"Are you even Trailblazers?! At least try to save her! Don't give up so quickly!"
The Stellaron was on the verge of collapse. Although the Trailblazers were the mortal enemies of Stellarons like itself, surely they wouldn't sacrifice a person's life just to seal it away!
Didn't the Trailblazers have a pretty good reputation throughout the galaxy?!
Fu Zhu and Xing exchanged a glance. The latter stared at the Stellaron with some contempt and said, "We are Trailblazers, that's true, but we're not some kind of do-gooders. Besides... are you telling me you don't know what we Trailblazers have done before?"
The Stellaron felt a vague sense of unease but still pressed on, unwilling to give up, "Done what?"
Fu Zhu and Xing looked at each other and smiled, then turned their heads in unison towards Dan Heng.
"We're counting on you, Teacher Dan Heng, to educate it about the things the Astral Express has done in the past."
Dan Heng rolled his eyes at the siblings, exasperated. Did they really have to bring up those past deeds of the Nameless?
Dan Heng sighed but still recounted the history he knew.
"The actions of the Nameless in the past often contradicted their present ways. For example, using the Astral Express to shatter the wall forged by [Preservation] Qlipoth."
Dan Heng stopped there, saying no more after that sentence.
Regardless, he was a Nameless now too. If it weren't to cooperate with Fu Zhu and Xing, he would never have willingly exposed the 'dark history' of the Nameless predecessors.
Dan Heng's explanation greatly satisfied the sibling pair. Fu Zhu turned his head, snapped his fingers, and raised an eyebrow at the Stellaron immobilized in the boat, asking, "Since you've heard our Trailblazer dark history, for the sake of the Astral Express's reputation, I'm afraid we can't let you live! Xing, do it!"
Xing raised the Flame Lance, ready to pierce the Stellaron directly. Terrified, the Stellaron quickly retorted loudly, "You're the ones who insisted on saying it! It's not like I asked to hear it! You can't do this!"
"Heh, if you hadn't assumed we were do-gooders, would we have revealed our own dark history? Isn't this your own fault?!"
The Stellaron felt numb. So, it was doomed either way?
It might just get sealed, but Cocolia would actually die!
Are these people really Trailblazers?!
Just as the Stellaron reached its deepest despair, Bronya stepped forward, her face pleading, "Fu Zhu, Xing, I know what I'm saying is highly inappropriate... but, please, save my mother."
Seele couldn't help but spit slightly to the side, crossing her arms and frowning in complaint, "You really don't get it at all. Stepping out now and saying this undoubtedly exposes our weakness to it!"
Bronya's expression was complicated; she nodded bitterly.
"I know this is my fault, but... she is my mother, and besides..."
Besides, Bronya felt like Fu Zhu and Xing actually intended to follow through!
Xing, holding the Flame Lance, didn't know whether to stab or lower it. She scratched her head awkwardly and turned to ask Fu Zhu, "Ge, what do we do now?"
Fu Zhu rubbed his chin and sighed helplessly.
"Bronya, consider this a favor you owe me. Since you've begged us, I guess I'll have to reluctantly make it leave Cocolia's body of its own accord."
Of its own accord?
The Stellaron scoffed dismissively. Cocolia's body was its final protection right now; why would it ever voluntarily leave it!
Fu Zhu opened his inventory while speaking to the others.
"You should know that I possess a skill called Redstone Technology. Back where I come from, some predecessors believed Redstone Technology should be used to serve everyone.
Increasing productivity is one kind of service; bringing people spiritual or physical enjoyment is also a kind of service. Thus, based on Redstone Technology, a wondrous machine was born."
"Its name is—the Sheep Piston Machine!"
This peculiar name left everyone completely bewildered.
Fu Zhu placed a crafting table from his inventory and crafted a piston. Unfortunately, he didn't have any slimeballs, so he couldn't make a sticky piston.
Without a sticky piston, a true Sheep Piston Machine couldn't be made. But he didn't need the real thing right now; he just needed to let the Stellaron know how the Sheep Piston Machine operated to scare it sufficiently.
Fu Zhu first showed the piston to everyone, then placed it on the ground, explaining its function.
"This block is called a piston. Its function is very simple: it can push objects in the direction it faces. And this is a high-frequency Redstone circuit."
Fu Zhu used Redstone to build a simple high-frequency circuit next to the piston.
As soon as the circuit activated, everyone saw the piston performing rapid push-pull motions at an extremely high speed.
After the simple demonstration, Fu Zhu stopped the Redstone circuit and then smelted three Copper Ingots on the spot.
Luckily, he had gathered some copper back in the Underworld; otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to craft the other key component of the Sheep Piston Machine.
To make a Sheep Piston Machine, one needed a horizontally placeable rod. Such rods are rare in MC, limited to End Rods and Lightning Rods.
End Rods require traveling to the End, which was currently impossible for Fu Zhu, making the Lightning Rod the most suitable option.
Although the Lightning Rod wasn't as aesthetically pleasing or luminous as the End Rod, its protruding tip made it, in some people's eyes, even more suitable as the key part of the Sheep Piston Machine.
Fu Zhu placed the Lightning Rod horizontally on the piston, then manually activated the piston once.
Everyone watched as the Lightning Rod attached to the piston was pushed forward. Their hearts skipped a beat, and a bad feeling began to surface.
Fu Zhu didn't retract the piston immediately, avoiding revealing the fact that a regular piston couldn't pull the Lightning Rod back. Instead, he turned to the Stellaron with a smirk.
"This is roughly how the Sheep Piston Machine works. Now, you can imagine... what wonderful things might happen if I place it behind you and activate it at that same high speed?
Oh, by the way, Redstone is an infinite energy source. It can keep the Sheep Piston Machine running until the end of the world."
As soon as Fu Zhu said this, 'Cocolia's' face instantly flushed red. The look she gave Fu Zhu was as if staring at scum.
"Are you really a Nameless?! No... Are you even human?!"
Fu Zhu chuckled and shrugged. "Obviously, I'm human from every perspective. Right, everyone?"
Fu Zhu turned, seeking supportive responses from his companions to put more pressure on the Stellaron, but what he saw instead were the disgusted gazes of all the girls.
March 7th reached out, pulling the other three women closer to her, away from Fu Zhu.
"Tsk! Pervert!"