Chapter 98: Rebuilding Cheesetopia and Returning to the Express
At the back of the bustling crowd, a solitary figure hobbled forward, leaning heavily on a scavenged metal pipe that served as a makeshift cane. It was Pompey.
Physically, after Paimon's bizarre yet miraculous purification, he was perfectly fine. His complexion had regained its healthy, rugged color, and his eyes burned with their former sharpness. He was merely playing the part of a gravely injured man to cooperate with Caesar's grand scheme.
After all, Caesar had made a strategic promise, requesting the rescue transport to pick them up a week later. Thus, the former Overlord temporarily remained in Blazewood under the guise of recuperation.
Pompey came to a halt in front of Wise and Belle. The man who had once ruled the Outer Ring with an iron fist had now completely reined in his intimidating aura. He looked at the Proxy siblings with incredibly complex eyes.
Instead of offering a handshake, he solemnly placed his right hand over his heart and bowed deeply to Wise and Belle, performing the highest gesture of respect among the hardened people of the Outer Ring.
"You two..." Pompey's voice was low, carrying a gravelly clarity that only came from a man who had stared into the abyss of death and lived to tell the tale.
"I, Pompey, will engrave your life-saving grace into my very bones." He paused, his calloused fingers unconsciously drifting up to stroke his neck. Not long ago, that skin had been violently consumed by jagged, parasitic Ether crystals. Now, it was entirely smooth, completely purged of the Hollow's corruption.
A bitter, emotional smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "That day, when I saw that massive wrench falling from the sky... I truly thought it was the Grim Reaper's scythe coming to grant me a quick, merciful end. I never imagined it would be the very thing to bring me new life."
He lifted his head, his gaze sweeping the area behind the siblings with a hint of wistful exploration. "It's just a pity I couldn't thank that magical little white Elf in person again."
Wise and Belle quickly waved off the praise, insisting that Paimon had only done what any good companion would do. Internally, however, the siblings shared a synchronized sigh of relief, secretly rejoicing that the chaotic floating guide hadn't revealed too much of their multiversal secrets.
Despite their modesty, Pompey's gratitude remained absolute. The sheer dignity of the former Overlord, coupled with his unwavering sense of honor, compelled Wise and Belle to straighten their postures and return a serious, respectful bow.
Shortly after the post-battle commotion began to settle, Caesar and Burnice jogged over, finding Wise and Belle amidst the dust, helping the locals clean up the minor chaos left behind by the recent search operations.
Caesar grinned, wiping a smudge of grease from her cheek before extending an invitation. "Wise, Belle! There's something important I want to discuss with you two. Got a minute to take a walk with us?"
Without waiting for a refusal, she led the siblings away from the main thoroughfare, handling toward a cordoned-off sector filled with particularly dilapidated, desolate structures.
They stopped in front of a ruin. A broken half-door hung precariously by a single rusted hinge. The exterior walls were severely mottled, peeling away in large chunks to reveal the decaying brickwork beneath. Shattered glass littered the ground, and inside, thick layers of dust blanketed piles of unidentifiable debris. Only a few thick, stubborn metal beams remained, desperately supporting the sagging, crumbling roof.
The air was thick with the distinct, heavy scent of decay, rust, and forgotten years.
"Here we are!" Caesar announced, clapping her hands together, though her smile carried a hint of sheepish embarrassment. "Now that I've officially taken up the mantle of Overlord, I figure Blazewood naturally needs an injection of fresh vitality."
She gestured vaguely at the wreckage. "Usually, when everyone wants to grab a bite or celebrate a victory, there's no proper place to do it. Most of the time, we're just squatting outdoors around a fire."
Caesar pointed directly at the collapsed building, which, in all honesty, was nothing more than a glorified pile of rubble, but her eyes sparkled with unyielding hope. "This place used to be a legendary restaurant called Cheesetopia! But, well... it fell into disrepair over the years. So, Burnice and I were talking, and we want to fix it up! Bring it back to its former glory!"
Stepping forward, Caesar clapped a heavy, enthusiastic hand onto Wise's shoulder. "Wise, Belle, you two have traveled all over! You've got broad horizons and brilliant ideas!"
"Help us design it! Let's turn this dump into a place where everyone can eat safely, drink loudly, and celebrate properly! Our official victory feast for winning the Overlord title is going to be held right here!"
Wise and Belle stared blankly at the catastrophic structural hazard before them. For a long moment, the siblings were entirely speechless.
However, as Belle's gaze swept over what used to be a collapsed open-plan kitchen area, a sudden, brilliant spark ignited in her eyes.
