HIK CH 1-30 (Patreon)

HIK CH1-8

Chapter 1: What, I'm in Glamoth?

Loneliness, darkness.

This is the only scene in front of Ilu. She seems to be locked in a container similar to a culture chamber, surrounded by a slippery unknown liquid.

"This..."

Pinching her cheeks and realizing that this might not be a dream, the girl couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

She only remembered picking up her phone at around two o'clock in the morning and playing a simulated universe. After that, she couldn't remember clearly.

Could it be that I have transmigrated?

No, no, no, that's a bit too far-fetched...

"It must be because I stayed up too late last night that I had such a dream."

She comforted herself in her heart: "In this case, I usually just continue to sleep."

Just as Ilu was about to close her eyes and continue to sleep, the darkness around her suddenly faded, and a real-life CG picture, similar to a movie trailer, appeared in front of her eyes, accompanied by a strange female narration that sounded in her ears:

"Glamoth, the Sky Empire, our home."

As her voice fell, a silver-white planet came into view. People shuttled through the steel-cast city, talking and laughing, while countless steel fleets were displayed in the orbit of this planet. It was a huge empire in its heyday.

"Glamoth?"

The girl blinked in confusion.

This name seemed a little familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before, but she couldn't remember it for a while.

"Bringing the fruits of civilization to all the wild borders is the wish of Her Majesty the Queen."

"However, the dark Swarm Disaster that came from nowhere destroyed everything—"

The narration continued, and the scene in front of Ilu changed.

From the other side of the sky, the swarm of insects came in an endless stream. Although the army of the Iron Empire fought bravely, they fell one after another. Since then, all the colonies of the empire have been lost, and the proud iron fleet has fallen as well. Under the siege of the swarm of insects with compound eyes and elytra, the cries of the people of Glamoth were drowned in despair, and the sky shattered from then on.

"Is this... the Swarm Disaster of the universe?"

Seeing the scene in front of her, Ilu's eyes widened.

What the hell?

It was not until this moment that she realized where she had traveled to.

No, let me go back, I don't want to fight insects!

The girl couldn't help but cry out in her heart.

At the same time, the narration in her mind continued—

"Hehe, does it look familiar?"

"At this moment, such a scene is happening throughout the Glamoth galaxy."

"And you may be the next one."

"Unless you make the most important decision in your life and prove to yourself that you have the strength and courage to face the Sting—"

"Warriors born for the Queen, pick up the elytra shapeshifter and become a member of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry. Under the command of the supreme Majesty Titania, all the swarms that invade the empire will be wiped out."

As the narration concluded, the picture that Ilu saw changed again. Just when the Glamoth Empire was in a life-and-death situation, countless silver-white knights wearing mechanical armor fell from the sky and wiped out the Sting that covered the sky.

The images complemented each other, and the tragic and cruel scenes, coupled with the ethereal narration, made her feel immersed in it and unable to extricate herself. Until the nutrient solution in the culture chamber was completely drained and the hatch slowly opened, Ilu came back to her senses.

Wait a minute...

Why do others either start the game in the Astral Express, wait in the Xianzhou or Herta Space Station behind, or at least in Beloberg, but I have become part of Glamoth during the Swarm Disaster period? Let alone which scenario is more dangerous, this TM timeline is wrong!

"Woo!"

The girl was about to get up and leave the incubator, but she was unfamiliar with this new body. As soon as she stepped out of the incubator, she lost her balance and fell to the ground. This fall made her see stars, and it took her a long time to get up.

Through the reflective ground, Ilu could clearly see her current appearance. The girl reflected in the surface had a pair of eyes as gorgeous as fireflies. The silver-gray long hair that fell down while she was bending her head swayed gently beside her face. The delicate face under the shadow was slightly pale. She looked very similar to Firefly, as if they were carved from the same mold.

But this is normal. After all, the pilots of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry are cloned from Queen Titania. If their appearance is not similar, that would be a problem.

The only flaw is her current height. If Firefly is 1.7 meters tall and can look down on other women, then she is only 1.5 meters tall. For some reason, her height has severely shrunk, as if the Empire cut corners when making her.

"Tsk."

Thinking of this, Ilu's face grew darker.

Damn, I am still a half-finished product?!

"New warrior, please come here—"

At this moment, a familiar voice sounded in her mind again. It was the narration that had told her the history of the Glamoth Empire before, and it was also the supreme existence suspected to be Queen Titania of Glamoth.

In order not to show any abnormality in front of the Queen, and to avoid being discarded as a defective product, Ilu pretended that nothing had happened and walked naked to the position indicated by the Queen. On the table was a two-meter-long azure sniper rifle and a blue elytra transformer that could just fit in her palm.

"This is the cavalry transformation sheath of the Snow Fyrefly-V Strategic Stealth Mech (S·S·M) newly developed by the Empire. Unlike the Strategic Assault Mech (S·A·M) of the Firefly model that focuses on firepower output, it can release pheromones similar to those of the Swarm, allowing you to hide from the Sting below the level of the Emanator and go deep into the back of The Swarm nest."

Ilu: "?"

Hey, why do you emphasize that I have to go deep into the back of The Swarm nest?

Aren't Glamoth's cavalry good at fighting Insects head-on?

"As for this sniper rifle named [Severance], the bullets it fires are enough to freeze a star system. This is a secret weapon specially built by the Empire for the Snow Fyrefly Armor. We hope you can use this bullet to freeze a newborn Swarm King, which is now dormant inside a star system..."

"Ah?"

Ilu stood there with a dull look on her face.

As for what Queen Glamoth said in front of her, "The Empire will not forget your contribution, and the Empire will always remember you," she could no longer hear it. There was only one thing in her mind—ah? I fight the Propagation Emanator, is it true?

No, sister, I was just born!

The outrageousness of this matter is no less than that of a level 1 hero receiving a task to defeat a level 100 demon king in the tutorial village. The main point is an abstraction. People who don't know her would think she is the Emanator of some Aeon...

The insect that can be called the Swarm King can basically be determined to be the Emanator of the Propagation Aeon Taizi Yulos. If she, an unknown person, goes up, isn't it a gift of a high-quality seedling bed for free?

"Killing the Propagation, this is our mission; you... don't you want to go?"

Seeing that Ilu had no intention of picking up the Iron Cavalry Transformation Sheath, the Queen's tone gradually became cold, and she turned into a ruthless repeater, constantly urging her to transform quickly.

"Okay, okay, I really admire you; can't I go?"

Irritated by the Queen's voice, Ilu was impatient and picked up the Iron Cavalry Transformation Sheath on the table, starting her first mecha combination neatly.

I will burn the sea...

Oh no, she seems to be an ice type.

Then—freeze the sea!

"Henshin~"

As Ilu's voice fell, the translucent elytra in her hand emerged with an ice-blue glow and quickly enveloped her whole body.

The originally fragile silver-haired girl transformed into a silver-white mecha knight in the next second, except for the visor and chest, which were azure blue, emitting icy cold air and causing the water molecules in the surrounding air to condense together and turn into white snowflakes that fell to the ground.

---

Chapter 2: The Universe is a Huge True Sting?

The Snow Fyrefly-V strategic stealth armor was born to be a sharp blade inserted into the rear of the insect swarm and to cooperate with the special sniper rifle [Severance] to assassinate the Swarm King hiding in the rear to command the Swarm.

Due to the special nature of the mission, the entire Glamoth Empire has only this one Snow Fyrefly armor. It cannot be mass-produced like the Fire-type Firefly armor, and the driver also needs to be cultivated in a special way to adapt to changes in the battlefield environment. This is also the reason why Ilu's size is smaller than that of other Glamoth Iron Cavalry drivers.

To combat the erosion of "Propagation," the Iron Cavalry drivers all have a genetic defect called "Loss Entropy," which will gradually make their existence disappear. Ilu's "Loss Entropy" is slightly special. There is a trait called "Nihility" in her gene editing, which can make the surrounding organic life subconsciously ignore Ilu's existence, and the memory of her will from others will gradually fade with the passage of time. For the Glamoth Empire, Ilu will soon become a person who has never existed and will be forgotten by everyone.

As long as no one remembers her anymore and the world no longer has any memory of her, she will completely disappear and return to Nihility, just like no one remembers the instrument bass.

However, this is not important because Ilu was originally a war weapon carefully prepared to kill the Swarm King.

If it were not for the fact that the other existing clone warriors could not control this Snow Fyrefly-V mecha, she would not even have been born.

Using "Nihility" to fight against the erosion of "Propagation" is the most daring thing the Glamoth Empire has ever done. If it is not done well, they will be playing with fire and burning themselves, but they still made such an attempt.

As long as the goal can be achieved, for the Glamoth Empire, all valuable sacrifices are worth it; otherwise, they would not have developed weapons such as the Glamoth Iron Cavalry that use the power of "Propagation." In order not to make too much noise and avoid alerting the swarm, Ilu did not carry a series of large-scale lethal weapons such as artillery but took stealth and assassination to the extreme, focusing on behind-the-enemy operations so that she could drive for a long time without feeling tired.

The Empire even equipped her new armor with a sheath-shaped melee weapon similar to a mantis blade, which could kill the enemy with one blow after approaching. The insects killed by it would be frozen by the extreme cold; not only would they not explode, but they would not even have time to release pheromones. This is undoubtedly the favorite weapon of assassins.

"Buzz——"

As Ilu completed her transformation, a strange buzzing sound suddenly came from the mechanical device in front of her, and the dark insecthole slowly opened a gap, seemingly connected to a starry sky. This scene instantly attracted the girl's attention.

Is this... an Fragmentum tunnel?

No, that is the trace left by the rift eroding reality.

The one in front of me is more like a portal leading somewhere.

"This insecthole connects to the star system where the Swarm King is located. If you are ready, you can start the jump." The Queen's voice sounded in her ears again: "After that, you will not be able to hear my voice..."

Can't hear?

That's great!

Seemingly unwilling to listen to her nonsense, Ilu picked up the sniper rifle on the table, jumped into the insecthole without hesitation, and disappeared.

"Bye, see you~"

The Queen: "..."

The Glamoth Council behind the scenes: "..."

Will there really be no problems if this child goes?

-----------------

"Woo——"

The time and space distortion caused by crossing the tunnel made the girl feel nauseous for a short time. Even though she was wearing the Snow Fyrefly-V strategic stealth mech, Ilu, as the driver, was still affected.

After all, this was her first jump, and it was inevitable that she would feel carsick. She felt like vomiting now, but because she had not eaten anything, she could only retch.

Fortunately, the Snow Fyrefly armor has a strong internal adjustment ability, which quickly helped her adapt to the new environment.

After coming to her senses, Ilu began to observe her surroundings. She seemed to have arrived in a strange galaxy with dim stars on the verge of extinction through a insecthole.

At this moment, the land under her feet belonged to a planet ravaged by the swarm. The originally prosperous and noisy steel city had collapsed into ruins after the insect swarms had descended and become a Propagation base.

"Buzz--"

Just then, a group of dark insects with compound eyes and elytra flew from the horizon. The high-frequency vibrating elytra made a harsh buzzing sound, which immediately aroused Ilu's vigilance. She immediately displayed her mantis blade and took a fighting posture, but these young Sting insects did not seem to notice this "kind" with a strange action, and even left without looking at her.

"Wow, they really can't see me!"

Seeing that these young Sting insects ignored her existence, the girl became excited.

Well, well, it is worthy of the Glamoth Empire's black technology. It seems that her safety is guaranteed.

Of course, Ilu did not forget the goal of her trip—assassinating the Propagation Emanator.

The Glamoth Empire knew the approximate location of the Swarm King, but they were not sure which star system the Swarm King was hiding in. So, her current task was to find the location of the Swarm King as soon as possible and then use this sniper rifle to deliver a fatal blow.

Whether this shot could kill the Swarm King or not, Ilu would choose to leave here and find an unmanned corner to live her retirement life.

As for why she didn't return to the Glamoth Galaxy...

The reason was simple: Glamoth was destined to be destroyed. It had become a cosmic garbage dump, with broken limbs of Insects and cavalry everywhere. Only a fool would go back to die.

"Only one bullet? It seems that I can't shoot at will..."

After carefully examining the sniper rifle named [Severance] in her hand, Ilu lowered her head and pondered for a while, and soon made a decision. The translucent elytra behind the mecha slowly unfolded, blooming with blue light wings, and took her to the sky like a meteor flying in reverse. The cold air released from the mecha left pieces of ice crystals in the air, condensing into snowflakes and falling with the wind.

"That is..."

After driving the mecha away from the devastated planet, Ilu's eyes swept around and suddenly noticed something strange in the distance.

In this star system that was about to fall into silence, there was still a dark red star emitting strong light and heat, and there were a lot of black spots near it, just like countless bark beetles were dormant on it.

For some reason, she always felt that the star was actually a Insect, or a very, very big Insect.

This reminded her of a terrifying sentence:

Maybe the universe is actually a huge True Sting Insect...

"Yi!"

This sudden idea scared Ilu herself, but she quickly denied it.

Although "Propagation" has the ability of meme contamination, it can turn all newborns on a planet into Insects, and it can also turn newly born planets into Insects, it should not turn the entire universe into Insects, which would be too abnormal.

Although she said so, Ilu still planned to go over to see the situation. Since a large group of insects could gather together, it meant that there must be something over there that attracted them.

---

---

Chapter 3: Leave Now, No Insect Will Be Hurt

As we all know, there are two major disasters in this world: one is the gluttonous beast group, and the other is the Propagation insect group. Their existence has brought indelible disasters to the universe.

Oh, wait a minute; a friend from Xianzhou just connected and said that we seem to have missed the people of abundance and the antimatter legion.

Hmm... Although from the current perspective, it is only a matter of time before these guys become the four pests of the universe.

But in that era, [Abundance] and [Destruction] had not yet been born, and the swarm of King Tayzzyronth was undoubtedly the most terrible nightmare in the hearts of billions of creatures.

—Into the Starry Sky Special Column, Ilu.

-----------------

"Goodbye, Mom, I'm going to sail tonight~"

"Don't worry about me; I have a mecha and a sniper gun~"

"Hehe~"

While humming a little song from her hometown, Ilu flew at full speed toward the dark red star in the distance. Without damaging the driver's body, this is the maximum power that the Snow Fyrefly Armor can currently provide. Although it is not as fast as the Firefly-IV Strategic Assault Mech, or SAM, in terms of burst speed, it can accelerate continuously without worrying about the core overheating and has an absolute advantage in terms of endurance.

Similarly, as a pilot of the Snow Fyrefly, Ilu must also have the corresponding qualities.

What is the most important thing when traveling alone in the universe?

Yes, it is patience.

At first, Ilu was a little uneasy when she thought that the enemy she was facing was a Propagation Emanator, but after flying alone in the dark and empty universe for thirty system hours, her mood became extremely calm, and even if a bomb dropped would not cause any splashes for her.

It's like downloading an exciting movie on the computer when you go out in the morning, and when you come back in the evening, you find that the progress bar has only moved a little bit.

If it were someone else who was impatient, their mentality would have exploded at this time, but Ilu didn't feel much about it. She just felt that she was closer to her destination. This adaptability was unfamiliar to her.

"Am I still me?"

At first, Ilu thought so.

But soon, she accepted the reality.

"Oh my god, this is me."

Because she didn't know the specific reason, Ilu could only speculate that her genetic characteristics were causing trouble. After all, the biotechnology of the Glamoth Empire was quite advanced. To make her adapt to the battlefield environment, it was easy to perform some genetic surgery on her.

Of course, this does not mean that she has no negative emotions in her heart.

She still has the emotions that normal humans should have; otherwise, wouldn't she become a monster in human skin?

"Ah..."

Passing by a desolate and dilapidated Earth-like planet again, the girl lowered her head and glanced down. Looking at the dense black spots on the surface of the planet, she couldn't help but sigh.

As expected, life in this galaxy has basically been slaughtered by the insect swarm. The Earth-like planets she encountered along the way were all insect nests without exception. There was no one to say hello. She originally wanted to see if there were any survivors, but in the end, she could only leave disappointed.

Although no one came to greet her, what Ilu didn't expect was that she soon met a group of insects who greeted her nearby.

"Buzz—"

Perhaps smelling the pheromones released by the Snow Fyrefly Armor, a reddish sub-Sting insect with more than a dozen young Sting insects stopped in front of Ilu and began to circle around her. The high-frequency vibrating elytra made a harsh buzzing sound and fanned out a large amount of wing powder, as if conveying some information.

As for why this group of insects with Propagation in their minds took the initiative to greet her, the reason is very simple—in their eyes, the silver mecha in front of them is also "the same kind." Everyone is the offspring of the Propagation, so they have to practice the fate of Propagation. Since they can't actively copy themselves, they must help her "Propagate".

"Leave now; no insect will be hurt; otherwise, you will all die!"

"Buzz—"

Hearing her warning, the swarm of insects did not move away but got closer.

"You Insects, you really only think about Propagation..."

After realizing what the Insects wanted to do, Ilu's face suddenly turned dark. She showed the mantis blade hidden in her arms without hesitation. The cold air spread over it, turning into a very lethal ultra-low temperature air blade on the outermost layer.

Since you don't appreciate it, don't blame me for being rude.

"?"

Seeing this scene, the swarm of insects suddenly fell into confusion and chaos. They didn't understand why the "kind" in front of them suddenly took an attacking posture, but Ilu would not give them any reaction time.

From the elytra behind her, blue light wings bloomed, and then she flew in front of the sub-Sting insect at a terrifying speed that was almost impossible to capture with the naked eye. The sharp ultra-low temperature air blade slashed its body and cut it in half without any resistance.

"Crack—"

Not only that, but the self-explosion that this sub-sting insect was preparing to trigger when it died was also forcibly interrupted by the frost spreading from the wound. Its time seemed to stay at this moment forever, and it became a broken specimen of frozen borer.

"!!!"

Seeing the leader of the sub-sting insect die on the spot, the remaining insects suddenly became agitated, and Ilu, the initiator of all this, was also shocked by the scene in front of her. She looked down at the azure ice blades embedded in her arms with a look of disbelief.

I'm so powerful! Am I so powerful?

Even Ilu herself didn't expect the power of these two mantis blades to be so terrifying.

Originally, she thought she would fight back and forth with this sub-sting insect, so she chose to sneak attack the opponent at the first opportunity, but she didn't expect it would be killed in one second with such an easy blade.

"Hmph, where to escape?"

"I said, all of you Insects must die!"

Although Ilu was excited and agitated at this time, she did not forget to kill the Insects and silence them.

With her blade, all the more than ten young Sting insects were sent to meet the second Sting insect just now and became space garbage floating in space.

After confirming that no other insects nearby saw this scene, she lifted the combat state, and the pair of ice-blue wings behind the silver armor also became dim, no longer as eye-catching as before.

After such a small episode, Ilu also understood a truth: sometimes, too perfect a disguise is not a good thing, it often leading to other disasters.

Fortunately, this was only a small-scale encounter, and she could still use violence to solve the problem. If she encountered thousands or tens of thousands of them, she would think in a worse direction. If there was a True Sting nearby, she couldn't just rush in, right?

"It seems that we should try to avoid the swarm of insects..."

----

Chapter 4: Hunting Mode, Start!

After this lesson, Ilu deliberately avoided the areas where the swarms gathered on her way.

Even if some insects noticed her presence, she would suddenly accelerate and leave them far behind, not giving the Swarm any chance to catch up.

Of course, sometimes Ilu would encounter situations she could not avoid, so she had to show her mantis blade to quickly deal with all the witnesses before continuing to move forward.

As she got closer to the dark red star, the number of swarms she encountered increased, and the frequency of these encounters grew. She even saw several planet-sized insects, which were undoubtedly complete True Sting insects

Among them were many subspecies that Ilu had never seen before, and she could feel the terrifying heat radiating from them even from a distance.

Of course, Ilu had no intention of confronting these powerful creatures head-on.

With her current strength, it would be difficult to kill the True Sting insects without using the sniper rifle on her back. If she tried her best, Ilu might be able to kill one, but she couldn't stop the self-explosion of the True Sting insect after its death. Once she attracted the attention of the insect swarm, she would not be able to sneak into the vicinity of the dark red star quietly as she was now.

"By the way, that guy..."

Squinting her eyes and looking at the dark red star in the distance, Ilu couldn't help but frown slightly and whisper, "Could it really be a big insect?"

From the density of the insect swarm, she could tell that she had penetrated deep into the heart of the swarm and was not too far from the Swarm King. Additionally, a large number of True Sting insects were appearing nearby, making the true identity of this dark red star a bit suspicious.

A star-sized insect emitting such terrifying heat—could it be that this is the Swarm King she is looking for? It seemed that those dense black spots were probably the True Sting insects guarding it...

"It seems that it's time for it to appear."

Realizing the seriousness of the matter, Ilu's expression immediately became serious. She took off the sniper rifle [Severance] tied to her back, removed the cover of the scope, and aimed the gun at the direction of the dark red star.

The horrifying scene seen through the scope once again confirmed her guess. Those black spots were True Sting insects the size of planets, and the dark red star surrounded by them resembled a huge Propagation nest. Countless Sting flew out of its large mouth, like a black wave attacking the distance.

As she guessed, this creature was the Propagation Emanator she was searching for.

"Unfortunately, the distance isn't enough." Glancing at the effective range displayed in the lower right corner of the screen, Ilu muttered to herself seriously, "We have to get closer."

Although the bullet fired by [Rang] can span billions of kilometers, the distance between her and the Swarm King was too far at this time. She was unsure whether this shot could hit its body. If it failed to kill it, what awaited her would be the endless revenge of the swarm.

As for whether it would hit but not kill... Although this possibility existed, as a sniper who sneaks behind the enemy, she could only trust her own bullets. If she didn't even trust the bullets in the barrel, there would be no need for her to appear here. Ilu took a deep breath and confirmed once more that the bullets were loaded and ready to fire at any time.

She began to fly at full speed toward the pre-set sneaking route, like a firefly flying into a fire, heading toward the dark red star shrouded in the haze of the swarm.

After another thirty system hours, as the distance between them continued to close, she finally saw the ideal sniper point.

But before that, the super giant Swarm King born in the form of a star, had noticed the existence of Ilu.

One must understand that all the Swarm in this galaxy were its offspring. As a Propagation Emanator, it could naturally distinguish this lurker disguised as a Sting.

