Chapter 43: Asta Loses Her Composure
March 7th's eyes widened to the size of saucers. Dan Heng simply closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in silent suffering.
Stelle, meanwhile, gasped in sudden, misplaced awe. "Wait, it's everywhere? Caelus, you absolute madman... you really thought ten steps ahead of me!"
"No, you..." Dan Heng couldn't bear to watch this trainwreck continue. Caelus's descriptions were so wildly off-base from the actual keyword that it physically hurt to listen to. If Caelus actually had the same word as them, the implications would be downright terrifying.
"What's wrong? Didn't you guys arrive much earlier too?" Caelus scratched the back of his head, blinking in genuine confusion. The heavy silence in the parlor car finally tipped him off that something was horribly wrong.
"I didn't. Stop talking nonsense," Dan Heng muttered, burying his face in his hands.
"I definitely didn't either!" March 7th threw her hands up, desperately distancing herself from whatever Caelus was implying.
"And I certainly didn't do whatever Stelle is accusing me of. Shall we continue?" Leon leaned back against the plush sofa, a highly entertained smirk playing on his lips as he glanced toward their designated referee, Himeko.
"Uh... I don't think that's necessary," Himeko began, her elegant composure cracking with a stifled laugh.
Before she could finish, Pom-Pom waddled out from behind the counter, waving their little conductor baton frantically. "Undercover Caelus is eliminated immediately! The game is over, in!"
"Wait, what happened? The people at the back haven't even taken their turns yet!" Stelle protested, her golden eyes darting around in utter bewilderment.
Dan Heng let out a long, exhausted sigh and flipped his keyword card over onto the table. It read: Mother.
"Oh! So yours was 'Mother'!" Caelus slammed his fist into his palm in sudden realization. He casually tossed his own card onto the table. It read: Friend.
"Ah, so your word was 'Friend'!" Stelle nodded sagely, as if uncovering a deep universal truth.
March 7th, Dan Heng, and Welt all stared at the two of them in deadpan silence. You two are only just now figuring this out?!
"Honestly, I thought Caelus just treated March 7th as his mother!" Stelle blurted out, her tone entirely too earnest.
"What the heck is wrong with your brain?!" March 7th shrieked, her pink hair practically bristling with indignation. "You'd rather believe Caelus has some weird, abstract mommy-issues complex than just suspect his word was different from ours?!"
She was losing her mind. She was completely speechless.
Leon chuckled softly, his shoulders shaking with quiet amusement. He tapped the screen of his smart device, neatly clipping the chaotic video recording of their game and uploading it directly to the interastral network.
Since his account was freshly registered with zero followers, the upload initially sank into the vast ocean of digital content without a splash. However, it didn't stay buried for long.
Back on the Herta Space Station, Asta sat behind her massive desk, buried under a mountain of requisition forms. Her personal terminal suddenly chimed with a special notification. She and Leon had exchanged contact info before the Express departed, so her device instantly flagged his first post.
"Hm? Is this the daily life of the Astral Express Crew filmed by Leon?" Asta murmured, setting her holographic pen aside.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she tapped the thumbnail. As the chaotic shouting of March 7th and Stelle's deadpan absurdities filled her quiet office, the corners of Asta's lips curled upward. Within seconds, her polite smile dissolved into a fit of unladylike giggles. She was laughing so hard she practically slumped over her desk, completely losing her usual refined composure.
"Hahahaha... oh, my stars, that is too funny. As expected of the Trailblazers," she gasped, wiping a stray tear from her eye.
Seeing the video brought back fond memories of March 7th, Stelle, and Caelus running around the space station, helping researchers and causing a ruckus. It perfectly captured their chaotic, endlessly energetic vibe.
"Such a brilliant video... why are the view counts so pitifully low?" Asta frowned, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Let me give it a little push."
With the casual indifference of someone who treated millions of credits like pocket change, Asta purchased a massive promotional package from the platform's algorithm. Then, with a quick flick of her finger, she forwarded the link directly into the Space Station's main gossip group chat.
"Eh? Isn't this the Astral Express crew that just docked here?"
"What video? Let me see."
"Hahahaha, aren't those the two who kept digging through our trash cans? They're hilarious!"
"And March 7th, hahaha, she is so cute!"
"Honestly, I feel like they're almost as entertaining as Madam Herta!"
"What? You heretic! Madam Herta's beauty and brilliance are unmatched in the universe, second to none!"
The chat exploded into a flurry of emojis and rapid-fire messages. Asta simply smiled, hiding her massive financial contribution and watching the chaos unfold. Thanks to her "modest" algorithmic boost, Leon's video skyrocketed straight onto the interastral trending charts.
Light-years away on the Xianzhou Luofu, Guinaifen was chewing on the end of a stylus, agonizing over what kind of street performance to livestream today. She aimlessly scrolled through the trending feed until a particular thumbnail caught her eye.
