Himeko ultimately agreed.
For the rest of the journey, you helped Himeko and March 7th resolve crises and defeat enemies.
Your performance made Himeko and March 7th regard you more and more highly.
They began to believe that you were not merely an unlucky traveler, but also a formidable fighter.
Trust continued to build. They could already entrust their backs to you.
In the end, you arrived at the area where the Stellar Nucleus was located.
Before long, with your assistance, the Stellar Nucleus was successfully sealed.
The crisis was over, and Fissured Iron Star returned to peace.
You knew the time had come.
You walked up to Himeko and March 7th, your face wearing a sincere expression.
"Thank you for saving my life..." You paused. "My spaceship has been completely destroyed, and I have nowhere to stay on this planet. Besides... after this experience, I've come to yearn for 'Trailblazing.'"
You looked Himeko straight in the eye. "If possible, I hope to join the Astral Express and explore the universe with you."
Himeko fell silent.
She scrutinized you again—the young man who had stepped forward in danger, displayed extraordinary abilities, yet claimed to be an ordinary traveler.
Her gaze was sharp, as though she wanted to see through every secret you had.
But you hid everything perfectly.
A moment later, Himeko smiled faintly.
"Welcome aboard, Jiang Mo. There's always room for one more companion on the Trailblazing journey."
Successfully infiltrated the Astral Express. Villain Points +200!
On the train, you met the other members.
The calm and dependable Welt Yang. Your golden threads scanned him, and you paused slightly. Hmm... no wonder he was a man who dared threaten a Nihility Emanator.
The quiet and reserved Dan Heng. Some ancient, powerful aura was hidden within him. You decided that he was one of the most important pieces on the board.
The mascot Pom-Pom. This conductor also contained an energy you could not comprehend, making you even more curious about this train.
And March 7th, who had been traveling with you all along, lively and adorable... She seemed to have no secrets at all, like a blank sheet of paper, yet your instincts told you that this blank sheet might be more complicated than anyone else.
You acted gentle and polite. Neither your words nor your behavior seemed overly enthusiastic, yet you did not come across as cold.
Your initial integration into the Astral Express Crew seemed to be going smoothly.
Year 8099 of the Star Calendar, age 6,399.
The train's next stop was the renowned Herta Space Station.
Just as you had expected, an attack on the space station was about to occur.
It was a random raid by the Antimatter Legion under your command. You had not given the order directly, nor could you be bothered to interfere.
Destruction needed no reason to happen.
Sure enough, the moment the train docked, piercing alarms rang throughout the entire space station.
The monsters of the Antimatter Legion broke through the defenses and wreaked havoc everywhere.
Amid the chaos, the group from the train rescued the Stellar Nucleus vessel "activated" by the Stellaron Hunters—a gray-haired girl with a blank look in her eyes, seemingly unfamiliar with everything around her.
After returning to the relatively safe train car, March 7th enthusiastically began introducing everyone to the new member.
"This is Conductor Pom-Pom!"
"This is Big Sister Himeko!"
"This is Uncle Yang!"
"This is Dan Heng!"
Finally, March 7th pointed at you, standing to the side and quietly observing everything.
"And this is Jiang Mo! Like you, he's also a Trailblazer who joined not long ago!"
You met the curious gaze of the gray-haired girl, a faintly amused smile appearing on your face.
You held out your hand to her.
"Hello, I'm Jiang Mo."
The girl froze for a moment, seemingly drawn in by your black eyes. A moment later, she grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth, and firmly grasped your hand.
"Hello! I'm Stelle!"
Dating Stelle? March 7th Was Completely Stunned!
The train continued traveling through the sea of stars.
Stelle, this beautiful Stellar Nucleus Essence girl, truly had an eccentric personality.
She was overflowing with curiosity and interested in everything, even trash cans.
She would talk to inanimate objects and do things ordinary people found hard to understand. As fellow newcomers, she formed a stark contrast to your calm temperament.
However, she seemed to find you interesting and often came to chat with you on her own, asking all sorts of questions.
One day, as you looked into her clear, bright eyes, you felt like teasing her.
You suddenly said, "Stelle, want to play a game?"
Stelle's eyes immediately lit up. "A game? Sure, sure! What game?"
"Let's play at being a couple."
"I'll be your boyfriend, and you'll be my girlfriend."
Stelle paused, tilting her head as she looked at you. Your face looked exceptionally handsome under the starlight. She thought about the concepts of "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" again, seemingly finding them interesting. Besides, you were so handsome that having you as her boyfriend did not seem like a loss.
She nodded excitedly. "Okay, okay! How do we play?"
The amusement in your eyes deepened.
"Since we're a couple, shouldn't we have a child?" You cast out another lure.
Stelle became even more enthusiastic, waving her little fist forcefully. "A child? Okay! Who should we find? Pom-Pom? Or March 7th?"
