With two pieces of "fragrant" bait on hand, Sylvia's extermination efficiency skyrocketed.
She no longer had to search every nook and cranny for the bugs. The moment they caught a whiff of March 7th and Stelle, they practically scrambled out of hiding and threw themselves at her doorstep.
Sylvia couldn't help but wonder if the crate Stelle had smashed open was actually meant to store some kind of pheromone—the exact kind used to attract the Swarm.
But whatever, it didn't matter now.
Thanks to Stelle's baseball bat swing, Sylvia's work efficiency had received a massive boost. In less than a third of the estimated time, she had already wiped out every single one of the currently hatched larvae.
Sylvia double-checked her tablet thoroughly, confirming that no larval traces remained. Although new larvae would inevitably keep hatching from that giant cocoon, that would still take some time.
"Phew... everything's cleared out. Thanks for the hard work, you two."
Still holding her tablet, Sylvia offered her thanks to March 7th and Stelle.
"Oh, it was nothing really," March 7th said with a giggle.
The first half of their venture had certainly been thrilling and chaotic, but after crossing paths with Sylvia, the difficulty setting plummeted to zero.
There were no more sudden jumpscares or bugs flying directly into their faces. All they had to do was stick close to Sylvia, and she would handle everything.
Talk about dependable. At least in March 7th's eyes, Sylvia's reliability score had officially tied with Mr. Yang's.
"...But why are there so many bugs inside the space station?" Stelle asked, thoroughly perplexed by today's ordeal.
These bugs didn't exactly look like the Antimatter Legion. If the Antimatter Legion were sneaking around making trouble, Stelle could understand, but where in the Amber Lord did this swarm come from?
"Hmm... that involves a Genius's secret. Asking too many questions can get you into trouble, you know~" Sylvia winked at Stelle.
She certainly wasn't going to blab about Ruan Mei's affairs. Anything involving the Propagation carried a fair bit of taboo in the universe; it wouldn't do any good if word got out. That was precisely why Ruan Mei was doing her best to resolve the matter quietly within the space station.
"Ugh... are we wrapped up in some kind of massive trouble again?!" March 7th didn't press further, but instead let out a strange, pathetic wail.
Beside her, Stelle had been perfectly fine, but hearing March 7th's words made her entire body tense up.
Please stop talking. I've already witnessed the terrifying power of your jinxing mouth enough today. Don't go dragging us into another mess.
"Don't say it, don't say it, March. If you keep talking, we're really going to be doomed."
"Aw, okay... I'll shut up, I'll shut up..."
March 7th was startled by Stelle's mournful voice. Although she wasn't thrilled about being accused of being a jinx again, the earlier incidents had left her pretty traumatized too.
She chose to zip her lips immediately, terrified that if she turned her head, someone would pop out to deliver bad news—telling them they were trapped in an incident, forced to work under the table for a Genius forever, never to escape.
Seeing March 7th looking so pitiful, Sylvia reached out and patted her head. Then she asked, "By the way, why did you two come down here with Asta's card anyway?"
"Oh, that! Mainly because I was curious about what you were up to, so I went to find Asta..." March 7th explained the whole story with a nervous laugh.
Sylvia had originally assumed the matter ended with Asta. She hadn't expected them to actually get Herta's permission before coming down.
Was Herta truly indifferent, or did she secretly want to see what was happening down here?
Well, whatever. It wasn't any of her business. It wasn't like Herta and Ruan Mei would start a petty fight over this; neither of them was the type to squabble over such trivial things.
"I see. Let's head back up together then."
"You're heading back with us too?" Stelle looked astonished, seemingly not expecting Sylvia to leave just yet.
Sylvia cast a suspicious glance at Stelle. This girl isn't planning to stalk me and do some secret sleuthing, is she?
"Because my work is done. I only came down today to clear out these larvae." As she spoke, Sylvia checked her phone. Ruan Mei had just sent her a message saying she could go rest.
She wouldn't need to come back down until a couple of days later when the cocoon was close to hatching for the final experiment.
After bringing the two back to the Master Control Zone, Sylvia watched as March 7th returned the ID card to Asta.
Turning to Stelle, Sylvia asked, "Why did you follow her down there anyway? If I remember correctly, weren't you fixing that train?"
Upon hearing the question, Stelle proudly flashed a peace sign right in front of Sylvia's face. "It's already fixed!"
"That fast?" Sylvia looked at Stelle in surprise. It had only been towed in a few days ago.
"The main structure is done, but the interior decor and propulsion components still need to be delivered from The Blue, so that'll have to wait until tomorrow." Stelle shrugged.
She wasn't particularly interested in that side of things, mostly because she didn't know the first thing about it anyway.
"Well, that's still great. It's way faster than I expected. I thought it would take at least a month or two." Sylvia recalled how battered and ruined the train had looked when it was towed in.
She had assumed repairing it would be a massive headache. Who knew it would be this quick?
"Then you're underestimating the space station a bit, Sylvia~" Asta suddenly popped her head into the conversation, giving Sylvia a knowing blink.
As a research facility at the absolute cutting edge of science and technology, they might not excel at fighting wars, but when it came to manufacturing and research, Herta Space Station could show anyone the true meaning of interstellar technology.
It was just a train. If it weren't for aesthetic consistency—preventing them from just slapping the space station's minimalist style onto it—and the fact that the propulsion components weren't kept in stock and had to be shipped up from The Blue, they wouldn't even need to wait out the remaining half-day.
Sylvia smiled sheepishly. She really had underestimated the industrial capabilities of this era.
"Can I go over and take a look then?"
"Of course you can. The train is already parked at the platform. Once the remaining work is done, it'll be ready for a test run."
"Then I'll head over and check it out first."
Asta wasn't particularly worried about the upcoming test run. She had asked Ms. Himeko about it in private.
Back when Himeko was still on her home planet, the tools and materials she used, as well as her own technical skills, could hardly be called exceptional.
Yet even so, that train had successfully broken into the cosmos, eventually undergoing an anomalous transformation into a proper Astral Express—and it even came with a Pom-Pom.
Asta believed this train could do the same.
Sylvia held a similar view. The fuel of the Astral Express was the power accumulated through the journey of Trailblaze.
There was no way that kind of technology could be replicated by Himeko back when she was still a young girl.
The greater probability was that once the train started moving, it 'came alive' and completed its own self-repair using the maintenance materials provided.
Of course, Himeko's Trailblaze volition might have played a role in it as well. That was a theory worth testing.
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL