SHING—POP!
Above Highway Rest-Stop Plaza #1 in the Frost-Wind Main Galaxy, the magnificent two-hundred-million-light-year silver-gold body of the [Astral Highway & Shelter Dragon God] shimmered with a warm golden glow. And shifted smoothly back into the chubby, rosy-cheeked eleven-year-old boy Little Fifth (Ao Xing) in his yellow waterproof bib-overalls, brass pilot goggles, and miniature golden train-conductor’s cap!
Down on the gleaming silver-gold pavement of the [200-Galaxy Astral Dragon Highway], Road-Crew Captain #401—his scarred face now beaming with healthy color, his blood-headache 100% cured. His reflective orange traffic-safety vest polished until it shone—marched up to eleven-year-old Ao Xing alongside his one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine reformed brothers and dropped to one knee in a crisp salute:
“Chief Conductor Ao Xing! All two hundred million light-years of shoulder gravel along the [200-Galaxy Astral Dragon Highway] have been stamped 100% flat! Now that our brothers in Sector 1 are named Xiao Yi, Sector 2 are named Hua Er.
Sector 3 are named Tun San, may your two thousand Northern Highway Maintenance crewmen also ask for a real name?”
Eleven-year-old Ao Xing put both small hands on his hips, puffed out his chest so his [Dad’s Gold Star Sheriff Badge] caught the sunlight, and nodded with a huge, toothy grin:
