Thus, Acheron followed Sirin to the Xianzhou Luofu and, there, met the Astral Express crew again not long after their last parting.
"You too? What are you doing here?"
Having arrived at the Luofu two days ago, the crew of the Astral Express had never expected to see Acheron here again.
If they had known earlier...
Well, there was no "if they had known." The Astral Express' original destination had been Penacony, not the Xianzhou Luofu.
The reason they had appeared on the Luofu was because they encountered the Stellaron Hunters midway and had no choice but to pay attention to the situation here.
"You all?"
Acheron had already learned what had happened. The Luofu had just suffered a Stellaron disaster, and the signal was extremely poor. Even on the Luofu itself, different Delve Constructions could not receive one another's signals.
That a Stellaron would erupt on the Luofu was somewhat unexpected. Most likely, it had been dragged into some kind of vortex.
Acheron had come together with Sirin.
She had no reason to refuse Sirin's proposal.
"Are you here because of the Stellaron too?"
Acheron was already familiar with the duo of March 7th and Stelle. Seeing their curiosity about why she had appeared here, she explained, "Yes and no."
"Izumo's Ark is currently docked at the Luofu. We intend to study the Luofu's Delve Construction technology and are also considering establishing diplomatic ties."
Stelle glanced around curiously, as though searching for someone. To encounter a familiar face in this unfamiliar place—especially a powerful and reliable friend—was truly reassuring.
"She's not here." Noticing her gaze, Acheron guessed she was looking for Kiana and said, "Only Sirin and I came to the Luofu."
"Eh? Why aren't you together?"
"She clearly cares a lot about Belobog's situation, but we hardly see her. Has Kiana been busy lately?"
"She has other matters to handle."
Seeing that Stelle still looked curious, Acheron did not elaborate and simply brushed the topic aside.
Kiana should still be at the space station.
She had sent her a message two days ago, saying she would remain at the station for a while longer to prepare some kind of project with Herta.
Herta...
She truly was someone who couldn't help but draw attention.
"Mei?"
Sirin's voice came from the side. She walked over in surprise, a trace of astonishment appearing on her face when she saw March 7th and the others.
She had met March 7th at the space station.
But this was her first time seeing Stelle.
Since leaving last time, she had not returned to the space station for quite a while, though she had heard about the recent invasion by the Antimatter Legion.
She appeared to be a Nameless as well.
Her relationship with March 7th was limited to that one brief encounter at the space station. They had no further interaction.
She had spoken a little with Welt and Himeko, however. After all, both of them carried a strong resemblance to old acquaintances.
"Your friend?"
"Eh? It's you!" March 7th remembered Sirin. Even after becoming a Nameless and meeting countless people, distinctive individuals always left a deep impression.
Welt had been quite concerned about Sirin.
"You're Nameless from the Astral Express, right?" Sirin nodded at the two of them. "Hello. Just call me Sirin. I suppose you could say I'm barely friends with this one."
"I'm March 7th, and this is Stelle." March 7th pulled Stelle over and introduced her. "I met Miss Sirin at the space station before. She even talked with Mr. Yang."
"Mr. Yang... that's Welt, right?" Sirin recalled her previous conversation with that man. "We're not really familiar. We were able to chat because I saw the shadow of an old acquaintance in him."
"So that's how it is."
The shadow of an old acquaintance?
It was truly difficult to understand such a situation. At least for now, March 7th had never looked at someone and seen another person's shadow in them. It was hard to grasp what that feeling might be like.
As for Stelle, it went without saying. Her past was a blank slate. It had only been a little over two months since she awoke at the space station.
The number of people she knew could be counted on her fingers.
She remembered every single one clearly.
"You two seem to have a really good relationship," Stelle suddenly said.
"Us?" Sirin glanced at Acheron, who had fallen silent again after responding earlier. "It's decent enough. After all, we once fought side by side as comrades."
"So, Miss Sirin, are you also a survivor of Izumo?"
"Izumo?"
When Welt had been trapped in Izumo, Stelle had not yet boarded the Astral Express. In fact, she had not even been "born" yet.
