Suddenly, an abrupt voice broke the deadlock in the interrogation room. "Such a good thing? Then I, Blake, must join the fun."
The originally gloomy interrogation room was instantly engulfed by dazzling holy light the moment the voice rang out. Even Jingliu, whose eyes were covered by black silk cloth, felt it was a bit glaring.
"I wanted to appear earlier, but didn't expect one surprise after another." Blake stood beside Jing Yuan, the [∞]-shaped cross on his chest so conspicuous.
When that object came into view, Luocha's expression instantly darkened. The [Church of Eternity] again!
"Oh?" Blake's gaze shifted to Luocha, lingering on him with inquisitive interest.
"So that's it. Are you the traveling merchant that guy mentioned?"
Because of her past experiences, Freesna was extremely sensitive to things like locusts, with maxed-out reaction speed.
Right inside Luocha's coffin, she sensed [Propagation] energy that was sometimes strong and sometimes weak.
"Since everyone's goal is exactly the same, all to get rid of the Lord of [Abundance], why make the atmosphere so tense?"
"[Internal division]... is not a good omen." Not only due to his childhood experiences but also the Church's civil war, what Blake hated most in his life was confrontation arising from disagreement.
Jingliu looked at Jing Yuan; the appearance of an Emanator here was the best example. "The confrontation of gods... has already begun."
"[Eternity]..."
Luocha reconsidered. Just as Blake said, since the ultimate goal was to kill [Abundance], and they had already borrowed the power of [Propagation], why couldn't they borrow a hand from [Eternity] as well?
"Traveling merchant, your thoughts are very dangerous~" Blake put away the smile at the corner of his mouth. "We of [Eternity] are just spectators. Don't drag uninvolved people into this."
"The reason the Church lent a hand to the Alliance is, of course, because of the interference from the [Destruction] forces," Blake reiterated. "Letting the Church participate in your war (between Abundance and The Hunt)... wouldn't be good, right?"
As soon as Blake finished his hint, Jing Yuan and Luocha reacted.
"Not the [Church of Eternity], but participating in a personal capacity?"
"Very savvy." Blake walked up to Luocha.
The corner of Jing Yuan's mouth twitched. There's nothing wrong with what he said. The Xianzhou at least has the Seven Arbiter-Generals. On the surface, the Church only has two Emanators, Blake and Freesna, which is actually a bit insufficient to look at...
Ah, but they seem to be able to call their own Aeon too.
...
Astral Express, Parlor Car
Adrian arrived at the scene immediately, followed closely by the four: Stelle, March 7th, Dan Heng, and Welt.
"Himeko! We're back. How is Pom-Pom?" March 7th was extremely anxious. Nothing could happen to the Conductor!
Pom-Pom was not far away, listlessly watering flowers with a small watering can.
"No way... is the situation so serious? Even the potted plant is wilting?"
Thinking carefully, this potted plant hadn't had it easy. It was once frantically watered with SoulGlad by certain people, and a few days ago, it was frozen into an ice sculpture by March 7th using her new weapon. Now it was burnt out.
Himeko looked troubled. It was also her first time encountering such a situation. The hope of everyone on the train was placed on Adrian.
Given high hopes, Adrian walked forward awkwardly. HE already knew why the Conductor was like this.
"Boohoohoo~ Passenger Adrian, Pom-Pom is sorry to you." Pom-Pom stood aggrievedly in front of Adrian and started crying again before HE could say anything.
"Boohoohoohoohoohoo~ Pom-Pom is not a qualified Conductor and didn't keep the promise!"
"Eh? Is the real culprit actually Teacher Adrian?" March 7th was shocked.
"Damn Milk Tea Aeon, what did you do to our cute Conductor!" Stelle hugged Pom-Pom in her arms, put on reflective glasses bought from somewhere, and questioned.
"Case solved. Teacher Adrian is fully responsible."
"Haha... Conductor, you did very well. I actually exposed my identity myself." Adrian handed Pom-Pom a cup of milk tea.