Seeing that the iron cavalry which should have been fighting with the swarm in the Glamoth galaxy now appeared under its nose, the Swarm King's heart surged with a sudden irritability.

Dangerous factors made it feel restless. The sniper rifle in the hands of the silver-white iron cavalry constantly warned it. It could sense that it was a terrible weapon capable of annihilating an entire galaxy and could even cause fatal damage to it.

Although its main task was to breed more swarms, facing such a significant enemy, it had to prioritize annihilating this human who had intruded on its doorstep.

"Buzz—"

The Swarm King made an ultra-low frequency sound that human ears could not hear, ordering the barkinsects of the entire galaxy to exterminate the humans in front of them while taking this opportunity to breed more swarms to fill the gap.

"Chichi—"

After receiving the extermination order from the Swarm King, the True Sting insects dormant near Ilu instantly made a series of piercing buzzing sounds, flapping their elytra and beginning to gather in her direction. They moved as fast as lightning, like black meteors streaking through the night sky toward Ilu's position.

Oh no, it seems she has been discovered!

Seeing that the barkinsects of the entire galaxy began to gather in her direction, Ilu immediately realized that her coordinates had been exposed. The Propagation Emanator seemed to have recognized her identity and launched a comprehensive encirclement and suppression against her.

The girl frowned slightly after glancing at the swarm of young Sting insects that had already flown near her. This was a group of mutant young Sting insects. They were red and covered with flame patterns—undoubtedly new weapons created by the star Swarm King. It was easy to imagine how difficult it would be for the firefly armor, which excelled at burning through the sea of insects, to combat these flame-resistant creatures.

It was likely that the Glamoth Empire was aware of this, which is why it formulated such an assassination plan and sent her to kill the Swarm King.

In this situation, there was no time to waste; action had to be taken quickly.

"Turn off the mimicry and start Hunting Mode."

Thinking this, Ilu did not hesitate to cancel all her mimicry disguises, completely revealing the full posture of the Snow Fyrefly-V strategic stealth armor in front of them.

Infiltration and hunting were both compulsory subjects for assassins. As a member of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry, she had learned combat experience passed down from her predecessors since her birth and naturally knew how to kill the insect swarm with maximum efficiency.

"Swoosh."

From the elytra behind Ilu, blue wings of light bloomed, and then she rushed toward the attacking young Sting insects at a terrifying speed that was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye. She held the sniper rifle [Severance] in one hand while the palm of the other hand sprayed a large amount of ultra-low temperature gas, instantly freezing the rushing insects into ice.

However, because they were too close to the star Swarm King, the ice frozen on them quickly melted, and Ilu had to use the mantis blade on her arm to cut them into pieces. This time, the insects she sliced burst forth with strong light and heat, resembling heavy bombs exploding in the universe. Fortunately, she pulled away in time and was not affected by the explosion.

"Tsk, damn planner, why did you design this kind of dung monster? Is there no one in your house..."

As she thought about how she had almost been blown away by the insects, Ilu couldn't help but curse and complain about HSR Devs' inhumanity.

Lttle did she know that in the future, she would become the T0 phantom god in the entire game because of these extremely troublesome stings. Even after several versions, no character could replace her.

---

**Chapter 5: Herta Treasure Appraisal

"Shhh——" Although these mutant young Sting insects have the weakness of ice attributes, Ilu can easily kill them with one blade. However, for a while, she was still confused by their death explosions.

There is no way; if it were just a simple battle, she would not actually be inferior to these young Sting insects.

The problem is that it is not just these young Sting insects targeting her. At a glance, the insects in the entire galaxy regard her as a target for encirclement and suppression. Dozens of real Sting insects of various shapes dive at full speed toward Ilu. It won’t take long for them to fly right in front of her. During this period, she must shoot and aim at the Swarm King.

In other words, Ilu needs a good environment to aim her gun, but those secondary Sting insects shout, "Your Majesty the Insect King is on board," from time to time and rush at her, exploding crazily, so she can't free her hands to shoot.

"SM planner, look at these B Insects you designed; they are so annoying!"

Although the wing powder of the sub-Sting insect has an irritating component, Ilu can be sure that her anger at this moment comes from deep within her heart, not because of any external influence.

Ha... What? You said that this is still a trick? No! This is not a trick; how could the dignified Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knight fall for such a trick, right? (Threat.jpg)

Ilu knew very well that if she didn't kill this Swarm King immediately, when the group of real Sting insects surrounded her, she would probably go down to the prison to play the resurrection match. In this situation, there is only a glimmer of hope.

"I can't stand it; I'll explode with you!" 

Thinking this, Ilu resolutely gave up killing the nearby insect swarms. She carried the sniper rifle [Leaving] and flew at full speed toward the location of the Swarm King.

Even if she hit the self-destructing sub-Sting insect, she didn't care; she strengthened her belief.

Since I can't aim, I won't aim. I'll just put the muzzle of the gun in your mouth and see where you can run!

"For her Majesty!"

Although Ilu didn't say this, in the eyes of the swarm, the message she released was probably this. After all, her behavior was no different from that of the sub-Sting insects that just rushed up and exploded.

Even if their IQ was low, they could tell that the human in front of them wanted to die with their Swarm King, but they were powerless to stop it. They could only watch the silver-white knight in front of them spread her elytra wings and turn into a blue extreme cold meteor that crashed into the dark red sky. The light it emitted was like a firefly against the sun, but it was the latter that was terrified at this moment.

As a Propagation Emanator who had just been born, it had never seen such a scene before. It immediately ordered the nearby True Sting insects to come to protect the emperor, but Ilu's speed was obviously faster.

Before the real Sting insects that were supposed to protect the emperor could take their positions, she passed through many obstacles and came close to the Swarm King.

 "Sizzle--"

The terrifying high temperature burned the metal armor. Even with the protection of ultra-low temperature gas, Ilu in the mecha was not feeling well. At this moment, she seemed to be in a hot furnace and could faintly smell the burning flesh.

You must know that the enemy is not only a Swarm King but also the real red star. Being able to reach here is already the limit of what the Snow Fyrefly-V strategic infiltration armor can do. Even if it takes one more step forward, the mecha may melt due to overheating.

However, she does not need to take this step.

Because the distance is enough.

All the preparations are for this moment.

Raising the sniper rifle [Severance] in her hand, Ilu aimed the black muzzle at the dark red star in front of her, her expression indifferent.

"Stars, it's time to go out."

As her voice fell, a bullet made of ice crystals drew a blue track, passed through the burning surface of the star, and sank into the body of the Swarm King.

At this moment, the world suddenly became silent.

"Hmm?"

Ilu tilted her head and blinked, her big eyes full of confusion.

Strange; why no reaction?

Wait a minute...

Ilu could feel the surrounding heat decreasing rapidly, and the color of the dark red star in front of her became increasingly dim, as if something had erupted from the inside of the star and gradually spread outward.

Run!

Before her brain could react, her body had already reacted first. She turned around and flew in the direction she came from, ignoring the blockade of the True Sting Insects behind her, just trying to get away from the dead star faster.

Soon, as the flames on the surface of the star gradually extinguished, a deep blue cold wave erupted from the inside of the Swarm King and spread in all directions at an extremely terrifying speed, turning everything into glaciers wherever it went. It soon froze the star-sized Propagation Emanator into a huge ice ball.

Although Ilu chose to stay away from the star immediately, in order to ensure that the shot just now hit the target, she was too close to the latter and was caught up by the cold wave before she could run far.

"Crack--"

At the moment of contact with the cold wave, the elytra of the Snow Fyrefly armor were instantly frozen, and Ilu, who stayed inside, could not escape. The cold, close to absolute zero, penetrated the cockpit through the mecha and froze everything into ice.

In the dark, a special existence seemed to cast a gaze here, but Ilu had stopped thinking at this time and received the same treatment as the ultimate creature, Kars-sama, floating in outer space.

Time seemed to stop flowing at this moment. With the rapid spread of the cold wave, this galaxy originally occupied by the Swarm was soon covered by ice and submerged in the waves of Remembrance, but the outside world knew nothing about it.

The entire galaxy fell into silence.

No one knew what happened here, and no one remembered her existence. The war against Propagation continued, and the universe seemed to be no different from before.

Only 'that' sat in meditation in the center of the Pure Land, still recording all this tirelessly.

-----------------

Amber Era 2157, Herta Space Station, Containment Section.

"Well, it’s okay that the thing is old; it’s very open."

"It can be confirmed that this is an Iron Cavalry Knight from the Glamoth Empire. The model is a bit special. I haven’t seen it before, but it should not be a replica..."

A doll-like girl with long, smooth light brown hair and a gorgeous black and purple dress walked around an abandoned silver mecha, occasionally getting close to observe it carefully. Not far behind her, the Express Crew stood aside, patiently waiting for the expert on rare objects to give the identification results.

Ms. Herta, member #83 of the [Genuis Society], is the human with the highest IQ on the Azure Star and is also a well-known collector of rare objects.

It is precisely because of this title of "collector of rare objects" that the Express Crew chose to contact Herta as soon as they picked up this silver mecha and asked her to identify its identity.

As for why they picked it up from a pile of cosmic garbage floating in space... Himeko and Himeko didn't intend to do so originally, but when March 7th saw the silver mecha frozen in the ice, her eyes lit up, and she insisted on picking it up, saying that the people inside might still be alive.

Although no matter how you look at it, the people inside are dead.

After all, this is March 7th's request, and everyone naturally has to listen. In the end, Dan Heng took action to carry the abandoned mecha back to the train.

But the problem is that after picking it up, it can’t be left in the train. The train conductor, Pam, strongly protested against this. Finally, everyone discussed it and had to contact Herta to send the silver mecha to the space station.

You know, Ms. Herta is usually very busy. It is unimaginable for others to be able to spare time to identify strange objects for them. The Astral Express owes her a small favor.

"Hey~"

Noticing the gazes of everyone, March 7th playfully stuck out her tongue and made a face. "You can’t blame me for this. I was only thinking about saving people at that time and didn’t think about it that much!"

---

Chapter 6: This Must Be a Dream!

"In other words, this mecha is really an antique from the Swarm Disaster period?"

Hearing the appraisal result given by Herta, Himeko couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Yes, but it's useless; at least it has no collection value for me."

Herta waved her hand to signal the assistant beside her to pick up the black cloth and cover the silver mecha. Then she turned to look at the Express Crew and said expressionlessly, "If you have been to the Glamoth galaxy, you would see its wreckage everywhere... Of course, the one you picked up is relatively intact, but without the driver, it is useless even if it is intact."

"Is there a possibility that its driver is still alive?"

March 7th whispered quietly from the side. Although her voice was very low, Herta still heard her.

Herta thought, “...”

Haha, this pink-haired girl is quite humorous.

If the driver of this Iron Cavalry Knight rider is still alive now, I, Herta, will eat this space station on the spot!

Forget it; as a scientific researcher, you still can't be too sure...

After all, there is nothing impossible in this world. Even if someone told her that the Propagation Aeon Tayzzyronth would be resurrected tomorrow, she wouldn’t dare to guarantee that it wouldn’t happen.

"Shhh—"

Just then, Herta suddenly heard some strange, subtle sounds coming from behind her and was stunned for a moment.

What's that noise?

Then she noticed the extremely shocked expressions of the Express Crew, including the staff on the scene. They all looked behind her as if they had seen something incredible.

"Could it be..."

Realizing what might have happened, Herta immediately turned around and looked at the research table behind her. She met the eyes of the silver-haired girl, who had half her head sticking out from under the black cloth, and immediately widened her own eyes.

Good grief! In such a big mecha; where did this kid come from?!

"Hi, hello... achoo! It's so cold... achoo!"

Halfway through, Ilu couldn't help but sneeze. The coldness enveloping her had not yet faded, and her delicate body under the black cloth was shivering as she subconsciously huddled up.

Although the people standing in front of Ilu were the genius scientist Herta and the crew from the Astral Express, the girl's mind was a bit confused from just waking up from a coma. She felt that the doll girl in front of her looked familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere, but she couldn't remember where.

"I didn't expect it to come true. I guess I'd better not swear randomly in the future."

Realizing that the silver-haired girl in front of her was the driver of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knight from earlier, Herta’s face instantly became strange.

She just doesn't know if it has collection value, but it is definitely worth researching now...

But before that, she needed to check the girl's body and confirm her physical condition.

Thinking this, Herta waved her hand to signal the Express Crew to leave the laboratory and said seriously, "Sorry, please step aside first. I need to do some physical examinations on her next, which is inconvenient for others to witness."

"..."

Hearing this, Dan Heng turned around and left the room expressionlessly, as if he were used to this situation. Welt, who was lost in thought, followed him.

He adjusted the brown frames of his glasses with one hand, muttering something like, "Beautiful Girl and Mecha; it will definitely be very popular if made into an animation, just like Arahato," and followed Dan Heng out of the laboratory.

It was clear that this man had a deep obsession with Alahato.

"Okay, let's go to other compartments of the space station first."

After speaking, Himeko reached out and patted March 7th's shoulder. "Let's go, little March; we'll come back later."

"Yeah!"

The pink-haired girl nodded obediently and followed the other members of the Express Crew out of the laboratory.

As the person who had brought this abandoned Iron Cavalry Knight back to the train against all odds, March 7th was so happy to see that its driver was actually alive.

I didn’t expect that I, who was once rescued by the Astral Express, would be able to save others in the same way one day... It’s a pity that before I had time to take a photo, Ms. Herta drove everyone away with a dark expression; otherwise, I would have definitely taken a picture to record this memorable moment!

Just before the hatch closed, March 7th vaguely heard a burst of exclamations from the room.

"Wait, what are you doing..."

"Ah! No, not there!"

Wow~ Although I know it’s just a physical examination, it sounds so exciting!

"Click—!"

With the corners of her mouth slightly raised unconsciously, March 7th picked up the camera hanging on her waist, pointed it at the closed hatch, and pressed the shutter.

Such an interesting thing still needs to be recorded.

It would be a pity to forget it in the future.

---

"Do you remember your name?"

"Ilu."

"Where are you from?"

"Uh, Glamoth Galaxy."

After a two-hour physical examination, Ilu gradually regained her memory before she was frozen into an ice sculpture. She soon recognized that the beautiful doll girl in front of her, with long, smooth light brown hair and a gorgeous black and purple dress, was the member of the Genuis Society #83, the famous Ms. Herta.

She thought she would die with the Swarm King Insect during the mission to assassinate the Propagation Emanator, but she was not only not frozen to death but was finally picked up by the Astral Express after floating in the universe for thousands of years. All this is really too coincidental, as coincidental as a false dream.

Maybe, in the real world, she is actually still frozen in that piece of ice, and all this is just a fantasy of a girl before she dies...

Thinking of this, Ilu took a deep breath and stretched out her hand to rub her face.

No, she has to try to see if this is a dream.

"Very good; there is no problem with self-awareness... Uh, just ignore what I said."

Glancing at the silver-haired girl lying on the bed and pinching her face, Herta's mouth twitched. Then she looked at the virtual screen in front of her and continued to ask, "Next question, do you remember what you did before you fell into a coma?"

*Chapter 7: Herta: I Hate People Making up History*

"I was fighting a Swarm King at the time."

Hearing Herta's question, Ilu looked up at the snow-white ceiling above her, her expression revealing that she was immersed in memories as she slowly recounted her experience: "That was the largest Insect I have ever seen. It was as big as a star. In order to kill it, I paid a considerable price, almost freezing the entire galaxy..."

"Wait, stop!"

The more Herta listened, the more she felt something was off, and she hurriedly interrupted Ilu.

The Swarm King is the incarnation of the Propagation Aeon Tayzzyronth, at least an Emanator-level existence. Fighting a Propagation Emanator alone is no different from committing suicide.

She hates people lying to her. After all, her time is very precious, and she has no time to waste on distinguishing other people's lies—so, she also hates History Fictionologists.

Herta reached out and knocked on the table, saying unhappily, "I asked you to recall, not to make up a story. Remove the part you fabricated and make it real."

"Ah, but what I said is true..." Ilu replied innocently.

If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do.

"Words aren't enough~"

Herta stared into Ilu's eyes, which were as beautiful as fireflies, and spoke in an unyielding tone, as if she wanted to get to the bottom of it: "You have to show some evidence; otherwise, how can others believe what you say?"

If you insist that what you just said was real, then I can just pretend I didn’t hear it.

But since you chose to insist, then I will accompany you to the end today because you have met a great scientist who likes to get stuck in a rut.

"Of course there is evidence; the evidence is... wait, where is my sniper rifle?"

Halfway through her words, Ilu realized she seemed to be missing something very important. She quickly glanced around and saw only the Snow Fyrefly-V-type armored cavalry transformation sheath beside her pillow, but the weapon she used to kill the Swarm King was nowhere to be seen.

Did it get lost?

"Are you talking about that gun?"

Just when Ilu felt disappointed, Herta suddenly spoke up.

"Ah..."

Hearing this, Ilu looked up at the Herta puppet in front of her in a daze as the latter pointed in a certain direction with an expressionless face.

Following the direction of Herta's finger, Ilu saw a familiar azure firearm floating in the storage tank not far away. It was the sniper rifle [Severance] that Queen Titania had equipped her with before she left.

Great, it’s still there.

The moment she saw [Severance], she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Just when Ilu thought she had found evidence to prove that she had killed the Overlord, Herta's next words poured a bucket of cold water on her, instantly dispelling the joy in her heart:

"If the evidence you claim proves you killed the Overlord refers to this weapon, then unfortunately, this is just an ordinary kinetic sniper rifle—not even a rare item. We have not found any form of Path power on this weapon."

"How is that possible?!"

Hearing this, Ilu opened her eyes wide in disbelief.

You know, she went deep into the insect nest and killed an Emanator with this sniper rifle, and you’re telling me it’s just an ordinary kinetic sniper rifle... Are you kidding? How can an ordinary sniper rifle shoot a bullet tens of thousands of kilometers?!

"According to the description from the members of the Astral Express, it  frozen together with your Iron Cavalry Mech. Compared to the well-preserved mecha, this sniper rifle is completely broken and unusable. What you see now is its appearance after repair," Herta explained slowly.

"Is that so..."

Listening carefully to Herta's explanation, Ilu finally understood the reason.

Perhaps the key to the problem isn't the sniper rifle, but the seemingly inconspicuous bullet. She had gotten the primary and secondary relationships wrong.

In this case, the existing evidence can no longer prove that she has killed a Swarm King.

After all, there is only one bullet in the gun, and she used it to freeze the sea of stars. Unless she can reproduce the bullet, it is completely impossible—unless there is a Aeon to help.

Well...

Forget it; she killed the Swarm King anyway, so there’s no evidence, and she doesn't need to claim that honor.

The most important thing now is to enjoy her current retirement life. The Propagation Aeon and Glamoth are both dead. She doesn't have to risk her life to kill insects anymore. The future prospects are bright, so why bother about what happened in the past?

"It seems that your memory may be affected by the turbulence of time and space. This is a common symptom. It’s a good thing that you are able to return to consciousness so quickly."

Seeing the silver-haired girl fall into silence and appear to have no more powerful evidence, Herta realized that she had won the final victory in this argument. To avoid irritating the girl in front of her, she simply shifted the topic.

"Perhaps because of the gene surgery, your body structure is very different from that of normal humans. I suspect there is something we haven’t checked yet."

"So next, you need to stay in the space station for a while to observe and undergo more comprehensive examinations and treatments..."

"After that, you can also choose to travel with the Astral Express. They will leave this space station after a while and go to other star fields. If you want to go home and take a look, leaving with them is undoubtedly the best choice."

"Well, thank you, Miss Herta."

Traveling with the Astral Express group is just something Ilu is thinking about.

However, she didn't seem to see Stelle when she woke up.

Could it be that Kafka and Silver Wolf hadn’t come yet?

"Um, can I check the time?"

Thinking of this, Ilu raised her hand weakly.

"Oh?"

Herta glanced at her, then took out a purple mobile phone from under her skirt and tossed it to Ilu: "Here, use it. I’ll lend it to you."

"Ah, but this is your phone. Is it really okay to give it to me like this?"

Ilu said a little embarrassed.

"The clothes you are wearing are all mine, so what's wrong with using my phone?"

Hearing this, Herta raised her eyebrows and said in a slightly irritated tone, "Do you dislike that this is something I have used?"

"No."

Ilu shook her head quickly and accepted the gift from Herta. However, the moment she opened the phone, the March 7th avatar icon and the six big words [Honkai: Star Rail] appeared before her eyes, making her pupils tremble.

Wait, how come there’s this thing on Herta's phone?!

Or can only I see it?

Realizing the seriousness of the matter, Ilu quickly reached out and clicked it. The screen instantly went dark, and then a star train running on silver tracks appeared. This was the game startup interface.

[Countdown to server launch: 30 minutes]

----

*Chapter 8: Space Station Attack*

[The train is about to depart. Are you ready, Trailblazers? I hope this journey will eventually reach the stars!]

“Emm...”

Looking at the familiar Astral Express on the screen, the heart-wrenching music, and the eye-catching countdown to the server opening, Ilu couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

What is this...

Matryoshka?

Am I playing myself?

Or did I go back to the timeline before the server opening?

Since there is still some time before the game opens, Ilu clicked on the official community to see what the players were discussing—

[Open the door!]

[Very urgent, open the door quickly!]

[Huh ah ah ah ah ah!]

[Didn’t you say that the server would be opened in advance? Why can’t I get in?]

[Didn’t you watch the preview live broadcast? This public beta has added a lot of content, and some plots have also changed. I’m afraid there will be problems if the server is opened early.]

[It is said that a new permanent crew member has been added to the train group, but the card pool seems to have not changed. It is estimated that it is a four-star permanent crew member.]

“Huh?”

Looking at the comments from players one after another, Ilu’s face was full of confusion.

When did the train group add a new permanent crew member? She just met with March 7th and the others, and she didn’t see anyone else right?

Wait!

As if she had thought of some possibility, the expression on her face froze instantly, and the corners of her mouth twitched.

Could this so-called four-star permanent character be me...?

“Hey, why do you have that expression? Did you remember something?”

Just then, Herta, who had just been directing the staff to organize the equipment not far away, suddenly came over. It scared Ilu, who subconsciously wanted to turn off the screen of her mobile phone.