It was normal that she did not know.
"I heard her mention that you once went to Izumo," Sirin said, her interest visibly rising. "Speaking of which, I should thank you. Otherwise, that place wouldn't have recovered so quickly."
March 7th scratched her cheek awkwardly. They hadn't really done anything. They had nearly gotten Welt stuck there instead.
They had only escaped by asking Kiana for help in time. After that, however, Kiana had fallen into a deep slumber and had only recently awakened.
"Will Kiana come here later?"
Stelle had never been to Izumo and didn't know much about it. Seeing March 7th's embarrassment, she naturally changed the subject.
"She won't come." Acheron looked over. "I won't stay here either. I have other matters to attend to."
She had accompanied Sirin out of concern that something might truly go wrong, and indeed, the Luofu had encountered trouble.
But for a colossal entity like the Xianzhou Alliance, a Stellaron eruption was not an unsolvable calamity.
Presumably, this disaster would soon be quelled. She intended to leave once it was.
Having just arrived on the Luofu, Acheron did not yet realize that its troubles were far more complicated than they appeared on the surface.
And if she had not come, perhaps she would have remained uninvolved. But the moment she set foot here, she was destined to be drawn into the storm that had been stirred.
Kiana had no idea that Acheron was currently on the Xianzhou Luofu and had run into the Astral Express crew again.
She and Herta had been working tirelessly.
They had tinkered with this matter for quite a long time, and now they had finally constructed a rudimentary framework.
Most of the work had been completed by Herta and Araya. Kiana had merely provided the various materials.
Because she had realized something else—if she interfered too much, there was a possibility this thing would turn into something like a "copy".
That was not what she wanted to see.
"Not bad. But to truly perfect it, we'll still need some time." Herta seemed quite satisfied with her creation. She looked at Kiana, who was extending her hand to sense it. "Do you want to go in and test it?"
"Do you think that's appropriate?"
Kiana opened her eyes. She had checked it and, for the time being, found no obvious loopholes. There was no need to worry about Honkai energy leaking out.
"Then I'll go try it."
Herta didn't insist and turned, preparing to test the results of their recent work herself.
Kiana grabbed her arm. "Let's wait until it's fully perfected before testing it."
After a moment's thought, Herta said, "What do you think of that Stellaron girl?"
"Stelle?" Kiana's expression turned strange. "You're not thinking of letting her test it, are you?"
"Why not?"
"There shouldn't be any danger, but she has a Stellaron inside her. If something unexpected happens..."
"That Stellaron is very stable within her. There's no need to worry about it blowing up the space station," Herta said calmly. "Even if there were such a possibility, I'm here. Nothing will go wrong."
This...
Let Stelle test the Simulated Honkai Universe?
Thinking of the finished product she had envisioned, Kiana's expression grew even stranger. In the future, aside from the Simulated Universe and the Forgotten Hall, would Stelle also have to come here to climb a tower?
"As long as you've thought it through."
Kiana was actually a little curious herself—what kind of spark would be ignited if Stelle came into contact with Honkai inside a simulated world?
She hadn't properly rested in a long time. The last time she had worked this hard was when she was researching teleportation abilities.
She let out a tired yawn.
"Do you have anything else to do? If not, I'm heading out first."
She was planning to go see Ruan. She hadn't seen her in several days. When she came to find Herta before, she had even told Ruan she'd be back soon.
And yet several days had passed in the blink of an eye.
She was curious about what Ruan was doing now.
...Probably researching the power of Propagation?
Ruan had promised she wouldn't combine the power of Honkai with the Swarm. She shouldn't lie to her.
"You're tired already?"
"You haven't rested for quite a while either. Aren't you even a little exhausted?" Kiana shot back.
"I'm fine." Herta looked at her strangely. "But why are you acting like an ordinary person? It's only been a few days and you can't handle it?"
"What do you mean I'm acting like an ordinary person?" Kiana protested. "People sleep every day. That's completely normal, okay?"
