Now that Nero had caught the bug, getting rid of it would be easy.
Only then did March say to everyone, "I was really scared to death back then. I thought my long-lost twin sister had suddenly appeared... but it turned out to be a bug!"
Argenti frowned as he looked at the bug in Nero's hand.
"I didn't expect that we would meet again, True Sting."
March froze.
"Huh?"
Nero and Stelle, who had played through the Swarm Disaster in the Simulated Universe, also looked over curiously.
"You actually know it?" Nero looked at Argenti.
Argenti nodded.
Nearby, Verit frowned and looked miserable as he stared at the True Sting in Nero's hand.
"Uh... when Argenti found me in the cave earlier, I was being chased and stung by a whole group of these things..."
"I thought I had already driven them all away..." Argenti's face carried a look of apology. "But based on the current situation, the True Stings seem to still be pursuing us."
"Well, they're descendants of the Swarm King Tayzzyronth after all..." Nero said casually, seeming to recall the space fleet he had seen during the Swarm Disaster in the Simulated Universe.
"Back there, they were like a tidal wave. Compared to that, this little one really isn't that scary."
"What exactly is Herta making you guys test?" March couldn't help complaining after hearing Nero.
Argenti lowered his head and looked at his armor, shining brightly.
He looked at his spear, incomparably sharp.
Finally, he found a mirror and checked his appearance and the gaps in his silver armor. Everything was clean and tidy.
Only after doing all that did Argenti turn toward Verit.
"Hmm... a knight should pay attention to his appearance and bearing. It seems that I wasn't stained by anything during the battle against the swarm.
"Could it be... Verit, could it be that you've been contaminated with insect pheromones?"
"...Huh?" Verit looked confused. "What? Pheromones? I... I don't know anything about that..."
Dan Heng frowned slightly. At the moment, they still couldn't determine why the True Sting had boarded the train.
But it would be good to let everyone know more about this kind of bug, so they could be on guard.
So he said, "I've read information about True Stings in the archives. When these insects flap their wings, they scatter fiber fragments that cause hallucinations when inhaled."
"The reason March saw another version of herself in her room was probably because she inhaled some wing powder."
Dan Heng stopped there.
Everyone couldn't help but turn their eyes toward Nero, who was still holding the True Sting.
The bug was desperately flapping its wings. Those tiny particles of wing powder...
After all this time, under normal circumstances, Nero should have inhaled several times more than March had...
But right now, he seemed completely normal, with no signs of being trapped in hallucinations.
Accompanied by dim flames, Cirrus floated into the air. She understood the surprise in everyone's eyes and said unhappily, "The mental effects we Heliobi directly impose on people hardly work on this kid, so what difference would these wing powders make? What's there to be surprised about? There's nothing strange about it!"
"Besides, this kid's body was forged from fragments of Beauty itself. If he could be affected so easily, even if I, a Heliobus, agreed, that Pure Beauty Knight over there certainly wouldn't!"
Everyone fell silent for a moment...
And felt that Cirrus's words made a lot of sense.
"Actually, now that I think about it, knowing that what I saw was only a hallucination makes me feel a tiny bit disappointed..." March said with mixed feelings.
"Huh? Wait, wait... aren't hallucinations supposed to be completely illogical? Then why did I see myself?"
"What? Did it do something strange?" Dan Heng asked.
"It said that it knew my past... then I stopped listening, and right after that Nero dragged it away."
Dan Heng shook his head.
"Based on that alone, we probably can't draw any conclusions. And...
"More importantly, I'm worried that more True Stings have already infiltrated the train. These creatures are extremely hard to detect."
"They may be hiding somewhere, or wandering around. We have to stop them from reproducing, otherwise..."
March blinked and then shivered.
"Ew... I really don't want to see a bunch of March 7s wandering around the train! One of me is already chaotic enough."
"...Your self-awareness deserves praise," Dan Heng said slowly after a moment of silence.
"As for exterminating bugs, I do have a good idea, though I don't know whether Pom-Pom will agree." Nero spoke quietly.
"As a train that travels through space, besides warping, the Astral Express can obviously also ram things. There's no doubt that it's a weapon that can be used for attacks."
"I can have Black Cleaver animate the train and give it the ability to transform. Once it's alive, its own intelligence will be able to detect where the bugs are hiding."
"Then the transformation ability can create sharp spikes that extend inward, making it easy to deal with bugs hiding inside the train."
"..."
Dan Heng remained silent.
He really wanted to say that this was a good idea, because it was indeed efficient and straightforward.
But Nero's concern was obviously correct. He also didn't think Pom-Pom would agree to such a method.
March and Stelle also stayed silent, looking as if they wanted to speak but couldn't. Clearly, they felt the same way.
No one else spoke.
Argenti had already started praising the idea, while Verit was shouting loudly, "There are actually eggs too... Waaah! The swarm really is reproducing on the train! I-I-I don't have any in my shoes, right?"
Seeing Verit's reaction, Nero seemed to think of something and subconsciously asked, "You hid your credits in your shoes?"
Verit's hopping instantly froze. He stared at Nero in horror.
"Y-you... how did you know? Is this the power of Pure Beauty?"
"No, I guessed," Nero said. "Anyway, let's ask Pom-Pom first. Maybe it'll agree."
After that, everyone went to find Pom-Pom and tell it about the idea.
However, when they found Pom-Pom, the reliable conductor had apparently already come up with a solution and started taking action.
It had already occupied a favorable position using the movable train cleaning machine prepared for cleaning the roof during this major cleanup. Taking advantage of its wide detection range, it had begun searching for hidden True Stings inside the train.
They found nothing unusual in the observation car.
Nor did they discover any additional bugs in March's room.
Then, in Dan Heng's room, they found Argenti and his bug knight...
'Hmm?'
'When did Argenti disappear?'
At the same time, Argenti was in the archive room, staring at a True Sting eye to eye.
At this moment, in his eyes, the bug looked like a crying Wubbaboo.
The Pure Beauty Knight was performing steadily as always.
"You must be the creature Mr. Yu called a Wubbaboo. Surely you are often described as cute. Has that ever troubled you?
"Please believe me, your essence cannot be contained by such a word. O round one, your name is..."
"Charm."
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