[Su Shang's cheeks flushed slightly pink as she shyly averted her gaze from his face, looking aside.]
["Hah, it's our Cloud Knights' duty to protect you all. This whole area is under lockdown - I'm evacuating civilians right now. You'll have to come with me, we'll take you to safety."]
[Quickly adjusting her mood, she turned to ask Dan Heng: "Your Cloud Knight spear techniques aren't bad at all. Which unit are you from?"]
[Dan Heng calmly shook his head: "I'm not a Cloud Knight."]
["Oh, alright then. That means you're a civilian too - come with me."]
["Miss Su Shang," Luocha suddenly asked, "what's happened to the Xianzhou? I've traveled here for trade many times, but never seen the Star Skiff Haven like this."]
["Well...I'm not really at liberty to say. I just received orders to come rescue civilians...to be honest, I don't know either. Anyway, you two just follow me!" Su Shang looked troubled, clearly unwilling to say more.]
[Afraid Luocha might press further, she quickly turned back to Dan Heng: "Hey, you...quiet one? What's your name? I need to register you - can't just leave the form blank!"]
["My name is Dan Heng. I'm traveling here to meet friends. There's no need for your concern, I can leave the port on my own," Dan Heng replied mildly.]
["No way! Look at the situation - Star Skiff Haven is completely empty. If your friends are okay, they'll be in the safe zone. Come with me and you'll find them there!"]
["Aren't you going to ask for my name?" Luocha smiled.]
["Didn't you announce it yourself during the fight? Luo— Luo something...Luocha! Right? This young lady remembers!" Su Shang grinned cheerfully, hands on hips.]
["Let's move! Stick close to me, you two - Cloud Knight Su Shang guarantees your safety!"]
"Merchants...are all interworld merchants this outrageous?"
Kusakabe Atsuya made a clicking sound with his tongue. Though he'd long known that otherworldly abilities operated on completely different systems from their jujutsu, he couldn't help feeling envious from time to time.
He observed carefully - when the man called Luocha gripped his crucifix, that vibrant healing energy became abundant, capable of endlessly treating Dan Heng and Su Shang.
To be honest, Shoko and Yuta's Reverse Cursed Technique could also be used on others to heal injuries, achieving similar effects to Luocha's healing.
But Reverse Cursed Technique itself was extremely taxing. Unless the user possessed an astonishing total amount of cursed energy...no one could continuously use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal themselves mid-battle.
"Is this the power of Abundance?" Shoko asked from the side.
"But isn't the Xianzhou, as part of the Hunt's faction, sworn enemies with Abundance?" Kusakabe Atsuya said curiously. "Isn't this too blatant? Isn't he afraid of being hunted down by that young girl next to him?"
"Mr. Yang mentioned earlier that people in their world have this concept of 'Paths'," Yuta Okkotsu recalled clues from previous Celestial Screen footage, speculating: "Walking different Paths grants supernatural abilities. The Xianzhou probably only hates the Aeon of Abundance and its faction, not everyone who walks the Path of Abundance."
"But this Mr. Luocha...even if the Xianzhou Alliance doesn't consider him an enemy, I think he warrants careful investigation."
"Oh? Yuta, you think he's suspicious?"
"...Just the identity of 'merchant' alone is enough to raise doubts, no?"
Yuta Okkotsu pointed at the enormous coffin beside him, looking at everyone: "If he's a merchant, can you teachers guess what he sells? Surely he's not here to sell coffins?"
——
[Meanwhile, returning to the present, Stelle had just sent two messages to Dan Heng, both of which failed.]
["Failed to send? What's going on?" March 7th wondered.]
["The ultra-long-range communication technology isn't fully mature yet. The Stellaron's presence might also be interfering with signal transmission."]
["That can't be - other functions still work, see?" March 7th demonstrated the phone's other features to Welt.]
["Then someone must have tampered with it. Since Kafka's here, this is probably the work of that hacker girl from the Stellaron Hunters," Welt speculated.]
[After resting for a few hours to recover their energy, the three went to find Tingyun to prepare for departure.]
[Just before setting out, Tingyun shared intelligence she'd gathered about the current situation at the Comet Passage - conditions at the port weren't optimistic.]
["Like at Cloudford, the celestial instruments at Comet Passage have stopped working. Checkpoints have fallen, and the Cloud Knights are busy locating the Stellaron, leaving no spare capacity."]
["With monsters running rampant inside and no traces of people, it's indeed an excellent place to hide."]
"This is a trap," Najenda said after some thought.
"A trap? The Stellaron Hunters targeting Stelle's group? That doesn't seem likely?"
Tatsumi recalled Kafka's earlier words - though the Stellaron Hunters were wanted criminals, their attitude toward Stelle had always been subtle. At the very least...he couldn't imagine Kafka attacking Stelle.
"Not exactly a trap, but whether it's the hacker girl blocking communications or hiding in monster-infested areas...I feel the Stellaron Hunters are deliberately leading Stelle's group somewhere remote."
"Even without counting Miss Silver Wolf, with Kafka's skills and speech spirit abilities - I don't think Stelle's group could smoothly capture her if she went all out."
"...I agree." Najenda's opinion received Akame's endorsement.
Though Mr. Welt's ability to manipulate black holes was formidable, Kafka's advantage lay in her agile movements - she likely wouldn't confront Welt head-on.
Moreover, it remained unclear whether her speech spirit could affect Mara-struck monsters...if it could, then subduing Kafka through pure force would be nearly impossible.
"So you're saying...the Express crew can't capture Kafka?" Mine asked.
"No, quite the opposite - I believe the Express crew will definitely capture Kafka," Najenda said with a smile.
"Huh? Why's that?"
"Though I can't guess their purpose...I have a feeling that 'getting captured by the Express crew' is also part of the Stellaron Hunters' plan."
Najenda slowly closed her eyes, lowering her head in thought: "It's a crazy plan, but considering Kafka's the one executing it - I'm not surprised she'd do this. I just can't figure out Blade's role in this chess game."
Hearing the boss say this, Mine recalled that man whose eyes brimmed with endless killing intent - anyone could see he had unfinished business with Dan Heng. Did he come to the Xianzhou just to pick a fight with Dan Heng?
If that were really the case—
Two handsome men fighting...she'd love to see that...