Chapter 143 Tacit Understanding

After finishing her sandwich, Aphra quietly gazed out the window at the bright and distant mist, not speaking until Qin Mo spent half an hour decoding the journal. "I know the path leading to Asgard, but before that, I need to board a ship."

"What ship?"

"The *Naglfar*."

Qin Mo took out her phone and searched the Deer Academy's database for a while. Aside from learning that Þjazi was a Norse goddess of the ocean, she found nothing at all—she could not locate a single piece of information regarding this ship.

She figured that since this was Aphra's dream after all, the ship was likely unique to her dreamscape. "How are we supposed to board that ship?"

"Securing passage is no easy task," Aphra said, patting the backpack resting in her lap. "You need the equivalent of one million dollars to get a ticket."

Qin Mo breathed a sigh of relief. Earlier, when Aphra had called it difficult, she had been somewhat worried, half-expecting her to demand something like the Eye of a Siren or the Foot of a Kraken just to summon the vessel. Having spent so much time in Ji Ning's company, she had gradually been influenced by him: anything that could be solved with money was never a major problem.

"It's a world cruise ship. According to its route, it will stop for supplies at Tromsø next week. As long as we can pay for the tickets, we can board. I need to retrieve the Draupnir Ring on board, and then decipher the location recorded on the ring. Only then can we truly set foot on the path to Asgard." As if triggered by some distant memory, Aphra spoke with a demeanor that mirrored her past self.

Qin Mo nodded to herself. As she thought, even though Adonis had sealed her memory, the knowledge constructing her cognition could not be entirely erased. Just as a fish never forgets how to swim and a bird never forgets how to fly, things deeply imprinted in the heart can never truly be forgotten.

Aphra showed no surprise as to how she came to know these things. Eagerly, she pointed to the backpack filled with cash. "The money here is only enough for my own fare. If you guys want to get on the ship as well, we'll need two more backpacks."

Ji Ning, who was driving, suddenly chimed in, "Is that just an ordinary cruise ship?"

Aphra looked somewhat puzzled. After a brief pause, she replied, "I suppose it's not entirely ordinary. Ordinary people can't board that ship; only absolute billionaires can secure an admission ticket."

The idea that had just formed in Ji Ning's mind was quickly dismissed. He had originally intended to sneak onto the vessel, but the moment he considered the security demands of the ultra-wealthy in the real world, even his Deer Academy-bred perspective prevented him from underestimating them. Even those versed in the supernatural had to bow their heads slightly in the face of absolute wealth.

"Two backpacks?" Ji Ning muttered to himself before saying, "Let's take a brief rest." He slowed the car down and pulled over onto a patch of open ground beside the highway. As he stretched his somewhat stiff body, he began to figure out how they were going to get their hands on that much money.

Qin Mo and Aphra stepped out of the car as well. They had been cooped up in the cramped space for over a dozen hours; if they didn't stretch, their spines and tailbones were going to go on strike.

Although Silvia had custom-tailored a set of personal stretching exercises for them, looking out at the morning mist made Ji Ning recall the days spent bouncing around on the school sports field every morning. Even though he had been away at Deer Academy for a long time, he still found himself reminiscing about the past.

Qin Mo watched for a moment before joining Ji Ning in his routine. Seeing the two of them bouncing up and down doing calisthenics, Aphra asked sub-consciously, "What is this? Chinese Kung Fu?"

Ji Ning casually replied, "It's a martial arts secret technique known to every single person in China, though we usually just call it broadcast calisthenics."

"Amazing, amazing." Aphra nodded with a look of reverence and began to follow along.

Ji Ning smiled at Qin Mo. "This isn't half bad."

Qin Mo understood what he meant. The full version of that remark should have been: "Ten-year-old Aphra is actually quite fun, much better than that sassy version of her when she grows up."

Qin Mo ignored his teasing. While stretching her limbs, she pondered how to solve the "two backpacks" problem. Whether in a dream or in reality, acquiring such a massive sum of money in a short period of time usually left ordinary people with only one real avenue—buying the lottery, and it would have to be the very latest draw. Yet for people like them, several alternative options remained viable.

According to the philosophy instilled by Deer Academy, achieving one's goal permitted a certain degree of unprincipled pragmatism. When contact with the academy headquarters was impossible, students were authorized to employ special measures in emergencies; the academy would send operatives to handle the aftermath once the mission concluded. Thus, even if the methods might not be entirely honorable, a Deer Academy student would never abandon a mission simply out of a need to strictly follow the law.

