"What do you mean, 'am I really Xing's brother'? Don't tell me you didn't believe us at all before this?"
Fu Zhu grumbled at Dan Heng, fiddling with the Stellaron as he leaned back on the sofa.
A faint smile touched the lips of the usually reserved Dan Heng. "If I recall, you yourself seemed a bit reluctant to admit Xing was your sister at first, didn't you? Why the sudden change of heart, defending her now?"
Hearing this, even the thick-skinned Fu Zhu couldn't help but blush a little.
"None of your business."
Dan Heng chuckled and didn't tease Fu Zhu any further, instead shifting the topic back to the Stellaron.
"All the Stellarons the Express crew has encountered before were sealed by Welt and Himeko using Trailblaze Power. Yet, with the one in your hand, I didn't sense you use any Trailblaze Power at all. It seems you managed to stabilize it entirely with your own strength. Truly incredible."
Hearing this, Fu Zhu felt a little nervous.
He was worried Dan Heng would press him for details on how he did it.
If it were anyone else asking, even Nous, Fu Zhu would have just rolled his eyes and brushed them off with a simple "I don't know."
But Dan Heng was his companion. Fu Zhu didn't want to fob off a companion, yet he didn't know how to explain it.
Fortunately, Dan Heng didn't ask. Fu Zhu let out a sigh of relief and quickly changed the subject.
"Dan Heng, the Stellarons the Express crew sealed before, where are they sealed? On the Express?"
"Why do you ask?" Dan Heng shook his head. "Although we Nameless are capable of sealing Stellarons, the Astral Express needs to travel along the various star rails of the universe. The process of trailblazing is not always smooth, so it's not a suitable place to store Stellarons."
"If we kept those sealed Stellarons on the Express and the train happened to be attacked, it could very well cause the Stellarons to erupt, leading to a catastrophe in the surrounding star system. That's why most Stellarons are sealed and left on their home planets."
"So you're saying the Stellarons are useless to the Express crew and the places where they erupt?"
"You could say that... What are you planning to do with it?"
Fu Zhu grinned mischievously. For him, a Stellaron was, in a certain sense, a very good thing!
That was because its degree of similarity to all items in MC was one-to-one. As long as an item existed in MC, it could be converted!
This even included items like Slime Blocks, Monster Eggs, Spawners, and even Bedrock!
The utility of Slime Blocks goes without saying; they are an indispensable component of Redstone technology. With them, Fu Zhu could create all sorts of powerful Redstone machines!
Like the most famous of them all, the World-Eater!
This planet is suffering from a Stellaron crisis, you say? I'll just blow up the planet and the Stellaron along with it, and then there won't be a Stellaron crisis anymore!
Of course, that was just a "joke." The uses of a World-Eater went far beyond that.
As for Monster Eggs and Spawners, Fu Zhu was more inclined to spawn a bunch of Villagers. Then he could start playing with automatic farming!
Automatic farming, as the name implies, refers to using Redstone circuits in survival mode to acquire infinite resources!
Although the world he was in was technologically advanced, and a resource like iron might be very cheap, its ancillary costs, like transportation and so on, were definitely not cheap.
Besides, the thought of Steve having to spend money to buy iron gave Fu Zhu a very strange feeling. He would much rather go mining himself than spend money or emeralds to buy iron ingots.
However, the idea of building an iron farm made Fu Zhu a little worried, and that was because of the Aeon of [Preservation], Qlipoth.
Judging by how much It cared about the Iron Golem before, he had no idea what kind of expression It would have upon seeing countless Iron Golems being born only to swiftly die and turn into a poppy and an iron ingot. Would It just bring down a hammer and smash his head in?
But all of this was just speculation for now. After all, he would need at least two Stellarons to achieve that, and he only had one on hand.
Although there was another Stellaron inside Xing's body, that was outside the scope of his consideration. He had no idea what effect removing the Stellaron from Xing's body would have on her.
Compared to an iron farm, his little sister was much more important.
