William and his party stood in the path. Natalie and Rebecca looked at the beautiful locomotive with great interest. "How beautiful she is!" Said Rebecca, "I love the streamlined lines, just like those on my body,"

"Hello!" Aria's AI system had been installed. Her voice was very sweet, even more melodious than Ranran's.

"Hello!" The others gave a warm welcome. "Wow, that little boy must have done a lot of work." William said, "I very much like your voice."

"Oh, really?" Aria smiled shyly, "You don't look like residents of this planet, by the way. Where are you from, please? Another planet?"

"You are right, but how did you tell?" Asked Photon curiously.

Aria told him that her AI system would use a function to calculate the size of organisms, while their bodies were much larger than those of natives.

"Oh? Why is that?" Ranran asked, "On our planet, we regard such small inhabitants as children, like the factory owner we just met."

Aria replied, "It's because of the genes. You have better genes, which is why you're growing so well. Ha ha ha!" The others laughed too.

Rebecca wanted to see Aria's speed. She noticed that Aria's top speed on the system was 300 km/h. Rebecca said, "Well, I didn't mean to look down on you, Aria. Please forgive me. But seeing how big you are, I don't believe you can run as fast as Natalie."

"Oh?" Aria replied, "Nobody on this planet has ever dared to question our speed. However, you are aliens, which means you don't know much about my technical level. It doesn't matter. Want to try it, alien friend?" She gave Natalie a smirk.

Natalie said yes and added, "But it doesn't seem like the road is right for racing. Look at this. It's all hills. If we ran fast enough, wouldn't we easily fly out of the atmosphere?"

"Ha ha, you've got a point there. I..."

"Wait a minute, Aria. I know where is right for racing." William interrupted as he opened the map on the computer, "Look at this road called Peter Pan Ring Road. It is flat and allows trains to travel at high speeds. We can go there, and our next destination is not far from one of the exits on that road."

Everyone thought this was a good idea, so they set out at once to enter the ring road at Exit 14. Those a few shadows in the night moved quickly over the bumpy path. It was difficult to walk on this path because it not only was uneven but also had many sharp curves. Aria, however, played her trump card: multiple wheels steering. As mentioned earlier, she had three driving wheels, while this technology allowed all wheels steering except for the driving wheels. So turning corners was a piece of cake for her. By contrast, Natalie was a real racing car, but her excellent ability that she could go from 0 to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds wouldn't work here, because she would be bound to tip over. Also, she was only able to pass curves at 40 km/h in such conditions.

"Oh, dear. I'm a racing car, not an off-roader. I'll never go on a second road like this again." She complained.

"Don't you have air suspension?" Said William, "And it's a lot better than the muddy road you took in the secret tunnel."

"You're right, Master, but I'm not used to such bumps."

The night would never end unless they reached the twilight line. There were a few more stars in the sky, but their light was still very dim, especially in the misty mist. When they came to a wide river, they saw low grass swaying gently. The water was wavy and reflected the faint stars. It made the party shudder to see the sight of the horrible forest in the distance, hear the sad cries of the crows overhead, and think of what they had experienced in Black Tower.

The compass showed that the surroundings were safe. Aria saw it. "What is this? It looks funny." She asked William.

William introduced her to the compass. "Get ready, Aria." He said nervously, "There is a You-Know-Who who has been looking for me and doing everything he can to prevent me from returning to my own planet. We may encounter danger at any moment. The compass will tell us where danger is, and we must hide ourselves in time. I'll have my robot paint you with an invisibility coating so you can't be seen."

Aria nodded. She could not believe that they were in such danger. "Why did You-Know-Who want to find you?" She asked curiously.

"I don't know, Aria. Maybe I'll never know. But it doesn't matter. What matters is that I have to go home, no matter how difficult the process may be."

"Never mind, my dear master William. I will always stand by your side like the other friends. I believe we can do it."

Looking at Aria's determined eyes, the flame of faith in William's heart burned even more fiercely.

