Some time ago, on the distant planet of Jarilo-VI, in Belobog.
A spaceship not native to this planet descended from the heavens, landing one kilometer away from the planet's only settlement.
Tap, tap, tap…
Company employees in uniform marched neatly off the ship, rolling out a red carpet at the entrance. They stood on either side like the most loyal guards, as if awaiting someone's arrival.
Step, step, step…
A man with brown short hair and sunglasses slowly stepped off the ship. If Stelle were here, she'd recognize him instantly as Skott, the "Lone Wolf" who once tried to challenge Bailu on the Luofu.
Skott glanced disdainfully at the company employees on either side, then smirked. His current achievements—how many lifetimes would it take for these low-level workers to reach?
"Alright, folks, we've come to this planet to collect a bad debt from seven hundred years ago on behalf of the company."
Skott cleared his throat. "This debt is critical. If we pull this off smoothly, we'll likely all get promotions and raises when we return. So, we need to give it our all—one thousand percent effort."
"We'll make the natives of this planet understand: when you borrow from the company, you will pay it back!"
—"Pay it back! Pay it back!" (The lackeys echoed.)
Thus began Skott's long and arduous journey of debt collection in Belobog.
…
Now, on the Astral Express.
Buzz buzz—
Stelle's phone chimed, showing she'd been added to a group chat by Gepard. The chat included not only her but also Dan Heng, March 7th, and Welt—comrades who'd joined the Belobog Trailblaze mission.
Stelle: ?
Stelle: Who are you?
Gepard: …
—You have been removed from the group chat by "Gepard."
—You have been added to the group chat by "Gepard."
Gepard: Sorry, I added the wrong person earlier. This should be right now.
Stelle: ?
What's with this Gepard guy? She was just joking, okay?!
Gepard: Stelle, Dan Heng, March 7th, and Mr. Welt, it's been a while. How have you all been?
Gepard: Belobog has finally gotten back on track recently. To celebrate, we're holding the Sunlit Festival, which hasn't been celebrated in years. As heroes who helped resolve the issues between the Overworld and Underworld, I'm officially inviting you to join us.
Stelle: Got it.
March 7th: Got it.
Dan Heng: Got it.
Welt: Got it.
Gepard: That's the main matter. Can I ask you about one more thing?
Gepard: Do you know what the [Interastral Peace Corporation] is?
Stelle: ? How do you know that name?
She recalled that this plotline was part of Topaz's companion mission, tied to debt collection. Logically, they shouldn't encounter the IPC until they arrived in Belobog, right?
Did the IPC show up early? Or did they send Gepard an email ahead of time?
Gepard: A while back, a group of black-clad people from beyond the stars, like you, arrived in Belobog. They claimed to be from the [Interastral Peace Corporation].
They really showed up early? And Gepard's got some nerve—debt collectors are knocking at his door, and he's still in the mood to plan a festival?
Stelle: Then what? What did they do?
Gepard: They came to me, dumped a pile of bills and contracts on me, saying that Belobog owed them a huge sum from seven hundred years ago and demanded we repay it now.
Gepard: I took a look, and the documents seem legit. Over seven hundred years, our debt has ballooned to sixteen digits.
Dan Heng: …Mr. Gepard's optimism is truly worth learning from.
Stelle: Wait… you paid it?
Gepard: Nope.
Gepard: I told their leader that while the IOU is real—
Gepard: The debt was owed by the "Belobog" of seven hundred years ago. What does that have to do with our current "New Belobog"? We just share the name; we're not the same people.
Stelle: …And then?
Gepard: I told the leader we're not unwilling to pay, but we can't pay someone else's debt. That guy named Skott was dumbfounded on the spot.
Stelle: ??? Skott?
Gepard: What? You know him?
Stelle: That's a long story… Anyway, I ran into him in another world a while back. How should I put it…
Stelle: Though I didn't interact with him much, I can say for sure that anyone named Skott is definitely not a good person.
Welt: Stelle, don't be so absolute. There are plenty of people named Skott in the galaxy. You can't generalize. At most, we can only judge by appearances.
March 7th: ? Uncle Yang, what kind of weird values are those?
Welt: Experience talking.
Gepard: Anyway, Belobog welcomes you all. No rush—we've got people guarding your Spatial Anchor day and night.
…
Belobog, Overworld, Administrative District.
Cocolia sat by the Spatial Anchor, stabbing a plush toy with her ice dagger—a "Great Guardian" merch item recently released by a local shop.
She'd been stationed here guarding the Spatial Anchor for three days, and still hadn't seen a single soul.
Cocolia suspected Gepard hadn't even notified the Astral Express crew and was just messing with her.
Tch… looks like Belobog needs a speech.
"Hey, beautiful, what're you doing here?"
Just then, a passing IPC employee noticed her and approached with a fawning smile.
Cocolia glanced at him without responding.
She knew why these black-clad offworlders were here—debt collection. But didn't they have any backbone? Gepard was already playing the deadbeat, so why not confront him? Take a swing at him! Chop him up, even!
How come debt collectors these days were acting like pushovers? Groveling for money, getting rejected, playing the filial grandson, and then going back to beg some more.
Now, unable to collect, they were lingering in Belobog, pestering locals with relentless product pitches, like right now…
"Beautiful, let me tell you a secret."
The IPC employee lowered his voice, speaking conspiratorially. "You see my outfit—you can tell I'm from offworld, right?"
IPC Employee: "Truth is, the [Company]'s internal system is harsher than you'd imagine. Before coming here, my boss told me my performance was lacking, and I'd be fired after this trip."
IPC Employee: "I got mad and thought, if I'm done for anyway, I might as well sneak some hot-selling galactic goods from the company warehouse… Look, this mattress, made on the Xianzhou, crafted with machines worth tens of millions of credits, took forty-nine days to complete."
IPC Employee: "This mattress is originally priced at 990,000 credits, but I can't sell it openly. How about a cost price of 99,000?"
Cocolia: "Get lost."