Sparkle stroked her chin, her red eyes gleaming with calculation.
Looking at the situation, could she get the Astral Express to owe her a favor or something?
She could burn elation points to fight using the barrage.
She had witnessed the power of that barrage blowing up the door with her own eyes.
If she could help in the battle against the Doomsday Beast, the Astral Express Crew would surely have to owe her one, right?
As for why she wasn’t using the barrage against these Herta Puppets—
It was simple.
Fleeing was just a normal occurrence, like “a poor little thing who accidentally stumbled in and was being chased.”
But if she fought back, the nature of things would change.
That would be picking a fight with Herta.
While the other party was still just curious about her identity and hadn’t yet marked her as a true enemy, she had to escape quickly.
Sparkle took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began to focus.
The ridiculous [100% Barehanded Catch] skill panel appeared in her mind, and she began to frantically edit the keywords—rules were meant to be broken!
“Bang!
Bang!
Bang!”
The knocking outside had turned into a booming thudding.
That poor metal door was letting out its final cries, the cracks growing larger, and one could clearly see the expressionless faces of the puppets and the hammers held high in their hands.
Sparkle took a deep breath and cast her gaze toward the invisible phone floating beside her.
The problem now was— elation points.
She had just pulled twice and used the barrage to blow up the door; there weren’t many elation points left.
She had to find a way to get more.
Sparkle faced the phone camera, her face instantly switching to a pitiful expression.
A layer of moisture welled up in her red eyes, her lips pouted downward, and she looked exactly like a stray cat waiting to be fed.
“Family~”
Her voice was soft and sweet, sugary enough to drown someone.
“You saw that barrage just now, right?
Cool, wasn’t it?
Want to see it again?”
In the livestream, the comments instantly became active—
“Yes!!!”
“That was so cool just now!”
“Just tell us what you want, streamer!”
“That expression is suspicious, she’s definitely going to scam us.”
Sparkle continued to act cute, clasping her hands together in front of her chest.
Strands of white hair slid down her shoulders.
Paired with those shimmering red eyes and her slightly flushed cheeks from the exertion, she exuded an aura that was a mix of pitiful and alluring.
“If you want to keep seeing new content, I need your support with gifts, family~” This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
She blinked.
“And the more you gift, the stronger your sense of participation will be~ Just like how those barrages were able to blow up the door earlier—that was all thanks to your support~”
Clearly, the audience fell for it.
Gifts began to flood the screen, the special effects bursting one after another.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sparkle caught the number of elation points on the hidden panel jumping upward at a visible speed.
…2100…2500…2800…
“Enough, that’s enough!”
Sparkle felt reassured, though she maintained that pitiful expression on her face.
“Thanks, family~ Love you all~”
Just then—
“Bang!!!”
Those puppets outside finally squeezed in.
Seven or eight Herta Puppets held large hammers, rushing toward Sparkle expressionlessly, hammers raised high—
The next second, Sparkle’s figure vanished from where she stood.
The puppets’ hammers struck nothing, smashing into the floor with a boom and creating a huge crater.
They looked around blankly, but the white-haired girl was completely gone.
Meanwhile.
On the platform.
The battle was in full swing.
A gale howled, energy fluctuations raged, and the massive Doomsday Beast circled in the air, each flap of its wings kicking up a blinding light.
The ground was covered in the traces of battle.
March 7th drew her bow, and an ice-blue arrow whistled out, exploding into a shower of ice flowers against the Doomsday Beast.
Stelle swung her bat, her figure moving rapidly across the battlefield, searching for an opening.
But the Doomsday Beast was no pushover.
It roared, swinging its massive head, and a purple-black energy wave swept across, forcing the three of them to retreat and dodge.
Stelle did a flip in the air and landed steadily, holding her bat horizontally in front of her.
Her grey hair was windswept and messy, but her eyes burned with an unyielding light.
“Rules are made to be broken.”
She swung her bat.
And it got stuck.
Stelle froze.
She looked down and discovered that her bat was held firmly between a pair of hands.
The owner of those hands was kneeling on the ground in a bizarre posture, white twin-tails fluttering in the wind.
Sparkle also froze.
She looked at her own hands, then at the bewildered face of the grey-haired girl in front of her, then at the familiar platform and the massive Doomsday Beast around them.
Only one thought crossed her mind—
“Holy crap, so that’s how this skill is operated?”
Sparkle?!”
Dan Heng’s spear tip paused, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes.
But the Doomsday Beast wouldn’t stop attacking just because one more person appeared.
The purple-blue light wave condensed once more and shot toward them.
Sparkle didn’t have time to think.
She let go of Stelle’s bat and sprang up like a frightened rabbit.
Once her feet hit the ground, she didn’t say a word and bolted toward the nearest stack of shipping containers.
Her white twin-tails whipped out two silver arcs behind her; she was so fast that one might wonder if she were actually a rabbit.
Stelle opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but the Doomsday Beast’s attack came again.
She didn’t have time to think and raised her bat to meet it.
Sparkle hid behind the shipping containers, panting heavily, her hand clutching her chest.
She could feel her heart pounding at a rate of 180 beats per minute.
“That was close, so close.”
“But she had successfully teleported!”
Then she looked up and met a pair of eyes.
They were amber eyes, gentle and deep, carrying a hint of confusion and curiosity.
The owner of the eyes had long, fiery red hair.
Himeko.
The Navigator of the Astral Express.
The two stared at each other, and the atmosphere fell into a delicate silence.
“Holy crap Himeko!!!”
“It really is Ms.
Himeko!!!”
“The streamer is amazing, teleported directly to the battlefield!”
“This aura!
Mom!”
Himeko’s gaze swept over Sparkle—from the conspicuous white hair to the red eyes, from the painted face to the modified red-and-white uniform, finally landing on the monkey perched on her shoulder, gnawing on a banana.
She frowned slightly, her tone carrying a hint of uncertainty:
“Sparkle?”
Sparkle froze for a moment, then quickly broke into a bright smile and waved.
“Hi~ Hello there~ I’ve heard so much about you~”
Himeko raised an eyebrow, about to say something, when the battle on the platform erupted in another roar.
The Doomsday Beast’s attacks were becoming increasingly fierce; March 7th and Dan Heng were already struggling to hold their own.
Sparkle poked her head out to look.
Her red eyes reflected the figure of the behemoth and the members of the Astral Express Crew weaving through the battlefield.
The feeling was completely different from watching it in the game—the scorched marks left by energy waves grazing the ground, the gales kicked up by the impacts, the deafening roars; everything reminded her that these weren’t special effects—this was real.
Fuli leaned into her ear and whispered, “Sparkle, what do you plan to do?”
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!”