[The Astral Express, Observation Car]
Looking out from here, one could see the dense fleet of Xianzhou Cloud Knights warships that had come through the Star Gate.
This terrifying fleet had occupied almost half the starfield around Penacony. At this moment, even without counting the majestic Luofu itself, which seemed capable of easily crushing a group of planets, Penacony looked somewhat small and cute surrounded by countless Cloud Knight warships.
The moment the Xianzhou ships arrived, the City of Festivals was given a day when it stood alone and could barely hold its own.
Even a prosperous, ultramodern planet with an extremely developed civilization, one that served as a transportation hub along the Silver Rail, looked as fragile as a child before this terrifying fleet.
"I didn't expect we'd meet again so soon." Jing Yuan narrowed his eyes with a smile as he looked at Dan Heng in front of him.
After arriving near Penacony, the Luofu had calmed down. It no longer simply continued forward toward that City of Festivals on its own, as if even the Luofu, despite being able to move by itself, understood the importance of social etiquette.
This situation made Jing Yuan breathe a sigh of relief. Even if it had directly crushed its way over, he had plenty of excuses, but that would still have been less than ideal.
Afterward, Jing Yuan, who was preparing to take a smaller ship to land on Penacony first and meet up with Yanqing and the others, noticed the Astral Express also docked nearby.
So he decided to come up and take a look first. Perhaps he could even get some valuable information worth referencing.
His luck was clearly pretty good. Besides his old friend Dan Heng and the legendary conductor of the train, Pom-Pom, there were also some other characters here: a Memokeeper from the Garden of Recollection, a Galaxy Ranger, and a Nihility "Emanator" who claimed to be a Galaxy Ranger.
Well, the professions of those last two were a little enviable. Considering the circumstances of this unexpected Emanator, for a moment Jing Yuan thought that perhaps he, as the general of the Luofu, could also publicly claim to moonlight as a Galaxy Ranger.
Or perhaps he could simply wait a few years, hand the position of general over to Fu Xuan, and then run off himself... In any case, he would find an opportunity later to exchange contact information with this genuine Ranger.
Looking at the smiling Luofu general in front of him, Dan Heng sighed. Then he narrowed his eyes at the other party, his expression slightly complicated.
"...I didn't expect we'd meet again under circumstances like this either..."
Dan Heng opened his mouth, wanting to speak but stopping himself. He looked down at the Alliance Jade Abacus in his hand, then at the Luofu fleet outside the window, its army pressing toward Penacony.
"So... what's going on with you people? How did even the Luofu get brought over here?"
After saying that, Dan Heng immediately noticed that the expression on the Divine Foresight General's face visibly stiffened after hearing his question.
"...It's not that we directly brought the Luofu over..." Jing Yuan finally spoke after a moment of silence.
"The Luofu came over by itself. More accurately, the Luofu led the fleet over here."
"Do you remember what happened at the end when Fuyan invaded the Luofu?"
"You mean the incident where the Luofu activated itself?" Dan Heng asked.
"Mm." Jing Yuan nodded, then began explaining the details. "This time was the same as last time."
"Earlier, we received news from Yanqing. More accurately, the reason the Luofu was able to receive this news was because of Miss Guinaifen's livestream."
Dan Heng frowned slightly. He had known nothing about the news of Nero's disappearance before this.
Now that Jing Yuan had pointed it out, this immediately made the "retired High-Cloud Quintet" member nervous. One of his companions had already run into danger, and his own actions seemed to have been a little too slow.
Jing Yuan paused when he noticed the change in Dan Heng's expression. In this unfamiliar old friend, he saw the exact same look that had been in his eyes in the past.
But this time, the emotions in those eyes were not suppressed the way they had been before...
"Through Miss Guinaifen's livestream, the vast majority of people on the Xianzhou learned about Nero's disappearance. Then, this matter caused a huge stir on the Luofu. You know, a lot of people like that child."
"And this matter didn't brew for very long, because almost everyone reached a consensus in an extremely short period of time."
