Because the doll suddenly started talking, Sora got so excited that she chatted with Lucas until the latter half of the night before realizing she had to sleep. There was still work at the company tomorrow.
Sora didn't plan on telling anyone else that Bailey could talk. She decided to keep it as her own secret.
When she went to sleep, Sora habitually wanted to hug the doll.
After all this time.
This had already become a sleeping habit for Sora. It was like how many people like to clamp something between their legs when they sleep; without it, it feels like something is missing, and they can't fall asleep. But after clamping something, they can quickly drift off.
Sora felt it didn't matter. It was just a doll, after all, and dolls don't have genders. Plus, Bailey had been with Sora for a long time.
However, Lucas actively scooted to the side.
After Sora finally fell asleep, seeing that it was getting late, he decided to return to the Doctor's body to sleep. After all this time, Lucas had gotten used to sleeping. Although souls don't need sleep at all, it had to be said, sleeping was genuinely comfortable, especially lazing in bed for a bit after waking up in the morning. That half-awake, half-asleep state was the most comfortable.
The next day, early morning.
When Lucas woke up and his consciousness skillfully descended into the teddy bear doll, he suddenly found he couldn't see anything. Something seemed to be covering his eyes. He struggled, finally managing to wake up Sora, who had unconsciously hugged the doll tightly in her sleep.
The awakened Sora yawned, her eyes heavy with sleep. She propped herself up on the bed with one hand, the straps of her nightgown slipping down her shoulders, revealing her flawless shoulders and collarbones. She looked like a sleeping beauty, easily capable of making one's heart flutter. Of course, Lucas didn't even have a heart, so the concept of his heart fluttering didn't exist.
"Ahhh!"
Because she went to bed too late yesterday, chatting with Lucas until two in the morning, and because she wasn't allowed to hug the doll, Sora had tossed and turned for another half an hour before falling asleep. This made her head feel muddled when she woke up, unable to react for a moment.
After her brain briefly booted up, Sora finally realized.
"I'm sorry! Bailey!! I clearly didn't hug you yesterday, how... *whimper*... I'm sorry!"
Suddenly!
Sora looked at the clock beside her. The hands were about to point to 8:30. Only then did Sora realize she was running late. She hurriedly got out of bed, showered, and washed up, not even bothering with makeup, planning to do it at the company.
In the past, when the head office hadn't assigned anyone.
Her agent, Ms. Zhang, had been with Sora since she was just a small underground idol and had always treated Sora like her own sister. So, as long as there was no work, Ms. Zhang wouldn't say much even if Sora was late.
But it was different now.
Because the head office above MSR had taken a liking to Sora's current popularity, seeing her like a watermelon about to ripen. They wanted to eat it first, and then continue planting new ones. Ms. Zhang's money-making ability was far from the company's standards. Or rather, Ms. Zhang *had* the ability to make money, but many of her methods were unsuitable for Sora's long-term development. However, the head office didn't care about that; they only looked at money. If you could make money, you were capable. If you couldn't, you were to be moved to another post.
As for whether this was killing the goose that laid the golden eggs, at most, they would just cultivate another similar idol. They understood these so-called fans all too well—typically fickle, they'd immediately forget this has-been idol who had lost her money-making ability as soon as a new one was cultivated.
And this agent sent from above, Ms. Wang, was extremely strict. She didn't allow Sora to be late. Five minutes late meant a 30% deduction from that day's salary, ten minutes meant 50%, and half an hour meant no salary for the day. As for unexcused absences, they were treated as a breach of contract.
Before Sora left, she instructed Lucas to be good and stay at home, as if coaxing a child, and not to open the door if someone knocked.
After Sora left, Lucas looked at the time on the wall.
This time... it should be about right.
The company Sora worked for, MSR, wasn't a large company, just a small media firm. Sora was the number one idol under this company. A few years ago, when Sora was just starting to gain some traction, this company was acquired by a large, well-known Lungmen media company called ML. This company had quite a few popular artists under its belt. However, in the past, MSR was too small and had no popular artists, so the head office didn't bother with it.
But ever since Sora became more and more popular, even holding a concert in Lungmen that attracted nearly ten thousand people, this company suddenly realized Sora's value. It just so happened that the company's finances hadn't been doing well in recent years. After all, everything was competitive these days, and the idol and celebrity industry was also a mess of competition. Other companies had launched their own new groups and even started trainee audition shows.
One company produced someone who could sing, dance, and rap, putting severe pressure on the ML company.
It was just an ordinary media company, with a market value of barely one billion.
One billion.
Heh...
And it was just the market value. As everyone knows, market value, like a person's net worth, is severely inflated. A market value of one billion might only be a few hundred million.
A few hundred million...
Jessica's father gave Jessica nearly ten billion just to start a business for fun, and it was in cash.
The ML company matter was easy to solve.
With nothing to do.
Lucas began to study this body of his. Previously, Lucas hadn't been able to do much with Sora around at night, but now that he was alone in the room, Lucas began to study this teddy bear body.
To be honest.
The power modifying this body was a bit interesting.
It wasn't Originium energy, but to a certain extent, it was several grades higher. This energy seemed to be clustered together, circulating inside the doll. From this energy cluster, many energy threads extended out, connecting like meridians to various parts of the teddy bear doll. It was because of this that the teddy bear doll seemed to be advancing from an ordinary doll to a truly special life form.
Lucas tried to control this special power within his body.
The next second.
*Swish!* Lucas suddenly shrank, becoming only palm-sized.
"Eh???"
He tried again and returned to his normal size.
A bit magical.
Immediately after, Lucas used his spiritual power to ignite the cluster of power inside the doll.
Suddenly!
