"Mummy, this is the Rose Frost Crystal Snail Cake I waited in line for an hour to buy from the Exalting Sanctum."
With a perfectly sweet and adorable smile, the gray-haired girl held up the trendy-looking Crystal Snail Cake, which looked absolutely delectable, presenting it like a treasure to the purple-haired beauty beside her.
However, she couldn't hide the mischievous glint in her eyes as they occasionally swept over the proud, high curve of the purple-haired woman's chest, straining against her white blouse.
Although it seemed subtly risqué, Kafka's body was, in fact, rarely exposed. She dressed more conservatively than most people, but the idiom "to stand out" put it best:
If you put an awl in a cloth bag, the tip is bound to stick out. If you put a large bust in cloth, the silhouette will always show through. No amount of concealment can help.
An existence that exuded the tempting aura of a ripe peach!
How could dear Stelle possibly have any bad intentions?
She was just worried that the tightly strained buttons on the blouse would suddenly snap and fly off. She had to protect her source of mother's milk.
Combined with the crystal gift Kafka had left her before, Stelle's gaze was now more fervent and sincere than when she looked at a trash can.
"I heard eating sweets can help relieve the professional anxiety of being a Stellaron Hunter."
"And this."
Not to be outdone, Caelus showed Kafka the limited-edition Dew-Kissed Shrimp he had managed to snag, the box still adorned with a promotional flyer from the Exalting Sanctum.
"No spice, no life. I think you'd prefer spicy food."
One after the other, the two gray-haired Trailblazers pulled things out of their spatial storage: a low table prepared for the Express Crew's outdoor picnics, a cozy tablecloth, soft cushions…
And a variety of Luofu specialty foods they had bought while shopping yesterday and on their way this morning.
They quickly set up a family-style meal on top of a Starskiff sapling incubator.
At the same time, a strange atmosphere, thick with countless question marks, filled the air.
March 7th's mouth contorted involuntarily, opening and closing like a fish on land, unable to make a sound.
Her eyes wide, she stared at the two gray-haired Trailblazers who had seemingly transformed into paragons of filial piety, her brain processing the scene like a machine grinding with every turn.
Bullshit, guys!
She'd *better* have anxiety!
What the hell 'relieving a Stellaron Hunter's professional anxiety'!
Weren't we supposed to capture Kafka for the Luofu's bounty?
Don't you guys want the three billion credits anymore?
Why have you suddenly turned into actual devoted children?
March 7th looked blankly at the pink and blue composite longbow in her hands. So, are we fighting or not?
Welt had equipped Dan Heng's Light Cone. He remained silent.
While pursuing Kafka in Starskiff Haven, Welt had discovered many clues.
For someone wanted across the entire galaxy, someone even the Interastral Peace Corporation couldn't handle, Welt didn't believe Kafka would make such a low-level mistake.
The only other possibility was that Kafka had intentionally left those clues to lead them here.
"Show your hand, Kafka. Our arrival here must have been part of your plan."
Welt had intended to start the confrontation with those words, but Caelus and Stelle's actions made him swallow every last one of them.
Are you two not considering the Luofu personnel at all?
Welt pushed his fallen glasses back up and turned to look at the utterly shocked Tingyun.
Then he looked at Kafka, who maintained a gentle smile, though a closer look revealed a hint of stiffness.
Hmm... Old Yang was sure that even if Kafka had deliberately led the Express Crew here, the Trailblazers' actions were definitely beyond her expectations!
White Seele was completely bewildered, while Bronya played along with the performance.
Caelus raised his hand, about to pull the Tala Mask from his inventory, but paused for a second when he noticed Tingyun, deciding against summoning Shadow Raccoon Stelle.
"What's everyone standing around for? Come sit down and eat with us."
Caelus beckoned, and the Wind swirling by his side flowed outwards.
The circling wind pushed against their backs, nudging the perplexed White Seele, March 7th—whose cowlick was standing straight up like a Teletubby's question-mark antenna—and a silent Old Yang with light glinting off his glasses, towards the low table laden with food on the incubator.
