Chapter 31: Stelle is my dearest and most beloved, I need more money!

"I just glanced over the combat logs and reports submitted by the Defense Section," Himeko stated. "Your orbital cannon, even fired at minimum power, definitely couldn't have killed the Doomsday Beast. Who else stepped in afterwards?"

"Eh?! You're saying the Stellaron is inside these two now?" Herta exclaimed.

"No wonder," she continued, observing Stelle and Caelus. "They look perfectly human, but their behavioral logic is completely beyond the scope of any normal sentient being."

"No, please don't misunderstand," Himeko gently corrected. Her voice was filled with resignation; you could tell she was doing her best to suppress the urge to retort, keeping her tone even. "They aren't humans directly transformed from the Stellaron."

"To be precise," Himeko elaborated, "the Stellaron you originally collected is now located inside Stelle's body. As for Caelus... while he doesn't have a direct connection to that Stellaron, he and Stelle are suspected to be twins. Both of their bodies can stably contain the Stellaron's energy."

"And the wonders don't stop there," Himeko added. "There's an incredible, strange connection between their bodies—they share senses with each other."

"Oh~? Is that so?" The interest in Herta's childish yet haughty voice clearly intensified.

Her amethyst-like eyes glimmered as dozens of sophisticated scanning systems within them activated, attempting to scan the two grey-haired individuals from the inside out. And because of this, Herta noticed the anomalies.

"These two kids have strange constitutions..." Herta mused. "This degree of information entanglement... huh, why is it in a superposition state? Isn't this wavelength coherence a bit too high?"

Herta sensed the unique nature of Stelle and Caelus, and the curiosity within her instantly flared up.

"Interesting, truly interesting!" she declared.

"Can I study them? Don't worry, I won't break them," Herta asked Himeko directly.

Although the equipment housed within Herta's puppet body is considered cutting-edge even across the universe, it's clearly insufficient to fully analyze the information within Caelus and Stelle's bodies. But if even a brief scan reveals so many anomalies, doesn't that speak volumes?

"I can't make that decision for them; you'll have to ask them yourself," Himeko replied with a soft sigh, a hint of worry on her face. "However, regardless of whether they agree or not, I'd like to ask you to treat their... brains."

"'Brains?'" Herta glanced at the scan results displayed on her retinas. "There are no pathological abnormalities in their brains. If you're talking about their minds... I can't treat that. Go find the station's psychiatrist."

The incessant voices nearby pulled Stelle from unconsciousness. She slowly opened her eyes, her expression slightly dazed. She found herself lying on a simple folding cot, covered with a thin blanket.

Turning her head, she saw another cot beside hers. Her brother, Caelus—identical to her down to their height—was lying there, eyes still closed, apparently still asleep.

"Yo, you're awake," a voice chirped.

Seeing that familiar yet strange, petite figure, Stelle's still somewhat fuzzy mind instantly cleared as if doused with cold water. The confusion faded. A slight smirk lifted the corner of the grey-haired girl's mouth. Her entire expression could be summed up in one word... mischievous!

Sure, Stelle thought, this person moving around in a puppet body might be the famous Master of the Space Station, a big shot, but compared to someone who can pull crystals out of their mouth, any big shot had to take a backseat! Caelus was still unconscious. If she pulled the crystals out of Herta's mouth now, wouldn't they all be hers?

Hehe, all the crystals will be mine~!

"I take it you don't want to go back to sleep, do you?" Herta inquired dryly.

Seeing that unmistakably mischievous grin and the gaze fixed firmly on her own mouth, Herta stopped dead in her tracks. From behind her back, she produced a hammer nearly as tall as herself.

Having someone try to pry open her mouth and fish out... whatever it was Stelle thought was in there? When had she, Herta, ever suffered such an indignity? Before, she'd held back out of respect for the Astral Express. Otherwise, she'd have cracked their skulls open already!

Now, however, Herta didn't mind so much. In Herta's mind, Stelle and Caelus had been upgraded from 'random NPCs' to beings worthy of dedicating a few precious neurons to remembering their names—existences with some value. Being offended? As long as Stelle and Caelus let her study them, she didn't mind letting them continue fishing around in her mouth. When it came to people or things that interested her, she was willing to accommodate almost anything.

"Er..." Overshadowed by the hammer, Stelle instantly calmed down.

Another important factor contributed to her rapid return to sanity: the petite puppet girl's mouth was no longer glowing. This meant Caelus had already taken all the crystals from the 'treasure chest'!

Damn it! Stelle fumed internally. Her plan to hoard all the crystals was ruined.

"Hmph!" she finally let out.

Seeing that Stelle understood the 'logic' she was demonstrating, Herta nodded with satisfaction, put away her hammer, and glanced at Caelus on the other cot, her brow furrowing slightly. She'd controlled her strength, and according to the scan results, this one should have woken up by now too? Why was he still unconscious?

"Hey, you over there, the little girl," Herta called out, turning towards the door. "What was your name—Seele, right? Come here." She beckoned to the little girl with navy-blue hair standing near the doorway.

