Stellar Train: I Open a Small Shop on the Train-Chapter 167

After everyone had tired themselves out from playing around, they gradually dispersed.

To throw off suspicion, Stelle pretended to head back to the treehouse to rest.

She quietly cracked open a door and peeked at the rooms of Topaz, Himeko, and the others.

Seeing that all the lights were off, Stelle tiptoed out of the treehouse.

Not long after, another figure quietly slipped out as well.

Stelle and the person who followed her met up beneath the treehouse.

"Let's go, Firefly. Time to go veggie snatching!"

The figure was none other than Firefly. The two were about to start their great veggie heist!

When they arrived at the entrance to the Simulated Universe store, Stelle put a finger to her lips and gestured for silence. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"Shhh~ Don't rush. I'll go scout the enemy situation first!"

Firefly obediently crouched down, afraid to make a single sound.

Stelle poked her head out and peeked into Ye Yun's store from the entrance.

A few small nightlights were left on inside the store, enough to see what was going on.

Stelle scanned the room carefully. Confirming no one was around, she led Firefly inside.

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of eyes was secretly watching them.

Just as they were about to enter the Farm's main gate, two hands landed on their shoulders.

"Stelle~ Firefly~ What are you two doing out here so late~?"

A creepy voice came from behind, scaring both of them stiff.

Reflexively, Stelle slapped backward—landing squarely on something soft. A scream followed.

"OWW!"

Looking closer, they saw it was Little Evil God, lying on the floor holding her face, tearfully.

"Jammy? Why are you in Ye Yun's store so late?" Stelle asked, confused.

Sniffling, Little Evil God replied,"I should be asking you that! What are you doing sneaking around in the middle of the night? And you hit me! That slap better come with at least a 100-Star Coin compensation!"

Stelle rolled her eyes. "Jammy, you scared us first! I just reacted instinctively. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for sneaking up on us!"

Firefly chimed in from the side. "Exactly! You scared us first!"

But Little Evil God wasn't having it—she only wanted compensation. "I don't care! You need to pay for my medical bills! If not, I'll tell everyone you two snuck into the store last night!"

Now their weak spot was exposed. They were here to steal crops—this couldn't be leaked!

Left with no choice, they paid for peace. Stelle handed over 100 Star Coins. Jammy happily accepted and asked, "So, what exactly are you guys doing here so late?"

Stelle answered, "We're stealing crops. Wanna join?"

The moment Jammy heard that, her interest skyrocketed. "Perfect! I am a demon, after all. Stealing crops is my true calling~ Let's go!"

So Stelle, Firefly, and Little Evil God slipped into the Koko Farm portal.

As soon as they entered, Stelle pulled up her friends list and began stealing crops—one by one, no hesitation.

She first arrived at Amber's farm and was greeted by golden wheat swaying in the field.

She walked up and pressed the "Steal" button on top of the wheat.

In the next second, her farm inventory had gained one unit of wheat.

In Farm, everyone has a personal farm space just for storing Farm items.

The trio spent over half an hour just stealing crops.

Afterward, Stelle sold off all the wheat she had—stolen and homegrown alike.

Each unit of wheat sold for 5 Star Coins. With 70 units, she made a total of 350 Star Coins.

And that's just level-one crops! Higher-tier crops sell for more.

For instance, she had just planted level-two crops—pasture grass—selling for 10 Star Coins per unit.

There was even a notification that at level three, the ranch feature would unlock, allowing her to raise animals for profit.

Satisfied, Stelle tucked away her 350 Star Coins and snuck back to the treehouse to rest.

The next morning

Everyone woke up excited to harvest their wheat—only to be devastated!

Xiangling was stunned. "Who the heck stole my wheat?! I had three whole units gone! I only planted ten total!Wuwuwuwu~"

Her outburst triggered the others—Amber, Qingque, and the rest joined in.

"Same! I'm missing three units too!"

"Me too. Could it be that someone stole from everyone?"

