Chapter 131: Strange Pink Creatures and Magnificent Buildings
"Stelle! Stelle! Are you alright? Don't scare me!" March 7th cried out, her voice tight with anxiety as she supported her still-dazed friend.
Stelle shook her head, a motion that did little to dispel the dizziness but helped clear the residual stinging pain behind her eyes. Her gaze slowly refocused.
"I'm… I'm fine now," she mumbled, pressing a hand to her temple. "It's just… my head suddenly hurt like crazy, and then… it felt like I had a really short dream? It was all jumbled. I can't remember anything…"
She furrowed her brow, trying hard to recall the fleeting images. A strange mix of confusion and an inexplicable flicker of excitement crossed her face.
"It was like… I dreamt I became some kind of savior?" she continued, her voice laced with wonder. "I was standing on a ruin, everything burned by a great fire, and so many people were looking up at me… It was really weird!"
"A savior?" March 7th blinked, struggling to follow Stelle's disjointed train of thought.
Dan Heng, however, went rigid at the word. His pupils contracted to pinpricks.
'Savior?' A cold weight settled in his gut. He knew Stelle's "dream" was no coincidence. Considering her unique status as a Stellaron vessel and the sudden, severe headache that had just struck her… this place, Amphoreus, had to be connected to the Stellaron in some fundamental, unspoken way. Perhaps it was even tied to a higher, more abstract power.
This sudden, internal abnormality felt far more menacing than any enemy he could have anticipated. The unease it sparked was a sharp, cold thing in his chest.
But things had already reached this point. Excessive anxiety would only cloud his judgment. Dan Heng took a slow, deliberate breath, forcibly wrestling the turmoil in his heart back into submission and restoring his outward composure. He couldn't let this heavy feeling spread to Stelle and March 7th.
"It might have been a hallucination caused by the crash," Dan Heng said, making a conscious effort to keep his voice steady. "Don't think too much about it. Our top priority is to contact the Astral Express, report our situation, and find a safe place to set up a temporary camp."
"Right, right! Contact Pom-Pom!" Stelle immediately straightened up, pulling out her phone. She handled to the chat interface and began typing furiously. "Pom-Pom, Pom-Pom! Calling Pom-Pom! We crashed! We're fine, but the carriage is probably totaled! Can you airdrop some supplies for us? Preferably lots of food! I'm starving!"
She hit send, but the message icon only spun for a few moments before transforming into a glaring red exclamation mark.
[Send Failed: Signal blocked or target out of service area.]
"Huh? It didn't send?" Stelle stared at the screen, stunned. She tried again, and then a third time, but the result was the same.
"What's wrong?" March 7th asked, leaning over her shoulder.
Stelle shook her phone in frustration, her expression sinking. "No signal! I can't contact Pom-Pom!"
Dan Heng watched her, a flicker of understanding in his eyes. He wasn't surprised. In a star system shrouded in a power mysterious enough to block the memories of the Denizens of Abundance, jamming ordinary communication signals would be child's play.
"As expected," he said, his voice remaining level. The draconic features of his Vidyadhara form receded, returning him to his usual appearance as his sharp gaze swept over the dilapidated ruins and the deep, shadowed forests surrounding them.
"It seems we can only rely on ourselves for now. Let's get away from the crash site. The commotion was too big; it might attract unnecessary trouble. We need to find a hidden place, establish a temporary stronghold, and then figure out a plan."
Just as they had chosen a direction and were about to set off, Stelle's eyes caught a flicker of rapid movement behind the shadow of a collapsed stone pillar.
A small, fluffy, pinkish figure flashed by in an instant.
"Something's there!" Stelle whispered, immediately snapping into a combat stance, her baseball bat held ready.
Dan Heng and March 7th instantly went on high alert. Cloud-Piercer materialized in Dan Heng's grip, and the elegant white blade of Sode no Shirayuki appeared in March's hand. The three fell into a practiced triangular formation, their eyes locked on the shadows.
"Come out!" Stelle shouted.
