The tense atmosphere, taut like a bowstring, lingered in the corner of the parlor car for quite some time.
Though Himeko and Welt had temporarily set aside their open hostility, their scrutinizing gazes never truly left Mercy.
Pom-Pom, meanwhile, would pretend to walk past every few minutes, stealing cautious and curious glances at her.
The moment Mercy looked back, he would startle like a frightened rabbit and hop away, muttering, “Mustn’t let my guard down, pom…” Mercy completely understood.
If a stranger claiming to be a Lord Ravager suddenly appeared on her train, she would probably react even more strongly.
She sat obediently in the designated corner, hands on her knees, trying her best to look “harmless,” even though she knew the power hidden within her clashed terribly with that image.
To break the ice and gather information, Mercy tried to strike up a conversation with Himeko.
“Um…
Miss Himeko?” she ventured carefully.
“May I ask…
is it just the three of you on the train right now?
I mean, besides you and Conductor Pom-Pom, are there no other passengers or…
crew members?” Himeko, standing by the bar with a freshly refilled cup of coffee, turned her head at the question.
Her gaze was calm as she looked at Mercy.
“For now, yes.
Welt and I serve as the train’s guardians and navigators, and Pom-Pom is our conductor.
The Trailblaze journey isn’t always bustling.
More often than not, the train travels through uncharted star systems with only the three of us aboard.” Mercy understood.
So at this point in time, Dan Heng had not yet boarded, let alone March 7th, who would later be rescued from the ice, or the Stellaron-born “Trailblazer.” The Astral Express was in a relatively “quiet” period of its journey.
Perhaps…
this was an opportunity for her?
Fewer people meant fewer potential conflicts, making it easier to slowly build trust.
“I see…” Mercy nodded, then put on a slightly embarrassed expression, like a visitor from a backward civilization.
“Also…
do you have any kind of device here that can access interstellar news and universal information?
Just a basic one will do!
I’m…
a bit out of touch with what’s been happening in the universe lately.” It was a reasonable request.
A “country bumpkin” from a closed-off planet or special environment wanting to catch up on the outside world was perfectly natural.
Himeko studied her thoughtfully for a moment, as if assessing the risk of the request.
Finally, she set down her coffee cup, reached under the bar, and pulled out a sleek, lightweight tablet-like device.
She walked over and handed it to Mercy from a few steps away.
“This is a spare universal information terminal on the train.
It connects to the Interastral Peace Corporation’s civilian network and can access most public information,” Himeko explained.
“The operation is simple.
Touch the screen, and you can use voice commands or the virtual keyboard to input your queries.” Mercy took the device, which looked far more advanced than any smartphone from her previous life.
It felt smooth and warm to the touch, and the screen lit up the moment she touched it, displaying a clean interface with a backdrop of a vast star chart.
Her face showed genuine novelty and a touch of clumsiness.
This wasn’t entirely an act.
In her previous life, she had been an ordinary Earth girl who used an ordinary smartphone.
After transmigrating to Radiant Star, as a Halovian child, her mother had given her and her siblings relatively simple smart watches for location tracking and emergency communication.
She had never used such an advanced piece of interstellar technology before.
So, under the somewhat stunned gazes of Himeko and the quietly observing Welt, this being who could theoretically punch a Doomsday Beast into oblivion and bore the title of Lord Ravager began to poke and prod at the tablet like an eighty-year-old grandmother using a smartphone for the first time.
“Um…
do I tap here?” Mercy carefully poked an icon on the screen.
When nothing happened, she tried swiping.
“Huh?
Why isn’t it moving?
Do I need to press and hold?” She tried a long press, but accidentally brought up the background management interface, which was filled with unfamiliar icons.
She was even more confused.
“Voice…
how do I use voice commands?
Hey?
Terminal?
Are you there?
Siri?” She tried calling out to the device using the voice assistant wake words from her previous life, all of which clearly had no effect.
Himeko watched Mercy’s clumsy struggle with the advanced technology, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
A faint, almost imperceptible trace of amusement flickered in her eyes.
This was a far cry from the image of Lord Ravagers she knew, whether mad or cold-blooded.
She let out a small sigh, stepped closer while still keeping a safe distance, and began to guide her.
“Just speak directly.
It has a built-in advanced synesthesia beacon that can understand your intent.
Whatever you want to look up, just say it out loud.
Or, you can swipe from the left edge of the screen to the right to bring up the main menu…” Under Himeko’s patient (and slightly exasperated) guidance, Mercy finally got a basic grasp of how to operate the terminal.
She began to voraciously browse interstellar news, focusing on anything related to Penacony, the Family, and the movements of the known Lord Ravagers.
She was completely absorbed, frowning in concentration and occasionally lost in thought.
Just then, the voice of her system spirit, Daria, echoed in her mind.
[Hey, stupid host, don’t just get lost in the gossip.
That ticket you’re holding isn’t a one-time consumable, you know.] “Hmm?” Mercy set aside a sliver of her attention to respond.
“What else can it do?
Didn’t it say it was one-way?” [“One-way” refers to the teleportation function being single-use.