But before the screen went dark, Herta still caught a glimpse of the content on it and frowned.

“Ilu, what are you looking at?”

“No, nothing.”

“Be good, be obedient; let me see.”

After all, this phone was given to her by Herta. If the other party wanted to take it back, Ilu would naturally feel embarrassed to refuse.

By the same token, she was not worried that the secret would be exposed.

You know, when she turned on the phone, the icon of [Honkai: Stae Rail] appeared on the screen. If Herta could see this game, she should have seen it long ago.

“Tsk, why is there such a thing on my phone...”

After opening the phone and seeing the content on the screen, Herta’s brows became more furrowed and her mouth twitced.

Ilu who was standing beside her was also stunned after noticing her reaction. It was the first time she saw such a disgusted expression on Herta’s face. She couldn’t help but approach curiously.

What caught her eyes was an embarrassing love poem:

[Miss Herta, you are as light as a swallow, tap dancing on your lush skin.]

[You made my heart tremble.]

[You made the Stellaron clump together, blocking the road of the star rail.]

“So embarrassing! Who wrote this...”

After reading the whole poem, Ilu’s expression became strange. She wanted to laugh, but she didn’t dare to laugh out loud.

Of course, the most embarrassing thing was the person described in this love poem. Miss Herta, who was facing social death, was to be petrified at the moment, but Ilu did not dare to go forward to comfort her because the smile on her face was about to burst.

She feared that she would accidentally laugh out loud and become the last straw that overwhelmed the heartstrings of this great scientist.

If that happened, Herta would definitely use a strange object to forcefully erase her memory. No, no, she must hold it back!

“Read less of this kind of thing in the future; it will affect your IQ.”

After deleting this love poem that came from nowhere, Herta returned the phone to Ilu with a gloomy face, then turned around and left the room without any nostalgia, as if she didn’t want to stay even for a second.

After Herta left and she was the only one in the room, Ilu turned on her phone again.

“Huh, it should be okay this time.”

Seeing that [Honkai: Star Rail] was still alive on the screen and had not been deleted by Herta, Ilu couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief and feel a little excited.

She probably understood that the love poem just now should be the self-protection mechanism of this golden finger.

Only she could see the real [Honkai: Star Rail]. Others would see something that would embarrass them.

In this way, Herta would probably not look through her phone again in the future, which was also a good thing.

“Hey, it’s Herta’s account... Forget it; I’d better register a new one. I can’t always use Herta’s number to send messages to others.”

Just as she was about to open the communication software to send a text message to Himeko and the others, Ilu suddenly noticed that she was still using Herta’s account. After hesitating for a while, she decided to create an account of her own.

“Like this... like this... then like this... well, it’s almost done.”

After entering the basic information, she finally made a (＾－＾)V gesture to the camera as her avatar. Ilu quickly registered her personal account successfully and sent friend requests to everyone in the train group.

After doing all this, she opened [Honkai: Star Rail] again. At this time, there were less than three minutes before the game was launched.

The comment area was full of the words “open the door,” and Ilu was also looking forward to it. She wanted to verify what the difference between the game and reality was, and by the way, see who the new Express Crew member was.

Wait until I enter the game; let me see what you look like...

[Distance to server launch: 3, 2, 1]

As the countdown to the server launch ended, the Star Rail on the screen burst into dazzling light and then got stuck at that moment.

Huh?

What’s going on? It’s stuck?

Just as she was about to restart the game, a deafening explosion suddenly came from nowhere, and the whole room began to shake violently. Ilu, who was sitting on the bed, was shaken to the ground, and a piercing alarm sounded in the containment section, as if something incredible had invaded the space station.

What happened again?

Rubbing her red forehead with her hand, Ilu glanced around, her face a little confused.

But soon, she realized what had happened.

If she remembered correctly, the plot of the game started when the Herta Space Station was attacked, which meant...

After realizing this possibility, Ilu immediately jumped up from the ground, picked up the Iron Cavalry Transformation Sheath beside her pillow, and rushed into the empty corridor.

From a distance, she could see a big hole blown up somewhere in the space station, and a group of purple-black humanoid monsters was pouring out of it continuously, wreaking havoc in the space station. They were the basic combat units of the [Antimatter Legion], Voidrangers walking on the Path of [Destruction].

“Oh my god, the plot starts now?!”

---

Chapter 9: Chaos Goes Deep

At the same time, in the real world.

After being bombarded with fake news about the early opening of the server for several hours, at 10 a.m. countless players who were waiting for the opening of Honkai Star Rail clicked into the game and started their Trailblazing journey, while those players who did not download the game on their mobile phones could only watch the live broadcast of the anchors on major platforms.

"Dinglingling~"

In order to log in to the game on time and grab the top UID, Jiahun, a well-known CC from Lightning Station, set an alarm for 10 a.m.

She entered the game as soon as the alarm rang, and she didn't believe that she couldn't grab the top UID!

"The server is open, brothers; I'll be the first to rush in."

Hearing the ringtone, she smiled, moved the mouse, and clicked the screen, but the latter just switched to a lens that gave a close-up of the Astral Express.

Huh?

Why can't I go in?

She blinked in confusion and turned her head to look at the wildly jumping comments on the side.

[Click!]

[Hurry up! I'm so anxious!]

[Big fool, you have to click twice to enter the game. What the hell?]

"So that's it!"

Jiahun suddenly realized and quickly clicked the mouse again. The light of the Astral Express's jump instantly covered the entire screen. This time she finally entered the game.

As the opening CG played, she saw an endless and deep starry sky. She saw a silver-white space station. There was no doubt that this was where the story began.

At the same time, a pleasant violin melody sounded in her pink headphones.

"Wow! It's Kafka!"

Hearing this familiar and beautiful melody, Jiahun's eyes suddenly lit up, and she instantly felt immersed in the story. Then Kafka, who appeared in the animated CG, caught her attention.

【Kafka!】

【Mom!】

【Elegance, never out of date!】

The live-stream barrage also suddenly exploded at this moment, most of which were from crazy players, scaring the audience who had just entered the live broadcast room into thinking they were in the wrong place.

"Boom--!"

The opening CG continued. With a violent explosion, the Voidrangers of the Antimatter Legion attacked the space station by unknown means.

Everyone, including the train crew members, was caught up in the vortex of this conspiracy. The melody reached its climax at this time.

"Guide evacuation, move quickly!"

In the main control compartment, Asta quickly recovered from the aftermath of the explosion.

Seeing this group of uninvited guests who broke into the space station without saying hello, she immediately issued an evacuation order according to the emergency plan.

"Yes, Miss."

After receiving the order, Alan volunteered to rush to the front and led the defense department members to fight against the Voidrangers who invaded the main control compartment. From this moment on, the entire Herta Space Station fell into extreme chaos.

Chaos always brings opportunities for people with ulterior motives.

"It seems that I came at the wrong time."

Listening to the piercing alarm above her head and the closed cabin door at the end of the corridor, Kafka's eyebrows slightly raised.

"No, I think we came at the right time."

As soon as the voice fell, the voice of Silver Wolf, who was also a [Stellaron Hunter], rang in Kafka's ears. As she hacked into the defense system of the Herta Space Station, the originally closed cabin door opened, and a group of purple-black humanoid monsters entered Kafka's field of vision.

But soon, they turned into corpses lying around her, and a short girl with silver hair and a ponytail appeared beside Kafka.

"We are now in the base compartment. According to Elio's script, the room where the [Stellaron] is located should be nearby."

"Besides the Stellaron, what else did he say?"

"Elliot said that we should not stay here for too long, and it is best not to go to places outside the prescribed route for fun. I was planning to go out for a walk..."

Silver Wolf chewed gum while flipping through the fluorescent screen in front of her. She seemed to remember something and couldn't help but complain in a low voice: "Oh, yes, he also asked me to try not to hack into the monitoring system of the containment compartment. So there is something hidden in this space station. There are still many secrets. I don’t know what treasures Herta has put in it, and I’m not even allowed to take a look."

"Oh? There is such a thing?"

After hearing what Silver Wolf said, Kafka couldn’t help but be a little surprised, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of her mouth: "It seems that this mission is not as boring as I imagined."

"Why, are you going to go against the script?"

"No, [the future] is destined to happen, no matter what we do."

"Oh~ I understand what you mean~"

Hearing this, Silver Wolf, her old partner, showed a meaningful look, and the two smiled at each other.

"After putting the [target] in, go play if it's on the way."

"If Elio knew, he would be angry."

"No, I guess he wouldn't."

...

"What are they talking about? Why don't I understand?"

Watching the conversation between Kafka and Silver Wolf, Jiahun outside the screen was confused. She followed the task guide to defeat the monsters encountered along the way while looking at the barrage for answers.

[This part is not much different from the plot of the second test. They are going to steal the Stellaron collected by Herta and then give birth to the protagonist.]

"Ah?" Jiahun's eyes widened immediately. "Then who is the father and who is the mother?"

After hearing her words, the barrage in the live stream room was silent for a while, then exploded instantly—

[Not bad, a good question; it makes my brain spin.]

[The large-scale documentary Dad, Where Are We Going? is about to be released. Please pay attention to Jiahun's live broadcast. Thank you.]

[I'm laughing to death. Silly Jiahun's focus is different from everyone else's, and her thinking is unique.]

"Ahem!"

Realizing that she accidentally exposed the classic, Jiahun coughed twice and changed the subject: "Let this matter pass first. Let's continue to do the task; we have to build the protagonist quickly."

...

At the same time, in the Herta Space Station, the containment cabin. Because the power supply system of the space station was destroyed, the entire cabin was dark.

A silver-haired girl in a light purple dress was walking alone in the empty corridor. Her long silver-gray hair swayed gently beside her face as she lowered her head. Her delicate face, cast in shadow, was as exquisite as a doll. She looked around from time to time, as if searching for something.

If she remembered correctly, Kafka and Silver Wolf should have sneaked into the space station to steal the Stellaron...

Because too much time had passed, Ilu was almost forgetting the plot of the server opening. She only remembered how the Trailblazers were born, but she didn't remember where the Stellaron was placed.

After wandering around the space station for so long, she didn't see a single Voidranger, let alone a living person.

Looking down at her phone, the screen still showed the picture of the Astral Express jumping, without any change.

"Sure enough, I still can't log in. It seems that I can't expect to get information from it..."

---

Chapter 10: Fighting, Cool

"Alas, Himeko and the others didn’t reply to the message either. They must have been entangled by the Antimatter Legion..."

Putting her phone back in her pocket with a hint of disappointment, Ilu sighed, then took out her Iron Cavalry Transformation Sheath from the pocket tied around her waist. She paused, hesitating about something.

If the Snow Fyrefly-type Strategic Stealth Mech could be deployed, it might save more people from the Antimatter Legion.

But the problem is that if she intervenes now, it could affect the subsequent plot.

After all, her appearance is very similar to Firefly, who is also a Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knight, and she doesn’t exist in the original plot. No one knows what will happen if she goes out rashly at this time. If it affects the progress of the protagonist's birth, that would be bad.

"Boom!"

Just as Ilu was looking at the Iron Cavalry Transformation Sheath in her hand and hesitating about joining the battle, a loud noise suddenly came from the hatch at the end of the corridor. A purple-black centaur monster kicked the door down, attracting the girl’s attention.

Behind it, the Voidranger Trampler, the team leader, led more than a dozen Voidranger Predators into the corridor. Upon seeing the silver-haired girl standing alone not far away, the leading Voidranger Trampler immediately pointed at her and ordered the nearby Voidranger Predators to attack Ilu.

"Huh..."

Looking at the dozen or so Voidranger Plunderers charging at her, along with the Voidranger Trampers and Void Stompers following behind, Ilu took a deep breath. She pressed the Iron Cavalry Transformation Sheath against her slightly bulging chest and said with a hint of helplessness in her tone: "It seems that I have no choice. You’ve forced me to do it."

The monsters of the Antimatter Legion were already upon her. If she didn’t transform now, the subsequent plot might really have nothing to do with her, and she didn’t want to see that ending.

So—

"Henshin!"

As Ilu's voice fell, the translucent elytra in her hand glowed with an icy blue light and quickly enveloped her whole body.

In the next second, the originally fragile silver-haired girl transformed into a silver-white mecha knight, except for the visor and chest, which were blue, emitting cold air that caused the water molecules in the surrounding air to condense into white snowflakes falling to the ground.

From this moment on, the identities of hunter and prey were exchanged.

"Dismembered——"

Bending her knees slightly to take a charging posture, Ilu quickly glanced around. After locking onto the positions of all enemy units, she revealed the mantis knife hidden in her arms. The cold air spread over it, forming a highly lethal ultra-low temperature air blade on the outermost layer.

The next second, a blue light wing blossomed from the elytra behind the mecha, and then the girl zipped between the more than ten Voidrangers and Plunderers at a terrifying speed, almost impossible to capture with the naked eye. The ultra-low temperature air blade on the mantis knife cut through them without resistance, and the residual coldness on the blade rapidly spread, freezing the remains of the group of Voidrangers into ice in the blink of an eye.

As for the remaining Voidrangers, although they were stronger than this group of miscellaneous soldiers, they still could not escape the fate of being killed by Ilu's sword.

"——Break!"

As soon as the words fell, the bodies of the Voidrangers fell lifelessly, breaking into pieces.

Since the mecha had just been activated, Ilu felt that her movements were slightly awkward and her strength had diminished. However, these Voidrangers invading the space station were much weaker than she had anticipated, allowing her to easily annihilate them without effort.

"Hmm... No reply yet. Are they fighting the Doomsday Beast?"

After confirming that no Voidrangers remained alive nearby, Ilu took out her mobile phone and looked at the text message that still had no reply. Then, she glanced toward the open hatch at the end of the corridor and muttered to herself, "Anyway, it's changed. I might as well go over there to make my presence known."

When she attacked this group of miscellaneous soldiers, she seized the opportunity to release the pressure that had been building for a long time. She initially wanted to relax afterward, but perhaps influenced by the Snow Fyrefly Armor, she now had only one thing on her mind—fighting, cool!

It seemed she had to find someone to fight.

-----------------

At the same time, in Herta’s base cabin, while the train crew was busy dealing with the Antimatter Legion invading the main control compartment, Kafka and Silver Wolf took the opportunity to locate the Stellaron through many barriers.

"There is an independent protection system... It seems that for Herta, the [Stellaron] is not an ordinary collection."

"Did you extract it?"

"Of course. In the field of hacking, even the genius of Herta is no match for me."

"Okay, then I’ll leave the preparation of the carrier to you."

...

"Wow, I can finally create a character."

As Kafka took out the Stellaron, the option to create a character appeared on the screen, and Jiahun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Since she had never participated in the internal test, to avoid being clueless and relying on spoilers, she had read every line of dialogue in the plot carefully, even not missing the details of the map scenes, which put her progress in opening the map much behind other anchors.

Fortunately, everyone seemed quite accustomed to her pace of exploring maps, and she occasionally created some entertaining moments, gradually increasing the popularity of her live broadcast room, which made Jiahun very pleased.

She took a moment to check the barrage, which was primarily discussing the choice between Stelle and Caelus.

[Stelle-chan is so cool; of course, I have to choose Stelle!]

[But he is Kevin! Who can refuse the unsheathing of the skyfire?]

[Sorry, Caelus, I have Stelle desire.]

"If it were me, I would choose Stelle."

After interacting with the barrage in the live broadcast room for a while, Jiahun finally chose the female carrier, X, and entered "Jiahun" in the nickname column.

After she pressed the confirmation button, Kafka on the screen stuffed the Stellaron in her hand into the body of the gray-haired girl. With a flash of light, everyone in the live broadcast room witnessed the birth of Galaxy Baseball Man at that moment.

The next plot dialogue featured a reminiscence between Stelle and Kafka. Even those in the live broadcast room who had participated in the second test were confused by this dialogue, which seemed like a riddle, let alone Jiahun, who was playing this game for the first time.

"Huh?"

"What are they talking about? I don’t understand..."

At this moment, her brain was overloaded, and she could only click on the dialogue box with a blank expression, just like the gray-haired girl in the game. Her attention was fully on Kafka's delicate face, leaving no time to consider other matters. She clicked on every option.

"Kafka is so pretty. I have to ask her a few more questions."

...

"How long will it take?"

After being treated as a light bulb by Kafka and Stelle for several minutes, Silver Wolf couldn't help but frown. She looked down at the time and interrupted the two, saying, "According to the script, the people from the Astral Express will be here soon. We shouldn’t linger with them."

After that, she added with some annoyance, "Don't forget, we agreed to check out the containment section."

"Yeah, I know... right away. Wait for me."

Because of her short stature, Silver Wolf looked like an angry hamster at that moment.

Seeing her like this, Kafka realized that she had wasted too much time there. After bidding farewell to Stelle for the last time, she followed Silver Wolf.

"It’s done; let’s go."

After leaving the secret room where the Stellaron was hidden, the two took the elevator down to the containment section. As the elevator approached its destination, Kafka suddenly spoke up and warned:

"Silver Wolf, this is where Herta stores rare items. Even if you see something that interests you, don’t touch it."

"Don’t worry. Elio said nothing will happen to us this time—at least not anything life-threatening."

"The [future] is predetermined, but the process is not. You wouldn’t want Sam to come with a blade to rescue you from here, would you?"

"Well, the situation shouldn’t be that dire..."

"Ka—"

Before Silver Wolf finished speaking, a biting cold wind rushed into the elevator room through the gap in the elevator door. The two looked at each other and immediately realized that something was wrong.

There might be an ambush outside!

---

HIK CH11-20

Chapter 11: Uninvited Guests

"Kafka, do you feel it too?"

Sensing the threat in the air, Silver Wolf spoke in a serious tone.

"Yeah, it's a very dangerous guy."

Kafka nodded gently, her voice still soft and refreshing, but not as brisk as before. "In your words, we seem to have encountered a hidden boss, which is surprising in a sense."

"What kind of surprise is this..."

Hearing this, Silver Wolf couldn't help but complain in a low voice, "Now I know why Elio didn't let me go to the containment section. I hope that guy isn't waiting for us downstairs."

The presence she sensed was quite dangerous, even more so than those people on the Astral Express, which gave her a bad premonition.

If the guy outside the elevator was waiting for them, then their next consideration shouldn't be how to sneak into Herta's collection hall without notice, but rather how to evacuate safely.

"Kacha—"

As the elevator door slowly opened, the cold air blowing on the two of them became increasingly icy and biting. Silver Wolf looked forward toward the source of the cold air and saw a familiar yet strange silver figure standing in the corridor not far away.

This is?!

Upon seeing the other party's true face, Silver Wolf's pupils trembled, and she immediately turned to Kafka beside her. This purple-haired beauty who usually remained calm in the face of danger also displayed an expression of disbelief.

"Sam?"

It was a silver-white mecha knight; his face armor and chest were azure, emitting cold air that caused the surrounding moisture to condense into white snowflakes that fell to the ground. Surrounding him were the broken limbs of the weak soldiers, their corpses coated in frost, indicating that it was the mecha knight in front of them who had killed them.

"No, this guy is also a Glamoth Cavalry Knight, but it's not Sam!"

Recognizing the difference between the mecha in front of her and Sam, Silver Wolf's heart raced, and she did not dare to be careless at all.

She knew how terrifying Sam's combat power was. If the Glamoth Cavalry Knight in front of her was their enemy, their chances of winning in frontal combat were slim.

It is no exaggeration to say that if the two sides really fought, the scene that Kafka had mentioned jokingly just now was likely to come true.

After all, neither of them excelled in frontal combat. When facing the Glamoth Cavalry Knight which was known for its destructive power, they would likely find themselves at a disadvantage.

Of course, what Silver Wolf did not know was that the Snow Fyrefly-V Mech in front of them was of the same type as theirs, proficient in sneaking behind enemy lines than frontal combat.

"It seems that Elio is right. We should evacuate quickly after completing the mission..."

"It should still be possible to turn around and leave now."

"No, it's too late. It already noticed us."

Looking at the Iron Cavalry Knight staring at them, the faint smile on Kafka's face vanished, replaced by an unprecedented seriousness and vigilance. "Let's go; we need to talk to him."

Whether he was an enemy or a friend was unclear at the moment. It depended on whether the next negotiation went smoothly.

Before that, she would make all possible preparations to avoid the worst-case scenario.

"Hmm?"

On the other side, Ilu, who was dealing with the Anti-Matter Legion invading the space station, also noticed Silver Wolf and Kafka emerging from the elevator.

Seeing them, she couldn't help but be stunned.

These are the Stellaron Hunters... Aren't they delivering the protagonist baby? Why are they here?

Could it be that they are coming for me?

Thinking this, Ilu's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

It's okay if there's only one Stellaron Hunter, but she really can't take on two of them.

Wait... No, they're not coming for me. They don't seem to know me.

Seeing Kafka and Silver Wolf's vigilant eyes, Ilu quickly dismissed this thought. It didn’t look like they recognized her.

Maybe they associate her with Sam. After all, both Firefly and she are piloting the Iron Cavalry Knight made by the Glamoth Empire. It’s normal for them to feel some sense of déjà vu.

In that case, let's say hello to them first.

"Pah!"

Waving away the corpse of the Voidranger hanging on the ultra-low-temperature air blade, Ilu retracted the mantis blade on her arm and turned to look at the two Stellaron Hunters approaching her. They stopped seven meters away from Ilu, maintaining a distance from the strange mecha knight in front of them.

"Uh..."

Just as Ilu was about to greet Kafka to show her familiarity, she suddenly realized something and immediately swallowed the words that were about to escape her lips.

You know, she had never seen the Stellaron Hunters before. If she suddenly called out their names or said they were the Stellaron Hunters, wouldn't it be confusing?

No, she has to think of a way to contact them without suspicion.

…

"He doesn't seem to know us..."

On the other side, because Ilu, the driver, was concealed within the Snow Fyrefly armor, Kafka couldn't see her expression clearly and could only roughly guess Ilu's thoughts based on her previous actions.

If she wasn't mistaken, this Glamoth Cavalry Knight was a little shocked by their arrival, which suggested that he didn't know them—perhaps this Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knight was merely the guard of this space station, responsible for eliminating the Voidrangers invading here.

But this was just her guess. Kafka wasn't sure of the other party's true intentions. The threat posed by this figure in front of her was too great, so she didn't dare to let her guard down.

