“Why don’t you believe in the Queen?” Gru asked in confusion while bandaging their wounds.  “The Queen saved me. I was only thirteen back then.”

“Brother Gru was only thirteen then?” A few boys looked at the handsome heroic Gru in admiration.

Gru rubbed their heads sympathetically. “You must believe in the Queen. Everything will become better.”

The few children stole a glance at me, sitting obediently.

Gru turned to the miners from Zone 2 and continued, “The Queen went alone. How could she have hurt you?”

They glanced at one another and said, “We are only miners in charge of collecting blue crystal energy here. We have no way to know what happens in Queen Town. Suddenly, the Ghost Eclipser steward suddenly left in his spaceship and fled. Then, we realized that the new Queen killed the old Queen. She is going to kill the rest of the people next!”

“Yeah. A new Queen who can kill Margaery, Wouldn’t she be scarier than Margaery?!” They looked terrified.

Rumors are scary. Since when did I say that I want to kill everyone?!

“Our Queen is not scary!” Lisi said angrily. “You should be able to tell that she isn’t scary. She’s so beautiful. How could she be scary?”

The men stole a glance at me and sulked, muttering softly, “Margaery… was beautiful too…” 

I smiled and said, “It’s okay. Don’t be scared. Go ahead and continue what you were saying. I want to hear more.” My relaxed expression made them feel relieved too.

“We have been eating food sent from other zones…” They continued. “After the Ghost Eclipser ran away, there was no one who sent food over. It was only a matter of time before we died of starvation. Plus, so what if she is the new Queen. She would still want blue crystal energy and we would still be miners. We didn’t want to live in agony for the rest of our lives, especially the children…” They choked with sobs, looking guilty. “We are useless… We couldn’t fight back and these children have to suffer with us and live a tough life. So, we…” they paused, hanging their heads in silence.

They held their dirty hands. Although their wounds had been healed, they still wore a helpless expression. They looked mortified, self-abased and ashamed, sighing as they told their story. 

“Don’t worry. Our Queen wouldn’t tell you to mine.” Gru smiled at them.

They lifted their heads in shock and stared at Gru in disbelief. “Where does your blue crystal energy come from then? Don’t you need miners?!”

Gru smiled, answering, “Our Queen collects blue crystal energy on her own. You saw that she isn’t afraid of radiation!”

Their faces turned pale at Gru’s reply. They became tense, terrified by my superpower.

The children stared at me in fear, blurting, “She absorbed all the blue crystal energy and we were so terrified. How can anyone still be alive in there?!”

“

Shh!

” The adults covered their mouths, not daring to look at me.

“Your Highness absorbed the blue crystal energy to save you, to stop you from killing yourselves!” Gru admonished solemnly. “If she was a Ghost Eclipser, do you think you can still sit here and talk to her like this?”

The men turned anxious, watching me cautiously. They were like cats on a hot tin roof, wanting to stand up but were too embarrassed to.

I smiled at the children who didn’t dare to look at me directly and instead stole glances at me. “That’s my superpower. Just like Uncle Karloff who can turn into a rock monster, I am just a metahuman.”

“Oh! Sounds like an amazing superpower!” The children cheered excitedly. There was no more fear in their eyes, instead they were filled with admiration. “Is she really the North Star?!”

“What does the North Star mean?”

“We only heard that there was a person named North Star who killed the Ghost Eclipsers in Steel Ghost Town!”

“

Mm!

 I heard from the Ghost Eclipsers in our zone…” No longer afraid, the children started chattering non-stop. They happened to ask the questions that the adults didn’t dare to voice.

The children’s eyes were shimmering, becoming energetic and no longer afraid of me after their wounds had been treated. “Those few Ghost Eclipsers looked terrified when they talked about the North Star. They said that they would definitely be dead if North Star came by. But then they said that it was fortunate that the North Star died. It turns out that you are not dead!”

I smiled and nodded. “So, the Ghost Eclipsers will definitely be dead!”

“Wow! That’s awesome!” The boys slammed the table excitedly, jumping up.

“Why is your name ‘North Star’?” They asked curiously.

Gru pointed upwards, explaining, “There is a very bright star at night. It’s called the North Star, representing hope. I’ll show it to you at night.” Gru had learned many things from Raffles. He enjoyed learning.

“Really?! Brother Gru, you are so amazing! You know so much!” The boys gazed at Gru in admiration.

Gru smiled bashfully, revealing a smile like Raffles’.

Lisi and Carter smiled, looking at him. Lisi teased, “How do you feel being admired?”

Gru blushed and immediately changed the topic, “Yeah, what are your names? We haven’t introduced ourselves. I am Gru. This is Carter and Lisi. What about you?”

Everyone was relieved again. The boys introduced themselves first, “I am Ah Wang!”

“I am Ah Chen!”

“I am Ah Soo!”

“I am Ah Koon.”

“I am Ah Tu!”

The adults reported their names like the children.

“Come on. Let’s have some food,” Raffles and Lisi said, walking in with food in their hands.

Xing Chuan rolled in slowly with a big plate of buns on his knees.

“Food! Food!” Everyone stood up in excitement, eyeing the food.

I couldn’t help but say, “He didn’t believe me when I told the rock man that I was here to send food.” I chuckled, asking, “Do you trust me now?”

“Mmhmm!” They immediately grabbed the buns from the plate and chomped down. The children were stuffing the buns into their mouths.

“Delicious! So delicious!” They said with tears welling up in their eyes.

They spoke, eating while crying, “We have never… eaten anything so delicious before…” 

“There’s never anyone… who has been so nice to us…”

“We are morons… He is right. We are morons, morons…”

Xing Chuan watched in silence. Flurry stood expressionlessly behind him, leaning against the door. He glanced at the people, then turned to leave.