"Hm? Why is there a cookie on the table? It's even sparkling. Let's try pressing 'F'!"
Having just finished a portion of the side quests, Sister Guoguo saw the alluring little sparkle. An unbearable itch of curiosity seized her. She walked over and, without the slightest hesitation, pressed F.
[It's probably a new achievement.]
[Why are you so decisive? Have you forgotten the time your tongue got stuck in Belobog?!]
[Have you forgotten what happened when you drank the coffee on the Express?!]
[Have you forgotten getting zapped into a crisp by Wende for picking up trash?!]
Completely ignoring the warnings from her bullet comments, Sister Guoguo decisively pressed F!
"!"
On screen, Sister Guoguo's controlled character, Wende, instantly switched to the Trailblazer. She reached a hand toward the table, and then the screen went black.
Spend 30 Stellar Jade to revive.
This line of text appeared on the dark screen.
"Huh???"
Sister Guoguo was completely dumbfounded.
[HUH!????]
[WHAT!???]
[30?! 30!! That's 30 Jades!]
[So our life is only worth 30 Stellar Jade?]
"No, no, no, your focus is all wrong! Shouldn't you be focused on why reviving costs Stellar Jade in the first place? Shouldn't I just revive at a Realm-Restricting Anchor?!"
Sister Guoguo gnashed her teeth at the black screen, then decisively brought up the Task Manager, killed the Star Rail process, and restarted the game.
[So that's how you solve it! Genius!]
[A demonstration of how crystal-clear a player's thought process becomes when Stellar Jade is involved.]
[Okay, okay, so we're playing it like that now!]
"Hmph hmph, if the road is blocked, just walk around it!"
Sister Guoguo clicked open the interface, full of confidence. Then, seeing the "30 Stellar Jade" prompt still on the screen, she was successfully struck dumb.
"Huh? Even that doesn't work!? Qiong Bao! How did you learn such bad habits from your third sister!"
Sister Guoguo instantly let out a despairing fruity wail.
---o---
"Ugh! I still think it's better to rest for a few more days."
March looked back at Meryl's luxurious mansion with reluctance, gently rubbing her stomach with a look of deep regret.
Mmm... although the medicinal congee was really disgusting, Wende fed it to me personally these past few days... that wasn't so bad, was it? Besides, her stomach... it really hasn't healed yet!
"Don't worry, you don't have to eat the medicinal congee anymore, which means you're all better."
Stelle popped out from beside a trash can on the roadside, sidling up to March to comfort her.
"Ew! Why do you have such a pungent smell of gasoline on you! Are the trash cans on Punklorde all just oil depots?"
March pinched her nose and backed away from Stelle with a look of disgust. Fanning the air around her, she shot Stelle a dead-fish-eyed glare and grumbled.
"Uh... I don't know either. It was all just metal junk in there..."
Stelle spread her hands helplessly. Even though it was all metal, it was just worthless scraps, completely useless. If only there was something pretty... at least something pretty would have some collection value...
"Dammit, how did I lose track of her!"
Wende turned his head at the sound of their voices. Seeing the filthy Stelle, he couldn't help but press a hand to his forehead, his eyes full of resignation.
However... why are only her face and hair dirty? Her clothes still look clean. They probably don't need washing, right? I don't think I brought a change of clothes for her...
Setting down the backpack he was carrying, Wende began to rummage through it, muttering to himself.
"My... Benefactor is so good to Stelle~"
Seeing Wende pull out that familiar towel again, the corner of Tingyun's mouth twitched as she spoke with some awkwardness.
"Mm, you get used to it."
Jingliu shook her head, her expression impassive.
"Don't worry, it's been washed."
Wende walked gently to Stelle's side and said with a smile. He then draped the towel over her head and began to scrub vigorously.
"Mmph mmph! Pfft~!"
"There, all clean. March, you keep an eye on Stelle. Next time she runs off, just freeze her solid!"
Looking at the now disheveled Stelle, Wende nodded with great satisfaction. See? Clean!
"Right! I'll definitely keep a close eye on her next time!"
March nodded emphatically, a wide smile on her face as she watched Stelle, who had just been thoroughly scrubbed by Wende.
"Mmm... why does this towel smell like a Diting..."
"Uh... must be your imagination, right?"
March looked over at Wende, who was putting the towel back in his pack. That towel... was indeed the one he used to wipe the Diting... wait! He wiped her with it too!
"Alright, according to the map Veyl gave us, the road out of the Old District should be just ahead."
Ignoring the commotion behind her, Himeko opened the map projection on her hand, gazing at the continuous mountain range before them.
"Himeko, there are no enemies nearby. Something's not right."
Dan Heng, who had just finished scouting the area, reported to Himeko.
"Mm, thank you for your hard work. But no enemies? That is indeed something to be concerned about."
Himeko nodded at Dan Heng, her brow furrowing slightly as she looked at the "mountain range" ahead.
According to Veyl's intelligence, the presence of [Phantom Light] was minimal here. The area was mostly roamed by people from the Scrapyard. Before the Stellaron descended, some risk-taking merchants would trade with the [Scavengers]. But after the Stellaron's arrival, those merchants had vanished.
"We should proceed with caution from here on out."
Himeko took a long spyglass out of her toolbox and looked towards the "mountains" in the distance.
The gray "mountain range" was, in reality, a colossal garbage heap formed from all sorts of accumulated waste. For the thousand years since Punklorde established its star rail, it had been developing at high speed, but the resulting environmental crisis was plain to see.
At first, when the heap was just a small peak, the people here didn't think much of it. Later, the small peak became a massive mountain of trash, and finally, it became a mountain range of refuse that encircled the entire Neon Metropolis.
Only then did people realize the severity of the problem, but by then, it was no longer something they could resolve on their own. That mountain range of scrap had long since become the home for many of Punklorde's lower-class citizens...
The upper echelons of Punklorde had once approached the Corporation, offering to pay them to help solve the problem, but they were refused on the grounds that it "did not align with [Preservation]."
And they were right... if the Scrapyard were cleared, where would all the homeless people of Punklorde go?