A sharp little furball, Silver Wolf thought to herself.
But that didn't stop her from successfully infiltrating. After all, the current Astral Express, having lost Akivili's protection and with many powerful Nameless like the Clockmaker gone, was quite empty inside.
Miss Himeko, with her grand ambitions, wanted to retrace the Star God's past journey and restore the glory of the Trailblaze. Silver Wolf could only wish her good luck.
It was also worth mentioning that Silver Wolf had not invaded the Astral Express with her physical body, but rather through a remote hack, sending her virtual projection inside the train. This made it more convenient for her to conduct a stealthy search, leaving no trace.
As for what the girl was searching for... wasn't it obvious?
March 7th, Dan Heng, and Stelle were not very talented liars. Not to mention that the one they were trying to deceive was a genius hacker who had made a name for herself on a cosmic scale, who, though not as dazzling as the eighty-four members of the Genius Society, was not far behind—Silver Wolf!
However, regarding March 7th's clever idea of trying to trick her by using Six-Phased Ice to disguise a "Light Cone," Silver Wolf still gave some affirmation in her heart. She had indeed been fooled for a while.
And when she realized that March 7th and the others were lying to deceive her, what surfaced in Silver Wolf's heart was not sadness or dissatisfaction, but excitement and a sense of renewal!
Under what circumstances would former companions bear a sense of guilt and resort to well-intentioned lies to comfort themselves?
The answer was when their stances were different!
As members of the Express crew, they and she, a Stellaron Hunter, were on different paths. Yet, due to the fate of the Herta Space Station, they had become partners. No matter how many times Silver Wolf thought back, she still found it incredible.
And under what circumstances would their stances diverge?
The answer was interests.
As for an interest that could captivate the hearts and trigger a fierce competition between both the Astral Express and the Stellaron Hunters, at present, there was only...
"Zao Wu..."
The tip of her tongue moved up, in two steps, against her silver teeth, then gently fell on her lips. Silver Wolf emotionally called out this name.
She was not usually such a sentimental person. The girl was originally nihilistic and indifferent, arrogant yet lost, finding solace in games, and treating reality and the universe as a multiplayer role-playing game. It was Zao Wu's existence that had illuminated her dim soul and ignited her suppressed desires, making her understand for the first time that a "brother" could be more than just a "brother"...
Getting carried away. Silver Wolf bit her tongue to return to reality.
In short, she wanted to find the proof—proof that Zao Wu was on the Astral Express. This was the reason she had come here. To find out what had happened to Zao Wu. If he had really returned from the black hole, why hadn't he contacted the Stellaron Hunters, who were the closest to him and held the most important place in his heart, until now? This was too strange! Zao Wu was not the kind of boy who would forget his former mother just because he had a new stepmother! Whether it was Kafka, or Silver Wolf herself, Blade, even Elio and Sam... they were all important people the boy could not forget!
But if it wasn't Zao Wu's problem, then the problem must be with the people on the Astral Express!
"Could it be that the legend is true?"
"Himeko's knockout coffee..."
Silver Wolf had heard of this interstellar legend, and the proverb derived from it, "When Himeko smiles, life and death are unpredictable."
Once, out of curiosity, Silver Wolf had asked Kafka, who had unfortunately drunk Himeko's coffee more than once, what it was like. Kafka's smiling face instantly froze. The expression the woman showed afterward looked like, "I really want to delete the memory of those cups of coffee from my mind..." It wasn't so much fear as it was astonishment at how Himeko's 36-degree hands could brew such a heart-chilling beverage.
If she had the good fortune to meet a Memokeeper from the Garden of Recollection in the future, for example, that elegant diviner named Black Swan, perhaps after the Stellaron Hunters helped them with a small favor, Kafka would really ask Black Swan to delete the memory of Himeko's coffee from her mind.
Fortunately, Silver Wolf was on a virtual projection sortie this time. Even if Himeko had a secret weapon like "knockout coffee," it couldn't possibly affect her real body far away...
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approaching made Silver Wolf gather her thoughts and quickly hide using optical technology.
