The Herta Puppets behind her were getting closer and closer.
Sparkle gritted her teeth and kept running.
Turning a corner, a door appeared in front of her.
Without a second thought, she dove inside, slammed the door shut behind her, and braced herself against it with all her might.
From outside came the sound of “bang, bang, bang” as something hammered against the door.
Sparkle panted heavily, strands of her white hair sticking to her cheeks with sweat, the lingering shock still visible in her red eyes.
The face paint on her cheeks had smudged a little from the sweat; the edges of the red heart and diamond shapes blurred, making them look like two faint blushes.
She scanned her surroundings—it was a storage room, piled high with crates.
She was safe for the moment.
She leaned against the door, slid down to the floor, and panted heavily.
Fuli jumped off her shoulder and crouched nearby to continue gnawing on a banana.
Sparkle caught her breath, took a deep breath, and looked at Fuli: “Next one.”
Fuli waved her paw again.
[ Second Draw: Consumed 500 elation points ]
Suddenly, a golden light flashed on the panel.
Sparkle’s eyes went wide: “Golden light!
It’s a golden light!”
Fuli was excited too: “We got it, we got it!
We hit the jackpot!”
Her invisibility was only a blue light, but golden light was much higher-tier than blue light!
“What is it?
What is it?!” Her voice cracked with excitement.
Fuli looked at the text on the panel and fell silent for a second.
Then, she spoke slowly: “Congratulations, Sparkle—you’ve drawn ‘100% Barehanded Sword Catch’.”
Sparkle froze for a moment.
The one from that show?
Countless images flashed through her mind—the kind that looked cool, stylish, and incredibly badass.
But the next second, she realized one problem.
“Wait.” Sparkle suddenly had an ominous feeling.
“How…
do you use this ability?”
She looked around; the storage room was full of crates, and there wasn’t even a stick in sight.
“I don’t have a sword,” she said.
“How can I do a barehanded sword catch without a sword?
Am I supposed to chop with my bare hands?”
Fuli’s expression was a bit subtle.
“Uh…”
“Uh what?
Fuli scratched her head: “Um…
is there a possibility that you don’t need a sword?”
Sparkle didn’t understand: “What do you mean?”
Fuli’s voice grew quieter: “It means…
you’re the one being struck.”
Sparkle’s expression froze.
“Huh?”
She sprang up from the floor, her eyes wide, her mouth agape enough to fit an egg: “What did you say?!
I’m the one being struck?!
Isn’t this ‘100% Barehanded Sword Catch’?!
Doesn’t it mean someone else catches my sword?”
Fuli shrank back and whispered: “The skill description says…
as long as the wielder swings their sword and thinks the skill name in their heart, the skill user will instantly appear in front of them and catch the sword…”
Sparkle’s brain crashed for a full three seconds.
Then, she slowly lowered her head and covered her face.
“So what you’re saying is…”
“Yeah.”
“I’m the one…
who has to run over specifically to catch the sword…”
“Yeah.”
“Someone else swings a sword, and I run over to catch it…”
“Yeah.”
“Someone thinks the skill name in their heart, and I have to dutifully run over and kneel to catch the sword for them…”
“Uh…
theoretically…
yes…”
Sparkle let go of her face and looked up, her expression as calm as stagnant water.
There was no light in those red eyes.
Only a void.
Fuli cautiously inched backward.
Sparkle took a deep breath.
Took another deep breath.
And another deep breath.
Then she opened her mouth, and a stream of emotional greetings, delivered without a single pause, poured out—
“Fuli, you bastard, you scammer, you did this on purpose, didn’t you?
You absolutely did this on purpose!
Where did you pull this piece of trash from?
Tell me, did you rig the gacha pool?
Tell me, do you think I’m not dying fast enough?
Do you want me to have to run over and catch a sword while I’m already being chased and hacked at?
Do you think this is funny?
Before Sparkle could finish her breathless tirade, the dense knocking outside turned into a teeth-grinding sound of twisting metal—the Herta Puppets were clearly losing patience.
That giant hammer was visibly denting the storage room door inwards, and through the cracks, one could already glimpse those purple eyes flickering with dangerous light.
Fuli huddled on Sparkle’s shoulder, having forgotten to even gnaw on her banana, her eyes wide: “Sparkle, I think we might need to find a new place to stay.
This door won’t last thirty seconds.”
At that moment, Sparkle’s brain began to operate at an unprecedented speed.
Her originally chaotic thoughts were forcibly straightened out by an invisible hand, and countless ideas streaked across her mind like meteors.
Just then, the entire space station shook violently again.
The tremor was stronger than any before, causing the crates in the storage room to topple and sway.
It was from the direction of the platform—the battle with the Doomsday Beast was entering its white-hot stage.
Wait.
She could teleport to the Astral Express!
Once this thought emerged, it occupied her entire mind like a wildfire.
Sparkle’s eyes grew brighter and brighter, the light in her red pupils almost overflowing.
She didn’t even care about the Herta Puppets about to break down the door outside; she was completely lost in a state of excited contemplation.
Right, teleport to the Astral Express.
Change the keyword for this damn “100% Barehanded Sword Catch” to the name of a move used by a member of the Astral Express Crew.
That way, when they subconsciously say it, she would appear right in front of them.
Although there might be some risk—after all, the battle over there was raging, and appearing directly on the battlefield, if she got slapped into a meat paste by the Doomsday Beast the moment she landed, that would truly be dying before achieving success—but she was still quite confident in her martial arts and reaction speed.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to escape from the pursuit of so many Herta Puppets until now.
As long as she could quickly run away, hide, and wait until their battle was over, she could then go and cling to the Astral Express for protection.
Herta would definitely give face to the Astral Express.
After all, she hadn’t actually done anything.
That’s right!
Sparkle slapped her forehead, the force so great that Fuli, who was beside her, shook along with her.
She hadn’t done anything at all!
From beginning to end, she had just touched the Herta Puppet’s face, fiddled with their puppet joints a few times, and playfully messed with the elegant accessories on their dress—well, that part was indeed a bit chaotic—but other than that, she hadn’t caused any destruction, hadn’t stolen anything, and hadn’t hurt anyone.
So why run so hard?
The problem mainly lay in her identity.
She looked too much like Sparkle; they were cut from the same cloth—although there were differences in hair and eye color, in this world where there was currently only “Sparkle,” she was the spitting image of that Masked Fool.
And Sparkle’s reputation…
Although Sparkle wasn’t a researcher, she knew what kind of people the Masked Fools were.
Joyful pranksters who brought chaos wherever they went, best at causing trouble, and very hard for anyone to trust.
That was the root of the problem.
But falling into the hands of the Astral Express was definitely better than falling into Herta’s hands.
At least those people on the Astral Express Crew looked quite normal—March 7th, that sweet airhead; Dan Heng, that deadpan; and that Stelle who had just woke up—dealing with them would always be easier than maneuvering around the unfathomable Herta.
And…
Maybe it’s not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”