Clang clang clang—
Hovering above the locomotive, Expert rolled up her sleeves and carefully struck the engine with a hammer. Each time the hammer fell, she shifted her body slightly to ensure she would not be affected by the recoil.
After every strike, she would frown faintly, her eyes flashing with focused light as she meticulously inspected the result.
The locomotive might look majestic, but every hammer blow had to be delivered with utmost caution.
It was not that the strikes would affect Cosmic Juggernaut's functionality.
It was simply that Expert was a perfectionist. Even in terms of appearance, it had to be flawless.
Cosmic Juggernaut adopted a retro mechanical design style. On both sides of the locomotive were support structures resembling hydraulic arms, their outlines graceful yet brimming with strength.
The train's surface carried a metallic sheen, with brass tones interwoven with black, giving it an impression of durability and mystery.
At the very front of the engine was a transparent observation window, which also served as the headlight.
Below the headlight was a massive air intake equipped with an efficient heat dissipation system. It could also absorb Honkai energy, providing the locomotive with the power it required.
Additionally, Cosmic Juggernaut was adorned with intricate gears and pipes, showcasing a unique steampunk aesthetic—Vill-V's favorite visual design.
Expert wiped the sweat from her brow with her arm, casually twisting a dial on the locomotive. In the blink of an eye, she entered the interior cockpit.
"Magician... damn her. While I was resting, she left dozens of marks all over Cosmic Juggernaut."
"Thankfully, I had Id keep a close watch over the body, so I was able to change everything Magician altered back in time."
"Otherwise, this locomotive might have turned into some iron-blooded train hero—or an isekai truck."
After carefully checking the various instruments on the dashboard and confirming there were no abnormalities, she pulled the steam whistle.
Although Cosmic Juggernaut had no chimney, once the whistle sounded, steam burst out from all directions around the locomotive, releasing a pleasant hissing sound.
Thud.
The central structure of Cosmic Juggernaut resembled the rotating cylinder of a revolver, exuding a heavy mechanical presence.
When the whistle rang out, six power gears meshed one by one with the massive main bevel gear, driving the enormous central shaft to begin rotating slowly.
All of these internal mechanisms had been deliberately designed by Vill-V to remain externally visible, further emphasizing its extraordinary grandeur and mechanical tension.
After witnessing the imposing presence of Cosmic Juggernaut, Dr. Mei sighed in admiration. "Even MOTH's industrial designers can't compare to you."
Mm, Kevin would probably love this style.
Industrial designers were not engineers. They handled market analysis, exterior design, structural design, and similar tasks—primarily fulfilling users' aspirations for a better life.
Simply put, a product's appearance had to match users' aesthetics, and its usage had to align with human habits.
"Of course. In every domain, I have full confidence in my design abilities."
An exceedingly arrogant statement—but Expert indeed had the right to say it.
Opening the door, Expert leapt down from midair and handed Dr. Mei a small cube.
"Mm, the beacon issue has been resolved."
Dr. Mei carefully examined the seemingly ordinary soulium cube in her hand and asked, "This is the beacon you designed?"
"That's right. You can also understand it as a pseudo-Herrscher Core, since it's likewise based on an Imaginary Singularity , though its only function is to serve as a beacon."
Expert shrugged. "This beacon merely performs continuous quadrupole analysis on the Imaginary Singularity , thereby anchoring its mass."
Dr. Mei raised the hand holding the beacon, her tone tinged with hesitation. "Then... should we report this Divine Key to MOTH?"
After all, MOTH had an extremely strict internal review procedure. With so many resources invested, they would not allow it to be taken away so easily—especially something as valuable as a Divine Key, a strategic asset.
Conductor Vill-V removed her magician's hat and pulled out a Homu doll from within, gently shaking it in her hand. "Just hand this over to them instead. This Homu doll's ability is roughly comparable to that of the Herrscher of the Void."
Dr. Mei looked utterly bewildered. A Homu doll comparable to the Herrscher of the Void?
Knowing that words alone were unconvincing, Conductor unzipped the back of the Homu doll and pulled out... a massive armed motorcycle.
Dr. Mei's eyes widened. She peered once more into the zipper opening of the Homu doll, but all she saw was a field of white—nothing discernible.
"This is...?"
"This Homu doll suit can achieve quantum folding. Its original function was to allow people of any body type to fit perfectly inside and become Homu."
As she spoke, Vill-V crawled inside. From within, she pulled up the zipper of the Homu doll suit. The one-meter-fifty Vill-V simply vanished into the doll, which was not even half a meter tall.
Then the Homu doll stood up, hopping about, nimbly climbing onto the wall before leaping onto the table and locking eyes with Dr. Mei.
"This is incredible. I see—so it's a device that allows the user to safely enter quantum space?"
Quantum space was hardly a safe or stable region. Just look at Seele in the original story—gone without warning.
This Homu doll suit was also the secret behind how Magician could pull a massive armed motorcycle from her hat. Otherwise, Vill-V had no ability to carry a one-ton armed bike while bouncing around.
Not to mention whether her equipment could withstand it—the chairs certainly could not.
At that point, people might assume Vill-V was some overweight tank, causing the ground to cave in wherever she walked and everything she sat on to collapse.
If the ever-popular scenario of "sitting on someone" were to occur, it would be fatal.
The Homudoll suit, originating from Occultist, served as the classic storage space of a novel protagonist and neatly solved this problem.
As for its origin, according to Occultist, it was created by communicating with the Kingdom of Homu.
"Understood. I'll use this doll to swap the beams without replacing the pillars."
Dr. Mei was not someone bound by rigid rules. Having endured plenty of unpleasant matters within MOTH, she naturally had her own plans. Keeping the Divine Key in their own hands was necessary.
Dr. Mei looked at Vill-V emerging from the Homu doll suit and said, "If it's this doll, the others in MOTH probably won't detect any flaws. After all, their understanding of the Second Herrscher is limited to spatial abilities ."
"Exactly. After creating such a useless doll, they'll probably be very, very disappointed."
It would not only be the people of MOTH who were disappointed, Expert thought.
Expert remembered that Miss Kirsch of the Mad Hatter Party had been extremely enthusiastic about this Homu doll—calling it a "scare doll."
Now that the doll would be handed over to MOTH, Miss Kirsch would no longer be able to use it. Hopefully, she would not be too heartbroken upon hearing the news.
Everyone here was an adult...
Oh, actually, none of them were adults... so it was fine to be childish.
Id and Magician were already bickering childishly in her mind because of Conductor's decision.