Stellar Train: I Open a Small Shop on the Train-Chapter 114

"Yes, yes, Stelle is the best."

On the stage, March 7th's opponent appeared — it was Scott.

March 7th looked at Scott, who was standing alone on the stage.

"Take out your weapon, let's finish this quickly," March 7th said dismissively.

Scott smirked slightly.

"Alright, I'll bring it out."

Scott pulled out a walkie-talkie.

"Come here."

In the next moment, a company's custom-made mecha descended from the sky, and Scott immediately climbed into it.

March 7th was stunned.

"What's this? This is a competition! What's with the mecha???"

Scott sneered proudly.

"This is my martial way! What's the problem? In this era, fighting is just about brawling, and this mecha is part of that fight!"

March 7th was about to argue against Scott's twisted logic when she stopped and thought for a moment.

"Hey, wait... you know, he actually has a point."

Scott chuckled arrogantly.

"See? Let's get started then."

As Scott prepared to control the mecha and start the fight, several light arrows suddenly flew at the mecha, piercing it through.

In an instant, the mecha emitted loud alarms.

Warning! Warning!

The mecha's limbs were pierced, and the whole thing was rendered completely useless.

Scott climbed out of the mecha and pointed at March 7th.

"You don't follow martial ethics!"

March 7th pointed at the referee beside her.

"How am I not following martial ethics? The referee already said the match started. Bye!"

March 7th shot another arrow, completely destroying the mecha.

The referee also announced the result.

"Congratulations to Miss March 7th for advancing to the top 8!"

The audience cheered loudly for March 7th, especially the people from Xianzhou. They had seen the Imperial Bow Destiny weapon! It was a longbow too!

March 7th walked off the stage amidst the cheers of the crowd.

Next, the referee announced the upcoming match.

"Second match of the top 16, Clara from Belobog versus Luka from Belobog!"

Clara, sitting next to Ye Yun, was stunned.

Luka on the other side was equally confused.

"Clara? Really? Is it the one I know?"

It wasn't until he saw Clara walk up to the stage that he realized it was the Clara he knew.

Luka was completely puzzled. How did Clara make it to the top 16?

The murmurs from the crowd soon explained the situation.

It turned out that Clara had entered the competition, and coincidentally, while Luka was leaving the stage, Clara had stepped up to compete.

"Luka, Luka, please get to the stage quickly!"

Hearing his name called from the loudspeaker, Luka snapped back to reality and hurriedly went up to the stage.

Luka was a bit at a loss. What should he do? He didn't want to hurt Clara.

"Clara, when the match starts, you can hit me a few times, then I'll trip you. Got it? The opponents ahead are strong, and I'm worried you'll get hurt."

Clara smiled softly.

"No need, Brother Luka."

As she finished speaking, a transformation device appeared in Clara's hand.

"Family Model No. 2! Come out!"

In an instant, a suit of armor appeared, enveloping Clara.

Clara glanced at Luka's weapon — just a pair of fists.

She decided to remove the large sword she was holding and stuck it in the ground, ready to fight in a brawling stance.

This scene felt vaguely familiar to the watching Himeko.

Clara jumped up and launched a flying kick towards Luka, who chose to take the hit, crossing his fists in front of his chest.

Clara's kick landed squarely on Luka's fists.

The force sent Luka flying backwards, and just as he was about to fall off the stage, he stopped.

Turning around, Luka broke into a cold sweat.

This power... I'm in trouble.

Luka's heart raced as he charged towards Clara.

Seeing this, Clara responded.

"Family Model No. 2, activate automatic defense mode."

The light on Family Model No. 2's chest changed to red.

"Automatic defense mode activated!"

Luka threw punch after punch at Clara, but they were all blocked by the automatic defense mode of the mecha.

This continued for over a hundred punches, with none of them breaking through the defense.

Exhausted, Luka gathered all his strength for one final punch.

"Ha!"

A burst of flames shot out, but Clara, wearing Family Model No. 2, stood perfectly unharmed.

Clara's voice rang out.

"Sorry, Brother Luka."

Clara, controlling the mecha, flew forward and knocked Luka off the stage.

On the stands, Himeko saw this and turned to Ye Yun.

"Ye Yun, did you provide Clara with the materials for that mecha?"

Himeko couldn't help but think of Family Model No. 1, which had been so powerful because of the excellent materials Ye Yun provided.

Ye Yun smiled and answered nonchalantly.

"Of course, I gave her the best materials!"

Himeko was speechless. As expected, the materials for Clara's Family Model No. 2 were not ordinary.

The Family Model No. 2 was obviously overpowered.

Nearby, Stelle nudged Firefly.

"Firefly, which one is stronger, Clara's Family Model No. 2 or your Sam?"

Firefly shook his head.

"I'm not sure. We'll have to see them fight to know."

Stelle stroked his chin.

"I wonder when I'll get my own mecha."

Firefly chuckled.

"You can go buy one from Ye Yun. He probably has them."

Welt, passing by, suddenly spoke up.

"Isn't the next issue of the lottery for an armor?"

Stelle suddenly remembered.

"Oh right, the next issue is for some Emperor's Armor or something. I'll buy a few tickets. I don't believe I can't win."

Firefly smiled.

"I'll buy a few too. If we win, I'll give it to you to play with, Stelle."

Stelle smiled widely.

"That's a great idea! Now, the chances of winning just went up."

***

The round of 16 ended quickly.

And the final top 8 were:

Clara.March 7th.Lumine.Yanqing.Yunli.And three strangers.

When Venti saw the top 8 list, he shook his head.

"We from Teyvat are completely wiped out."

