"So it was that bottle of wine causing the issue, and not some disharmony within the space station, right?"
Astral Express, passenger car compartment...
Our Miss Himeko looked somewhat speechlessly at the pink-haired girl before her. After a long while, she helplessly sighed.
"Good thing it's nothing serious; I thought there was some turmoil inside the space station."
After receiving Asta's reply, regarding the girl's careless operation, Himeko only felt a wave of amusement.
To be honest, she had even nearly spun up a conspiracy theory, and moreover, she had already prepared to represent the Astral Express in helping Asta 'purge the king's side.' In the end, it turned out to just be a misunderstanding.
However...
There was one thing our Miss Himeko still felt puzzled about.
When the Astral Express had just arrived at the Herta Space Station, Asta had mentioned that the space station had encountered some minor troubles. But up to now, they seemed not to have learned what this trouble actually was.
Thinking to this point, Himeko straightforwardly voiced her doubt.
As Himeko's words fell, Asta hesitated slightly, then answered truthfully.
"Actually, it's like this: about three days ago, the space station experienced a series of crisis events..."
Asta recounted to Himeko the series of crises that followed one after another, such as 'clerk disappearances,' 'spontaneous human combustion,' 'Duke Inferno,' and so on.
"But fortunately, with the help of a scholar from the Genius Society, the space station managed to weather the crisis. However, after that, to guard against Duke Inferno's retaliation, the space station further strengthened its security measures."
"This... this is the 'minor trouble' you mentioned, Miss Asta?" Himeko looked at the pink-haired girl before her with somewhat surprised eyes.
That Duke Inferno, although not an Emanator, was already among the absolute top tier below Aeon Emanators. His retaliation could hardly be considered a minor trouble, right?
"Uh... this indeed can't be counted as a minor issue." Regarding Himeko's question, Asta somewhat embarrassedly touched her nose, her expression appearing awkward.
"It's just that the space station already owes everyone so many favors, so we really didn't want to trouble you all to exert yourselves further."
"...I understand, Miss Asta."
Himeko nodded slightly; she understood Asta's concerns and difficulties.
In the galaxy, what one must repay is the 'favor' this price. Because this price has no clear valuation, and moreover, it has no definite upper or lower limit.
As the saying goes, the free is the most expensive. There has never been any free help or aid; everything has long been clearly priced.
However, it seems the space station was fully capable of resolving the threat of Duke Inferno on its own.
Thinking this, Himeko unobtrusively shifted her gaze to the Xianzhou woman behind Asta who was curiously surveying the train compartment.
This lady had boarded with Asta. Although she didn't know the other's exact identity, from Asta's words, Himeko could faintly discern some restraint.
And besides that, she seemed unable to sense any particularly powerful aura from the other. So, either the other was an ordinary person, or... the other's strength was above her own, or at least on par with her.
If she remembered correctly, the space station's director Lady Herta had several close friends, among whom was a Xianzhou woman named Ruan Mei. Also a member of the Genius Society, she must be the one before her.
'Beep! Beep! Beep...!'
Just as Asta and Himeko were in silence, suddenly, the phone in Asta's pocket beeped repeatedly, shattering this somewhat delicate atmosphere.
"Sorry, Miss Himeko, I need to handle some matters here."
Asta gave Himeko an apologetic expression, then unobtrusively made a hand gesture to Himeko, indicating the Ruan Mei who was like a curious baby.
Seeing Asta's hand gesture, Himeko instantly understood.
No wonder after boarding, Asta hadn't immediately introduced this Xianzhou woman to her, and hadn't mentioned the other's identity at all. So Asta wanted her to get to know the other personally.
While answering the call, Asta trotted out of the train compartment.
After Asta left, Himeko glanced at the Xianzhou woman still in the compartment, then turned to the coffee machine nearby, carefully grinding coffee beans.
A moment later, Himeko carried two cups of steaming hot coffee toward the beautiful woman.
"A never-before-seen arrangement and combination method; the Astral Express's structure seems different from other aircraft. Is it because the train contains the mighty power of the Trailblaze Aeon?"
"If the arrangement structure issue can be resolved, then other aircraft could also perform domain-level jumps like the Astral Express?"
Gently stroking the Astral Express's train walls, Ruan Mei began analyzing this structure.
Indeed, Ruan Mei specialized in life sciences, but in other scientific research areas, she was also involved. And aside from life sciences, she had reached cosmic top-tier levels in other scientific fields as well.
After all... so-called geniuses are inherently monstrous existences.
Fields that ordinary people exhaust their lifetimes to reach might merely be the starting point for these monsters.
Conventional aircraft in the universe, aside from million-ton super-large warships, ordinary aircraft lack the ability to perform domain-level jumps; at most, they can only do short-distance jumps, and each jump requires massive energy expenditure.
From a scale perspective, the Astral Express is at most a medium-small aircraft, yet it can achieve domain-level jumps. For example, directly jumping from the Asdana star system to the Veil Nebula domain.
Jumping is an indispensable key ability in interstellar travel. A few months ago, when Blade sensed Dan Heng's aura and left the Stellaron Hunters' headquarters to head to Belobog, he actually relied on jumping capabilities as well.
It must be known that the distance between him and Dan Heng at that time was calculated in light-years. For Blade to fly there himself, even with the 'Mara-Struck' blessing allowing immortality, by the time he flew there, the vegetables would have gone cold.
So, Blade directly assaulted the nearest IPC outpost planet, used the facilities there to jump to an IPC planet closer to Belobog.
Then, using his own power to fly, that led to the encounter with Topaz and the others.
Worth mentioning is that our Miss Topaz was somewhat too overconfident at the time, to the point that when heading to Belobog, this Senior Manager didn't carry the 'Cornerstone.'
Otherwise, the outcome of that battle in space would have been uncertain. But probabilistically, Blade's winning chances were still greater; after all, the 'Mara-Struck' was simply too perverse.
Impossible to kill, impossible to burn away; only sealing or imprisonment methods could be used.
Waiting for the Cornerstone's power to exhaust, the defeated one could only be Topaz.