You gave a wicked smile, already having chosen your target. "Come with me. I have a better candidate."
You led the expectant Stelle toward Dan Heng, who was reading in his room.
When Dan Heng saw the malicious expressions on both your faces, he instinctively sensed that something was terribly wrong and immediately wanted to make an excuse to slip away.
However, Stelle gave him no chance to speak. Her very first sentence struck Dan Heng like a bolt from the blue.
"Dan Heng, come be our child!"
Dan Heng was holding a cup of water. Upon hearing that, he spat it all out with a "Pfft!"
He stared at Stelle in shock, then looked at you, wondering whether he had misheard. "...What?"
Stelle righteously pointed at you, then at herself. "Jiang Mo and I are boyfriend and girlfriend now! You're going to be our child!"
Dan Heng's mouth twitched wildly. He looked at you, his eyes filled with the complicated emotions of Are you serious? and How can you indulge her in a game like this?
You merely stood to the side with an innocent smile on your face, while inwardly you were delighted.
Watching Dan Heng get embarrassed felt really good.
Stelle did not care about Dan Heng's reaction. She urged him from the side, "Hurry up and call us Dad and Mom!"
Dan Heng finally could not hold it together anymore. He felt that his image on the train had been completely ruined today.
After a round of absurd tugging and pulling, you kindly gave Dan Heng an ultimatum. "Dan Heng, just say it. Say it once, and we'll let you go."
Dan Heng ultimately gave up resisting.
After struggling for a long time, under Stelle's expectant gaze and your teasing look, he squeezed out a few words in an extremely low, rapid, and indistinct voice. "...Dad... Mom..."
Just then, March 7th happened to be passing through the corridor.
Her ears were sharp, and she heard Dan Heng's "Dad and Mom" loud and clear.
Her expression went from confusion, to surprise, and finally shock. As she looked at the three of you, it was as though she had witnessed something utterly unbelievable.
"Dan Heng?! You... you guys?!"
Dan Heng's face instantly turned the color of pig liver.
March 7th's curiosity was completely piqued, and she chased after Dan Heng, questioning him nonstop.
Dan Heng could not explain himself at all. Under March 7th's interrogation and Stelle's firm declaration of "We're boyfriend and girlfriend," he felt utterly miserable.
You and Stelle flaunted your affection nearby. You even cooperatively wrapped an arm around Stelle's shoulders and said to March 7th, "That's right, we're together. Dan Heng is the child we adopted."
March 7th: "!?"
Stelle found the scene especially hilarious and laughed so hard she nearly doubled over.
After that, you and Stelle often played this "pretending to be a couple" game on the train.
Stelle enjoyed it too. Usually, you even addressed each other with titles like "husband" and "wife," making March 7th occasionally give you looks that said, Something isn't right here.
More often than not, Stelle was the one shouting loudly on the train, her voice echoing through the cars.
The other members of the Astral Express Crew, including Himeko and Uncle Yang, gradually stopped finding those forms of address strange and simply treated them as a particular kind of horseplay between young people.
Only Dan Heng wished he could crawl into a crack in the ground every time he heard Stelle call you "husband," only for the two of you to come over and call him "son."
As for March 7th, she found things increasingly strange. Her radar kept beeping. She always felt that the relationship between you and Stelle seemed to be heading in a bizarre direction.
Until one day, March 7th pulled Stelle aside and could not help asking her in private.
"Stelle, do you... really like Jiang Mo? You two aren't actually dating, are you?"
When Stelle heard that question, the smile on her face froze.
For the first time, she showed an expression of hesitation and confusion.
She seemed to have never seriously considered the question before, but March 7th's words stirred ripples in her mind for the first time.
Do I... like Jiang Mo?
Thinking back on every moment she had spent with you recently—your gentle gaze, your occasional touches, your low voice calling her "wife"...
She realized that she had actually started to care about those things.
Her heart really did seem to race because of you.
She also unconsciously cared about your opinions and your emotions.
She realized that she seemed to have developed a different kind of feeling for you, who had been playing the role of her "boyfriend."
That left her feeling flustered.
Stelle did not answer March 7th. She simply hurriedly found an excuse and left.
From that day onward, Stelle began deliberately avoiding the "couple game."
She no longer loudly called you "husband" in public like she used to.
You keenly noticed Stelle's change.
She became somewhat evasive. She would feel uncomfortable when talking to you, yet her eyes often secretly drifted toward you before quickly looking away.
She no longer clung to you without restraint to play games like before. Even the way she addressed you reverted to the ordinary "Jiang Mo."
You were somewhat surprised, but only found it interesting.
A simple game had actually caused this Stellar Nucleus Essence to react beyond your expectations?
The budding of emotion?
That would only make the prey more vivid and make this game, with the universe as its chessboard, more interesting.
Everything was under your control.
Toying with Stelle's feelings. Villain Points +200!
Before you continue