Chapter 72

It can't be wrong...

The "strange feeling" that had been lingering in my mind since the afternoon was resolved the moment I saw that person's figure.

"Little March, Dan Heng, I have to go to the Master Control Zone first. You guys can explore first!"

Seemingly to confirm this idea, Welt, still harboring doubts, immediately ran towards the elevator room of the Base Zone.

This was the first time March 7th and Dan Heng had ever seen Welt so flustered and anxious. They stared at each other in disbelief, then understood and followed him.

"The wind is quite noisy today."

On the other side, after leaving the elevator connecting the Base Zone and the Master Control Zone, Bai Jun, walking in the corridor, suddenly felt an unknown strangeness. It wasn't malicious, but it just made him feel a little inexplicable.

Bai Jun came to the Master Control Zone mainly to ask Herta if she remembered the name Liuying, or rather, Samuel.

The atmosphere in the Master Control Zone was still tinged with a faint sense of oppression. Bai Jun walked along the bustling deck. When the staff on both sides of the corridor saw Bai Jun, they all smiled and greeted him. Bai Jun nodded and responded to each of them.

He had been at the space station for more than half a month. During this time, he would pass through this road every time he went to the Herta Space Station. As a result, the crew members gradually got to know him and knew that this handsome young man with silver hair had a gentle personality and was very kind. He would often lend a helping hand to others, so they also showed him goodwill.

After turning a few corners, Bai Jun walked smoothly to the door of Herta's office. Without knocking, he naturally pushed the door open and entered.

"Herta, I've come to find you... Hmm?"

Bai Jun's suspicions weren't directed at Herta, but at the red-haired beauty standing beside her, who was carrying a suitcase and seemed to be communicating with Herta.

"Oh, you've come at the right time. This is the interesting train navigator I mentioned to you last time."

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Herta paused for a moment, a faint smile appearing on her delicate face. She didn't care whether Bai Jun knocked or not; she was simply pleasantly surprised. She had thought that Bai Jun was staying with Ruan Mei and wouldn't come to see her today.

Himeko's gaze lingered on Bai Jun for a long time before she smiled and extended her right hand to him.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Himeko, the navigator of the Astral Express. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Chapter 98 Antimatter Legion? Jun will surely defeat them.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Himeko, the navigator of the Astral Express. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello, Ms. Himeko, nice to meet you. You can call me Bai Jun."

Bai Jun reached out and grasped her fair and delicate right hand, but after a brief introduction, he quickly released her hand, creating some distance between himself and the mature and elegant red-haired beauty before him.

The other party was not surprised by this action; on the contrary, they showed an appreciative look.

"I've heard about Mr. Bai Jun's situation from Ms. Herta, but I'm very sorry, I don't Remembrance ever encountering or hearing of anything similar. Hmm... perhaps you could ask our Conductor; his experience is far richer than mine."

Himeko gently gathered her bright red hair, her mature beauty radiating a warm smile.

"Thank you very much for your kindness. I will visit the train station when I have time."

Bai Jun nodded with slight surprise, then cast a grateful glance at Herta, but the latter only snorted and silently turned his face away, as if to say—don't misunderstand, I was just mentioning it casually.

Himeko stared quietly at Bai Jun, and was momentarily dazzled, especially after seeing the smile on his face.

The young man in front of her was excessively handsome. His half-length silver hair was tied into a short ponytail, which looked quite capable. Moreover, his fair and delicate face exuded an incredible sense of familiarity, always giving Himeko a feeling that she had seen him somewhere before.

But putting all that aside, anyone who sees him for the first time would be left with the impression of a calm and gentle young man.

"By the way, Ms. Herta, this is the relic you entrusted the train to find; I'm handing it over to you now."

After entering the office, Himeko, who had been busy chatting with Herta, finally remembered her business and handed the briefcase she was carrying to him.

"Yes, thank you for your help this time too."

Himeko is a very calm and capable woman.

Herta was well aware of this, so after taking the suitcase handed to her, she didn't say a word, briefly opened it to examine the belongings, and then put it on the ground.

"I'm very satisfied. As for the reward, it's the same as always. You can choose any of the artifacts in the Storage Zone. If you don't have enough Credits, just ask Asta for more. You already know the rules."

Herta and Himeko discussed the reward for the commission, while Bai Jun, standing to the side, silently waited for Herta to make time for them.

That's how it is...

Listening to the two bickering was really not fun, so Bai Jun yawned and glanced down at the time.

