March 7th's Unusual Behavior

The blade on the Voidranger's arm tore through the air with a sharp whistle, heading straight for Bai Luoming's chest.

His body reacted before his brain could even process the sudden attack.

His foot slipped, throwing him off balance. He fell backward in an extremely undignified sprawl, his backside slamming hard against the metal floor.

The blade passed just inches from the tip of his nose, the gust it raised mussing the hair over his forehead.

The instant March 7th looked back, she saw Bai Luoming lying on his back, while the Voidranger drew its arm back, muscles bulging as it prepared to strike a second time.

Her gaze froze.

She instinctively drew her bowstring taut, sending an icy-blue arrow whistling through the air to bury itself precisely in the Voidranger's chest.

Ice crystals burst apart, interrupting the Voidranger's second attack and sending its massive body staggering backward.

Immediately afterward, a figure swept over Bai Luoming's head.

Dan Heng flashed past Bai Luoming, thrusting Cloud-Piercer from an exceptionally tricky angle. It pierced downward through the Voidranger's shoulder blade, pinning it firmly to the corridor floor.

The pinned monster continued to struggle, its claws scraping against the floor with a piercing screech.

Stelle arrived at an unhurried pace, a baseball bat slung over her shoulder. She glanced at the Voidranger writhing futilely on the floor, then at Bai Luoming sitting nearby. "Man, you're pretty lucky. You even managed to dodge that."

Bai Luoming braced himself against the wall and climbed to his feet, dusting off his pants. His voice was fairly steady. "Just got lucky."

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Does anything hurt?" March 7th hurried over to him, grabbed his arm, and looked him over from every angle several times.

Bai Luoming shook his head and said quietly, "I'm fine. Thanks for your concern."

Only then did March 7th breathe a sigh of relief, though her breathing remained quick and the hand gripping his arm trembled slightly.

She let go of Bai Luoming and turned to look at the Voidranger, still hissing as Cloud-Piercer held it pinned to the floor.

The worry and lingering fear faded from her face, replaced by an almost indifferent calm.

March 7th looked at the Voidranger before her, a glimmer of red flashing in her eyes.

"Stelle." March 7th walked up to her, her tone calm but leaving no room for refusal. "Let me borrow your baseball bat for a moment."

Stelle raised an eyebrow at the expression on March 7th's face, but asked no questions and promptly handed over the bat.

March 7th took the baseball bat.

She walked up to the Voidranger, gripped the handle with both hands, and raised it high.

The first blow came down, shattering the shell around the Voidranger's head.

Then came a second blow, a third...

Shards of metal and shell flew everywhere.

Blow after blow fell, none of her usual liveliness in her movements, only destruction that seemed to vent her feelings.

Even after the Voidranger's head had been completely destroyed, she showed no sign of stopping, looking ready to smash it into Voidranger paste.

Bai Luoming stood a few meters away, watching the scene with the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

What was the March 7th he remembered like?

Energetic, cheerful, fond of taking pictures, and occasionally a little scatterbrained. She was the kind of girl who would pull out her camera as soon as a battle ended, searching for the best composition to capture the victory.

But the March 7th before him, silently smashing a monster to pulp, was drastically different from the one he knew.

He figured that even if Evernight had possessed her, she shouldn't have reacted like this. Besides, wasn't Evernight supposed to appear on Amphoreus?

Dan Heng stepped forward and placed a hand on March 7th's shoulder.

"March." His voice had lost its usual calm and was instead deeply serious. "This is the first time I've seen you like this."

March 7th seemed to be awakened by his words. She froze for two seconds with the bat still raised, then slowly lowered it.

She looked down at her hands, then at the indescribable remains before her, bewilderment appearing on her face.

She handed the bat back to Stelle, wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, and scratched the back of her head.

"I don't know either..." Her voice returned to its usual tone, tinged with confusion. "When I saw it almost hurt Luo Ming, something just went bang in my head, and I got really... really angry."

After saying it, she found the explanation strange herself.

She had no memories of Bai Luoming at all.

But the feeling had come too fast and too fiercely for her to think, and then this had happened.

She turned her head, glanced at Bai Luoming with some embarrassment, then quickly looked away.

Dan Heng listened without pressing her further.

He was silent for a moment, then looked away from March 7th and gave Bai Luoming, standing behind her, a long look.

His gaze sent a chill down Bai Luoming's back, making him feel as though he had been dissected inside and out.

Dan Heng bent down, pulled out Cloud-Piercer, and shook the filth from its tip before turning and striding forward.

"Let's go. Don't linger."

Everyone followed him. March 7th walked beside Bai Luoming, half a step away, and the atmosphere was a little awkward. Clearly, after the incident, March 7th no longer felt comfortable letting Bai Luoming walk alone at the back.

Bai Luoming, meanwhile, was sorting through everything that had just happened.

Compared to what he remembered, the plot now seemed to have gone somewhat off the rails. Bai Luoming could only hope this was an isolated case; otherwise, his greatest advantage after transmigrating here would amount to nothing.

The four figures gradually disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Silence returned to the corridor, leaving only the red alarm lights flashing soundlessly.

Some ten-odd seconds later, a faint optical refraction appeared in the air near a corner, like ripples spreading across the surface of water.

Half of Silver Wolf's outline emerged from the optical camouflage. She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

"That was really close..." she muttered. "I almost had to step in myself."

Her posture against the wall was noticeably tense. The moment the Voidranger had broken through the wall and attacked Bai Luoming, she had almost stepped in to save him from it.

The air beside her rippled as well, and Kafka's figure appeared soundlessly, her expression composed.

She looked at Silver Wolf and smiled.

"Dear, are you done checking? Can we leave now?"

Silver Wolf clicked her tongue impatiently, shoved her hands into her pockets, and followed Kafka.

But she walked slowly, and after a few steps, she couldn't resist looking back in the direction Bai Luoming and the others had gone.

"Herta will be back at the space station soon, and the space station's response has deviated somewhat from the script. The surveillance system will be back online shortly," Kafka continued without looking back.

"If we dawdle any longer, leaving will become much more difficult."

"I know, I know. Why do you nag so much?"

Only then did Silver Wolf reluctantly quicken her pace, though her gaze remained fixed on the end of the corridor until the wall at the corner completely blocked her view.

Before turning the corner, she cast one last glance in that direction.