"Ugh..."
The moment he returned to the Luofu, Levi found a trash can and leaned over it.
After a long while, Levi raised his head, revealing his deathly pale face, which scared the curious passersby around him into stepping back a bit.
Glancing at the people who had come over to watch, intentionally or not, Levi reached toward a vendor nearby. "Got any soda douzhi? Give me a cup!"
He took out his jade communicator and scanned to pay.
He took the soda douzhi and drank it in one gulp. After finishing it, his complexion actually became much rosier.
Putting away the half-bitten "Special Attack on Life," Levi faced the sun, spread his arms, and took a deep breath.
"It's good to be alive!"
———
[Levi: I'm home, family! Ah! The air in the Luofu smells the best!]
]Stelle: Is the pollution on the Luofu that serious?]
Even the air has a smell.
Looking at Levi's description of the Luofu's air in the chat group, she suddenly felt a little hesitant to go there.
Of course, it wasn't because she was afraid of the "good juice" Levi prepared. Mainly, the pollution situation sounded a bit too serious.
Before going, she would at least need to prepare a full set of portable air filtration equipment.
'Severe pollution?'
Seeing Stelle's message, Levi raised his head and looked to the side, at the rift creatures being chased by the Cloud Knights.
He nodded.
"The pollution really is pretty serious."
Rift creatures spawned by the Stellaron were everywhere.
Although the Cloud Knights were doing their best to wipe them out, it only treated the symptoms, not the root.
As long as the Stellaron wasn't removed, these rift creatures would continue to appear endlessly.
So in the end, they still had to find a way to locate the activated Stellaron.
Levi rubbed his chin. "Now that Phantylia is already dead and the Arbor hasn't revived yet, the Stellaron is most likely in the hands of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, hidden by them."
As for exactly where it was hidden, there was no way to know.
But Levi wasn't worried about that. Just like Yukong had said before, a mere Stellaron couldn't do much to the Luofu.
For the Xianzhou that had traversed the cosmos for tens of thousands of years, a Stellaron disaster might just be a small matter.
The big boss Phantylia had already been dealt with. As for the small Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and the small Stellaron, Jing Yuan and the others would surely find a way to resolve it.
Seeing Stelle active in the group, Levi thought for a moment and decided to ask where the Astral Express had reached.
How much longer before they arrived at the Luofu.
[Stelle: I'm about to reach your doorstep!]
[Stelle: But I feel like I should prepare a portable air filtration device first…]
[Stelle: ****! Why didn't you tell me there's a Stellaron outbreak on your Xianzhou!]
Levi shrugged and replied, [You didn't ask.]
[Stelle: *****]
———
"Dear passengers, we have arrived at the Luofu."
Pom-Pom walked into the observation carriage and informed everyone of their arrival. Outside the window was the Jade Gate, glowing with a faint blue light.
But Pom-Pom's expression was solemn, as if arriving at the Luofu wasn't good news.
"Here, I need to inform everyone of some bad news, pom."
"Let me tell them."
Himeko walked over slowly. Pom-Pom glanced at her, nodded, and turned to check the condition of the train.
To prevent the jump engine from being damaged by rift energy.
"Himeko, what exactly happened? You and the conductor both look so serious."
Dan Heng crossed his arms. Welt adjusted his slipping glasses. Stelle's attention was drawn back from the chat group to reality.
Four pairs of eyes looked at Himeko.
Himeko's expression was grave. "The rift energy in this Stelle region is abnormal. Preliminary judgment suggests there's a Stellaron outbreak on the Xianzhou Luofu."
"Based on the coverage area, it's estimated to have been active for over 24 system hours."
After hearing this, no one looked surprised. Welt and Dan Heng even had expressions of "just as expected."
March 7th muttered to herself, "Are we just destined to clash with Stellarons…"
'Why are there Stellarons everywhere we go!'
'Can the crises be fewer? Let us experience a safe journey for once!'
