Nero didn't ask why Aha suddenly appeared here. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and observed the twisted black mass in front of him.
It was hard for him to tell whether it even had a human shape, but he could still sense a gaze directed this way from that featureless blur.
Nero instinctively felt that Aha wasn't looking at him head-on. This guy was wearing a mask, looking in another direction, only glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
Without Nero needing to say anything, Aha lowered its head to look at the rapidly moving Luofu below, then raised it again.
Nero felt that this Aeon still wasn't looking at him directly, but he heard it laugh, "Hehehe… bro, you really know how to play! Next time I'll go find a cosmic warship to try it too!"
Nero: "..."
Alright, this didn't surprise Nero.
But even though he had expected it, hearing Aha say something like this in this situation still made things feel a bit… strange.
"Then you'd better pick one that's rotten to the core," after a few seconds of silence, Nero very seriously gave Aha a suggestion, or rather a request.
"You don't look like the kind of guy who'd clean up the toy properly after playing with it."
Nero looked at the pitch-black mass with a red smiling mask on its head, wearing a serious expression. It might look a bit odd to others, but he was genuinely making a serious request to Aha.
Even the Mourning Actors and Masked Fools, if they saw this bizarre scene, would probably open their mouths and shout, "Aha my foot!"
Because Nero was really straightforward.
Although this was his first time meeting Aha in person, since he had truly treated this Aeon as a friend in their past chats, there wasn't much sense of distance between them now.
"Aha my foot!" After hearing Nero's words, Aha couldn't help but curse, "Is that what I look like in your eyes?"
Nero honestly nodded. "Very much so, especially after I heard the story about you playing a bug to death."
"Aha my leg! You even care about a bug?"
"Of course. Judging your personality based on your past behavior patterns, isn't that normal and scientific?"
"Oh my god!" The black twisted mass wriggled, and Aha seemed to raise a hand to cover its forehead. After an exclamation, Aha said, "You're actually talking about science with an Aeon!?"
"Doesn't that machine-head talk about science?" Nero blurted out.
"Hiss…" Aha went silent for two seconds. "Alright, you're right."
Nero looked at Aha and asked, "Even though I know you're very free, what are you here for?"
"Hmm… good question. I came here for you!" Aha said.
"Huh? For me?" Nero became even more puzzled.
"That's right, for you." Aha nodded, then turned its head, looking at the patches of illusory galaxies left behind by Luofu during its movement.
"Look at the things you've left behind in the universe. If you don't take care of them soon, there's going to be big trouble."
"You…" Nero almost blurted out "why are you saying the same thing too," but quickly swallowed the words and asked again, "What trouble are you talking about?"
"Hmm… a troublesome paranoid. But these days, all Aeons are paranoid. Listen to me, bro, hurry back."
"At least control these things and don't let them run around everywhere anymore." Aha's tone was light, as if it didn't take the "big trouble" seriously at all, but that was only how it sounded.
"You know, I almost forgot, you mentioning it just reminded me, I still don't know how to get back into my body!" Nero said, only now realizing it.
Aha: "..."
"But it's fine, I can try," Nero said with a smile, as if he had never considered what would happen if he couldn't return to his body.
For him, it seemed that as long as he wasn't dead, there was no problem. If he were dead, then there wouldn't be any problems.
"Before that, can you look at me properly? The way you're doing it feels like you're insulting me."
"What!? Look at you directly!?"
Almost the moment Nero finished speaking, Aha let out an exaggerated scream. Its suddenly raised, sharp voice seemed capable of tearing apart the starry sky, but in reality, nothing abnormal happened.
"I treat you like a brother and you want to harm me!?" Aha spoke in a heartbroken tone, as if Nero had really done something to wrong it.
"How can I look at you directly? Do you think I don't want to? Bro, if I look at you directly, I'll go insane. If you want me dead, just say it!"
Nero: "Which one of you Aeons isn't insane?"
Aha: "..."
'You brat… how do you always find a way to slip that in? What are you, a fly?'
Nero and Aha's casual chat didn't seem like it would end anytime soon. And the fact that the two of them were chatting in a sea of stars while listening to the warship's cannon fire was pretty bizarre.
Of course, considering it was these two "people," even the strangest things didn't seem that strange anymore.
But finally meeting Aha once, Nero felt this was a rare opportunity. Their back-and-forth banter wasn't going to end quickly.
Of course, when the two of them couldn't end it themselves, someone else would help end it.
Just as Nero was about to say something more, a voice, or rather, a dull booming sound, or a chaotic vibration, descended from even higher in the universe.
It was like countless layered echoes coming from an endless expanse.
When that incomprehensible sound reached Nero and Aha's ears, it turned into a slightly aged yet powerful voice, like the tolling of bells deep within ancient mountains, echoing from even older legends.
"Balance!", It said.
"Balance!"
When that voice fell, both Nero and Aha couldn't help but shudder. They were startled by the sudden sound.
For a brief moment, Nero even thought it was his strict grandfather from his previous life speaking.
That elder who always wore a stern expression would appear like this whenever he caught Nero interacting with "questionable friends."
"Look, the one bringing you trouble has appeared. This old man is pretty formidable."
The black mass in front of Nero moved again, as if Aha was shrugging.
"So… he's not going to hit me, right?" Nero pressed his lips together, his gaze flickering.
"Not really. If it were others, maybe. But you…" Aha paused, as if thinking of the right wording.
"He'd probably just keep nagging in your ear. You can imagine it, him endlessly repeating things in your ear."
"Unless you're like that Black Boss, who can't hear anything at all… and I seriously suspect that thing isn't afraid of nagging because it doesn't even have a brain."
Nero blinked, ignored the malicious speculation in the latter half of Aha's words about some Aeon, then raised his hand to cover his ears.
He imagined it for a moment. If someone really kept muttering things like "Balance" or other stuff nonstop in his ear, it would indeed be unbearable.
"Hiss…" The boy sucked in a breath. Even though this was a vacuum and he didn't even have a "body" right now, he still did it.
"That really is troublesome. I'm heading out first, we'll chat next time if there's a chance!"
As soon as he finished speaking, before Aha could even react, that constantly twitching abyss of starlight vanished from its peripheral vision in an instant, rushing toward the Xianzhou Luofu below.
Aha: "..."