In the collapsed lower district, countless mechanical wrecks lay scattered across the icy ground.
White-and-purple monsters were roaming around everywhere.
If someone like Levi, a ship captain, or anyone with some understanding of Honkai were present, they would immediately recognize their textbook-standard appearance.
Honkai Beasts.
Like zombies, they were monsters born from Honkai.
They could either be directly summoned by a Herrscher, or transformed from animals or humans corroded by Honkai.
In short, wherever they appeared, Honkai was definitely present.
Zzzzt!
Sparks from a short circuit in the mechanical wreckage lit up, drawing the attention of a wandering Honkai Beast, which moved over to investigate.
As the Honkai Beast approached, a red puppet suddenly popped out from beneath the wreckage.
"Drink this bottle of Speedy Soda~ Happy sweet dreams delivered fast~"
The puppet darted off into the distance.
Seeing something moving, and something so eye-catching, the Honkai Beast let out a roar and quickly chased after it.
Once all the Honkai Beasts on the street were gone, one large and one small figure emerged from a damaged building.
"See? Problem solved. You're just dumb."
"Yes, yes, Sister Sparkle is right."
Looking at Sampo's fawning expression, Sparkle found it boring and curled her lip.
"Alright, alright, the way you say that makes me feel like throwing up… Those things have been lured away. It's about time you took me to the people you want to save, right?"
After this whole string of adventures, she had almost forgotten she originally came to watch Sampo make a fool of himself.
But given the situation now, there didn't seem to be much fun to watch anymore.
That guy was basically the same as those Destruction lunatics with toilets for brains.
"Sigh!" Sparkle let out a breath. "I don't even know if I'll get to see Sampo embarrass himself."
She could feel that Herta had already arrived.
But right now, it looked like the crisis here needed to be dealt with first.
The question was… how to deal with it? And who would deal with it?
"This probably needs the company to step in."
Sparkle muttered behind him. Sampo's ears twitched, but even at this close distance, he couldn't hear clearly.
All he vaguely caught was something about seeing who would embarrass themselves.
After some time, Sparkle arrived in front of the people Sampo had asked her to save.
She flicked the gray hair closest to her, glanced over the people in front of her, and asked, "You want to save all of these people?"
"Are you trying to back out?"
"How could I~"
Sparkle shook her head and said with a smile, "Everyone in the tavern knows I, Sparkle, value my reputation the most."
"I'm just worried that if I run out of strength halfway through, I might end up turning the patients into something where their eyes aren't eyes and their mouths aren't mouths. Wouldn't that be awful?"
Seeing that Sampo didn't seem to care, Sparkle had no reason to refuse.
She flicked the gray hair again and said cheerfully, "I'll leave you for last, okay?"
"..."
"If you don't answer, I'll take that as a yes!"
"..."
"Great!"
Sparkle gestured twice at the gray-haired person's face, then began treating the people in front of her.
The treatment would take some time.
Sampo left the room and went to a more crowded area.
"Sampo, can that girl you found really cure them?"
"There's no other choice." Facing Seele's question, Sampo spread his hands helplessly.
"Medicine is scarce right now. She's the only treatment I could find. We can only treat a dead horse as if it were alive."
If he hadn't run into Sparkle while searching for supplies outside, those people probably wouldn't even have a treatment option now.
"Tch!" Seele looked angrily at the ruined walls outside. Seeing her familiar home reduced to this state made her extremely unhappy.
Not to mention that so many people had been killed.
Seele slammed her fist into the wall and gritted her teeth. "Why did that guy suddenly act like a completely different person and summon monsters to attack us?"
No one could give her an answer.
The only person who might know the truth, Stelle, was still unconscious.
———
"Chi chi chi!"
Watching Numby run around wildly inside the ship, Topaz clenched her teeth and shouted, "Numby! Put the person down right now!"
"Chi chi chi?"
Numby stopped, tilted her head, and looked at Topaz.
She didn't understand why Topaz suddenly yelled at her. Could it be the legendary menopause?
Numby was confused, she was still just a child.
Watching Levi climb down from Numby's back, Topaz found it hard to keep a serious expression and covered her face. "You two can play if you want, I don't mind, but could you not play like this…"
It was really hard to imagine that Numby's body, small even compared to other dimensional trotters, could actually carry Levi and run around the ship.
And besides…
What kind of position had Levi even been in while Numby was carrying him?
Topaz looked at Numby as she came to her feet and tried to recall the scene from earlier, but her mind just felt blurry.
She couldn't clearly remember how Levi had been positioned on Numby's back.
Topaz didn't dwell on it. Looking toward the train in the distance, she smiled.
"I didn't expect to run into the Astral Express here. What luck… huh? Why are ships from Herta Space Station here too?"
If she had only seen the Astral Express, Topaz would've thought she was just lucky to encounter it again in the vast universe.
But seeing Herta Space Station's ships as well, and fully armed, gave her a bad feeling.
"Reporting, Director Topaz! Abnormal Fragmentum energy detected in this star region. Preliminary judgment, there is a Stellaron here!"
Listening to the report, Topaz frowned deeply, the bad feeling in her chest growing stronger.
"Well, whatever. Let's go say hello to them."
Topaz decided to personally go to the train and greet the Nameless, get to know them a bit.
It would also help her expand her connections.
After all, even if she wanted to leave right now, warp travel wasn't possible in a star system affected by a Stellaron.
"Can you take me along?"
Hearing that, Topaz glanced at Levi and nodded.
"Of course!"
———
[On the Astral Express]
"Which Xianzhou are you from?"
"Luofu."
"Oh, the Xianzhou Luofu. The Xianzhou does cooperate with the company, but it doesn't really involve me."
She was a debt collector, only responsible for collecting debts. Cooperative projects weren't her business.
After boarding the train, Topaz put Numby down, stretched lazily, and said, "I've decided, next time I'm on vacation, I'll go travel to the Luofu. Hopefully when we meet again, you won't pretend not to recognize me."
"Definitely! I'll treat you to soda-bean juice then!"
The two exchanged smiles.
After the small talk ended, Topaz glanced over the people in front of her, the Nameless of the Astral Express.
And also…
"Madam Herta!" Topaz bowed politely. "I didn't expect to run into you here. About our company's last cooperation proposal, I hope you'll give it serious consideration."
"Mhm mhm mhm! I'll think about it."
Herta replied in an extremely perfunctory tone.
Compared to Topaz, a senior employee of the company, Herta was far more interested in the young man standing beside her.
Looking at him, Herta felt something strange.
After Topaz greeted Welt and the others, she noticed Herta staring straight at Levi and asked, "Do you know each other?"
"No." ×2
Levi picked up Numby, who had run to his feet, and smiled.
"Let me introduce myself. Dan Feng, a native of the Xianzhou Luofu."