Seeing Stelle's strange expression, March 7th poked her a few times. "Hey, can you tell your brothers and sisters to stay farther away from the Astral Express's route in the future?"
Stelle focused her gaze on March 7th's face, spread her hands, and said, "I'm the youngest, and a weird oddball at that. Even if I say something, they won't listen. Maybe you can try talking to them yourself."
"If that doesn't work, go tell their parents. They can't handle that."
'Tell the Stellaron's parents? How did she even come up with that!'
'Stellarons aren't people, where would they even have parents?'
Glancing at the two of them talking, after giving them some time to process, Himeko continued, "And after discovering the Stellaron outbreak on the Xianzhou Luofu, we also found this on the train…"
Himeko raised her hand, and a virtual letter was projected.
Looking at the words "Unknown Contact" on it, Welt deduced, "This is probably the work of the Stellaron Hunters."
Only they could so easily hack into the Astral Express system and leave behind such a letter.
The group took a quick look. The content of the letter was very simple.
It basically informed them that the Xianzhou Luofu was facing a Stellaron crisis, that it couldn't handle it alone, and needed the Astral Express's help.
If they didn't help, they should just wait for the Luofu to fall and spread disaster across the universe.
At the content of the letter, Stelle let out a scoff.
"What are you laughing at?"
Facing March 7th's question, Stelle thought briefly before answering.
"I'm laughing at how they don't understand the strength of the Xianzhou!"
They had no idea what existed on the Xianzhou.
A Lord Ravager.
An Emanator of Destruction that had destroyed countless worlds had already been defeated. Could a mere Stellaron really cause the Luofu to fall?
Saying that out loud would just make people laugh.
This was only enough to fool people who didn't know what had happened on the Luofu.
Dan Heng frowned. "The Xianzhou is indeed powerful, but the existence of a Stellaron cannot be underestimated."
More importantly, the Stellaron Hunters had another title in the universe.
Slaves of Destiny.
That made them take the warning in the letter seriously.
Welt adjusted his glasses. "Regardless of whether the Stellaron Hunters' warning comes true, we can't stay uninvolved now."
He looked out at the entrance to the Xianzhou Luofu, the Jade Gate.
"If we don't resolve the Stellaron on the Luofu, the train cannot depart. We only have two choices."
"Wait here for the Luofu to resolve the Stellaron themselves and enter afterward when it's safe; or take the initiative to enter the Luofu and assist them, but risk being treated as intruders."
March 7th raised her hand, drawing everyone's attention.
"Is there a third option… like turning around and going to Penacony?"
These two options... one meant waiting an unknown amount of time. Maybe the next second, or maybe ten days, half a month, or even… years.
If she had to stay on the train for years, she, March 7th, a young beauty, would die of boredom.
The other option could get them wanted by a giant force like the Xianzhou.
That was basically no different from dying.
If they could just turn around and go to Penacony, experiencing those dreamlike pleasures everyone chased after would be great.
"Unfortunately, there isn't."
Himeko shattered March 7th's fantasy.
The train had already entered the Stellaron's area of influence. Trying to leave by moving forward was practically impossible.
After all, even if the Astral Express moved away from the Luofu, the Stellaron's influence range was still expanding.
They couldn't outrun it with the train's speed alone.
Besides, even if the Stellaron's range were fixed, it would still take an immeasurable amount of time for the train to travel beyond it.
By the time they got out, they might already be nothing but skeletons.
After all, the basic unit in the universe is a "light-year."
"Let's vote. Should we go to the Luofu now, or wait until they resolve the Stellaron before going?"
After some time, between going and staying, going won with a score of four to one.
Dan Heng had already expected this. He nodded at March 7th and the others. "Have a safe trip."
Himeko tried to contact someone to temporarily open the Jade Gate, but found that she couldn't reach anyone, so she turned her gaze toward Stelle.
Stelle immediately understood, gave a reassuring look, and opened the chat group.