Chapter 241: Judgment

Inside the Observation Carriage, beyond the massive curved Observation Window stretched the eternally flowing Star Sea, but no one felt like admiring it at this moment.

The atmosphere was so heavy it seemed one could wring water from it.

The Train Group members sat around the central sofa, their faces bearing varying degrees of worry and seriousness.

Black Tower perched with her legs crossed on the single chair beside her, intermittently tapping the armrest, as if pondering something.

"Full train scan complete, no life signal Pa from passenger San Yue Qi detected."

Pam reported the disappointing result, "All door and airlock logs show the last opening was at standard time yesterday 22:47, after routine inspection it was closed, and there have been no abnormal opening records since."

"What about the surveillance?"

Jizi pressed on, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the rim of the CoffeeCup.

Dan Heng shook his head, his voice calm but with a barely perceptible tension: "Mr. Walther and I examined all area surveillance records. From last night's bedtime until this morning Xing noticed an anomaly, the corridor surveillance outside San Yue Qi's room, as well as the train's other public area footage, captured no image of San Yue Qi leaving the room. Her room interior has no surveillance."

This means San Yue Qi indeed vanished out of thin air within a sealed, locked space.

"Interesting."

Black Tower finally ceased tapping, arms crossed, a hint of excitement on her delicate face, "To think someone could 'steal' a living person out of a sealed space right under my nose, and I didn't even notice any sign."

She tilted her head slightly, looking at Walther, "As for your earlier question whether I noticed any anomaly? No, nothing at all. The method was clean and swift, even... so clean it felt a bit excessive, giving me a somewhat unpleasant sense of familiarity."

Jizi took a deep breath, listing the anomalous events that had occurred: "First, a mysterious girl calling herself Chang Ye Yue approached San Yue, feeding her some strange stories. Then we experienced a 48‑hour soul swap. Afterwards Xing began showing Sleepwalking symptoms. Now San Yue Qi vanished inside a locked room... Could all this be linked to that Chang Ye Yue, or perhaps a 'master' behind her?"

Walther nodded, beginning a calm analysis: "San Yue Qi's shoes and everyday clothes were left in the room, indicating she likely disappeared only in her pajamas. She left no note or mark to provide clues, which is uncharacteristic of her. The most probable scenario is that she vanished instantly while completely unguarded, without even noticing the anomaly, leaving no time to react."

He paused, looking at Xing, whose face still bore a faint red mark and looked a bit wilted: "And Xing, who slept on the same bed, was completely unaware. This suggests the perpetrator either possesses extremely advanced Concealment, or... their power far exceeds our current perception range."

At that moment, Xing weakly raised a hand.

"Um... I have another situation, not sure if it's abnormal..."

Xing whispered, "It's just... these past few days, I've kept having a dream."

"A dream?" everyone's gaze instantly focused.

"Well... call it a dream, it felt especially real, like actually fighting."

Xing strained to recall, "The content... basically just fighting. First I fought a white‑haired man, he was exceptionally strong, each punch and kick was terrifyingly heavy. Later I fought a mask‑worn man whose whole body blazed with fire... they both barely spoke, only knew how to fight."

The description made Dan Heng's eyebrows knit slightly, and Jizi's eyes showed contemplation.

Walther listened especially attentively, a subtle unease stirring in his mind.

Xing continued, "Oh right! I also met a white‑haired little girl! She's called... Qiana! She's quite nice, but sometimes seems to... switch states? Yeah, that's right, Qiana."

"Qiana?!"

Walther's voice suddenly rose, cutting off Xing's narration.

He paused, his hand supporting his glasses hovering in mid‑air, his pupils narrowing slightly.

(Qiana? How could that be... a duplicate name? It must be coincidence... the universe is so vast, people named Qiana...)

He tried to soothe his suddenly surging emotions with reason, but a corner of his heart thumped uncontrollably.

Xing flinched at Walther's extreme reaction, nodding, "Y-yes, that's how she introduced herself. She seemed to be from... Taiyang Xi, Earth, a student of Saint Freya Academy, full name Qiana Kasuranna."

"Taiyang Xi... Earth... Saint Freya Academy..."

Walther's mouth twitched involuntarily, the sliver of hopeful fantasy in his mind bursting like a soap bubble under sunlight with a "pop".

(Good grief... this isn't a duplicate name, it's giving away coordinates and a character's résumé!)

"Yang Shu, you... know her?" Xing asked curiously, looking at Walther's complicated expression.

Know? He knows more than that—he knows her intimately!

Believe it or not, I even gave her a history lesson, watching her grow from that clumsy girl step by step...

Walther immediately cut off that overly personal and tangled recollection thread; now was not the time to indulge in the past.

"... I suppose, I know the name."

Walther quickly steadied his emotions, asking in the most even tone possible, "In your dream, what does the girl named Qiana look like specifically?"

Xing strained to recall, "White hair, tied into two plaited braids hanging on each side, blue eyes, looking... hmm, a bit lively and a bit silly?"

(White plaited braids, blue eyes, a lively personality that sometimes goes off‑track...)

Walther made a swift judgment in his mind.

(It's indeed the Qiana from her Saint Freya Academy days. It seems the dream connects to a time before she became a Herrscher of The End.)

That realization caused the faint spark of "perhaps a way home" in his heart to flare briefly and then dim quickly, replaced by an inexplicable melancholy.

But for now, San Yue Qi's disappearance is more pressing.

"Regarding Qiana... it may be more complicated; we lack clues for now, so let's set it aside."

Walther brushed it off lightly, though his inner mind was far from the calm exterior.

He steered the conversation back on track: "The top priority is San Yue Qi's whereabouts. From the current situation, her disappearance is likely passive. We don't even know the identity or motives of the Behind the Scenes Black Hand, so for now we must list Chang Ye Yue and her backing forces as highly suspicious targets."

Pam had been listening quietly, then spoke anxiously, "But the information we just received from Kafuka indicates Xianzhou Luofu may soon face a crisis, hoping we head to Pa. Now passenger San Yue Qi is missing; should we continue the planned jump to Xianzhou, or..."

It's a difficult choice.

With a companion missing, we should search with all our might.

But Kafuka's warning concerns the safety of an entire world; standing by is not the Star Rail's way.

Jizi fell silent for a moment, her gaze sweeping over each present member, finally resting on the vast Star Sea beyond the window.

Her voice was clear and firm:

"Go. Follow the original plan, jump to Xianzhou Luofu."

"I believe, if San Yue knew, she would also approve this decision. We cannot abandon our responsibility to aid other worlds because of a companion's mishap. Moreover,"

She paused, "The Xianzhou Alliance wields massive power and a sophisticated intelligence network; perhaps during our investigation we can leverage their strength to find clues about San Yue. That's better than searching blindly."

Walther nodded in agreement: "Jizi is right. Running two lines in parallel is the most sensible strategy now. We'll openly engage in Xianzhou affairs while covertly probing San Yue's disappearance and its link to Chang Ye Yue. Dan Heng, what do you think?"

Dan Heng fell silent for a moment, then spoke: "...... Agree."

Xing also nodded forcefully: "I'll go too! We must bring San Yue back!"