They reached Exit 14. As far as the eyes could see, the road stretched straight in both directions, into the darkness. On either side were open plains. There were no trains or toll stations on the road, only the party standing at the entrance.

The party took to the road. Ranran was surprised to find that the road under her feet gave off a faint light. "Oh, how nice!" She laughed, "How did that happen?"

"All the roads here have sensors built in. Not only does the road surface have enough capacity to carry loads, but it also converts that pressure into electricity, so the roads can provide electricity to other areas." Aria explained.

"Oh, that's a nice design." William said. He thought of the path of glowing mushrooms on the last planet. "Hopefully, people on Earth will be able to see this technology soon." He thought.

Natalie and Aria were about to start racing. Everyone got into Aria's cab except William and Ranran. They two got into Natalie's cab.

"Are you ready? Here we go! When I honk the horn, you guys run!" William said. The car and locomotive were ready to go. William kept his left foot on the clutch pedal and his right foot on the gas.

The horn was honked. William quickly retracted his left foot and pressed the gas to its full range. The car shot out like an arrow. The locomotive, not to be outdone, followed Natalie with the maximum torque released by the motor in an instant.

Soon they came to the bend. William controlled Natalie with precision and care. Aria's multiple wheels steering technology worked. She could get through the corners without much slowing down. "This Aria is something that cannot be ignored." Natalie said, "It seems that Collins Locomotive Works has really advanced technology."

Straight ahead again. Natalie galloped forward with the support of the blue-green algae diesel hybrid system. With a lot more mass, Aria wasn't able to pick up speed as quickly as Natalie, but her results were just as astounding.

The wind whistled past them, even with a strange sound. William listened carefully and found that it was the same voice he had heard when he first came to this planet. But this time, somehow, he recognized You-Know-Who's voice, and he had a general idea of what he was saying.

My plan couldn't be more perfect, but someone is always trying to ruin it. I can't stand it any longer! I must catch that damned guy!

William's hair stood on end. What plan? Though he had heard the word several times, he still did not know what the plan was. And who was the "damned guy"? Was it William? Absolutely impossible. What was wrong with him?

Also, on the first planet they managed to rescue animals trapped in Capsule Laboratory; on the second planet they helped Rebecca realize her dream and welcomed her to join them. How could this be damned? "I really don't understand your logic!" Said William angrily, "Wasn't what I did right?"

Strangely, the voice died away, as if because he was so ashamed.

William had to ignore the problem and continue driving Natalie. He managed to keep her at around 300 km/h to see if Aria really could cruise at that speed. Aria was still not very tired when they reached the exit. "It's amazing," Ranran said.

"Yeah, I thought she would only be able to maintain that speed for a while, but I didn't expect her to be able to keep going that fast." William gave a thumbs-up.

They left the road by the exit onto another small path. Fortunately, it was smoother and wider this time than the road on which they had come. "You've changed my mind, Aria!" William got out and said, "You do seem to be an advanced locomotive. I should expect a high-speed locomotive like you to carry passengers frequently."

"I think so, ha ha." Aria laughed.

The computer map failed to load data on the area, showing only checkpoints. So they had to rely on the compass again.

Following its directions, they followed the winding path through a forest, across a stream, and over a hill. At the top of the hill they stopped to look at the scene around them. There was nothing else except the open plain and a few winding rivers. The smell of terror still spread like the tide. In the almost frozen air, William felt an invisible hand trying to grasp his throat.

Aria could tell something was wrong with him. "What's the matter with you, Master? What did You-Know-Who do to you?"

"Oh, nothing." He replied, looking at the compass. On the lid were the words:

The next destination is almost there.

They descended the hill to the plain. William spotted a cave at once. At the hole stood a man, but it was too far away for them to make out his face.

The compass told them that was the destination. Out of fear of danger, they wanted to go invisible, but the compass showed that there was no danger. So they strode up to him.