Peppy watched the entire scene unfold with wide eyes.
"Awoo~ Awoo!"
Seeing a certain someone stuff Asta into a burlap sack, it bounced up and down in excitement, its little tail wagging nonstop—it was thrilled beyond words!
"Damn, she's pretty heavy!"
Zeig hoisted the sack over his shoulder, exhaling heavily with effort, then looked down at Peppy below:
"General Peppy, let's sell off this pink-haired one! Then we can go buy some good food!"
"Awoo awoo!"
"So, do you want instant noodles or a hand-grabbed pancake?"
"Awoo~ Awoo!"
"What? A delicious crab roe burger? That might take a really long time to wait for."
"Awoo~ Awoo awoo!"
"Fine, fine."
This scene.
Left the jaws of everyone on the space station practically dropping to the floor!
"Holy crap, Brother Zeig just carried off the station master!"
"Look, if you really want to get rich quick, you gotta start with a rich lady, right? Once you've got the station master, what else do you even need?"
"Exactly, exactly! Skip 40 years of detours!"
Amid the chatter.
Arlan stood off to the side, breaking out in a cold sweat.
He was holding up his phone, meticulously recording the whole thing.
But what he was filming wasn't Zeig kidnapping Asta—he had the camera pointed squarely at Peppy.
So.
A certain someone carried Asta and walked out of the main control cabin section.
And Peppy bounced along right behind him the whole way.
The man and the dog were even chatting excitedly.
Arlan followed close behind with his phone raised.
Further back, the staff members trailed tightly after them—after all, they'd never seen anyone dare to kidnap Station Master Asta before, and even her bodyguard Arlan didn't dare confront Zeig, so they could only record the scene from behind with their phones.
"Did you see that? Even Captain Arlan doesn't dare step up! He just stays back there filming with his phone."
"Is he trying to call for backup? But how many actual staff on our space station can even beat Brother Zeig? Unless Lady Herta or the visiting Mr. Screwllum steps in, everyone's just cannon fodder!"
"What the heck did the station master even say? He actually stuffed her into a sack!"
"Shh, quiet—Captain Arlan just glanced back at us."
Zeig walked on silently with the sack over his shoulder.
From inside the sack came the "ding ding ding" notification sounds from Asta's phone, as if someone was bombarding her with messages nonstop.
"Awoo, awoo awoo~"
"Hot pot? Can you even eat that, General Peppy? Let me say upfront—I can't handle spicy food."
"Awoo~ Awoo awoo."
"Clear broth pot? I don't want that either."
A certain someone carried Asta all the way to the front of a certain cabin.
This cabin door was enormous.
This was a place Zeig had come to before, but back then he had no access privileges and got blocked outside.
Previously, he'd asked Peppy for help, only to get caught red-handed by Asta again.
Now, he had finally toughened up!
"Goddamn it, open the door already!"
The sack was casually tossed to the ground by a certain someone!
"Miss! Miss! Are you alright?!!"
Seeing this, Arlan clutched his phone and hurriedly rushed past Peppy!
He crouched in front of the sack, carefully helping Asta out.
"Tch, a certain someone really got full of himself, huh!"
The moment Asta crawled out of the sack, she couldn't help cursing.
A certain someone raised an eyebrow and said:
"Winner takes all, loser pays up—Asta, Miss, you're not going to welch on the bet, are you?"
Asta slowly stood up, patted off her clothes, and stared at Zeig with furrowed brows:
"Hmph, I'm not stingy about that little bit of stuff. But you—did you drug Peppy or something?"
She was also holding her phone.
From a quick glance, it looked like she was chatting with someone.
The other party kept sending Asta photos and screen recordings, with the main subject being a small white creature.
"Awoo~ Awoo?"
Seeing Asta suddenly staring at it coldly, Peppy tilted its head in confusion, then stuck its tongue out again and sat on the ground, tail wagging once more.
Arlan felt extremely uneasy inside:
"Miss, you've seen the footage… Peppy… Peppy didn't even think about saving you at all. It's obvious she's much closer to Mr. Zeig."
"Maybe Peppy just thought it was fun?" Asta insisted:
"Maybe she already figured out it was fake, so she wasn't nervous!"
A certain someone crossed his arms and retorted:
"But what we were competing over was exactly who General Peppy would support more, right? Clearly, she's on my side."
"Awoo awoo~!"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible…!"
Asta clutched her head in anguish, slowly bending down and squatting on the ground, incredulous:
"I've always given her the best food, used the most expensive stuff! All facilities are top-tier! Even the vet I hired is a renowned figure! Why… why did it turn out like this!"
She lifted her head to stare at the man before her, expression dazed:
"And you just took her to eat fast food, instant noodles, played cards with her—and you even cheat at cards! Why did she turn out like this?"
"Miss, please don't get too worked up. Peppy just finds it novel… Once she gets used to it, it'll be fine." Arlan comforted her.
"Awoo awoo!"
"Stop stalling—hurry up and open the door. Has my Heavenly Father been installed yet? It's been this long; you guys aren't just bluffing me, are you?" a certain someone said disdainfully.
"Hmph, unlike them, I keep my word!"
Asta stood up, placed her hand directly on the door scanner, and the door slowly opened.
Inside…
There was nothing.
A certain someone narrowed his eyes:
"You really were messing with me."
"Uh… don't rush, this is just the corridor. Heavenly Father is in one of the hangars here. Haven't you been here before?" Asta led Zeig and Arlan inside.
"No, I've never actually come in. Every time the staff here come out, they only crack the door open a slit, just enough for themselves to pass through. I've never seen the full layout."
"What?" Asta looked back curiously:
"Then who parked Heavenly Father here before?"
"General Peppy did."
"…"
"Back then I parked Heavenly Father at the platform and just handed it over to General Peppy."
"Then what did you do at the time?"
"Went to Herta's office to run Simulated Universe stuff. Every time I come, isn't that what I do?"
"You trust Peppy that much? I feel like you trust her more than you trust Dan Heng or March 7th!"
"What's wrong with that? We've been hospitalized together, gotten casts together—we've got that kind of bond. What's the big deal letting General Peppy pilot a mech? She even has a duplicate copy of the room card for my train compartment."
"?"
"What's with the look? Sometimes she comes to find me to play games, but I might be busy running Simulated Universe, so I can't just leave General Peppy locked outside, right? So I gave her a room card so she can play single-player games in my room by herself for a bit."
"…"
Arlan said in disbelief:
"Peppy… can do that much? I thought… I thought she only knew how to wait for me to feed her and take her for walks."
Asta walked ahead with a completely speechless expression.
Peppy, huh?
Fine…! Slacking off in front of her own people, but almost achieving super evolution with outsiders!
…