"How the Stellaron should be dealt with... I imagine when Welt and the others arrive tomorrow, they'll let you decide for yourself."
Dan Heng still seemed a little worried and added another reminder, "But you'd best be careful. After all, this is the cancer of all worlds. If it erupts, you will be harmed."
"Don't worry, I'll guarantee my own safety."
"That's good."
Dan Heng nodded, took out his phone to check the time, and seeing it was getting late, he stood up to take his leave from Fu Zhu.
"Rest early."
In a private bar somewhere in the galaxy.
Kafka's eyes were downcast as she gently swirled the wine glass in her hand. The violet-red liquid flowed down the transparent wall of the glass, leaving behind a thin, crimson veil.
The screen of the phone beside her suddenly lit up. A silent call came through. The caller was a user with a black cat avatar.
Kafka glanced at it, reached out to answer, and switched the communication mode to holographic video.
"Elio, calling me so suddenly, is it because the next act of the script is about to begin?"
A virtual black cat appeared on the bar, crouching by Kafka's left hand. It let out a very human-like sigh.
"If only it were that simple..."
The voice that answered Kafka was an eerie mix of a young boy's and a young girl's. The other party was clearly using some method to prevent anyone from knowing their true identity.
"Hmm?"
Hearing Elio's words, a flicker of surprise flashed in Kafka's calm eyes.
"Someone has changed the script!"
Elio seemed furious. He arched his back, and the fur on his back stood on end.
"This is the first time I've seen you lose your composure like this."
Kafka chuckled softly, put down her wine glass, and extended a finger to stroke the bristling fur on Elio's virtual back from a distance, though it was of no use.
Just then, a short girl walked into Kafka's field of vision from the side. While playing with the console in her hands, she glanced up at Kafka and Elio, her attention quickly drawn to the bristling Elio.
"Ooh? Elio's Spinosaurus form, how rare! I've got to take a picture for my collection."
Silver Wolf turned off her console, took out her phone, and snapped a photo of Elio. She then blissfully saved it to her encrypted photo album before plopping down in the empty seat next to Kafka.
"Elio, why are you so agitated all of a sudden? Did something happen?"
Elio calmed down a little, his virtual form slumping wearily onto the counter.
"If you saw the same exaggerated and abstract futures as I did, you'd be agitated too."
"Exaggerated... abstract futures? That makes me a little curious." Silver Wolf's eyes twinkled as she urged him on, leaning closer to Elio.
"Hurry, tell me, tell me."
Elio shot her a silent, exasperated look. This was clearly a very serious matter, so why did Silver Wolf look like she just heard some juicy gossip?
"That man created a machine whose principles even [Erudition] couldn't replicate, and wiped out the entire universe; he used his own creations to replace the Aeon of every Path... and other such exaggerated futures."
What made Elio feel terrified was that he had almost failed to escape from the future back to the present with [Terminus].
That pitch-black dragon that walked the Path of the End... even [Terminus] couldn't harm it in the slightest. If It hadn't been fast on its feet...
Otherwise, Elio wouldn't even have known that the future had already branched off into various states of collapse.
This time, even Silver Wolf couldn't smile anymore. She knew what Elio was capable of. For him to say such a thing, it was clear just how terrible the future he had witnessed was.
Kafka's expression remained blank as she lightly tapped the rim of her wine glass with her finger and said softly, "Since you've come to us, it's clear we still have a chance, right?"
Elio nodded his cat head. "Yes, the turning point has not yet arrived. We still have some room to maneuver. I intend to take this opportunity to run an experiment and see if we can steer everything back on track."
Silver Wolf frowned, confused. "Aren't you able to see the future? After you've decided on a course of action, you should be able to see what kind of future that action will trigger, right? Why do we still need to experiment?"
Elio sighed softly. How could he not know this?
But because in several futures, [Terminus] was attacked by that Dragon of the End, causing a portion of the Path of [Terminus]'s power to be devoured, he had temporarily lost the ability to directly observe future branches.
He could only confirm the future by conducting experiments.