After all, the sight of this Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knight remained fixed on them, and it appears he didn't want to let them go.

"..."

Thus, the two sides confronted each other in silence, the air around them so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

Both sides were visibly tense, even the rhythm of their breathing slowed, as they feared that an inadvertent small action might irritate the other and provoke a conflict. No one dared to act rashly.

Time passed minute by minute, and the atmosphere grew increasingly tense. Seeing that things were developing in an unfavorable direction, Ilu finally couldn't stand it any longer. She broke the silence first, extending a friendly olive branch to the two Stellaron Hunters in front of her.

"You two, are you also here to help eliminate these Voidrangers?"

"Uh..."

Clearly not expecting Ilu to say such a thing, Silver Wolf was momentarily stunned, then turned to Kafka beside her. The two exchanged glances quickly across the air.

"Is that what he meant, Kafka?"

"The other party wants us to stay with him; this may be a test for us."

"Should we agree? But we can't stay here for too long..."

"It doesn't matter; just agree for now, and then find a reason to leave later."

"Understood."

Soon, the two reached an agreement.

Even if the other party had other plans, they had to play along and continue the show.

"Yes, we are both Nameless Guests of the Astral Express, and we are here to help deal with the Anti-Matter Legion that invaded the space station."

Kafka showed her usual leisurely and confident smile, then reached out her hand to nudge Silver Wolf beside her, indicating that she should present the "evidence."

As an old partner for many years, Silver Wolf immediately understood what she meant and quickly forged two train passes with gold edges on the spot, handing them to Ilu.

"My name is Sam, her name is Blade; these are our train passes."

---

Chapter 12: Is This a Hidden Plot?

"Sam, Blade..."

As Ilu looked down at the photos and names on the train tickets, which were completely unrelated, her expression suddenly became strange, and she appeared very nervous. Fortunately, her mask concealed her emotions, so Kafka and Silver Wolf outside could not see her face.

Well... anyway, it's a good thing they didn’t fight.

If she had conflicted with them just now, she doesn't know how it would have ended. Maybe the Doomsday Beast didn’t demolish the space station, but they did. In that case, Nanook would probably be overjoyed.

"Okay, I believe you are the crew of the Astral Express."

Although she knew that the two train tickets were forged by Silver Wolf, Ilu did not expose their plan. After pretending to flip through them for a moment, she returned the tickets to Silver Wolf. "I will go to the main control section to help deal with the enemy's invasion next. You don't have to follow me. You can decide your own itinerary."

...

At the same time, in the real world, after the Trailblazer woke up and had a lengthy conversation with the members of the train crew, Jiahun was finally able to control the protagonist and move freely in the space station.

Before she had walked far, a soldier of the Anti-Matter Legion, Baryon, appeared in front of her.

Let me try the blade first... oh no, the stick!

Eager to experiment, she controlled the Trailblazer to rush forward and hit Baryon with a stick, entering battle while exploiting his weakness.

"Wow, the protagonist's baseball bat feels great!"

Seeing the gray-haired girl effortlessly knock down the monsters blocking her path with the stick, Jiahun couldn't help but praise her.

Initially, she intended to follow the main storyline and head to the elevator for the main control cabin, but several nearby monsters had not yet been cleared. With these monsters flying around in the corridor, she felt an overwhelming urge to flatten them.

Jiahun was the type of person who acted on her impulses, so she ignored the main storyline guidance and charged toward the monsters.

While battling, she occasionally glanced at the livestream, which was filled with comments urging her not to deviate from the route and to join March 7th, Dan Heng, and the others in fighting monsters.

[Jianhun is too slow; others have already defeated the Doomsday Beast, and she is still messing around here.]

[Don’t get lost; you don’t have to fight these monsters—just head straight to the elevator.]

[If you keep delaying like this, everyone will leave.]

Perhaps due to the slow progression of the plot, the popularity of her livestream began to decline gradually.

Seeing the barrage of comments urging her on, Jiahun realized she needed to get to the point, or the audience might lose interest.

"Wait a moment; I’ll kill this last monster and then focus on the main story..."

Just as Jiahun controlled the protagonist to walk around the corner of the corridor and defeated the last monster, she suddenly noticed a large area of broken limbs belonging to Voidrangers on the ground nearby, frost clinging to their surfaces as if they had perished from some ultra-low temperature weapon.

"This is..."

As she observed the scene before her, Jiahun blinked in confusion. She controlled the protagonist to approach and noticed a white light flashing on the wreckage of one of the Voidrangers, indicating an interaction opportunity.

"Hey, it seems we can interact."

Curious, Jiahun clicked the mouse, and a prompt popped up on the screen:

[You picked up the fragments of memory.]

Before Jiahun could react, the screen abruptly went black and then switched to an unfamiliar perspective.

What appeared before her was a running elevator, with Kafka and Silver Wolf inside. They were heading to some location in the containment section.

"Silver Wolf, this is where Herta stores rare items. Even if you see something that interests you, don’t touch it."

"Don't worry; Elio said that nothing will happen to us this time. At least our lives won’t be in danger."

"The future is a given, but the process is not. You don’t want Sam to come with a blade to rescue you from here, do you?"

"Well, the situation shouldn't be that bad..."

As she watched the conversation between the two, Jiahun was not the only one confused; the audience in the livestream was equally dumbfounded.

[Huh?]

[What’s going on? Why don’t I have this plot?]

[Is this a hidden easter egg?]

"Maybe; let’s see what they’re doing first..."

Although she didn’t know how she had triggered the plot easter egg inexplicably, Jiahun was in no hurry to resume the main storyline. This rhythm suited her just fine.

Soon, as the elevator descended to the bottom floor, her screen displayed a CG animation of a confrontation between the Stellaron Hunter duo and a silver-white mecha knight. From the blue core on the latter's chest, the mantis blade on its arm, and the cold air emanating from its body, Jiahun recognized at once that this mecha knight was the mysterious entity that had just slain the group of Voidrangers.

"By the way, who is this?"

The girl asked curiously, "Do you know him?"

Unfortunately, no one in the livestream answered her question; everyone’s attention was captivated by the mecha knight commanding ice and snow.

There was no denying it—this guy was too handsome.

[Fuck! Such a handsome mecha—will it be implemented?]

[I declare that this is my wife.]

[? ? ?]

[But this is a man.]

[Who said that? What if there’s a cute girl inside the mecha?]

[It’s hilarious. None of the players who participated in the internal test triggered this plot. They all went off to fight the Doomsday Beast.]

[After all, this plot is not in the internal test. It seems to have been added for the public test.]

[It’s okay; this plot isn’t related to the main storyline. It won’t make any difference if you come back later.]

"Hmm..."

Taking her eyes off the bullet screen in the livestream, Jiahun refocused on the game.

At this moment, the confrontation between the two sides had ended. The cold and mysterious Silver Knight broke the silence first and addressed the two nervous individuals in front of him:

"You two, are you here to help eliminate these Voidrangers?"

As he finished speaking, several options appeared in the dialogue box in front of Jiahun:

1. We are Nameless Guests of the Astral Express.

2. We are members of the Defense Department.

3. We are Stellaron Hunters.

4. We are the Anti-Matter Legion.

"This... Which one should I choose?"

Looking at the four options before her, Jiahun couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

----

Chapter 13: We are the Anti-Matter Legion!

[Needless to say, definitely choose 4]

[Hehehe, I am The Destruction Emanator, choose 4]

[I don’t care if it’s reasonable or not; I just want to have fun, choose 4]

“Is that so? Then I’ll choose 4.”

Seeing that the comments in the livestream room unanimously voted for [4], Jia Hun couldn’t help but hold back her curiosity, placing the mouse on the fourth option and clicking it.

"Haha, since you asked sincerely..."

As the option was confirmed, Kafka in the camera smiled evilly and made a rather exaggerated pose. Silver Wolf beside her, like her long-time partner, immediately made the same move and said in a baby voice, "Then we will tell you mercifully."

"In order to bring destruction and devastation to the world!"

"In order to make the self-proclaimed powerful civilization fall apart!"

"We, the Antimatter Legion, will practice the will of 'destruction' today and turn this space station into the embers of Lord Nanook's path forward, including you—"

At this moment, the CG screen stopped abruptly, and the perspective of the game switched back to the Trailblazer standing alone in the corridor, holding an ice cream in her hand. The blue memory fragment, with a crisp sound, suddenly shattered, turning into flying snowflakes and dissipating into nothingness.

A prompt box popped up in front of Jia Hun—

[This memory fragment is infected by the will of destruction, reflecting a picture that is contrary to the facts, which violates the meaning of its existence. It self-destructed.]

"This..."

Looking at the scene in front of her, Jia Hun was stunned. It was not until she saw the explanation of the comments that she understood what had just happened: "Okay, it seems that we chose the wrong answer. Unfortunately, this is a one-time trigger plot, and there is no way to go back and choose another one."

[It scared me; I thought they were possessed by The Destruction]

[It doesn't matter; at least it's fun]

[Silly Jiahun, it's time to push the main line!]

[Asta has been waiting for you for a long time; come over quickly, dear]

"Okay, okay, I'll go right over."

After this unexpected hidden plot, Jia Hun naturally had no reason to stay in this unmanned cabin. Facing the urging of the people, she immediately controlled the Trailblazer to return to the vicinity of the elevator and re-entered the main plot.

...

At the same time, Ilu also brought Kafka and Silver Wolf to the main control cabin of the Herta Space Station and jointly cleared out the Anti-Matter Legion encountered on the way.

As for why these two Stellaron hunters followed her...

Well, in fact, Ilu wanted to let them go at first; otherwise, she wouldn't have said, "You don't have to follow me; you can decide your own itinerary freely." But Kafka, or maybe it was her interest in Ilu or some other reason, actually asked to follow her to the main control cabin, and Ilu had to agree to go with them for a while.

In this way, the three of them finally walked together and began to fight in this space station.

From time to time, some Voidrangers hiding in the corners would attack them. However, these unlucky guys didn’t know how terrifying the three people in front of them were. As soon as they jumped out of the corner, they were blasted into slag by Ilu's freezing ray, Silver Wolf's swift ether editing, and Kafka's hail of bullets, leaving them no room for a counterattack.

"Very strong, Blade; they are not your opponents at all."

"No, you flatter me; you killed them before my bullets arrived."

"Hey, what about me? Why don't you praise me? My 'Ether editing' also worked."

"Uh...sorry, I exposed my own weaknesses, so you don't need to do anything."

"???"

Looking at the angry Silver Wolf, Ilu's mouth curled up slightly, and she was in a very happy mood.

Oh, you really thought I was fooled by you. You always treated me as a fool all the way. Don't blame me for being ruthless.

She doesn't know if it was because of good luck or because she came too early, but Ilu didn't meet any members of the Express Crew along the way. Only those sgaff who didn't have time to take refuge cast terrified eyes at her. After all, the two "Nameless Guests" following behind her didn't look like good people.

This is exactly the case. You know, Kafka and Silver Wolf are the notorious Stellaron hunters. They have directly or indirectly caused the destruction of countless planets. They are veritable galactic villains...

What? You said that these staff are actually afraid of her?

This is impossible!

Does she look terrifying?

Well, okay, this possibility cannot be ruled out. After all, she is now in front of them as "SSM."

No one would have thought that there would be a pure and lovely silver-haired girl inside this Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knight. If they knew this, maybe they would not be afraid.

"Ah, please wait a moment..."

Just when Ilu was about to leave for Esta's location, Kafka suddenly stopped and picked up her phone to read a text message. She didn’t know what she saw, but her expression changed to one of surprise, and then she said to Ilu with a look of regret:

"I'm sorry, we have something urgent to attend to, so we can't go with you."

After more than ten minutes of walking together, they seemed to have passed the test and gained the trust of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knight. The Doomsday Beast was almost here at this time, and there was no need to continue acting with her.

What's more, the main battlefield of the battle between the Defense Department and the Anti-Matter Legion was ahead. If they went further, once the Defense Department staff recognized their identities as "Stellaron Hunters," it would not be so easy to leave. Now was the best time for everyone to go their separate ways.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes, there may be trouble over there on the Astral Express. We have to go over and take a look. The Anti-Matter Legion ahead can only be left to you." Kafka said with a smile.

"Okay, I wish you a safe journey."

Looking at the figures of Kafka and Silver Wolf leaving, Ilu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Huh, these two finally left...

Walking with them, Ilu felt a lot of pressure.

You have to know that every word Kafka said was carefully designed, and she would always try to get some information from her in an indirect way. If she hadn't been on guard against her all the time, she might have been tricked by Kafka.

"Buzz—"

Just then, her phone suddenly vibrated. Ilu took out her phone with a surprised look on her face and looked at the screen, finding that it was a message from March 7th.

"Hey, she replied to the message."

The other party had already accepted Ilu's friend request a few minutes ago, but she had been busy fighting the Anti-Matter Legion at the time and hadn't noticed the message.

Seeing several unread text messages in a row, Ilu immediately clicked on them, and what came into view were several lines of pink font:

"March 7th: Where are you?"

"March 7th: I just went to your room, but I didn't see you. Are you okay?"

"March 7th: This space station has been invaded by the Anti-Matter Legion. Don't run around; it's very dangerous."

"March 7th: Those purple-black humanoid monsters are called Voidrangers. They are the big bad guys belonging to the Anti-Matter Legion. They are very fierce. If you meet them, remember to avoid them!"

In addition, there is an attached photo in the text message.

In the photo, March Seven is standing at the door of a containment cabin. She deliberately made room and let the camera focus on the empty room behind her.

"Ilu: Don't worry; I'm supporting the battle in the main control cabin. Those Voidrangers are no match for me."

Seeing this, Ilu immediately sent a message back, took a selfie of her cool mecha, and included the frost-covered Voidranger's body behind her in the photo, then sent it to March 7th.

"Ilu: How is your situation? Do you need me to support you?"

"Ilu: If you need me, I can leave at any time."

----

Chapter 14: Suspected OOC Character!

Although she knew that the Express Crew was very powerful and the miscellaneous soldiers of the Anti-Matter Legion were no match for March 7th and her friends, Ilu decided to send two text messages to show her concern.

A drop of water should be repaid with a spring, especially considering she was saved by the Express Crew

She would never face her future life with the attitude of "playing games."

This is a real world for Ilu. No one can guarantee whether the future will unfold according to the predetermined plot, so she would not make a choice she might regret.

As long as March 7th was willing to ask for help, she would go immediately.

"Ding!"

Soon, Ilu received a reply from March 7th.

"March 7th: Great! We are all worried about you. Even Dan Heng is relieved to know that you are fine!"

"March 7th: No, no, we are going to the main control cabin. I will go find you now."

...

On the other side, Jiahun controlled the Trailblazer and returned to March 7th. On the way, they encountered Dan Heng, who had just come down from the monitoring room and learned about Alan's whereabouts.

However, on the way to meet Alan, March 7th suddenly stopped at the door of a containment cabin, staring at it in a daze. Jiahun, noticing this scene, blinked in confusion.

"What happened to March 7th?" With that question in mind, she controlled the mouse to let the Trailblazer turn around and walk back.

An interactive bar appeared on the screen.

[Talk to March 7th (optional)].

It seemed that even if she didn't click this dialog box, March 7th would catch up after a while, and it would not affect the progress of the main storyline.

But... she was Jiahun! As a dedicated RPG player who enjoyed immersing herself in the world of games, how could she let this plot slip through her fingers?

If she didn't click on this dialogue, she would probably lie awake all night, wondering why she missed an opportunity.

[Don't!]

[Go away, Jiahun, what are you doing???]

[I’ve already guessed it. With Jiahun's personality, she won’t let go of any plot that can be triggered.]

[Asta: I'm abandoned.]

"I clicked it, brothers."

Amid the wailing of the barrage, Jiahun manipulated the mouse without hesitation and entered the conversation.

This was not asking for consent; this was a declaration.

…

"March 7th?"

Looking at the pink-haired girl standing dazed at the door of a certain containment cabin, Stelle couldn't help but feel a bit confused. She walked over to March 7th and glanced into the empty room.

"What's wrong? Is there anything in this room?" she asked curiously.

"No."

Hearing this, March 7th shook her head and muttered to herself, "It's really strange; I feel like I've forgotten something..."

"Is it something important?" Stelle asked with concern.

"Well... although the impression isn't very strong, it should be quite important."

As she passed by this room, March 7th felt an odd sense of familiarity, as if she had been there a few hours ago. It was this lingering familiarity that compelled her to stop.

For someone who had lost important memories, every existing memory was precious. She would never tolerate her treasures being taken away by others again.

This is why she liked to use a camera to record everything—if she took pictures of everything, she wouldn’t forget it.

"No, I have to look for it."

Thinking this, March 7th immediately took out the camera hanging at her waist, flipped through the photos she had taken in the space station, and muttered to herself, "If it was something important, I should have recorded it with the camera..."

"Well, this one was taken with Sister Himeko, and that one was Uncle Yang."

"This one is yours, and that one is Dan Heng's."

"This one is not, and that one is not..."

"Ah! Found it! This is it!"

Soon, March 7th found the photo she wanted. Looking at the closed cabin door in the image, she recalled the reason for coming to the space station this time.

Really, how could I forget such an important thing!

"I have to contact Ms. Herta as soon as possible..."

March 7th took out her mobile phone and was about to contact Himeko when she suddenly noticed a new friend request in the communication software. Seeing the other party's avatar, she chose to accept it without hesitation.

"New communication target: Ilu."

"Ilu?"

The gray-haired girl next to her came over quietly, looking at March 7th's phone screen. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Is she also a member of the Express Crew?"

"Well..."

Glancing at the black-haired young man standing in the distance, March 7th blinked at Stelle and whispered, "Let's talk about her while we walk. We don't want to keep Dan Heng waiting anxiously."

"Yeah."

-----------------

"So that's it..."

After listening to March 7th's description, Jiahun quickly understood why the Astral Express had stopped at the Herta Space Station this time. While advancing the main storyline, she discussed with the barrage in the Livestream about the new character "Ilu," who had just appeared in the plot.

[In other words, the Express Crew picked up an abandoned mecha from a pile of space garbage, and then this mecha turned into a beautiful girl before them?]

【Σ(⊙▽⊙"！】

[I just asked my Gunpla, and it said it was fake and told me not to believe it.]

[Wait a minute, wasn’t there a silver mecha that stopped Kafka and Silver Wolf in the hidden plot just now? Could it be her?]

[Oh my god! Could it be that there really is a beautiful girl inside this mecha?!]

"I heard from March 7th that the girl named Ilu is in the main control cabin ahead. Don't worry brothers. I'll go over and check the situation for you now."

Knowing she had the opportunity to meet the beautiful girl pilot of the mysterious mecha, Jiahun was very excited. She pushed the main storyline much faster than before and successfully entered the main control cabin.

The thrill of exploring hidden plots and characters was always irresistible. She couldn't wait to meet "Ilu," who was suspected to be a newly created character, and see if she could take this opportunity to gather more hidden information.

This time, no one urged her to continue the main storyline. Everyone in the live broadcast room held their breath, following Jiahun's steps as they searched for Ilu in every corner of the main control cabin, not daring to blink their eyes.

[Don't go to Asta, stay away, or you'll trigger the plot.]

[It's so funny. I was afraid that Jiahun would not do the main storyline and run around. Now I'm worried she'll do the main storyline directly without exploring!]

[Sorry, Asta, wait there for a bit. We have to go see our mecha wife.]

[Hurry, hurry, I've spotted her!]

Soon, a sharp-eyed audience member noticed Ilu's location and immediately flooded the barrage in Jiahun's live broadcast room.

"Ah?"

Seeing the barrage, Jiahun asked anxiously, "Where is she? Why can't I see her?"

[In the corner ahead, the silver-haired one. She's so cute! Go over and chat with her!]

[Oh my god! She's so cute! Is this really a character I can play? Why can't I find her in the gacha pool?]

[Will she be killed later...?]

[??? Shut up, upstairs!]

---

Chapter 15: A Moment of Peace

The Anti-Matter Legion is like the cockroaches that everyone in the universe hates. When you find a Voidranger at home, it means there are too many Voidrangers in your home hiding. It will soon become a "cockroach nest" and spawn monsters regularly in your home.

Although the fighters of the Defense Department quickly eliminated the main force of the Anti-Matter Legion that invaded the main control compartment giving people temporary peace, the space station is already full of those deformed black and gold substances called "Fragmentum Erosion."

These dangerous scars symbolize that the space station has suffered serious permanent trauma. Ordinary methods cannot eliminate them at all. Once they are accidentally touched, extremely terrible things will happen.

In addition, there are many lurking Voidrangers in the corners of this space station. If a lone staff member accidentally encounters their ambush, their life may be in danger.

"Have you counted the wounded? How many people are there in total? ... Okay, I got it. Let the wounded receive treatment on the spot first to prevent their injuries from getting worse."

"The equipment damage assessment can be postponed. At present, the priority is to defend against the next wave of attacks from the Antimatter Legion."

"Attention! The frequency of the telemetry radar is high and must be maintained at an average level!"

As the acting stationmaster of the "Herta" space station, Estelle was so busy that she didn't even have time to stop and drink water.

She had to count the losses suffered by the space station in this round of attacks, calm the nervous emotions of the people present, prevent rumors from spreading, and monitor the tracking of the projection radar to guard against the subsequent attacks that the Antimatter Legion might launch at any time.

No one could predict where these lunatics, who were walking on the path of "Destruction," would appear.

But judging from their past style, such a massive attack could not be just one wave. She must be fully prepared before the second wave of attacks arrives to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

"It seems that everyone is fine, so we can take a break for now..."

Standing in a remote corner at the edge of the main control cabin, Ilu looked at Asta who was coordinating the preparation of the space station in an orderly manner in the distance, and felt relieved.

The attack of the Antimatter Legion caused considerable damage to the "Herta" space station, but fortunately, there was Asta, a rich girl with outstanding ability and billions of assets, who quickly restored order to the space station and prevented the spread of chaos.

You should know that the map in the game is reduced to a certain proportion. In fact, this space station is much larger than she imagined, and the interior is more complicated. It is no wonder that Asta can become the acting stationmaster of this space station and manage everything in such a short time.

