"Dan Heng?"
"Mm."
"Mr. Yang?"
"Mm."
"Sister Himeko?"
"Mm."
"Alright~ In position! Today, this lady is going to see what he's turned into!"
March 7th reached out and pulled open the door to Aidan's room.
Open!
Turn the tide of the overall situation!
This is much more interesting than opening blind boxes.
But today, Aidan, standing by the window, was wearing a white naval uniform with a navy cap on his head, which had the character for'Ship' on it.
"You're here."
Aidan turned his head.
"You... are you Aidan?"
"It's me." He nodded slightly, a gentle curve rising at the corners of his mouth. "But for today, you can also call me... Captain."
"Captain?" March 7th blinked. "Captain of what?"
Aidan did not answer.
He simply raised his hand and pointed out the window.
Everyone followed his gaze—
And then, everyone froze.
Near the coordinates where the Astral Express was docked, in the originally empty sector of space, a massive battleship was quietly moored.
The battleship was silver-white all over, with a slender and elegant streamlined hull. The thruster arrays at the rear emitted a faint blue glow even in a static state. Its size far exceeded the Astral Express, possibly even larger than the Herta Space Station.
The battleship Hyperion.
"Hyperion... Hyperion?"
Himeko read out the striking identification on the hull, a flash of surprise crossing her golden pupils.
"How is this possible..."
Welt's voice was trembling.
If the others' reactions were surprise, then Welt's current expression was truly a sight to behold.
"Mr. Yang? What's wrong?" Dan Heng noticed Welt's abnormality and asked in a low voice, "Do you recognize this ship?"
Welt took off his glasses, wiped the lenses with a bit of a tremble, and then put them back on.
"That is... the Hyperion."
"That's right, the Hyperion."
Aidan adjusted the navy cap on his head, his eyes beneath the brim watching everyone with a smile. Today, the mild temperament he usually carried seemed to have been neutralized quite a bit by this uniform.
"This is my battleship, the Hyperion."
First of all, before transmigrating, Aidan was a Honkai Impact 3rd player.
He truly was the Captain of the Hyperion, which is to say, a high-dimensional observer of the plot.
However, he was now simply combining the 'Player' Captain and the 'Captain Verse' Captain; strictly speaking, it wasn't much of an issue.
This is what Enigmata do—weaving nearly flawless lies from many truths.
However, he didn't plan on revealing that this matter was fictional.
After all, Aidan hadn't had his fill of being a Captain yet.
"I know this is hard for everyone to understand. After all, in Mr. Welt's knowledge, this ship should be in his home world. But I must correct one thing—a story never truly ends, it just exists in a different way."
Aidan turned around, leaning his back against the window with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Allow me to introduce myself. Although I introduced myself yesterday and the day before, today's identity is slightly special."
He cleared his throat and struck a serious pose.
"I am Aidan, a new Trailblazer on the Astral Express. At the same time, I am also the Captain of this Hyperion, the Ferryman of the Sea of Quanta."
"Ferryman?"
Welt noticed an unfamiliar term.
"So, what does Ferryman mean... someone who rows a boat?"
"Mm, that's right—there are countless World Bubbles in the Sea of Quanta, and my battleship can navigate freely within it. Sometimes, I also take in people with nowhere else to go, such as those from World Bubbles that are about to be destroyed."
Sea of Quanta.
World Bubbles.
These terms were all too familiar to Welt.
So familiar they were almost a part of his life.
The days of trading blows with Kevin in the Sea of Quanta felt like they were only yesterday.
Actually, it wasn't exactly trading blows.
—So, this is the charm of 'Mystery'.
As long as the logic is self-consistent, a lie is the truth.
Welt smiled with relief: "Yeah, I should have thought of that sooner. After all, I've already come here."
"So, would you like to come and take a look at my battleship?"
"Go! Of course we're going! Such a big spaceship, it must be even bigger than the Herta Space Station, right?"
———
The Hyperion's elevator was ascending toward the Bridge.
"Captain on the Bridge."
A female voice announced.
Pshhh—
With a slight sound of air pressure releasing, the elevator doors slid open smoothly to both sides, and the full view of the Hyperion's Bridge was revealed before everyone's eyes.
Aidan's appearance was calm and composed, without a single flaw.
Cold silver-white metal formed the main theme here, with countless holographic screens floating in mid-air, scrolling with dazzling streams of data. The massive portholes presented a perfect curve, taking the sea of stars outside into their embrace without reservation.
"Well then—welcome to my home, everyone."
March 7th was like a child let loose in an amusement park, her eyes wide as saucers. She couldn't help but let out an exclamation of wonder, running quickly to the railing and leaning over to look down.
"Wow—this is too cool! Is this the Bridge of a battleship? It's even bigger than I imagined! And these screens... are they all touch-controlled?"
She reached out her finger, wanting to poke a light blue frame floating in front of her, but March 7th's finger passed through it, stirring up circles of virtual ripples.
"It's a holographic projection, not a physical screen," Welt's voice came from behind, carrying a hint of irrepressible nostalgia.
It wasn't an illusion, nor a projection...
"It really is... the Hyperion," Welt murmured in a low voice, the look behind his lenses quite complex.
Building a Hyperion wasn't actually that difficult in the galaxy.
But for Welt, this battleship gave him a feeling that made his eyes sting, as if it had come out of an old photograph... as if his student Himeko would come up on the next elevator.
"Want to try it?"
"Eh? Me? Can I?"
March 7th pointed at her own nose, looking quite flattered.
"This is the Captain's seat!...Wait, what if I accidentally press the wrong button and—whoosh—launch a missile and accidentally blow up some star?"
"Hmm? That won't happen. I'm simply letting you sit in an ergonomic massage chair," Aidan shrugged.
Dan Heng walked to the porthole, his gaze looking out at the vast sea of stars. His fingers lightly touched the cold glass, lost in thought.
"Aidan."
"Hmm?"
"This ship... does it really exist?"
"Of course."
March 7th had already sat in the Captain's chair, her whole body sinking into the wide seat, spinning around excitedly.
"Wow—this chair is so comfortable! It's even softer than the bed in my room!"