Chapter 176: Winter Fences are Sweet, Oh!
In northern Belobog, the former Silvermane Guard restricted zone, this was no longer Belobog's frontline.
After the unfreezing, more and more people walked out from the city walls to the outside world, to revive their homes and expand their city-state.
For the safety of the people, the new Silvermane Guard troops encircled all areas containing Warp Trotter entrances, establishing them as dangerous quarantine zones.
For the heroes who saved Belobog, the significantly shrunken Warp Trotter spaces were naturally not dangerous. With Caelus, the widely known Grand Guardian's husband, present, everyone could go wherever they pleased, even into critical military zones.
In an old border fortress, March 7th, holding her precious camera, called Caelus, Stelle, and Dan Heng to stand together.
"Hurry, hurry~ Come~ Say 'Cheese~~~'!"
"It's my first time seeing someone take a selfie with a camera like this."
After the "click" of the shutter, Caelus leaned forward and tilted his head, seeing the photo with four figures, where March 7th's head appeared somewhat large due to holding the camera closest.
The slightly upturned head made the girl look utterly charming and naive, with an emphasis on the naivety.
"But honestly, this silly little... cough, this 'A-Qi' looks really cute."
Caelus gave a thumbs-up in praise.
"Hehe~! Now you're talking."
She snapped her fingers with a swing of her arm, a lively and cheerful smile on her face. March 7th wiggled her outstretched index finger in sync with the snap, looking utterly adorable, as if to say, "You really have good taste."
"A naturally beautiful girl, and a cute, lovely me."
"Oh, wow, wow!"
Yo, yo, yo, the Stellaron spirit clapped cooperatively.
"It's a pity there's no passerby to help us take a group photo."
Stelle, flipping through the photos in the camera, suddenly her eyes lit up. She nudged Caelus's side with her elbow: "Oh, Caelus, why don't we use the versatile Shadow Ninjas?"
These days, Stelle had gradually grown accustomed to being looked after by the Shadow Servants. Every day, from brushing her teeth to washing her face and eating, she couldn't imagine life without the Shadow Army anymore!
"Then you wear the mask."
Caelus glanced at Stelle.
He had long thought of using Shadow Ninjas to take photos, but the problem was, to control them, one had to wear the mask. What kind of photo could you take while wearing a mask?
And he couldn't turn invisible, so he looked too ugly with the mask on.
"Ugly, no." Stelle crossed her arms in front of her face.
"I'll do it then." The thoughtful Teacher Dan Heng voluntarily took on the task.
Framing, finding the angle, posing, pressing the shutter…
Dan Heng looked at the trio striking strange poses on the camera screen, feeling that his decision not to join them was a wise one.
"Next, shall we continue to the ancient battlefield?"
Dan Heng returned the camera to March 7th, watching the three heads huddled together to look at the photos.
"Over there, we can go or not, it's fine. We've already taken some super great photos there before! Just waiting to develop them when we get back to the Astral Express!"
As she spoke, March 7th's small hands quickly and deftly operated the camera. After finding the photos, she proudly displayed them to everyone.
"Oh, oh, oh, this lighting, this composition, A-Qi, you're truly amazing! The timing is simply perfect!"
Stelle's eyes gleamed as she looked at the photos: the cool moment the Super Light-Energy Wielder sliced Cocolia in two with a single sword, the spectacular scene of the Stellaron explosion, and the White-Red Demigod protecting Seele and Bronya.
"A-Qi, why didn't you show these earlier?"
As she kept looking, Stelle's mech-fever flared up, giving her the urge to shop in the system store. But there were no enemies for her to fight; it would be such a waste!
"Well... Cocolia is Bronya's mother, after all."
March 7th scratched her head. She had wanted to take them out for everyone to admire.
But, letting Bronya see photos of her mother being sliced in half wouldn't be appropriate, no matter how you looked at it.
As for now, the Astral Express was about to leave Jarilo-VI. Bronya was busy with state affairs, and her presence was nowhere to be seen during the day, so bringing them out was fine.
"This stop is done, next stop! GOGOGO!"
Over ten days had passed since the Day of Miracles. The first seven days were spent enjoying an unprecedented grand celebration, with the residents of Jarilo-VI immersed in the joy of the future.
The rychic band shone brightly at the celebration, performing "Spring Day Shadow."
Afterwards, those who played with mechs played with mechs, those who did grunt work did grunt work, and those who went crazy went crazy. Soon, the day for the Astral Express to set sail arrived.
March 7th decided to retrace their path.
This was her habit.
March had no past memories, and she was afraid that she might forget her current friends for some reason in the future, so she wanted to document everything she experienced with photos.
Even when facing all kinds of difficulties and troubles, she would make time to snap photos of things worth remembering.
As the journey was nearing its end, she would revisit places where major events occurred, following the order of their trailblazing. The contrast between her radiant smile now and her panicked escape then, visible in the two photos, would help recall the story in between.
Caelus thought this habit was excellent. By taking another round through important places, he actually discovered some overlooked treasure chests.
Taking souvenir photos with A-Qi, and also checking for any overlooked Stellaro-jades.
In a Belobog so vast, it was somewhat unrealistic to find every Stellaro-jade in every small corner. They would collect as many as they could.
These days, with the monthly pass, system bug compensation, various small quests, and treasure chests, Caelus's Stellaro-jades once again reached 882, which was half enough for a ten-pull.
Bugs really are the fastest way to get Stellaro-jades!
Just as the four were preparing to go to the next place for photos, Stelle's raised foot suddenly paused.
Her sparkling golden eyes deepened instantly. The gray-haired girl seriously looked at the railing beside her. It seemed like an ordinary iron railing common in Belobog, but it wasn't.