"At the same time, the Luofu itself sent a message to the Sky-Faring Commission, saying that it wanted to personally come to Penacony in the Asdana system to take a look."
"This was quite shocking. In fact, once this huge ship started moving, nobody had the ability to stop it... Of course, there was no need to stop it either."
"Afterward, we set out. At the same time, the Sky-Faring Commission presented me with a headache-inducing report."
"The Luofu not only wanted to come over itself, it had also communicated with every ship in its subordinate fleet..."
"But this was far from the Luofu's limit. I don't think you could have imagined that besides the Luofu's fleet, the IPC's fleet is here too. They should be arriving soon as well."
"I don't know exactly how the Luofu managed it, but it really did communicate with the IPC's warships somehow, causing the IPC fleet to start moving on its own without control."
"This almost even led to a conflict with the IPC, but that issue was resolved through later communication."
"The destination of the IPC fleet is also Penacony. Coincidentally, in a certain sense, they are also here because of that child. I heard that among the IPC members heading to Penacony this time, three of the Ten Stonehearts were dispatched."
"Two of them have gone already. The two with the codenames Topaz and Aventurine mobilized the fleet, and they are worried about the child's safety."
"The good news, however, is that during our later communication, Yanqing told me that Nero had already been found."
"But the Luofu still wants to come and take a look. It thinks that the child might have been bullied here, so it wants to teach the Family a lesson."
"I actually think it would already be good enough if that child simply didn't bully anyone else."
"In any case, as you can see. This is the situation we're in now. After carrying out such a large-scale military jump without warning, I'll inevitably be held accountable by the Alliance afterward."
"However, everything is related to Nero. The higher-ups probably won't say much, and even if they don't know Nero, they still have to pay attention to the child's other identity."
At this point, the smile on Jing Yuan's face became even brighter, looking quite like someone who had already given up worrying about the consequences.
As a Xianzhou general who had diligently governed for many years, he had clearly cultivated an unusually good mindset.
"Even if they don't give me any face, they should at least give Lord Myriadview some face, right? Especially considering that we just had an exchange with the Knights of Beauty not long ago."
Dan Heng calmly looked at Jing Yuan at this moment. After learning that Nero had been found, he gradually calmed down again.
"Mm... If it's because of that child, then it makes sense for the Luofu to move on its own."
Jing Yuan spread his hands. He had realized this point too.
But before he figured this out, the Luofu activating itself had caused him quite a bit of hair loss. Mm... Although afterward, he reported the matter to the Alliance and let everyone else have the headache instead.
What made Jing Yuan even happier was that everyone else in the Alliance was just as baffled by this matter.
He heard that General Yaoguang had smashed two star charts because of it and even fallen ill. They were all minor problems that didn't matter much, but they were still quite annoying.
Old General Huaiyan of the Zhuming and the Skystrike General of the Yaoqing had both expressed interest in the Luofu activating itself, as well as the weapons that had appeared aboard the Luofu out of nowhere during that incident, though their points of interest were somewhat different.
Old General Huaiyan expressed his curiosity about this kind of technology, while that Skystrike General... actually asked Yukong whether they could swap the Luofu with the Yaoqing, or let the Yaoqing also go ku-ku and ram Abominations of Abundance on its own...
During Jing Yuan and Dan Heng's conversation, none of the others spoke. Boothill stood not far away, his expression changing again and again. His train of thought probably went something like this:
'Holy mother of... so this is the Xianzhou fleet? It's way too cute!'
'This guy is the general of the Luofu. This guy sure as hell has some presence!'
'Holy shit, what the hell is this self-activating cruise carrier? This is the Xianzhou Luofu? Cute! Too cute!'
'Why are there IPC dogs too? Damn it, just seeing these annoying bastards puts me in a bad mood!'
After having a brief conversation with Dan Heng, Jing Yuan slowly turned his head and shifted his gaze to the others. Then he asked Dan Heng again, "So, can you tell me what your situation is now?"