"Whoa, what's this doing at the top of the charts? Let me take a look," she muttered, tapping the screen.
A minute later, she was slapping her thigh, barking with laughter. "Hahaha, no way! Is the Astral Express actually this ridiculous? I thought the Nameless were supposed to be super serious explorers!"
She watched the clip loop a second time, her mind already spinning with ideas. "No wonder so many people idolize the Trailblaze! Wait... could Sushang and I play this 'Who is the Undercover' game on stream too? It seems like there aren't enough of us... we'd need to find a few more people, at least four to get a good comedic effect."
Guinaifen instantly bookmarked the video, deeply committing the faces of Stelle, Caelus, and March 7th to memory. If I could ever be friends with them, it would definitely be a lot of fun, she thought, grinning from ear to ear.
Meanwhile, deep within the simulated depths of her private office, Herta normally couldn't care less about mindless short videos. But the notification pinged with Leon's ID. Since the special puppet she had prepared for him hadn't been put to use yet, she reluctantly opened the link, mildly curious about the company he usually kept.
"Incredible. Absolutely incredible," Herta muttered dryly, though the corners of her lips twitched upward into a pleasant arc as she watched the sheer stupidity of the game unfold.
"These two vessels are truly fascinating," she mused, her eyes tracking Stelle and Caelus's blank, unapologetic expressions. "If they ever stood before Nous, I wonder if the Erudition would short-circuit out of sheer frustration over their abysmal IQ?"
If Leon were there to hear her, he would have undoubtedly quipped back: I don't know if Nous would get worked up over their low IQ, but the Erudition would definitely scream: 'Akivili, why must you Trailblaze like a bunch of idiots?!'
Elsewhere in the cosmos, a sleek, private vessel cruised silently toward the Jarilo-VI space lane. Ruan Mei sat elegantly in her pristine laboratory, a steaming cup of tea resting on the console beside her.
She had previously acquired Leon's contact information from Herta. Though she hadn't initiated a direct conversation with him yet, she had quietly followed his digital footprint. Naturally, his newly uploaded video appeared on her feed immediately.
Her serene, detached gaze watched the warm, chaotic interactions of the Express crew. For a brief, uncharacteristic moment, a faint ripple disturbed the placid surface of her heart.
Ever since her parents passed away, she had carefully erased her childhood nickname, taking one character from each of their surnames to forge her new identity. From that day forward, whenever someone asked about the concept of "home," a fleeting shadow of confusion would cross her eyes—as if she had surgically excised the very memory of what a home was supposed to feel like.
Yet, watching the atmosphere of the Astral Express, a phantom warmth brushed against her soul. It vaguely resembled that forgotten concept.
But the sentiment was fleeting. As a genius, Ruan Mei might allow herself a second of wistful daze, but how could she be easily swayed by something as trivial as emotional nostalgia?
Just as she was about to savor the quiet moment the video provided, the proximity sensors of her laboratory chimed. An uninvited guest had bypassed her outer wards.
"Greetings, Madam Ruan Mei, Member 81 of the Genius Society."
A tall, elegantly dressed man stepped into the sterile light of the lab. His long blonde hair framed a polite, refined smile. "Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Luocha. I am but a mere traveling merchant."
Ruan Mei didn't stand. She simply turned her chair, her cold, analytical gaze sweeping over him.
"A mere traveling merchant?" Her voice was smooth, carrying a chillingly calm cadence. "I highly doubt an ordinary merchant would traverse the stars carrying a coffin with them."
Her eyes shifted past him, landing on the unconscious figure resting upon a medical hover-stretcher he had brought inside.
"And this Foxian..." Ruan Mei's eyes narrowed slightly, her mind instantly dissecting the biological anomalies presenting themselves. "Her physiological traits indicate she hails from the Xianzhou. However... her body has already been completely eroded by the power of Destruction."
In a single glance, Ruan Mei determined the absolute severity of the Foxian's condition. The erosion wasn't just physical; it had ravaged her spirit as well. The fact that she had lived until now was nothing short of a biological miracle—or perhaps the result of a terrifyingly deep obsession anchoring her to life. It was a stroke of pure luck.
"Your assessment is correct," Luocha nodded, his tone dropping its pleasantries, replaced by a heavy sincerity. "Her name is Tingyun. She serves the Sky-Faring Commission of the Xianzhou Luofu as an Amicassador, and she leads the wealthy Whistling Flames guild."
He bowed his head slightly. "I implore you to save her life."
Ruan Mei picked up her teacup, her expression entirely unmoved by his plea.
"It will be difficult. I cannot guarantee success," she stated calmly, delivering pure facts without a shred of bedside manner. "Her body and spirit have been riddled with holes by the marks of Destruction. Rather than gaining a new life, she is far more likely to pass away along with these scars, falling into eternal darkness."
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