March 7th watched as Aidan stood up and straightened his collar, looking like he was getting ready to head out for business.
"Wait, wait, wait!" She quickly grabbed his sleeve. "Are you really going? I was joking! That ice cream machine is super expensive; I saw it in an advertisement, it costs hundreds of thousands of Credit Points!"
"I know."
"You know and you're still going?"
"Because I have a way." Aidan turned his head. "I said I'd make it happen, so I'll make it happen."
Aidan arrived at the Astral Express's storage room.
There was a lot of junk and scrap left behind by previous passengers of the Express; of course, once cleaned up, they became useful materials.
March 7th followed behind, watching him rummage through things like a scavenger, the confusion on her face deepening.
"You plan to use these things to make me an ice cream machine?"
"To be precise, I'm using these things to assemble an ice cream machine for you. As long as the principles are the same, the materials don't matter. In fact... the cooling effect of these old components is even stronger than today's civilian products."
"But... that stuff is really dirty!"
"It'll be fine once it's washed."
Aidan held up a disassembled condenser tube and inspected it against the light.
Half an hour later.
A bizarre machine, about half the height of a person and looking like a reactor with wires and pipes exposed everywhere, stood on the table in the storage room.
"Mission accomplished." Aidan clapped the dust off his hands, looking at his masterpiece with satisfaction. "I'll have Mr. Yang add a casing to it later."
Just making a suitable casing would be very easy for Mr. Yang.
"Let's go, let's find Mr. Yang."
Aidan patted the dust off his hands and pointed at the mess of coils and pipes on the table that looked like it could explode at any moment.
"Is... is this really going to work?"
The two of them carried the heavy mechanical components to the Parlor Car. Welt was sitting on the sofa drinking tea, looking at the starry sky outside the window.
"What is this, a liquid nitrogen launcher?"
"...Actually, no, it's an ice cream machine I made for Senior March."
"Why would an ice cream machine be made into a liquid nitrogen cannon?" Welt was very confused; from his professional perspective, if something really went wrong with this thing, its power would be roughly equivalent to a bomb that could blow the Express in half.
Well, if anything happened during operation, he would just stop it immediately.
Mr. Yang's efficiency was even higher than Aidan had anticipated; in less than ten minutes, that reactor-like machine was fitted with a simple and elegant white casing, and a transparent observation window was thoughtfully added to the top.
"Now it looks like something bought from a store."
March 7th couldn't contain herself any longer, leaning in to look it over from every angle. "Can it really be used? Can it really make 30 flavors?"
"Theoretically, yes." Aidan patted the top of the machine. "Want to try?"
Milk, sugar, and various flavors of jam—the ingredients were mixed according to the recipe and poured into the machine's feeder.
He pressed the switch.
The machine emitted a slight humming sound, and through the observation window, the internal mixing paddle could be seen starting to rotate slowly. A layer of white frost quickly formed on the surface of the condenser tube, and cold air drifted out through the gaps.
About 2 minutes later, the machine gave a crisp "ding."
Aidan opened the outlet and caught a large cupful with a pre-prepared paper cup; the ice cream had a delicate texture and gave off a faint scent of vanilla.
"Let me taste! Let me taste!"
March 7th's eyes lit up instantly, and she took the ice cream into her hands to take a bite.
"—! Delicious! The milk flavor is so rich! And the texture is really great!"
She finished the small cup in just a few bites and then looked at the machine expectantly.
"Can we make some more?"
"Of course, this is your ice cream machine."
"Then I want strawberry! Chocolate! Mint! And... and..."
"Are you sure your stomach can hold all that?"
"This lady's stomach leads to another dimension!" March 7th said righteously. "Besides, desserts like ice cream go into a separate stomach, didn't you know?"
Half an hour later.
March 7th was slumped on the sofa—she had eaten ten cups of ice cream.
"I... I think I really can't eat anymore... Could you help me move this to my room?"
"Is this a wish?"
"No!"
"Alright."
Aidan and March 7th worked together to move the heavy ice cream machine to March 7th's room, though March 7th did most of the heavy lifting.
March 7th plopped down on her bed, looking at the brand-new ice cream machine in the corner with a satisfied smile on her face.
"This lady is now an ice cream machine owner! I can eat it whenever I want!"
"Remember to eat in moderation," Aidan said. "Be careful not to get a stomachache from eating too much in one day... What about the remaining two wishes? Have you thought of them?"
"Not yet." March 7th shook her head. "An opportunity like this should be saved and thought over slowly! What if one day I want something really difficult to get? It'll come in handy then!"
"Yes, retaining an option is often more valuable than exercising it immediately, especially when facing uncertainty. You don't need to rush to redeem them now, because my abilities might develop more variables as my Path switches in the future. The returns you get then might far exceed your current expectations."
March 7th was left in a daze, blinking her big eyes at him.
"I don't understand what you're saying, but I feel like you're praising me for being smart?"
"You could interpret it that way."
March 7th's room was filled with a youthful atmosphere, the walls covered with photos she had taken on various worlds, each carefully framed in different styles. There was also a Pom-Pom plushie by her bedside.
"Hey, Aidan."
"Hmm?"
"Tell me... for the remaining two wishes, what should I ask for?" March 7th put down her cup and sat cross-legged on the bed, still hugging the Pom-Pom plushie, her chin resting on the plushie's head, looking at him with sparkling eyes.
"As long as it's not something ridiculous like asking me to pluck a star or destroy the universe, I'll do my best to satisfy it." Aidan shrugged. "Of course, it's best to ask while I'm on the Path of Erudition or some other useful Path. If I turn into Nihility and you make a wish, I might just answer you with 'it is meaningless.'"
Gurgle.
March 7th's expression suddenly changed; her face went pale at a visible rate, then quickly flushed bright red.
It was obvious that March 7th was about to have a stomachache.
"I really can't do anything with you."
Aidan rummaged through his pocket.
"Here, a special patch for gastrointestinal treatment. Just stick it on the area that hurts."
"How... how do you have something like this?"
"Because seeing you eat so much ice cream, I went and got one from Pom-Pom. I knew you wouldn't listen if I told you to eat less."