A layer of white frost covered the railing due to the low temperature.
Low temperature.
It was known that after Caelus and Silver Wing used the Fourth Divine Key, the temperature within a two-hundred-kilometer radius of Belobog had risen by dozens of degrees Celsius. Only within the Warp Trotter spaces did snow and wind still drift.
Outside, there was none left. None meant it was out of print!
Stelle suddenly felt that the layer of frost had become special, looking incredibly tempting, like a cake covered in frosting.
Common knowledge also emerged from her "subconscious": iron railings in the Northeast are sweet.
The Northeast? What kind of place was that?
Stelle had no recollection, but her subconscious told her that the Northeast seemed very cold and had a lot of snow.
What the heck, wasn't that just Jarilo-VI!
Therefore, the equation held true: Jarilo-VI's iron railings were sweet.
The gray-haired girl squatted down, resting her hands on her chin. In her golden eyes, shimmering with thought, her gaze gradually hardened.
Upholding the spirit of Trailblazing, Stelle leaned forward, her eyes curving into crescents, and stuck out her little tongue towards the frosty steel railing.
"I lick~!"
First contact, sweet.
Then... hmm, still sweet, slightly astringent.
And after that, there was no 'after that'.
"Mm! Huh?"
Discovering that her soft, pink little tongue had intimately merged with the railing, stuck together, inseparable, Stelle's joyful expression instantly froze, then inverted into shock.
Her pupils constricted, Stelle stared at her tongue and the iron railing in horror, cross-eyed.
It was stuck very firmly. She tried to free herself with brute force before her companions noticed, but as soon as she exerted pressure, pain shot from the tip of her tongue. Stelle's heart instantly sank.
"Oh no!"
"Hiss~! A-Xing, what are you up to now?"
The shared pain came from the tip of his tongue. Caelus, who was discussing composition with March 7th, nearly bit his tongue—no, he had already bitten it.
The pain from Caelus biting his tongue also transferred to Stelle, making the girl let out an "awoo" sound, which resulted in an even larger area of her tongue contacting the iron railing.
The next second, Caelus, Dan Heng, and March 7th all turned their heads simultaneously, startled by the gasps for air.
Dan Heng and March 7th were immediately shocked by the scene before them, gasping in a cold breath.
The gray-haired one was half-squatting in front of the iron railing, her tongue extended like a husky's, with the other end stuck firmly to the railing.
"A-Qi, quick, save me!"
Stelle cast a desperate plea for help at March 7th, her words slurred due to her tongue being stuck.
The reason she didn't ask Caelus for help was also simple.
"Hahahaha!"
Based on his understanding of Stelle, Caelus's brain automatically deduced the cause and effect in less than a second, then he burst into merciless laughter.
"You idiot actually licked the railing!"
Ignoring Stelle's sharp, fierce, murderous glare of threat, Caelus held his belly and roared with laughter.
Joy and laughter are contagious, especially in such situations.
"Pfft!"
March 7th couldn't hold back and immediately started laughing. It wasn't until Stelle shot her an indignant, betrayed look that March 7th quickly forced her smile back:
"I'm not laughing."
"Me neither."
After a brief twitch of his lips, Dan Heng uncharacteristically curved them into a smile.
Stelle's eyes widened. "I never thought you'd be this kind of Dan Heng!"
Reading those words from her expressive eyes, Dan Heng lightly coughed twice and turned his head away.
"You were clearly snickering, I didn't hear it."
"A-Xing, we've received professional training; no matter how funny it is, we won't laugh."
Caelus walked up to Stelle, whose tongue was stuck, and half-squatted, explaining with a forced serious expression. But seeing half of Stelle's tongue stuck to the railing, he finally couldn't hold back and burst out laughing: "Unless we can't resist, hahahaha."
Caelus pulled out his phone and started a 270-degree burst of photos around Stelle.
"You're still laughing! Stop laughing!"
Under Caelus's mockery and photography, Stelle became enraged and mortified, directly pulling her tongue outward with force, attempting to punish Caelus through the shared pain.
"Ugh, so painful!"
"Hiss,"
Caelus also gasped at the pain from the tip of his tongue. "Don't pull hard. Although I feel the pain, you need to consider if you'll end up like the mute blondie next door. If you don't want that, don't force it."
Caelus held Stelle's head, preventing her from pulling hard. "Gotta say, it actually was quite sweet at first."
"When the moisture on your tongue comes into contact with steel below freezing point, it instantly turns into ice. The surface then experiences pressure due to intermolecular interactions, causing surface molecules to melt and form a thin film of liquid water. At extremely low temperatures, this water film rapidly refreezes, further strengthening the connection between the tongue and the steel."
Teacher Dan Heng explained to a bewildered Stelle.
"All-knowing Teacher Dan Heng, stop with the science lecture! First, figure out how to save me!"
Stelle was utterly resigned.
"It's easy to separate. Just use a bottle of warm water, slowly pour it over the frozen part of the tongue, and after ten-odd seconds, the ice will melt."
Dan Heng reliably offered a solution.
"So, here's the problem, Teacher Dan Heng: what should we do if there's no hot water nearby?"
March 7th raised her hand to ask.
Dan Heng: "...Go back and get some."
Stelle: "!!!"
"No way!"
She absolutely did not want her tongue to be stuck for tens of minutes!
"No need for such trouble. Don't forget, the human body can excrete warm water... What kind of look are you three giving me?"
Stelle: "I'll kill you!"
March 7th and Dan Heng both looked at Caelus with horrified expressions.
"Don't get the wrong idea. I meant to help this idiot produce more saliva."
Caelus, with a slightly disgusted expression, leaned down and kissed her.
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