March 7th noticed that Kiana seemed to be playing on her phone nearby and immediately leaned over. She found that Kiana was currently on the Star Rail family group chat, editing a message. There also seemed to be an image attached below it.
Although Kiana had not sent it and it was only showing a thumbnail, March 7th still recognized it. It was the scene they had just witnessed.
Kiana was only one tap away from sending the message.
Shocking! The Supreme Guardian of this planet actually came out of a trash can!
March 7th snatched Kiana's phone away and deleted the message she was about to send.
"Kiana, let's not cause trouble. I really don't want to be wanted a second time."
"Don't worry. I'll only send it to the group. They won't find out."
Stelle, however, remained silent. For some reason, when she looked at Cocolia before her, she felt an unusually familiar sensation.
It was not the feeling of seeing an acquaintance.
Instead, it was an indescribable, inexplicable feeling.
But just as Cocolia was rescued from the trash can by Seele and Bronya, and everyone was preparing to leave, Stelle was forced to interrupt her thoughts.
Maybe it's just an illusion.
They had found Cocolia, but another disagreement seemed to have broken out. The members of the Express crew no longer wanted to speak and simply watched as Bronya and Seele began arguing again.
"We should go back first. The Supreme Guardian is unconscious, so it's not suitable to continue exploring."
"No, wait. We're only two steps away from our destination. You want to go back now? Then go back by yourself. I'll go take a look on my own. I don't want to make another trip."
"No! If the Stellaron is really over there, it'll be dangerous for you alone."
"Then what are you going to do? Are we supposed to turn back again? What if that Stellaron or whatever disappears by then? Wouldn't we lose our only clue?"
"But..."
"No more buts. Why are you being so wishy-washy? Just give me a straight answer. Either we go together, or I go by myself while you take everyone back. I'm fast, anyway. If it really gets dangerous, I can run away."
"Seele!"
Bronya realized that she could not win the argument with Seele. Besides, she had no grounds to stop her. Faced with this predicament, she turned toward the few people watching the show and eating melon, casting them a pleading look.
March 7th: "Is Bronya asking us for help? Should we help?"
Kiana: "Don't interfere. This is a quarrel between a young couple, and they're carrying their mother-in-law. It's no longer a question of saving a person or finding the Stellaron. It's basically the question of whom Bronya would save if the two of them fell into the water."
March 7th: "Huh?"
Kiana: "Haven't you heard of it? If a wife and her mother fall into the water, who should the husband save?"
March 7th: "No."
Kiana noticed that Stelle and Dan Heng were just as confused. Her interest immediately rose, so she told them the story and even mentioned several other versions, such as a best friend falling into the water or a brother falling into the water.
And just like that, everyone ignored Bronya's plea for help.
"By the way, Kiana, who do you think March 7th would save if you and I fell into the water?"
Stelle's ability to draw inferences was pretty good. However, instead of taking the perspective of the person on shore, she had taken the perspective of the people who had fallen into the water.
But the question was meaningless.
Because...
"That's impossible. I won't fall into the water. Besides, I can fly. Even if I landed on the water, I could float on top of it. And if both of us fell into the water, wouldn't March 7th's personality mean she'd have fallen in even earlier?"
After imagining March 7th's reckless behavior, Stelle nodded in complete agreement.
"Kiana! Stelle!"
By the time the three of them finished chasing and fooling around, Bronya and Seele had already stopped arguing.
The final victor, unsurprisingly, was their adorable Ms. Seele. The reason she had won so easily was that Cocolia had woken up.
Cocolia did not say a word. Instead, she glanced strangely at Stelle and Bronya before returning to normal.
"All right. Our destination is the Creation Platform. Move out!"
There were quite a few Void creatures along the road through Everwinter Peak. Yet, for some unknown reason, the creatures that normally attacked every nearby living being at once seemed to be on vacation today.
Even when the group came very close to the Void creatures, they still were not attacked.
Only after the group attacked first did the creatures fight back.
"How weird. Could it be that even Void creatures get tired? Or did the Stellaron disappear, so no one is paying them anymore?"
"They get paid?"
"Of course not. I was just saying it."
The journey was completely uneventful.
Along the way, Stelle seemed to keep sizing up Cocolia. She even ignored the snow-covered trash cans that appeared on the road.
Cocolia, meanwhile, did not say a word. She simply followed behind Bronya, though her pace was not slow in the slightest.
Bronya assumed that her mother was eager to atone for her sins, had turned over a new leaf, and had completely abandoned her plan. She must have intended to find the Stellaron and put an end to everything.
Thus, Bronya also quickened her pace.
Only Kiana felt that something was wrong.
Although she had a vague impression of Cocolia, as if certain fragments of memory had been left behind in her mind, why had the bloodline of the Kaslana family inside her not reacted in the slightest?
Cocolia was undeniably beautiful, and now she even had the debuff of having just woken up from unconsciousness. Under normal circumstances, Kiana would instinctively want to take care of her.
But this time, Kiana did not want to help her at all. She could not even bring herself to make a flirtatious remark.
"Strange. Could it be that I'm feeling repressed because I know the Stellaron is gone?"
Path Narrow
To find out whether she was simply too tired and had suppressed even her instincts, Kiana decided to test it on someone.
Bronya and Seele were eliminated as candidates, so the victim—no, lucky person—could only be chosen between March 7th and Stelle.
Stelle could be eliminated too. She was sometimes rather absent-minded, and the expressions March 7th made when teased were much more interesting.
When Kiana moved closer to March 7th, she felt her flirtatious instincts return.
"March 7th, actually, I'm a little lamb."
March 7th: ?
March 7th was confused and did not know what Kiana meant. However, seeing how serious Kiana looked, she could not help responding.