Fraud required intricate planning and the patience to wait for a fish to take the bait, while pulling off a massive scam demanded extraordinary luck. Theft required casing the joint, and fencing stolen goods took time, with payouts rarely meeting expectations. Kidnapping required plotting, negotiations dragged on, and bad luck could land you face-to-face with a miser. Thinking it over, trying to acquire two backpacks in such a short span of time seemed to leave only one option: following in Aphra's footsteps. Viewed that way, her impulsive plan to rob a bank actually made a twisted sort of sense.

Ji Ning finished his calisthenics, and when Qin Mo looked up, their eyes met. In the next second, a mutual understanding passed between them: let's just rob a bank.

Qin Mo sighed. "Circumstances leave us no choice; desperate times call for desperate measures."

Ji Ning didn't think much of it. Once freed from Adonis's control, he had cleanly separated the dreamscape from the real world. If Qin Mo hadn't been accompanying him, his operational style could perhaps best be described as utterly uninhibited and fiercely reckless.

Aphra hadn't caught the silent exchange between the two. She blinked blankly and asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Ji Ning flashed a brilliant smile. "Naturally, we're going to rob a bank."

Aphra hesitated. "But didn't we just get put on the wanted list? Shouldn't we be lying low?"

Ji Ning pulled open the car door, a subtle, enigmatic smile playing on his lips. "The police think so too."

In the warm midday sunlight, a Polestar 2 with altered license plates reached the end of its endurance as it arrived at Reine, hailed as Norway's most picturesque village. Meanwhile, Danske Bank, Norway's third-largest bank, was about to face the greatest challenge it had encountered since the 2008 global financial crisis. Three robbers had reached their transit stop, while the opulent bank remained completely oblivious.

As for why they chose Danske Bank as their target, the mastermind behind the heist, Qin Mo, provided a rather amusing rationale: she had casually flipped through the personal journal of the car's owner left in the vehicle, discovering that this fellow had to pay off a hefty loan to Danske Bank every month. The few lines in the journal describing the bank manager painted him as a money-grabbing goblin. Qin Mo decided to settle the score on behalf of the car's owner—definitely not because they realized the pure electric Polestar 2 couldn't be refueled and decided to abandon it, nor out of a shred of lingering guilt because the owner had driven all this way only for them to take the car.

They were absolute villains now; how could they feel such guilt? That sort of thing would ruin important business.

Although Reine served merely as their temporary transit stop, Ji Ning and Qin Mo lingered there for the entire afternoon, for no one could resist such pristine beauty.

The red wooden cabins along the shoreline contrasted against the sparkling, rippled sea, while peaks shaped by ancient glaciers embraced otherworldly clouds. With the polar night approaching, the precious sunlight felt as though it existed in a world apart. The golden glow transformed the entire village into a piece of oil painting—charming in its colors and ethereal in its atmosphere. Standing at the viewing platform at the entrance of the village, the entire landscape of the Norwegian township was laid out before them. No one could bear to hurry past; none could resist the temptation of such a visual feast.

Having grown up in this environment, Aphra was long since unimpressed by oil-painting-like scenery, but Qin Mo, having just stepped into the village, lingered and dawdled at every turn. Ji Ning naturally didn't wish to spoil the mood; he understood a young woman's thoughts all too well. It was only an afternoon, after all—Danske Bank wasn't going to go bankrupt anytime soon.

After arranging a meeting place for that evening, Ji Ning shooed Aphra away. The lighting here was quite enough without a third wheel.

While Qin Mo half-regretted letting her indulgence in play delay their schedule, she happily spent the afternoon under Ji Ning's coaxing. Ji Ning held her hand as they strolled across the scars of the mountain ridges, observing the wind and frost left behind by time, while physically demonstrating to her that while eyes were meant for admiring scenery, ears should be reserved for him, as his mind was full of moving sweet nothings.

Ji Ning even secretly summoned SCP-CN-655 to manipulate his own hands into weaving a pale purple saxifrage wreath for Qin Mo. Though she claimed it looked silly, she happily donned the wreath all the same. After all, she was merely a twenty-year-old girl; when she smiled, even God would have to be moved. Who, other than herself, could bear to scold her for occasionally wanting to play?

Submissively following Ji Ning up the mountain slope, Qin Mo took off the wreath and held it close to her chest to keep the mountain wind from blowing it away. Only then did she gaze out into the boundless ocean beyond the mountains. The cold air carried the distinct, salty scent of the sea. Her state of mind at that moment resembled the first pioneers who found Macondo in *One Hundred Years of Solitude*—standing completely alone like a single leaf in a broad-leaved forest, waiting for some unknown wildcat to tread across her without making a sound.

Looking at that slender figure, it was as if a barrier had been shattered. He suddenly realized he was no longer alone; the burdens he had to shoulder were no longer just his own, but included the girl before him who had entrusted her entire life to him.