Everyone nodded. Clearly, each of them had three units stolen.

Hutao clenched her little fists. "Unforgivable! Who did this? Who's the wheat thief?!"

Ye Yun chuckled. "Well, it's easy. Just see who's still sleeping right now. We all stayed up late last night. If someone was up even later stealing crops, they'd probably still be passed out. Or, check who has new crops growing—that's another clue."

Hutao thought that made sense. She looked around and noticed something suspicious.

"Where's Stelle? She's still not up? That's odd—didn't she have stuff to do today?"

Xiangling responded, "Stelle must be one of them! But who are the other two?"

Just then, Zhongli walked out of the Farm portal.

"No need to guess. The other two are Firefly and Little Evil God."

Hutao tilted her head. "How do you know that, Guest Consultan?"

Zhongli replied, "I checked everyone's farm. Only Stelle, Firefly, and Little Evil God had crops planted during the early hours of the morning.You can only steal one unit per target, so with three stolen per person, it had to be three culprits."

Xiangling clapped her hands. "That matches! Three thieves, three units gone, new crops planted—it all fits! They must've harvested and replanted after stealing!"

Everyone agreed and shouted to storm the treehouse and bring them to justice.

Stelle was still lying sprawled out on her bed snoring when the door was suddenly kicked open. Even The Tempest Wolf was startled and began barking wildly.

With a wave of Hutao's hand, Qingque and Amber tied Stelle up with a rope.

She finally woke up, blinking at the rope in confusion.

What?! How did you already figure out it was me?!

They hauled Stelle to the store for trial.

Little Evil God had also been captured, currently wriggling on the floor while bound by rope.

As for Firefly, she confessed quickly and even compensated everyone with Star Coins. After a short scolding from Elio, she was let off the hook.

***

After receiving judgment from everyone, Stelle and Little Evil God returned all the money they had earned from stealing crops.

Stelle was very frustrated. How did I get caught? So annoying!If she had known, she wouldn't have stolen from so many people—maybe just a few. That way, she might not have been discovered.

Later, after spending some time in the train, the group left the store.

Stelle and Dan Heng headed to Amphoreus, planning to team up with Castorice and Phainon to search for the Titan of Time.

Kiana followed Calestia and Hutao back to New Liyue.

Over half an hour later...

Kiana, Hutao, and Calestia were strolling through the streets of New Liyue.

As they walked, Hutao suddenly heard someone calling her name. She turned to see Tartaglia waving at her from a nearby bridge.

La Signora was standing beside him, quietly observing the trio.

Hutao walked up to them.

"Well well~ What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in New Snezhnaya?"

Tartaglia spread his hands helplessly.

"No choice. The Empress assigned both of us to the Northland Bank's New Liyue branch."

Of course Tartaglia wanted to return—he hadn't seen his younger siblings in a long time.

Fortunately, Uncle Rooster said that in a few days, his siblings would be brought to New Liyue to reunite.

After a brief chat, Hutao bid them farewell and continued shopping with Kiana and Calestia.

La Signora silently watched Hu Tao's back as she walked away. Tartaglia noticed and teased her:

"Still remember when you caused a ruckus at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor?"

La Signora's face darkened immediately. Of course she remembered—she even paid a hefty bribe, yet was still suppressed single-handedly by Silver Wolf.

Tartaglia kept going with his jabs:

"So? Dare to try again? You're The Harbinger La Signora, after all~"

La Signora shot him a glare and snorted coldly before turning to leave.

Go cause trouble at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor again? Might as well dig her own grave.

With the current lineup of guest consultants at the Funeral Parlor, not even the Empress herself might dare to mess with them.

Meanwhile, back with Rimuru...

After finishing a meeting with Benimaru and the others, Rimuru used a teleport gate to arrive at Ye Yun's store.

According to the Dryad' intel, the Orc Lord's army had already begun to mobilize—targeting the swamp wetlands inhabited by the lizardmen.

Rimuru came to Ye Yun's shop to purchase some weapons and gear.

