Zhi Jiang winces as the train suddenly slows down. He feels like his heart is beating like a drum in a festival, not used to riding any space vehicles. He glances at the window of the train and is greeted with a monster attempting to attack the train. Zhi Jiang can't help but yelp in panic as the monster descends closer, but it is blasted by an energy beam, disintegrating it.
"W-what was that!?!" Zhi Jiang exclaims in disbelief as he points at the window.
"That would be a Voidranger, a foot soldier of the Antimatter Legion." A mature male voice can be heard as Zhi Jiang turns to see an older man with brown hair approaching him and lending a hand. "Hello, Zhi Jiang. I'm Welt."
"Y-you're the other person who's from Earth..." Zhi Jiang mutters as he accepts his help getting up.
"Indeed, but I would appreciate it if you could delay our Q&A session for the time being," Welt says as he adjusts his glasses.
"Yeah, sure...I know an emergency when I see one..." Zhi Jiang says as Welt nods in appreciation.
"Thank you for your understanding. And I suggest you brace yourself as we're about to land at the Space Station," Welt suggests as Zhi Jiang hastily sits down while Welt walks away. As Zhi Jiang watches Welt leave the Parlor Car like the others, another person walks past him, a young man around his age with black hair and a spear on his arm.
'That must be Dan Heng...' Zhi Jiang thought before glancing back at the window. 'Space Station, huh? I have never gone into one, and to think my first day in the space train is to visit a space station...'
As the train slows down and lands at the station, Zhi Jiang blinks a bit when he notices the Space Station conveniently has a railway for the train to stop. He also notices several people already fighting against the monsters.
"We have arrived at Herta's Space Station! Passenger, prepare to assist everyone on the space station!" Pom-Pom speaks through the speaker. "Except for you, Passenger Zhi Jiang. You have yet to fully recover!"
"Yeah, sure...got it." Zhi Jiang simply gives a thumbs-up before looking at the window, noticing that March and Dan Heng had walked out of the train and started attacking all of those monsters on the way. Zhi Jiang had to admit, March's Archery and Dan Heng's Spearmanship really looked impressive as they easily took care of the monster legion.
Then, Himeko steps out and says something to Dan Heng and March before Dan Heng and March rush off while Himeko walks in the opposite direction. Zhi Jiang had assumed that they simply split up to help more people in the space station, but one thing had confused Zhi Jiang a bit.
Where is Welt?
He noticed that Welt neither walks out of the train nor is there a sound of footsteps in the train that indicates Welt is still in the train. Zhi Jiang can't help but be a bit nervous, feeling a bit vulnerable with all of the fighters leaving the train. He would assume Pom-Pom could fight as well, but he's alone against an army of monsters, which didn't reassure the survivor.
He glances back at the collapsible bow in his hand and grips it tightly, accidentally pressing a button that extends it into one huge bow, and an energy extends to form a thin string from one end to another. Zhi Jiang can't help but glance at the bow in awe before trying to touch the string.
"What are you doing?" Zhi Jiang yelps at the unexpected sound and turns to see Pom-Pom staring blankly at him.
"S-sorry! I have no idea how to use it, and I accidentally trigger it..." Zhi Jiang apologizes as Pom-Pom sighs.
"Pom-Pom's glad you are not reckless," Pom-Pom says. "...as for the bow, just press the button to collapse it again. If you plan to attack, just draw the bow and aim. To switch arrow types, there's a set of buttons on the handle."
"...why did you just tell me how to use it?" Zhi Jiang asks blankly.
"In case we ever need to use that," Pom-Pom explains. "And Pom-Pom didn't want any accident caused by a lack of knowledge. The Astral Express didn't need to go through another explosion. For that spear, just twist it. To switch the blade type, press the button on the handle."
"...thanks," Zhi Jiang says honestly as Pom-Pom nods. He holds himself back from patting Pom-Pom's cute little head, but alas, he loses the battle and ends up doing that.
"...what are you doing?" Pom-Pom asks in confusion.
"A-ah, sorry! I...I can't help it..." Zhi Jiang glances away in embarrassment. Pom-Pom didn't say a word and just walked away, and if Zhi Jiang glances at them, he would notice Pom-Pom's tail wags a bit.
"...oh, gods. Why would I do that..." Zhi Jiang moans before noticing several kids can be seen running away with a Voidranger chasing on their tails. Zhi Jiang widens his eyes a bit, and suddenly, he receives a flashback of him getting chased by a bear of all things back in the deserted island, and how he got bitten on his left wrist trying to wrestle out of them.
Zhi Jiang snaps out of the flashback before he watches through the window and sees the kids getting cornered by the monster. Without hesitation, he rushes out of the Parlor Car and finds an exit. As he walks out, he draws out the bowstring as an arrow made of energy forms on the bow, and he aims at the monster.
