After learning from Nero that this kid had casually fixed Perkins just by using the knock-and-hit method, the rest of the Trailblazing Squad fell silent.
Still, as teammates who lived together day in and day out, everyone had long been mentally prepared for situations like this.
So after a brief silence, March, who had "suffered greatly" from this before, suddenly put on a smug expression and said to the others, "See! I told you already, it wasn't a radio problem and it wasn't my fault! It's Nero who's the problem! How could any random machine get fixed just by getting smacked a couple of times!"
Stelle lowered her head and rubbed her forehead, saying helplessly, "I can already imagine what Mr. Welt looks like when he's completely dead inside."
Even Dan Heng said, "Something unreasonable has happened… Let's just let Mr. Welt bear this pain himself."
After that, everyone started chatting about other things.
Including, but not limited to, discussing whether Svarog and the Engine of Creation were brothers.
Among those topics, the two more noteworthy ones were Svarog's confusion over the reduced number of Fragmentum monsters in Rivet Town, and how this machine-headed fellow rejected Nero's invitation for Clara to become a Nameless with an attitude that was almost like guarding against a pervert.
The group did not stay in Rivet Town for long. Soon after, they took the children back to Boulder Town, where they happened to run into Natasha.
Once they got closer, Natasha said, "You made it… I thought you were going to miss this historic moment."
"How could we!" March said as she spoke, elbowing Stelle twice at her side. "We worked so hard to get this far, how could we miss the final celebration banquet? Right?"
Hearing this, Stelle put on a thoughtful expression.
At that moment, her brain was working at high speed, and she arrived at an answer.
Natasha looked at the expectant March and was just about to say something when she was interrupted by Stelle.
The gray-haired girl, with an extremely serious expression and an exceptionally solemn tone, said something utterly shameless.
"I'm sitting at the kids' table!"
Natasha, "...Ahem. I don't know whether there will actually be a so-called celebration banquet, but I think Hook and Clara probably wouldn't refuse to sit together with you."
As she spoke, Natasha glanced at Hook and Clara behind Nero, and of course, she could not avoid including Svarog in her sight.
Come to think of it, at the very beginning, they were only supposed to go find Hook, right…
'How did so many more people suddenly show up?'
In the end, Natasha let out a sigh and said with some emotion, "For me and Oleg, and the other adults, the end of the lockdown means regaining the way of life we remember, returning to the ordinary, and no longer worrying about basic survival…"
"But for the children who were born and raised during the years of lockdown, this is the start of a brand-new life."
"Once people have tasted the sweetness of freedom, they can never accept isolation and closure again. The tragedies our generation experienced in childhood must never be repeated on these children."
"Sorry, I'm rambling again. This is a day worth remembering. We should be facing it with smiles."
Everyone shook their heads, saying it was nothing.
After all, they were about to "see the light of day" again. Feeling emotional was only natural.
The other people from the Underworld they met along the way were the same. Cheers from young and middle-aged adults, and bitter crying from the elderly… Compared to them, Natasha was already quite emotionally stable.
After all, she could even say things like this with a bit of a literary flair.
Along the way, the words Nero and the others heard most often from the emotionally excited people were probably things like "F*ck, we're finally free."
It was like, without throwing in fillers like "holy shit," "f*ck," or "damn it," the excitement would somehow feel lacking.
After that, the celebration banquet never happened. Svarog returned to the Mechanical Settlement to recalculate and analyze the new data collected from Rivet Town, and to start drafting future monitoring plans.
Mr. Yang, although he racked his brains over Perkins's situation and still couldn't figure it out, had a great time at the Mechanical Settlement.
As for the others, they prioritized taking the children to the Overworld to have some fun.
The plan regarding the Fragmentum industry had already been communicated to Pom-Pom and Himeko, who were still on the train.
Pom-Pom happily agreed to the request for a temporary stop and felt relieved that the train would be able to obtain more funding in the future.
All that daily selling of cuteness and self-sacrifice, meaning getting petted, had not been in vain. At last, it was finally paying off.
In short, time was still fairly ample. Before the fleet of the Flaming Fire Merchant Guild arrived, the train would not be moving for now.
Nero also told Herta about this matter. That aloof genius was unusually willing to reply to someone's message.
Even though what Nero mentioned this time had nothing to do with Aeons, Herta still expressed some interest and was willing to help.
Next was just waiting for the company's reply. Even if the company did not come, it would not be a big problem, it would just make promotion a bit more difficult.
But presumably, the company would not refuse to cooperate.
In any case, all of this would have to wait until later to think about and put into practice.
After arriving in the Overworld, Hook immediately exclaimed, "Wuh… whoa! Th-this is… such a big, such a blue roof!"
Natasha smiled and said, "That's not a roof, Hook… it's the sky."
"So this… is the Overworld? The smell in the air… it's very different from the Underworld," Clara said.
"Hahaha, is it because there's less rust and geomarrow dust in the air?" Oleg laughed. "Take a deep breath, kids. This is the smell of freedom."
"Besides that, the temperature in the Overworld is actually colder than underground. When the air goes into your nose, it feels a bit cool too, right?"
Nero sat on his sword, flying between Hook and Clara.
Ever since he got the treasured sword, he seemed to have basically given up on walking.
Clara lightly hopped on the steps, feeling the temperature coming up from beneath her feet, then rubbed her hands and said, "It is a little…"
"Cold feet? Want to sit on Black Cut too?" Nero said.
"Eh? N-no need…" Clara refused Nero's invitation with lingering fear on her face.
She still had not recovered from flying in the Underworld earlier. It felt like her stomach was still churning.
"By the way, that roof… I mean, the sky up there, why is there such a huge gap in it? You can't see the edge at all! Is it broken, or was it always like that?" Hook asked Nero.
Nero propped his chin with one hand, thought for a moment, then said directly, "I did it."
Then he looked up at the gap and muttered to himself, "Feels like the atmosphere wasn't damaged too badly… although the sword energy really did fly out of this planet."
Nero quickly pulled his thoughts back and realized that Hook and Clara were both looking at him with admiration. Turning his head again, he saw that Natasha, Oleg, and Dan Heng were also looking at him.
Most of the locals looked shocked, while the train crew companions had expressions that were hard to put into words.
Nero blinked. "Why are you all looking at me? Is this something I'm not allowed to say?"
"Well, not exactly…" March took a few quick steps forward, caught up to Nero, and put a hand on his shoulder. "But Nero… keep it low-key. Be a bit more low-key."
Nero looked at March with half-lidded eyes and quietly complained, "Your mouth is about to split to the back of your ears, and you're calling that low-key?"
"It's still more low-key than directly saying the strange phenomenon in the sky was your doing!" March shot back.
Behind them, watching the two gradually get noisier, Dan Heng and Stelle exchanged a look and then both sighed.
There was a kind of exhaustion in their eyes that was unique to adults…