For the first time, he heard the beating of his own heart. The pulse was so powerful, the sound so clear. He raised his head to gaze at the solitary girl, as if millions of stars were shining in his world. *Hold her*—the thought flooded his mind in an instant. By the time he came to his senses, he had already stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Qin Mo's slender waist. The maidenly fragrance radiating from her enchanting dark hair made him hesitate no longer, and just like that afternoon, he blurted out everything in his heart.

"I'm here. I'm here."

To Qin Mo, his repetition of the exact same words seemed like an attempt to prove some sort of resolve, but only he knew that the second time, he was saying it to himself.

He would never, ever allow that expression to appear on the face of the girl in his arms again.

Clearly, they were two people who relied on each other, yet he—having unilaterally enjoyed her gentleness—always subconsciously overlooked the girl before him. Perhaps her gentle and understanding nature always made him assume she could comprehend his busyness and his exhaustion. But that should never be taken for granted. It was a debt; even in the name of love, no one should be expected to give endlessly and unconditionally.

To be loved by a pure young woman and to have the peculiar mysteries of love revealed to one for the first time was, of course, a tremendous happiness. Yet it was also the simplest thing in the world; capturing a heart that had never been breached in love was like taking an undefended city, nothing to be proud of. Cherishing that precious thing properly was what truly mattered.

He suddenly felt a measure of gratitude toward Adonis. If that fellow hadn't dragged him into the dreamscape, allowing him to clearly realize what truly mattered most in his life, he probably would have remained as blockheaded as ever, taking Qin Mo's devotion for granted. The mere thought made his heart twinge slightly.

Growing from a boy into a man was not a long, drawn-out process, but happened in a single instant. The moment a boy understood what he cherished and what he wished to protect, he was no longer just an ignorant kid.

He had confirmed what Qin Mo meant to him; there was no longer any hesitation or doubt in his heart, and he clearly realized he needed to change starting right now.

All afternoon, Ji Ning took her rowing, mountain climbing, and ice fishing. Whatever sparked a girl's curiosity, he was willing to devote his time to it, though there remained a single tiny regret.

When Qin Mo gently eased him down onto the grass, letting him pillow his head on her arm as they watched the clearing winter weather and daydreamed beneath a canvas-blue sky, the snow-white mountain slopes rustled in the quiet afternoon breeze of November. When he affectionately placed the wreath back on Qin Mo's head, preparing to claim a small reward from a Qin Mo who had grown dizzy and fuzzy-headed from such romance—a kiss, perhaps—a rustling sound shattered the tranquility between them.

An artist clad in a thick white cold-weather suit popped out from some mountain crevice, wearing black-rimmed glasses. The warm air of his breath fogged up his lenses, giving him the absent-mindedness and stubborn obsession characteristic of an artist. Beside him stood a bizarre contraption that looked like a custom easel—though to call it an easel was inaccurate; it was more like a transparent miniature tent. A single glance allowed Ji Ning to guess that it was a specialized thermostat designed to keep paint at the proper temperature.

"Hello there, lovers blessed by the gods. As you can see, I'm an artist gathering material. I originally intended to depict the starry night atop the mountain peaks, but I've been unable to find any inspiration." With that, he pointed to an unfinished canvas that was only half-painted. It featured large areas of dazzling Prussian blue mixed with bright yellow, while the background consisted of mottled, shifting colors of light and dark. Ji Ning knew nothing of tonal rendering, so this incomplete painting held zero aesthetic value in his eyes.

Noticing Ji Ning's gaze, the black-rimmed-glasses-wearing artist paused slightly before casually rolling up the canvas into a ball and tossing it into a trash bag beside the thermostat. Only then did Ji Ning notice that the trash bag was already filled with quite a few crumpled canvases.

"Compared to the vast and distant starry night, a love that is equally eternal is an emotion far more worthy of preservation on canvas. I'd like to paint a portrait for the two of you."

The way he stared at Ji Ning and Qin Mo was reminiscent of Monet looking at his destined water lilies or Van Gogh gazing at his mysterious sunflowers.

Ji Ning, whose good mood had been interrupted, forced himself to listen for a moment. He had half a mind to agree, but then he noticed something: the half-finished painting by this fellow contained no recognizable concrete forms whatsoever. That's right—this guy was an abstract artist.

The thought that he and Qin Mo might be preserved on canvas looking like entities eroded by the abyss made Ji Ning instantly make up his mind. After a brief whispered consultation with Qin Mo, he employed the most polite refusal possible to send this fellow as far away as possible. An abstract painter doing portraits for people? You've got to be kidding me.

