Evernight, March 7th's number one fan
March 7th wasn't afraid of the Stellaron Hunters at all anymore. Anyone who saw their companion beat the living daylights out of a Stellaron Hunter would have a hard time feeling afraid.
"Done. Everyone on the Express will say it was the Stellaron Hunters' fault."
March 7th breathed a sigh of relief when she learned she wouldn't be saddled with a debt for the house. She had broken countless things while blazing trails before, and in the end, she had always either paid for them or stayed behind to work off the debt for a while.
It was wonderful not to have to do that this time!
"Bai Tang, you've hugged me and Himeko. Want to hug Welt, Stelle, and Dan Heng too? I can hold Dan Heng down for you."
"Sure."
Bai Tang figured a hug was a hug, whether it was one or two. She might as well hug everyone.
Back on the Express, Stelle had already returned from the space station. When she saw March 7th acting all sneaky, she secretly followed her. Bai Tang had noticed Stelle long ago but pretended she hadn't, wanting to see what Stelle would do.
"Dan Heng, we're here!"
The door flew open, and March 7th barged in. Dan Heng was used to a certain someone barging in at the drop of a hat, so his expression barely changed.
Then March 7th grabbed his arm and shouted:
"Bai Tang, go!"
Dan Heng: "?"
The question marks over Dan Heng's head were practically taking physical form.
The next second, Bai Tang appeared from who knew where and wrapped the little azure dragon in a tight hug. She was visibly happy, a faint smile appearing on her no-longer-especially-stiff face.
Check-in successful.
"I want a hug too!"
Stelle spread her arms like a great roc and threw her full weight onto Dan Heng. The impact sent him stumbling back several steps, moving the other two along with him.
"Now, can you tell me what's going on?"
Stelle: "I don't want to be left out. I saw them hugging, so of course I had to join in!"
March 7th chuckled and explained:
"Bai Tang already hugged Himeko and me, right? So we thought she should hug everyone else too. Now she's hugged Dan Heng, and Stelle kind of counts, so Welt's the only one left!"
Stelle eagerly chimed in: "Are we holding Welt down? I'm in!"
"Sigh."
That was Dan Heng.
"Bai Tang, can you give me some of the drug you used to knock out the Stellaron Hunter?"
Dan Heng recalled what had happened not long ago and decided to discuss it with Bai Tang. He had learned from March 7th that Blade had already left, which came as a relief. The poison was the most important thing now.
"Sure."
Bai Tang readily pulled several bottles from her backpack and handed them to Dan Heng. "Ask me for more if that's not enough."
Dan Heng: "Okay."
Hugging Welt was easy. All they had to do was tell him and explain the situation, and Bai Tang got her hug without any trouble.
Finally, Bai Tang hugged the Conductor too. After hearing the reason, Pom-Pom awkwardly let Bai Tang hug them, but when March 7th reached out with her evil hands, the Conductor promptly ran away.
"The Conductor is not a plush toy, pom!"
And so, today's expedition to hug her companions on the Express came to a perfect end.
Bai Tang lay on her soft, comfortable bed and opened the panel to check her check-ins.
March 7th emerged from ice, and the background changed to her room on the Express.
[Number: 24 Identity: Nameless of the Astral Express Faction: Trailblaze Main path: Remembrance Affection: 100 Contact rate: 97%]
March 7th was lively, happily waving hello to her.
The check-in was much the same. Like Himeko, she had zero skills, but her bonds were a little different. She had three in total.
When Himeko and March 7th were in the party together, they could summon an apparition of the Express to crash into enemies.
When Evernight and March 7th were in the party together, they could burn an enemy's memories.
When Dan Heng and March 7th were in the party together, they could trigger a passive protection effect.
Wow, March 7th's bonds really stood out.
Dan Heng emerged from the water, carried to the surface by a lotus. Then the scene changed to the archives. So Dan Heng still wanted to sleep in the archives?
[Number: 22 Identity: Nameless of the Astral Express Faction: Trailblaze Main path: The Permanence Affection: 100 Contact rate: 74%]
This time, March 7th and Stelle were both in the check-in picture. His ultimate appeared under skills, and he had two bonds, the ones with Himeko and March 7th.
Bai Tang browsed through the panel and discovered that Evernight's entry had unlocked too. She transformed from a red jellyfish into a darkened version of March 7th. Bai Tang had no idea why.
Everyone else had been sleeping... no, Dan Heng's had been strange too. At first, she could only see the surface of the water, with no sign of Dan Heng. Only after the check-in succeeded did she see him emerge from the water.
He had obviously been sleeping at the bottom.
Compared with Evernight's... Evernight's was still the weirder one!
As for Evernight's room, it was naturally identical to March 7th's.
She looked at the check-in picture.
Bai Tang: "..."
While she and March 7th were hugging, Evernight stood beside them with an umbrella, one hand resting on Bai Tang.
She opened March 7th's check-in photo and compared it with Evernight's. The only difference was the extra person.
Well, this...
Evernight was no longer in her details room. Bai Tang took a closer look at Evernight's information.
[Number: 25 Identity: ? Faction: ?? Main path: Remembrance (?) Affection: 50 Contact rate: 97%]
So many question marks.
Wait, it didn't show any of that?
Her affection was the only one that hadn't reached a hundred; it had been cut in half, no less. Yet her contact rate was the same as March 7th's.
She only had one bond, the one with March 7th, and her skills were blank.
As expected of March 7th's number one fan.
At first, Bai Tang had thought it would take a long time to check in with Evernight. After all, she was inside March 7th, protecting her, and probably wouldn't want to come out.
But it turned out...
Still, it was good that the check-in had succeeded.
Evernight was currently in March 7th's room. March 7th wasn't very afraid, happily pulling Evernight into a chat and pointing things out in the photos. Evernight kept watching March 7th and didn't spare the photos a glance.
Himeko had appeared in the archives and was talking to Dan Heng about something.
Aventurine—Aventurine wasn't on the screen, and Bai Tang didn't know where he had gone. After a short while, the door to Aventurine's room opened, and he walked in. For some reason, the formerly fake smile on his face looked much more sincere.
Bai Tang closed the panel, fell straight back onto the bed, shut her eyes, and pulled the covers over her head like a corpse in a morgue.
She had unlocked five!
Five!
That brought her one step closer to unlocking 34!
Tomorrow, she would find Stelle and take a look at the Simulated Universe. She had only ever played it in the game before, and now that it existed in reality, she wanted to check it out...
She had bought the materials and gotten the things... when she had time, she would go... make figurines...
Zzz~
With a single kick, Bai Tang sent the covers flying, rolled onto her side, and wrapped her arms around an ordinary but enormous body pillow. She slept soundly.