After leaving the Xianzhou Luofu, Ye Yan drifted through the universe alone. He was in no hurry to reach Herta Space Station. Why work so hard?
I hope Little Tingyun can make it through this crisis, Ye Yan prayed inwardly.
Of course, Ye Yan was not worried about the attack on the Minghuo Merchant Guild leaving Tingyun's fate unknown. He did not take the forces of [Destruction] seriously at all.
The Imaginary Energy he had left inside Tingyun was actually a set of coordinates. As soon as she was attacked, she would be transported to a specific location.
That location, however, might take her a little getting used to.
"I hope those kids in the church can treat strangers kindly. I should have taught them properly."
As for the others in the Minghuo Merchant Guild, the remaining energy would be enough to repel Phantylia. They could all return safely to the Xianzhou.
Ye Yan began drifting freely along the star rail Akivili had laid.
The star rail could connect countless impossibly distant worlds through some wondrous means. The safe routes the Xianzhou now relied on all followed the remnants of this track.
In the past, wherever he went, there was always some bastard who liked crashing his souped-up scooter into his backside.
Now... that bastard who liked riding his souped-up scooter was no longer by his side.
Living too long was not a good thing. Old friends faded away one after another, like leaves falling in the wind.
Had Akivili not fallen, travel between the myriad worlds would only have become more convenient.
Recalling the past always brought an involuntary sigh. At that moment, Ye Yan was completely oblivious to his surroundings and failed to notice the glowing object heading straight toward him.
Bang!
The tremendous crash interrupted Ye Yan's reminiscing. There were only two things that could collide with him on the star rail.
The Xianzhou and the Astral Express.
Hmm...
Staring at the huge dent in the front of the Astral Express, Ye Yan fell into thought.
He might as well take it as a response from his departed old friend.
Meanwhile, a violent tremor had just rocked the inside of the Express.
"Ow... that hurts, that hurts!"
A short, cute, pink-haired girl picked herself up, rubbing her lower back.
"Huh? Uncle Yang, why didn't you fall over?"
She looked around. Even Dan Heng had fallen flat on his back, yet the man before her remained steady as a rock, unmoving as a mountain.
"All thanks to the cane."
Welt Yang adjusted his gleaming glasses and put his cane away.
"We seem to have rear-ended something. We should be careful."
"The Express has been obstructed. The front is damaged, and we cannot move forward!"
The Conductor's announcement reached every passenger's ears.
"No way. Isn't it usually other ships rear-ending us? How did we end up rear-ending something today?"
This was not the Express's first rear-end collision. After all, there were even two Nameless who had blown up the Express and watered its potted plants with SoulGlad... a rear-end collision hardly counted as unusual.
"Drive without care, leave your loved ones in tears."
An unfamiliar voice sounded beside March 7th's ear. Dan Heng and Welt were the first to go on guard, both drawing their weapons.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
March 7th jumped in fright and wanted to draw her bow too, but it seemed rather pointless.
"Hmm~ You really do have traces of that peeping tom about you."
Ye Yan studied March 7th. Naturally, he meant Fuli of [Remembrance]-the universe's number one paparazzo.
For all he knew, Fuli might be watching him right now.
Ye Yan did not mind. After all, he could look right back.
Fuli watched him, he watched Fuli, and the cycle repeated endlessly!
"What? Peeping tom... hey! Who are you calling a peeping tom?!" March 7th belatedly caught on. So angry that she drew her bow and arrows formed from Six-Phased Ice anyway, she still accomplished nothing.
Dan Heng and Welt turned their heads. Seeing no reaction from Himeko, who was sitting on the sofa, they put away their weapons.
But with March 7th acting like this, they seemed too embarrassed to remind her.
"Little March."
Himeko stirred her freshly brewed coffee with a metal spoon. "He's not an enemy."
"Huh? You know him, Himeko?"
March 7th obediently put away her weapon and retreated behind Welt and Dan Heng.
"I'm no peeping tom..." she muttered under her breath.
"It really has been a long time. Such a familiar train, but sadly, only one familiar face."
Ye Yan walked over to the replanted potted plant, feeling as though the scent of SoulGlad still lingered on it.
"Hehe~" Himeko sipped her coffee. "Should I call you Ye Yan... or the worst Nameless with a two-character name?"
Naturally, Ye Yan knew the mature, red-haired woman before him.
Back then, Himeko had not yet been a mature woman, but a somewhat inexperienced young girl.