With Akivili and Aha absent, HE was the one who had accompanied Pom-Pom for the longest time. Nameless should be honest and trustworthy, and the Conductor naturally had to do better than them, serving as a model example.
"Eh?"
Pom-Pom froze for a moment. "Then... the extra fragrant, crispy, crunchy Pom-Pom Pies for keeping the secret..."
"Cough cough cough~ The Conductor kept this secret for me for thousands of years. It would be unreasonable not to double the desserts."
Pom-Pom wiped away tears and looked at Adrian in disbelief: "Re... really?"
"Of course. [Eternity] keeps its word."
"Wait, what did I hear... So the Conductor and Teacher Adrian had this kind of secret underground transaction! Too much, I want to eat desserts too!" March 7th protested.
...
The truth of the matter was revealed. Adrian paid a "painful" price. After compensating the Conductor with desserts, HE also distributed a large bag to March 7th and Stelle respectively as so-called "hush money."
"March, look, you've eaten Teacher Adrian out of house and home, forcing him to go back to the milk tea shop to prepare again."
"You seem to be eating too..." Dan Heng weakly complained about Stelle's behavior, but it was good that Pom-Pom was fine.
Adrian whatever, it doesn't matter.
"Looking at these starskiffs, the moment they fly away from the Jade Gate, there is an unreal, dreamlike feeling. How long will these ships take, and which star are they flying towards?"
"On the scale of the universe, the lives of long-life species and short-life species don't seem much different. The longevity pursued by the Xianzhou residents is not even as long as the blink of a star... Their sorrow is no different from ours." Welt lamented.
"Mr. Yang is feeling poetic; say a few more sentences."
With Pom-Pom's depression resolved, the atmosphere wasn't so heavy anymore. March 7th happily took out a party popper.
"Party popper, where did that come from?"
"Hehe~ It's funny to say, this is the gift I brought back for the Conductor."
"Another journey has come to an end. Everything must have an ending... After the ending comes a brand new beginning."
Welt felt slightly tired. They were already back on the train; he would ask Stelle and the others to go back and check out the extra guest rooms later.
Seeing Welt being lazy, Himeko chuckled: "How about letting Welt stay and guard the train next time, and I'll take you guys to pioneer new worlds."
"Yay! It's Sister Himeko leading the team!"
"When did the train have such a rotation duty system?" Welt suddenly felt not so tired anymore.
"So... our next stop is?"
"Penacony," Himeko answered. "Remember? Before Kafka sent the invitation, we planned to go there."
"Sigh~ Drank too much milk tea, feels like my memory has declined." Stelle feigned a painful expression. "Help me recall?"
"Wow... you guy, don't dump the blame on Teacher Adrian at every turn!"
March 7th spoke up for Adrian. [Eternity]'s milk tea has quality assurance; how could there be side effects.
"According to the records in the Express Databank, Penacony was originally a prison planet used by the IPC to exile criminals, at least in the era when it was recorded."
"However, after the Stellaron outburst, it fell into the embrace of Xipe and is said to have been transformed into an incomparably prosperous Land of Dreams."
"The [Family] is holding a banquet there, and they sent an invitation to the Express. I'm very curious about what exactly happened there, so I accepted the invitation."
"Once the Conductor is ready, we can set off for the next stop."
"There's probably still a long time before departure. Don't worry too much, go have fun." Himeko looked at March 7th and Stelle.
"Mmh... digressing a bit, when are we going to the Church? I'm quite looking forward to it."
"If the [Trailblaze] fuel is sufficient, in another two stops we can go to the Church of Eternity that Little March has been longing for."
Fearing they wouldn't understand, Welt explained: "Different from ordinary vehicles, the Astral Express converts each [Trailblaze] into energy to maintain operation."
"Ideally, as long as the Trailblaze journey is uninterrupted, the train can obtain a steady stream of power, moving forward continuously like a perpetual motion machine."