(TL : I don't know jacksh*t about Penacony so forgive me for mistranslation.)
"Hmm~, so this is the simulation world like a domain that you mentioned? Pretty fitting."
Entering this space for the first time, Aventurine looked at Topaz and Jade beside him, still wearing his irreverent smile.
"The Penacony Star of the Grand Gathering... is this to be my burial ground? Rather suits my style~" he joked while clapping, his light tone making it seem as if he wasn't the one who would die.
"Aventurine, honestly, did you anticipate this?" Seeing how Aventurine seemed to have everything under control, Topaz slightly furrowed her brows.
Her personality clashed with Aventurine's, and they didn't get along well at work, but suddenly learning of his death left her with complicated feelings.
"Hehe, don't worry, even in death, I won't cause trouble for our team."
Pulling out a coin from somewhere, Aventurine played with it casually, his tone indifferent.
"You know that's not what I meant." Hearing this obviously perfunctory attitude, Topaz grew more dissatisfied.
"Come on Topaz, we didn't mean to hide it from you." Seeing the situation, Jade tried to mediate somewhat helplessly.
"Miss Jade, you too...?"
"Hehe~, what's there to be surprised about? Under normal circumstances, after you handled the hot potato that is Jarilo-VI, you would have joined this operation too."
Aventurine spread his hands, laughing sarcastically.
"To reclaim this little Penacony, I had long prepared to oppose the Family, but who would have thought I'd end up dying at the hands of the Astral Express and the Galaxy Rangers."
"However, at least the final incident location was in Penacony, which could be a powerful push for our reclamation plan."
"At least it wasn't a meaningless death~"
"..."
Hearing this, Topaz pondered for a moment before asking hesitantly.
"From what I know, both the Astral Express and Galaxy Rangers have reputations mostly related to justice throughout the universe..."
Organizing her words, Topaz said: "For both major groups to join forces against you... you didn't do something universally condemned, did you?"
"Friend, that's hard to say, after all, you know I've always been unscrupulous in my methods. Occasionally gambling with the lives of a city or two is quite normal, isn't it"
Flipping the coin high, Aventurine stared into Topaz's eyes, seemingly waiting for her answer.
Given his usual demeanor, it wouldn't be surprising if he actually did such things.
After all, the Interastral Peace Corporation had no regulations prohibiting such behavior, the only limiting factor was one's own morality.
So, he had already guessed what Topaz would say.
However...
"No, you're not like Obsidian and the others, you wouldn't do such things."
"Wait, friend, you trust my character that much?"
This really threw Aventurine off balance.
Whether it was Topaz, Miss Jade, or Ratio, why were all the people around him so peculiar? Every time he posed a question, they would come up with answers he never expected.
"You're overthinking it. I mean, with your flamboyant personality, you wouldn't choose such a bloody method."
"Hehe~, that's true, these clothes of mine are expensive, it would be troublesome if they got bloodstained."
Aventurine spoke casually, randomly checking the information on his panel.
"How interesting. What do you think would happen in this Gap of Destiny if I participated in my own subjugation battle?"
Seeing the glaring task bar, Aventurine couldn't help but laugh.
It was a first in his life to deal with himself, such opportunities were rare.
How many people in this world could fight against their past and future dying selves like him?
"Who knows~, but, look at the bottom part."
Jade continued smiling peacefully, as she always did in front of them.
"Oh, wait... does this mean?"
Special Task (invisible to other factions)
[Stone Heart Ten] [Investigate the truth behind Aventurine's death, uncover the world-changing conspiracy hidden in the shadows.]
[Special Effect: Will not be scattered during teleportation, can share companion location information at any time.]
Looking at this glaring special task, Topaz's gaze grew sharp.
What this sentence represented was very clear - behind Aventurine's death lurked a conspiracy capable of overturning the entire world order.
The Family must know what diplomatic consequences would result from a company envoy dying in Penacony.
For them to dare plan under such pressure, either there was a mole within the Family hoping for both sides to fight and reap the benefits,
Or the benefits involved were so great that it was worth opposing the company despite the consequences.
But either way, the company couldn't ignore this.
"Looking at it this way, my luck isn't too bad." Aventurine smiled frivolously as he sent an alliance invitation to the Express group in public chat.
"The Clockmaker, huh? Too bad, no matter how much effort you put into this property dispute, it's all going to come to light now~"
That invitation letter specially encrypted with the Express engine could naturally be easily decrypted with company technology.
Previously, Aventurine had been pondering what this represented, but combined with current information, perhaps this was why he would end up fighting with the Astral Express.
After all, to reclaim Penacony, he had planned to bring that Miss Stellaron into his faction to increase his chances of success.
Perhaps it was because this move interfered with someone's plans that it ultimately led to this result.
If that's the case, then he would deliberately act together with the Astral Express.
He wanted to see exactly what his future self encountered.
Meanwhile, on the Astral Express.
March 7th: "Eh!? We can form alliances?"
Seeing the message in public chat, March 7th was surprised.
In the girl's mind, hadn't they just nearly fallen out with the corporation? How much time had passed, and now alliance requests were coming in?
Stelle: "So March, what do you say?"
On a building rooftop, Stelle stirred things up in the group chat: "Don't you want to meet this corporate executive who will die by our hands in the future?"
March 7th: "Eek— don't say it like that! Making it sound like a vengeful spirit coming back for revenge, you're scaring me!"
Dan Heng: "...You two should report your positions first. This is Penacony, there are many landmarks, let's find a chance to regroup first."
Welt Yang: "Dan Heng is right, we can discuss alliances after we regroup. After all, we're still not clear if there are other dangers lurking here."
Pushing up his glasses, Welt looked at his two different faction and group chat panels, a drop of sweat slowly sliding down his forehead.
One was naturally the Astral Express he was familiar with.
As for the other... looking at the glaring Herrscher characters on it, Welt couldn't help but feel emotional.
Combined with the previous incident, he had a feeling of being chased by the past.
'How unlucky, this Honkai... why won't it leave me alone...'