「 Finally, everyone decided that Welt would lead the team, taking Stelle and March 7th to the Luofu for a pioneering journey.
Himeko and Dan Heng remained on the train.
After two warp jumps, a dazzling light suddenly pierced through the darkness of the warp. Once the group stood steadily, a planet-sized ship, so vast it was astonishing, appeared in everyone's sight.
"Wow!" March 7th was so stunned her mouth hung open,
"Is this the Xianzhou? It looks even bigger than Jarilo-VI!"」
「 .....」
~ Genshin Impact World ~
"This... is a ship?"
Navia found it hard to associate this planet-like behemoth with a ship.
Fontaine used to have a navy fleet a long time ago, and Navia had learned about it in books when she was little. Ordinary ships were only tens to hundreds of people in scale, but this Xianzhou... she even suspected it was bigger than all of Teyvat!
"Don't forget, this was built by the Emperor of the ancient kingdom using the power of the entire nation... and there are five more this size."
Clorinde reminded her expressionlessly from the side.
"Moreover, the Emperor of the ancient kingdom initially built more than just six Xianzhou."
Clorinde handed Navia the newspaper with the latest light screen information, sighing,
"...It's hard to imagine how vast the nation and territory ruled by that Emperor were, and how advanced their technology was, to support such a massive construction project."
"Even if you dug up all the iron and coal mines on ten Teyvat continents... and drilled through the core of The Chasm, you probably couldn't build one ship of this scale, could you?"
"Even if resources were abundant, who would you entrust it to build?"
Clorinde gently snorted,
"It wouldn't be those guys from the Fontaine Research Institute, would it?"
"They didn't even spare their own Research Institute... If they were given enough resources, I'm afraid Fontaine would be razed to the ground before the Xianzhou was built."
—
「 "To the Xianzhou people, this ship is their planet," Dan Heng said faintly, with an unreadable emotion in his eyes,
"The land is an indispensable cradle for civilization's survival and development. However, some civilizations can break free from their infancy, piloting starships through the void... The Xianzhou Alliance is just like that."
Dan Heng's voice grew fainter, and if one listened carefully, a tremor could be detected in his voice.
"I've only seen it a few times, but it's still so magnificent..."
"What's wrong with you? You look nostalgic and lonely?"
Dan Heng's sadness was exceptionally unfamiliar to March 7th, who couldn't help but soften her voice.
Dan Heng sighed, not answering... as if the past was too painful to recall.
Meanwhile, Himeko was sending requests for the train to land in Xianzhou.
But strangely, she tried several times, and the only replies they received were intermittent AI voices.
"The Stellaron Hunters probably weren't lying, something really did happen to the Xianzhou..."
March 7th was instantly terrified, thinking they were about to enter a horror movie scene.
Fortunately, this tense atmosphere didn't last long.
Soon, there was a response from the Xianzhou guiding the train to dock, and an AI reply came through:
"The Jade Gate is opening. On behalf of the [ Xianzhou Alliance: Luofu ], I welcome our esteemed guests from afar. Please follow the guidance and dock in an orderly fashion—"
Although there was still no human response, Welt was already preparing to disembark, and March 7th was excitedly planning to take many photos of the Luofu to make Dan Heng envious...
This mindset was completely unlike performing a mission, but rather like going on a tour.
As it was her first time working with Uncle Yang, Stelle found Himeko before their departure and asked some questions about Uncle Yang.
During the conversation, Himeko only mentioned that Uncle Yang was very skilled, and as for other things, she knew very little.
"He rarely talks about his own story. When you ask him, he'll only say he makes animations."」
「 .....」
~ Honkai: Impact 3rd World ~
"...Makes animations?"
Inside St. Freya High, Himeko frowned slightly, repeatedly pondering that sentence. Suddenly, as if she remembered something, she quickly dialed a number on her phone.
After a brief "beep—" sound, Welt Yang answered the call.
"Did you see it? That Mr. Welt in the light screen... I always feel like he's not an alternate self from a parallel universe."
Himeko cautiously stated her guess.
"We observed the characteristics of alternate selves from other worlds. Whether it's me, Bronya, or Seele... their alternate selves all have more or less some differences, whether in personality or appearance."
"But only you... and only you, Welt, your alternate self is different from all of us."
A look of disbelief also appeared on Himeko's face, but her voice was very firm,
"No, simply put, your alternate self is too similar to you, whether in personality, voice, appearance, age... now even the experiences match up."
"Himeko... what do you mean by that?"
The voice on the other end of the phone had begun to tremble slightly.
Taking a deep breath, Himeko whispered,
"Welt... I think you've already guessed it."
—
「 Following the guidance, the trio arrived at Xianzhou's Starfaring Trade Hub, where they saw mountains of containers piled everywhere.
"Good heavens, it's nothing but densely packed containers—you can't even see where they end!" March 7th grumbled.
"This isn't a place for passengers to land, it's a cargo dock, isn't it? Who guided us here? A port with such a huge throughput, and not a soul in sight, it's really creepy..."
"It would be even creepier if we saw people..."
"Ugh! Don't say it. Anyone who appears now must be the mastermind." March 7th shivered.
"Uncle Yang, what do we do?"
"Start with the person who found the Jade Gate. If this person has ulterior motives, it'll save us some trouble. If it's a staff member, we'll ask them what happened."
Welt quickly cleared his thoughts, calmly looking at the two, "Let's go, stay alert." 」
「 .....」
~ Genshin Impact World ~
"This Mr. Welt gives a very reassuring feeling."
Tartaglia carefully observed the middle-aged man in the light screen. If he were in Snezhnaya, he would definitely not be a conspicuous type in a crowd, but this just-right low profile perfectly concealed his edge.
"Although this gentleman gives a very gentle and refined impression, I feel like he would become a completely different person once he engages in combat."
"I have the same feeling,"
Zhongli commented faintly,
"Calm in the face of danger, poised to strike."
"Speaking of which, he's a bit like Mr. Zhongli too..."
"Oh?"
Zhongli's interest was piqued, and his tone rose slightly,
"I'd like to hear more."
"Besides the personality, the important thing is..."
Tartaglia smiled slightly, raising a finger to his mouth,
"It's the voice. Has Mr. Zhongli not noticed... that your voice is very similar to Mr. Welt's?"
—