Chapter 193: Propagation
[Path: Propagation]
What was on the daily roulette today?
Ah. The Path of Propagation.
Rekka's serrated front limbs casually scratched at his chitinous head as his massive, monstrous form rapidly compressed. He shrank down, the terrifying mass of a cosmic Swarm entity condensing until he was roughly the size of an average human. His iridescent blue-purple carapace clicked and settled into place.
He was entirely used to this by now.
"Boss, boss! You smell so good today!"
Little Blue Light floated right behind him, literal heart shapes practically popping out of its eyes as a trail of imaginary drool hung from its mouth.
"No eating," Rekka warned, his voice vibrating through his mandibles.
"I'm not gonna eat you! Little Blue Light just wants to have little bugs with you!"
"Absolutely not."
Little Blue Light's glow dimmed in visible disappointment.
Rekka carefully cleaned his antennae and hopped onto the Parlor Car's plush sofa. The rest of the Astral Express crew didn't even bat an eye; a human-sized Swarm bug lounging on the furniture was just another Tuesday for them.
"We're setting a course for the Xianzhou Luofu this time," Himeko's voice echoed from the front. "Miss Ruan Mei has commissioned us to safely escort Miss Tingyun back home."
The Astral Express's daily routine often doubled as a high-end courier service for eccentric geniuses, so no one questioned the itinerary.
"Can you turn back into a human today?" March 7th trotted over, squatting down to stare directly into Rekka's complex compound eyes.
Rekka shook his heavy, armored head.
Little Blue Light hovered to the side, staring unblinkingly at Rekka's sleek carapace. "Boss, can we really not have little bugs?"
"No."
"Then... can Little Blue Light at least give you a hug?"
Rekka sighed, a sound like hissing steam escaping his spiracles. "...Fine. Go ahead."
Little Blue Light immediately launched forward, wrapping its tiny form around Rekka's terrifying insectoid torso. It rubbed its face affectionately against the cold, blue-purple armor plates.
"Boss smells so good..." The little guy was in absolute heaven.
Soft, measured footsteps echoed from the corridor.
A slender figure appeared at the entrance of the Parlor Car. Tingyun had her hair pinned up in its signature neat bun, her elegant Foxian attire draping perfectly over her frame. The complex tassels on her sleeves swayed gently with every step. Her complexion was still a shade too pale, but compared to the state she had been in previously, she was recovering remarkably well.
"How are you feeling, Miss Tingyun?" March asked brightly. "Did you rest well?"
"Thank you for your warm concern. I have rested quite comfortably." Tingyun offered a sweet, practiced smile. Her amber gaze swept gracefully across the car, taking in the familiar faces before her eyes finally locked onto the sofa.
She froze. Her fluffy tail puffed up slightly.
Sitting right next to a glowing blue orb was a terrifying, human-sized Swarm entity.
"Is this..." Tingyun's fan snapped open, half-covering her face. "...the Express's new pet?"
"It's me."
Rekka casually scratched his carapace with a scythe-like claw.
Tingyun's breath hitched. That voice... Is that Rekka?
She was deeply shaken. During her recovery, she had assumed Rekka was, at the very most, an eccentric Pathstrider of Abundance given his miraculous healing properties. She had absolutely no idea he was capable of—or regularly participated in—becoming a literal nightmare of the Swarm.
"Ahem. Miss Tingyun, he's... a bit special," March coughed awkwardly.
"Ah... I see. He is indeed... quite majestic," Tingyun managed, her professional customer-service smile straining at the edges.
Before Tingyun could fully process the existential dread of the Propagation, Stelle slid onto the sofa right next to Rekka. Her golden eyes were practically shining with unhinged excitement.
"What is it?" Rekka asked, eyeing the gray-haired Trailblazer suspiciously.
"I want to do that! You know, that thing we did before!" Stelle gestured wildly with her hands, mimicking a steering wheel.
"That? You mean..."
"Yes! Yes!"
"No," Rekka shot her down instantly. "Turning into a super-giant bug and letting you directly interface with my neural network is exhausting."
"But I want to drive the giant bug for fun!" Stelle whined, leaning into his armored shoulder.
Ever since Stelle had first witnessed Rekka's transformation at the Herta Space Station—and had actively piloted his colossal, kaiju-sized Swarm form during the desperate clash against the Doomsday Beast—she had been itching for a second ride.
"Don't talk about me like I'm some kind of leased vehicle, okay?"
"I don't know how else to describe it! It's seriously the coolest thing ever!"
Rekka stared at her through his compound eyes. He knew exactly how this played out. If he didn't satisfy this little trash-panda's mecha-pilot fantasies right now, she would relentlessly pester him, follow him into the bathroom, and poke his wings for the rest of the cosmic cycle.
"Fine, fine. I give in," Rekka finally relented, his mandibles clicking in defeat. "But let's get the ground rules straight: You get exactly five minutes. No spitting acid, no crashing into the furniture, and absolutely no using my body to pinch Pom-Pom's ears for fun."
Stelle cheered, immediately scrambling up onto Rekka's armored back.
"Easy there! You're stepping right on my spiracles!"