"I can't do that for the time being. That's why I need you to make a trip to Jarilo-VI and do everything you can to get the script back on track. Ladies, it's your turn to save the day."
Kafka nodded slightly and looked down at the submachine gun hanging from her waist.
"Should we directly eliminate the unstable factor?"
At her words, Elio once again entered his agitated "Spinosaurus form."
"No! Although this is the only time that man can be killed, if he dies, Xing will become the new [Destruction]! In every possible future, he cannot die!"
"This is serious..."
Hearing that this would affect Xing, Kafka immediately abandoned the idea of directly eliminating the unstable factor.
"So?" Silver Wolf propped up her chubby face, tilting her head at the two of them. "What should we do?"
"Find a way to make them continue following the original script. See if the future will return to the path we envisioned."
"Fine... I'll try to see if I can hack into Jarilo-VI's electronic systems. The ones they're using now should be the same system as the Corporation's, right? That shouldn't be too hard."
Kafka nodded, her lips curving slightly, but there was no trace of a smile in her eyes as she reached out and gently ruffled Silver Wolf's hair.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Silver Wolf. I'm going to prepare for the performance."
In the morning, Fu Zhu and the others woke up early, washed up, and had a meal in the main hall of the Goethe Grand Hotel.
Afterward, Bronya arrived. It had only been a night, but seeing Fu Zhu again, a hint of unnatural shyness still lingered on her face.
Last night, after returning, she had been pulled into bed by her mother for an all-night chat, discussing everything from what color Fu Zhu liked to the most adorable height difference between a couple.
It was the first time Bronya realized her mother knew so much about such a wide variety of topics.
"Everyone, Mother is waiting in Qlipoth Fort. Shall we go now? Or are we going somewhere else to pick up the other Nameless senior?"
Yesterday, Dan Heng had told Bronya and the others that another Nameless would be coming down from the Express to help confirm the situation with the Eternal Freeze and the Stellaron.
Belobog, naturally, had to extend the full hospitality of a host and welcome every Nameless guest properly.
Fu Zhu shook his head. Welt had told him a while ago that all they needed to do was reactivate the old Domain Anchor the Nameless had left on Jarilo-VI, and he would be able to teleport over directly.
"Let's head straight to Qlipoth Fort. Dan Heng, I'll leave the matter of the Domain Anchor to you. Xing and I aren't familiar with it."
"Alright."
The two groups split up. Dan Heng went to reactivate the Domain Anchor and bring Welt to Qlipoth Fort, while the rest went ahead to wait.
By the time Bronya led the group to Qlipoth Fort, Cocolia was already waiting. She had even instructed her servants to arrange the conference room, laying out a spread of fruits and drinks that were extremely precious to Belobog at this stage.
The great value she placed on Fu Zhu and the others was clear.
When Cocolia saw them, she broke into a smile and beckoned for everyone to take a seat. She deliberately arranged for Fu Zhu and Bronya to sit together, while Xing and March 7th, whom she saw as threats to her "repaying a debt" plan, were arranged to sit across from Fu Zhu.
"I want to sit next to old bro!"
However, Cocolia's well-laid plan was shattered by Xing's grumbling.
Xing plopped right down beside Fu Zhu, and March 7th took the seat on his other side.
Bronya and Cocolia exchanged a helpless glance before Cocolia arranged for Bronya to sit directly opposite Fu Zhu.
Plan B! At least this way, Fu Zhu will see Bronya's face whenever he looks up!
A few minutes later, the doors to the conference room were pushed open, and Welt and Dan Heng walked in.
As the hosts, Cocolia and Bronya naturally stood up at once to greet them.
"You must be Mr. Welt Yang, correct? Welcome to Belobog."
"Ah... yes... a pleasure to meet you."
Welt's expression was rather complicated at this moment. Even though he had been mentally prepared for the situation in Belobog, when he saw the two familiar faces of Cocolia and Bronya with his own eyes, he still couldn't help but curse inwardly.
TNND, Honkai is still chasing me!