In the clearing, which was as large as a village square dance plaza, only the ferrywarden, Tingyun, remained frozen in place with a dazed look in her eyes.
Along with the Mara-struck, who were controlled by purple, spiderweb-like threads.
"Mummy, you left in such a hurry last time. Let me give you a proper introduction. This is Seele, and this is Bronya."
Stelle flashed a harmless, raccoon-like smile.
With the pink-haired girl as the center, Caelus sidestepped in a semicircle, then solemnly presented with both hands and announced in a super loud voice:
"This is the Universal Galactic Super Invincible Beautiful Girl March 7th, nickname Intertwined Fate! Aside from being a bit of an idiot, she's perfect in every way!"
Caelus raised a finger and poked March 7th's snowy cheek, then patted her thigh. "Look at this cute face, look at this tender and fresh meat."
"Come on, come on, March! Hurry up and call her Mom!"
"Wait, since when did I have the nickname Intertwined Fate Caelus who are you calling an idiot also is this how you introduce someone I'm not a piece of pork on a chopping block and why do I have to call her Mom too!?"
Like a magical overlapping chant spoken at the speed of divine words, March 7th felt a bit oxygen-deprived and breathless after rattling off all her complaints about Caelus's few sentences in one go.
"Hey~ March, what's our relationship?" Caelus fed March 7th a skewer of Flower-and-Fruit Trio.
Stelle slung an arm around March 7th's shoulders. "Isn't our mom your mom too?"
The scene suddenly took on the subtle air of a daughter-in-law meeting her mother-in-law.
The curve of Kafka's lips seemed eternal. Her violet eyes reflected the two jesters' gray hair swaying in sync. Her gaze met March 7th's for a moment, causing the younger girl to quiet down with a strange expression.
Though she maintained her elegant smile, Kafka's thoughts, for once, were like leaves in the wind, drifting aimlessly.
She had noticed a difference between Elio's recent scripts and the old ones.
Kafka couldn't remember how many scripts she had acted in since joining the Stellaron Hunters, but the number of times a script had branching paths was something she—no, the entire group of Stellaron Hunters combined—could count on one hand.
Starting with the script at the Herta Space Station, scripts with branches had become more common. Or rather, every script related to the Trailblazers came with branching paths!
And some branches even allowed the 'actors' to choose freely, which was unprecedented.
According to Elio, it was true that the Trailblazers were special, but they shouldn't be special to this degree.
Kafka was cautiously optimistic about this. The more special the Trailblazers were, the more likely they could reach that ending.
The main script line was for the Astral Express Crew to chase her following the clues she left, fight a brief battle, and then be captured through the combined efforts of the Master Diviner.
Clearly, they weren't following the original main path now, but rather a beeline...
Kafka glanced at the time. They were over ten minutes earlier than predicted in Elio's 16th script. This time...
Stelle's cheerful calls of 'Mummy' echoed in her ears.
Brushing a strand of hair from her ear, Kafka picked up the food Stelle offered, took an elegant bite, and chewed slowly, her voice gentle as she smiled.
"This tastes wonderful!"
She had only been eating whatever she could find at Starskiff Haven for the past two days and hadn't had a proper meal.
"Of course! These have all been taste-tested and approved by me." Stelle puffed out her chest with pride.
"Hey, Tingyun, why are you still frozen over there? Weren't you supposed to be cheering us on?"
Caelus sat on his cushion, eating shrimp, and watched the foxian lady below.
"My benefactors... what are you doing?"
Surrounded by the Mara-struck, Tingyun's smile was stiff. Phantylia was about to crush her folding fan. It was a good thing she wasn't the real Tingyun, or else this scene would have surely shattered her mind, causing her to succumb to the Mara on the spot!
"Can't you see? We're fighting Kafka right now."
Caelus said with a straight face, his tone earnest and serious. "The Astral Express databank contains a secret combat technique: use delicious food to get closer to the enemy, then capture them when their guard is down!"
"No, the databank absolutely does not contain any such combat technique," March 7th instinctively muttered under her breath.