The clock struck 11:42:44 PM, a time when he should have been asleep long ago. But thanks to staying up late last night, Bai Jun, who slept until the afternoon, didn't feel sleepy at all.

However, for some reason, as he stared intently at the passage of time, an ominous premonition arose absurdly in Bai Jun's heart.

System time 23:44:23... System time 23:46:16...

The unease and anxiety lingered in Bai Jun's heart, growing stronger until the clock slowly struck 23:47:15.

Boom boom boom--!

As if the prophesied end of the world had arrived, a massive explosion resounded throughout the entire space station as the pointer fell.

At the same time, the modules of the space station shook violently, accompanied by a blinding flash of white light. The powerful shockwave knocked almost every staff member on night duty to the ground.

The clerks, who were sound asleep, were all awakened by the loud commotion, opened their eyes, and were plunged into the same fear as everyone else.

The three people in the office were not affected too much. Although Herta and Himeko almost fell during the violent shaking, they quickly regained their balance. As for Bai Jun, his body remained unmoved throughout the entire process.

"Could this commotion be...?"

Himeko muttered to herself in a daze, while Herta's face instantly darkened. The emergency alarm she had set for the space station hadn't sounded, meaning there were no Emanator nearby, which meant...

"How dare they! What kind of thief would dare attack my space station?"

Herta picked up the communicator, ready to contact Asta, but all he heard on the other end was the crackling sound of electricity.

The space station "Herta" is the most famous Curio containment center in the nearby star system, so it's no surprise that there are many thieves who covet its treasures. Herta has plenty of ways to deal with them, but it seems that some special guys have infiltrated today.

Herta gave a mocking smile, immediately realizing that hackers or something similar were behind it.

However, this was still insignificant in her eyes. In other words, in the space station where the three geniuses, Herta, Screwllum, and Ruan Mei, were gathered, hackers seemed even more laughable than pitiful little ants.

That being said, Herta was well aware that this was no small matter. Stealing or damaging the Curio would be one thing, but if they mistook the Stellaron for an ordinary Curio and accidentally triggered its eruption, things would get complicated.

She was merely a puppet here, so it didn't matter if she broke down. The problem was that the space station and the nearby Azure Planet would definitely suffer a fatal blow. After careful consideration, Herta quickly made a decision.

"Bai Jun, go to the Storage Zone. You just need to keep an eye on the Stellaron— "

Just as Herta was about to Bai Jun to protect the Stellaron, he found that Bai Jun was nowhere to be found in the office.

"When did you leave? Never mind, Himeko, I have something to ask you."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Herta, but I must decline this time. There are no staff members on board to guard the train, and I need to return early."

Herta turned his attention to Himeko, but she also said she wanted to leave quickly. Fortunately, Herta grabbed her in time and explained the seriousness of the situation.

"... I see."

Himeko's face showed a conflicted expression after learning about this.

But as Herta said, if the Stellaron explodes, not only the space station and train, but also nearby planets will suffer Destruction damage.

So she decisively sent a message to the Astral Express Crew's communication group.

In stark contrast to the comforts within the office, the outside world was in complete chaos.

Even though Asta had issued a level-one alert on the space station early on, when faced with actual disaster, most of the crew members were left with only fear, and their minds could hardly hold anything other than life itself.

Since this morning, the crew members who had heard that the space station had been on high alert felt like they were breathing heavily, as if a huge stone was pressing on their hearts. This explosion was undoubtedly the final outburst of the emotions that had been suppressed in their hearts, plunging them into inexplicable fear and panic.

"Aaaaaah! What happened?"

"Am I... am I going to die? No way!!!"

"Waaaaah, Mommy! Mommy!"

On the deck of the Master Control Zone, the staff members ran around frantically. Some trembled and hid under their desks, some shouted loudly to vent their fear, and some even fainted on the spot.

"Arlan! What happened?"

Asta, leaning against the table beside her, barely recovered from the aftershocks. She had initially thought it was an attack by a swarm of True Sting, and ignoring the coffee spilled on her, she immediately dialed the communication line to ask Arlan in the monitoring room on the other side.

"Miss, it's an enemy clad in Molten Armor. It infiltrated the space station from somewhere, blasted a hole in the Supply Zone, and... and a large Antimatter Legion has appeared outside, taking advantage of the situation to flood in all at once!"

From the monitoring room on the other end came Arlan's anxious shouts.

A faint signal came from the monitoring domain, and then the huge video screen in front of Asta, composed of numerous monitoring images, lit up.

