Stelle and Caelus charged forward with battle cries, baseball bats swinging, taking down one Voidranger per swing.
Xu Zixuan also tested the feel of it with interest, smashing two Voidrangers with his bat.
Tsk…
He weighed the bat in his hand.
It felt…
just average.
Forget it.
I’m clearly not cut out for this kind of physical labor.
These frontline, charge-into-battle matters are better left to the young folks of the Astral Express Crew.
Xu Zixuan quietly put away his baseball bat and waited leisurely on the sidelines for March 7th and the others to clean up the field.
“You really can’t judge a book by its cover!
You two are pretty used to fighting!”
March 7th looked at Stelle and Caelus with some surprise.
These two seemed totally dazed and confused at first, but once the fighting started, their moves were sharp and their combat strength was actually quite impressive.
“As for you,” she turned curiously to Xu Zixuan, “how come you clocked out after just two swings?”
She had been discreetly keeping an eye on all three of them the entire time, ready to provide backup at any moment.
She, the great heroine March 7th, was very reliable!
Naturally, she had also noticed the scene where Xu Zixuan effortlessly dealt with two Voidrangers and then stood by with his hands in his pockets.
“Well, about that,” Xu Zixuan waved his hand with a smile, “to be honest, I’m more of a desk worker.
My combat strength is low.
I’m not much for fighting.”
“No problem, Dad.
I’ll protect you!” Stelle immediately patted her chest, her face full of earnest determination.
“Me too.” Caelus quickly followed suit.
“Hold on!” March 7th couldn’t help but facepalm and complain, “Didn’t you two already figure out he’s not your dad?
Why are you still calling him that?!”
“Each calls what they call.
It’s just a form of address.
Doesn’t matter.” Stelle and Caelus spoke in unison, utterly self-assured.
“Fine…
I really can’t imagine what’s going on in your heads.”
March 7th was rendered completely speechless.
“In a bit, we’ll take the elevator in the middle down to the Master Control Zone.
Are you familiar with the routes there?”
“Come to think of it, you’re not even wearing space station uniforms.
Are you really personnel from here?”
March 7th continued asking questions while leading the way.
“Like I said, I’m just a visitor who happened to pass by.
I’m not a specialist assigned to the space station.” Xu Zixuan shook his head in denial.
“Don’t know!” Stelle and Caelus answered in perfect unison, and with perfect confidence.
“Alright…
I forgot about the whole amnesia thing.” March 7th smacked her forehead.
“Forget it, I’ll stop asking!”
She sighed, but then quickly bounced back to her usual spirited self, a radiant and infectiously cheerful smile blooming on her face.
“Let’s go!
I’ll escort you back!”
Even Xu Zixuan was unconsciously infected, the corners of his mouth curling up in a delighted arc.
In a better mood, his walk became light and bouncy, even carrying a hint of a skip.
Seeing this, Stelle and Caelus seemed to grasp some profound truth.
They immediately followed suit, also starting to walk with a skip and a bounce.
March 7th: You can just walk normally!
The smile on March 7th’s face instantly froze.
The corner of her mouth couldn’t help but twitch twice.
Ten minutes since Dan Heng left the party.
She missed him a lot.
The group arrived at the elevator control panel.
March 7th’s face immediately fell.
“Ugh!
I knew it…”
“What’s wrong?” Xu Zixuan asked curiously.
“The elevator seems to be broken.
The buttons aren’t responding at all.”
“Sigh.
If only the all-knowing Dan Heng were here.
He knows a bunch of random obscure stuff.
He could probably even fix an elevator.”
“I do not know how to do that.”
Dan Heng’s voice suddenly came from behind them, giving March 7th a start.
“Whoa!
What are you doing here?
How are you faster than us?!”
“I took a different route.
Circled around from the upper level.
Just happened to spot you all from the monitoring room.”
“Arlan is in the monitoring room too.
He’s sustained some injuries, but nothing life-threatening.” Dan Heng explained.
“Ah, you found him!
So does Arlan know what’s wrong with the elevator?”
March 7th’s words had barely left her mouth when she heard a deafening “Clang” from behind her.
“Hey!
What are you doing?!”
March 7th spun her head around and saw Xu Zixuan holding a baseball bat, having just delivered a solid whack to the elevator’s control panel.
Clang~
“Testing to see if that fixes it.” Xu Zixuan’s face was the picture of total nonchalance.
“Back home, whenever an appliance broke, a couple of knocks would get it working again.”
“How could that possibly wor…”
Before March 7th could finish, the elevator actually emitted the whirring hum of operation.
Its indicator lights flickered on.
March 7th: …
Dan Heng: …
“Oh!
I get it now!” Stelle clapped her hands together in sudden enlightenment.
“From now on, whenever an appliance breaks, just give it a whack with a baseball bat!”
Caelus produced a notebook from who knows where and began diligently jotting this down.
“That’s right.
March 7th: …
Dan Heng: …
“Don’t take random notes!
And don’t you go around teaching random stuff either!”
March 7th roared.
This repair method was way too absurd!
Although the elevator was operational again, March 7th and Dan Heng still decided to find Arlan first and bring him along for the evacuation.
When Arlan arrived before the elevator with them, he couldn’t help but freeze.
“After the evacuation was complete, the elevator access should have been temporarily locked down precisely to prevent the Legion from storming the Master Control Zone.”
“Did Miss Asta give you the unlock key?”
Arlan reconsidered and figured it made sense.
Since Miss Asta had entrusted the Astral Express Crew to find him, she would naturally give them the key.
“Huh?
This thing needs a key?”
March 7th’s face twisted into the baffled expression of an old man squinting at a smartphone.
Then what was that whole business about Xu Zixuan fixing the elevator with a single swing just now?
Could it be that Herta Space Station’s defense systems were this flimsy?
Dan Heng: Have you considered the possibility that Xu Zixuan is actually a Masked Fool who simply used his abilities to unlock it, and only pretended to fix it with a baseball bat?
Watching March 7th still standing there in a total fog, Dan Heng’s eyelid twitched again.
Eyelid: Why’s it been spasming so much lately?
Left eye twitching means wealth…
Could we be coming into money?
“Huh?
Without a key, how did you all get the elevator to open?” Arlan was equally baffled.
“Like this.
Gave it a ‘Clang’ and it opened.” Xu Zixuan calmly reenacted his earlier maneuver.
Arlan’s eyes instantly shrank into little dots.
A string of “Huh?”s tumbled from his mouth.
“Huh?
Huh?
Huh?!
That actually worked…?”
“Ahem.
Since the elevator’s already open, let’s hurry up and go.” March 7th suddenly recalled that Asta had indeed given her a key.
A wave of embarrassment washed over her.
She had completely forgotten about it until just now.
“You all go on ahead.”
Arlan took a deep breath and spoke with a serious expression.
“Without the key, the elevator can only be opened but cannot be re-locked.
I must stay here to hold the defense.
I absolutely cannot give the Legion a chance to use the elevator to invade the Master Control Zone.”
“Everyone can take the detour from the uppermost level to leave.
It’ll mean a bit more walking, but I must trouble you with this.”
“Huh?
It’s fine, actually I…” March 7th was just about to say that she had the key in her possession when she heard that familiar sound from behind her again.
Clang!