"Long time no see. Hehe, don't be nervous, everyone aboard the Astral Express. I mean you no harm." A familiar voice rang out. It belonged to Kafka, one of the Stellaron Hunters.
"Spare us the pleasantries, Kafka. Why have you broken into the Astral Express? You're not welcome here." Himeko questioned her in a frosty tone.
Kafka folded away her black umbrella and smiled. "Hehe, good question. I came here to ask you to—change your destination."
Faced with Kafka's probing, Himeko remained expressionless and rejected the request without hesitation.
"If that's why you're here, then you've come to the wrong place. The train's course won't change, and we have no desire to get involved with the Stellaron Hunters."
Kafka ignored Himeko's refusal and carried on as if speaking to herself. "Have any of you heard of the Xianzhou Luofu?"
"One of the six Xianzhou ships that follow the Aeon of The Hunt, Lan, and cut down the Abominations of Abundance among the stars—the Luofu Xianzhou. That's the one you mean, isn't it?"
Standing beside Dan Heng, Xiao Xi keenly noticed that he seemed unsettled when Kafka mentioned the Luofu. Concerned, she lightly patted his back, then stepped forward to cut Kafka off.
In response to Xiao Xi's concern, Dan Heng gave a subtle shake of his head, signaling that he was all right.
"I'm fine. As expected of an Emanator of [Hope]—you certainly know a lot."
Kafka's teasing remark made Xiao Xi frown. She felt that there was something strange in Kafka's tone when she mentioned the Emanator of [Hope], as if Kafka knew something more.
Before Xiao Xi could think further about what it meant, Kafka changed the subject, returning her focus to the Luofu Xianzhou.
"But I doubt you know that a Stellaron erupted aboard the Luofu Xianzhou forty-five system hours ago."
"You want the train to go help the Luofu, but with all due respect, if the Luofu Xianzhou can't even handle a single Stellaron on its own, it could never have traveled through the universe for thousands of years. After all, disasters more serious than Stellarons are hardly uncommon in the universe." Welt shook his head and rebutted her with sound reasoning.
"Besides, the Stellaron Hunters are hardly a benevolent organization. What's your real reason for trying to lure the Astral Express to the Luofu?"
"Don't be so impatient. Let me answer your questions one at a time." Faced with Welt's questioning, Kafka continued to smile with unruffled ease.
"First of all, this situation is no simple matter. You should know what our leader, Elio, is capable of. According to his observations of fate, if you don't go to the Xianzhou, at least half the people aboard the Luofu Xianzhou will die in this incident."
"As for our motive... The Xianzhou has blamed us Stellaron Hunters for the Stellaron, and our companion Blade has been taken away by the Cloud Knights. Isn't it already clear what we want to do...?"
As Kafka spoke, a projection of a black-haired man with blood-red eyes suddenly appeared beside her.
"Who is that..." The instant he saw the projection, Dan Heng murmured in horror. Then, as if suffering from a headache, he clutched his forehead.
"Dan Heng! Are you all right?" Seeing that something was wrong with him, Stelle quickly caught him before he could fall.