"Good question!"
"As for who I am, a mechanical head with glowing red eyes actually asked me that very question just two hours ago. Guess how I answered?"
"Mechanical head?"
March 7th froze, completely thrown off by Suke's sudden counter-question.
However, it was obvious that Suke had overestimated Little March's brain capacity.
If it were Stelle, she might have been able to chime in, but for March 7th, who had never met an Aeon, she had absolutely no idea what Suke was talking about.
"What mechanical head? What are you saying, Uncle!"
"Uncle, answer honestly! Was this car accident we encountered your doing?!"
"Dressed so strangely in space, and appearing right after our accident—coincidence? I think not! You're definitely the mastermind!"
March 7th looked as if she, the clever one, had seen through the truth, accusing Suke like a lawyer in Ace Attorney.
"I don't intend to deny anything."
"The car accident you had is indeed related to me."
"'Say no more, prepare to die'—did you think I was going to say that?"
Suke sneered and pulled out his Shepherd's Crook. Seeing this action, everyone went on high alert!
Dan Heng had already taken out his spear, ready for battle.
Welt Yang gripped the Star of Eden, refined from a Herrscher Core, pushed up his glasses, and wore a solemn expression.
"Magic · [Healing]!"
However, Suke ignored the wary crowd. Instead, he used the Shepherd's Crook to cast [Healing] directly on the deformed Astral Express carriage!
Thump—Thump—
Accompanied by flashes of rosy light, the train parts that had detached and drifted into space due to the violent impact flew back to the Astral Express.
Even the severely deformed locomotive emitted the rasping sound of metal friction, and before long, it was restored to its former state!
"Mm... What happened, pom?"
"Whoa! The train... the train has been fixed, pom!"
As a lifeform born from the Astral Express, the conductor Pom-Pom was the first to sense the changes in the heavily damaged train.
He hurriedly went to the conductor's cabin. after confirming through the sensor system that both the locomotive and the carriages were restored as good as new, he let out a cry of astonishment!
Was this magic?
No, that's not right. Was it the method of a Pathstrider?
Pom-Pom's exclamation from the conductor's cabin clearly reached the ears of the group in the main hall.
Seeing this, everyone lowered their guard and began to size up this uninvited mysterious Farmer, Suke.
"What is this? It's amazing! Is that a magician's staff?"
Witnessing Suke's methods, March 7th was the first to show curiosity.
In her opinion, this "magic" was way too convenient. If the rest of them could learn it, wouldn't they never have to worry about train repair costs again?
"Friend, could you please explain what happened?"
Welt Yang chose his words carefully.
"Hearing what you said, friend, the impact just now was related to you."
"But since the train has been repaired, we have no intention of pursuing it further. However, at the very least, we would like to understand what occurred."
"Don't pin the blame on me! I never said I caused your car accident. I just fixed it because it was convenient."
Suke hurriedly waved his hand.
"The water here is too deep. It involves a game between Aeons and entities even above that level. I advise you not to delve too deeply; you won't be able to handle it."
Wasn't that the truth? The All-in-One and the Aeon of Erudition conspiring to swindle his wine—they truly had no shame!
The Astral Express crew: "?"
They understood the phrase "the water is too deep," but what did he mean by a game between Aeons and entities above that level?
Just to cause a car accident for them? Who would be that bored? Aha?
...Well, okay, that wasn't entirely impossible.
"Right, I almost forgot the important business."
"Where is Stelle? Oh, no, where is Stelle's corpse?"
"Don't just stand there, look for it! I'm waiting to find her body to see if I can call someone over to revive her!"
The Astral Express crew: "??"
What did he mean by Stelle's corpse???
No, wait. Since they hadn't seen Stelle up to this point, they thought her disappearance was related to him!
What was with that expression of certainty that she was dead?!
"March, go check Stelle's room quickly!"
"Oh, oh, okay!"
March 7th thought this mysterious farmer man was joking.
After all, although the impact force was great, as Pathstriders, they were all protected by Path energy.
If none of them were hurt, how could something happen to Stelle with her thick skin and robust constitution?
But seeing the change in everyone else's expressions, March 7th still hurriedly ran to the rear carriage of the Astral Express, which had derailed earlier.
Dan Heng and the others didn't stay idle either; they immediately began a carpet search of the train.
"—!! Waaahhh—"
Not long after, a miserable scream came from March 7th.
"?!"
The group didn't dare to delay and hurriedly rushed to Stelle's room in the rear carriage.
What entered Suke's view wasn't a particularly bloody scene.
Instead, it was a window in the room flung wide open to deep cosmic space, and a mobile phone with a shattered glass screen lying on the floor.
As for the victim, Stelle, she was nowhere to be found.
Crime scene discovered!
Should we hold a Magical Girl Witch Trial & Class Trial?
"Stelle... Stelle couldn't have been thrown out of the train through the window, right?!"
Well, obviously there was no need for a trial. It was already clear enough.
Was there any value in a trial for a truth that even March 7th could deduce? (Hard to look at).
"This is bad..."
"The train was passing near a Red Giant just now. Based on the direction of the impact force, Stelle is very likely..."
After observing the scene, Dan Heng, who always kept a straight face, turned pale as he made this judgment.
"Pom-Pom pulled the surveillance footage. Although most cameras malfunctioned at the moment of impact, Pom-Pom saw a black shadow fly off from the side of the train..."
"And it didn't fly back when the train was repaired just now..."
Pom-Pom's face was also somewhat stiff. His words reached the ears of the Astral Express crew, causing the atmosphere to drop to freezing point.
