On the other end of the call.
The two fell silent.
Seeing this, Dan Heng asked again:
"What do you think?"
This time, responses came from both.
Ultimate Beautiful Girl: "It actually sounds pretty good!"
Ultimate Slacker: "I almost didn't recover from that!"
Cold Dragon Young: "…"
"Hey hey hey."
At that moment, Seele—who had already returned to normal—walked over sipping Happy Soda. She leaned close to Dan Heng and spoke into his phone:
"Um… do you guys really have to do this over the phone? Can't you just come here and talk face-to-face? That white-haired girl already went back, right? Why can't you come over?"
Cold Dragon Young said quietly:
"Actually… they're already here."
"Huh? Where!!"
Seele looked left and right. Hundreds of meters around were packed with dense Silvermane Guards—even if Zeig and March 7th were mixed in, it would be hard to spot them.
"Above."
"Above?"
Cold Dragon Young silently pointed upward. Seele followed his finger.
The sky was perfectly clear at the moment—even the snow underfoot had begun to melt.
Seele stared at the endless blue sky for a long while but couldn't even find the drone from earlier.
She retracted her gaze:
"They flew out of the galaxy?"
Cold Dragon Young remained silent, simply waiting quietly.
Soon, the sky above everyone's heads blurred. Streaks of black-purple electric arcs flashed through.
"What is that?" Seele looked up in confusion.
A massive figure suddenly appeared, blotting out the sky and casting the crowd below into shadow.
It was an enormous black-purple mech. Six vast wing-like thrusters at the rear continuously spewed pale blue flames.
It simply hovered silently in the air, gazing down at the people below.
The next moment, they heard Zeig's voice.
This time the sound didn't come from Dan Heng's phone—it came from the colossal object overhead.
"It's been so long—where's this Stellaron Hunter? Did you guys get it wrong? We've already swapped contracts 46 times and still no enemy came out to chop you up."
"Yeah yeah." March 7th's voice also came from above:
"If it really doesn't work, let's just withdraw. Keeping Heavenly Father parked like this burns a ton of energy—you know how expensive energy is these days?"
But Dan Heng below still shook his head:
"No. The opponent is absolutely no ordinary foe. We must be even more cautious!"
Heavenly Father looked down at Dan Heng, its scarlet eyes glowing faintly. Inside, Zeig spoke:
"How exactly did you confirm it's a Stellaron Hunter? We've been flying over this snow plain for ages—there's nothing here except you guys."
Hearing Zeig's voice, Seele's shock deepened.
"What the hell—while scheming against Dan Heng, you still marked the caravan and Guards for instant teleport, and flew a mech to scout the entire snow plain? How are you two this efficient and still get hated on so much by Pela!"
Inside the cockpit.
Zeig curled his lip:
"What's the big deal? Running a museum isn't nearly as fun as hammering Dan Heng."
March 7th lay back in her seat and stretched lazily:
"Exactly exactly—money can be made anytime. The chance to screw over a teammate is once in a lifetime, and the chance to team up with one teammate to screw over another is one in ten thousand!"
Their words instantly silenced Dan Heng standing below.
His earlier actions had led to constant targeting from the two.
After thinking for a moment, he spoke again:
"Zeig, have you forgotten something?"
"What?" Above, Zeig laughed lightly.
Cold Dragon Young continued:
"Originally… all the museum's revenue belonged solely to you, didn't it?"
"…"
At these words, Zeig's smile froze on his face.
Ultimate Beautiful Girl looked at Zeig and clenched her fist firmly:
"Friend, don't let the villain provoke you—our bond is as unbreakable as diamond, right?"
Cold Dragon Young went on:
"Earlier, you and March forming a united front made sense—after all, I threatened both your profits. But now I'm willing to give up half my revenue share. Under the current setup, on my work day—even if you do nothing—you'd still get a quarter day's earnings. But on March's day… you'd get nothing."
These words caused an immediate stir.
The surrounding gossiping Silvermane Guards exchanged glances.
"What does Mr. Dan Heng mean? Why say the museum revenue originally all belonged to the Executive Officer? If that's true, how did it turn into this?"
"You clearly don't follow the gossip."
"Let me tell you straight—back then I was in the Goethe Hotel lobby. Miss March 7th was accusing the Executive Officer of taking side gigs behind his teammates' backs again."
"I-I-I was there too!"
"Right—then Miss March 7th directly applied to Lady Bronya on the spot, and she approved immediately."
"And then Mr. Dan Heng opened fire with an area attack."
"So ridiculous—how could he steal business from teammates?"
"The Executive Officer is pretty dog too—always hides good stuff from teammates."
"Yeah yeah—remember how Miss March 7th and Mr. Dan Heng even came to Belobog this time? They clearly don't treat teammates as people!"
In an instant, some said Zeig was wrong, some said Dan Heng was wrong, some said March 7th was wrong.
As for the protagonists this time—the Astral Express's three legends—they had already moved to the center of the snowfield encircled by the Silvermane Guards.
Heavenly Father slowly hovered overhead, on autopilot like a referee, floating above everyone's heads.
Below.
Cold Dragon Young stood with arms crossed, addressing the two:
"Why did you come down?"
Zeig had hands in pockets, sneering:
"I don't want to squat with this birth. Tch—can't stand seeing a teammate do well."
Ultimate Beautiful Girl also looked at the two with disdain:
"Aren't you two even more born? A beautiful girl like me—whatever I do, the audience will support!"
In an instant, three sides stood in opposition.
The atmosphere grew increasingly tense.
None of the three yielded to the others. They silently increased the distance between them.
Cold Dragon Young stood with arms crossed, gaze calm.
Zeig stood with hands in pockets, long hair and black coat hem fluttering in the cold wind, proudly upright.
Ultimate Beautiful Girl had hands behind her back, pink hair flowing, eyes full of contempt.
The three said nothing, standing in the cold wind.
Gepard and Seele stood behind them—at this moment, neither dared step forward.
The aura radiating from those three was growing more terrifying. It felt as though something invisible… was already intertwining and clashing between them.
Seele's hair fluttered as she exclaimed in shock:
"Didn't they say they were going to fight someone else? Why are they fighting each other first?!"
Gepard sighed:
"Each has their own reasoning. Looks like today won't end peacefully."
…
Suddenly, a voice rang out from the side.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"?"
…