The power seemed to ignite. A special energy instantly traveled along the 'meridians' to every part of the teddy bear doll. The originally cute and cuddly teddy bear body suddenly grew larger and larger, expanding from a doll of only a few dozen centimeters to a "giant bear" three meters tall. But Sora's ceiling was only a little over two meters high. To avoid punching a hole in Sora's ceiling, Lucas had to lie flat on the ground.
Not only was his body much taller, it was also much more robust.
The originally fluffy fur stood on end automatically, moving without wind. A ghostly blue light even ignited on many of the hairs. On the 'giant bear's' ferocious face, its eyes also burned with ghostly blue flames, like a demon from hell. Flames constantly spewed from its nostrils.
Eh? Eh? Eh??
Lucas was completely stunned. How did he inexplicably turn into this? He quickly used his power to retract the suddenly released energy. Lucas finally returned to the appearance of the small, cute teddy bear doll. If one hadn't seen it with their own eyes, no one would ever associate the 'demon' from just now with the cute teddy bear doll.
This...
Sure enough, after activating the power, Lucas finally noticed something.
There was obvious divinity in that power.
In other words.
The source of this power was a certain god. However, this power was only a very small Divine Fragment, tiny, and an unconscious one at that. Its state was similar to Laevatain. After this power inexplicably entered the teddy bear doll's body, it began to reflexively modify this body, causing this inanimate object to gradually develop towards the level of a life form. After all, only under such conditions could a new consciousness possibly be born. Of course, it was only a possibility.
However.
It was a bit unlucky.
It should have no way of birthing a consciousness now.
After all, Lucas, this soul fragment, has already occupied it. It has already lost the conditions for birthing a consciousness.
Good luck, to think I'd casually taken over another Divine Fragment. Although this Divine Fragment was very small, and its actual combat power might be quite pathetic, "pathetic" was relative. If Lucas compared himself to people like Nian and Dusk, it would definitely be pathetic. Not just this, but anyone else compared to them would also be quite pathetic.
If judging by the surroundings, the teddy bear doll's true strength was still quite strong.
It had to be said.
Nowadays, even the physical constitution of a teddy bear doll was countless times stronger than the Doctor's. It showed just how pathetic the Doctor's constitution was on Terra. Even if it wasn't dead last on Terra, it was close.
Suddenly.
The sound of a lock being picked came from the door of Sora's room.
This sound!!
Lucas quickly pretended to be a doll and lay on the bed.
After a while, the person outside suddenly picked the lock, preparing to sneak in and steal some valuables. However... the moment he opened the door, the thief saw a sight he would never forget in his life.
A giant monster, wreathed in ghostly blue flames, was standing right in front of him. Its flame-like eyes met his, its ferocious expression extremely close.
*Gulp...*
This Mr. Thief swallowed hard. He even closed his eyes and rubbed them, afraid he was seeing things.
However.
When Lucas slowly opened his mouth, the roar he emitted was like a gale, blowing the thief directly onto the ground. Only then did he finally react, frantically shouting, "Monster! Monster!" as he ran out of the room like a madman.
This was probably the most desperate moment in this thief's career. Fortunately, he was a professional thief, so his mental fortitude was naturally stronger than that of an ordinary person. Otherwise, he might have fainted from fright.
He shouted as he ran. However, many people on the street outside paid him no mind. After all, there were too many crazy people these days. A monster...
It's broad daylight!
A monster doesn't sleep in and even gets up to scare people? How pathetic must it be.
After a while.
The thief rushed directly into the Lungmen Guard Department (L.G.D.) and recounted what he had seen.
However, no one believed such a story.
A monster over three meters tall, covered in deep blue flames!
Hilarious.
Wait!
The L.G.D. officer suddenly realized a problem.
"Why were you in someone else's home?"
After the officer detained him and ran a check, they discovered that this person was indeed a thief who had escaped a few months ago.
After scaring away a thief, a short while later, the sound of a door opening came from outside again.
However, it seemed to be a key this time. Lucas quickly lay motionless on the bed. After a moment, the door opened, and several sneaky figures appeared in Sora's room.
Exusiai: "Sora! Eh? Where's Sora?"
Seeing that Sora wasn't home, Exusiai sat directly on the bed, crushing the Lucas teddy bear doll right under her.
———————
Sora sprinted, even just buying a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk for breakfast to eat at the company.
Finally, thirty seconds before work started, Sora successfully clocked in, saving today's salary.
"You're finally here!"
A sharp voice came from the side. A woman who looked mean just from her face walked over. She was Sora's new agent, Ms. Wang.
"Ms... Ms. Wang..."
Ms. Wang frowned.
"As an idol, how can you come to the company so late? How many big idols and superstars have I taught in the past? None of them were like you."
However... Sora couldn't help but complain in her heart.
*But none of them even stayed popular for a few months before they flopped.*
"Today there's a new commercial livestream for product endorsement. Endorsements are really hot right now. That trainee from the company next door made tens of millions for her company in one night. Tens of millions, what does that mean? One night! I bet your previous agent from MSR probably didn't make tens of millions in several years, but now you have this chance."
"The client for this endorsement is a food company. Get ready, the livestream starts at 6 PM tonight."
Sora looked at the materials handed to her but quickly shook her head.
"But! Ms. Wang, wasn't this company investigated before for serious... I can't scam my fans..."
"Hmph! You don't have the right to refuse. You're streaming today whether you like it or not. Otherwise, just wait to pay the one hundred million in breach of contract fees."
Sora bit her lip... clenching her small fists.
Suddenly.
The agent's phone rang.
"Hello, Chairman, you were looking for me?"
"What? I'm fired?! Chairman, I!! I've worked for the company for so many years, you can't just... oh... you got fired too."