"I'll go first."
After a brief silence, Himeko smiled slightly and spoke first. "As for me… I choose Amphoreus, the one Stelle mentioned."
"After all, it's a world that doesn't exist on the star map and has only just been born. In other words, it's a place even Akivili has never reached. If we can go there once, this generation of the Astral Express crew will not have made the trip in vain."
"Same as what I was thinking."
Welt agreed, "Belobog, the Xianzhou Luofu, Penacony… Although these worlds are all different, they always carry some traces of my homeland. So this time, I also want to experience a completely newborn world."
"I also vote for Amphoreus."
Dan Heng muttered thoughtfully, "If we go to Amphoreus, that guy Blade probably won't be able to find me anymore… In that case, I also vote for Amphoreus."
Sunday: "Miss Stelle's choice is my choice."
Pom-Pom: "In that case, Amphoreus passes unanimously. Looks like the plan the Conductor prepared earlier won't be needed, Pam."
"Then, I declare that the train's next stop—Amphoreus."
"Yay!" Stelle smiled and clapped, but within a few seconds she received looks from everyone.
Stelle: ?
Pom-Pom: "Stelle passenger, where are the coordinates for Amphoreus? Without coordinates, how are we supposed to get there?"
"Oh right!"
Hearing this, Stelle suddenly realized. She smacked her right fist into her left palm and said, "Simple. I'll just bring the 'coordinates' back, won't I?"
With that, Stelle snapped her fingers with a "pa" sound and disappeared from the spot using the teleportation ability of [Trailblaze] power.
Five seconds later.
Whoosh—
Stelle's figure reappeared inside the car, but this time she was carrying a red-haired man in her hands who seemed to be struggling hard.
—It was none other than Argenti.
"His baby, this little girl's strength is pretty impressive. Put me down first, his wuwu bo… Huh? Where is this place?"
Argenti only knew that he was still in the hospital a second ago, but then everything blurred before his eyes and he appeared in a completely unfamiliar place. This left him a bit dazed—what kind of sorcery was this, his baby?
"Hey, Argenti, we've already decided to go to Amphoreus. Now everything is ready except for the coordinates."
Stelle put Argenti down from her shoulder and asked expectantly, "Where are the coordinates? Where are the coordinates? We're heading to Amphoreus right away."
"You all…?"
Argenti looked around and indeed spotted March 7th and Dan Heng among the crowd. Only then did he understand the situation—he had been directly brought to these people's home base by this girl.
Looking at this… the "actors" he casually found turned out to be Nameless from the Astral Express?
Argenti had seen his fair share of big scenes. Although the Astral Express identity surprised him a bit, he quickly adjusted his emotions and asked, "Then… where is your little baby Conductor?"
Pom-Pom: "Little baby?"
·····
Some time later.
Train broadcast: "[The train is about to initiate jump. There may be slight turbulence during the jump. Please remain seated and hold on tight, passengers!]"
"[Three, two, one!]"
The power of [Trailblaze] enveloped the entire Astral Express. The space it occupied gradually twisted and finally disappeared from its original location—
—Rumble.
The Astral Express tore through space. In almost an instant, it left the Luofu far behind and arrived in a completely unfamiliar star domain.
However, what felt strange was that although the train had jumped according to the coordinates Argenti provided, after arriving here there was only a pitch-black starry sky. There was no trace of "Amphoreus" at all.
"Here… there's nothing?"
After noticing this, Dan Heng narrowed his eyes slightly. Vigilance rose in his heart. He subconsciously looked at Argenti beside him and asked, "Where is the Amphoreus you mentioned?"
"Hah, don't rush." Argenti waved his hand. "Didn't I explain earlier? Amphoreus is still in the development stage, so of course it can't face the galaxy yet."
"To get inside, you need to be received by a big shot from [Remembrance] or [Erudition]."
With that, Argenti took out his phone and dialed a number. "Brother Lygus, I've brought the actors you wanted. Open the door and let us in."
"So casual…" Stelle muttered quietly.
After waiting for a dozen or so seconds, a brilliant light suddenly appeared without warning in the pitch-black, deep space outside the window. It looked like a band of light, emerging from a single point and extending… Finally, it turned into a Möbius ring before everyone's eyes.
"Everyone, look quickly. That's Amphoreus!" Argenti said excitedly. "No matter how many times I see it, it always feels his baby's truly mysterious and shocking."
"This is the miracle born from the combination of [Remembrance] and [Erudition]. Oh right, I almost forgot to mention—in Amphoreus, time flows ten thousand times slower than in reality. So no matter how long you stay inside, for the outside world it's just the blink of an eye."
"After you enter Amphoreus, first find the administrator there, Lygus. He will tell you what to do next… Where is everyone?"
Argenti looked around but found that Stelle, Dan Heng, and Sunday had already disappeared. Only Himeko, Welt, and a clearly unhappy March 7th remained.
"They already took a spaceship and left while you were talking." March 7th pointed irritably at a spaceship outside the window. "Look, you can still see them right now."
Argenti scratched his head. "Then the things I just said… didn't they hear any of it?"
·····
Whoosh—
Just like the original plot, Stelle and the other two advanced all the way and very easily reached the interior world of Amphoreus.
The sky at this moment was a gloomy gray, as if shrouded by some unknown terror. The classical buildings below were dilapidated, as though they had suffered some kind of devastation.
"We have safely entered Amphoreus and are preparing to land. Hold on tight."
Dan Heng operated the spaceship in an orderly manner, piloting it toward the nearest open area to descend. However, at that very moment, a sudden change occurred!
Boom—
A golden spear suddenly shot over from afar like a guided missile. In front of it, the spaceship capable of enduring space travel seemed as fragile as paper. Without any resistance, it was directly pierced through.
Dan Heng / Sunday: "Nani?!"
Stelle: "Sigh…"
666, don't replicate this part!
We're not going to crash and die directly, are we?
This was Stelle's last thought as the feeling of weightlessness hit.
Then, everything went black before her eyes.