it out, the tumbleweed in her field of vision had vanished, and then a phantom door suddenly appeared nearby, completely interrupting her train of thought.

The door opened, and Yu Sheng led Luna out.

“I just got back from the Secret Service,” he greeted Little Red Riding Hood, and casually asked, “Is Luo here?”

“Yes, she came with that jeeprow who’s called ‘Momo’,” Little Red Riding Hood said, while banishing the image of a certain blond man from her mind. “Momo’s on the castle rooftop—that psychic servant Xu Jiali brought is with her. As for Luo… she said she was going for a walk by the river. She said she’s been organizing some documents and came here to relax. Are you looking for her?”

“No rush, I’ll go to the doll production center first,” Yu Sheng waved his hand, “to check on their restoration progress.”

……

A short distance from the town, beside a grove of trees along the riverbank, a patch of grass had been cleared out, with several stones piled up to form a windbreak, and freshly gathered firewood stacked between the stones.

Rapunzel was holding a twig and was earnestly stringing mushrooms onto it.

Luo sat opposite her.

To be fair, a scientist with a bad reputation is indeed more knowledgeable than a mediocre student—so Rapunzel's attitude of stringing mushrooms together is perfectly justified. She even feels that she wouldn't panic even if Little Red Riding Hood were standing in front of her right now, because what she said back then could even pass a lie detector test...

Of course, if Little Red Riding Hood really came, she would run away as fast as she could.

A ball of spiritual energy was thrown into the woodpile, and the campfire crackled and began to burn.

Luo and Rapunzel looked serious.

“I think the main problem last time was that the mushrooms weren’t ripe—normal psionic mushrooms don’t have that much power,” Rapunzel said seriously.

Luo: "Indeed."

"I also got two warding-off-evil and detoxifying pills from Grandpa Yun. We'll take the medicine first, then eat the mushrooms. That should be fine."

Luo: "Indeed."

Then, the second annual Psionic Mushroom Tasting Event by the blonde duo began.

(End of this chapter)