"Hehe, Stella, my little Stella! Let big sister give you a good kiss! This Little Dragon Lady skin feels too good to the touch!"
March 7th completely forgot the pain in her stomach from the headbutt. She tightly hugged the still-dizzy Stella (Bailu), pressing her face against the other's soft little cheeks, nuzzling them back and forth with satisfied hums.
"March 7th! I was really wrong! Let go of me! My horns! My horns are falling off! My Tail! You can't tug on my Tail either!"
Stella (Bailu) flailed her short little arms in a futile struggle, but the strength of a Level 1 Bailu was nowhere near enough to match a high-energy March 7th. Instead, her squirming looked more like she was acting spoiled.
In the end, she could only give up resistance, like a salted fish dragon who had lost her dreams, letting March 7th do as she pleased with a look of utter despair in her eyes.
"How can I be left out of something this fun! Let me kiss too! Let me nuzzle!"
Seeing this, Stelle nearby grew envious and joined the fray with a cheer and a pounce.
She opened her arms and, without a word, pulled March 7th and the Stella (Bailu) in her arms into her own embrace like a giant stuffed animal, forming an even tighter (and suffocating) "three-person love hug circle."
"Aiya! Stelle! Why are you hugging me! Let go! You're strangling me!"
March 7th protested with difficulty inside Stelle's bear hug, but her hands didn't stop as she continued to knead Stella's (Bailu) cheeks.
Watching this chaotic yet lively interaction, which looked like toddlers fighting over a toy, Dan Heng sat not far away and rubbed his temples, letting out a helpless sigh.
His gaze swept over Stella's (Bailu) dragon Tail, which was drooping due to its owner's tragic situation, but his mind uncontrollably conjured a blurry white silhouette with Foxian features.
"Dan Feng..."
He whispered to himself, then immediately shook his head, suppressing that inexplicable sense of familiarity and the flash of complex emotions.
"Forget it, they just look similar. I am Dan Heng, and that is all."
He picked up his teacup, trying to use the warm tea to calm his heart.
"Attention all passengers!"
Just then, Conductor Pom-Pom's voice, which tried to maintain dignity but couldn't hide a hint of nervousness, rang through the Parlor Car via the broadcast.
"The Warp procedure is about to begin, and the destination coordinates are locked. Please stop all dangerous activities immediately, hold on tight, and sit down, or find a safe area to secure yourselves—especially certain passengers who enjoy 'impact testing' and 'human stacking' in the car-pom!"
Pom-Pom's broadcast was clearly pointed, and the speaking speed was much faster than usual, showing a "predictive" concern for the upcoming Warp.
However, March 7th and Stelle, who were immersed in the joy of "petting the dragon," seemed to have selective hearing and had no intention of stopping.
Stelle even tried to use the dragon horns on Stella's (Bailu) head as handles.
Sandwiched in the middle and subjected to "groping from all sides," Stella (Bailu) finally reached her limit!
"You forced my hand!"
She shouted in her heart while her thoughts shifted rapidly.
The "Bailu" held between the two girls suddenly glowed with a strong blue light!
"Huh?"
Stelle and March 7th were taken aback.
After the blue light flashed, the "Bailu" in their arms stiffened slightly, and her eyes seemed to undergo a very subtle change, shifting from the previous shameful helplessness to a more programmatic liveliness.
Meanwhile, the real Stella separated from the light and shadow like a golden cicada shedding its shell, falling onto the nearby sofa with a "thud," gasping for breath and clutching her face in lingering fear as if she could still feel the kneading.
"You guys... carry on."
Stella waved her hand weakly, pointing to the [Bailu] they were holding, which was now controlled by AI.
"Have fun, don't hold back."
Her tone was full of the "better you than me" free-spiritedness.
Stelle and March 7th looked at each other, then down at the [Bailu] in their arms, who still looked like Bailu but had a slightly blank look in her eyes and was giving them a standard professional smile.
[Bailu] blinked her big eyes and said in a cute, childish voice, "Sisters, please continue to your heart's content... Wu?!"
Before she could finish, she realized something was wrong.
"Wait! Original! You can't do this! Don't just watch me die!!"
[Bailu] seemed to understand the situation instantly. The professional smile on her face turned into horror as she reached out to the real Stella on the sofa and let out a shrill cry for help.
"I'm your clone! How can you throw me to these two 'demons'! Take me back! The protocol didn't say anything about enduring this kind of 'intimate contact stress test'!"
Looking at the [Bailu] in her arms who could talk, ask for help, and had vivid expressions, Stelle felt no sympathy; instead, her eyes sparkled even more.
"Hehehe, little cutie, you're quite intelligent!"
Stelle's smile became even more "evil" as she tightened her arms, pinning [Bailu] even harder.
"Since your creator gave you to us, you were born to be loved by us! Resistance is futile!"
The next moment—
Vroom—!!!
The familiar vibration arrived, and the starry sky outside the window instantly stretched into brilliant ribbons of light!
The Astral Express Warp had begun!
The massive acceleration was like an invisible hand, violently pushing everything unfastened backward!
"Yaaaaah—!!"
"Waah!"
"Original, save me—!"
Stelle and March 7th, who were still messing around with [Bailu], along with the "kidnapped" [Bailu], had no time to react. Under this sudden force, they instantly turned into three tangled "human meteors" and were "launched" from the center of the car floor with screams!
"Thud! Bang! Ouch!"
After a series of tooth-aching crashes and cries of pain, the three of them ended up in a new, even more complex pose, stacked like a human pyramid on the soft carpet at the back of the car.
This time, at the very bottom was March 7th, who had unexpectedly become a cushion (with a pained expression); in the middle was the [Bailu] AI, who was nearly compressed into data disorder (with a look of despair); and at the top was Stelle, who also hadn't stayed steady but at least had a soft landing (with a dazed look).
Stella and Dan Heng simultaneously picked up their teacups and took a small sip in perfect synchronization, as if the "human projectile" performance just now was merely background noise on a boring journey.
Stella even let out a leisurely sigh: "Sigh, I told you to sit down."
Although Dan Heng didn't speak, his slight nod showed he completely agreed.
"Original—!! You heartless thing! I'll remember this—!!"
The [Bailu] pinned in the middle voiced her unwilling protest.
Just then, a blue light flashed on [Bailu]. Whether it was an emergency program or some strange command triggered by being crushed, she actually broke free from Stelle's suppression and pounced toward Stella on the sofa like a white, horned cannonball!
"Oof!"
Caught off guard, Stella was hit full-on by [Bailu]. Or more accurately, [Bailu] was like an angry, giant, talking dragon facehugger, using all four limbs to cling tightly to Stella's face!
"Get off! Get off me! Does this count as master-slaying?! Where's your core protocol!"
Stella's vision went dark as she frantically tried to pull the "clinger" off her face, but [Bailu] was stubborn and held on tight, her short little legs even trying to wrap around Stella's neck.
"I won't! That's for leaving me to die! For throwing me out! I'll make you experience what 'love' feels like too! Rub, rub, rub!"
[Bailu] shouted "angrily" while rubbing her face all over Stella's, and the scene spiraled out of control.
Dan Heng watched the scene escalate from a "three-person brawl" to a full fledged war and quickly spread to his own area. He finally gave up on maintaining his expression and buried his face in his hand, feeling utterly powerless.
He felt that since Stella had boarded the train, the frequency of his sighing and using "helpless" expressions had grown exponentially.
The future of this train was likely to go full speed ahead on a chaotic and hectic path.