"You see, all this is our carefully selected, battle-winning cuisine. Although it looks tempting and smells fragrant, I've actually added poison!"
Tingyun, March 7th, and White Seele were all stunned by his words.
"Poison? d(ŐдŐ)"
March 7th abruptly spat out the food in her mouth and looked up at Caelus, only to see him lick the large shrimp in his hand like an assassin licking a dagger before tossing it into his mouth.
March 7th: "(◎口◎)?"
Welt: "..."
Tingyun: "..."
Kafka: "..."
For a moment, the focus of the scene shifted from Caelus to March 7th, with everyone wearing different expressions.
March 7th stared at Caelus's mouth, then looked down at the food on the table, then looked up at Kafka. Her gaze darted back and forth before she finally fell silent, staring at the food in her hand.
"Ahem." Caelus coughed lightly, drawing everyone's attention back to him.
"Now you know, right? So, you should be singing and dancing now to make Kafka lower her guard, understand?"
A nerve throbbed in her temple. Phantylia gripped her fan tightly.
Understand my ass!
The way you're happily eating doesn't look like you're eating poisoned food at all!
Besides, even if that was the real battle plan, you just announced it out loud!
"Alright, alright, if you keep asking questions, Kafka will find out more of our battle plan,"
Caelus said in a hushed, conspiratorial whisper.
If he weren't less than a meter away from Kafka while she was a good eight or nine meters from him, Phantylia might have actually believed him... not a chance in hell!
There's definitely something wrong with these two gray-haired Trailblazers!
She, Phantylia, had destroyed so many civilizations, but she had never encountered such... bizarre individuals!
"Miss Tingyun, you don't want the Stellaron Hunter to get away, do you?" Stelle said, a mischievous grin appearing on her face.
"How would you explain that to Lady Yukong and General Jing Yuan then?"
"I..."
Phantylia cursed inwardly, but on the surface, Tingyun managed to force a smile that fit her persona. "Since my benefactors wish to see it, then this humble lady shall make a fool of herself."
It was a bit tilting, but it wouldn't affect the grand scheme of things. A dance was just a dance.
"Excellent, excellent!" Caelus started clapping. "But it feels like something's missing... I know!"
He took out the gift from Asta from his spatial storage—a limited-edition, all-purpose Cosmo-Cruiser drone equipped with reconnaissance, detection, lighting, and transport functions.
He controlled the drone to fly above Tingyun, casting a beam of light down on her like a stage spotlight.
Stelle's eyes lit up at the sight, as if she'd had an idea. "Mummy, you can control those Mara-struck with your powers, right? Make them be Tingyun's backup dancers!"
"..."
Kafka now understood why Elio's prophecies had so many branching scripts. This was truly beyond what any normal person could conceive.
"Alright."
It wasn't time yet, so Kafka didn't mind playing along with Stelle.
"Cue the music!"
Caelus pulled out a speaker from his inventory, another gift from Asta, and held a lightsaber like a glow stick.
BGM: "Crab Roe Opera"
The theme song for an overly ambitious official.
Purple threads were wrapped around each of Kafka's fingers. With a tug, the controlled Mara-struck moved in unison, taking their positions behind Tingyun.
What followed was a scene that descended into even greater absurdity.
An utterly surreal and chaotic spectacle.
Welt's glasses fell off his nose, March 7th spat out a mouthful of soda-douzhi'er, and White Seele closed her eyes, unable to watch.
Even Kafka couldn't help it; she let out a laugh.
Until a stern yet dignified and girlishly lively shout rang out.
"Surrender, Kafka! Your every move is within this master's divination... uh..."
A figure descended from the sky.
A golden hairpin with dangling jade bells, cherry-pink hair tied back in a crescent knot, a ponytail that flickered like peach blossom fire. Embedded in the center of her brow was a purple crystal, radiating a dreamy and mysterious light.
However, after her brilliant third eye took in the scene below, it suddenly flickered as if short-circuiting a few times before dimming almost completely, on the verge of going out.
It stopped shining.
Fu Xuan stared at the scene before her, utterly baffled and shocked.
"?????????"
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