A dejected artist patted his rear and vanished into the mountain wilderness, but the romantic atmosphere they had carefully built up was long since shattered. Yet an exhilarated Qin Mo remained entirely unaffected, continuing to enthusiastically admire the stunning scenery, leaving a rather wistful Ji Ning to rub his lips.

"It's already dark. We should head back." Qin Mo, the flush on her cheeks faintly visible, stood upon a boulder and formed a circle with her hands, framing the gold-melted sunset as it slowly sank between her fingers.

"Alright." Ji Ning stood right behind her. However, he wasn't looking at the sunset; he was watching the person gazing at the sunset. The one accompanying him to watch the twilight was far more tender than the twilight itself.

Qin Mo noticed his gaze, smiled as she opened her arms toward him, and was gently lifted down.

Qin Mo buried her face deeply into his chest, taking in his familiar scent. In the fleeting moments as the sun plunged below the horizon, neither of them spoke, quietly blending into the surrounding mountains.

Not until the very last trace of dusk vanished did Qin Mo softly break the silence. "Was it out of guilt?"

Ji Ning understood what she meant. She thought his tenderness toward her stemmed from remorse. At that thought, a pang of heartache struck him: how had he treated the girl in his arms in the past?

Knowing she loved him, he had guiltlessly reveled in her gentleness without a second thought. Even a confession, which should have been handled with the utmost seriousness, had been made right after waking up from sleep while his brain was still groggy, simply because he knew she cared for him. Could he just treat her however he pleased? Was she some stray cat he'd picked up from the endless night? He still remembered how, back in Tokyo, Qin Mo had grievance after grievance poured out to him about how little time he spent with her. Aside from feeling a bit guilty at the time, he had changed nothing, remaining utterly absorbed in his own pursuits and only seeking her out when he wanted comfort. Even his feelings for her were more akin to pity than love. From an objective standpoint, rather than a lover, he treated her more like an intimate friend.

Things that any ordinary couple took for granted were treated by her as tiny surprises, and those casual touches were infinitely magnified in her eyes. A girl as exceptional as her shouldn't have been so easily satisfied, but since this was her first relationship, she still didn't understand that being loved was also a right she possessed.

"No, because I love you." The words seemed to carry a distant resonance, abruptly breaking through. The boy from that long night stood before her once more; she raised her head, her eyes brimming with tears yet carrying a smile.

An unfamiliar, slippery sensation suddenly brushed against her lips. Qin Mo's eyes widened in surprise, and a sub-conscious urge to push him away rose within her, but the tender love shining in Ji Ning's eyes made her newly lifted hands grow weak and powerless. Her unplaced hands finally mustered the courage to wrap around him in a mutual embrace.

A cute sound of "Ah" escaped her lips. The moment Ji Ning blocked those lips, a faint, barely audible murmur slipped through the enticing gap. As he parted her tongue like a draft and drilled deep within, that sound grew husky, delicate, and sweet—resembling a charming nightingale willingly captured by the moonlight.

Qin Mo gazed into those eyes brimming with fiery emotion. She read too many things in those orbs that held nothing but blazing devotion, but ultimately, only a single thought remained in her heart: *He loves me very much,* she thought.

A kiss is a loophole left behind by the Creator in human evolution. Willpower grows fragile during a long, deep kiss, and an oxygen-deprived brain abandons all thought save for intense signals of passion. The warm embrace, the arms wrapped around her waist—every single sensation was infinitely amplified. The instinctive resistance toward a body not one's own instantly transformed into affection for her beloved. Qin Mo began to respond, her symbolic resistance turning into the clumsy, affectionate reciprocation of a young girl's shy love through stumbling kisses.

"I'm sorry," Ji Ning said, looking intently at Qin Mo. Before the dizzy Qin Mo could speak, the young boy made a heartfelt vow. "I will never ignore you again. I will make you understand that love is something for two people, not a one-sided付出. I will prove it to you with my actions; I want to dance with you every single day."

The long, passionate embrace resumed, though this time the roles of offense and defense had reversed. A Qin Mo flushed and overwhelmed by love clumsily imitated her lover. That awkward, bashful kiss stripped away time piece by piece, leaving the entire world with only the two of them holding one another beneath the starry night of the Lofoten Islands.

After descending the mountain, both of them tacitly found an excuse to put on face masks. Although Aphra had long known their relationship was out of the ordinary, this was the first time she witnessed them sneaking glances at each other and then deliberately looking away in feigned indifference. Still, Aphra had no time to question why the two of them suddenly acted as bashful as high school sweethearts; she had spent the entire afternoon pondering how to rob a bank.

As the two of them retreated to their respective rooms, they secretly yearned for one another while maintaining silence over a certain unspoken matter, sharing a tacit understanding between accomplices.

Kissing for that long really does make your lips swell.