"Looks like I didn't need to lift a finger after all."
The red-haired woman crossed her arms, watching the group that had rushed to her side with a faint smile.
"March 7th, Dan Heng, you've worked hard."
She paused briefly before slowly turning her gaze to Felicity, nodding in gratitude. "And you must be Miss Felicity, whom Asta mentioned. Thank you for looking after March and the others along the way."
"Hey! Himeko~ Why single me out like that?"
March 7th protested indignantly.
"Haha, do you think I don't know your temperament?"
Himeko chuckled lightly, not dwelling on the topic. Her attention shifted to Arlan as she asked with concern, "Are you alright, Arlan? Asta was very worried about you."
"I'm fine. Miss Felicity healed my wounds. Thank you all. I need to report to Station Head Asta now. Goodbye."
Arlan nodded to Himeko and hurried off in Asta's direction.
"Then I'll go report to Asta too~"
Felicity waved cheerfully to the group and skipped off toward Asta's location.
Master Control Zone, Central Monitoring Area.
"This direction... leads to the Containment Zone. The collection room suffered the most severe attacks... What exactly happened?"
Asta stared at the massive, hovering blue projection before her, her delicate brows slightly furrowed.
The damage to the security system was minimal. The intruders had only altered a few core pieces of data. While easy to repair, it was uncertain how much data and curios within the station might be lost during this period.
Not knowing their purpose—this was what troubled Asta the most. The Antimatter Legion's target was clearly the space station, showing no interest in the planetary surface. Asta couldn't begin to guess what their goal might be.
No, actually, it's conceivable. This space station was originally established to house the countless curiosities collected by Herta, and the most precious among them is the Stellaron, whose location even Asta doesn't know.
But why would the Antimatter Legion be targeting that thing?
Asta pondered, her forehead damp with cold sweat, until—
—a hand lightly tapped her shoulder.
"Hello~ Can you hear me, Miss Asta?"
"Ah!? I'm here!"
Asta was startled, her entire body stiffening as she turned her head rigidly. Only after seeing Felicity's face did she pat her chest and sigh in relief: "Phew... It's you, Felicity. Really, don't scare me like that."
"I walked right up behind you openly, you know."
Felicity blinked, smiling cheerfully as she linked arms with Asta. "Is there anything you need help with?"
Her relationship with Asta was actually quite close.
Due to Herta's extremely irresponsible nature, Felicity's daily needs—food, clothing, shelter, and transportation—had all been dumped on Asta to handle.
And Asta happened to be an extremely conscientious person. After hearing Herta's specific instruction to "just try to fulfill her requests," she cleared out a room originally prepared for the staff and gave it to Felicity.
At that time, Felicity was still young and inexperienced, unable to freely control the Abundance's authority as she can now. Plus, the room Asta gave her was far from the other staff members, and combined with her impatient nature...
Sometimes, she would secretly experiment with risky things in her room during breaks from Herta's experiments.
And she just happened to forget about Asta in the process.
Asta's personality was simply too earnest; she would often seek out Felicity to ask if there was anything else she needed or any requests she had.
Once, while passing by Felicity's room by chance, Asta knocked on the door for a long time without getting a response. So she used the spare key to force her way into Felicity's room, only to find Felicity hanging mid-air, eyes rolled back and tongue sticking out, with an overturned chair beneath her.
The young lady had never seen such a scene before and was immediately frightened out of her wits. She promptly rescued Felicity from above, only to despairingly discover that both her heartbeat and breathing had ceased.
Her body was already cold.
Just as Asta was anxiously pacing around, Felicity suddenly sprang up like a carp leaping out of water, startling Asta so badly that she nearly drew her Astral Spectrum Staff, which she used for self-defense.
"Sorry, did I scare you? Actually, this was just a prank meant to startle people."
At the time, Felicity used this excuse to calm her down. After all, Asta was genuinely kind, providing food, clothing, and shelter—it would be quite embarrassing to frighten her too badly.
But unexpectedly, this "lie" immediately piqued Stelle's interest.
"How did you do it? Even your heartbeat and pulse stopped?!"
After accepting Felicity's explanation, the curious young girl immediately posed the question.
According to her—this prank was neither scientific nor magical.
Of course, Felicity couldn't explain it properly. At that time, she didn't even understand the nature of the power within herself. After hemming and hawing for a while, she finally replied, "You'll have to figure that out for yourself."
Then, Felicity and Asta made an agreement: Felicity would perform a prank for Asta periodically, allowing Asta to study the mystery behind Felicity's feigned death.
Naturally, this little game didn't last long before it was exposed—the authority of an Emanator of Abundance was quite obvious, and Herta thought the two of them were ridiculous, so she told Asta the truth.
But the game was still kept up for a while longer at Asta's own request. For some reason, she became strangely addicted to the feeling of being a detective, probably because satisfying her curiosity made her feel particularly fulfilled.
"It's fine, you just need to rest properly."
Asta turned around and offered a somewhat weary smile. While speaking with Felicity earlier, she had caught sight of Arlan's figure. The clever young girl likely guessed how things were unfolding and gently shook her head at Felicity.
"You're a distinguished guest appointed by Madam Herta. We're already grateful that you're willing to help the space station. Leave the remaining work to us."
After all, the space station was built by Herta. No matter how fragile it might be, it couldn't be destroyed by Antimatter Legion personnel of this caliber.
"Ah, I see."
Upon hearing this, Felicity instead showed a regretful expression. She had quite wanted to go out and see if there was anything that could kill her.
She released Asta's arm and quickly winked at the pink-haired girl: "Then I won't disturb your work. If you need help, remember to call me~"
"Don't worry, when I need your help, I'll definitely tell you. I certainly won't stand on ceremony with you."
Asta also curved her lips into a smile. Her previously somewhat irritated mood improved quite a bit after Felicity's interruption.
After watching Felicity walk away, she took a deep breath, and her expression turned serious again. She looked at Arlan and asked, "Are you alright, Arlan? What exactly happened down there?"