Aidan stood up from the floor.
He brushed back his hair, shook his head, and calmly pulled the instant noodle fork out of his head.
March 7th stepped forward, relieved to see that apart from his messy hair, he was truly missing no limbs, and let out a sigh of relief.
"...Are you okay?"
"I am fine, Senior March."
Aidan's voice was very gentle, but it made the hair on Dan Heng's arms stand on end.
Something was wrong.
"It's just... I feel like something is about to grow on top of my head."
Aidan began to think.
Erudition + Abundance.
A patch of grass, just like the one on Cartoon, sprouted from the top of his head.
Aidan touched the tuft of tender green grass that had just sprouted from his head, his expression somewhat subtle.
"...What is this?"
"Grass," March 7th replied, stunned. "You have grass growing on your head."
"I know it's grass," Aidan touched it a couple more times, the little grass swaying gently with his movements. "But the question is, why is grass growing on my head?"
March 7th leaned in cautiously, one finger hovering in mid-air, wanting to touch it but not daring to.
"The Abundance Path," he concluded. "I died once just now, and now I have Erudition plus Abundance."
"So you have grass growing on your head because of Abundance?" March 7th mused. "Will it bloom?"
"Probably not."
The more Aidan thought, the faster the grass on his head grew, though it didn't seem to have any real impact on him.
"He's completely covered in grass now."
March 7th tried to pull at the vines.
"This thing is actually quite sturdy," March 7th complained while tugging. "Aidan, can you stop thinking, please? If you keep thinking, our Astral Express will have to be turned into a botanical garden."
"I'm sorry, I will try to restrain it."
As he relaxed, the vines wrapped around him stopped growing wildly, and the patch of vines on his head also quieted down.
Aidan being overly polite made March 7th very uncomfortable.
"Can... can you not look at me with that expression? It's kind of creepy."
"Sorry."
"No, no, no, you don't need to apologize, I'm just... just not used to it," March 7th waved her hands, looking at the lush green grass on his head with a complicated expression. "When you talk like this, it makes me feel like I'm bullying you."
"How could that be?" Aidan looked up, a gentle smile hanging on the corners of his mouth. "Senior March has always been very good to me."
"...Aidan."
Dan Heng observed Aidan's condition.
"You are currently [Abundance], right?"
"Yes~~~"
Aidan nodded.
"But everyone doesn't need to worry, I just became unable to refuse everyone's requests, other than that, I won't do anything else."
"...[Granting all sentient beings their requests]."
Dan Heng was silent for a moment, then said.
March 7th frowned: "So, you will really agree to any request now?"
"Yes."
"Then if I tell you to pull out that pile of grass on your head, you'll agree to that too?"
Aidan paused for a moment, lowered his head to think, then looked up at her seriously: "I can, but after pulling it out, my head might bleed. Are you sure you want to do that?"
"No, no, no! Never mind, never mind!" March 7th waved her hands repeatedly. "I was just joking! Don't take it seriously! Don't pull it! Let it grow!"
"Okay."
Aidan stood there with that patch of green grass on his head, exuding a gentle aura that said, "I am very easy to talk to."
March 7th circled him twice, her eyes complex.
"I really am not used to you being like this. You weren't like this before."
"How was I before?"
"Before you... uh..." March 7th thought for a moment. "You would talk back to me. Whatever I said, you could respond to it, sometimes even intentionally annoying me. Now, whatever I say, you just say 'Okay','Sure','Sorry', making me feel embarrassed to talk to you."
"Then what should I do?"
"You should be like you usually are. For example, when I asked you to pull the grass just now, you should have said, 'Go ahead and pull it, it's my pain anyway, and if blood flows everywhere, it'll just scare you to death,' or something like that."
"Okay."
"..."
March 7th was choked by that "Okay."
"You are now... very much like that kind of person who wouldn't refuse no matter how outrageous the request is..."
Refusing no requests.
This meant that if someone asked him to do something very strange, he would do it too.
"Um, Aidan," Welt adjusted his glasses. "In your current state, if you encounter someone with ill intentions who makes an outrageous request, what would you do?"
"I would do it."
"..."
"But everyone on the Astral Express is a good person, so it doesn't matter," Aidan added, his tone carrying a natural sense of trust. "You wouldn't make outrageous requests."
The carriage fell into a brief silence.
March 7th suddenly felt like something had been added to her shoulders—probably a burden called "cannot betray trust."
"Then can you control this pile of grass now?" She pointed to the increasingly lush grass on top of Aidan's head. "They seem to have grown a bit taller again."
Aidan looked up at the top of his head—although this action was hard to see directly, he seemed to be able to perceive the state of those plants.
"They are absorbing my excess energy. If I stop thinking, the growth rate will slow down."
"Then stop thinking!" March 7th said anxiously. "Meditation—yes! Meditation!"
"Okay."
Aidan closed his eyes and began to meditate.
The blades of grass on his head swayed, and the growth rate indeed slowed down.
March 7th let out a sigh of relief and sat down next to him.
"Abundance... is just like this, limitless altruism."
Dan Heng said.
"I'm telling you, Aidan, you really can't be like this. If you go out and meet a bad guy who stabs you with a knife, and they tell you to hand over all the money you have, will you obediently take out your wallet?"
Aidan sat on the chair, the tender green grass on his head swaying gently.
"If the other party really needs money, and getting the money can solve their difficulties, I would indeed give it to them," Aidan's voice was incredibly gentle. "After all, money is just an external possession; being able to help others is what matters most."
March 7th slapped her own forehead.
This is bad.
She sat next to Aidan, staring at the wobbly little grass on his head, falling into deep worry.
"Sister Himeko, do you think he can last until tomorrow like this?"
"He only responds to our requests now, which means..." Himeko mused.
"Which means, as long as we don't make wishes to him, he won't do anything strange!"
March 7th suddenly realized.
"Yes, Yaoshi the Abundance is the same; They respond equally to the prayers of all living beings, including sentient life and primitive species," Dan Heng nodded. "The Abundance's way of understanding is different from ours; sometimes a casual complaint might sound like a request to Them."
Aidan sat on the chair, his hands placed obediently on his knees.
"Everyone doesn't need to be so nervous," Aidan's voice was as soft as a spring breeze. "I just want to help everyone, so that everyone can be happy and joyful. As long as you need me, I am always here."
"Not today—!"