Bai Tang: When it comes to loyalty

Have her do scientific research? She didn't understand those complicated formulas or know how to handle precision instruments. But coding? That was right up her alley.

She quickly filled in the missing content and soon finished the file in front of her.

Asta watched with a complicated expression. She quickly had the others bring the incomplete computer files to Bai Tang and raised the commission fee threefold while she was at it.

Repairing the damaged files could also be described as putting the scrambled files back in order and finding old records to fill in the missing parts. Since she had only been given trivial work, traces of everything had been left all over the place. These weren't research files.

To her surprise, the Astral Express was full of talented people. This member, who had joined the train at some unknown point, actually knew how to do this and repaired the files faster than the researchers.

The original fee had only been for organizing documents. Now it included a technical fee.

Asta felt that, given her skills, three times the original fee still wasn't enough. After some calculation, she added a little more.

That was a proper commission fee for a technical specialist.

After the disaster, everything returned to normal. When Herta came back, she only met Himeko and took an interest in Stelle. She didn't meet anyone else and had no idea the Astral Express had gained another passenger.

As Herta put it, this wasn't important at all. Asta could handle it.

"Bai Tang, should I join the train?"

Stelle looked conflicted. Dan Heng had said it was up to her, while March 7th had said she should follow her own wishes. Now she wanted Bai Tang's opinion.

"My... opinion?

"I haven't... been on the train... long either. The others... could give you... better advice.

"But I can... ask you... one question. Do you want... to spend your life... here in peace... and boredom, only able... to watch others... deal with... whatever dangers arise?

"Or do you want... to join an adventure... full of danger... and opportunity? The former... is safer. The latter... is more exciting."

As if I'd let Stelle stay off the train! I have to find a way to talk her into joining.

An UR card could only truly be useful aboard the train. Otherwise, wasn't it like buying a really good pen and forgetting to bring it to an exam, then having to use one that often ran out of ink instead?

"Once you've decided... you can't change it. Don't let yourself... regret it."

Stelle left in thought. When it came to major decisions, she was still very dependable.

After repairing all the damaged files Asta had sent over, Bai Tang happily returned to the train with ten times the commission fee.

"Bai Tang."

Dan Heng was already on the train. When he saw Bai Tang, he handed her a book. "This is a collection of Xianzhou poetry. You should be able to use it."

Bai Tang accepted it, deeply moved. "Thank you."

Speaking was difficult for her now, let alone showing her true nature. It directly limited her eloquence. Although she wasn't suited to negotiations, she really did love to talk.

"If you need anything in the future, you can come to me."

Dan Heng took good care of this fellow Xianzhou native, whose experiences he suspected were somewhat similar to his own. A Xianzhou Foxian blessed by the Reignbow Arbiter had suffered severe injuries that were essentially incurable, yet had been left drifting through space, unable to return to the Xianzhou. He wouldn't believe there was nothing fishy about it, not even if it killed him.

Besides, Bai Tang knew both forging and medicine. Dan Heng didn't know how good she was at forging, but he had seen her medical skills. In battle, she could be considered the best support. By rights, the Xianzhou couldn't possibly have given up a talent like her.

There had to be some unspeakable secret behind it.

As for whether she had been exiled for committing some heinous crime or for another reason, there had been no recent news of anything major from the Xianzhou. After spending time with her, Dan Heng leaned toward another reason. He figured someone had set her up.

Who on the train didn't have an unspeakable past? Since Bai Tang didn't want to talk about it, Dan Heng chose to quietly look after her.

Just like how he said he wouldn't set foot on the Xianzhou, yet would still stay if a crisis arose there. When it came to loyalty...

"When did the Antimatter Legion get so powerful? It took me forever to finish marking down the situation."

March 7th boarded the train just then. Hearing her complaint, Bai Tang, who had plowed through the space station, felt guilty. Right, the Antimatter Legion did it. Wasn't there a Doomsday Beast here? I can't go wrong blaming it!

The already dead Doomsday Beast: Feed me peanuts!

After that, Stelle boarded the train as well. Clearly, she had chosen to become a Trailblazer.

Bai Tang: The world is saved! (At peace.jpg)

Pom-Pom had already prepared her room in the passenger car. Yes, because of her, an extra person who didn't appear in the story, the passenger car was different from the one in the game too. It had an extra room.

Bai Tang went to familiarize herself with her room. As soon as she opened the door, she found the furnishings strangely familiar. She pursed her lips and took out some little trinkets to place on the shelves against the wall.

She looked at the remaining empty spaces and set about making changes. She converted the space between the bedside and the wall with the door into a workbench, where she could make things by hand in the future. She turned a large area at the foot of the bed into a small laboratory for making medicine, providing medical care, and cooking, separating it off with frosted glass.

She worked quickly. Once again, she had the Paths to thank for their help. Before long, she had finished remodeling the little room.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Come in."

Stelle opened the door and entered. After looking around for a while, she came over to Bai Tang.

"What is it?"

"Just wandering around."

"Don't touch... my things. And don't go in here... when I'm not around."

Bai Tang didn't mind. She had finished remodeling the room anyway, and it was time to order some things she would probably need later.

Stelle looked around curiously, but the room was so clean that there wasn't much to see, so she went to look elsewhere.

"(Hello—hello, hello—) Attention, all passengers."

Pom-Pom's voice rang out. Bai Tang left her room, went to the train's parlor car, and sat on a comfortable sofa, continuing to place her orders.

Besides the money she had brought with her when she transmigrated, she now had the commission fee from Asta, so she could go on a big shopping spree. She didn't know whether the purchases could be delivered to the Astral Express. If not, she could tell Asta and have them sent to the Herta Space Station.

The warp was about to begin. Bai Tang sat steadily while March 7th chatted with Stelle. Before they had arrived at the Herta Space Station, that blabbermouth had already spilled everything about herself to Bai Tang.

Since March 7th had no memories, she didn't know much about herself anyway, so it wasn't a big deal that she'd spilled it.

The train had already left the Herta Space Station. March 7th was eager to give it a try, while Stelle sat obediently on the sofa.

Bai Tang was quite excited about this warp. Even her stiff facial muscles couldn't dampen her good mood.