On their second day staying at Herta Space Station, Su Yan and Stelle began arranging their rooms.
By ten in the morning, the items they had purchased were delivered to the platform.
With all the Voidrangers inside the space station wiped out, there was currently no other work that required the Nameless to lend a hand.
Himeko went to speak with the station’s logistics department regarding resupply, while the rest stayed aboard the train to help Su Yan and Stelle clean and set up their living quarters.
Welt manipulated gravity to lift every object in the storage room, sending them floating in an orderly line toward a corner on the first floor of the Party Car.
Next came wiping down the glass windows, applying wallboards, and installing the partition walls to divide the room.
The partition walls Su Yan bought were recommended by Asta—easy to assemble, sturdy, and visually pleasing.
Welt and Dan Heng handled the installation.
Once the walls were erected, the room was divided into three sections: two bedrooms occupying a third of the space for Su Yan and Stelle, while the remaining two-thirds served as a common area.
Su Yan and Stelle took charge of the wallboards, which were also Asta’s recommendation, guaranteeing both top quality and great aesthetics.
Pom-Pom handled sweeping and cleaning, assisted by March 7th…
Through the six crew members’ cooperation, the basic partitioning and cleaning were completed.
Further room decoration would take place after lunch, once the design blueprints and remaining materials arrived.
By evening, the seven of them had finished setting up the bedrooms according to the blueprints, and Su Yan and Stelle officially moved in…
On the third day, the Astral Express finished resupplying its provisions, and the common area in Su Yan and Stelle’s quarters was fully decorated.
The following morning, after saying goodbye to Herta, Asta, Arlan, and the others, the Astral Express departed from Herta Space Station’s platform and sailed toward the sea of stars.
Su Yan and Stelle sat quietly in the Parlor Car.
Stelle listened to March 7th recount tales of her past, while Su Yan gazed out the window at the brilliant starry cosmos…
The familiar space station gradually faded from view, replaced by the glowing river of stars.
“Attention—attention, please—”
Pom-Pom’s voice rang out from the train’s intercom.
“The train is about to make a warp jump.
Passengers, please return to your seats…”
Hearing this, March 7th stood up and issued an invitation to Stelle…
The train warp challenge—step up if you have the guts!
Stelle had never lacked curiosity or nerve, so she walked right to the center of the Parlor Car.
March 7th pumped her fist, closed her eyes, and psyched herself up…
Stelle copied her, pumping her fist, closing her eyes, and psyching herself up.
Su Yan, far more curious about something else, didn’t join the challenge.
Instead, he kept his eyes wide open, observing his surroundings…
A blue light flared from the front of the train, rapidly spreading along the carriages.
In the next instant, a blinding light filled his vision.
“Ow!
My eyes…”
Blinded into a reflexive blink, Su Yan reopened his eyes to see a remarkably familiar sight.
A strange, shattered sky of stars, along with oddly shaped machinery.
The space between Paths…
“Mechanical head, why did you pull me in here?”
Gazing at the silent Nous before him, Su Yan’s eyes grew cold.
Having learned about certain plotlines, Su Yan had already experienced this mechanical head’s terrible personality firsthand…
In a few words, “not a good guy.”
As Su Yan contemplated the feasibility of dismantling the mechanical head, Nous sensed a dense surge of malice and ceased its analysis.
“Question: Will you harm the cosmos…”
“Compared to the cosmos, I’d rather dismantle you,” Su Yan replied expressionlessly.
He pondered why he was being targeted by an Aeon, then…
He realized that considering everything he had done, being confronted by this mechanical head was actually quite normal.
Sensing Su Yan’s ill intent, Nous did not linger and departed directly from the space between Paths.
However…
Su Yan was not ejected from the space between Paths.
He glanced around and spotted Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance, standing nearby.
*Secretly taking photos…
fits my impression of the Aeon of Remembrance completely.*
Under Su Yan’s gaze, Fuli slowly faded away.
However…
Su Yan still hadn’t left the space between Paths.
The corners of his mouth twitched.
“Just how many of you are there?
Since when were Aeons on such good terms that you team up…”
“Hahaha!
Aha is on good terms with ALL the Aeons~”
A laughing mask suddenly materialized in front of Su Yan, its empty eye sockets staring right into his as its sharp laughter echoed through the space between Paths.
“A person from another world, someone who can surpass the Aeons…
What do you want to do?
What will you do…”
“Aha is looking forward to it!
Aha looks forward to you bringing change to the world, looks forward to you beating up the Aeons…”
“Oh!
That will definitely be fun!
Hahaha…”
The mask faded away with a laugh, and Su Yan finally returned to reality.
The Astral Express had completed its warp jump and arrived in the star system where Jarilo-VI was located.
“So cold!
So painful…”
Stelle, pinned under March 7th, felt like she was being crushed from both sides—double the pain…
“Sorry!
