The Sea of Stars Is 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 did I end up? Is this even Douluo Continent?"

Chen Xing looked around.

He found himself inside a train car.

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

Beyond the windows stretched an endless Sea of Stars.

And everything about this place...

looked incredibly familiar.

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

Wait. All he had done was draw a train.

How had he drawn the Astral Express?

Chen Xing was baffled.

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 make a jump. Please take a seat. No walking around or making a racket on the train, pom."

Chen Xing scratched his head without thinking and went to sit down.

The moment he did, another voice sounded nearby.

"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, saw March 7th.

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

Another voice followed, warm and gentle.

Chen Xing looked up. Himeko was gazing fondly at him and March 7th. Beside her stood Dan Heng, Welt, and Sunday.

Amphoreus...

At the name, Chen Xing's pupils shrank.

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

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

The wreckage of a train pierced the mountainside, and a campfire burned before him.

Beside the fire, a red-haired woman held out a pen to him.

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

Chen Xing stared at her, stunned.

"Himeko..."

Himeko watched him with a gentle smile and said nothing more.

Then 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 was lying on a beach.

The abandoned train stood before him.

Chen Xing came back from his memories. He was still sitting on the beach.

The stars still twinkled overhead, and the abandoned train was still in front of him.

He drew a deep breath.

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

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

The train before him was battered, with more than half of it buried in the sand, but it really was the Astral Express.

It was Akivili's legacy: the Astral Express, bearer of the will to Trailblaze.

He had no idea why it had ended up here.

But...

Chen Xing clenched his fists.

He wanted to repair it!

He wanted to send it back into the Sea of Stars!

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

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

While taking apart and assembling components at his father's shop today, he had encountered Mecha for the first time. The experience had captivated him and made him even surer of his path.

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

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

He would also build a Mecha called Starblazer,

a weapon to break through every obstacle on his own path of Trailblazing.

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

"Big brother!"

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

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

"Big brother, what are you doing out here all by yourself?"

Tang Wulin ran over and sat beside him.

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

Chen Xing smiled.

"Looking at the stars."

Tang Wulin glanced up at the sky.

"What's there to look at? Aren't they the same every night?"

Chen Xing did not answer right away.

He lifted his head, looking past 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 the people of Douluo Continent, this Sea of Stars might be nothing more than the night sky.

But to him, it held countless unknown worlds.

He pointed upward.

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

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

"Some worlds have glittering cities built on beautiful dreams. Others have nothing but frozen plains and the bitter cold of reality. In some worlds, even the auroras glow a romantic pink..."

Tang Wulin listened in wonder, his eyes widening.

"Really?"

Chen Xing nodded.

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

"They journey from planet to planet, linking different worlds together."

"They're called the Nameless."

"The Nameless?"

Tang Wulin swallowed.

For the first time, the name stirred his curiosity—and a faint longing.

He looked at Chen Xing.

"How do you know all this, big brother?"

Chen Xing fell silent for a moment.

Then he turned and met Tang Wulin's eyes.

"I had a dream. A dream that felt utterly real."

"I dreamed I was aboard a train and had become one of the Nameless. Everyone on board called me the Trailblazer."

"I traveled with that train. I saw the splendor of the galaxy, and I saw what those worlds were truly like."

Na'er spoke softly beside him.

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

Chen Xing looked into her violet eyes and nodded with complete seriousness.

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

With that, he raised his head and looked 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 walked. Then you started forward."

Chen Xing stood and stretched.

"The Sea of Stars is boundless. I want to see it for myself."

"But before that, let's go home and sleep. Tomorrow is a new beginning."

Tang Wulin stared.

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

At that moment, he realized he might never have truly known his brother.

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

The stars are so beautiful.

Brother Chen Xing said he wants to see them.

Can I go too?

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

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

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

Tang Ziran glanced at them.

"Little Chen learned a lot yesterday. Today, I'll teach him myself. From now on, he'll be my assistant."

Wang Dagou and Xu San exchanged shocked looks.

An assistant? Already?