The Villain Is Too Popular

Three months later, in the world of Stars.

Inside a gravity training room deep within the Emberglow Base.

Tendo sat alone, shirtless, in the center of the empty gravity room.

Despite the gravity being five times the normal, Tendo breathed evenly and calmly, as if in a normal environment.

Over the past three months, Tendo had visibly grown taller, and his physique had become noticeably more upright.

Unlike his habit of always wearing small sunglasses three months prior, Tendo had now completely removed them, replacing them with a black eye mask.

His persistence with "eye-binding" accessories wasn't due to any particular fondness for the style.

It was purely because his "Stellar Eclipse Eyes," a unique vision that allowed him to see the flow of all star energy, while immensely helpful in combat, also significantly impacted his daily life.

In the Stars world, star energy was omnipresent, like air.

Being able to see this star energy meant Tendo was constantly living in a "painting world" of complex and ever-changing colors.

If he didn't want to be disoriented by these chaotic and dazzling "star energy flow trajectories," he had to use some form of "noise reduction."

Sunglasses had been Tendo's chosen "noise reducer."

By wearing them, he could filter out some of the vibrant and glaring star energy colors, making his eyes and brain more comfortable.

Otherwise, no normal person would wear sunglasses indoors.

"Tendo, the Doctor asked me to call you. He has something to tell you."

Caroline knocked on the glass window of the gravity room door and called out to Tendo inside.

Hearing the voice from outside, Tendo immediately ended his training and let out a long sigh.

"Got it."

Tendo stood up and walked directly into the shower room.

A moment later, Tendo, now dressed, emerged from the gravity room.

Wiping his wet hair with a towel, he asked Caroline, who was by the door, "Caroline, did the Doctor say what he needs me for?"

Caroline shook her head, indicating she didn't know the purpose of the Doctor's summons.

Seeing that Caroline couldn't give him the answer he wanted, Tendo decided not to press further.

"Let's go, take me to see the Doctor."

"Okay."

Soon, the two left the gravity room one after another.

Not long after Tendo left, an ordinary-looking Emberglow organization member, who was in charge of the gravity room, instinctively looked at the timer outside Tendo's gravity room.

The timer clearly displayed "18 hours."

"Staying in a five-times gravity environment for 18 hours, Commander Tendo... you truly are a terrifying monster."

"After all, besides you, everyone else's gravity room time is measured in minutes."

"To be able to endure for so long under five times gravity, even without considering the development of your Star Source, your basic star energy value must be comparable to a seasoned First-Tier Star Emissary."

"We absolutely cannot allow a monster like you to grow, otherwise... the Association will be in trouble."

Thinking this, the Emberglow member looked at the wristwatch on his arm and muttered to himself, "I wonder how things are progressing with the Association. If they don't act fast, these cunning guys might soon notice something amiss."

"And once it reaches that point, it won't be so easy to capture all of them in one fell swoop."

In a meeting room at the Emberglow Base.

"Doctor, you called for me?"

"Yes."

The Doctor nodded, then gestured for Tendo and Caroline to sit down wherever they pleased, not to stand.

"Please wait a moment. Yunmeng and the others will be here soon. Once everyone arrives, I'll explain the upcoming arrangements."

Upon hearing this, the calm and steady Caroline immediately sat primly on the meeting room sofa, perfectly demonstrating what it meant to be a well-behaved child who adhered to organizational rules.

In contrast, Tendo was somewhat unruly.

He sat casually and scattered, and one hand was already rummaging through the fruit basket on the table, constantly making annoying noises.

A typical case of hyperactivity.

After careful selection, Tendo finally picked out what he wanted to eat from the fruit basket filled with snacks.

Without any hesitation, he forcefully tore open the plastic packaging of the "dried fruit" with a snap and began to eat without a care in the world.

Listening to the incessant noise, Caroline, who had endured it for a while, finally couldn't restrain herself.

She glared disapprovingly at Tendo, whose mouth was full.

She signaled for him to be serious, as a meeting was about to begin.

However, Tendo, wearing his eye mask, clearly misunderstood.

The glare didn't make him settle down.

Instead, he even shook the dried fruit in his hand in front of Caroline, signaling for her not to just sit there, but to eat with him.

After a moment's hesitation, Caroline took a piece of dried fruit and put it into her mouth, chewing it gently and politely with refined movements.

Observing the dynamic between the two, the Doctor, seated at the head of the conference table, waved his hand with a smile and said, "It's alright, Caroline, you don't need to be so reserved. After all, those fruit baskets were originally prepared specifically for Tendo."

"Because if Tendo doesn't eat something, he probably can't sit still for even five minutes."

Hearing this, Tendo immediately acted as if he had received a decree, proudly saying, "See, Caroline? I told you the Doctor wouldn't mind."