To be honest, from how Benimaru and the Dryad described the Orc Lord, Rimuru felt uneasy.It sounded like a battle he might actually lose.

So, he planned to spend big at Ye Yun's store to power up.

Bouncing around inside the store, Rimuru found Noelle.

"Noelle, I want to buy something."

Noelle, who was sweeping the floor, immediately set the broom aside.

"Of course, right this way, Mr. Rimuru."

She led Rimuru to the bar counter. He hopped onto a high stool and started browsing the display screen.

He still had over 900,000 Star Coins left—leftover from exchanging magic crystal ores last time.

After browsing for a long while without finding anything satisfactory, Rimuru turned to the Great Sage.

"Great Sage, any recommendations?"

[Advising: Recommend purchasing powerful biological entities to devour and obtain potent abilities.]

The suggestion made sense to Rimuru, so he searched specifically for powerful creatures.

In the end, he spent 500,000 Star Coins on a young magic dragon from a mid-tier plane.

Item: Young Magic DragonDescription: Offspring of a top-tier dragon species from a mid-tier plane. Born with extremely powerful abilities.

Skill 1: Dragon Force – Increases strength tenfold when activated.

Skill 2: Dragon Body – Boosts defense tenfold and grants immunity to toxins.

Skill 3: Dragon Flame – An active skill that unleashes extremely high-temperature flames.

Price: 500,000 Star Coins

Rimuru tossed 500,000 Star Coins into the vending slot. A dragon egg appeared in front of him.

He brought the dragon egg back to his own world—and immediately devoured it.

A moment later, the voice of the Great Sage echoed in his mind:

[Notice! Unknown egg devoured. New skills acquired: Dragon Force, Dragon Body, Dragon Flame.]

[Fusion in progress: Dragon Flame + existing skill Black Flame = Black Dragon Flame.]

[Fusion in progress: Dragon Body + existing skill Steel Body = Steel Dragon Body.]

After the voice faded, Rimuru decided to test out the new skills.

He raised a hand and called out:

"Black Dragon Flame!"

In an instant—

A massive stream of black fire burst from Rimuru's hand.

Everything touched by the flames turned to ash. The spread was incredibly fast.

In just a few seconds, everything in Rimuru's field of view had become scorched earth.

He quickly retracted his hand, stunned by the sheer destructive power.

This skill is ridiculously strong...

But now, with this new power, he didn't have to worry about the Orc Lord anymore.

Just as he returned to camp after testing his skill, he saw a group of lizardmen blocking the entrance.

The leader seemed to be challenging Gobta to a duel.

"Benimaru, what's going on here?" Rimuru asked as he approached.

Benimaru bowed slightly.

"Lord Rimuru, this is Gabiru from the lizardman tribe. He's asking us to join forces and fight the Orc Lord's army together."

Rimuru responded,"An alliance? That's not unreasonable."

But Gabiru shook his head.

"Not an alliance. We, the mighty lizardmen, will protect your weak little species.

Be grateful!"

His three flunkies immediately cheered:

"Gabiru! Gabiru! Gabiru!"

A drop of cold sweat slid down Rimuru's forehead.This guy's brain seems a little... off.

Gabiru glanced at Rimuru disdainfully.

"This slime is your leader? Are you kidding me? Impossible."

Benimaru and the others were instantly enraged.How dare he insult our master!

Hakuro looked at Gobta.

"Gobta, don't hold back."

Gobta nodded knowingly.

"Yes, Master!"

Gabiru howled and lunged at Gobta, shouting taunts all the while.

Gobta casually sidestepped the attack.

By the time Gabiru realized it, Gobta had already leaped out of the shadows behind him and slammed a spiked club into the back of his head.

Thud. Gabiru collapsed instantly.

Rimuru sighed.Weak and arrogant—that guy's gonna suffer a lot in the future.

He turned to Gabiru's stunned underlings.

"Take him back. As for the alliance, I'll send someone to your tribe to discuss the details."