"Yes, we're currently on our way back to the Luofu. This is a good chance to bring Young Master back to the Xianzhou as well."
Listening to this, Liuge felt a slight headache coming on.
He hadn't expected to reach the Luofu before the Astral Express crew. That should count as lucky, right?
"Now then, since Young Master has already awakened, would you be willing to follow this humble girl to the resting quarters prepared for you?"
Originally, Tingyun had remained wary because Liuge was an unidentified person. But now that she knew his identity, she no longer needed to be overly guarded.
Of course, having Liuge rest in a room was also a disguised form of house arrest.
Liuge stood up and followed behind Tingyun. Watching her red-and-white fox tail sway back and forth, his hands started to itch.
I really want to grab it and give it a good fluffing!
Suppressing that impulse, Liuge arrived in a small room with its own bathroom.
"Young Master, please rest here for a while. The merchant convoy will arrive at the Luofu before long."
Tingyun said to Liuge with a smile.
"Alright, Miss Tingyun."
Liuge nodded and thanked Tingyun.
"As for food and other necessities, someone will naturally prepare them for Young Master. Before we arrive at the Luofu, please do not leave this room."
Tingyun continued with a smile.
"Mm!"
Watching Tingyun leave, Liuge lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
He could now sense that connection that had not been severed.
"Bronya?"
Though he could feel that they were connected, he received no response from Haxxor Bunny.
That left Liuge somewhat distracted.
What exactly had happened?
Thinking this, Liuge tried to reach further into the consciousness link between Bronya and himself.
The next instant, a sensation of weightlessness struck him.
At the same time, coldness spread through his limbs.
Liuge suddenly opened his eyes and found himself in a place covered in ice and snow. Not far away, Cocolia floated in midair.
This was... Everwinter Hill?!
Liuge was dumbfounded.
Wasn't he aboard Tingyun's merchant ship?
How... wait?!
Suddenly, Liuge realized something and raised both hands.
They were small, delicate hands.
Looking down, he saw a punk outfit.
Now Liuge understood. Although Bronya had become an independent individual, his consciousness was still linked to hers. If Bronya's consciousness fell unconscious, his own consciousness could seize the chance to temporarily use her body.
Of course, this was still only Liuge's guess. To verify whether he could control her while Bronya was awake, he would have to wait until her consciousness woke up.
"Interesting!"
Liuge smiled and rose directly from the ground.
Looking toward March 7th and the others, he saw that Stelle had been pierced through the body by an ice lance and was falling from the air.
Seeing this, March 7th's group anxiously wanted to catch Stelle. Naturally, they were even more worried about Stelle's current condition.
However, when Liuge saw the ice lance piercing Stelle's body begin to shatter and melt, sparks also bursting from her body, he knew that Stelle had gained Qlipoth's gaze and drawn the lance of the past Supreme Guardians.
She was most likely already on the verge of awakening.
"You damned brat! Hand over the Stellaron!"
Because Bronya had snatched away the Stellaron midway, Cocolia had not absorbed more of its power as she originally would have. Her strength and appearance therefore remained as they had been.
With an angry roar, she controlled four ice lances and sent them hurtling toward Liuge, who was controlling Bronya's body.
Liuge raised an eyebrow at the sight.
He swept his right hand before him.
An Aether Edit interface appeared before his eyes, and his fingers rapidly operated across it.
"Take them back!"
As Liuge murmured, his finger slammed down.
In an instant, the space before the incoming lances twisted and swallowed them. At the same moment, space warped around Cocolia from all directions, and the four lances shot out from within.
"What?!"
Cocolia was shocked by the sight.
Yet she swiftly swung the lance in her hand, shattering two of the ice lances before quickly twisting aside to evade the other two.
"Is that all?"
Liuge fixed his bright gaze on the disheveled Cocolia, then operated Aether Edit once more.
The next instant, the massive Creation Engine brought both palms together toward Cocolia, as though swatting a mosquito.
But that was not all. Liuge stood where he was, one hand on his hip while snapping the fingers of his other hand.
Two small mechanical rabbits appeared beside him. They quickly flew into the air and locked onto Cocolia.
—Precision bombardment!
At the same time, after finishing all that, Liuge raised his right hand toward Cocolia. A P90 instantly materialized in his grasp.
"Have you ever felt a torrential downpour?"
Smiling, Liuge pulled the trigger.