"What if you never slept?"
Herta suddenly grew curious. Was Kiana tired because she truly was exhausted—or because she believed she was exhausted and therefore needed rest?
Because she was maintaining the schedule of a normal person.
If she never slept?
Kiana couldn't help but retort, "If you never sleep, you'll end up sleeping forever."
"Not necessarily."
"Enough, Herta." Kiana pressed a hand to her forehead. "Don't you ever want to lie down on a soft bed, think about nothing, and enjoy a good sleep to recharge your energy?"
"That does sound nice."
"Then while things have come to a temporary halt, why not go back and rest for a day?"
"I thought you'd want to push through in one go, finish this, and then think about other things," Herta said.
"...Do I look like the type to work myself to death?"
Strictly speaking, this wasn't something that had to be rushed. If Herta hadn't been here, even if she had such thoughts, she would have dealt with everything on hand first and only then found some free time to work on it.
Rubbing her aching temples, she said, "Let's stop here for now. I want to go back and rest. If I don't, I feel like I'm going to collapse from exhaustion."
"Isn't there a lounge right over there?"
Seeing her deflate like a punctured balloon the moment rest was mentioned, Herta raised a brow and glanced toward the lounge door.
"...Here?"
Kiana, who had been wondering whether Ruan was free, whether she was still researching the power of Propagation, and what had become of Tingyun in her laboratory, looked up in confusion.
It was clear that this option had never even crossed her mind.
"Weren't you the one who wanted to rest?" Herta asked. Then, as if realizing something, she drawled, "Oh~ So you're planning to leave and find someone else. Who? Ruan or Acheron?"
"...I want to go see Ruan." Only after Herta pointed it out did Kiana realize she hadn't considered this possibility at all. "I'm a little curious about what she's doing."
"What else could she be doing? Research on Propagation, obviously. You heard what she said before, didn't you?"
Herta was perfectly calm. She didn't find it dangerous in the slightest, nor did she intend to stop Ruan from conducting experiments on her territory.
She would clean up afterward herself.
She wouldn't let things spiral out of control.
"Her experiment should be at a critical stage right now. She might not have time to see you."
Herta had been with her these past few days and was aware of what was happening outside—likely through the puppets she had placed throughout the space station.
Kiana hadn't noticed her doing anything special to control those puppets.
But considering that Ruan only needed to come into contact with her to read her thoughts and see through her ideas, it didn't seem strange that Herta could connect to those puppets without any obvious action.
"If you want to rest, go over there," Herta said. "If not, keep working with me."
Was there even a choice?
They had just reached a temporary stopping point. If she didn't rest now and continued working, she would have to wait until the simulated universe was completely constructed before stopping.
Who knew how long that would take?
At least another ten days to half a month.
And that was already at superhuman speed.
"I'm going to rest!"
Herta seemed to have expected that answer. Without even looking up, she said, "Oh. The door's over there. Go on."
"Aren't you going to rest too?" Kiana hesitated when she saw Herta intending to stay. "Work never ends. When it's time to rest, you should rest. Relaxing your mind is good too."
"Just go already. Don't worry about me. If I'm tired, I'll rest on my own. I don't need you reminding me."
"Alright."
After a brief hesitation, Kiana didn't press further. It was better not to judge others by her own experience.
She turned and left, passing through the door into the lounge. The layout here was somewhat different from the rest of the space station.
When Herta stayed on the station, she likely rested here.
So this counted as her room?
Rubbing her temples again, Kiana took out her phone and glanced at it, casually replying to a few unread messages.
Her gaze lingered for a moment on Acheron's message about going to the Xianzhou with Sirin.
The Xianzhou was anything but peaceful right now.
After a brief hesitation, Kiana informed her in advance about the Lord Ravager's scheme involving the Ambrosial Arbor. She had no intention of letting Mei be dragged into that mess.
Only after finishing did she put her phone down and lie back on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.
She wasn't making excuses.
She genuinely felt tired. Sleepy.
That sensation made her recall something else.
She wondered if her current condition might be related to it.