More than half an hour later, outside the entrance of a cafeteria in the Space Station.
Ye Yun held a bowl of noodles, eating while watching Himeko, Stelle, and March 7th browsing products on a bench nearby.
After leaving that small garden just now, Ye Yun had spent the entire way looking for a place to stay.
He searched and searched, but instead of lodging, he found a cafeteria.
Entering the cafeteria, Ye Yun thought about buying something to eat.
However, the cafeteria here required scanning a work ID.
Having no other choice, Himeko—no, Ye Yun found Herta and had her fix him up a Space Station work permit.
As for Ye Yun, an uninvited guest, Herta couldn't care less how he had arrived at the station.
As long as Ye Yun had things that interested her, that was all that mattered.
Ten-odd minutes later, Himeko hadn't found what she wanted on the screen.
Seeing Himeko close her phone without buying anything, March 7th chimed in.
"Himeko, if there isn't anything you like on here, you can tell Ye Yun what kind of thing you're looking for. He says there's nothing you can't buy from him."
Ye Yun nodded.
"That's right. The items I carry come from all the heavens and myriad realms. As long as you have enough Credits, you can buy anything you want."
Himeko thought for a moment.
"Do you have a coffee machine? The one on the train just broke."
Ye Yun snapped his fingers, instantly summoning three coffee machines wrapped in bubbles that floated in mid-air.
"Take a look at these three models and see which one you like. The first one is a magic coffee machine from a magical world; it's equipped with a water-dispensing array and a grinding array—just press the button and it automatically dispenses water. It costs 2,000 Credits. The second one is called an automatic coffee machine, coming from a technological world; you just need to pour in coffee beans and water to get coffee. Price: 500 Credits. The third one is called the Spiritual Qi Coffee Machine, originating from a certain Xianxia world. It runs on spirit stones, and the coffee brewed from it has the effect of strengthening one's physique. It costs 3,000 Credits. And just a special mention: spirit stones are 100 Credits each, and one stone can make 100 cups of coffee."
Hearing Ye Yun's introduction, Himeko locked her gaze directly onto the Spiritual Qi Coffee Machine.
The coffee brewed by this machine actually had the effect of enhancing one's physical constitution!
Most importantly, this coffee machine required manual brewing! Her absolute favorite was hand-brewed coffee.
As for those fully automatic coffee machines with fixed ratios, Himeko expressed zero interest.
Pointing at the Spiritual Qi Coffee Machine, Himeko said, "I'll take this one, but I'll have to trouble you to make a trip—I need to go back to the train to get some Stellar Jades."
Ye Yun put away the other two coffee machines and cupped the Spiritual Qi Coffee Machine in one hand. "Let's go. I've got nothing better to do anyway."
Himeko smiled gently. "Sorry to trouble you."
With that, the four of them headed all the way toward the platform where the Astral Express was parked.
..........
The four walked along, chatting and laughing all the way.
Along the path, the group happened to run into an ordinary treasure chest.
Stelle immediately marched up with the Judgement of Shamash, obliterated the Legion Voidranger guarding the chest, and took the Stellar Jades inside.
A full 5 Stellar Jades—which converted to a whopping 500 Credits!
March 7th felt bitterly resentful. Damn it! How was she always a step too slow?!
More than half an hour later, the four finally arrived at the platform.
Standing from a vantage point, Ye Yun looked down to see a retro steam locomotive parked on the tracks.
In the carriages further back, Ye Yun spotted Welt and Pom-Pom checking off cargo against a manifest.
Seeing Ye Yun gazing at the Astral Express in a daze, Himeko smiled.
"Well? Isn't the Astral Express magnificent?"
Ye Yun nodded noncommittally.
"Well, I've long heard of the Astral Express, but this is my first time seeing it with my own eyes. I never imagined a train this long could actually sail through the universe."
March 7th put her hands on her hips, looking quite proud.
"You bet! Our Astral Express is also super, super fast! *Whoosh*—and it shoots far, far away!"
Himeko pointed at the train and said, "Let's go, let's head over first."
Following Himeko, Ye Yun, Stelle, and March 7th stepped into the parlor car.
Stelle looked around the parlor car like a curious child.
This was Stelle's first time inside the train; she hadn't expected that while the exterior looked so retro, the interior decoration was extremely avant-garde.
Himeko led Ye Yun and Stelle to a sofa.
"You two sit down and rest for a moment; I'll go get the Stellar Jades. March, go pour two glasses of water."
Hearing this, March 7th—who was busy snapping photos everywhere with her new camera—happily scampered off to fetch the water.
Himeko walked toward the sleeper cars to retrieve the Stellar Jades from her room.
With nothing to do, Ye Yun simply opened his phone and continued transcribing products.
Seeing this, Stelle crowded over to watch, looking at each item as Ye Yun wrote it down.
Whenever she saw something that interested her, she would take out her own phone to snap a photo and record it so she could buy it from Ye Yun later.
March 7th, having brought over the water, joined in as well upon seeing this.
Ten minutes later, Himeko returned to the parlor car.
Unlike when she left, she now had a young man with her: Dan Heng.
Dan Heng, one of the Nameless of the Express crew, possessed a silent and taciturn personality.
March 7th was quite surprised to see Dan Heng.
"Oh, ho~ Dan Heng, you finally decided to crawl out of the Archives!"
Dan Heng replied in a cold tone, "I was recording information on the Doomsday Beast."
March 7th was left speechless. *Oh Dan Heng, can't you give a little more of a reaction?*
Forget it, forget it. Better to see if Ye Yun had anything she wanted to buy.
Himeko handed the Stellar Jades in her hand to Ye Yun.
"Ye Yun, there are 30 Stellar Jades here. See if this is enough."
Ye Yun took out a scale and said, "Put the Stellar Jades on one side."
Hearing this, Himeko placed the 30 Stellar Jades on one end of the scale.
The next second, the 30 Stellar Jades vanished, and on the opposite side appeared 30 bills of 100 Credits each.
March 7th was standing closest and directly grabbed them for Himeko.
"Himeko! These are Credits! Come on, I'll teach you how to use them!"
With that, March 7th pulled Himeko over to the floating Spiritual Qi Coffee Machine.
March 7th cleared her throat with a couple of coughs.
"Himeko, watch closely!"
March 7th grabbed the 3,000 Credits and slapped them against the bubble enveloping the Spiritual Qi Coffee Machine.
The bubble and the Credits vanished simultaneously, and the Spiritual Qi Coffee Machine slowly settled onto the floor.
"Ta-da! Just like that, it's done!"
Himeko looked at the lively March 7th and smiled gently.
"Alright, thanks, March."
March 7th gave a cheeky grin, feeling very happy inside.
At that moment, Himeko turned around and said to Ye Yun, "Ye Yun, could you let Dan Heng take a look at your product list?"
Hearing this, Ye Yun handed his updated product list to Dan Heng.
Dan Heng simply said "Thanks" and began reading through it.
Himeko picked up the Spiritual Qi Coffee Machine and placed it on a nearby cabinet.
Seeing that Dan Heng was still browsing products, Ye Yun thought for a moment and walked over to Himeko's side to see what was going on.
As Himeko looked at the spirit stone slot, she suddenly remembered she hadn't bought any spirit stones yet.
Seeing this, Ye Yun spent 100 Credits to buy a spirit stone.
All Credits earned through selling goods belonged entirely to Ye Yun; the system didn't take a single cent.
"Here, I'll give you one as a gift. Give it a try."
The corners of Himeko's mouth curved slightly upward. "Thank you."