Coincidentally, the person who came was the one Silver Wolf had listed as a major suspect, the train's navigator, Miss Himeko. And in her hand, she happened to be holding a freshly brewed cup of bitter coffee.
Out of curiosity, Silver Wolf couldn't help but glance at it. And it was this one glance that made Silver Wolf's real body, far away on the spaceship, smell an indescribable scorched and bitter taste for no reason!
"!?"
You've got to be kidding me!
The girl almost threw up! Could it be that Himeko's coffee had become a conceptual-level pollutant that could transmit its smell to people who had never even drunk it, just by looking at its appearance! At this moment, Silver Wolf was extremely glad that she was just a projection. Otherwise, this move from Himeko could have directly broken her out of her stealth mode!
The elegant, red-haired woman sipped the rich, bitter coffee, and after a brief moment of enjoyment, her expression quickly faded, gradually turning into a wistful longing and melancholy.
Himeko's gaze couldn't help but drift out of the Parlor Car's transparent porthole, landing on the slowly rotating, snow-covered, white planet.
The second day since Zao Wu left. I miss him.
Even the delicious coffee she had innovatively brewed in her spare time, which she had thought was a perfect masterpiece, now seemed to lack some flavor. Himeko knew that it wasn't the coffee's problem, but a lack in her own state of mind. And if Zao Wu were by her side, she would definitely have entrusted the opportunity to taste this coffee to the boy.
Fortunately, these were Himeko's inner thoughts and couldn't be heard by Silver Wolf. Otherwise, Silver Wolf would have been furious—what are you giving our Zao Wu to drink! Not to mention Kafka. How could she be willing to let Zao Wu taste the bitterness she had tasted! It was likely that a war between the Stellaron Hunters and the Astral Express would have started over a small cup of coffee.
Having lost her interest in sipping coffee, Himeko slowly withdrew her gaze from the distant planet Jarilo and stood up again, heading towards the passenger car.
Silver Wolf hesitated for a moment, and after ensuring she was at a safe distance where Himeko wouldn't notice her, she also followed closely behind. The girl's transparent figure easily passed through the solid car door.
In the corridor of the passenger car, Himeko met Pom-Pom, who was holding a small broom.
"Ah! Himeko, Pom-Pom's cleaning work is almost finished, pom!"
"Is there anything else this conductor can help with, pom?"
"For example, washing..."
Pom-Pom might be a long-eared rabbit with a cleaning obsession. It was always tirelessly cleaning the train, bringing any filth to justice, and even occasionally worried about the passengers' personal hygiene.
Pom-Pom's words were cut off by Himeko before she could finish. She seemed to have anticipated what the cute and fluffy conductor wanted to say.
"Let me handle that. If you're bored after you're done, Conductor, you can go to the phonograph to listen to some music and relax."
That? What did "that" refer to?
Silver Wolf, eavesdropping in the dark, became curious.
"Mmm, that's true, pom..."
"Usually when passenger March 7th and the others are here, Pom-Pom always feels the train is messy and noisy."
"But when they're gone, I feel lonely, pom."
"Pom-Pom really hates goodbyes, pom..."
Pom-Pom only dared to say these words in front of Himeko. Otherwise, it was usually the conductor who would sternly lecture passenger March 7th not to always try to tie ribbons on its ears.
Himeko's expression softened. She bent down and reached out to pat Pom-Pom's head and ears. Although Pom-Pom felt shy, it still allowed Himeko's comforting touch. After all, back when the train was stranded and might never have been able to sail again, it was Himeko who had stepped up and repaired the train, allowing Pom-Pom to reappear and giving it the opportunity to travel along the routes pioneered by Lord Akivili once more.
Finally, Pom-Pom followed Himeko's suggestion and headed towards the phonograph, planning to pass the time while the little passengers were away by listening to music.
And Himeko went alone to the train's laundry room, seeing a pile of dresses waiting to be washed in her laundry basket.
Silver Wolf's cheek passed through the wall, while her body remained behind it, quietly observing Himeko's every move. It sounded like a rather compromising position, but fortunately, as a virtual projection, she didn't have to worry about triggering any small subplots.
At this moment, the girl's heart was filled with curiosity.
What is Himeko doing?
