Morning. The carriage was quiet—so quiet that the only sound was the old record player, pouring out a slow, husky melody.
Huo Linfei's eyelids drooped. He waved the vacuum nozzle halfheartedly, the steady bzzzz almost turning into lullaby-level white noise.
So sleepy…
He yawned so hard his eyes watered. Last night he'd borrowed Dan Heng's room and rummaged through the Archives for records about Aeons—only to stay up into the early hours. The results were all abstract concepts and Pathstrider anecdotes. Not only did they not solve anything… they made his questions multiply. Now he was running on a tragic lack of sleep.
And the Astral Express itself was basically a paradox: it already looked huge from the outside, but inside it was absurdly larger—too many rooms, too many corridors. Every time it was his turn to clean, it felt like running a mini marathon.
"Phew… did the conductor secretly use a Curio to expand the interior or what…" he muttered under his breath, dragging his heavy steps toward the next carriage.
Just then, the door between carriages slid open.
"Huo Linfei! Look, look—how's this outfit?!"
March 7th's bright voice shattered the quiet.
Huo Linfei reflexively looked up—and in an instant, all sleepiness was blown clean out of his head.
March 7th stood in the doorway. She wasn't wearing her usual practical, cute short-skirt outfit. Instead, she'd changed into an exquisitely tailored blue-and-white formal dress. The skirt fell in layered petals, studded with tiny crystal-like stones. Light gauze sleeves traced the line of her slender arms, the waist cinched neatly, making her posture look even more striking. She even lifted the hem slightly—white stockings peeking out beneath, creating a "no-go zone" between the dress and thigh that was practically weaponized.
She looked at him with shining pink-and-blue eyes—expectant, and faintly shy.
"W-Wow…" Huo Linfei's vacuum tube slipped from his fingers with a clack as it hit the floor. He stared, dumbstruck, and blurted out, "So pretty!"
March's face went red instantly. She let the skirt fall back into place, twisting a little in embarrassment.
"R-Really? Don't… don't say stuff like that…"
"Of course it's true! If I'm lying, let Pom-Pom strike me!" Huo Linfei picked up the vacuum, stepped closer, and praised her with absolute sincerity. "This style's totally different from your usual vibe, but it suits you so well. But—what's the occasion? Why so formal all of a sudden?"
March blinked, surprised.
"Huh? You didn't get Bronya's message?"
"Message?" Huo Linfei froze—then slapped his forehead. "Oh right! Last night I turned off all my phone notifications so I wouldn't get interrupted!"
He hurriedly pulled out his phone. The moment the screen lit up, the flood of notification pop-ups almost jammed the interface into submission.
At the top was Herta—99+ unread messages, all aggressively consistent:
[Herta]: New Simulated Universe version! Come test!
[Herta]: Where are you??
[Herta]: @Huo Linfei Your energy data is critical!
[Herta]: …(hundreds more near-identical催促)
Huo Linfei's mouth twitched as he painfully dismissed Herta's spam. After digging through the pile, he finally found the message from Bronya Rand.
He opened it.
It was a beautifully designed e-invitation—complete with imagery that was, honestly… a bit mature.
To our dear friends aboard the Astral Express:
Belobog will hold the Radiant Sun Festival three days from now, to celebrate the retreat of the cold tide and the return of warmth and new life.
We sincerely invite you to join us, and share in this joyous occasion.
— Bronya Rand, Supreme Guardian of Belobog
A rose emoji sat beneath the invitation.
"So it's a festival!" Huo Linfei said in realization. "No wonder…" He looked up at March, suddenly understanding.
March nodded, her blush still lingering.
"Yeah. Himeko and Uncle Yang are already preparing gifts. So of course I have to dress up properly too! …Which means—were you slacking off instead of cleaning just now?"
She deftly changed the subject, pointing at the vacuum on the floor.
"Uh, well…" Huo Linfei's brain scrambled for an excuse—
But before he could produce one, a stern, slightly indignant voice sounded behind him:
"Passenger Huo Linfei—!"
Pom-Pom, the conductor, had appeared without warning. Hands on hips, Pom-Pom glared up at him, round body wobbling with displeasure.
"Not only are you slacking while cleaning! You're also disturbing other passengers! The conductor saw it all!"
Pom-Pom lifted a tiny broom handle and tapped Huo Linfei's shin—not hard, but with maximum authority.
"Punishment! Go clean out the storage room on the second floor of the party car immediately! No rest until it's done, Pom!"
"Huh?! Second floor of the party car? That storage room?" Huo Linfei's face fell. That place was basically the Express's "Bermuda Triangle"—piles stacked higher than mountains.
"That's right, Pom! Right now! Immediately!" Pom-Pom's stance was ironclad.
Under March's slightly sympathetic gaze, Huo Linfei could only pack up his tools in defeat and trudge toward the party car.
The moment he pushed open the storage room door, a wave of stale, old-object smell hit him in the face.
As expected of a storage room, it was crammed to the ceiling: discarded decorations, old furniture, souvenirs from who-knew-which planet—there were even several sets of antique robot parts. It was so packed he could barely find a place to put his feet.
Huo Linfei sighed and resigned himself to the job. Dust had him sneezing nonstop.
While struggling to move a huge cardboard box stamped with an "Alahato" logo, something behind it caught his eye—
Several… golden trash cans.
They were polished to a mirror shine. Amid the gray, dusty clutter, they looked absurdly out of place—less like junk, more like treasured collectibles carefully arranged and stored.
"…???"
Question marks practically popped above Huo Linfei's head.
"Who has this kind of taste?" he muttered. "Why would anyone keep a bunch of gold trash cans in storage—and line them up this neatly?"
Unable to resist, he reached out and touched the cold metal surface of one can.
This thing… felt weirdly familiar. Like he'd seen it somewhere before…
Click.
The lid suddenly lifted from the inside—opening a narrow crack.
A moment later, a gray head slowly rose out of the trash can. Bits of ribbon and glitter clung to the hair.
Stelle blinked her signature golden eyes—equal parts blank and intensely focused—and locked gazes with Huo Linfei, who was frozen mid-reach with his finger still hanging in the air.
The storage room fell into a brief, deeply unnatural silence.
Stelle: "…Were you looking for me?"
Huo Linfei: "…If I said I just wanted to touch the can, would you believe me?"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 90)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter70)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter70)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter60)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 20
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 20
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