Luofu Xianzhou—Palace of Astrum
As soon as we entered the Palace of Astrum, we saw a green-haired Foxian woman speaking to someone beside her while facing a large screen. She must be the Lady Yukong Tingyun had mentioned.
Perhaps noticing our arrival, she turned around and greeted us coolly. "Passengers of the Astral Express, welcome. I'm Yukong, the person in charge of the Palace of Astrum."
Well, that wasn't exactly a friendly way to meet someone for the first time.
"I've already heard about your situation from Tingyun. My duties don't normally include receiving visitors, but you know about the Stellaron and specifically asked to help the Luofu. By rights, I should meet you in person so I can thank you—and decline your offer."
"All right, Miss Yukong. We understand what you mean. Since you don't need our help, and given the Luofu's current situation, it wouldn't be appropriate for us to stay much longer. We'll return to the Express right away."
"Don't worry, Miss Yukong. Given what you've said, our Express won't interfere in the Xianzhou's internal affairs." Perhaps afraid Yukong might misunderstand, Xiao Xi added that for good measure.
"That's right. The Astral Express follows the path of the Trailblaze. We've simply blazed our way here and have no intention of interfering in local affairs." Welt nodded in agreement.
"Since the Luofu doesn't need our help, can we leave now? Where's the Express going next?" Hearing Xiao Xi and Welt say that, March 7th had already started wondering which planet they would blaze a trail to next.
"Wait! No, you can't leave yet." March 7th's words seemed to bring Yukong back to her senses, and she hurriedly stopped them.
"We can't leave? Why not? You already made it clear that you don't need the Express's help." Stelle looked puzzled. "If that's the case, the Astral Express leaving the Luofu would be good for both sides, wouldn't it?"
Yukong paused. She had to admit Stelle wasn't wrong, but the orders she'd received were to limit the Astral Express's involvement in this incident as much as possible—and certainly not to let them leave just like that.
"It's... mainly because we still need to investigate a few things. For instance, how you learned about the Stellaron, and how you entered the Xianzhou when the Jade Gate was already sealed."
"After all, the Luofu's investigation found that the Jade Gate had been opened illegally by a hacker named Silver Wolf, one of the Stellaron Hunters. Yet she let only you through..."
"So the people who opened the gate for us weren't Luofu officials! We did think our landing spot was strange." Xiao Xi feigned surprise. "So everything that's happened was the work of the Stellaron Hunters."
"No wonder we ended up in such a dangerous place as soon as we got off the Express. So that's what happened! It must have been the Stellaron Hunters' plot. They wanted to use those monsters at the port to kill us, so the Express and the Luofu would end up in an irreconcilable conflict. Then they could take advantage of the chaos and profit from it."
By the end, Xiao Xi sounded genuinely furious. "The Stellaron Hunters are so devious! It's lucky that we're fairly strong, or we might have died without even knowing why. That's outrageous! Lady Yukong, have you caught the culprits yet?"
"Ah, it was that dangerous?" After hearing Xiao Xi's words, March 7th hurried to chime in. "That's right! This incident has put visitors' safety at risk. Have you caught the culprits?"