"Oh, sorry! I'm just too hyped!" Stelle shimmied around, adjusting herself until she found a comfortable seat between his wing joints. Her hands firmly gripped the two long antennae protruding from his head, treating them exactly like twin control sticks. "System online! Pilot in position! Requesting neural link interface!"
"Stop giving me these weird anime roleplay settings."
Despite his dry complaints, Rekka focused his mind. A brilliant blue-purple bioluminescence seeped from the microscopic gaps in his carapace. The light traveled up his antennae, wrapping around Stelle's hands and bridging the gap between her consciousness and his alien mind.
At first, it was just a sharp, static tingle at the base of her skull. Then, Stelle felt her entire field of vision violently expand. The painfully limited, forward-facing perspective of a human was instantly shattered, replaced by a stunning, 360-degree hyper-perception. She could see the dust motes floating behind her, hear the hum of the Express's engine through the floorboards, and taste the ambient temperature of the room.
It was intoxicating.
Under Stelle's enthusiastic but amateur interference, Rekka's six bladed legs began to move. The coordination was spectacularly clumsy. The terrifying Swarm bug staggered forward, swaying violently from side to side like a patron getting kicked out of a tavern at 3 AM.
"You're messing with my motor cortex on purpose, aren't you?" Rekka grumbled.
"No, no! I'm very seriously learning how to be a bug!"
Stelle forced the massive body to march forward, clumsily circling the parlor car's coffee table before lumbering back. She flexed her mind, and the pair of translucent, blue-purple wings on Rekka's back snapped open and closed, emitting a crisp, threatening buzz.
So cool... Stelle thought, completely mesmerized.
"Time's up."
Rekka mercilessly severed the neural link. The blue-purple glow instantly vanished.
Stelle's vision violently contracted. That god-like, total hyper-perception was brutally stripped away, plunging her back into the dark, narrow confines of a human skull. She swayed dizzily, her equilibrium completely shot as she lost the phantom sensation of possessing six legs and a pair of wings.
Blinking rapidly to clear the spots from her eyes, she slid down from the carapace, a goofy grin plastered on her face. That was so fun...
Leaving Stelle to recover her bearings, Rekka's six legs carried him smoothly down the corridor, his claws clicking rhythmically against the floorboards until he reached the Data Bank.
Stelle's little joyride had reminded him of something.
"Dan Heng. Dan Heng."
The archivist looked up from his glowing monitors, his stoic expression unchanging. "What is it?"
"I'm here to grant your deepest wish."
Dan Heng frowned. "What wish?"
"Didn't you want to pilot me back at the space station?" Rekka fluttered his wings, producing a smug, buzzing sound.
Dan Heng fell completely silent.
This guy actually remembered.
Months ago, during the chaotic battle with the Antimatter Legion, Dan Heng had been secretly, deeply heartbroken. Rekka had chosen Stelle to neural-link and pilot his colossal Swarm form instead of him. Since Stelle and Dan Heng barely knew each other at the time, Dan Heng had quietly assumed Rekka simply didn't trust him enough to share a neural load.
It had been practically heart-wrenching.
Well, maybe not heart-wrenching, but definitely a massive blow to his hidden mecha-nerd pride.
"Let me clarify this first," Dan Heng said, crossing his arms and looking away defensively. "I simply wish to observe and record what the sensory perspective of the Path of Propagation entails for the Data Bank."
"Sure, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, archivist. Get on."
It was a remarkably poor excuse, but Dan Heng didn't hesitate. He nodded, stepping forward and gently pressing a hand against Rekka's carapace, professionally testing its weight-bearing capacity.
"Is there anything specific I should be careful of?" he asked, his tone entirely too serious.
"Yeah. Don't try to sense my digestive system. It's weird for both of us."
Dan Heng climbed aboard, taking the antennae in hand. The blue-purple light flared.
Unlike Stelle's chaotic, drunken stumbling, Dan Heng's mental discipline was immaculate. Rekka immediately felt his six legs moving with terrifying precision. It felt as though his limbs were being guided by invisible, perfectly calibrated strings. Dan Heng's control was elegant and flawless, like a master musician plucking the strings of a pipa.
Yet, the visual was utterly absurd. Dan Heng sat perfectly straight-backed and stoic atop a terrifying alien insect, looking as comically out of place as an ancient emperor riding a polar bear into battle.
Dan Heng smoothly marched Rekka out of the Data Bank, pacing slowly and majestically down the corridor. He was deeply immersed, silently marveling at the novel, complex way the Swarm perceived the universe.
Unfortunately, his majestic joyride didn't go unnoticed.
"Oh? So you're interested in riding giant bugs too, Dan Heng?"
Stelle was leaning against the wall, one eyebrow raised in a shit-eating smirk.
"Not bad form," Welt commented from the side, adjusting his glasses with a look of genuine academic approval.
"Are you done riding him yet, Dan Heng? It's my turn!" March rubbed her hands together, practically vibrating with excitement.
Caught red-handed, Dan Heng quickly and quietly severed the neural link. He slid off Rekka's back and walked briskly to the side, pulling his collar up to hide the faint, embarrassed flush creeping up his neck.
He had definitely been having way too much fun just now.
"Fine, fine, line up. Get on," Rekka sighed, his antennae drooping.
It seemed that for today, the fearsome anomaly of the Propagation had officially been reduced to the Astral Express's designated Swarm-taxi.
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