As a genius dazzling even on a cosmic scale, a bit of arrogance in her speech was only natural—especially from someone who could practically conjure crystals. Seele didn't mind the condescending tone in the slightest.

"Excuse me, did you need something, calling for Seele?" Asking in the soft voice that fit her persona, Seele already had a good idea of what Herta wanted to talk about. Although Caelus's body had been knocked out by the hammer, 'his' consciousness had never faded.

"You, are you also a member of the Astral Express?" Herta asked. Seeing Seele's well-behaved demeanor, even Herta's tone softened slightly.

"Lady Herta, please don't frighten Seele," Himeko interjected, sighing softly with a slight smile. "Seele comes from a distant world. Considering the timing, it might be related to a spatial jump during the Antimatter Legion's invasion of the station. She has already joined the Astral Express. She's one of us now."

The subtext was clear: Seele was likely an innocent bystander caught up in the event, and furthermore, she was under Himeko's protection now, so Herta should back off a bit.

"'I know, I know," Herta retorted. "I'm not some creepy old lady. Are you afraid I'm going to eat her?" Despite her words, Herta's behavior wasn't the least bit convincing. Her amethyst eyes stared at Seele with keen interest, her gaze fixed directly on Seele's chest where the prominent Stigmata rested. If Herta herself didn't also have the appearance of a young girl... that look alone would have been grounds for Seele to call the authorities.

"'The Antimatter Legion...'" Herta clicked her tongue. "'Maybe next time I should build an empty space station and just let them invade it.'" Herta mused aloud. The Antimatter Legion's invasion had certainly brought her several pleasant surprises. If she didn't have to consider personnel casualties, and it was merely a matter of property damage, Herta would gladly trade those boring numbers for surprises like these.

Each of these Astral Express newcomers possessed unique talents, and this little girl was likewise a heavyweight! The energy within her body was peculiar. It wasn't the Imaginary energy widely used throughout the universe, but rather a type of energy intricately linked to it. The girl called it 'Honkai Energy'. Absolutely incredible~!

In many fields, Honkai Energy's versatility and applicability far surpassed that of conventional Imaginary energy. Of course, it also had its drawbacks—its corrosiveness was on a completely different level than Imaginary energy. On a macro level, it was hard to say which was superior. As for the finer details... Herta needed to conduct more detailed research to understand the further differences between the two energies.

And that wasn't all. She possessed something else remarkable. Herta stared at the bright red Stigma, the scanning devices in her eyes almost overloading. That thing the girl called a Stigma... even its surface-level structure made Herta's eyes light up. It was related to Imaginary Space! As everyone knows, no technology related to the Imaginary is simple! It's a field where ordinary people without talent could spend their entire lives and struggle to achieve any results! Moreover, it was technology never before seen in the universe—otherwise, it was impossible she wouldn't know anything about it!

But the biggest surprise was yet to come. The source of the Quantum power within this girl... it made Herta's real body's heart beat faster than ever before. It was like a new continent, untouched by any scholar!

"How about you stay at the space station and let me conduct research?" Herta proposed to Seele. "I guarantee I can find your homeworld, and I'll send you back home once the research is complete, or when I lose interest."

"'This...'" Seele feigned hesitation, but thoughts raced through her mind. Researching Honkai Energy and Stigmata... with the minds of geniuses in the Honkai: Star Rail world, they'd definitely make progress. Could those results be brought back to the Honkai Impact 3rd world's 'civilization exam' via reverse consciousness mapping? This was practically off-site support from an upperclassman! And a top-student campus belle type at that!

Giving Seele time to consider, Herta turned, planting her hands on her hips. "And you, Stellaron kid."

"This genius is now willing to lend you a hand, so you should be grateful!" Herta announced to Stelle. "It's only because I still have some interest in you right now. Once my enthusiasm fades, I wouldn't study you even if you begged." After all, Herta had already researched Stellarons extensively in the past. But Honkai Energy, Stigmata, and the source of Quantum power—these three elements combined were far more interesting than just a constitution capable of housing a Stellaron!

"'No way!'" Stelle shot back instantly. One second she's all interested in yours truly, the next second she's ready to toss me aside? This fickle woman is clearly bad news! Stelle crossed her arms and snorted coldly.

"'How much?'"

The voice overlapped almost perfectly with Stelle's snort. It came from Caelus, his consciousness having returned from Seele's body to his own.

"'Ha!'" Herta chuckled. "'This kid's got a good head for business. I like that.'" Herta was pleased with Caelus's savvy. She was just starting to consider a price when she saw Caelus shaking his head before even hearing an offer.

"'Let me tell you," Caelus declared, "'Stelle here is my dear sibling, my flesh and blood! You gotta add more!'"

Stelle stared with an expression of utter disbelief, but quickly caught on, raising her hand high. "'Me, me, me!'"

"'I'll sell Caelus! A little less than his price is fine!'"

"'Damn it!'" Caelus retorted. "'Of all the things to learn, you learn how to undercut me?!'"

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I have a little challenge for you! For every 100 POWER STONES, I'll release ONE EXTRA CHAPTER!

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