"Himeko!!! — — Welt!!! — — Dan Heng!!! — — March 7th!!! Something terrible has happened — — Pom!!!"
Early in the morning, Pom's sharp, explosive cry echoed throughout the entire Astral Express, "Emergency situation!!!"
"Conductor?"
"What happened?"
The Trailblazers of the Astral Express rushed to the passenger car where Pom was, only to witness an unbelievable sight.
The newcomer, who had been laughing and telling everyone yesterday that he was going to become a new star among the Trailblazers, was now sitting quietly on a chair, a pen precisely stabbed into his heart. The room was a mess, like a junkyard that had just weathered a storm.
The floor was covered in scattered papers. They should have been densely filled with writing, but most of the content had been destroyed, leaving only some meaningless textual footnotes.
Aidan's face still held a trace of shock, as if he hadn't expected to meet his death in this manner.
"No pulse," Welt frowned.
"His body temperature is still dropping; the time of death must have been very recent. The murder weapon... is this ballpoint pen."
"A pen can kill someone?" March 7th's voice trembled slightly, but looking at Aidan, whose eyes were vacant and had lost their light, she bit her lower lip tightly.
This newcomer had only boarded the train yesterday to become a Trailblazer. He was an exceptionally kind person, and not the hypocritical kind of kind—he was genuinely sincere...
March 7th felt like she could apply every word she knew to describe a good person onto Aidan.
"Instant kill..."
Welt confirmed Aidan's cause of death.
"There are no signs of a struggle. The murderer acted very quickly."
"These writings..." Himeko bent down and picked up a piece of paper.
Regrettably, there was nothing left; the writing on it had all been twisted and destroyed.
"The Express had no alarms. From last night until now, no one except the Conductor has been here, and the doors and windows are completely intact."
"A locked room... suicide?" March 7th couldn't help but interject, "How is that possible? He was so cheerful when he said..."
March 7th was very sad.
Just yesterday, he had called her 'Senior March 7th.'
Pom tiptoed, extending its fluffy little hands as if trying to close Aidan's wide-open eyes.
"Conductor, don't touch," Himeko gently stopped it. "For safety, it's better if we keep everything as it is. We need to document the scene, and then..."
March 7th's shoulders slumped.
Even the usually cheerful girl felt a lump in her heart when facing the death of a companion.
"We agreed yesterday to explore the next planet together..." March 7th lowered her head and muttered softly, "How could you just... I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of you..."
Although Welt was an old senior who had experienced countless partings through life and death, and was accustomed to the fragility of life, this did not mean he could be numb to it.
"His physiological functions have completely ceased, March," Welt sighed and said.
"Cardiac arrest exceeded the optimal rescue time, his pupils are dilated... This strike was extremely precise, directly severing his life. Even with current medical technology, this level of damage is irreversible."
Himeko walked over to Aidan, bent down, and straightened his collar for him.
"The immediate priority now, besides finding the truth and giving Aidan an explanation... we also need to let him rest in peace."
"According to the Trailblazer tradition..." March 7th sniffled, her voice thick with congestion, "Should we... should we send him back to the Sea of Stars?"
"Usually, yes," Himeko nodded. "The Sea of Stars is the final resting place for Trailblazers. But the situation is special now. The cause of death hasn't been determined, and... we also need to consider if someone is targeting the Express or him. Sending the body into space rashly might not be appropriate."
"I'll help."
Dan Heng, who had been standing silently in the corner, finally spoke up.
There was a different emotion in his gaze.
Although Dan Heng had told Aidan before he boarded the train, "I don't care if you want to become a Trailblazer," seeing him dead on the train the very next day, with everyone completely unaware, still felt... absurd to him.
The atmosphere in the room was suffocatingly heavy.
"I'll go get a piece of clothing to cover him with," March 7th felt that if she didn't do something, her tears would truly fall. She turned away, not wanting everyone to see her reddened eyes, "We can't just let him sit here like this..."
"This is the Trailblaze... We never know if tomorrow or an accident will come first. But since he chose this Path, I think... he probably didn't regret it in his final moments, right?"
Himeko stopped March 7th.
"Little March, don't move around randomly yet. On the Express... the murderer might not have left."
Himeko's words immediately put everyone on high alert.
March 7th stopped immediately. Welt's cane appeared in his hand, and Dan Heng gripped his spear.
"It's only a possibility, but we cannot rule it out."
"Pom felt something strange board the Express earlier, and then... now that feeling is gone, Pom!"
Pom shook its head.
"That feeling?" Welt frowned and looked at Pom. "Conductor, can you describe it specifically?"
Pom's little face was full of tension: "Pom can't quite explain it... It was like something pierced through the Express, but not in the way things enter through the doors. It was very quick; Pom even thought it was an illusion..."
"Who could it be?" March 7th clenched her fist. "Why kill Aidan? He was so nice..."
"Perhaps the problem isn't Aidan himself," Welt pushed up his glasses. "But rather what he knew, or what he was doing."
He pointed at the scattered papers on the floor.
"This destroyed content might be the key. After killing him, the murderer deliberately destroyed these records. This means the murderer doesn't want us to know what Aidan was researching before he died."
March 7th squatted down, trying to piece the scraps of paper together, but the writing was too distorted; she couldn't make out the original form at all.
"I can't see anything..." she said dejectedly. "It's as if someone deliberately erased them with something."
"Don't touch that."
March 7th instinctively dropped the thing in her hand, and then...
"A ghost! Ahhhhhh! He's coming back to life! Ahhhh!"
March's shout was making earth-shattering and ghost-wailing, in short it make Aidan's ears hurt.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough... Not a ghost... I was revived by watching an ad... Cough, cough, cough..."
That's right.
[Erudition] Aidan is dead.
But...
[Trailblaze] Aidan revived on the spot!
(T/N: MC name is 游焰)