However, her experience in dealing with crisis events is obviously insufficient, and she is underprepared, especially regarding the serious shortage of combat personnel. If she hadn't taken Kafka and Silver Wolf to clean up back and forth, I'm afraid the loss of the space station would have been much greater.

"According to the time, March 7th and the others should be here soon."

Waving her hand to get rid of the corpse of the Voidranger hanging on the ultra-low-temperature air blade, Ilu took back the mantis blade on her arm and took the initiative to cancel the transformation, changing from the cool and handsome iron cavalry form back to the petite and exquisite silver-haired girl she originally was.

Huh, finally changed back!

After changing back to her original appearance, the burning desire to fight in Ilu's heart also disappeared, as if a switch of some kind of mood had been turned off.

She killed at least 200 Voidrangers along the way, including several elite monsters, basically clearing all the enemies in this area.

However, as monsters in the tutorial, each of these opponents was pitifully weak. Basically, they all fell down before she put in much effort, and she couldn't enjoy herself in the iron cavalry form at all.

"Hi! Ilu, you are here; look here~"

Just then, Ilu suddenly heard someone seem to greet her. She looked in the direction of the voice in confusion, only to see March 7th standing at a corner not far away and waving to her with a smile.

Behind her stood Himeko and Dan Heng, and a gray-haired girl whom Ilu had never seen before, but could recognize her identity at a glance — the Trailblazer, Stelle.

"This..."

Looking at the large number of broken limbs of the Voidrangers scattered on the ground, Dan Heng was stunned and frowned slightly.

If he had not seen the appearance of the silver mecha beforehand, he would never have associated this extremely horrifying scene with the silver-haired girl who looked so fragile in front of him.

"By the way, is this place unsafe?"

March Seven looked around with a vigilant expression, feeling a little unsure: "I just heard something moving..."

"Don't worry; the Voidrangers around here have been cleared by me, so don’t worry that they will suddenly rush out to disturb us..."

The silver-haired girl's eyes, as beautiful as fireflies, swept across everyone's faces, and she said softly, "In addition, Ms. Herta has told me what happened. Thank you for saving me. If you need my help, please call me."

"This is all thanks to March. She insisted on bringing you back to the train."

Himeko smiled and looked at March Seven beside her, speaking in a gentle tone.

"Hehe~"

Hearing this, March 7th scratched her hair a little embarrassedly: "This is all thanks to everyone. If Himeko hadn't found Ilu first, we might not have been able to save her..."

Halfway through, she suddenly remembered something, turned her head to look at the gray-haired girl who was happily eating melons, and pushed Stelle, who looked confused, out: "By the way, I forgot to introduce our new companion to you. This one is called Stelle. She is very good at fighting. Maybe you can chat with her~"

"Huh?!"

The gray-haired girl widened her eyes.

Compared with this one, is she still a good fighter? Is it true?

"It's our first meeting. Just call me Ilu."

Looking at Stelle who was a little embarrassed by March 7th's enthusiasm, Ilu took the initiative to extend her hand to her and said with a smile, "March 7th's friends are my friends. Stelle, I'm glad to meet you, and I believe we can get along very happily in the future."

"Yeah!"

The gray-haired girl nodded heavily.

She thought so too.

Everyone stayed there and exchanged greetings for a while. Himeko looked down at the time and said, "Stationmaster Asta has been waiting for us for a long time. Let's go first."

"Well, it's time to go. We can't let them wait too long."

"Let's go! Stelle and Ilu, let's go together!"

"Okay."

Just as Ilu was about to catch up with March Seven and the others, the black-haired young man walking at the back suddenly called her: "Miss Ilu, please wait a moment. I have a question I want to confirm. Is that okay?"

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Ilu looked back at Dan Heng and nodded gently: "Of course, please ask."

"These Voidrangers chopped up by low-temperature weapons, plus the dead antimatter mobs we saw on the road, were they all killed by you alone?"

Noticing that the surface of the remains of these Voidrangers was condensed with frost, as if they had died from the cutting of some ultra-low-temperature weapons, the usually taciturn Dan Heng couldn't suppress his doubts at this moment and took the initiative to ask.

The corpses of the Voidrangers he saw on the road were different from those who were cut down by ultra-low-temperature weapons. They seemed to have suffered multiple attacks at the same time before they died.

Part of their bodies had been deconstructed, part had been burned, and part of their trunks had been frozen to death. This was obviously not done by the same person.

-----

Chapter 16: There Are Always People Who Cheat for Food and Drink*

"Oh?"

After hearing Dan Heng's words, Ilu blinked in surprise.

She didn’t expect that even such trivial details would be noticed by him. It was truly surprising. She could only conclude that Dan Heng was worthy of being the guard of the Astral Express. Not only was he concerned about the safety of his companions, but he was also very observant.

Since he had noticed the presence of Kafka and the others, there was no reason for her to hide it—after all, she didn’t want to be seen as an accomplice of the Stellaron Hunters, so she needed to sever her connection with them at this point.

"Not really."

Thinking this, Ilu shook her head slightly and told the black-haired young man her previous experience.

"Before entering the main control cabin, I met two people who called themselves 'Nameless Guests' below. They asked to travel with me for a while. Most of the dead Voidrangers you saw were defeated by us together."

"People who call themselves 'Nameless Guests'?"

Dan Heng frowned. "What are their names?"

"One is called 'Sam.' The other is called 'Blade.' They are very skilled."

"Sam, Blade... them?"

Hearing this, Dan Heng lowered his head and fell into deep thought. He seemed to be contemplating something. After a few seconds, he finally said, "There is no record of these two passengers on the train. You should not have met 'Nameless Guests,' but other forces disguised as us."

"You mean... there are unknown forces involved in the destruction of the space station?"

"I'm not sure what their goal is, but since they left here, it means their objective is likely to have been achieved."

"In other words, their goal should not be to destroy the space station, but to target something within it?"

"Yes, I think so too. We’ll know what’s missing from this space station when the time comes." After saying that, Dan Heng glanced at March 7th and the others, who were almost near Asta, and his tone returned to the calmness it had before: "We have to wait until Uncle Yang comes back to discuss these matters. Let’s go meet up with March 7th and the others first."

"Okay."

...

At the same time, in the real world—

With the help of the fans, Jiahun quickly located Ilu.

"Wow, she's so pretty!"

Controlling the Trailblazer to circle around Ilu twice, Jiahun took in every detail of the silver-haired girl in front of her and couldn't help but admire her exquisite design. The barrage in the Livestream room also flooded the screen.

[She's quite small.]

[Don't be embarrassing; she is only 1.5 meters tall; this is already big.]

[Why do I feel that her clothes are a bit similar to Herta's? Is it just me?]

[Move the camera down; let me see her feet.]

[Oh my god! She’s wearing white silk ice cream; I have to try it!]

[Jiahun, put the game to max graphic settings; it’s a bit unclear.]

"Let me put the game to max graphic settings, why..."

Looking at the comment, Jiahun blinked in confusion.

When she saw her friend’s reply again, she understood what was happening:

[The floor can reflect light; if you put the game to max graphic settings, maybe you can see her her underwear through the floor's reflection.]

"Uh..."

This year's netizens always manage to do something that makes people's eyes widen. Jiahun was no longer surprised by these things. She simply ignored those requests and opened the dialogue with Ilu.

"It's our first meeting. Just call me Ilu."

"March 7's friends are my friends, Stelle. I'm glad to meet you, and I believe we can get along happily in the future.

"Oh my god, her tone is so gentle! I originally thought she would be difficult to approach, but I didn't expect her to be such a soft and cute girl." Jiahun generously praised Ilu's personality while clicking on the dialog box with the silver-haired girl with her mouse. She selected options that could increase her favorability. Soon, she obtained Ilu's contact information.

"Hey, why did the mission target change?"

It was not until then that Jiahun realized her main mission had shifted from "Finding Asta" to "Talking to Himeko." This side mission, linked by several hidden plots, was perfectly integrated into the main plot.

If one didn’t pay attention, they might not notice it at all. Additionally, there was an option in the task bar—"Ask about Ilu's life experience (optional)."

Seeing this option, Jiahun clicked it without hesitation, and the fans in the Livestream room had already been successfully tamed by her... Well, it may also be because they were attracted by Ilu's personality. In short, no comments raised objections to her continuing the main plot. Everyone patiently awaited Jiahun to uncover all the hidden stories.

"I used to be a Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knight. You may not believe it, but I once killed a Propagation Emanator alone and froze the entire galaxy where it was located into ice..."

"Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knight? Propagation?"

Two new terms that she had never heard of suddenly emerged from the silver-haired girl’s mouth, and Jiahun couldn’t help but feel a bit confused. However, after Ilu’s detailed explanation, she quickly grasped the meaning of these terms.

Glamoth was a super civilization that had long been destroyed, and "Propagation" referred to a fallen Aeon. The "Universal Swarm Disaster" he brought had inflicted indelible trauma on this world.

The silver-haired girl in front of her was the ultimate weapon created by the Glamoth Empire to kill a "Propagation" Emanator, known as the "Glamoth Iron Cavalry."

However, as Ilu narrated her story, the viewers gradually began to realize something was amiss.

[???]

[This combat power doesn't add up?]

[If a Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knivht can kill an Emanator alone, wouldn't the Glamoth Empire be able to dominate the universe?]

"Hearing what you said, I feel something isn’t right..."

Jiahun also felt skeptical. Although she didn’t know much about the game’s setting, she at least understood how powerful an Emanator was. It was a being capable of exploding star systems. Killing them was quite difficult.

If all the Glamoth Iron Cavalry joined forces to wipe out a Propagation Emanator, it would be quite reasonable.

Single-handedly killing one, however, was indeed a bit exaggerated.

If Ilu truly possessed this ability, she would be an Aeon's Emanator now.

"I don't know if it's true or not; let’s continue watching..."

Picking up a cup from the side, she took a sip of water and clicked the mouse to enter the subsequent conversation.

"…"

"Unfortunately, there was only one bullet in the gun, and I didn't have enough evidence in the end."

"Ms. Herta believed that my memory was disturbed by the turbulence of time and space, causing cognitive problems. She asked me to stay in this space station for treatment for a while before leaving with the Astral Express."

"Puff!"

After seeing the last sentence, Jiahun couldn't help but widen her eyes and nearly spit out the water she had just drunk. The barrage in the Livestream room also exploded at this moment:

[???]

[Really funny.]

[I spent a lot of time guessing how she killed him; it turned out she had a mental problem.]

[I believed it at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed off. I said, how could it be true?]

[It’s so funny. If she can really kill the Propagation Emanator alone, I will livestream a handstand on a pound of red stone!]

---

Chapter 17: Asta: The World Has Forgotten Me

"Ahem! Wait a minute, I think I spilled some water..."

Setting the cup back on the corner of the table, Jiahun took out a tissue to wipe the screen and then picked up the mouse to continue clicking through the conversation.

"Well... anyway, don't worry; there might be a reversal later."

As she navigated the plot, she expressed her guess: "I feel that things are not that simple; otherwise, the game wouldn’t have created this kind of plot for us to watch. There’s a question I’ve never figured out."

"The other Glamoth Iron Cavalry have all disappeared. Why is Ilu still alive?"

"You know, even the 'Propagation' Aeon is dead, but she—a warrior born to fight against 'Propagation'—can live to this day. Doesn’t this mean that Ilu is the final winner of that war?"

"Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. I think Ilu may possess a power equal to that of a Emanator, which is the main reason she has survived until now."

“After being frozen in ice for hundreds or thousands of years, she was still able to wake up normally. If you think about it carefully, isn’t this a major plot hole? Who else can do it except March 7th?"

[Fuck! Silly Soul, you hit the nail on the head.]

[That’s the truth. For people from Ilu’s era, living to this day is the biggest buggy ability. I’m willing to believe what she said.]

After hearing her analysis, the comments in the livestream room began to discuss this point. Some viewers agreed with Jiahun’s analysis, while others remained skeptical.

Of course, Jiahun didn’t have time to pay attention to the comments in the upper left corner. At that moment, her focus was solely on the conversation in the game.

Soon, Jiahun finished the plot related to Ilu.

Just as she was controlling the Trailblazer to leave, the silver-haired girl with eyes as beautiful as fireflies suddenly grabbed her clothes and looked at her pitifully. One sentence detonated Jiahun’s livestream room:

"Trailblazer, are you willing to believe what I said?"

After hearing this sentence spoken softly by the girl, the comments in the livestream room erupted.

[I believe it!]

[I’m convinced! Now I have to believe it.]

[Although I still don’t quite believe it, at this moment, I’m willing to deceive myself.]

Despite more than half of the fans stating they did not believe that Ilu had killed the Emanator, upon seeing this option, they still agreed to let Jiahun choose the former—believe what Ilu said.

"Thank you; you are the only one who is willing to believe me."

"If I had chosen the second option, I think I wouldn’t sleep well tonight."

In fact, regardless of what the comments said in the end, Jiahun would choose the first option because she didn’t want to be the sinner who made the silver-haired girl sad.

After finishing the conversation with Ilu, she controlled the protagonist to return to Himeko's side to continue the main quest, while the discussion about this new character in the livestream room continued.

[Did you take a screenshot? I took a screenshot, hehe, and used it as wallpaper~]

[Do you think Ilu doesn’t have any feelings for her hometown? When she mentioned that Glamoth had been destroyed, she even laughed.]

[Yes, this is very strange. Isn’t that her home?]

[Maybe she was freed from the shackles. That place sounds suffocating. If I could be free, I definitely wouldn’t want to go back.]

[What is Ilu talking about with Dan Heng? Jiahun, do you want to go over and take a look?]

"By the way, have we made Asta wait too long?"

Looking at Asta standing alone in the distance, then back at the silver-haired girl who seemed to be communicating with Dan Heng, Jiahun felt a little reluctant. "Let's go to the main plot."

They had spent too much time on the side story; even the audience in the livestream room had forgotten why they came to the main control cabin. She felt that if they didn't progress quickly, Asta might cry..

...

"The frequency of the projection radar is normal, but the frequency of the telemetry signal is high, so it must be maintained at an average level! According to predictions, the Legion will launch more than ten waves of continuous attacks. Hold on!"

At the same time, the Express Crew approached Asta, who was monitoring the movements of the antimatter legion in the control room. March 7 smiled and extended her hand in greeting.

"Stationmaster Asta, we’re back!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Asta was slightly stunned and looked back. After noticing the Express Crew standing behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Huh, I’m glad you’re back safely..."

"Alan just came here and told me about the containment section."

"And his injury—thanks to your help."

"Hehe, no, no~ It's just a piece of cake."

After a conversation with Asta, Ilu and the others quickly learned about the current situation of the space station.

"Alan has just been here, and he told me about the containment section."

"And his injury—thanks to your help."

"Hehe, no, no~ It’s just a piece of cake."

After discussing with Asta, Ilu and the others learned that due to the massive invasion of the antimatter army, the entire space station was currently in a panic. Fortunately, the situation was still under control; the security system had been slightly damaged, but the core data modified by the invaders was quickly repaired.

As for the Herta...

Just half an hour before the space station was attacked, she disappeared.

No one knew what the great scientist was doing now. All Asta, the acting station chief, could do was keep sending letters to the Herta to report the dangers currently facing the space station.

"By the way!"

Suddenly, Asta remembered something and asked eagerly:

"The staff just mentioned that there’s a silver mecha that seems to be helping to fight the invading antimatter army. The reason we can calm the chaos in the space station so quickly is thanks to that person's help. Did you see him when you came here?"

"Uh..."

Hearing Asta’s question, the expressions on the faces of the Express Crew suddenly became strange, and they all turned to the silver-haired girl standing behind March 7.

"Look... why are you looking at me?"

It was the first time so many people were watching her, and their gazes felt somewhat uncomfortable. Ilu couldn't help but shift slightly.

"Stationmaster Asta, you should know the reason why the Astra Express stopped at the 'Herta' space station this time, right?" Himeko said with a smile.

"Well, of course I remember. You came here to transport a certain 'Curios' to Ms. Herta for identification."

Upon hearing Himeko's words, Asta quickly realized something. She widened her eyes and looked at the silver-haired girl beside her in disbelief. "Wait a minute, do you mean..."

"Just as you thought, the 'Curios' we transported this time is the silver mecha, and Miss Ilu in front of you is actually the driver of the silver mecha."

"Pah—!"

As Himeko finished speaking, March 7th also clapped and said, "Little Ilu has done a great job~"

Ilu: "..."

Forget it. Don’t think about it. Now all the players probably know her.

---

Chapter 18: The Intuition of the Old Ship Companion

"Brothers, the gacha is finally open!"

After completing the main storyline of meeting Asta, Jiahun finally ushered in the Gacha system called "Warp," and she had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Once Gacha function was released, she couldn't wait to press F3 to open the Warp interface.

"Let me find where Ilu is..."

Ignoring a purple-haired little girl from Wild Fire, Jiahun directly clicked into the permanent gacha pool, but looking at the rows of characters in it, she didn't find the name "Ilu."

"Ah? Why can't I see Ilu in the permanent pool? Could she be limited?"

The girl was confused.

The viewers was discussing the reason why Ilu didn't enter the card pool——

[Correct answer, bingo!]

[This is not right; everyone on the train should be permanent, right?]

[I guess it may be related to the subsequent plot. If her skill mechanism is released in advance, it will lead to spoilers. For the continuity of the overall plot, it is not included in the gacha pool.]

[If Ilu is just a permanent four-star, I may not believe her, but since she is not in the pool, it means everything is possible.]

[Wow! After listening to you, I also think this character must be extraordinary!]

"Ding!"

At this moment, a golden SC appeared in the upper left corner of the live broadcast room. The speaker was Captain "Jasmine" of Jiahun, who was also a well-known "ship Steward." She completely changed the direction of the barrage with just one sentence:

[Did no one notice that March 7th seemed to have forgotten about Ilu's existence before? Based on my many years of experience as an old captain, I feel that she will disappear after completely burning her life to save us, so she didn't enter the gacha pool.]

[? ? ?]

[Don't!]

[Damn it, all the girls I like have been chopped by the screenwriter. I have been electronically impotent for two and a half years. I finally saw a girl I like. Don't tell me she also will end up like that?]

[I can't stand it. I'm going crazy!]

"Ah! It's paid out!"

Just as the live broadcast room's bullet screen was chattering about this, Jiahun only used 20 draws to fish out a "Bronya" and a "Himeko" in the tutorial pool. The audience, who were still discussing whether Ilu would be stabbed instantly filled the screen with question marks.

[2 in 20? Hey, Jiahun isn't the same species as us!]

[I agree with upstairs, this is too inhuman!]

[Ahhhhh!!! She was a European!?]

"Hehe, the card drawing session is over; let's continue to push the plot."

Jiahun happily closed the jump interface, ignoring the screams and scratches of the comment section, and accepted Asta's commission to control the Trailblazer to go to various parts of the space station to help those clerks in need.

"It's just like Asta said; there are not many staff who really need help. Most of them are just whining without illness, and it's easy to punch them in the face."

While helping these staff eliminate their inner demons, Jiahun complained to the viewers: "The antimatter legion didn't hurt them at all. The staff of the defense department didn't do their job well. Why would someone blame Alan and the others?"

【Yes, yes!】

【If the defense department hadn't rushed over to kill the enemy without hesitation, the antimatter army would have killed them long ago.】

【But the dubbing is quite emotional; BYD made me laugh.】

"Okay, this plot is over; let's go find Asta..."

Just when Jiahun finished these commissioned quests and was about to report to Asta, a shrill alarm suddenly sounded in the "Herta" space station, and the entire screen flashed a red exclamation mark.

【Doomsday Beast!】

【Finally here, the first Boss in the whole game】

【Jiahun, why are you here just now?】

Seeing this scene, the viewers in the live broadcast room swiped the screen, but Jiahun's attention was on the game at the moment, and she didn't notice their complaints.

On the display screen of the projection radar, a huge purple monster appeared. It swung its claws and slapped the protective shield of the support cabin, directly tearing it open.

"Kacha!"

-----------------

"Ding-ding-ding!"

The piercing alarm sounded throughout the space station. The sudden attack of the Doomsday Beast plunged the main control cabin, which had just restored order into chaos again.

It did not land on the azure planet not far away but chose to attack this inconspicuous space station. Something in this space station seemed to be attracting it.

"You take the train; I'll stay!"

Realizing that the disaster was beyond control, Asta took a deep breath and waved to signal the train crew to leave.

"But..."

"Let's go."

March Seven wanted to stay and help, but Himeko beside her seemed to remember something. She looked at the delicate face of the gray-haired girl next to her, raised her eyebrows slightly, and immediately reached out to grab Stelle's wrist and walked away.

"Let's go."

"Yeah."

After Ilu and March 7th looked at each other, they immediately followed.

……

"The shield of the support section can't hold out for long; you guys hurry up... zizi..."

"Here... zizi... leave it to me..."

Soon after leaving the main control section, the communication signal between the train crew and Asta began to become intermittent, and soon the connection was lost.

Himeko tried to get in touch with Asta again, but could only hear some noisy electronic sounds, and the communication seemed to be completely cut off.

"Do you want to go back?"

Seeing Himeko and the others staying there, Dan Heng also noticed that she didn't intend to leave the space station. Although he also wanted to stay to help, as a guard, he had to consider everyone's safety: "Remember, that is the Doomsday Beast, the Legion's anti-planetary weapon."

"This space station was built by the Herta. If the Lord of Extinction doesn't take action, there shouldn't be any major problems here."

"But we can't just run away like this..."

"It's easy for the Doomsday Beast to tear open the protective shield. Without the Herta, the defense system here is too fragile for the Antimatter Legion."

...

After some discussion, everyone decided to take Stelle to meet Welt in the support section.

Although Ilu hasn't officially boarded the train, she is now a reserve crew member of the Astral Express, just like the Trailblazer. Now that she sees the train group in trouble, she naturally has no reason not to take action.

"Great! Ilu is willing to help; our chances of winning are much greater!"

After hearing Ilu's willingness to help, everyone present was visibly joyful. March 7th even excitedly put her arm around her waist. Feeling the slightly stiff body of the silver-haired girl, she showed a confused expression:

"Hey, why is it so hard?"

Ilu: "..."

Can you not say these things?

When people are shy, can they still be soft?

"Ahem!"

