The Sea of Stars Is Vast and Boundless, and I Want to See It

Before he could see what it was,

The world spun around Chen Xing.

When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the room.

"Where the hell am I? Is this even Douluo Continent?"

Chen Xing looked around.

He was inside a train car.

The floor gleamed, soft red sofas lined the walls, and overhead, rows of panels formed the skeleton of a whale.

Outside the windows stretched a boundless Sea of Stars.

And everything about this place...

felt terribly familiar.

"Holy shit. Am I on the Astral Express?"

Wait. He had only drawn a train.

How had he drawn the Astral Express?

Chen Xing was baffled.

Just then, a voice came from beside his feet.

"Passenger, passenger."

Huh?

Chen Xing looked down and froze.

Conductor Pom-Pom?

"Passenger, the train is about to jump. Please take a seat. No walking around or making a racket aboard the train, pom."

Chen Xing scratched his head and sat down nearby.

The moment he did, another voice sounded beside him.

"Trailblazer, Trailblazer! We're heading to the next stop! I can't wait!"

The voice was bright and lively. Chen Xing turned, and sure enough, it was March 7th.

"Little March, the next stop is my hometown, Amphoreus. Don't get too carried away and lose your way. We might not be able to find you."

A gentle voice joined in.

Chen Xing looked up. Himeko was watching him and March 7th with a warm gaze. Dan Heng, Welt, and Sunday stood beside her.

Amphoreus...

At the name, Chen Xing's pupils shrank.

This is bad! It's that old dice-roller's trap!

He was about to warn them when the scene changed. In the next instant, he stood inside a cave.

The wreck of a train ran through the mountain. A campfire burned before him,

and beside it, a red-haired woman held out a pen.

"Trailblazer, my journey ends here. The road ahead is yours."

Chen Xing stared at her.

"Himeko..."

Himeko gazed at Chen Xing gently and said nothing more.

At last, she dissolved into specks of light.

"If you can't find me, look up at the stars."

"I'll be there, lighting up the whole night for you, just as I always have."

"Himeko!"

When he woke, he found himself lying on a beach.

Before him stood that abandoned train.

Chen Xing came back from the memory. He was still sitting on the sand.

The stars still twinkled overhead, and the abandoned train still stood before him.

He took a deep breath.

After that day, he had understood where his Illusory Creation power came from.

The pen and the power were both gifts Himeko had left him.

Though the train before him was battered and half-buried in sand, it truly was the Astral Express.

It was a relic left by Akivili, the Astral Express that carried the spirit of the Trailblaze.

He did not know why it had ended up here.

But...

Chen Xing clenched his fists.

He wanted to repair it!

He wanted to send it sailing through the Sea of Stars again!

But he was nowhere near capable of repairing the train as he was now.

He needed more knowledge and more Wish Power—enough to start the train again!

Today, while taking apart and reassembling parts at his father's shop, he had encountered mecha for the first time. The feeling had captivated him and made him surer of the path he wanted to take.

He would study mecha design and master it step by step.

Then he would use Illusory Creation to give the Astral Express a brand-new body.

He would also build a mecha called the Starfarer,

a weapon to break through every obstacle on his own Trailblaze.

After that, he would make the train jump again and see this vast, boundless Sea of Stars.

"Brother!"

A sudden shout broke Chen Xing's train of thought.

He quickly turned and saw Tang Wulin and Na'er approaching, one behind the other.

"Brother, what are you doing out here by yourself?"

Tang Wulin ran over and sat beside him.

Na'er quietly sat on his other side, hugging her knees as she watched Chen Xing.

Chen Xing smiled.

"Looking at the stars."

Tang Wulin glanced up at the sky.

"What's so interesting about them? Don't they look the same every night?"

Chen Xing did not answer right away.

He lifted his head, his gaze passing beyond the stars toward somewhere farther away.

"Wulin, do you know how big the universe is?"

Tang Wulin scratched his head.

"No..."

Chen Xing smiled.

To people on Douluo Continent, this Sea of Stars might be nothing more than the night sky.

But to him, it was a multitude of unknown worlds.

He pointed upward.

"See those stars? Every one of them is a world."

"And every world has different people and different stories."

"In one world, there's a bustling city of beautiful dreams. In another, only an icefield and the bitter cold of reality. In another, even the auroras glow a romantic pink..."

Tang Wulin listened in amazement, his eyes wide.

"Really?"

Chen Xing nodded.

"In those worlds, people ride a train between the stars."

"They travel from planet to planet, connecting different worlds."

"They're also called the Nameless."

"The Nameless?"

Tang Wulin swallowed.

For the first time, the name stirred both curiosity and a faint longing in him.

He looked at Chen Xing curiously.

"Brother, how do you know all this?"

Chen Xing fell silent for a moment.

Then he turned and met Tang Wulin's eyes.

"I had a dream. One that felt incredibly real."

"I dreamed I was aboard a train as one of the Nameless. Everyone aboard called me the Trailblazer."

"I traveled with the train and saw the splendor of the galaxy. I also saw what those worlds were really like."

Beside them, Na'er asked softly,

"Brother Chen Xing, can we really go to those stars?"

Chen Xing looked into her violet eyes and nodded with conviction.

"Yes. As long as someone is willing to go."

With that, he looked up at the stars again.

The night breeze brushed his cheeks, carrying the scent of the sea.

He suddenly remembered something Himeko had once said.

"You saw a path no one had ever taken. Then you started walking."

Chen Xing rose and stretched.

"The Sea of Stars is vast and boundless. I want to see it too."

"But first, let's go home and get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new beginning."

Tang Wulin stood stunned.

As he watched his brother's back, he seemed to see a whole Sea of Stars.

In that moment, he felt as though he had never truly known his brother.

Na'er hugged her knees tighter and tilted her head toward the sky.

The stars are so beautiful.

Chen Xing says he wants to go see them.

Na'er, can I go too?

Early the next morning, Chen Xing took Na'er along and followed Tang Ziran to the repair shop.

Wang Dagou and Xu San had already been waiting there for quite some time.

As soon as they saw the three of them, they came over.

Tang Ziran glanced at them.

"Little Chen did well yesterday. I'll teach him myself today. From now on, he'll be my assistant."

Wang Dagou and Xu San exchanged a look, both shocked.

His assistant? Already?