After exchanging their thoughts, the group decided to adopt new identities to avoid being treated like soft pushovers.
Dan Heng was quite supportive of this prudent proposal.
“This is indeed a good method.
We must minimize the dangers encountered when Trailblazing the unknown; after all, the full picture of this world has not yet been revealed to us.” He then looked at the girl with platinum-blonde hair and agreed, “Everyone has their own way of Trailblazing.
It’s clear that you truly value us!” Serena just smiled and didn’t respond to Dan Heng.
After all, as an Emanator, she certainly wouldn’t need to be so cautious when dealing with the natives of a planet.
Creating some cover identities was mainly to make things more convenient and safer for the Astral Express Crew.
…
The group headed toward the city they had located.
The freezing wind was sharp as a blade, lashing snow against them, yet it couldn’t stir up any real trouble.
After all, to be perfectly honest, none of them were ordinary people.
This feeling was actually quite strange.
Even though they knew this was a biting cold wind and bone-chilling ice and snow, they couldn’t feel that harsh cold at all.
March even had the mind to play by throwing snowballs with Stelle.
Feeling this ability to adapt to the environment, even Serena thought that the blessing of the Trailblaze was really quite useful.
However, as the distance to their destination shortened, the surrounding environment gradually transitioned from a wasteland to broken walls and ruins.
Along the way, there wasn’t a single sign of life, just a desolate scene of a ruined civilization, and the mood of the Astral Express Crew grew increasingly heavy.
“Be careful, there are Fragmentum Creatures nearby.” Dan Heng carefully observed the surrounding environment and then discovered some traces.
Hmm…
traces of the existence of a Fragmentum Creature.
Honestly, Dan Heng truly lived up to his reputation as an experienced Trailblazer.
Just by relying on slight traces of a battle that happened who knows when, he could determine the presence of a Fragmentum Creature.
Sure enough, as the group carefully investigated, it wasn’t long before they discovered a Fragmentum Creature ahead on the road.
It was an ice-blue, bird-like crystalline creature.
It had no visible biological organs, possessed only a core, and was a pure construct of energy.
The creature released ice-blue frigid air as it wandered in the center of the canyon, blocking the path of Stelle’s small team.
“I’ve observed it.
There are no other Fragmentum Creatures around it; it’s alone.” “Then leave it to me!” Stelle whipped out her baseball bat.
Power surged as her long legs crossed, and before the Fragmentum Creature could react, she quickly closed the distance and swung with great force.
In the next moment, the crystalline Fragmentum Creature didn’t even have time to shriek before it truly became a fragmented creature, shattering into several pieces that fell to the ground and gradually dissipated into the air.
The remaining three looked at each other, and finally, it was Serena who spoke first: “Since there really are Fragmentum Creatures here, that means a Stellaron is truly at work, right?” March 7th and Dan Heng clearly had plenty of experience dealing with Stellarons; they were so familiar with the existence of Fragmentum Creatures that they could identify what it was at a glance.
“It’s definitely a Stellaron.
However…” Dan Heng paused and continued, “Why did the Stellaron erupt?” “Huh?
Doesn’t a Stellaron just erupt like normal?
What do you mean ‘why’?” Little March’s comment was as cute as ever, highlighting a certain aesthetic of being untainted by knowledge.
Serena glanced at little March speechlessly, then looked at Dan Heng with sympathy, conveying the sentiment of ‘It must have been really hard for you in the past.’ Dan Heng inexplicably understood the meaning of that look and couldn’t help but fall even more silent.
“Dan Heng probably means whether this snow disaster caused by the Stellaron is a natural disaster or man-made.” “After all, a Stellaron eruption is indeed a disaster, but this disaster could also solve many problems.
What if someone with ulterior motives wanted to use a disaster to cover something up?” “It’s worth being vigilant about!” Dan Heng nodded in approval.
Having a companion who could understand his thoughts was indeed much more convenient, and it opened up many more possible courses of action.
“Stelle, come here quickly.
Let’s continue our exploration.
We need to be even more cautious.” The group continued forward along the original route, and this time, they were even more vigilant than before.
And then, they really did discover something unusual.
The first to notice something was Serena.
After all, the ability to sense life was basically an instinct for her.
Just a moment ago, she had suddenly detected a life form that was sometimes blurry and sometimes clear, appearing all alone in the snowfield.
She shared this discovery with the others beside her.
Even little March remarked, “Appearing all alone in the snowfield?
No matter how you look at it, that’s a suspicious person!” “Be careful when we get there.
Don’t expose ourselves.” Not long after, the group discovered a very suspicious pile of snow.
After all, as long as there was nothing wrong with your eyes, you would basically find this snow pile suspicious.
After all…
what kind of normal snow pile would keep shivering!
‘It seems the guy inside is shivering from the cold.’ The members of the Astral Express Crew all confirmed the same fact.
It seemed to have heard footsteps, as the snow pile suddenly stopped shivering.
“Hey, hey!
It’s useless to try and deceive yourself at this point!
Hurry up and come out!” March remarked to the snow pile.
However, looking at the motionless snow pile, they knew the person intended to play dead to the end, so Dan Heng stepped forward.
“Let me handle this.
The best way to deal with someone who tries to deceive themselves is to smash the bell on their head.” He took out his spear, walked up to the snow pile, and without changing his expression, prepared to stab down with the spear to turn the person into a shish kebab.
“Hero!
Spare me!” With a sudden reflex, a high-pitched, cracking shout burst from the snow pile, drawing everyone’s attention.
A blue-haired man, shivering from the cold, emerged from within.
“My good heroes, ladies, there’s no need for this, right?
There’s no law in Belobog that says hiding in a snow pile is illegal!
You don’t have to stab me with a spear tip!” “You…” As he spoke, he looked around at the Astral Express Crew members surrounding him.
Then his gaze involuntarily lingered on Serena and Stelle for a moment.
“…You heroes are doing a great job.
This trend of digging into snow piles really needs to be reformed.
What if someone gets scared in the future?
It’s my fault, you should stab me, you should.” “…” “Ahem!
Actually, I’m quite familiar with Officer Gepard.
Is he here?” Seeing the lack of reaction from the group, Sampo coughed awkwardly and continued.
The Astral Express Crew looked at each other.
Finally, March 7th frowned and said, “We don’t know who Gepard is.” “Uh, I see.
So you’re in the same line of work!” “No, we’re not in the same line of work.” “…Then…” “We are from off-world, belonging to the Interastral Rescue Team of the Herta Space Station.” Sampo let out a confused “Huh?”