The trio exchanged a silent, knowing glance. Gripping their weapons tightly, they began to cautiously advance toward the spot where the creature had vanished, hoping to get a clearer look. But just as they neared, the pink creature zipped away, disappearing into the distance.
Dan Heng, however, didn't relax his guard. He couldn't shake the feeling that the creature's appearance was a bit… too coincidental. As if it were trying to guide them somewhere.
But with no other clues about Amphoreus, he could only motion for the others to follow.
"Let's follow it and see what happens. Stay on your guard," Dan Heng said, his voice low. His intuition told him this might be their first real lead.
Remaining vigilant, the three cautiously passed through a crumbling stone archway.
Beyond the arch was a dark corridor, its floor thick with dust and rubble. Yet, the moment they stepped deeper inside—
The scene before them rippled, shimmering like a reflection on water before reassembling itself.
The original darkness, dilapidation, and dead silence vanished in the blink of an eye.
Blinding sunlight suddenly poured down, warm and brilliant. The air filled with the fresh fragrance of grass and… the clear, bright laughter of children.
The three of them froze, staring at the impossible scene before them in utter disbelief.
The dark, ruined corridor had transformed into a wide, bright avenue paved with smooth stone. On either side, the broken walls were gone, replaced by pristine white stone buildings carved with exquisite, complex patterns. Nearby, several children dressed in neat cloth clothes chased each other, their carefree laughter echoing through the air.
The sky above was a perfect, cloudless azure. It was a picture of absolute peace and tranquility.
"This…?!" Stelle's mouth hung open. She scrubbed at her eyes, half-convinced she was hallucinating.
"An illusion?" March 7th subconsciously pinched her own arm. "Ow! It hurts! This isn't a dream?!"
"Impossible…" Dan Heng's voice carried an unmatched solemnity. He scanned his surroundings, his senses on full alert, desperately searching for any trace of energy that might explain the disguise.
But everything felt incredibly real—the warmth of the sunlight on his skin, the scent in the air, the sound of the children playing, the solid feel of the stone slabs under his feet…
"It's not a hallucination," he concluded, his mind racing. "It's… space… or perhaps some kind of temporal or reality overlap? A replacement?"
The utterly bizarre phenomenon sent a collective chill down their spines. They whirled around in unison to look back.
The archway they had just walked through was gone.
In its place was another perfectly intact, sun-drenched street, extending into the unknown. The path of ruins they had just trodden seemed to have never existed at all.
"The path… it's gone?" March 7th's voice trembled slightly.
"We can't go back," Dan Heng stated, taking a deep breath to force himself to remain calm. The situation was far beyond his comprehension, but he knew panic was useless. "It seems we have no choice but to move forward. Maintain maximum vigilance. Everything here is unnervingly strange."
Gritting their teeth, the three could only press on, cautiously exploring the "new" ancient street. The sun was bright and the distant sound of children's laughter should have been comforting, but the peaceful scene only made them feel more unnerved than the silent ruins had.
Finally, as they passed through the area of intact buildings, the scene shifted again, the vibrant illusion dissolving away and returning them to the familiar, moonlit ruins.
They continued forward, eventually exiting the confines of the mountain's interior. As they emerged, they were greeted by a stunning sight. As far as the eye could see, gigantic, unimaginably magnificent buildings stood like a continuous mountain range, stretching across the vast landscape.
These colossal structures were a proof of their builders' incredible technology or immense power—a level of achievement far beyond what an ordinary civilization, unconnected to the Astral Express, could ever hope to reach.
"Oh my gosh… these buildings… they're huge!" March 7th gasped, craning her neck to look up at the impossible architecture in genuine awe. "There's no connection to the Astral Express here, so how did they build something like this?"
Dan Heng's gaze, however, was drawn past the city to the most massive presence on the distant horizon. It was the same giant stone statue they had seen from the falling carriage, the one carrying a huge sphere on its back.
Even from this distance, they could see a rich, golden liquid light flowing within the colossal sphere. It swirled like molten gold, slowly rotating and surging with a mysterious, warm glow.
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