"So this... is a Stellaron? Doesn't look like much."
Following the path, the three of them arrived at a room.
The room was very sparse, without any unnecessary clutter. The only thing present was a yellow sphere in the center, emanating waves of destructive energy.
If an ordinary person stood here, even with Herta's isolation devices, they would likely be affected by the aura and transform into a Voidranger on the spot.
But Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Clara were clearly not ordinary people, completely unaffected by the physical influence of the Stellaron.
"The Stellaron is right in front of us. We need to hurry. Without the Doomsday Beast to stall, we don't have much time left."
"Can you extract it?"
"Of course. In the realm of hacking, even Herta is no match for me." Hearing this, Silver Wolf scoffed disdainfully. Perhaps her intellect and combat power couldn't compare to those geniuses from the Genius Society.
But in hacking, Silver Wolf had the confidence to defeat so-called geniuses.
"Pfft." The moment Silver Wolf finished speaking, Clara couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Hearing Clara's laughter, Kafka and Silver Wolf once again cast puzzled glances her way.
Feeling their stares, Clara quickly waved her hands, though the smile didn't leave her face.
"It's nothing, nothing. I just remembered something funny, that's all."
"Are you thinking something bad?" Looking at the grin on Clara's face, Silver Wolf had good reason to suspect Clara was laughing at her.
"No, no. I swear on my honor, I absolutely wasn't laughing at you." Clara raised four fingers, her expression deadly serious.
Poor Silver Wolf, throwing a tearful tantrum because seventy-six of her accounts got banned, boohoo~ so pitiful.
Silver Wolf: ᗜ ‸ ᗜ
Silver Wolf felt Clara was laughing at her, but she couldn't seem to find a reason for it.
"Alright, Silver Wolf, prepare the vessel." Kafka retrieved the Stellaron. Watching Clara and Silver Wolf's usual dynamic, she let out a light chuckle.
"Hmph." Silver Wolf shot a glance at Clara, tapped a few times on the screen in front of her, then swiped it over to Kafka.
"You choose. Which vessel to activate."
"Huh?" Kafka tapped the screen a few times, then made a puzzled sound. "Why can't I select this male vessel?"
"Hm?" Hearing this, Silver Wolf leaned over curiously, tapping on the screen. She found that the male vessel named [Caelus] indeed couldn't be selected.
"What's going on? Try the female vessel, [Stelle]."
"Ah, it went through." Kafka tapped on the female vessel [Stelle], and unexpectedly, it selected immediately.
"What's happening? Is there a problem?" Seeing this, even the hacking expert Silver Wolf fell into silence.
"The vessel isn't faulty, the system isn't faulty... then the problem is quite obvious."
The gazes of Silver Wolf and Kafka, at this moment, both turned towards Clara.
"Wh-what? I'm innocent, I'm a law-abiding citizen."
Feeling their stares, Clara hurriedly turned her head away, putting on an air of 'this has nothing to do with me.'
"Elio said the one to make this choice must be Kafka. With your meddling, the script is completely derailed." Looking at Clara's act, Silver Wolf was immediately convinced she was the culprit.
Hearing this, Clara looked utterly confused, like an innocent little girl.
"Silver Wolf sis, what are you talking about? Little Clara doesn't understand~"
"Forget it, it makes no real difference." Kafka didn't mind. With Clara around, when was the script ever not derailed?
Kafka's finger slid across the screen, selecting the female vessel and clicking confirm.
The next moment, a young girl appeared before them.
Kafka, holding the Stellaron, slowly walked towards the girl.
"How much will she remember?"
"At the very least, she'll remember you." Silver Wolf's fingers were busily tapping something on her screen as she replied offhandedly.
"Me? What about me? Will she remember me too?" Clara quickly raised her hand to ask.
(The following is original dialogue from Kafka's companion quest, so Clara knows the vessel.)
(You are an artificial body created to contain the Stellaron. From birth, your destiny was to receive the Stellaron at Herta Space Station. My job was to protect you until then, to teach you basic knowledge, understanding, and combat skills. The reason you don't remember is because, before executing Herta's plan, I made you forget.)
"You? Probably? Maybe? Remember? Huh?" Silver Wolf hesitated for a moment, then spoke with great uncertainty.
Clara: ?
"Why so uncertain?"
"Think about what you did to her, then talk." Hearing this, Silver Wolf shot Clara a look of disdain.
"Haha." Recalling her past "deeds" towards Stelle, Clara couldn't help but awkwardly rub her nose.
"Well then, you've slept enough. Time to wake up." Looking at the unconscious Stelle before her, Kafka simply hugged her and stuffed the Stellaron into her body.
After the Stellaron entered Stelle's body, golden light emanated from around her, and then she slowly collapsed to the ground.
Not much time passed before Stelle slowly opened her eyes.
"Come on, say it with me: One two three~ Three two one~" Seeing Stelle open her eyes, Clara walked over, waving a hand in front of her face.
"Ah!" The moment she opened her eyes and saw the girl before her, Stelle seemed to let out an instinctive scream in her heart, then scrambled backward frantically, her eyes full of fear.
Clara: ...
What? Was she this scared of me before?
"Alright, Clara, stop scaring her." Kafka walked over to Stelle, looking at her with a gentle expression.
"Listen to me~"
"Your mind is empty. You don't know who you are, why you're here, or what you should do next."
"You just feel I'm familiar, but deep down, you don't know if you should trust me?"
"But none of that matters. What matters is that I'm leaving, leaving you alone here on the Space Station..."
"This is the future Elio has foreseen for you. Well? Do you like it?"
"The Astral Express people will be here soon. Hurry up, or we'll run into them." Silver Wolf checked the time and reminded them.
"Mhm." Kafka nodded, then continued speaking to Stelle:
"Listen to me. We have to go. Soon, someone will find you, and you will embark on a new journey..."
"When you have the chance to make a choice, please don't let yourself regret it." After saying this, Kafka turned to leave.
"Kafka!" Seeing this, Stelle, fighting against the weakness in her body and her increasingly heavy head, quickly tried to get up, wanting to follow Kafka.
"I..."
Thud!
With a loud thud, Stelle immediately collapsed to the ground.
"Why say so much? Just knock her out with one hit." Clara, holding a baseball bat, looked satisfied at Stelle sleeping soundly on the ground.
Silver Wolf, Kafka: ...
"That thing of yours... what is it even made of?" Silver Wolf looked at the baseball bat in Clara's hands, somewhat curious.
"You wanna try it?" Feeling Silver Wolf's curious gaze, Clara waved the baseball bat slightly.
"No..."
Thud!
"Out like a light. The young sure sleep well."
Looking at Silver Wolf, eyes closed and collapsed on the ground, Clara sighed with admiration.
...
Clara: Regarding Stelle
She's terrified of me, and I don't know why. Thinking back to when we spent time together, it's not like I did anything to her, right? I just stole her food and drinks, tricked her into calling me 'daddy,' calling my mom 'mommy.'
Oh, and when she was being naughty, I used a baseball bat to "reason" with her... that's not much, right?
…
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