As for why Stelle would commit a serious violation of train safety regulations by opening the window for fresh air while the train was moving at high speed, no one wanted to investigate anymore.
Respect for the dead, after all.
"Waaah, Stelle..."
"Sob~ How... how could something like this happen! Waaah..."
March 7th was the first among them to collapse to the ground.
Although they were all Pathstriders, crossing the universe in the flesh wasn't something ordinary Pathstriders could do.
If one fell into the vacuum and weightlessness of space alone, even if Path energy could protect you for a short time, death was certain in the long run.
Otherwise, what was the point of the Astral Express and various cosmic transport vehicles?
Just like how a champion swimmer, no matter how skilled, would eventually drown if thrown into the middle of the Pacific Ocean; it was only a matter of time.
Moreover, Dan Heng said Stelle was likely thrown toward the Red Giant the train had just passed...
March 7th didn't dare to think any further.
"I've already used the Jade Abacus to contact the Xianzhou. The nearest Xianzhou ship will immediately send support to help us search for Stelle's location."
Welt Yang put down the Jade Abacus he had obtained when resolving the incident on the Xianzhou Luofu.
Although this Jade Abacus, which could secure unconditional assistance from the Xianzhou, was incredibly precious, this was no time for hesitation.
Nothing was more important than their companions; this was the credo of the Astral Express crew.
"I contacted Madam Herta. Stelle has always had a pretty good relationship with her. I hope that as an Emanator of Erudition, she can lend a hand."
"Little March, isn't Stelle also connected to the Stellaron Hunters? Can you contact the Stellaron Hunters to help find her trail?"
Himeko also put down her phone, her expression equally grim.
"Oh right, there are the Stellaron Hunters too!"
March 7th woke up as if from a dream. Clinging to a shred of hope, she hurriedly picked up Stelle's phone with the shattered screen from the floor.
Relying on her memory to unlock it, she sent messages to contacts like the Stellaron Hunter Silver Wolf!
No time to mourn Stelle's sudden death; arriving at the scene now is—
"I say..."
"Dan Heng, do you have any contacts on your side? Hurry up and call them to help rescue Stelle!"
"Hey, you guys..."
"Sob sob, Stelle, please don't let anything happen to you! Even if you have to die, wait until ten years after this young lady dies!"
"..."
Suke, who had just finished communicating via the Farm Public Channel, was somewhat speechless.
But this was good. At least from their fragments of conversation, he roughly deduced that the current timeline of Honkai: Star Rail was before the trip to Penacony.
After all, Brother Sunday hadn't boarded the train yet.
"I've brought the person to you, Animus."
"This little one wanted to run around wildly the moment she got off the bus. We couldn't call her back, so that Lord of the Night simply knocked her out."
Because their hearts were filled with concern for Stelle's safety, the Astral Express crew hadn't noticed when another figure... oh no, two figures, had appeared inside the train.
"Thanks for your hard work, Little Yuki."
Taking over the unconscious Stelle, who had a lump on her head, from Tsukishiro Yuki as she deactivated her Levitation magic, Suke remarked that this Stellaron Spirit was really heavy—she had to be twice the weight of Tsukishiro Yuki.
"Also, Animus."
"The girl named Seele Vollerei is in very bad shape. Before getting off the bus, she was curled up in her seat trembling, her eyes dull, muttering things like 'don't find her, don't kill her'."
"If not for the help of the Lord of the Night, we wouldn't even have been able to get her off the bus smoothly..."
"Currently, Abigail has already taken her to a separate bedroom to rest. You might need to judge the specific situation yourself."
Tsukishiro Yuki looked somewhat helpless.
Although she had lived here for so long, she was the one who most keenly felt the inconvenience of the magic prohibition within Stardew Valley.
But fortunately, at least when going to other worlds, her help to her Animus was irreplaceable.
"Seele's condition is that serious?"
Suke frowned.
Although in the original plots of both Honkai Gakuen 2 and Honkai Impact 3rd, Seele appeared somewhat autistic due to frequent bullying by other children in the orphanage.
But in Honkai Gakuen 2, it was impossible for Sin to bully her now, and in Honkai Impact 3rd, she had her Dark Seele persona to take the brunt, so theoretically, the problem shouldn't be that big.
It seemed he would have to wait until he went back to check before drawing a conclusion.
"Sob sob, Stelle, you must be okay..."
"Stelle...?"
March 7th, praying while clutching Stelle's phone, was the first to notice the extra human figure in the corridor outside the bedroom, aside from Suke.
"Uncle... did you find Stelle's corpse?"
"Sob sob, Stelle, you died so miserably~ Stelle..."
Noticing the gray-haired girl Suke was holding in his arms, March 7th didn't even pay attention to Tsukishiro Yuki, who was floating beside Suke like a female ghost.
She took a step forward, hugged Stelle's head, and began to wail as if at a grave.
"Trash can... so many... rummaged out a good... piece... and a nice-looking Iridium bar..."
"March...?"
"Is that so? Have you died too, March? Have you come to the beautiful afterlife with me..."
Perhaps because March 7th was hugging Stelle's head too tightly, the originally comatose girl actually woke up slowly.
Suke: "?"
Wait, what did you say you rummaged out of the trash can?
____
New Story: Danmachi: But I am a God, time to make a family!
🔥 25% off something at the funeral parlor... care to take a look? 🔥
✅ Jump 40 chapters ahead of the public release!
✅ Get access to special perks and news!
Help smash these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter (for everyone)
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters (for all stories)!
👻 P - Walnutchan