An idea took root.
"A new dish testing base!" Belle blurted out, her voice pitching up with sudden excitement. She grabbed her brother's arm. "Wise, think about it! We can use this place to test out all the crazy gourmet recipes Lumine and Stelle come up with! If the dishes don't explode and actually taste good, we can add them to the official menu!"
Wise looked at his sister's sparkling, chaotic eyes, then shifted his gaze to Caesar and Burnice, who were practically vibrating with eagerness.
Finally, he let out a soft breath and nodded.
The Proxy siblings of Random Play had never backed down from a challenge, whether it was handling the deepest, most dangerous Hollows or managing a makeshift restaurant in the Outer Ring.
"Alright," Wise said, his voice steady and reassuring. "We will assist in the reconstruction of Cheesetopia. As for the new menu items..."
A rare, faintly mischievous smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Perhaps we can invite our technical providers from the chat group to taste and evaluate the experimental dishes first."
Seeing that Wise and Belle hadn't run away screaming, but were instead actively planning the logistics, Caesar and Burnice exchanged a triumphant high-five.
Meanwhile, across the vast expanse of the multiverse.
The parlor car of the Astral Express was bathed in warm, golden light, filled with the rich, mellow aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans. It was a familiar, deeply reassuring tranquility.
With a soft, cascading flash of blue data-light, the figures of Stelle, March 7th, and Dan Heng materialized in the center of the plush carpet.
"Welcome back," a gentle, elegant voice greeted them.
Himeko gracefully set down the glass siphon pot on the counter. Through the wisps of aromatic steam, her face was illuminated by a warm, relieved smile.
On the opposite side of the car, Welt's precise movements paused.
He was seated quietly, carefully polishing a highly detailed, mechanically flawless EVA Unit-01 model with a square of fine velvet cloth.
Adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose, his sharp gaze swept over the three returning Trailblazers. After a thorough visual inspection confirmed they were entirely unharmed, the tension in his shoulders vanished. He nodded slightly, his voice a steady, comforting rumble. "It's good that you're safe."
That quiet, unspoken concern was the unique, subtle warmth of a parent welcoming their children home.
Seeing these two steadfast figures standing there like unshakeable anchors, a deep surge of warmth flooded the hearts of the Express's youngest trio.
The lingering exhaustion of their chaotic multiversal journey seemed to evaporate into the coffee-scented air.
"Himeko! Uncle Yang! We're back!" March 7th cheered, waving energetically as her signature brilliant smile lit up the room.
"Hmm. The mission went smoothly," Dan Heng added, giving a brief report as his analytical gaze swept the parlor car, instinctively verifying the train's operational status.
Stelle, entirely incapable of being normal, threw her arms wide open in a grand, theatrical gesture, as if trying to physically embrace the entire train car. "Astral Express! Your great, unmatched hero, Stelle, has returned in absolute triumph! Did you miss me?!"
Without waiting for an answer, Stelle bounded over to the central sofa, leaped onto the cushions, and cleared her throat loudly, striking a heroic pose. "Ahem! Listeners, gather round! Are you prepared to hear the latest, most glorious epic of Stelle the Trailblazer?"
"Picture this! In that ghostly, desolate wasteland known as the Night Kingdom, abyssal monsters gathered in endless, terrifying droves! The sheer scale of it, tsk, tsk..."
She gestured wildly with both hands, her eyes wide with manufactured intensity. "But before they could even blink, I summoned my flaming lance... oh, wait, no, it's a sword now! I raised my sword, condensing the absolute, world-destroying power of the Fire Dance Whirlwind! Golden light radiated for ten thousand feet! Sword qi crisscrossed for thirty thousand miles! I unleashed my ultimate, secret technique: Golden Light Demon Subduing!"
She suddenly mimed a devastating downward chop, her entire body throwing itself into the dramatic reenactment. "BOOM!!!"
"The entire basin was split wide open by my blade! Those abyssal minions were instantly vaporized into fine ash! How about that? Isn't your Trailblazer just super cool?"
Before the echoes of her dramatic storytelling could even fade, the heavy door to the parlor car was slammed open with a violent bang.
A small, frantic figure in a pristine Conductor's uniform rushed in impetuously. It was Pom-Pom.
The Conductor was running so fast that their round, plush body almost couldn't brake in time, their characteristic long, floppy ears swinging wildly from the sheer inertia of the sprint.
"Pom-Pom?!" Everyone in the car blinked in surprise, their relaxed smiles instantly vanishing as they assumed a critical emergency had just struck the Express.
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