Amidst the astonishing explosion, countless dark purple humanoid creatures seized the opportunity to rush into the damaged Supply Zone, wreaking havoc on everything around them.

"Deploy the space station's defense systems and external energy barriers!"

In a moment of panic, Asta immediately gave an order to the clerk beside her, who shook his head in terror and replied in a trembling voice, "No, no! Station Master, the space station's defense system has been hacked by an unknown hacker, and the control center has temporarily malfunctioned!"

"Stationmaster! The power systems for the Supply Zone and the Base Zone are also down!"

"Miss! Please allow me to go to the Supply Zone and intercept the enemy!"

"Station... station manager..."

In an instant, a flood of information rushed into Asta's mind. Even though she tried her best to remain calm, the amount of information was still beyond her capacity to handle.

Despite Asta's sense of mission to make a decision, her mental state was quite the opposite.

The surrounding cries, the explosions, the voices of the staff around her, and the urging of the section chiefs next to her all made Asta's head spin and her chest feel as if it were being stabbed.

Everything forced the young stationmaster to issue orders. An overwhelming pressure piled up on her tender shoulders, making her feel like she was ready to give up and run away.

No, she couldn't lose her composure, or it would affect the command. But the more Asta reminded herself of this, the more her heart pounded and she sweated. The section chief and the person in charge, who were waiting for the station chief to give orders, were speechless and very hesitant when they saw Asta sweating profusely.

Just as Asta was about to be overwhelmed by the responsibilities and burdens of being the stationmaster—

"Don't rush, calm down first."

Stunned, Asta felt a pair of gentle yet strong hands pat her shoulder. She turned her head in a daze and saw Bai Jun standing beside her. Even without saying a word, his presence still gave Asta a warm sense of security.

"Don't worry, leave all the troublesome stuff to me."

Upon hearing this, Asta was completely relieved. She didn't doubt the truthfulness of Bai Jun's words at all; she simply felt that she wasn't alone.

The previously chaotic thoughts became crystal clear, and the wildly beating heartbeat gradually subsided towards enlightenment.

The girl clenched her fists and shouted in a voice loud enough to drown out the surrounding noise:

"Mobilize all available Security Department immediately! The Security Department chief will lead the evacuation of other personnel and hold off the enemy, holding out with all our might until the command center returns to normal!"

Although Asta was still covered in sweat, she stared intently at the giant screen and began issuing orders.

"Clear!"

Arlan responded loudly from the other end, then quickly cut off the communication.

"The Service Department led its members to guide the staff to the Master Control Zone for safety and calmed everyone down; the Maintenance Department took the lead in repairing the power system of the Base Zone. Joanne, you led your team to race against time to take control of the command center back from the hackers!"

Faced with Asta's clear and calm commands, as well as her courageous and resolute attitude, the surrounding panic finally subsided.

"Receive!"

The morale that had been shattered was instantly revived, and at the same time, Asta quickly issued a series of orders, mobilizing all the resources of the space station.

Seeing that Asta had recovered, Bai Jun, who was standing next to her, roughly memorized the damage to the space station and the distribution of the enemy before turning around and leaving alone.

"Whoa! What... what's going on?!"

On the deck of the Master Control Zone, March 7th heard the explosions and cries all around him, and was immediately overwhelmed by panic. He trembled and hid behind Dan Heng and Welt.

"Is there an enemy attack?"

Dan Heng quickly realized the situation, while Welt, with a grave expression, swiftly abandoned his plan to search for the silver figure and spoke in a calm and rational voice to the stunned March 7th and Dan Heng:

"Hurry up, there are no crew members left on the train."

With that, Welt took the lead and ran towards the Supply Zone, but before he could run a few more steps, he was interrupted by a phone call in his pocket. He had to stop and, like March 7th and Dan Heng, take out his phone to check the message from Himeko.

"Stellaron... March 7th, Dan Heng!"

"Going to the Storage Zone to inspect the Stellaron, right? I understand! Dan Heng, let's go!"

March 7th nodded vigorously, took out his longbow, and urged Dan Heng to run towards the Storage Zone. Welt calmly pushed up his glasses and quickly followed.

System time: 1 hour 23 minutes 22 seconds.

At the junction of the Supply Zone and Storage Zone, Arlan, like several other members of the Security Department, slumped against the wall, panting heavily.

They were all wrapped in emergency bandages, the plain white cloths stained with bright red, cold sweat seeping from their foreheads, their nerves so tense they were almost vomiting.

"Ha, these guys are really troublesome..."

"Sigh, Brother Bai Jun were here, he could definitely handle these guys with ease."