"You're usually too stiff. If you ask me, you should be more like me—relaxed and easygoing. That's how you live happily."

As Tendo spoke, he childishly tossed a dried fruit into the air, opening his mouth to catch it.

However, before the dried fruit could reach his mouth, a slender, fair hand appeared first, catching the dried fruit in mid-air.

"Little Tendo, eating snacks during a meeting? You're getting more and more undisciplined."

Yunmeng pinched the dried fruit and, in front of Tendo, tossed it into her mouth.

Feeling the unique sweetness in her mouth, Yunmeng's eyes immediately lit up.

Then, regardless of Tendo's wishes, she directly snatched the remaining half-bag of high-grade dried fruit from his hand.

"Confiscated, confiscated. Pay attention to the meeting."

Faced with Yunmeng's domineering behavior, Tendo strongly expressed his dissatisfaction.

"No, Sister Yun, why are you snatching my snacks? The Doctor allowed me to eat these."

"What's your snack? Since it's in my hands, it's mine. Can't you just get more from the fruit basket?"

"But there's only this one bag of high-grade dried fruit in here! Where am I supposed to get more? Give it back!"

"Give it back to you? When have you ever seen something that comes into my hands get returned? Get out of the way!"

Yunmeng held down Tendo's body as he tried to reach for the dried fruit, while quickly pouring the remaining dried fruit into her mouth, rapidly destroying the evidence.

Watching Tendo bickering with Yunmeng, Chenxing and Chenkong, who had entered the meeting room with Yunmeng, had no choice but to find seats for themselves.

As Yunmeng held up the snacks, single-handedly "suppressing" Tendo, the Doctor spoke up in time.

"Alright, Yunmeng, Tendo, stop fooling around. Sit down and let's start the meeting."

Hearing the Doctor's words, Yunmeng immediately stuffed the completely empty dried fruit bag into Tendo's arms.

"Here, take it, take it. It's just a bag of high-grade dried fruit. As if I cherish it so much, you cheapskate."

Tendo looked at the empty dried fruit bag in his hand, feeling utterly exasperated.

Yes, yes, you don't cherish it, but can you explain where my almost half-full bag of high-grade dried fruit went?

It couldn't have grown wings and flown away, could it?!

However, before Tendo could question Yunmeng about the mysterious disappearance of the high-grade dried fruit, the Doctor, seated at the head of the table, first stated the purpose of calling everyone there.

"Everyone, after these past few months of training, I believe you have all initially familiarized yourselves with your Star Sources and have, to a certain extent, mastered the techniques of 'Dual Stars.' Your strength has made significant progress."

"However, constant training isn't necessarily a good thing for you. After all, some things can only truly be remembered through personal experience."

"Therefore... it's time for you to see the world outside the base."

"To see what that cruel world called 'reality' truly looks like."

Upon hearing this, all four Stars children, including Tendo, straightened their postures and sat upright.

Having been at the base for almost two and a half years, they truly hadn't seen the outside world for a long time.

Among them, Tendo was the most curious about the outside.

After all, he had been confined to the base since he arrived in this world.

While he had gained some understanding of the world outside the base through reading the original work, seeing it and experiencing it firsthand were entirely different matters.

Therefore, Tendo was naturally very eager to know what the outside Stars world was truly like.

Aside from his curiosity about the real world, the Doctor's words also signified another very important matter for Tendo.

That was, the final chapter of the first season of Prequel of the Stars: Embers was about to arrive.

Based on Tendo's understanding of the original work, the plot immediately following this "outing mission" was the brutal battle that led to Emberglow's demise.

However, unlike the original work's outing mission, which only involved the Chenxing siblings and Caroline, this outing mission included him, Commander Tendo.

His addition, however, wouldn't affect the original mission plot.

After all, this mission was essentially a carefully arranged simulated combat exercise by the Emberglow organization.

Therefore, whether they succeeded or failed, it wouldn't actually affect the outcome of this mission.

Emberglow organization personnel would be there to specifically handle the aftermath.

So, more than the mission itself, Tendo was actually more concerned about another matter.

That was Caroline's birthday, which happened to fall during the mission period.

In the original work, to highlight Caroline's calm and mature nature as a mech-type Stars child, even though she knew it was her birthday during the mission, she declined the Chenkong siblings' kind offer to hold a birthday party for her.

But now that Tendo was also involved in this mission plot, he obviously wouldn't let Caroline do that.

Because Tendo felt that a precious memory as significant as a birthday shouldn't be treated so casually by Caroline.

After all, their remaining time together... wasn't much.

'So... what special gift should I choose for Caroline?'

Tendo sat in his seat, deep in thought.

Because this gift carried not only the surprise he would bring to Caroline but also the last beautiful memory he and Caroline would share in this first season.