Stelle…” March 7th hastily pulled Stelle back up.
Su Yan “read” the information flooding his mind: the Paths of Erudition, Remembrance, and Elation…
*Hmm, these seem somewhat useful…*
While Su Yan was lost in thought, the train’s intercom suddenly crackled to life.
“Spatial readings abnormal.
Starrail stability rate dropped to 12%.
Stopping plan changed from seven days to indefinite.”
“Indefinite?” Stelle asked.
“Indefinite, until the anomaly is cleared,” Pom-Pom explained, walking over to Stelle as the broadcast ended.
“What a familiar situation…
Needless to say, the cause of this Starrail anomaly is a Stellaron again!” March 7th grumbled.
She had experienced similar incidents many times before.
“March is right.
According to the detection device, what’s blocking the Starrail is indeed Stellaron energy.”
Welt checked the details using a portable laptop connected to the detection equipment, summarizing the findings for the others.
Himeko wasn’t surprised at all.
On the path of Trailblaze, the odds of running into Stellarons were remarkably high.
“Stelle, March, Dan Heng, Su Yan, I plan to entrust the trailblazing and Stellaron recovery on Jarilo-VI to you…”
“You’re not coming with us?” Stelle asked in confusion.
Himeko explained, “I need to stay behind and guard the train against potential dangers…”
Hearing this, Stelle asked no further questions.
She joined the others in heading to the rear of the Astral Express to board the drop pod.
……
Jarilo-VI, near Belobog.
Inside a valley buried beneath wind and snow, the hatch of the drop pod hissed open.
Dan Heng, March 7th, and Stelle stepped out one after another.
“It really is a world of ice and snow!” Stelle echoed.
“Are you a repeater?!” March 7th grumbled.
Su Yan walked up to the three of them holding a compass: “The Stellaron is located fifty-eight kilometers to the northeast in a straight line.”
“Huh?” The three were instantly drawn to Su Yan’s words and looked at the compass in unison.
“Is this…” Dan Heng had already guessed the device’s function.
“It’s a Stellaron Radar.
It can pinpoint the exact location of a Stellaron.”
Su Yan had crafted it based on the design of a Dragon Radar.
*Another Curio…*
Dan Heng was astonished.
Stellaron energy disrupted spatial and electronic signals, making it impossible for standard detection equipment to pinpoint a Stellaron’s location accurately…
The detection equipment currently used by the Astral Express was no exception.
“It can locate the Stellaron?
Awesome!”
March 7th cheered.
In Stellaron recovery missions, the most tedious part was searching for the Stellaron.
Gathering information piece by piece in an unfamiliar environment, analyzing it, and searching until the Stellaron was found was an exceptionally tedious process.
Su Yan’s tool bypassed those tedious steps, striking straight at the heart of the problem.
With no tedious tasks or tedious work, stress-free trailblazing, and total freedom to enjoy herself, March 7th was naturally overjoyed.
“So, do we head out right now?”
Hearing this, Stelle felt eager to try.
She was excited for her very first trailblazing mission.
Furthermore, having stepped onto the Path of Destruction and gained a massive boost in strength, she wanted to see how strong she had become.
“Let’s gather information first.
Now that we know where the Stellaron is, we can collect targeted information and set off after making proper preparations…”
Dan Heng didn’t agree with their eager suggestions, preferring a more cautious approach.
“Fine!
You’re right, Dan Heng!”
March 7th, who had been hoping to skip the homework, didn’t object.
Dan Heng made sense—the safety of their companions came first.
Safety first, after all!
“According to the detection equipment’s readings, Jarilo-VI’s only heat source lies about five kilometers to the northeast,” Dan Heng shared, bringing up one of the readings gathered by the train’s sensors after persuading the two.
“Same direction.
What a coincidence,” Su Yan noted pointedly.
Dan Heng looked thoughtful.
“I’ll keep my guard up.”
From the time he became a Nameless until now, he had recovered more than one Stellaron, so his experience was vast.
Whether it was someone “beguiled by the Stellaron” or “craving the power of the Stellaron,” he had seen it all.
The group advanced along the canyon.
Along the way were marks of Fragmentum corrosion, roaming Fragmentum creations, and ruined rooftops.
Every Fragmentum creation along their path was single-handedly handled by Stelle.
One strike, two strikes, three strikes…
Not a single Fragmentum creation could withstand a single blow from Stelle.
“Not a single worthy opponent…”
Stelle smashed an Everwinter Shadewalker to pieces.
As the fragments scattered, she turned around, flicked her bat, struck a dashing pose, and delivered a cool line.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been a remarkably cool scene.
However…
“Ouch~~”
Someone suddenly burst out of a snowdrift, utterly ruining the atmosphere Stelle had worked so hard to build, turning cool into comedy…