Hearing Pei Guang's words, Jing Yuan remained silent for a moment before speaking.
"That won't be necessary. This is merely the Xianzhou Alliance's way of expressing our gratitude. As long as you're satisfied, that means we chose the right gift. You Trailblazers still have a long journey ahead: may the path before your train be smooth and unimpeded. With that, I take my leave."
Truthfully, Jing Yuan was tempted. He was certain that if he told Pei Guang about the issue now, the Abundance faction would be lucky to survive even three Amber Eras. Who knows—give it a few decades, and Pei Guang might just be camping out near the Abundance Aeon, taking them down one by one as soon as they received a blessing.
The temptation was overwhelming!
But Jing Yuan held back. He understood that Pei Guang had already done more than enough for both the Luofu and the Xianzhou Alliance. For a player, a few hundred pulls were a huge deal, but in comparison to everything Pei Guang had done, they weren't nearly enough of a reward.
Besides, there were some things the Xianzhou Alliance had to handle themselves. If they relied entirely on external help, how would they face future crises?
For these reasons, Jing Yuan declined the offer—but he deeply appreciated Pei Guang's goodwill.
Watching Jing Yuan's departing figure, Pei Guang rubbed his chin and asked, "So… that's it? Do we head back to the train now?"
Stelle looked over at him. "Should we say goodbye to the friends we made on this journey?"
March 7th: "But we can come back anytime, right?"
Pei Guang: "Exactly! And besides… I literally just saw them yesterday and even invited them to the Aetherium Wars Interastral Tournament Festival. It'd feel kinda weird to say goodbye now, only to turn around and visit them again later."
It wasn't that Pei Guang didn't want to say goodbye: it just felt odd to invite people to an event one day, say farewell the next, and then casually show up again soon after.
March 7th: "That's true! With our powers, we can return whenever we want. No need to get all sentimental. Hehe~ We could even bring our Luofu friends along when we visit the next planet—that'd be awesome!"
The more March 7th thought about it, the happier she became, a bright smile spreading across her face. But then, as if realizing something, she suddenly pouted.
Holding onto Pei Guang's wrist, she grumbled, "Seriously… If only we had met earlier! Then we could've visited so many worlds together and seen so many places."
Seeing March 7th's playful sulking, Welt chuckled. "You'll have plenty of opportunities to revisit those worlds in the future—this time from a new perspective, experiencing them in a different way. The universe is vast, vast enough to hold endless possibilities."
After casually chatting for a while longer, the group returned to the Astral Express.
Seeing everyone back, Himeko greeted them with a warm smile. "How did everything go?"
March 7th excitedly rushed forward. "It was amazing, Himeko!"
Pei Guang: "I guess this marks the end of our journey on the Xianzhou Luofu, huh?"
Stelle: "Yup, pretty much."
Welt also chimed in. "Another journey has come to an end. All things have their conclusions… and after a conclusion comes a new beginning."
Hearing Welt's words, Himeko gave him a playful look. "How about next time, you stay behind on the train while I take these three to explore a new world?"
Before anyone else could respond, Welt immediately quipped back, "Since when did the train implement a shift system?"
Both of them laughed at the exchange, while Pei Guang turned to Himeko and Welt with a grin. "So, our next stop is…?"
Himeko: "Penacony. Remember? Before Kafka's invitation, that was our original destination."
Pei Guang: "Oh yeah, I remember!"
Stelle: "Same here!"
The others remained silent, just listening quietly.
Himeko said, "According to the train's databank, Penacony was originally a prison planet used by the IPC to exile criminals—at least, that's how it was recorded. However, after the Stellaron eruption, it fell into the embrace of Xipe and was supposedly transformed into an incredibly prosperous Land of Dreams."
She paused for a moment before continuing, "The Family is hosting a banquet there and has sent an invitation to the Express. I'm very curious about what might happen there, so I accepted the invitation. Once Pom-Pom finishes the preparations, we'll be ready to depart."
Just then, Pom-Pom trotted out, "Everyone! Sorry, but we won't be able to head to Penacony just yet, pom!"
That one sentence immediately drew everyone's attention to Pom-Pom.
March 7th exclaimed in shock, "No way! Is there another problem we need to handle? Ah Guang! Quick, use your invincible foresight to predict what's going on!"
Pei Guang rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to say it? It's not foresight—it's making educated guesses based on experience! And also, I'm not invincible, stop jinxing me! But seriously, what's going on?"
Pei Guang had been looking forward to exploring a new world, so hearing Pom-Pom say they couldn't go was frustrating.
Even though he had only been traveling for a little over a month in real-time, it felt like an eternity. Especially this period in the Xianzhou—though it seemed short, it gave him the feeling of having spent months here.
Sensing Pei Guang's resentment, Pom-Pom spoke apologetically, "Very sorry, pom! The Express has encountered some unknown issues and needs to undergo a thorough inspection, pom! But don't worry, once the check-up is complete and there are no problems, we'll head to Penacony, pom~"
Hearing this, Himeko's expression grew serious. "The Express has a problem? Looks like we'll have to stay put for a while. But it's fine—there's still some time before the invitation date."
March 7th sighed, "Huh? Maintenance, huh… fine~"
She seemed a little down but quickly perked up and turned excitedly to Pei Guang. "Ah Guang! What do you think we'll encounter on the next planet? You were crazy accurate about what would happen on the Xianzhou—I bet you'll get it right again!"
Pei Guang scoffed, "I was only accurate because there were enough clues! Back then, Dan Heng opened up about his past, so I had something to go on. This time, we've got nothing! It's like our first planet—if we hadn't known it was a post-apocalyptic world, how was I supposed to predict anything?"
Even though Pei Guang had often seemed like he had supernatural insight, the truth was, he only made guesses when he had enough clues. Take Belobog, for example: once he knew it was a post-apocalyptic world, it was easy to predict how the people in charge would react to outsiders.
Apocalyptic worlds and cities on the brink of collapse always followed the same patterns: never believing anything the protagonist says, or even worse, the person in power being outright corrupt.
The same logic applied to the Xianzhou: with Dan Heng and the Stellaron Hunters providing information, he could make some wild but reasonable guesses.
At this moment, Stelle suddenly became interested in the discussion. Rubbing her hands together excitedly, she urged, "Come on, take a guess! I believe in you, Ah Guang—you're bound to figure something out! Himeko already gave us some key details!"
Pei Guang shrugged, "Alright, since you're all curious, I'll take a wild guess. Based on what Himeko and Welt said, their next destination had also suffered a Stellarion eruption and later aligned with Harmony.
From what he understood, Stellaron events always had some kind of path-related influence. So what if someone on this planet wished upon the Stellaron, and it responded by making the planet seem like it had joined Harmony?
If we take that as a foundation for speculation… and since it used to be a Corporation-controlled planet, then the Corporation's people are definitely going to show up. And since their goals probably don't align with ours, there's a good chance we'll end up clashing."