“Eh?
Why are you crying?”
March 7th had appeared behind Ye Cang at some point.
She was bending down, curiously poking her head over his shoulder, staring at the tear streaks on the youth’s face.
She giggled: “Don’t tell me you’re feeling lonely and cold all by yourself in the observation car?”
Ye Cang turned his head expressionlessly, his abyss-like dark eyes calmly meeting March’s.
“If I said I got sand in my eye, would you believe me?”
“I’d believe it.
Want me to blow on it for you?”
“Thanks, but if I could choose, I’d rather you blow somewhere else.”
“?”
“Nothing.
Just blow on my eye.”
“Hey!” March flipped over the sofa with a hmph, her body almost slamming onto the cushion beside Ye Cang.
She pulled out a blue handkerchief embroidered with a star jade pattern and roughly wiped his face.
“Here, wipe it off!
If Himeko sees, she’ll say I bullied you again.”
Ye Cang was touched.
If only March’s wiping were a bit gentler, instead of feeling like she was scrubbing a table with a rag…
he would have been very moved.
“So…”
Although March was often carefree and lively, she still retained a girl’s delicate sensitivity.
She immediately noticed the youth’s emotional breakdown and leaned in close, lowering her voice as if sharing a secret: “What exactly happened?”
“Nothing.
Just lovesickness…
no, homesickness.” Ye Cang shook his head.
Naturally, he couldn’t say he missed his mother in front of a child who had no mother.
Even if he really couldn’t hold it in, he had to consider the child’s feelings.
“Tch, if you won’t say, then forget it!”
March propped herself up on the sofa with both hands, her long slender legs swinging back and forth.
She seemed to be in an unexpectedly good mood?
“What?
Does seeing me cry make you that happy?” Ye Cang couldn’t help but glance a few more times, sighing inwardly.
Asta, March 7th, all of them really didn’t treat him as an outsider.
“Yeah.
Just thinking that someone as wild and unrestrained as you has such a sensitive side makes me want to laugh.” March teased.
Ye Cang shrugged.
“If my pain can make you happy, then at least it has some value.”
March looked slightly dissatisfied and rolled her eyes at him.
“Hey, hey, hey—don’t make me sound like some big villain from a fairy tale!”
“Then act a bit more like a hero!?”
“I’ll hit you!”
“See, there you go again?”
The banter between the two dissipated most of the sadness pent up in Ye Cang’s heart.
Along with his rebirth, the memories about the meme contamination and dimensional ascension gradually blurred.
After the brief conversation with March, he had almost completely forgotten the sorrow and pain.
He subconsciously opened the Death Diary.
On that day’s page, 8 blood-written words were clearly visible:
–+–
Death
Dimensional Ascension
Blood Tears
Do Not Answer
–+–
Ye Cang’s heart stirred.
He took out his pen and quickly wrote his notes below the blood words:
–+–
Second loop—to keep track of death count, from now on, each death reversal will be considered a loop.
After death, you enter the “dimensional ascension” state.
Blood and tears may be the key medium for modifying the Death Diary in the “dimensional ascension” state.
Do not answer, because answering will result in meme contamination.
–+–
It seemed he had made a bold and crazy attempt in the second loop.
But it seemed he still hadn’t figured out the nature of that meme.
So, should he try again?
Ye Cang thought about it and decided to follow the second loop’s warning.
There was no need to make trouble for himself.
Since that meme was instant death for him, he probably wouldn’t find any more clues.
And this time, his revival point wasn’t in his room?
Did that mean the time and place of each death reversal weren’t fixed?
Did it also mean he had a chance to control the timing of his revival, or even retain more memories?
While he was pondering, Mr.
Yang and Dan Heng, who had finished preparing, returned to the observation car.
Clearly, Himeko had already told them about Ye Cang’s plan from the second loop.
The two expressed willingness to give it a try, but Mr.
Yang’s only condition was that he personally take action.
Although Ye Cang had forgotten the memories after contacting the meme, the earlier memories were still safely stored in his mind’s “hard drive,” so he wasn’t clueless.
He originally wanted to stop them, but on second thought, if the meme contamination could instantly kill him, could it also instantly kill Mr.
Yang and Dan Heng?
If even those two could be instantly killed, then this trip to the Herta Space Station would be a death sentence, and there probably wouldn’t be any survivors up there.
Everything was ready.
Himeko carried a first-aid kit, Dan Heng lugged a defibrillator, fully equipped, standing ready.
Welt Yang stood before the public communication terminal with his cane, slightly bent over.
He pressed the reply button, cleared his throat, and slowly spoke: “This is the Astral Express.
I am Welt Yang…”
After a brief silence, a low, hoarse male voice sounded from the speaker.
[Why do birds fly?]
Welt Yang: “???”
Ye Cang: “…”
Perhaps others couldn’t understand the turmoil in Mr.
Yang’s heart at this moment, but Ye Cang understood perfectly!
The damn Honkai is still chasing me!
No, wait!
Look at the prefix of “Star Rail”!
Welt was silent for a moment, then looked gravely at Ye Cang.
The latter subconsciously shook his head.
Are you kidding?
He’d already died once.
He didn’t want to go through that again.
Knowing Ye Cang was unreliable, Mr.
Yang didn’t think much of it.
He hesitated and spoke: “Because…”
“Because they must fly into the sky—when the meteor of the end descends in the Cretaceous, only free birds can escape the predetermined extinction.”
This was the exact quote from a man bearing the mark of [Deliverance].
Mr.
Yang merely repeated it.
Because others might not understand, but he would never mishear.
This was that man’s voice!
Kevin Kaslana, the Herrscher of the End, the hero who, to save the world, was willing to become a dragon and a stepping stone for human civilization.
His voice and face were still vivid.
But then, the man spoke again:
[Herrscher, why were you born?]
[In the name of the world, you think you’re worthy?]
Welt Yang: “…”