As if he saw the embarrassment on Ilu's face, Dan Heng on the side coughed twice, interrupting March 7th's "casting," then raised the spear in his hand and pointed it at the voidrangers wandering in the corridor in the distance, and said expressionlessly: "Time is very tight; I will be responsible for clearing the way. You guys catch up as soon as possible."

"Hey! Wait a minute; I'll help too!"

Seeing Dan Heng rushing toward the enemy alone, March 7th quickly withdrew her hand from around the silver-haired girl, took out her ice bow, and followed Dan Heng's charge.

"Huh... Thank you, Dan Heng."

Seeing that Dan Heng successfully led March 7th away, Ilu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

She stretched out her hand from the pocket tied around her waist to take out her Iron Cavalry Transformation Sheath, and whispered:

"If you have a conflict with Blade in the future, I will be the first to rush up to help you beat him."

"——Transform!"

---

Chapter 19: Fighting the Doomsday Beast

"Transform!"

Putting the Iron Cavalry Transformation Sheath in her hand on her slightly bulging chest, Ilu looked up at the Voidrangers fighting with March 7th and others in the distance and chose to transform here without hesitation.

As her voice fell, the translucent elytra in her hand emerged with an ice-blue glow and quickly enveloped her whole body.

The next second, Ilu turned into a silver-white mecha knight, with azure colors on the visor and chest, exuding cold air all over her body, causing the water molecules in the surrounding air to condense together and turn into white snowflakes falling to the ground.

To deal with this group of miscellaneous soldiers of the Antimatter Legion, she did not need to activate the "Hunting Mode." Just the conventional equipment equipped with "Stealth Mode" was enough for Ilu to handle this group of Voidrangers.

"I'll clear the way."

A cold blue air burst out from the elytra wing behind her, and then she passed by Stelle and Dan Heng at a terrifying speed that was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye, with frost filling the air wherever she went.

If it were the Fyrefly-IV strategic assault mech, launching an attack at this distance would definitely hurt teammates; after all, no one could escape the large-scale AOE clearing attack.

But Ilu was wearing the Snow Fyrefly-V strategic stealth mech, which abandoned the wide-area attack that focused on group destruction and replaced it with a single attack as precise as a scalpel.

Except for the target she locked on, no one would be hurt.

"Shhh!"

A large amount of condensed gas sprayed out from the gap of the mecha, causing the temperature near Ilu to drop sharply. She stared at the dark blue screen in front of her. The 26 plunderers and 3 tramplers in her field of vision were all selected by the intelligence core of the Iron Cavalry mech, and even their next attack paths were calculated.

Originally, she only planned to kill half of them and leave the rest for the pioneers to practice with, but after putting on this armor, one thought dominated her mind—fighting is cool.

"Start with you first."

She locked her eyes on a Voidranger trampler about three meters high. Seeing it trying to launch a sneak attack on Stelle and March 7th, Ilu accelerated and sprinted in front of it.

The whole process happened in a flash, so fast that Dan Heng on the side was surprised.

Although the Voidranger trampler reacted quickly and tried to raise its front hoof to attack her, the heavy fist of the silver mecha had already reached its abdomen first.

"Crack!"

The cold air released by the punch froze its body into ice, and the strong force directly shattered it.

Ilu wanted to retract her fist and look for the next target, but what she didn't expect was that a strange energy flowed into her arm from somewhere, making her feel as though her blood vessels were blocked, and her entire right arm was frozen, as if it had lost consciousness.

Hmm?

Without a moment's hesitation, Ilu chose to release this energy.

"Bang!"

Accompanied by the sound of something breaking, an extremely cold wave burst out from the back of the Void Soldier Trampler, instantly engulfing the area behind it. Almost half of the corridor was covered by the bone-biting cold air, and thick frost condensed on the ground, freezing the nearby Voidrangers into ice sculptures.

...

"Oh my! What a powerful punch!"

Seeing the Antimatter Legion blocking the road being killed by Ilu's punch, Jiahun was so excited that she almost sat up from her chair, and the comments in the Livestream room was swiping the screen frantically.

Just now, she was still wondering whether these dozens of small monsters blocking the road would be beaten in turns, but she didn't expect that the game production team would give her such a surprise, allowing her to see Ilu's transformation animation and that quite shocking punch with her own eyes.

This real-time rendering animation performance maximized the expressiveness of the two elements of mecha and ice, and their fusion was quite perfect—it was simply a visual feast.

However, as a veteran ship attendant, Jasmine focused on something different from ordinary people:

[Wait a minute, something seems wrong. Look at her stunned expression. It seems she didn't expect a powerful attack. Does this mean that her body is actually in a similar imbalance?]

Jasmine was typing on the keyboard and was about to send out her guess, but when she saw the discussion atmosphere in the live broadcast room finally improving, she hesitated, bit her lip, and finally deleted the comment.

"Maybe I think too much. This is a delicate model and this kind of character are usually sold as popular characters. They won't kill off after a popular character..."

-----------------

"This power..."

Looking down at her right hand that was constantly emitting a faint blue chill, Ilu frowned slightly and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

As the pilot of the Snow Fyrefly-V Strategic Stealth Mech, no one knows better than she what this mecha can do. The cold wave that almost froze half of the corridor was obviously not the power of the Snow Fyrefly Mech.

Where did it come from...

"Wow! Ilu, you are so awesome! How did you do that?"

Watching the silver frost knight blow up the monsters in the entire corridor with one punch, March 7th immediately ran to Ilu, looked around her mecha up and down, and even curiously wanted to reach out and touch the exhaust vents on the surface of the mecha.

"Little March, don't touch it without permission."

It was not until she heard Himeko's stern reminder that she realized she had made a more dangerous move and quickly withdrew her hand. "Sorry, I wanted to try it out in excitement..."

"March 7th is always so reckless, causing you trouble."

"It doesn't matter, as long as you don't touch it during the battle."

Hearing this, Ilu waved her hand, indicating that it didn't matter.

Restraining one's own sharpness to avoid injuring innocent people is the basic skill of an assassin.

As the driver of the Snow Fyrefly, she is very familiar with the control of this mecha. Except for the sudden situation just now, she basically would not accidentally hurt other people around.

"Let's go, let's go find Uncle Yang!"

"You go first; I still have some things to deal with."

Glancing at the frost condensed on the ground, Ilu clenched her right fist to hold the cold air firmly in her palm and said calmly, "This may take a while; I will come find you later."

"Then we will go first!"

"Okay."

...

Soon, the Express crew came to the platform near the support section. It was empty and quiet, and a little scary.

Just as March 7th was about to run over to check the situation, Dan Heng called her urgently:

"Wait, March!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a huge purple-black dragon-shaped creature passed by the edge of the platform, blowing a gust of wind on everyone's faces. It was the anti-planetary weapon that attacked the space station shown in the remote sensing radar before, Doomsday Beast.

"Doomsday Beast... it actually chased after us."

The arrival of Doomsday Beast further confirmed Himeko's guess. She turned her head to look at the gray-haired girl next to her, who was alert, but before Himeko could say anything, March 7th, who was standing in the front, took the lead in mocking the giant beast flying in the sky:

"Come down if you can!"

"Roar--!!!"

As if hearing March 7th's provocation, Doomsday Beast let out a terrible roar and flew straight toward the people on the platform.

You called me, right?

I'm coming!

---

Chapter 20: Light of Destruction

"Brothers, how do we fight Doomsday Beast?"

As the animated CG of Doomsday Beast’s appearance ended, a shattering special effect appeared in the center of Jiahun’s screen, and he entered a tense and exciting boss battle.

[Hit the weak point to paralyze it.]

[Just hit the part with the weak point attribute; it’s pretty simple.]

"Can I permanently paralyze it by breaking the weak point?"

With the reminder from the barrage, Jiahun quickly understood Doomsday Beast’s weakness mechanism and successfully knocked off the first tube of health from the boss.

The viewers in the Livestream room were watching her various mysterious operations of whipping corpses while lamenting the difficulties along the way:

[Finally defeated Doomsday Beast; it was not easy.]

[Watching Jiahun push the main storyline is like watching Tang Monk go to the West; it is really difficult.]

[Goddamn Tang Monk going to the West!]

[Haha, I have been recruiting disciples all the way, and there are disciples to help fight small monsters, so Tang Monk really doesn’t need to take action.]

“Wait a minute, brothers, I have to sit up and fight it.”

As the Doomsday Beast entered the second stage, the background BGM became more intense. Seeing the Doomsday Beast launch countless lasers that hit the four characters on the field and reducing their health to half, Jiahun who had been lazily leaning back in her chair immediately stood up.

But before she could operate seriously for a few rounds, the Doomsday Beast slapped her again, directly knocking Dan Heng down to only 15 health points. The other three characters were also in terrible shape, averaging only about 100 health. As Doomsday Beast prepared to unleash the Big Ball Rasengan, everyone in the Livestream room was stunned.

[It’s broken; it seems that Jiahun didn’t upgrade their character!]

[What should I do? Could it be that she can’t even beat thr Doomsday Beast?]

[It shouldn’t be like this. Jiahun upgraded the character to level 20 when she drew it and also gave them light cones.]

[The difficulty of the second stage seems a bit off. It’s only more than 100 damage when it hits me, but it’s close to 200 when it hits Jiahun.]

[The speed has also increased. Jiahun has only acted for two rounds, and Doomsday Beast has started rolling big balls.]

[The bar on the left is also wrong. March 7fh’s normal attack alone can’t remove the ice weakness.]

"This... How should I operate this?"

Jiahun tried her best to remove the weakness from the Doomsday Beast’s left hand, but its right hand remained intact. The next round was Doomsday Beast’s. With her current HP, she couldn’t withstand this move at all.

"Ah, I’m dying; who’s going to save me?"

Just when the Doomsday Beast raised its hands and was about to release a super AOE attack, a blue light suddenly flashed on the screen, followed by a real-time rendering cutscene animation.

This scene left Jiahun’s Livestream room in silence.

Everyone stared at the screen in front of them with wide eyes, afraid of missing any frame of the next moment.

"Oh my god, can't it be?!!"

Seeing the blue light rushing towards the battlefield, Jiahun gasped in surprise. Even the most oblivious viewers knew who was coming.

[My wife! Ahhhh!]

[With Ilu here, I immediately feel relieved.]

[Fuck, the boss battle for Jiahun seems to be different from the one I played. Is there a plot to help in the battle?]

[No, I have to create a small account and play it again.]

---

“Command one, start Hunting Mode.”

When she saw Doomsday Beast about to attack the Express Crew, Ilu did not hesitate to remove all camouflage, fully revealing the Snow Firefly-V strategic infiltration armor. At that moment, she looked visibly powerful.

In Hunting Mode, she could unleash the maximum power of the mecha core. The last time she used it was to break through the heavy blockade of a suicide insect swarm.

Since she didn’t know the cost of maintaining Hunting Mode, she hadn’t planned to use it.

However, since the opponent this time was Doomsday Beast, she decided to take it seriously.

“Swoosh——”

A blue light wing unfurled from the elytra behind her. Ilu rushed toward Doomsday Beast's right claw at a terrifying speed that was nearly impossible to track with the naked eye. The mantis blade hidden in her arm suddenly popped out, and the sharp cold air spread over it, transforming into a highly lethal ultra-low temperature air blade at the outermost layer.

"Roar--!!!"

The moment Ilu released her stealth mode, Doomsday Beast immediately sensed her presence and recognized the huge threat posed by the silver mecha. It did not hesitate to shift its target from the Express Crew on the platform to Ilu.

Just at that moment, its ultimate move had just charged. A purple magic circle, symbolizing the will of destruction, emerged from the dark matter engine on Doomsday Beast's chest, and countless light arrows with terrible energy poured out like raindrops.

However, facing such a large-scale area attack, the girl had no intention of avoiding it. She placed her left arm horizontally in front of her, and her right hand, exuding a chill, gently wiped the mantis blade.

The next second, the ultra-low temperature gas enveloping the mantis blade spread rapidly in all directions, forming a solid ice shield. The light rain of destruction struck it, making a ping-pong sound, but the shield remained immobile.

Instead, its color deepened and darkened, becoming as unfathomable as the deep sea of memory.

"!!!"

Doomsday Beast was stunned by this scene. It quickly raised its body and flew away from the platform of the space station.

However, Ilu had already struck like a blue meteor. The shield made of solid ice collided with the dark matter engine emitting terrifying high temperatures, resulting in a deafening explosion.

"Boom boom!!!"

The violent shockwave radiated rapidly around Doomsday Beast's dark matter engine, signaling the core's impending destruction. Seeing this, March 7th couldn’t help but display a surprised expression.

"Success?!"

"Zizi--"

Before the girl finished speaking, a sudden change occurred. A terrible energy that eas capable of destroying everything gathered atop Doomsday Beast's head at an astonishing speed, stimulating extremely potent dark matter rays.

"Ilu, be careful!"

"?"

Just after escaping the violent explosion, Ilu had not yet regained her footing when she saw the destructive ray shooting toward her. She immediately perked up and quickly used the ice shield to block the attack powerful enough to destroy an asteroid.

However, no matter how tough this ice shield was, it couldn’t withstand the extreme will of destruction for long.

"Go!"

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Ilu shouted to the people behind her. But the shockwave from the previous explosion had knocked March 7th to the ground. At that moment, she had just stood up and had no time to escape.

"Crack!!!"

After about three or four seconds of hard resistance, the ice shield melted under the terrifying heat. The silver mecha hidden behind it was blown away by the destructive ray as soon as it emerged, and the remaining dark matter ray hurtled toward March 7th.

"March!"

Seeing this scene, everyone in the Express Crew turned pale.

At this critical moment, a beautiful figure with gray hair stepped forward and resolutely stood in front of March 7th.

"Boom--!!!"

---

HIK CH21-30

Chapter 21: Suppressing the Stellaron

"Wow! Am I so brave?"

Jiahun was shocked to see that the destructive ray, which even Ilu couldn't completely block, was caught by the Trailblazer's chest.

Can she withstand such a powerful attack alone?

Well, it looks like she did...

Wait, something is wrong!

She did, but not completely.

Noticing the extremely painful expression on the gray-haired girl’s face, Jiahun quickly realized the seriousness of the situation.

Although most of the runaway dark matter energy was consumed by the ice shield, facing this kind of planetary-level annihilation ray would make it a joke to use flesh and blood to resist it!

Hiss... But think about it carefully: if she hadn't blocked it just now, then it would have been March 7th who was hit.

No matter which choice you make for this fatal multiple-choice question, the result will be terrible.

"Boom!"

At this critical moment, a silver figure shrouded in cold air fell from the sky in front of the gray-haired girl.

It was Ilu, who had just been blown away by the dark matter ray.

Her appearance instantly brought everyone in the livestream room an unparalleled sense of security.

[Wife!!!]

[Wife comes to the rescue again!]

"Zizi--!"

Using the armor structure of the Snow Fyrefly to resist the scouring of the destruction ray, Ilu stared at the Doomsday Beast in front of her with a firm gaze. She raised her right hand and urged the power that did not belong to the Snow Fyrefly armor as much as possible.

She knew very well that since she was born into this world, the wings of the butterfly had been quietly flapping, and a huge storm would be set off one day in the future. Every subtle difference could lead to a significant change in the ending of the story.

Ilu did not dare to bet whether the Stellaron in Stelle's body would be detonated by Nanook's glance, thus destroying everything.

Maybe [Honkai Impact: Star Rail] is just a timeline with a "Good End," and in other timelines, the story has been annihilated from the beginning and escaped into nothingness.

So, she will not let that happen—

"I will do everything I can to fight for all the beauty in the world!"

As the silver-haired girl's sonorous voice fell, the palm of her raised right hand suddenly burst into a dazzling azure light.

As the light poured and formed, it condensed into an azure ice shield about two meters high and two and a half meters wide in front of her, flickering with a faint light in the air.

"Boom boom boom!!!"

The antimatter ray symbolizing the will of destruction hit this shield, making a deafening roar.

Although the azure ice shield in front of it had almost the same structure as the ice shield that was easily melted just now, this time it could not break through the defense of the ice no matter what, and could not even move forward a little bit.

[Fuck, this performance is really exciting!]

[Even though she was injured, she still stood in front of us and resisted the Doomsday Beast's ultimate move. Is this the power of bonds?]

[She really is, I'm crying.]

Watching this wonderful animation performance, the fans who came to their senses started to post comments in Jiahun's Livestream room.

However, they only heard the first half of Ilu's words; the second half was almost drowned in the violent explosion. Only a few people vaguely heard this line that was almost engraved into their DNA and showed expressions of disbelief.

Did she just say that?

-----------------

"Ilu..."

Looking at the back of the Silver Knight who blocked the deadly ray for her, Stelle tried to get up from the ground, but her eyelids became extremely heavy, and her body slowly fell to the ground. The destructive ray just now had brought a great burden to her body.

Her chest was getting hotter and hotter, as if something was stirring inside her. She could feel her consciousness slowly sinking, as if sinking into a bottomless ocean.

"Hey! Stelle, are you okay?"

Seeing this, March 7th ran over from behind and supported her, regardless of the danger. However, the gray-haired girl had lost consciousness by this time and fainted, unaware of anything in the outside world.

Someone appear to whisper in her ear:

"It's time to set off."

"Go to that destination."

"Reach that destination with your own will."

"He has noticed you."

"Uh!"

Under March 7th's worried gaze, the gray-haired girl covered her chest and groaned, and then an extremely terrifying force gushed out of her body, lifting her from March 7th's arms to the sky, bursting with dazzling golden light.

It was unknown whether the power came from the Stellaron or from "destruction," but it suddenly erupted at that moment, releasing a purer and more powerful destructive energy toward the the Doomsday Beast in front of her. It passed over the top of the ice shield with terrifying high temperature and directly hit the body of the Doomsday Beast, burning it to ashes in just a few seconds.

"This is..."

As the body of the Doomsday Beast burned away, Ilu no longer needed to continue consuming the mysterious power to maintain the ice shield. She retracted the power into her right arm and turned to look at the gray-haired girl floating in the air behind her.

Sure enough, "Nanook" still noticed it.

According to the original plot, Stelle should be awakened from this state as soon as possible to stop her from continuing to receive the fateful power of "destruction."

But...

"Ka—"

Ilu looked down at her steel fist, which was bigger than a sandbag, and hesitated whether to give Stelle such a punch on the head.

If she really punched her, it might end like this.

She didn't know how Welt had managed to calm a Stellaron that was about to go berserk. If she imitated it rashly, she might end up making things worse.

Perhaps "Elation" was watching at this moment, waiting for her to make a choice.

If she accidentally punched and exploded the Stellaron, it would be a lot of fun.

You know, "Aha" had been lurking in the train group for half a year before they successfully blew up half of the train. If she could blow up the Astral Express and the space station together in just one day, wouldn't she be more awesome than "Aha"?

Well... she doesn't know where Uncle Yang ran off to. If he still doesn't come, then she can only give it a try.

"Thank you for your hard work, Miss Ilu. Leave the rest to me."

Just as Ilu was about to reach out and snap her fingers on Stelle's forehead, a low and magnetic voice of an adult male suddenly came from behind her.

Turning her head, she saw a person wearing a gray-brown dress, heavy square-framed glasses, and holding a dark red cane. It was Welt Yang, who had agreed to meet everyone on the support section platform.

Seeing him appear, March 7th couldn't help but open her eyes wide in surprise: "Uncle Yang?!"

"Sorry, I was delayed on the way and I'm late."

Welt nodded slightly to the people behind him, then looked at the gray-haired girl floating in the air in an extremely unstable state, with a hint of apology in his tone: "As compensation, let me handle the aftermath."

After saying that, he lightly jumped in front of Stelle and tapped her forehead gently with his cane.

"Buzz——"

With the dark red halo lighting up, the Stellaron hidden in the gray-haired girl's body that was about to go berserk calmed down in an instant.

----

Chapter 22: It's Broken, It's Coming for Me!

"Huh, it's finally over..."

Seeing Welt successfully rescue Stelle, Ilu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Just as she was about to cancel the transformation, she found that her right arm seemed to have lost consciousness, and she couldn't lift it no matter how she called.

This is...

Realizing what might have happened, Ilu did not hesitate to open the mecha's endoscopic view to look at her right arm. Some blue lines appeared on her originally fair and delicate skin, which seemed to be a manifestation of excessive overdraft of power.

Sure enough, the power she had just used was fundamentally derived from the fate she was walking, not from the Snow Fyrefly Armor.

Could it be Remembrance?

Or Nihility, or another path?

Ilu didn't know what kind of Path she had stepped into because she didn't have any obvious other Path tendencies, nor did she have any particularly strong desires.

Since she didn't step into destiny actively, she must have stepped into it passively...

Could it be that when she was wandering in outer space before, a passing Aeon accidentally glanced at me?

"Huh?"

At this moment, Ilu suddenly found that her right arm was be able to move, as if something invisible and intangible was constantly replenishing her body to fill the gap, and the dark blue lines spreading on her arm also faded.

Strange, she didn't do anything.

Could it be that the mysterious Aeon glanced at me again?

After thinking about it carefully, Ilu still felt that this possibility was almost non-existent; perhaps it was just because the power of Paths could recover automatically.

After all, Aeons rarely glance at mortals. It is a miracle for mortals to be lucky enough to be looked at by them. If they can be looked at twice, the head of the market development department who sells interstellar lottery tickets in the future will probably not dare to let her in for fear that she will bankrupt the "IPC."

Anyway, it's good that nothing happened...

"Disarm."

Thinking of this, Ilu took the initiative to disarm and changed from the iron cavalry form covered in frost back to the petite and delicate silver-haired girl she was before.

On the other side, after confirming with Himeko and others that Stelle was not in danger of life, Welt came to Ilu and paid her a special visit to express his concern.

"Miss Ilu, are you okay?"

"Well, the outer armor of the body was slightly damaged, and it will be fine after a period of rest."

Ilu smiled and waved her hand, indicating that she was fine.

Because the Grammer Empire took into account the battlefield environment near a super star when designing the Snow Fyrefly Armor, it has achieved the ultimate in radiation resistance and heat insulation performance and will not let it self-ignite easily.

Although the antimatter ray released by the Doomsday Beast is powerful, it only destroyed part of the outer armor of the Snow Fyrefly and did not hurt her body.

"I'm a little ashamed to say that I encountered an antimatter army coming to reinforce on the way here. I had to spend some time dealing with them."

Welt looked into the girl's eyes, which were as beautiful as fireflies, and said in a serious tone, "If you weren't here, March 7th and Stelle would probably be in danger. I sincerely thank you on their behalf. If you need anything, please tell me before the train leaves the space station."

At this point, the man took a deep breath, as if he had made some kind of decision in his heart, and continued, "In addition, I also have a personal request. I don't know if you would be willing to agree."

"Of course."

Ilu nodded gently.

She rarely saw Uncle Yang take the initiative to ask others in the game before. Since Uncle Yang was willing to speak, she naturally had no reason to refuse.

"That is... can you let me see how you transform? That silver mecha... well, actually, I don't want to just see it; I'm planning to make an animation about mecha, and I'm just lacking inspiration in this aspect."

Welt's tone was a little awkward and reserved, as if he had returned to his youth.

"Uh, Uncle Yang..."

"What's wrong?"

"Didn't Himeko and the others tell you that after my physical examination is done, I also plan to get in the Express and go with you? We will be companions in the future."

"..."

Hearing this, Welt fell into silence, and the two of them just stared at each other. The atmosphere became extremely awkward, and even the crows had to caw twice.

After a few seconds, he raised his glasses and turned his head to look at the Express crew who were helping Stelle. His tone returned to its previous mature and steady state: "Well, this is a good thing. It seems that we will have a long time to get along in the future, so there is no need to rush."

"The people from the space station will come to clean up the mess soon. This is not a suitable place to talk. Let's go back with March 7th and the others."

"Well."

----------------

At the same time, in the real world.

"Oh no, my wife doesn't seem to know how to save me. What should I do!"

Seeing that even the most reliable Ilu couldn't stop the Stellaron that was about to go berserk, Jiahun's heart couldn't help but tighten. She clicked the mouse nervously, trying to get the power to deny the game from outside the game.

Although they knew that the protagonist would not die, many viewers in the livestream room were also immersed in the game plot with her because the tense atmosphere created by the cutscenes was too good.

They were anxious with Ilu, who was completely at a loss on the screen, and the barrage in the livestream room became frantic:

[If I die, won’t my wife be a widow?]

[Don’t do that kind of thing!]

[Woo woo woo! Wife, please fly away quickly. Don’t worry about me; I’m afraid I’ll accidentally hit you when I die.]

[Don’t worry, if the protagonist dies, Ilu will accompany us to die together, and no one present will survive.]

Just when the fluctuations of the Stellaron became stronger and more intense, and there was a danger of explosion at any time, a familiar figure appeared on the screen.

"Thank you for your hard work, Miss Ilu. Leave the rest to me."

"Wow! I didn't expect Uncle Yang to come to the rescue!"

When she saw the person arriving, Jiahun's eyes lit up, but she was soon stunned: "Huh? Wait a minute, why did he raise his cane?"

"Bang!"

As Welt's dark red cane hit the gray-haired girl's head, the most serious crisis currently facing the train group was also declared over at that moment.

It seemed that everything had been restored to good, and it didn't cost much.

[Gently wake up the sleeping Jiahun~]

[Young people have good sleep quality and fall asleep as soon as they lie down.]

[Fortunately, it was Uncle Yang who knocked me. If it was Ilu, I really couldn't get up from sleep.]

After glancing at the comment section in the livestream room, Jiahun ignored the netizens' booing. She continued to look at the screen in front of her, waiting for the awakening of the Trailblazer.

"Are you awake?"

As the screen lit up again, Trailblazer slowly opened her eyes. Jiahun suddenly heard a familiar voice. As the camera slowly lifted, a pair of eyes as beautiful as fireflies came into view.

At this moment, she was lying in the other's arms, staring straight into Ilu's eyes.

"Ah! You...she, she, she is holding me..."

Outside the screen, Jiahun's face had turned as red as an apple that was about to ripen, and her language module was overloaded; she couldn't even organize a complete sentence.

[If I'm not mistaken, Jiahun is red.]

[Damn it, who wouldn't be red? I'd be red too.]

[Fuck, why was it Danheng who woke me up? I also want Ilu's wake-up service!]

[Jiahun a lesbian?]

[Jiahun: It's broken, it's coming for me.]

[Ah, it's her occupational disease again.]

"Ahhh!!!"

Realizing that her embarrassment seemed to be seen by everyone in the livestream room, Jiahun screamed like a groundhog. She picked up the pillow beside her and buried her face in it, looking furious and mad after being exposed.

"I didn't! Don't talk nonsense!"

---

Chapter 23: Path of Remembrance

Stelle felt like she had a very long dream.

In the dream, there seemed to be a voice constantly calling her, allowing her to see many strange scenes she had never seen before. Although she had woken up at this moment, those scenes were still deeply imprinted in her mind.

It was a planet covered by ice and snow all year round. There was a group of companions whose faces could not be seen clearly gathered around the warm fire with her. Although she didn't know what they were talking about, she felt particularly at ease.

At the end of that dream, she saw a lonely figure who went against everyone else, and no one was willing to follow.

That person is——

"Ilu?"

Waking up from her dream, Stelle could not help but blink in confusion when she saw a familiar person close to her face.

"It's me~"

Noticing Stelle's confused gaze, Ilu smiled and waved at her. Such a close-up beauty attack made the gray-haired girl a little overwhelmed for a moment. She blushed and looked away.

Not far away was a group of staff members recording some data around medical equipment.

Seeing this peaceful scene, she immediately recalled what happened before she fainted.

If she remembered correctly, she was hit by the Doomsday Beast's ray, and then Ilu came to block the subsequent attack for me...

"Did we win?"

"Yes, we are the winners in the end. The threat of the Antimatter Legion has been lifted; you can rest assured."

"Are you injured?"

"It's just that my body is slightly damaged; it's nothing serious. Just take a short rest."

Ilu looked at Stelle, who was rubbing her eyes and sitting up but was not fully awake yet, and said with some concern in a gentle tone: "How is it? Is there any discomfort in your body?"

"Well... my head is a little dizzy, but nothing else."

While answering Ilu's question, the gray-haired girl carefully checked her body. She quickly recalled the part hit by the Doomsday Beast's antimatter ray in her mind, and she subconsciously reached out and touched her chest.

The fingertips touched a layer of extremely soft silk fabric, and the unfamiliar touch made Stelle slightly stunned. She looked down and found that she had changed into new clothes without knowing when.

"Ah..."

Stelle opened her mouth in surprise.

Whose clothes are these?

"Don't worry, I changed them for you. Your clothes were partially damaged in the battle with the Doomsday Beast and are currently being repaired by Ms. Herta."

As if she could see what Stelle was thinking, the silver-haired girl sitting beside the bed explained with a smile: "As for the clothes you are wearing, since our sizes are not compatible, what you are wearing now is what Sister Himeko brought from the train."

"!!!"

Hearing this, Stelle's little face instantly turned red. She buried her face in the snow-white duvet beside her and made a mosquito-like sound that was almost inaudible:

"Ilu, I think I'm a little sleepy. Can I rest for a while..."

"Well, you rest for a while; I won't disturb you."

Looking at the gray-haired girl's interesting reaction, Ilu shook the mobile phone in her hand and said to her with a smile: "I'll leave first. If you have anything, you can contact me by mobile phone."

...

After leaving the lounge where Stelle was, Ilu returned to her room in the containment cabin.

"You're back?"

As soon as she entered the room, Ilu saw Herta sitting on a chair, seemingly reading the experimental reports submitted by the staff on a tablet computer.

Seeing Ilu come in, Herta put down the tablet and pointed to the test equipment similar to an incubator beside her: "Lie down; I'll check you again."

"Are you in such a hurry?"

Listening to Herta's urging, Ilu took off her clothes slowly, walked to the incubator, and waited for Herta to complete the debugging and preparation of the equipment.

Taking care of patients is not an easy job. She had originally planned to rest for a while, but now it seemed that Herta was in a hurry to test her and did not intend to let her rest at all.

"Yeah, who told you to hide so many secrets in your body? If I have to stand by and not do research, I can't stand it."

Herta's tone sounded very excited. It could be seen that she was looking forward to what results this experiment would yield.

To give Ilu a more comprehensive physical examination, Herta borrowed several devices from other places, which is why she was not there when the space station was attacked just now.

After all, this is an interstellar jump. If the communication signal is not cut off, there will be problems.

This special equipment, similar to a culture chamber, was borrowed from other members of the Society. It is specially used to detect genetic defects of organisms that ordinary equipment cannot detect at all.

In order to obtain this culture chamber, Herta spent a lot of effort. After all, the "creation experiment" currently being conducted by an expert in the field of biology also needs the help of this equipment. It was not until she heard that she was willing to take the initiative to share the experimental results that the cold-blooded woman was willing to lend her this equipment.

"Now you know how difficult it is for me to borrow this equipment, and I have to record the experimental results for others. If you don’t have a secret that is no less significant than that little guy's, I am not interested in spending more time with you, after all, I hate spending too much time on useless things."

Herta couldn’t help complaining.

"Then can this device detect which Aeon my power comes from?"

"You mean the Power of Path that froze the entire corridor into a lump of ice, and even when the staff used flamethrowers to burn it, it couldn't melt?"

"Yes."

Ilu nodded gently. At present, she didn't know much about her body, and she might not know as much as Herta.

At least she had to know which Aeon's power she used, so that she wouldn't call the wrong Aeon's name when she encountered a crisis.

"Based on the experimental data I have collected so far, it may be the blessing of 'Fu Li.' This is also the main reason why I want to study you carefully. You are completely different from the Memokeepers I have seen before."

"Is it really them?"

Hearing Herta's answer, Ilu couldn't help but fall into deep thought. This was similar to the answer she had guessed. She had unknowingly walked on the Path of "Remembrance."

The belief in which Aeon had been confirmed, so the question she cared most about now was—when did "Fu Li" notice her?

"Well, it's very likely. You know, on my way to Ruan Mei to borrow equipment, I almost forgot about you several times."

"To tamper with other people's memories and read other people's thoughts, this is something that only 'Remembrance' can do. If it weren't for the fact that other aspects of the doll's body were not affected, I would have thought it was a Pathstrider of the 'Terminus..."

Halfway through, Herta picked up the tablet on the side, quickly entered a code on it, and then said to Ilu:

"Okay, the equipment has been debugged. You can close your eyes and lie down. If you feel uncomfortable, tell me immediately, and I will stop the experiment."

"Wait a minute, I'll send a text message to Stelle..."

---

Chapter 24: You Are a Bit Mixed

"Ahhh! How come she changed my clothes? Now I can see everything!!"

In the livestream room, with 200,000 people watching online, Jiahun who was going through the main storyline had a red face throughout the entire process, just like Sanzang passing through the Kingdom of Daughters, looking as if she wanted to see but didn’t dare to. This caused a burst of ridicule from the barrage:

[It's just the plot of opening up a new game; how come Jiahun made it seem like playing a galgame?]

[This is a beautiful girl love game! (Convinced)]

[She can actually play this game like this for free; why do I feel like I'm losing out?]

[Watching others have fun is more uncomfortable, right?]

"Ahem! I just brought in Stelle's thoughts just now. I'm not that easy to conquer. You guys think too much."

Looking at the everyone's response in the livestream room, Jiahun coughed twice to hide her embarrassment. Although her pretty face was slightly red at this time, she remained stubborn. She would rather die than admit her gaffe and attributed it to the effect of the show.

As long as this girl doesn't admit it, you can't do anything to me~

As for whether she was moved...

Don't get me wrong; she was just a little moved!

As a creator, how could she let her rhythm be led by the viewers in the livestream room? This mistake must be corrected as soon as possible to maintain her dignity as a streamer!

"Okay, don't get led by the rhythm of the viewers. Let's get back to the topic and take a look at our current main task..."

After Ilu left the room, Jiahun took a deep breath, then opened the task interface seriously and began to read the task introduction in a rhythmic manner. Now she's trying to bring the viewers in the livestream room back to her own rhythm.

Facts have proven that her approach is effective. Except for a few old viewers who had bought houses and lived in Jiahun's livestream room, the attention of others was quickly attracted back by her good reading, which had no punctuation marks. The viewers was instantly filled with question marks:

[How did you punctuate? Why do I feel so uncomfortable listening to it?]

[The Chinese teacher has found a genius.]

[Good reading.]

[Jiahun is diverting attention again.]

"Hehe~"

Looking at the barrage sent by her fans, Jiahun smiled. Just as she was controlling the Trailblazer to turn around in the room, a prompt suddenly popped up on the screen.

"Ding~ You received a message."

The sender's avatar was a silver-haired girl making a "(＾－＾)V" gesture. Looking at this familiar face, Jiahun recognized at a glance that it was a message from Ilu.

"Hey, my wife sent me a message; wait a moment."

Realizing that this seemed to be part of the main plot, Jiahun immediately picked up the mouse and clicked in. What came into view was a plain white chat interface.

"Ilu: Are you there?"

"Ilu: Sorry, Herta has something to ask me, and my phone may be turned off later."

"Ilu: I'm afraid you'll worry, so I'm telling you in advance."

"Ilu: Sister Himeko is in the main control cabin. You can go to her after you have a good rest. She will help you answer some questions you want to know."

"——The other party is offline."

Seeing Ilu's meticulous care for the Trailblazer, Jiahun couldn't help but be stunned, and the comments in the livestream room suddenly erupted.

[Too magical! Is there really a meticulous girl in reality?]

[I sent her a message, but she never replied.]

[You're screwed; there's usually no chance.]

[Woo, woo, woo, I also want a perfect girl like Ilu to accompany me!]

[Me too, but I'm more lenient; men are also OK.]

[? ? ?]

"Who is Herta... Oh, I remember; she's the real owner of this space station. I learned about it from Asta before."

As a gaming expert, Jiahun naturally wouldn't get involved in other people's emotional problems. After glancing at the comments and confirming that there was no weird rhythm in the livestream room, she continued with the main storyline and went to the main control cabin to find Himeko according to Ilu's prompts.

----------------

Two system hours later——

"Tsk, tsk, it's really rare. According to the indicators given by the biological culture device, it's a miracle that you can survive until now. It's worth my effort to borrow this equipment from Ruan Mei."

In a secret laboratory in the containment section of the Herta Space Station, a beautiful doll girl with long, smooth light brown hair and a gorgeous black and purple dress walked around a device similar to a culture chamber, holding a brand-new experimental report in her hand.

She looked very happy, as if she had encountered something very interesting.

If she weren't in front of Ilu, she might have danced on the spot.

"What's wrong, Ms. Herta? Is there something wrong?"

As the hatch of the culture chamber slowly opened, the naked silver-haired girl sat up wetly. She picked up a towel beside her to cover her chest and cast a puzzled and curious look at the Herta.

"I just studied your Iron Knight Transformation Sheath. It is derived from 'Propagation' like with the other Glamoth Iron Cavalry Knights, but you are more special in comparison."

Looking into Ilu's eyes, Herta slowly said, "How should I put it? Your composition is a bit complicated..."

"I don't know what those who created you were thinking. In order to offset the erosion of 'Propagation', they dared to do such a bold act. They edited the characteristics of 'Nihility' in your genes."

"I don't know if there is a problem with the genes of all Glamoth Iron Knights or if only you have this problem, but this characteristic makes your 'existence' continue to disappear and gradually become a part of 'Nihility.' Others will also lose their memory because of the loss of your 'existence.'"

"Nihility?"

After hearing Herta's explanation, Ilu was stunned, as if a storm had been set off in her heart.

---

Chapter 25: New Account, Don't Do It

Oh my god, how could still be related to Black Marshal?!

If she were really asked to choose a Path, she would not choose "Nihility," even if it was powerful.

You should know that those who step into the Path of "Nihility" will die or be disabled, or they are dying or on the road to death, and no one will have a good ending.

If Black Marshal could hear her appeal, he would probably say this to her: "New account, don't do it."

"Heh, if that's all, it's not surprising. After all, as geniuses, we have more or less encountered experimental subjects that will self-destruct, and similar experiments have been conducted by anyone."

Herta shook the experimental report in her hand with excitement that could not be concealed in her tone, and her eyes looking at Ilu became hot.

"But here comes the most interesting part. A large amount of 'Remebrance' that came from nowhere fill the 'existence' you lost. They are fighting against the erosion of 'Nihility' for you, and the self-destruction brought by 'Nihility' is fighting against the replication and differentiation of 'Propagation.'

"Remembrance ," "Nihility," and "Propagation"—the three major forces of Path are entangled together and have reached a perfect balance in your body. If you lack any of them, you will die."

"There is no doubt that you survived in the end. I didn't expect you to give me such a big surprise. Maybe I should call you a person of 'Nihility' filled with 'Remebrance.'"

After saying that, Herta walked to the tablet on the table, scanned the experimental report in her hand, and sent it to the beacon mailbox of a genius biologist. "I believe Ruan Mei will be very satisfied with today's experimental report. Her research is currently related to 'Propagation.' With this experimental report, I believe her research will be more successful."

"Ah?"

Ilu was dumbfounded.

What the hell, three Paths?! No, was she playing as a landlord here?

When Ilu learned that there were three Paths fighting in her body, she was shocked and speechless. She looked down at her right arm and recalled the experience of fighting the Doomsday Beast before.

"According to Herta, the mysterious power I used in the battle should be the 'Remembrance' in my body. Those blue scars may be the 'Nihility' revealed after a large amount of 'Remembrance' is consumed.

Once too much 'Remebrance' is used, 'Nihility' will prevail, causing the balance to be broken. This is something she must pay attention to at present.

For other people, the Power of the Path may be just an MP bar, and even if it is consumed too much, it can be replenished quickly.

However, her HP bar and MP bar are fused together. If the power of the Path is used too much, it is uncertain whether she will be alive at that time.

"Today's experiment is almost done. The harvest is not small. I am very satisfied... If you are willing to stay in the space station, I will talk to Himeko and others and let you stay.

"In addition, I take back what I said during the first physical test. You have the gift of 'Remembrance.' This evidence alone is enough to prove that it is possible to do that thing. I apologize for my previous lack of rigor."

Herta turned off the tablet. Although she had been busy for more than a dozen system hours without a break, this puppet body did not make her feel tired.

According to the schedule, there are still many things to do next, and it seems that there is no time for her to rest.

In order to verify in which galaxy the Swarm King Sting killed by Ilu died, if she has time, she will contact Ruan Mei and Screwlum to start the "Simulated Universe: Universal Swarm Disaster" project to simulate the universe to find out.

"Himeko sent me a message half a system hour ago to let me go and meet the little guy. I have to go."

"Well, bye."

Looking at Herta's departing figure, Ilu retracted her gaze. She tried to call on the power of "Remembrance," and it quickly responded, the azure light shining in her palm.

Although she could not feel the slightest cold, she knew very well in her heart that once she released all the power of path hidden in her body, perhaps the entire Herta space station and the nearby Azure Star would be frozen by her.

"Although it can be replenished by itself, it is still necessary to use it sparingly..."

After taking back the power of "Remembrance" into her body again, Ilu stood up and left the incubator. She took a towel to wipe her wet body, and then changed into the clothes prepared by Herta for her—a gorgeous dark blue dress, which was said to be very suitable for her temperament.

"Right!"

Suddenly remembering something, Ilu hurriedly picked up the mobile phone on the table and opened the message interface.

Sure enough, there were many unread messages in the mailbox, and she immediately responded to them one by one.

Himeko and Stelle were currently chatting in the main control cabin, Welt was helping Asta deal with the aftermath, and March 7th and Den Heng returned to the train to contact the train conductor Pam and arrange a room for her and Stelle.

If nothing unexpected happens next, she will follow Stelle on the train to the next destination—Jarilo VI.

"Well... what a pity, I still can't enter the game, and the forum hasn't been updated."

After replying to the messages, Ilu tried to open [Honkai: Star Rail] again. As expected, she still couldn't successfully enter the game. She could only see various official announcements and comments from players below.

Perhaps because the plot she is experiencing now has not yet completed the first major version, the comments in the game community are basically all stopped at the moment of the server opening.

There is a lot of messy fake news in it, and there is no useful information at all, which is not as much as she knows.

"It seems that I can't count on it for a while."

Putting the phone back into the pocket hanging on her waist, Ilu turned and left the room, walking toward the main control cabin where Stelle and Himeko were.

----

Chapter 26: Don't Knock on Doors When You Have Nothing to Do

At the same time, in the real world.

"Hmm... there seems to be nothing here. Let's go see Himeko."

Jiahun controlled the Trailblazer to walk around the room, looked through several triggerable texts, and didn’t find anything new, so she decided to continue to push the main line.

[Don't you want to find Ilu?]

Seeing that Jiahun was going to find Himeko, some fans in the livestream room immediately expressed different opinions.

Although the new character Ilu did not have the foreshadowing of the previous characters in the Honkai series, her highlight performance in the plot has indeed attracted a large number of fans. At this time, many people in Jiahun's livestream room have become Ilu's devoted supporters, and they can't wait to see more content about her.

[But Ilu didn't even give her the address. How can I find her?]

[If you can't find her, it's a waste of time. Let's go through the plot. I want to see Teacher Himeko earlier.]

[Ilu said that she was with Herta. The location should be in the containment section. The room that March 7 took us through before might be it.]

Of course, there are people who like a character, and there are naturally those who don’t. There are also many comments in the livestream room that hold opposing opinions. The two sides soon had a friendly exchange in Jiahun's livestream room.

Well, this friendliness does not need to be quoted. The audience willing to follow Jiahun's slow pace for such a long time and stay in the livestream room are basically people with high tolerance. They will not curse because others have different opinions. Even if there are some people with bad tempers, they will be cleared away by the room manager in an instant.

The room manager is like this: the streamer only needs to chat and play games, but they, the room managers, have to consider a lot. It is not easy to identify those with ulterior motives from hundreds of comments.

Jasmine, a well-known ship attendant and the "room manager" of Jiahun's livestream room, agreed with this.

"Since everyone said so, let's go take a look. If we don't see her, let's go find Sister Himeko."

Jiahun quickly glanced at the livestream room's bullet screen and saw that nearly half of the people supported going to the containment section to take a look at Ilu's location. She simply opened the map and teleported to the vicinity of the containment section.

"By the way, which room is it? I don't seem to have any impression..."

"Ah, it turns out to be here. I'll go and take a look now."