Zhongli remained silent. It was true—Teyvat was entirely defeated.

Lumine? She doesn't count as a Teyvat native, okay?

Hu Tao, Ayaka, Itto, Shenhe, and the others were all knocked out in the round of 64 to 32, the second match session in the afternoon.

Hu Tao sat next to Zhongli, pouting unhappily.

In her round-of-64 match, she ran into Yunli. The raw strength difference between them was just too big.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

Both Yunli and Yanqing had studied swordsmanship under Jingliu for a while—their strength was no longer what it once was.

"Guest Consultant, come with me to Ye Yun's store later. I want to shop."

Zhongli nodded slightly."Alright, I'll accompany you."

Hu Tao planned to buy something to enhance her strength—it was time for a major power boost.

With the top 8 announced, the day's matches came to a close. Tomorrow would determine the ultimate winner.

Stelle, March 7th, Lumine, and the others greeted Ye Yun and then ran off to have fun.

Hu Tao, on the other hand, went back to the train with Zhongli and Ye Yun.

As soon as they returned to the train—

Hu Tao ran to the small bar to browse goods. She looked through item after item but didn't find anything she really wanted.

Leaning on one hand, she pondered what to buy.

She looked toward Noelle.

"Noelle, do you have any suggestions?"

Noelle was caught off guard.

"Huh?"

"I said—do you have any good suggestions?"

Noelle looked up and thought for a moment.

"How about opening a Golden Trash Can? That's how Stelle and the others mostly gained their strength."

Hu Tao didn't seem interested.

"That relies too much on luck. What if I get unlucky?"

Noelle nodded in understanding.

"Then maybe a better weapon? Or items that boost your abilities?"

"That's what I was thinking, but I just haven't found anything I like."

Noelle poured her a glass of water.

"No rush. Take your time—there's plenty of merchandise."

Hu Tao continued flipping through the shop menu.

Eventually, her gaze stopped on an item.

[Item: Spirit of the Phoenix]Description: A spiritual entity formed from a phoenix. Grants the user control over flames. By devouring higher-grade flames, the user's fire-controlling abilities will increase.Highly destructive against demons and evil spirits.Price: 880,000 Star Coins.

Hu Tao really liked it.

But—she was just a bit short. She only had 800,000 on hand.

She was short 80,000...

She fell into deep thought, brainstorming ways to get the extra Star Coins.

After a while, seeing how late it was, she decided to head back to Liyue Harbor first.

At the entrance of the internet café, she saw Calestia personally buying food.

"Calestia? Why are you down here buying food yourself? Don't you usually have Nahida bring it up for you?"

Calestia sighed helplessly.

"Nahida and Aether went back to Sumeru, so I had to come get it myself. You eaten yet, Hall Master? Want to join me?"

Hu Tao patted her stomach.

"Sure, I haven't had dinner yet either."

Calestia pulled out 5,000 Mora and asked the boss to make another seafood fried rice.

She handed the box to Hu Tao and noticed the gloomy look on her face.

"Hall Master, you look kinda down."

Hu Tao sighed.

"I want to buy something to boost my power, but I don't have enough money. I'm 80,000 Star Coins short."

Calestia thought it was something serious. That's it?

She pulled out a small wooden box.

"Here, Hall Master. Should be about 100,000 Star Coins in here. Take it."

Hu Tao opened it—sure enough, there were 90,000.

"Where'd you get this from?"

Calestia glanced sideways toward the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

"Don't worry about it. Just take it. Go buy what you want. I'm heading back up to keep gaming."

She dashed upstairs.

Hu Tao counted the money. 90,000."That's enough—plus extra!"

She happily headed to Wanmintang.

Midnight.

Zhongli returned to his room in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

He opened his storage cabinet and reached for a secret compartment out of habit.

As he felt around, his eyes suddenly widened.

He checked again, frowning tightly.

He leaned in to look—

Where's that big box?! Where are my 90,000 Star Coins?!

He focused his senses—and detected a familiar aura.

Following the trail, he arrived at the front of the internet café.

One more scan—and he found the culprit.

Calestia!!!

Taking a deep breath, Zhongli entered the café.

He went straight to the third floor, opened the door, and walked over with a dark face.

Calestia was squatting on her chair, headphones on, both hands on the keyboard, munching on seafood fried rice while gaming.

Zhongli removed her headphones.

"Where did my Star Coins go?"

Calestia, irritated by the sudden interruption, turned—and saw it was Zhongli.

"Oh, those? I gave them to the Hall Master. She didn't have enough money and wanted to buy something. I saw you had some, so I took it and gave it to her."

"You eat, drink, and wear everything on the Hall Master's tab. What's wrong with her taking a little from you for once?"

Zhongli was speechless.

If it was really for the Hall Master, then... he supposed it was fine.

Still, those were his private savings—meant for emergencies in Liyue!

"...I understand."

Zhongli sighed, looking defeated as he walked out of Calestia' room.

Back in the courtyard, he happened to run into Hu Tao returning.

"Guest Consultant, Guest Consultant! Look what I just bought!"

She spread her arms—flaming wings appeared behind her.

With a small hop, Hu Tao took off and flew a short distance before landing beside Zhongli.

"I asked Ye Yun about it—this Phoenix Spirit is super powerful~ I feel like I wouldn't even be scared if Osial showed up again!Guest Consultant, from now on, if Liyue is in danger, let me go first! If I lose, then you step in. You've protected Liyue for so long—it's time you got some rest."

Zhongli looked at the lively, cheerful Hu Tao in front of him and smiled warmly.

"Very well. I'll be counting on the Hall Master from now on."