"Hey, jackass!" Zhi Jiang calls, getting the monster's attention. Zhi Jiang unleashes the string and lets the arrow go. Zhi Jiang may have underestimated the power output as the energy arrow instantly tears through the Voidranger's armor like a hot knife stabbing through butter. He widened his eyes in shock as the Voidranger collapsed to the ground lifeless.
"...and they say this is just a normal hi-tech bow!?" Zhi Jiang exclaims as he glances at the bow in sheer disbelief. "If this is normal, then I don't know what's abnormal..."
"M-Mister!" Zhi Jiang turned around and saw the kids approaching him. He notices the kids are a boy and a girl with dark brown hair; the young boy has brown eyes, while the young girl has grey eyes. Zhi Jiang believes they might be siblings. "T-thank you for saving us!"
"...no problem," Zhi Jiang says softly as he pets the kids' heads. "But what are you two doing here? This place is dangerous."
"U-um..." The young boy grows a bit nervous. "W-we're trying to get help....daddy got attacked by those monsters."
"P-please, Mister. You gotta help us!" The young girl tugs his pants and gives Zhi Jiang puppy-doll eyes.
"Can you tell me where he is?" Zhi Jiang asks as the kids nod. He had no idea why he would even agree to do this, given how his previous life had heavily focused on surviving, and here he is, accepting a request from a random stranger to save someone he didn't even know. Maybe because he had nothing else to do, maybe because he feared he might regret his possible inaction, or maybe he simply didn't care about his own safety, but who knows.
"H-hey, passenger Zhi Jiang!" Zhi Jiang glances at the entrance door and sees Pom-Pom look at him in disbelief. "What are you doing!?! Why aren't you staying in the train!?!"
"Sorry, conductor! I saw these kids and I thought they might need to lend a hand, and right now, they ask me to save their father!" Zhi Jiang says before they all rush off.
"W-wait!" Pom-Pom exclaims, but much to the conductor's surprise, Zhi Jiang manages to run off without any issues, like his body seems to heal quickly. This confused Pom-Pom as he didn't expect him to recover that fast.
"...not another one..." Pom-Pom can't help but groan at how he runs off, reminding them of their previous passengers or Nameless doing similar things. "...please be careful."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
With Zhi Jiang
It didn't take long for Zhi Jiang to find the kid's father, but the scenario caught the young man off guard. The father uses an office chair to fend off himself and even attempts to throw it at a group of Voidrangers. But one of them, the one with blades as hands, sliced the chair off and tried to jump on the man.
Without any hesitation, Zhi Jiang launches two energy arrows and instantly pierces through its head and torso, causing it to collapse right next to the man. All Voidrangers' attention was directed to Zhi Jiang and the kids, and the man widened his eyes in shock.
"Kids, get out of there!" The man exclaims in worry as the Voidrangers start charging at them. Zhi Jiang didn't hesitate to launch arrow after arrow, reminding him of hunting fish at sea with a bow and arrows after failing to do so with fishing hooks. One by one, the Voidrangers collapse with a gaping hole in their vital areas.
The man, whom Zhi Jiang assumes to be a scientist, stares at the scene in disbelief. This random young man, who was with his kids, just appeared out of nowhere and took care of the Antimatter Legion, and the way he did it reminds him of that one documentary about how humans used to hunt on a planet filled with nothing but rainforest. Before he could process how absurd the scene was, the kids rushed towards the man and tackled him into a hug.
"Dad!" They cried as they hugged his legs tightly. The father snaps out of his thought before pulling them into a hug, his eyes display the fear and relief after what happened. Zhi Jiang watches the heartwarming scene with a sad smile; his heart aches a bit. He takes a deep breath to calm himself down before approaching them.
"Hey," Zhi Jiang calls, getting their attention.
"Daddy, look!" The young boy calls. "He's the man who came out of the Astral Express and helped us!"
"Y-you're a Nameless?" The man asks in surprise. That does explain his particular archery skill. Isn't there also a girl who uses a bow who once visited the station as well? What was her name again?
"Uh..." Zhi Jiang pauses as he watches the kids with starry eyes, a hopeful expression on their faces. "...you could say that."
Zhi Jiang's expectation and hope had been crushed for a long time, but he didn't dare to crush the kid's.
"I see...thank you for your help, saving me and my kids..." The man says as Zhi Jiang simply nods. "You and your crew's arrival is a huge help for this station."
"Y-yeah, of course." Zhi Jiang nods before scratching his cheek. "U-um, sorry, but this is my first time here. Do you think you could direct us to a safe place? You guys shouldn't be here with this kind of situation."
"O-of course," The man says before hesitating a bit.
"...is something wrong?" Zhi Jiang asks in confusion.
"My colleagues..." The man mutters as Zhi Jiang understands.
"We're saving them along the way. But you guys really need to get to safety first," Zhi Jiang says without thinking. The man and his kids look grateful, while Zhi Jiang could only wonder what the hell he is even doing. He shouldn't be here, and yet, here he is!
Zhi Jiang holds himself back from sighing, not wanting to make the kids assume he's frustrated with everything.
To be Continued