In the distance, Stelle had already awakened from her unconscious state. She performed an uncanny flip in midair, and a crimson flaming lance appeared in her hand as she landed on the ground.
Meanwhile, March 7th and the others watched Liuge use Bronya's body to unleash a series of relentless attacks, all of them staring wide-eyed.
Amid the continuous roars of explosions, Cocolia was blasted out from the direction of the Creation Engine.
Covered in blood, she landed before the group and even slid four or five meters across the ground before barely coming to a stop.
"Puh..."
Cocolia looked at everyone and spat out a mouthful of scarlet blood. The instant it hit the ground, it froze into a bloody flower.
On the other side, after the tense and thrilling battle, Liuge controlled Bronya's body and walked over with both hands in his pockets, his expression calm.
Only then did Liuge realize that more than just the original Astral Express crew had come to Everwinter Hill. Gepard, Svarog, and others were there too.
Hm? Wait, that was...
Suddenly, Liuge spotted someone in the crowd—a human-sized... King Trash Can with crossed arms and bulging muscles?!
Damn, I forgot about this guy!
At that moment, Liuge felt as though his consciousness had been nudged.
"Hmm? Bronya?"
"Yeah, it's me!"
"You're awake? Then I'm out!"
"Alright!"
Bronya herself did not know why, but when Liuge controlled her body, she did not feel repulsed. Instead, it felt perfectly normal.
Thus, when she discovered that Liuge was controlling her body, she had no particular reaction. She merely answered calmly.
After receiving Bronya's response, Liuge gave King Trash Can a deep look, then logged out from Bronya's body and returned to his own...
The Strange Star Pirate Ship
Like a person getting off a computer, Liuge had now returned to his original body.
Opening his eyes, Liuge stretched out a hand and examined it.
Mm, he was completely back.
Sitting up, Liuge sensed his body.
Though he did not know why the connection between Bronya and himself remained, compared to the tool-like relationship he had with a clone—
Liuge preferred this attitude, one that resembled the trust between close friends.
Thinking back to how Bronya had kicked him out of the changing room the first time she saw him, Liuge felt rather baffled.
She was obviously his clone, so why was she so rebellious?
But from Haxxor Bunny's perspective, when she opened her eyes, she was in an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar person, and that person was about to take off their clothes.
Anyone would panic. Distrust was only natural.
Of course, there were still restrictions. For example, it was absolutely impossible for her to turn the tables and kill him.
The moment such a thought arose, that Character Stat-Stick would instantly collapse and return to the Stat-Stick Library.
And now that Haxxor Bunny had become an independent existence, she seemed to understand her own situation as well.
From the attitude she had shown just now, Liuge could sense that she trusted him. She even seemed... somewhat happy?
Shaking his head, Liuge pushed down that impossible thought.
In any case, Haxxor Bunny's relationship with him was now closer than that of biological siblings. (In terms of their consciousness link.)
Liuge got out of bed and stood by the window, gazing at the dazzling starry scenery outside as he sighed inwardly.
Another journey through the sea of stars!
Though not with the Astral Express crew!
But it was no big deal! Getting to the Xianzhou early was pretty nice too.
Once he reached the Xianzhou, should he first find Qingque and play some Diyuan Qiongyu, or find a chance to slip into the Divination Commission and build a relationship with Lady Fu Xuan?
Though Liuge guessed that after arriving there, the first person he might run into could very well be Guinaifen.
Either way, all of that sounded great!
Suddenly, the entire ship shook violently, nearly causing Liuge to lose his balance and fall.
"What happened?"
After steadying himself again, Liuge listened to the hurried footsteps and occasional commotion coming from outside the cabin, feeling confused.
He walked to the door and opened it.
What met his eyes was a mess of scattered objects strewn across the corridor.
"Don't tell me something happened."
Liuge murmured as he headed toward the deck.
At the same time, Tingyun and a group of crew members stared grimly at the starry sky ahead and to the left of the merchant convoy.
Four enormous ships floated there, their hulls painted with skull emblems representing pirates.
"Lady Tingyun, they're Star Pirates!"
"Mm! They are indeed Star Pirates! How strange. Why would Star Pirates appear along our route?"
Tingyun stared at the gradually approaching Star Pirates, her expression solemn as her fox ears twitched.
Generally speaking, no Star Pirates dared intercept Xianzhou merchant ships. Especially not theirs, which had already completed its delivery and was returning with nothing worth looting.
"What happened?"
Before you continue