"A Stellaron..."
Stelle lowered her eyes slightly, a shadow flickering through them. Then she raised her head again and looked at Old Yang for confirmation.
Old Yang nodded. "That's right. It's the same substance as the Stellaron placed inside your body."
Thinking of the terrifying power contained within the Stellaron inside her, Stelle asked, "Then what should we do now?"
"No need to worry." Himeko looked at Stelle with a faint smile, her voice as steady and gentle as ever. "This isn't the first time we've encountered a route blocked by a Stellaron.
"Although many mysteries surround Stellarons, and even Herta can't fully decipher them, we at least have a way to counteract their influence."
As she spoke, Himeko's gaze swept over Jiang Yu before turning to Old Yang.
Old Yang nodded. "The only thing we can be certain of is that a Stellaron's arrival brings drastic changes to civilizations and ecosystems. It also creates spatial distortions such as the Fragmentum."
"So Jarilo-VI didn't end up like this through natural evolution. It was caused by the Stellaron's power..."
Jiang Yu stood beside the train window, gazing at the planet floating all alone outside like a mass of profound ice. All he could see was swirling white gathering into bitter winds...
Jiang Yu took out his phone and snapped a picture of Jarilo-VI outside.
"Yes," Old Yang confirmed Jiang Yu's conclusion.
Himeko continued:
"We believe Stellarons are seeds of disaster scattered across worlds by a certain Aeon. Unless we uproot the source of the calamity, there can be no Trailblaze."
Hearing Himeko's words, Stelle lowered her head in thought. A few seconds later, her expression brightened with excitement.
"So that means... we're actually cosmic heroes fighting for justice!"
March 7th smiled at Stelle's reaction. "You've finally figured out what the Astral Express Crew really is! Pretty cool, right?"
Himeko considered it for a moment. "For this Trailblaze expedition, Dan Heng and Little March will take you two youngsters along. There's no better teacher or lesson than firsthand experience.
"The objective is clear: find the Stellaron that brought disaster and spatial distortions to this world, and bring it back to the Express. Leave the rest to us."
"Great!" Remembering how seamlessly the four of them had worked together against the Trampler and the Doomsday Beast, March 7th looked at Stelle and Jiang Yu by the window. "The four of us get to head out together again!"
Stelle blinked, then held a hand to her forehead and feigned weakness. "I'm a little sleepy."
March 7th froze for a moment, then gave Stelle a conflicted look. "Couldn't you show a little more enthusiasm?"
Then March 7th turned to Jiang Yu, only to find that he wasn't paying her any attention at all. She immediately pouted, even more annoyed.
What was wrong with these two?!
What was Jiang Yu doing at that very moment?
Chatting with Aha.
He sent over the photo he had taken of Jarilo-VI.
Aha, who had been pretending to be angry earlier, replied with a "?"
Jiang Yu told Aha, "A Stellaron did this. Lend me some power?"
Aha sent another "?"
"Do you think my power is some weed by the roadside that you can just grab a handful of whenever you want?"
"Can't help it. You made it too easy to get last time." Jiang Yu replied with shameless confidence, looking utterly unfazed.
He certainly couldn't have chatted like this with any other Aeon. Of course, no other Aeon would have chatted with him like this either.
As for Aha, he could just treat the Aeon as a good buddy.
After all, Jiang Yu wasn't one of the Masked Fools, nor was he native to the Honkai: Star Rail universe. He really didn't feel much reverence for this god of amusement; he simply regarded Aha as a close friend.
Besides, Aha called him buddy too!
"You're really pushing your luck! You won't come drink at the Tavern or become one of the Masked Fools, yet you ask me for power the moment you open your mouth!"
Aha sent another string of seemingly furious words.
But the next message was, "Still, it's not out of the question."
Then Aha sent over a photo.
The photo showed a snowy plain, with a man standing amid the snow.
The man was tall, wearing jeans and leather shoes, with a short burgundy tailcoat over a white shirt. His blue hair was neatly styled, with his fringe covering his left eye.
He had a face that easily won people over, but the longer one looked at it, the more punchable it seemed, like that of a shady merchant. His narrow eyes and green irises gave him a foxlike air of cunning.
Jiang Yu recognized the man in the photo at a glance.
Good old Sampo, full name Sampo Koski, also known as Uncle Cold Legs-a member of the Masked Fools.
But... why had Aha sent him a photo of Sampo?
While Jiang Yu was puzzling over it, Aha sent another message.
"Go get in touch with him. Sampo Koski, a Follower of mine. He's on that planet."
Anyone else reading Aha's message would surely have thought that Aha had agreed to help, and that Sampo was the person the Aeon had arranged for the job.
But Jiang Yu narrowed his eyes at the message.
Aha telling him to get in touch with Uncle Cold Legs felt less like the Aeon had arranged for Sampo to help and more like Aha wanted Jiang Yu to mess with him.
The reason was probably that it would be fun.
Followers were there to be played with.
Jiang Yu nodded solemnly, feeling that he had figured out Aha's intentions, then sent an "OK" emoji.
Aha replied with an "OK" emoji too.
Afterward, Jiang Yu forwarded this part of his conversation with Aha to Herta. He had promised her, after all, and couldn't go back on his word.
To his surprise, Herta replied quite quickly, and the genius lady even offered a rare word of praise.
Almost the instant he sent the messages, she replied, "Well done."
But that was all.
Herta said nothing more after that. Perhaps she had gone off to work on her experiments.
March 7th's little head poked out from behind Jiang Yu, her eyes fixed on his phone screen.
"Ah! We're talking about going to Jarilo-VI together to Trailblaze, and you're secretly chatting with Herta over here?"
March 7th reached out, grabbed Jiang Yu's face, and gave it a thorough squishing.
Jiang Yu put away his phone without a change in expression, then leisurely removed March 7th's hands from his face and said:
"Of course I'm looking forward to Trailblazing with everyone, but I am someone who's flown through space using Sword-Riding, after all. I can't act too excited."
March 7th raised a hand and knocked him on the head, saying irritably, "So you've got an image to maintain now, huh?"
Watching the youngsters fool around, Himeko and Old Yang both smiled.
But soon, Old Yang's expression changed, a hint of loneliness entering his eyes.
Like an old boy who still loved to play, he sighed and said regretfully, "Still not our turn this time..."
Himeko's smile deepened at the sight of him.
"I know you really want to go, but we should let the young people head out on their own and grow closer."
Old Yang nodded to show that he understood.
But he still sighed. It was clear that he really wanted to go out and have fun with them.
Before you continue