The Astral Express finally had the chance to make a normal landing to handle a crisis.
The feeling brought tears to March 7th's eyes.
Every other place they'd been to with a Stellaron crisis or some other disaster had made it impossible to enter the local cities through proper channels.
That was why March 7th was so relieved by this perfectly normal landing procedure.
"It doesn't look like there's a Stellaron crisis about to erupt here at all. Mr. Yang, where are we going after we finish registering?"
The Xianzhou Luofu's Jade Gate was truly massive, and its sheer grandeur had left March 7th awestruck upon entry.
Only after passing through the Jade Gate and completing the security checks and registration were they granted entry to the Starskiff Sea.
And only by reaching the Xuan'ye Avenue, the central hub of the Starskiff Sea, could one be said to have truly arrived in the most prosperous part of the Xianzhou.
For now, only Mr. Yang, March 7th, and Stelle had disembarked from the Express.
How were they supposed to know where the Stellaron crisis would break out right after landing?
Although the Stellaron Hunters had tipped them off about the Stellaron's presence, the Xianzhou was a vast and sprawling place, a layered maze of pocket dimensions.
Finding a hidden Stellaron would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
The best course of action would have been to inform the Luofu's Sky-Faring Commission, or perhaps the Divine Foresight General.
However, their information came entirely from the Stellaron Hunters.
Imagine if Mr. Yang went up to the Xianzhou's general and said, "The Stellaron Hunters told us there's a Stellaron here. It hasn't erupted yet, but we thought we'd come check it out."
Even the crew of the Astral Express wouldn't believe that, let alone the leadership of the Xianzhou.
Mr. Yang had another thought. The Xianzhou had the Divination Commission, which could divine anything.
They could surely foresee the Stellaron Hunters and the impending crisis, and suppress it before it even began!
What? You say they couldn't divine it?
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Even the Stellaron Hunters figured it out. You can't tell me the great Xianzhou Alliance can't even outperform a single Stellaron Hunter!
If so, they'd really need to do some soul-searching!
While finding the Stellaron was like finding a needle in a haystack for Mr. Yang, resolving the crisis would first require finding those few 'familiar yet strange friends'.
"Let's see, where should we start looking? Stelle, the Xianzhou is quite large, so don't run off... Huh? Stelle? Where'd she go?!"
Mr. Yang's glasses nearly fell off his face. He realized that Stelle, who should have been right behind March 7th, had vanished as if she'd turned invisible.
"Eh?! Yeah, where's Stelle?!" March 7th looked behind her but couldn't find her new little follower either.
March 7th immediately panicked. "Did we lose her?!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with dread. "What if someone tricks her and gets her kidneys harvested?! We'd be doomed!"
Mr. Yang fumbled for the phone in his pocket, debating whether to call Stelle.
Who on earth could harvest Stelle's kidneys? Did they have a death wish?Or did they think one little Stellaron crisis wasn't hardcore enough for the Xianzhou?
Stelle hadn't gotten lost on purpose. She had merely paused for a moment after arriving on the Xianzhou to take in the scenery.
The bustling crowds of the Starskiff Sea had swept her away from March 7th and Mr. Yang.
By the time she realized it, she was already in her current predicament.
Stelle looked around at the seemingly identical scenery. After walking in circles a couple of times, she gave up on her own sense of direction and decided to ask a local for a map.
But just as she was trying to find her way, a man's voice suddenly called out from a dark corner.
"Hey, friend. Do you yearn for eternal life?"
"..."
Stelle turned her gaze to find a shabbily dressed man.
It was none other than Brother Green Hibiscus, whom she hadn't seen in ages. Who knew he'd been relegated to recruiting new members at the perilous Starskiff Sea!
The moment Brother Green Hibiscus saw the gray-haired girl, he knew she was a first-timer on the Xianzhou.
She had already walked past him three times, yet she still mindlessly headed in the same direction.
The Starskiff Jetty was a den of rogues and vagabonds, and the people hustling here were far shrewder than the tourists in the Exalting Sanctum.
Stelle hadn't expected to run into someone like this.
The Xianzhou native had caught her completely off guard, causing her favorability rating for the Xianzhou to plummet to 20.
She hesitated for a moment, deciding it was best to ignore the man.
Just as she lifted her foot to leave, she heard a thud. Brother Green Hibiscus had thrown himself at her feet.
"Oh, my life is so hard! I've been working logistics here for days, and now I've injured my back! To think I'd get bumped into by this rude outworlder. She doesn't even have a shred of sympathy! She's just going to abandon me and leave!"
Stelle's expression changed instantly, and she quickly took two steps back to maintain a safe distance.
She immediately shouted, "A scam! This is a scam, isn't it?! Where are the local authorities? Aren't you going to do something about this?!"
At that moment, several more Xianzhou locals emerged from the corners.
"That's right, I saw it! She's the one who bumped into him. How tragic, to think one of our own Xianzhou people is being bullied by an outsider. This bunch from the Sky-Faring Commission is always siding with the outworlders! It's the Leaning Skiff of Pisa all over again!"
"Look, just look! See how much pain he's in!"
"Brother Hibiscus! What happened to you? We haven't even finished our deliveries for today!"
Sister Stelle was a hardened veteran who had conquered both the Herta Space Station and Belobog. When had she ever encountered such a low-down, dirty trick?
She might be a bit dense at times, but that didn't mean Stelle was an idiot.
These people were clearly working as a team, and this definitely wasn't their first time pulling something like this.
This kind of extortion scheme relied on strength in numbers and a confusing narrative. The slightest sign of weakness, and she'd be truly scammed with no way to argue her case.
Sister Stelle was a ruthless one. Realizing that conventional reasoning wouldn't work, she unhesitatingly resorted to normal interstellar reasoning.
She strode forward and knocked the Brother Green Hibiscus blocking her path out cold with a powerful kick.
Then, she pushed through the crowd and vanished into the flow of people.
The unconscious Brother Hibiscus had thought that the local tricks were deep enough, but he never could have imagined that an outworlder would be such a back-to-basics, pragmatic brawler.
A man accustomed to the stable life of the Xianzhou had just met a ruthless survivor who scraped by in the interstellar wilds.
The swift kick that sent Brother Hibiscus flying left his underlings staring wide-eyed, unable to give chase.
The crowd of onlookers hadn't expected Sister Stelle to act so decisively either. They watched as she scrambled over the rooftops like a monkey, disappearing from sight after a few leaps.
Only then did the crowd remember to report the incident and call for the Cloud Knights.
"Quick, quick! Contact the Cloud Knights!"
"That was terrifying! Assault in broad daylight!"
Hearing the crowd shout for the Cloud Knights, Brother Hibiscus's lackeys' faces paled. Forgetting to even check if their boss was still alive, they hoisted him up and scrambled away.