Six-Phased Ice

Seeing the fragments glinting in the faint light, Himeko's pupils contracted. She hurried forward and picked up the crystals from the floor.

Himeko was certain that familiar substance was Six-Phased Ice.

"March..."

Himeko's actions naturally caught her companions' attention.

"Miss Himeko, what did you find?"

The three gathered around, looking puzzled when they saw what Himeko held.

"What's this? A gemstone?"

As Taco spoke, the scan activated.

[Mysterious crystal: Contains power from beyond this world. Based on big-data comparisons, it should be an "extradimensional crystal" from beyond the heavens.]

After the scan results were shared with everyone, Himeko froze.

What extradimensional crystal? Isn't this Little March's Six-Phased Ice?

"No, it's Six-Phased Ice."

Himeko corrected the error in the information.

[Haha, you caught me. I actually got it wrong just now. This isn't an "extradimensional crystal" at all, but a mysterious crystal called "Six-Phased Ice." Thank you for correcting me.]

The smart glasses' sudden apology left Taco speechless.

"No wonder these glasses that can analyze every kind of freak and monster are only a four-star Guardian Deity. I thought the star rating was wrong. So this was the catch?"

Taco thought for a moment, then asked in a very serious tone,

"Have you lied to me before?"

[Of course not. That really was just a momentary error in judgment. I would absolutely, absolutely never lie to you on purpose. You have to believe me.]

"Come on, man. Even if it lied to you, you couldn't produce any evidence to prove it."

Weir patted Taco's shoulder.

"But your Guardian Deity doesn't seem very honest."

"Looks like the information from the smart glasses can only serve as a reference. We can't trust it completely and unconditionally."

Back on Blue Star, Himeko had also suffered greatly at the hands of artificial intelligence. Now that she knew the [Smart Glasses] could spout nonsense too, she decided that even if they provided new information in the future, she would have to carefully judge how much was true and how much was false.

"So what exactly is Six-Phased Ice?"

Unlike the others, Washana did not focus on the smart glasses, instead turning her attention to the Six-Phased Ice in Himeko's hand.

For it to cause such an emotional change in the usually calm Himeko, it had to be something very important. It would be best to ask about it properly and see whether she could help her somehow.

Himeko had no intention of hiding anything, either.

With her companion missing, she naturally wanted to get more people involved in the search. Especially now, after confirming that March 7th really had appeared here, Himeko's desire to find her companion had grown considerably stronger.

"Six-Phased Ice is by no means common, even across the entire universe. There's a very high chance it was left by another Nameless aboard the Astral Express. Her name is March 7th, a very lively, adorable girl who's much like Six-Phased Ice most of the time."

[The entire universe? Isn't that a bit of a leap?]

[Could she be an alien?]

[No way. If aliens really exist, I'll marry Himeko on the spot.]

[Too bad, bro. Blue Star is the only planet in the entire universe with life.]

[How could a girl look like a block of ice?]

[Does this stuff really count as ice?]

[You can tell Himeko is hiding a lot from us. Maybe she has some ulterior motive.]

[I don't think so. How much trouble has she dealt with along the way? She's collected plenty of rewards, too.]

[If she really isn't selfish, why doesn't she go get more rewards?]

In the studio, WarGreymon was reading the scrolling comments one by one.

"Get rewards? What the hell would she need so many for? Most of them are things the Astral Express can't use. All they bring Huaxia is icing on the cake. There's no need."

"As for Himeko being an alien, that makes no sense at all! Don't forget, the Astral Express started at max level and can't level up. But National Fortune has to give the contestants something to do, right? It has to leave them room to improve, right?"

"Therefore, the train must be incomplete right now! My judgment is that once the other contestants level up, their fully developed trains will definitely be stronger than the Astral Express! To catch up, the Astral Express will have to find those missing passengers!"

"Because she has every advantage early on, she needs to find the passengers one by one. Only then will the Astral Express barely be able to keep pace with the others. As the owner of the Astral Express, Himeko obviously knows this!"

"Right now, she's using her early advantage to recruit other contestants and forge alliances! Once the later stages come, she'll have a group of allies instead of having to fight alone."

"Himeko's meticulous thinking is truly terrifying."

"Combined with its early strength, if she can find the first passenger at the very first stop, then with Himeko's abilities, even if the train isn't as strong as the others later on, she still won't lose to the other contestants!"

WarGreymon went on and on about his conjectures, finally sucking in a breath, utterly awed by Himeko's strategy-all of that was just for show.

Deep down, he had long since begun to suspect that Himeko was not a normal person. Unfortunately, the authorities were too tight-lipped. No matter how he asked, he could not get even a scrap of information about people with superpowers.

WarGreymon: "We're all on the same side. Give us a little information so we can make our judgments!"

Official staff: "We really don't know anything!"

WarGreymon also knew that such top-secret files were beyond the reach of an ordinary person like him, so in the end, he could only let the matter drop.

To keep others from learning that people with superpowers existed, WarGreymon also had to come up with explanations for all of Himeko's feats that exceeded the norm.

Fortunately, nobody believed people in this world really had superpowers, so they were easily fooled.

Inside the haunted house at the Amusement Park.

Himeko tightened her grip on the fragments of Six-Phased Ice. From what she knew of March 7th, that girl would never leave this stuff lying around everywhere. Its appearance was usually accompanied by battle.

"Little March... please don't let anything happen to you..."

Himeko forced down the worry in her heart and prayed that nothing would happen to March 7th.

This state did not last long. Right now, she herself was inside the haunted house and still had a mission to complete.

The only sources of light in the hallway inside the haunted house were the small ceiling lamps. Their ghostly green light flickered from time to time, making everyone's hearts clench, afraid that something unexpected might happen the instant they were plunged into darkness.

Weir kept feeling something solid and muscular brush against him, seemingly either deliberately or unintentionally, every time the lights flickered. He could not help frowning.

"D-don't crowd me, man. Do you know how big you are?"

"I didn't touch you."

Only after Taco denied it did Weir remember that Himeko and Washana stood between him and Taco. Unless Taco was doing it on purpose, there was no reason he should be touching him.

Besides, Taco's voice came from his left, but the limb touching him seemed to be coming from the right.

What was on his right?

The lights flickered again. In the instant before the light vanished, Taco turned his head and looked to the right.

The next moment, a scream abruptly pierced the darkness, startling everyone.

"Motherfucker-"

"What happened?"

The scream put everyone on edge, and the Monomolecular Saw in Himeko's hand was likewise poised to strike.

The moment she spotted anything amiss, the saw blade would slash straight at it.