Early in the morning on the orbital highway outside World 40, the hundred-thousand-mile-long Mini-Sun Streetlights switched from bright white daytime glare to a soft, warm morning glow.
Down on the newly painted four-lane space highway, Phantom-Blade Ghost King—the former Second Star-Lord of the Broken Star Belt—was jogging backward at five thousand miles an hour. He wore a bright yellow Cosmic Debtor Vest over his dark assassin robes, and a giant iron paint-roller was strapped to his back. Every time he took a step, his body glowed like a neon green glow-stick and played a cheerful accordion tune through the space-air:
“Please watch your step! Vehicle reversing! Beep, beep, beep!”
“Almost done with the double-yellow center line on Mile 99,980!” Ghost King muttered to himself, wiping a drop of green sweat from his brow and squinting down the road with a carpenter’s level. “If I keep this line within a hair’s breadth of straightness, Sword Chief Ye Guhan promised he wouldn’t lecture me for three hours tonight, and Chef Old Guo said I can have two extra spoons of chili beef tallow on my morning noodles!”
Above the former Star-Lord’s glowing green head, his Honest Loyalty Bar flickered brightly:
Up on the observation deck of World 40 Border Customs Station, Pei Xuan stood in his clean blue town-mayor robe, sipping a cup of hot wolfberry tea while Old Yellow the Golden Dragon-Camel chewed lazily on a roasted star-iron bar beside his boots.