"What are you talking about now? I'd believe you if you said you were a cat, but what do you mean by a little lamb?"
"If I were a cute little lamb, would you give me some grass? I mean food, because I'm hungry."
As she spoke, Kiana puffed out her chest proudly.
March 7th did not understand at first. Then, from the strange looks everyone around them was giving her, she realized that Kiana was making another suggestive joke.
After figuring out the other meaning Kiana was implying, March 7th hurriedly raised her pink fist and pounded Kiana on the chest.
"What are you thinking?"
"I was just joking. I was only trying to liven up the mood. But do you know what kind of egg I like besides fried eggs?"
"Sunny-side-up eggs?"
"Wrong."
"Tea eggs?"
"Wrong."
"Steamed eggs?"
"Wrong."
The others were also drawn in by Kiana's question. They thought for a long time, but aside from those answers, they could not think of anything else ending with the word "egg."
"I don't know. Kiana, hurry up and tell us. Stop keeping us in suspense."
Seeing that March 7th could not guess the answer and was tugging on her hand while acting coquettishly, Kiana felt her bloodline awaken once again.
It seemed the problem was not with her. She would have to be a little more wary of Cocolia later. Could that woman actually be Sampo in disguise? Given that man's methods, it was genuinely hard to say.
Kiana did not keep them in suspense. Instead, she grabbed March 7th's hand and suddenly pulled her into her arms.
She wrapped one arm around March 7th's slender waist. As her other hand released March 7th's hand, she raised March 7th's chin.
"Obviously, I like your face."
Even though she had known Kiana for quite some time, March 7th still could not resist Kiana's flirtatious remarks.
She only said, "Stop messing around," and lightly tapped Kiana like a spoiled child before ceasing her struggles.
Perhaps only Bronya, after hearing Kiana's cheesy line, felt as if a whole new world had opened before her.
Bronya: So it can be done this way. I've learned something new.
Soon, the group arrived at the Creation Platform. However, the figure before them left everyone rooted to the spot.
The person standing before them was Cocolia, holding a spear and silently staring at the sky—the container that should have been sealing the Stellaron.
"Two Supreme Guardians?"
Cocolia at the Creation Platform also noticed the group.
"Bronya, who is the person beside you?"
When they heard Cocolia speak, everyone noticed that something was wrong. The Cocolia before them had the exact same tone and voice as the one they had seen earlier. She also seemed somewhat thin, perhaps because she had been troubled by one matter after another.
The Cocolia in their group, on the other hand, had not spoken a single word the entire time. She had appeared inside a trash can, yet after being rescued, she had not shown the slightest trace of panic.
Before this, they could have said that Cocolia was calm and composed. But now that the two were compared, the problem became obvious.
The fake "Cocolia" instantly charged toward the real one. Bronya stood in her path and nearly got knocked aside. Fortunately, Seele acted quickly, grabbed Bronya, and prevented her from falling.
"Look out!"
For some unknown reason, the body of the "Cocolia" who had been charging toward the Creation Platform suddenly vanished.
A yellow sphere of energy immediately turned around.
Bronya was nearly struck again. Fortunately, Seele had not released her. As someone on the Path of the Hunt, she carried Bronya away from the spot at once.
The Stellaron's target was not the two of them, but Stelle.
"Stelle, watch out! Move!"
A dark-blue radiance appeared on Stelle's club. Her body seemed to move against her will. Like a batter, she swung the baseball bat and sent the Stellaron flying.
By sheer coincidence, the Stellaron flew straight into Kiana's chest.
As her consciousness faded, Kiana looked at Stelle's expression. It seemed to contain a hint of amusement, and Kiana felt as though she had seen that expression somewhere before.
"Holy crap! Aha!"
"Bingo! You got it right. As expected of the little one Aha took a liking to. Hahaha!"
When Kiana's consciousness returned, she found herself apparently standing in outer space. Countless star clusters drifted around her, while beneath her feet seemed to lie a river of stars.
There was no need to guess. This was the Path Narrow. Even though Kiana had never seen it in the game or the Simulated Universe, she could recognize it. After all, she could see Aha before her and several figures nearby. If her memories were correct...
Those people should be Nanook, the Destruction Aeon; Kliper, the Preservation Aeon; and Yaoshi, the Abundance Aeon.
There also seemed to be several other figures watching the show farther behind them.
"Hahaha, come on. You can choose your own Path and step onto the one you want to walk. This is something others wouldn't even dare dream of. What do you think? Aha has treated you well, hasn't he? Hahaha."
Before Kiana could say anything, Aha interrupted her thoughts.
"Oh, right. Actually, I noticed you from the very beginning. You're practically a born genius for the Path of Elation. But it would be too boring for you to follow Elation just because you happen to be compatible with it. So I waited until now and gathered these three fellows for you. Aren't you grateful to Aha?"
After hearing Aha's words, Kiana finally understood why she had never stepped onto a Path.
She had actually been supposed to step onto a Path long ago. It had nothing to do with what she had guessed. It was not because she had yet to find the road to a certain Path, nor because her identity prevented her from becoming a Pathstrider.
It was entirely because Aha had found it amusing and secretly interfered.
"The birth of the universe is an aberration. If civilization is a cancer that has quietly arisen among the vast stars, then conflict is the only common language among intelligent life. To correct these errors and erase the stains from the universe, join the Destruction."
Nanook reached out toward Kiana, but Aha knocked his hand down with an unknown method.
"That's excessive. I'm only letting her choose a Path. In the end, she'll definitely have to join Elation to make the most of her talents. Don't you agree?"
42: Damn, Aha Has So Much Clout
Nanook felt displeased by Aha's actions. Although he was the youngest Aeon, when it came to combat, there were probably only a few older Aeons who could definitely defeat him.
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