"Man—"
With a thunderous boom from the sky, the Astral Express crash-landed in Teyvat.
"Again?"
Istaroth and the others were speechless. Teyvat really was getting lively lately. Yet another group of unknown visitors had shown up.
Forget it. Back to loafing around. It was probably someone Koji knew anyway.
"What the heck did this bring me to? Is this even still the universe?"
The Astral Express had run aground near Eagle's Gate Beach. Stelle shook her head, her mind a complete mess, and what entered her sight was an utterly unfamiliar landscape.
"Wow, the scenery and environment here are amazing."
March 7th shook her head too, and the moment she saw the scenery in front of her, her pink-blue eyes lit up.
They had been to so many places, but this landscape had a kind of freshness and natural beauty that made everything feel bright and new.
Click, click—
A view this beautiful absolutely had to be captured on camera.
"It seems we've arrived somewhere even Akivili never reached." Himeko checked the train's communications and found they were completely cut off.
Unless they left this world, they were effectively out of contact.
"It's fine. Since we're here, we might as well do a little Trailblazing. It doesn't look like there's any danger around, so everyone can relax a bit." Welt adjusted his glasses.
Here in Mondstadt, one could feel the wind of freedom itself. It really was a rather nice place.
The elemental energy here was fairly gentle. Compared to Imaginary energy, it seemed a little weaker.
"Yay, vacation time! Himeko, Uncle Yang, are you joining too?" Stelle cheered. This was vacation time now.
Sunday fell silent. Come to think of it, did the Nameless who walked the Trailblaze even have jobs?
Thinking back to the Dream of Taiyi, he was filled with emotion. Why had he ever preached that seven-day rest theory to the Nameless in the first place?
This bunch were cosmic drifters. They simply did not have normal workdays and days off.
"That works." Himeko thought about it for a moment.
This was a rare opportunity. They might as well experience the local customs and atmosphere of this world together.
Splash—
The moment she got an answer, Stelle dove headfirst into the seawater and started frolicking like a husky.
You could actually swim here. This was amazing.
Himeko and the others: "..."
Even after spending so much time together, they still were not quite used to Stelle's abstract behavior.
"Heave-ho! I grew knees!"
On the beach, Stelle jumped up and down. This novel feeling was simply incredible. Was this what they called an open world?
"Oh? You can even climb vertically?"
It was as if Stelle had discovered a whole new world. She completely let herself go and started trying all sorts of things she had never tried before.
"What is going on with her?" March 7th's mouth twitched. It looked like she was having some kind of episode.
Hopefully it was not contagious.
Dan Heng could only remain silent. Even he had no way to explain this sort of thing. Such was the bewildering behavior of a Stellaron sprite.
"She's certainly lively," Himeko said with a sigh of admiration.
At her age, with the level of embarrassment she now possessed, there was no way she could do anything that childish herself.
"Himeko, do you remember that blonde girl, Lumine?"
Dan Heng thought for a moment. The elemental energy here felt oddly familiar, as though he had sensed it somewhere before. In the end, he remembered.
"So it's her. Indeed... if our guess is right, then this world should be her homeland." Himeko spoke thoughtfully.
She quite liked the beautiful scenery here. She had seen enough artificial polish already.
"Lumine's hometown?" Stelle's expression turned eager. She had gotten along very well with that Lumine.
"Hometown? That, I can't say for sure. But Lumine should be here," Himeko said.
Over in Mondstadt, a message from Celestia roused Koji from his paradise of comfort.
It was rare for him to enjoy the tender care of mature women like this, and he had found himself rather unwilling to pull away.
But the moment he heard the key words, Koji instantly woke up.
Could it really be the Astral Express?
There were not many trains in the universe capable of interstellar travel. In the Hoyoverse, the only one should be the Astral Express.
Good grief. The Trailblaze had reached Teyvat. As expected of the Nameless. They really could punch through even a false sky without hesitation.
Koji released the perception he had been keeping restrained, and sure enough, he detected several reactions of Imaginary energy. Their location was Windrise.
"What a magnificent oak tree."
Stelle opened her mouth wide in amazement, utterly awestruck.
The Ambrosial Arbor on the Xianzhou Luofu was taller than this tree, sure, but the sheer presence of this giant oak still made one want to praise it out loud.
This was an enormous tree steeped in the weight of long years, as though it could hold up the entire sky.
"Indeed. This should count as one of the region's iconic landmarks." Himeko nodded.
March 7th said nothing, merely busily snapping commemorative photos.
"Bang—"
"Himeko, do you guys want barbecue?" Stelle casually killed a few birds and picked up the fowl they dropped.
Open worlds really were great. Things she could not do before, she could do here.
"Uh... you should restrain yourself a little." Himeko pressed a hand to her forehead helplessly.
Stelle looked like a bandit who had just entered a village. Along the way, if she was not picking fruit, she was gathering mushrooms.
"...Fine, but I feel like something's missing. Are there no treasure chests here?" Stelle asked strangely.
She really had not seen a single treasure chest. In a place this huge, there should have been treasure chests no matter what.
Just then, a voice rang out.
"The treasure chests were all opened by someone else."
Stelle blurted out, displeased, "Who?!"
So that was why there were no treasure chests. Someone had already opened them all. Unforgivable. Someone had beaten her to them.
After saying that, Stelle saw Koji and immediately showed a surprised expression. She had run into someone she knew.
"Mr. Koji, I didn't expect you to be the first person we'd meet here." Himeko smiled faintly.
"My home is here. I just happened to have returned from another world not long ago. Otherwise, you really wouldn't have run into me," Koji said with a smile.
"Koji, who opened the treasure chests?" Stelle asked with complete seriousness. A certain name had already appeared in her mind.
"You guessed right. It was Lumine. She already opened the treasure chests here."
"Oh, and a few hundred years earlier, her brother had already swept through them once too."
When Aether traveled through the Seven Nations, even if he was not in the mood for sightseeing, he definitely would not pass up treasure chests whenever he saw them.
"Just as I thought," Stelle muttered.
So Lumine had a brother too. The fact that there were no treasure chests left to open was truly painful.
Himeko and the others watched Stelle clutch her chest, and the corners of their mouths twitched.
It was just the lack of treasure chests. Did it really have to hurt her this much?
"Then are there any trash cans here?" Stelle quickly asked next.
Before Koji could even answer, Himeko hurriedly said, "Stelle, no digging through trash cans."
Her words received unanimous approval from Welt and the others.
If the people here saw Stelle rummaging through trash cans, the Astral Express would embarrass itself all over again.
"Ahhh! No trash cans..."
Stelle dropped to the ground and started rolling around.
(End of Chapter)
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