While she was repairing the Express, Ye Yan had specifically sought out Himeko, who was immersed in the arduous repairs, because of his relationship with Akivili.
In front of Himeko, he had called himself a follower of the [Church of Eternity].
Everyone knew the relationship between Eternity and the Trailblaze. The church's people might have been a little unhinged, but they were all very welcoming toward those of the Trailblaze faction.
Conversely, the church utterly despised the Destruction faction. If they passed someone from Destruction, they had to spit at them.
Even when they encountered the Antimatter Legion, their weak combat strength did nothing to change their contempt for Destruction.
At the time, Himeko had been focused on repairing the Express. Hearing Ye Yan's words, she had thought little of them and simply regarded him as a helper who could let her repair the train faster.
Over the next few days, Ye Yan appeared at the same time every day to work on repairing the Express with Himeko.
Working in pairs made the job easier. The Express was briefly repaired and carried Himeko high into the sky.
By the time Himeko realized it, Ye Yan had already vanished without a trace, as though he had never appeared at all.
Ye Yan's own stance was that he was only responsible for helping the Astral Express start successfully. Whether it was fully repaired was none of his business.
"What? You're that worst Nameless Himeko and Pom-Pom are always talking about? No way!"
March 7th had the nagging feeling she had provoked someone extraordinary.
"It's a misunderstanding, Miss Himeko! I'm not the worst Nameless!"
Ye Yan held his forehead. They clearly meant that bastard Aha.
His name and Aha's both had two characters. The worst Nameless had always referred to Aha.
Originally, Pom-Pom had wanted to label Ye Yan "the worst" too, but Ye Yan had later slipped it a few special-edition fragrant, flaky, crispy Pom Pom pies and successfully bribed it.
All Ye Yan's offenses had been transferred to Aha, such as the [flooding the Express with vast quantities of SoulGlad incident], the [drawing trash cans on the Conductor's face while the Conductor rested incident], and the [converting the Express into a steel monster incident]...
Hiss... listed out like that, he really did seem to be the worst Nameless.
"Uh... fine, it actually was me." After a bitter internal struggle, Ye Yan finally took responsibility for all the offenses.
Aeons as kind as him were rare.
"Ahem!"
A cough came from down by Ye Yan's feet. At some point, the Conductor, Pom-Pom, had arrived beside him.
"Passenger Ye Yan, long time no see, pom!"
Pom-Pom first greeted Ye Yan politely, then hugged his calf and bit down.
"Wow, courtesy before force, Conductor!"
Looking at Pom-Pom biting him, Ye Yan gave it a thumbs-up.
"Why did you crash into the Express and damage it, pom?!"
Pom-Pom bit Ye Yan's trouser leg and refused to let go.
What kind of passenger started by testing whose head was harder against the Express? How was this any different from that passenger who had blown a carriage in two back then?!
No, wait. Ye Yan had taken part in blowing up the carriage too! That made his offense even worse!
The more Pom-Pom thought about it, the angrier it became. It had just checked, and the front of the train had nearly caved in!
"This is the first time I've seen Pom-Pom like this." March 7th took out her camera and recorded the precious scene.
"Hey, hey, hey, stop biting! I brought a gift for the Conductor!"
Ye Yan took a milk tea as tall as Pom-Pom out of his pocket. "Here, drink this. Tell me if it's not enough."
"Mmm..."
Pom-Pom released its bite and hesitated as it looked at the incredibly tempting milk tea.
"Plus a plate of caramel baked muffins and fragrant, crispy Pom Pom pies!"
"Deal!"
Pom-Pom agreed with a cheerful smile. Only then did March 7th realize:
"Wait a second. So you're the one the Express rear-ended!"
Ye Yan turned to look at March 7th.
"That's right. What can I say? I've got a hard head," Ye Yan joked.
"The worst Nameless..."
Welt remained wary of Ye Yan. After all, what normal person had a body tough enough to take on the Astral Express head-on?
Moreover, someone who could travel freely through the universe and had boarded the Express before had to be at least four digits old.
Something's wrong. Nine parts out of ten wrong!
Yet Himeko and Pom-Pom knew him, and they seemed to be on fairly good terms with him.
Welt could not quite wrap his head around it for the moment.
As for Dan Heng...
He had started taking notes the moment Ye Yan appeared.
March 7th...
She had been glaring at Ye Yan with hostility just now, but she had already been tempted by the enormous cup of milk tea he had produced.
Hmm...
Something's wrong. Completely wrong!