If it's just washing clothes, does she have to do it herself?
But then she saw Himeko lift the clothes on the surface of the basket, finally revealing a carefully folded white shirt underneath. The woman's expression suddenly filled with endless tenderness. She gently picked it up, pinched the shoulders of the shirt with her fingertips, and carefully unfolded it.
Under the light, the shirt was as white as snow, without a single stain. Just like its owner, pure and clean by nature...
Completely unaware of Silver Wolf's projection, Himeko let her true feelings show in a space where she thought she wouldn't be discovered.
"Zao Wu... Mom misses you so much."
And both the name she softly called out and the size of the shirt provided the most powerful confirmation of Silver Wolf's bold guess!
At this moment, in her real body inside the distant spaceship, Silver Wolf couldn't help but shed two lines of hot tears. The tears overflowed the capacity of her goggles, streaming down. At this moment, it didn't seem to matter whether she took them off or not. The girl's tears gathered at her white chin, then continuously fell under the force of gravity.
"Drip, drip!"
They soon wet the ground beneath Silver Wolf's feet.
Such rude tears.
Fortunately, at this moment, Silver Wolf couldn't spare a thought for her残念 (regrettable) figure. All she knew was that her Zao Wu... had really come back!
Wait—what is this woman Himeko doing?
Silver Wolf snapped back from her emotional daze, her gaze as sharp as an arrow, piercing towards Himeko not far away!
Himeko, who was about to bury her face in the boy's shirt, suddenly looked back, but all she saw was still a blank wall.
"...Is it my imagination?" The woman comforted herself, telling herself not to be paranoid.
At the same time, she still hadn't given up the idea of absorbing "Zao Wu energy" from his shirt.
Silver Wolf's eyes turned red! But all she could do was watch as Himeko buried her head in the chest of the white shirt. The woman breathed in deeply, again and again, and gradually showed an intoxicated expression, letting out a soft, ambiguous moan.
"Ah..."
Himeko's cheeks gradually flushed with a strange color, like a drunken queen who still hadn't lost her elegance, but seemed to have been touched by the mortal world, no longer as unreachable and coldly aloof as a flower on a high mountain.
The only pity was that the child Zao Wu was too clean. Even his sweat was fragrant and faint.
Himeko gradually became unsatisfied... and longed even more to have Zao Wu back by her side. But she couldn't. That would be a wrong kind of doting, an irresponsible act towards Zao Wu! It would also go against the Path of the Trailblaze.
Himeko had high hopes for Zao Wu. As everyone knows, a Star God can fall, but a Path will not perish. Does that mean... on a Path that has lost its Star God, a new—Star God can be born!? This was not a betrayal of Akivili. On the contrary, Akivili would surely be gratified to have a successor. That's why Zao Wu needed to grow, to see a wider world, to understand and grasp the true meaning of the Trailblaze!
Himeko's long "recharging" time finally ended. It could be seen that on the chest of Zao Wu's changed shirt, there was a messy smudge of bright red.
Himeko's expression suddenly stiffened.
"Oops... I forgot I was wearing lipstick."
"Doesn't that mean I have to wash it?"
"Guh... how am I supposed to get through the next few days..."
"Although Zao Wu did leave other clothes, like pants... but-but, how can I do something like that!"
Himeko was ashamed of the bold thoughts that had appeared in her mind. She shook her head, and finally steeled herself to put Zao Wu's shirt into the interstellar washing machine. Regardless of whether she would change her mind later, at least at this moment, Himeko believed she was not that lonely...
After Himeko had completely left the laundry room, only the sound of the washing machine's steady operation remained in the room.
Only then did Silver Wolf rush out from the wall, regardless of everything! The girl tried to save Zao Wu's shirt! But unfortunately, all a virtual projection could do was "gaze at the clothes and sigh"... What's more, even if she remotely hacked the washing machine system and saved Zao Wu's shirt, she wouldn't be able to smell the boy's scent anymore.
The silver-haired girl gritted her small wolf teeth.
"How pathetic, Silver Wolf!"
"What are you being stupid for!"
"What you should really be doing is not finding Zao Wu, and then..."
—"Completely possessing him!"
....
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