Chapter 23: Miss Bunny, I’m Your Fan!

When Summer heard Archer’s explanation, she couldn’t help but think that this whole agreement sounded suspiciously like a marriage contract.

It was a little weird, but... whatever.

It wasn’t like she had any wife duties she needed to fulfill anyway.

"Sounds good to me." Summer casually nodded a few times before taking another bite of her food. "We don’t have to do anything else, right?"

Archer shook his head. "No. Nothing complicated."

"Great."

And just like that, Summer stopped asking questions and went back to her food.

In fact, neither of them said much after that.

The silence between them should have been awkward. They had just signed something that was basically one step away from a marriage contract, after all.

But strangely enough, Summer didn’t feel uncomfortable.

It was more like... a comfortable silence? Yeah, something like that.

At least Archer wasn’t the type who felt the need to fill every second with pointless conversation and Summer could appreciate that.

By the time they finished dinner, Summer didn’t even pretend to reach for the bill.

Archer was the one who had dragged her through a teleportation portal and brought her all the way here. Naturally, he was also the one paying.

After Archer settled the bill, he turned toward her. "Do you want to go back to your dorm?"

Summer immediately held her breath when she heard the word ’dorm’.

Right.

Every Sentinel and Guide who went on missions in other zones was provided with a temporary dormitory. They didn’t have to pay anything, but of course, the quality of the dorm depended entirely on their rank.

Summer was still officially an F-Rank Guide, which meant her dorm was basically a hellhole.

According to the original body’s memories, five people could be crammed into a single room. The bunk beds were so thin that sleeping on one felt less like resting and more like slowly breaking every bone in her back.

And the toilet... Summer’s expression darkened just from remembering it.

No, please. She did not want to think about the toilet.

"No," Summer finally answered. "Dr. Jojo actually recommended that I go to Zone 0."

Archer understood immediately. "To reevaluate your rank?"

"Exactly." Summer nodded. "So tell me, what’s the fastest way to get to Zone 0? Preferably something that’s still available tonight."

There were small aircraft that traveled between zones, but there weren’t many of them. More importantly, only people with urgent or important business were usually allowed to use them.

After all, traveling through the air was one of the most dangerous ways to move between zones. If polluted creatures attacked in the middle of a flight, fighting back would be much harder.

The safer options were buses and underground trains. Unfortunately, finding a bus or train that still ran after sunset was almost impossible.

Summer let out a tired sigh. Maybe she would just have to find a motel nearby, sleep for the night, and leave first thing tomorrow morning.

"Me."

Summer blinked and looked at Archer. "What?"

"I can take you." Archer said it so casually that Summer stared at him for a second, wondering if she had heard him correctly.

He continued, "I need to go somewhere after this, but..." He paused briefly. "I can take you to Zone 0 first."

Oh, right!

Why was she even thinking about planes, buses, and trains? It would be much easier to just ride Archer than use any other transportation!

Wait. Ride Archer? That sounded a little wrong, but... whatever.

"If you don’t mind, sure!" Summer agreed without hesitation.

Without wasting any time, Archer immediately opened the teleportation portal. Before stepping inside, he reached for Summer’s hand and said, "Zone 0 is pretty far from here, so I need to hold onto you to make sure we don’t get separated along the way."

Summer didn’t think too much about it and nodded. "Alright."

At first, she thought Archer would grab her arm, but instead, he slipped his fingers between hers.

Wasn’t this basically the same as holding hands?

Summer swallowed hard, and for a moment, she felt like her heart was beating a little too fast.

What a weird coincidence.

She must have been so touch-starved that something as simple as holding hands was enough to make her heart jump like this.

That was definitely it.

"Ready?" Archer asked.

Summer immediately threw all those weird thoughts out of her head. "Yes."

Right after that, Archer stepped into the teleportation portal first, followed by Summer. Unexpectedly, the moment she arrived on the other side, her head felt like it was spinning so fast that she became nauseous.

"What... what’s happening?" Summer slowly crouched down, still holding Archer’s hand because she honestly wasn’t sure she could keep herself upright without him.

"Like I said, the distance is pretty far," Archer explained. "Long-distance teleportation can sometimes cause nausea and dizziness."

Summer pressed a hand against her forehead and slowly looked up at him. "You look fine."

Archer answered calmly, "I’m used to it."

Oh, of course. How could Summer forget that?

Summer clicked her tongue. Unfortunately, the dizziness wasn’t the worst part anymore. Her stomach had started twisting too, as if someone had grabbed her intestines and decided to wring them out like a wet towel.

To be honest, she needed to lie down. Preferably somewhere soft and preferably right now.

But before Summer could even think about where she was supposed to rest, she heard several hurried footsteps approaching them.

"You there! Show us your access card to Zone 0!"

Summer hadn’t even lifted her head when she heard the unmistakable sound of several guns being aimed straight at her.

Click. Click. Click.

A second later, dozens of red dots appeared across her body, with several of them pointed directly at her head.

Okay.

Apparently, the government in this world really did not mess around with its rules.

"Show us your access card within five seconds!" one of the guards shouted. "One!"

"I’m Archer Reed," Archer said coldly.

He raised his terminal, already preparing to send his access card to the guards. However, before he could do anything, the guard quickly stopped him.

"Not you, sir! Her!"

"Two!"

Summer let out a harsh sigh. Seriously?

Pushing down the urge to throw up, Summer opened her terminal and quickly sent her access card to the guards.

"There." She lifted her head and glared at them. "Happy now?"

Her tone was definitely sharper than necessary. But honestly, who could blame her?

Anyone would be annoyed if they arrived somewhere only to be welcomed by dozens of guns pointed at their head.

[Ding! Access granted!]

[Welcome to Zone 0, Summer Beaumont!]

In less than a second, all the guns were immediately lowered, and the guards who had been glaring at Summer like she was some dangerous criminal just a second ago suddenly relaxed.

Their cold expressions disappeared, replaced by smiles so friendly that Summer almost wondered if she had imagined the whole thing.

One of them even looked friendlier than necessary. "Miss Bunny, I’m your fan! Please, can you sign my shirt?!"