But as a special credential deeply bound to the Astral Express, it inherently carries the ‘blessing of the Trailblaze.’ You can try to ‘use’ or ‘offer’ it to the train itself.
It should bring some unexpected benefits.] [After all, yours is the ‘Luxury Compartment Edition.’ It’s packed with energy.] Mercy’s interest was piqued.
There was such a function?
She looked up at Welt, who was polishing the Star of Eden nearby (while keeping a close eye on her), and at Himeko, who was quietly discussing something with Pom-Pom.
“Um…
Miss Himeko, Mr.
Welt, and Conductor Pom-Pom,” Mercy said, holding up the now slightly crumpled ticket.
“About this ticket…
it seems like it’s more than just a ticket.” All three instantly focused their attention on her.
“What do you mean, pom?” Pom-Pom asked warily.
“I can sense…
that it can still do something for the train,” Mercy said carefully, choosing her words.
She couldn’t directly mention the system.
“Maybe…
it could help with some kind of upgrade or repair?” “Upgrade?” Welt adjusted his glasses, a glint of light reflecting off the lenses.
“The Astral Express is a legacy of the former Aeon of Trailblaze, Akivili.
Its technology far surpasses the current level of cosmic civilization.
I doubt an ordinary so-called ‘upgrade’ could…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but the implication was clear.
He didn’t believe a single ticket could have any effect on something as extraordinary as the train.
“Let’s just try it.
There’s no harm in trying, right?” Mercy tried to make her expression as sincere and harmless as possible.
“As for how to do it…
Conductor Pom-Pom, can you sense anything?
After all, you’re the ‘soul’ of the train.” Pom-Pom seemed a bit swayed by her words.
He could indeed feel that the ticket contained a very pure Trailblaze energy, resonating with the train’s own essence.
He hesitated for a moment, then trotted over on his short legs and cautiously extended a paw.
Mercy gently placed the ticket into Pom-Pom’s paw.
The moment the ticket touched Pom-Pom’s palm— HUMM!!!
The entire Astral Express shuddered violently!
It wasn’t the violent jolt of an attack, but a deep, resonant hum emanating from the very structure of the train itself.
Beyond the massive windows of the parlor car, the normally steady stream of starlight seemed to stretch and warp for an instant.
Inside the carriage, the lights flickered a few times before becoming even brighter and more radiant.
“What’s happening, pom?!” Pom-Pom cried out in alarm.
Himeko and Welt immediately went on high alert, their powers coiled and ready.
Then, something even more astonishing occurred.
Near the rear of the train, space seemed to stretch and expand as if pulled by an invisible force.
Metal structures grew and extended like living organisms, accompanied by a pleasant hum of energy flow and the soft click of mechanical components locking into place.
A brand-new carriage, gleaming with fresh metallic luster, “grew” out of thin air before their eyes, seamlessly connecting to the existing train.
The entire process lasted less than ten seconds.
When the vibrations and humming ceased and the lights returned to normal, a new carriage, appearing sturdier and more robust than the parlor and passenger cars, now sat quietly attached to the train’s tail end.
The exterior bore the same Astral Express emblem, but in a simpler, more functional style.
Pom-Pom, Himeko, and Welt, along with the bewildered Mercy, all stared in stunned silence at the sudden addition.
“Th-this is…” Pom-Pom felt a sense of unprecedented “fullness” and “completeness” from the train.
The ticket in his paw had dissolved into motes of golden light, merging into the train itself.
“A cargo carriage, pom!
The train’s missing cargo carriage for large-scale material storage has been restored, pom!!!” Himeko and Welt exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.
The Astral Express was indeed a powerful vessel, but in certain aspects, such as large-capacity regular cargo storage, it had always been lacking.
This newly appeared cargo carriage perfectly filled that gap.
For long-distance Trailblaze journeys, it was a monumental improvement.
And all of this had been triggered by that single, special ticket?
All three pairs of eyes turned back to Mercy.
Though the wariness in their gazes remained, there was now more disbelief, curiosity, and complexity in their expressions.
Mercy herself was also momentarily stunned.
She had known the ticket might be useful, but she hadn’t expected such an immediate and dramatic effect.
She looked at the brand-new carriage, then at the complicated expressions on Himeko and Welt’s faces, and at Pom-Pom, who seemed to be clutching his head as if running yet another “good person/bad person/person who did something good for the train” logic loop.
An idea suddenly struck her.
She scratched her head and gave a slightly embarrassed but eager smile.
“So…
Conductor Pom-Pom, Himeko, Uncle Yang…
now that we suddenly have this big new cargo carriage, someone’s going to have to manage and organize it, right?
How about…
I become the supply keeper?” She patted her own chest (causing a slight ripple in her energy form) and tried to sell herself.
“I’m strong!
I can carry things!
And I promise I won’t steal from the stock!
As for pay…
just feeding me is fine?” A strange silence fell over the parlor car.
Only the starlight streaming past the windows silently illuminated the faces, each wearing a different expression.
A Lord Ravager…
applying to be a supply keeper?
This had to be the most absurd “job application” the Astral Express had ever received in its entire history of Trailblazing.