Under the guidance of the comments, she quickly came to a room and controlled the Trailblazer to approach the closed door.

Until she got close to a certain distance, Jiahun saw a faint white light flashing on the door, which meant that the door could be interacted with.

"1. Knock on the door"

"2. Leave"

"Huh? You can actually interact... knock on the door?"

After clicking on the interaction, such an option appeared on Jiahun's screen. After seeing this scene, the fans in the livestream room couldn't wait and urged her to knock on the door quickly.

[Fuck, it actually works!]

[Quick! Knock on the door.]

"Okay, I'll try."

Jiahun chose to knock on the door, and the gray-haired girl on the screen reached out and knocked.

After waiting for a few seconds, the door did not move, but the interaction options changed:

"1. Knock on the door again"

"2. Leave"

This time, there was no need for a comment to remind her. Jiahun immediately clicked to knock on the door again, but this time there was still no response.

"Strange, is there no one inside?"

Just when Jiahun was about to reach out and knock on the door for the third time, a text message popped up on her screen, which immediately attracted the attention of her and everyone in the livestream room.

"Ding~ You received a message."

"Hey, why is it a message from Himeko?"

Seeing that the sender's avatar was Himeko, Jiahun couldn't help but blink in confusion. Out of curiosity, she picked up the mouse and clicked on the text message.

"Himeko: Herta just asked me to tell you a message. 'Stop typing. Are you annoying me'?"

"Himeko: She also said that she will test you after she is done with her work and asked you to wash your body and wait for her."

"Himeko:?"

"Himeko: Did you disturb Ms. Herta's experiment?"

Jiahun: "..."

Oh no, Herta is really in there.

Not only that, the other party actually reported her to Himeko.

[? ? ?]

Seeing this scene, the barrage in the livestream room was instantly filled with question marks.

No one could have thought that the program effect would come so suddenly, catching people off guard.

[Hahaha, Herta taddled to Himeko]

[Laughing so hard, I burst out laughing.]

[I couldn't hold it back when I saw the question mark Himeko posted.]

[Himeko: I really admire you.]

[Test me! Don't just test Ilu, test me!]

"If I had known earlier, I would have listened to Ilu and gone straight to Himeko."

Jiahun muttered to herself as she opened the map.

Soon, she was teleported to the main control cabin through the boundary streamering and saw Himeko from a distance. The latter seemed to have noticed her arrival, and before Jiahun could get closer, she entered the plot dialogue:

"You're here."

"I asked March and the others to stay near the train to take care of it."

"Ilu should have told you about the Doomsday Beast. If you have any questions, you can ask me at any time."

"Fortunately, Himeko didn't mention our rash behavior just now; otherwise, I might be embarrassed to death..."

Jiahun clicked on the dialogue options while complaining to the fans in the livestream room.

Not long after, she asked all the questions she could about the Astral Express and adjusted the time to one and a half system hours later, waiting for the arrival of Herta.

---

"It's almost time; the person we are waiting for should be here soon... Oh, it's here."

Looking down at the time on her phone, Himeko glanced at the beautiful doll girl with long, smooth light brown hair and a gorgeous black and purple dress walking toward them not far away.

"Hi, Himeko~"

Herta lazily greeted Himeko, then looked at the gray-haired girl standing beside her, examining her with an inquiring look.

"The person who knocked on the door just now, was it you?"

"Yes..."

Frightened by the sudden appearance of Herta, Stelle subconsciously took a half step back. She always felt that the eyes of the doll girl in front of her were very dangerous, especially when she stared at her chest.

For some reason, she had the illusion that she would be tied up in the laboratory by the other party and used as a guinea pig.

Thinking of this, the gray-haired girl couldn't help but shudder all over.

----

Chapter 27: Herta: This is a Stable Start

"Don't be afraid, little one. I'm not a grudge-bearing person; I won't do anything to you."

Seeing Stelle's reaction, Herta couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, appearing very interested in the girl in front of her. She quickly stepped forward and approached Stelle. "Well... it seems the fusion is quite perfect. There have been so many surprises in the past few days."

"Let me introduce you. This is the true owner of the space station, member No. 83 of the 'Genius Society,' Herta."

Himeko smiled as she introduced Herta to Stelle, but Herta didn't seem satisfied. She waved her hand, a look of disdain on her face. "Just introduce me properly! Why mention the Society? I have so many extraordinary achievements; which one is not better than #83?"

"Genius... Society?"

Hearing this, Stelle was slightly taken aback.

What kind of weird name is that? Is she the only one who finds it funny?

"Hehe, laugh if you want. Do you think I like the name given to me by that old devil Zandar?"

It was obvious that Herta had long been dissatisfied with the title of Genius Society member No. 83. If she had to choose one of her many nicknames to discard, she would probably toss the Society's business card into the trash without hesitation.

"Now the 'Stellaron' is this kid?"

"Yeah."

"Then I have to take a closer look."

...

"Hehe, another strange thing. To contain this unactivated Stellaron and save the Azure Star from disaster, I built an entire space station..."

"Some people go back to basics and use this little one's body to get it done."

"The most important thing is that the 'Stellaron' is still very stable in her body."

"Yeah, this little one’s physique is really strange, almost comparable to that little girl."

Listening to Herta and Himeko openly discussing her, Stelle wanted to refute that she was not a little one, but when she heard the second half of Herta's words, she couldn't help but pause. The question that came out of her mouth was, "Who... is it, Ilu?"

"Yes, it's her."

Herta nodded and was about to say something more when she accidentally spotted the silver-haired girl walking in the distance. The corner of her mouth curled up slightly. "Oh, what a coincidence; she came just as I mentioned her."

Two perfect experimental subjects had appeared in her small space station at the same time—a great blessing for her. Ruan Mei would surely be envious upon learning this.

Hehe, I've never seen such a wonderful start. Please cheer for her and applaud.

The great Ms. Herta not only possesses outstanding intelligence but is also as charming as any genius.

As long as one of the two little ones is willing to stay, she will probably never be bored in the space station. Even if they don't plan to stay, the Astral Express will return to the space station from time to time, making it easy for her to arrange meetings with them for research.

"Hello~"

Ilu approached with a smile, her gaze sweeping across Stelle and Himeko's faces before finally landing on Herta's. "Hello everyone, I hope I'm not interrupting your business discussion?"

"Hehe, it's not a serious matter, and adding you to the mix is just right."

Seeing her arrive, Herta waved at Ilu and then spoke to everyone: "The space station is preparing to launch some new research projects. I have found funding but currently lack relevant researchers. I wonder what you two think?"

"Ah?"

After hearing what Herta said, Stelle blinked in confusion.

What does she mean?

But I haven't done any research, so how can I be a researcher in the space station? I can't be the one being studied, right?

"Got it, Stelle."

Noticing the gray-haired girl's puzzled expression, Himeko understood that Stelle didn't grasp Herta's implication and took the initiative to explain: "She means she wants you to stay in the space station, and she'll ask you to cooperate when conducting experiments."

"No, be precise!"

Hearing Himeko's straightforward statement of her purpose, Herta quickly corrected her. "You can stay for a while. The research project is short-term. I don't want you to stay in the space station forever. When I finish the research or the project is canceled, you will have to leave."

As for why the project might be canceled, don’t ask. If you ask, it might be blecause she lost interest halfway through.

It's her ever-changing interests that lead to the constant updates of the simulated universe. She always longs for the unknown, which is why she remains full of enthusiasm for scientific research.

"This..."

Stelle lowered her head and thought seriously for a moment before looking at Ilu, who seemed to be pondering as well. The latter noticed her gaze, smiled, and winked at her before addressing Herta: "Sorry, Ms. Herta, but I plan to get on the train and go with Himeko and the others."

"Oh?"

After hearing Ilu's reply, Herta felt a twinge of disappointment but didn't show it. She looked at the gray-haired girl, who appeared to be in a dilemma. "Is that so? I'm not surprised... What about you, little one?"

After hesitating for a while, Stelle finally gave the same answer: "Well, I also plan to go with Sister Himeko."

"You want to go too?"

Glancing at the silver-haired girl standing aside, Herta seemed to realize something. She turned her head to Stelle. "You can express your own ideas. You don't have to rely on others' opinions. This is your future, and you should choose it for yourself."

"Yes, Ms. Herta, this is my choice."

Stelle nodded seriously, speaking firmly. "I think I can't stay here forever. I will leave sooner or later."

It's not just because Ilu wants to board the train; it's also because she wants to see a broader world. Perhaps the images she saw in her dreams deeply moved her. She wants to experience more adventures and meet more people and things.

"Well... okay. Remember to come back often."

Having confirmed Stelle's true thoughts, Herta naturally wouldn't interfere with her choice. She sighed and said to the two of them, "Make an appointment in advance, find Asta or Alan, and then we can conduct research together slowly."

...

"I... should I stay?"

Watching Herta turn to leave, Jiahun couldn't help but feel a little lonely. Although the camera didn't zoom in on her, it didn't stop the viewers in the live broadcast room from analyzing this plot:

[The arrogant female ghost wanted to have two relationships simultaneously, but it ended up promoting the two beauties to live happily together for a hundred years. I want to recite a poem in this situation.]

[Damn, what is the last sentence of the person above? How can even the barrages be so poetic these days?]

[Herta: You are a female ghost; your whole family is female ghosts.]

[Caring for scientists is everyone's responsibility.]

[I'm laughing to death, there has never been such a wonderful start... and then it died so quickly, and no one stayed.]

"Wait, Herta seems to be asking us to go to her office."

As the plot dialogue ended, Jiahun suddenly received a text message from Herta, which said she should go to her office to find her.

"Herta: It was a bit inconvenient with so many people just now. While I’m still a little interested in you, feel free to ask any questions you want. No one will be able to answer you in the future."

-------

Chapter 28: Simulated Universe

"Hey, you're finally here."

As soon as Stelle walked into Herta's office, she saw Herta standing next to a huge device emitting blue light, waving at her. "Come on, little guy, come over here~"

"Sorry, I kept you waiting..."

"What are you talking about? I haven't moved since I stood here."

"Huh?"

"The body you see is a remote-controlled puppet I made. There are many of them in this space station. I transfer to wherever I am needed."

The Herta puppet looked into the eyes of the gray-haired girl and said in a brisk tone, "Okay, before we get down to business, I'll answer a few questions for you as agreed. Whatever you want to know, just ask."

"Uh... Actually, there’s no problem. Himeko and the others have told me everything."

"No other questions?"

"Yes."

"Okay, let's not keep you in suspense. Let's talk about the real reason I invited you for this time."

After that, Herta turned and looked at the huge device with blue light behind her. "It's like this. My colleagues and I are working on a big project recently..."

-----------------

"Ding--"

At the same time, Ilu who had just returned to the containment chamber laboratory suddenly received a text message from Herta.

"Herta: I have a very important project here that may require your participation. It could solve the problems that bother you. Are you willing to join this Project?"

"Yes?"

Seeing the message from Herta, Ilu was slightly stunned. She was curious about what problem Herta couldn't solve that required her help. Thinking of this, she edited a message and sent it over, soon receiving a reply from Herta:

"Ilu: What is the Project? Can you tell me about it?"

"Herta: It's like this. My colleagues and I are working on a big project recently. If it succeeds, we may be able to solve the ultimate problem that has troubled us for thousands of Amber Ages and crack the mystery of the Aeon in one fell swoop."

"Well... Herta wants me to join the simulated universe?"

After reading this message, Ilu guessed what Herta's so-called big project was. She held her chin with one hand and fell into deep thought.

This proposal was quite tempting for her. If possible, she hoped to find something in the simulated universe that might be useful.

"Herta: We call this Project the metaverse, or the simulated universe. The simulation of the Swarm Disaster is also part of this plan. I think it is necessary to invite you to join."

"Herta: Oh, by the way, Stelle has also joined this Project."

...

"Is it necessary to hesitate about this kind of thing?"

"Well, I still want to think about it again..."

"Think about it! They are Aeons, such magical existences. The mystery about them cannot be explained in a few words. Don't you want to solve it?"

"But I have nothing to do with them?"

Listening to Herta's description, Stelle hesitated.

Herta's request was not excessive. She just asked her to return to the space station regularly to conduct tests related to the simulated universe.

However, she had decided to board the Astral Express after all. What if Herta suddenly sent her a message asking her to participate in a test during their trip? What should she do? She couldn't let everyone return with her.

"By the way, I have good news for you. Ilu has also joined the Project." As if sensing her hesitation, Herta took the initiative to reveal this piece of important news.

"Really?" Hearing this, Stelle, who was still hesitating, slowly looked up at the doll girl in front of her. If there were two people participating in the Project, then she truly had no need to worry. Sister Himeko and Ms. Herta had a good relationship. More importantly, the other participant was Ilu...

"How could it be false? Why would I lie to you?" Herta placed her hands on her hips, looked up into Stelle's eyes, and said in a brisk tone, "As long as you are willing to join, she will also join the Project. At that time, some of my simulation experiments will require you two to complete them together. It depends on whether you are willing to accept it."

To ensure that both of them would join the "Simulated Universe" Project, she deliberately staggered the invitations to Stelle and Ilu. As for whether she could attract them with the content of the simulated universe, Ms. Herta was confident about this.

What? You say I am making a fortune out of nothing? Humph, this is not called making something for nothing; this is called wisdom.

Ordinary people are destined to be unable to understand a genius like me; only time will prove everything.

-----------------

"Simulated Universe?"

Seeing the new gameplay recommended by Herta, Jiahun couldn't help but blink curiously. "Does anyone know what this is?"

It sounded like a special mode of gameplay. Could it be something similar to the Abyss?

Herta just mentioned that only Ilu and she had joined the simulated universe Project in the Express group.

Since Ilu had also joined this Project, there was a high probability that she would have the opportunity to appear later in the gameplay. Maybe she could play as Ilu's real game character in the future.

[I just played it; it's a bit like a pigeon, and you can get a lot of buffs.]

[It's quite interesting. I just turned over Ilu's event card in it, and it directly gave me a lot of blessings of Rememrance. It's fun to play.]

[Oh my god, Ilu is in it? Then I have to try it!]

[Is there a real Ilu?]

[It seems that there’s no update yet. I heard someone say that Ilu will be added after the Xianzhou plot. I don't know if that's true or not.]

Glancing at the comments in the Livestream room, Jia Hun became more interested in this new gameplay.

"It sounds fun. I'll give it a try."

Soon, she followed the Herta's tutorial and entered the first round of the simulated universe test.

Then...

"I was fooled. I didn't see Ilu. I won't play anymore."

When she learned that she could only encounter Ilu's event card after unlocking the "Remembrance" blessing, Jia Hun decisively gave up the idea of continuing to play and exited the simulated universe.

Although this gameplay called "simulated universe" was very novel, she now just wanted to get on the train with Ilu and go to the next planet to start a thrilling adventure.

"Leaving now? Do you want to try the beta version of the simulated universe?"

"No, I'm going to find Ilu. Bye~"

Ignoring Herta's request to stay, Jiahun controlled the Trailblazer and returned to the support cabin. From a distance, she saw the Astral Express train parked there. March 7th and Dan Heng were standing nearby, seemingly waiting for her and Ilu to arrive.

"The way"

"To celebrate"

"I'll be waiting"

"Till we make it..."

At the same time, an ethereal and distant male humming sounded in her headphones. The melody was extremely catchy, and in an instant, Jiahun and the people in the livestream room were immersed in this sad atmosphere.

[I've listened to it once, but I want to listen to it again.]

[This song is perfect for this scene.]

[It's a pity that it's too short. It would be nice if there were an extended version.]

"This... music is so nice."

It wasn't until the song gradually faded that Jiahun came back to her senses. She reluctantly controlled the Trailblazer to go to the Express crew and talk to them.

-----

hapter 29: Embark on the Journey

"Hi, Stelle, come here!"

Seeing the gray-haired girl peeking at her not far away, March 7th immediately waved at her. When Stelle walked up to her, she asked excitedly, "I heard that you are going to get on the train with us, right?"

"Yes."

Stelle nodded gently, thought about it, and decided to ask March 7th's opinion: "Do you want me to come?"

"Needless to say, when I heard that you and Ilu were going to get on the train, I was almost overjoyed!"

Hearing this, March 7th expressed her support without hesitation: "After all, we have been together for so long, and we can more or less understand each other's personalities. I feel that we should get along well, not to mention that we are of the same age. It is not easy to have these two points!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Dan Heng, who was in charge of guarding the train, came over. He nodded to March 7th and then looked at the gray-haired girl beside her:

"Stelle, as the guard of the train, I welcome you to join us. March 7th and I have already prepared your room for you. As long as you are willing to board the train, we can set off at any time."

"Thank you, everyone."

"Don't be so polite. In a sense, we are friends for life. According to the customs of Xianzhou, we can even become sworn brothers."

The pink-haired girl put her hands on her hips and smiled.

"March 7th, don't talk nonsense."

Listening to her chatter, Dan Heng raised his eyebrows slightly and couldn't help interrupting her: "In fact, there is no such custom in Xianzhou..."

"Ah, really? But that's what I read in the Xianzhou novels."

Hearing this, March 7th blinked in surprise and cast an inquiring look at Dan Heng: "Hearing you say that, it seems you know a lot about Xianzhou. Can you tell us about the customs of Xianzhou?"

Danheng: "..."

After a long silence, he said, "I haven't been to Xianzhou. This is what a friend of mine told me. If you want to listen, I can also tell you about it."

"Great!!!"

...

The three of them stood by the Astral Express Train and chatted for a while. Not long after, Stelle noticed a silver-haired figure walking from a distance.

"Is that... Ilu?"

The gray-haired girl opened her eyes wide when she saw the person coming, but before she could reach out and say hello, she noticed the suitcase Ilu was dragging behind her.

No, it was not an ordinary suitcase; it seemed to be a metal box containing a certain weapon, and it looked heavy.

Even with wheels installed, Ilu still had some difficulty dragging it.

"Hi, everyone!"

Noticing the gazes of the crowd, Ilu reached out and said hello.

Before leaving, Heita gave her a strange item and asked her to help take it to other planets for testing, so it took some time.

"I'll help you carry the things to the train."

Seeing the metal box she was dragging, Dan Heng took the initiative to speak.

"Yeah."

Ilu nodded lightly and then handed the box in her hand to him.

In order to avoid causing unnecessary panic in the space station, she did not plan to use the Snow Fyrefly Armor to carry things. It was really hard for one person to drag such a large metal box.

Since someone was willing to help, she would naturally accept it.

"What's in the box?" Stelle asked curiously.

"It's an old-fashioned kinetic sniper rifle, and it's also my only comrade."

Recalling the experience of flying to the dark red star with this sniper rifle without hesitation, Ilu looked at the metal box that Dan Heng was bringing on the train and said nostalgically, "Although it has completed its mission and retired gloriously long ago, I don't want to leave it in the space station."

Old friend, you have been with me all the way, and I will never treat you badly, even if you have no bullets to shoot now.

After Ilu returned to the train, she hung the sniper rifle on the wall of her bedroom and framed it. The retired heroes she had seen on TV did this.

Those unknown old soldiers may not have received medals awarded by their superiors, and no one knows what they have done, but those weapons that have been eroded by time are the best proof of their lifelong honor.

Oh... No, I'm still young; there's no need to be so sad.

Looking down at her body, which might not even be better than March 7th's, Ilu didn't know for a moment whether she should be classified as a thousand-year-old relic or a child who was born less than a few weeks ago.

Forget it; since she can't figure it out, she won't think about it.

Thinking this, Ilu simply stopped investigating.

She slowly raised her head, and her eyes, as beautiful as fireflies, swept across everyone's faces one by one. She smiled and said,

"Let's go, let's go find Himeko, and then get on the train together."

...

"How about it? Have you thought about it?"

"Yeah."

"If you've made up your mind, then follow me."

"Well! Finally, I can get on the train; I can't wait!"

As the lights above the Express lit up, March 7th stretched and boarded the train impatiently.

Listening to the whistle of the train about to start, Stelle seemed to remember something and looked back at the somewhat deserted space station behind her in a daze.

"Get on the train."

Himeko patted Stelle's shoulder gently and said softly.

"Uh..."

Just as Stelle was about to nod in agreement, she felt that her left wrist seemed to be grabbed by a cold little hand.

This is...

She was slightly stunned, then lowered her head to look to the side and met the eyes of the familiar silver-haired girl.

The deep pupils seemed to reflect the bright starry sky, flickering like fireflies, making her involuntarily focus on those eyes.

Noticing Stelle's gaze, Ilu smiled sweetly at her.

"Let's go, we'll go together."

---

Chapter 30: Is This Still Jarilo-VI?

"Hey! You two, stand still for a while."

As soon as they got on the train, before they could find a place to sit down and rest, they were stopped by a strange creature wearing a red train hat, dragging two furry ears, and looking like a puppet beast.

"Ah?"

Stelle was startled by the sound of the unknown creature. She looked around quickly but didn't see who said this.

"What are you looking at? Look down. I'm right in front of you."

Pam was furious when she saw the gray-haired girl looking around. Although she didn't show it, there was a hint of impatience in her tone.

What? Do you look down on the height of this train conductor?

Although I'm not very tall, I can still be seen by humans, right?!

"Uh, I'm so short. I can't see you at all. I almost stepped on you."

Looking down at the strange creature that resembled a mascot, Stelle subconsciously said what she thought.

As soon as she said it, she realized that she had said something wrong and quickly covered her mouth. "Ah, sorry, I accidentally told the truth. I'm so sorry!"

She doesn't know why. She didn't intend to say it, but she couldn't control her desire to complain.

"Well, is this the conductor..."

Ilu also lowered her head and carefully looked at the creature in front of her, which was only half her height. She seemed to have come to some conclusion and turned to the gray-haired girl beside her.

"Actually, she is not as short as I thought. It's because you are too tall. My height is only up to your neck."

"But Ilu is very cute."

Stelle said seriously, "Short ones are also cute."

Pam: "..."

What do you mean? Am I not cute?

No, I got it wrong. How can you use "cute" to describe this conductor? If I have to use it, I have to say "majestic"!

I am a majestic conductor, Pam!

Hey, you two newcomers, you are so disrespectful to the conductor when you first arrive. This conductor will remember you.

Thinking of this, Pam took a deep breath and adjusted it's mood. It said quickly, "The train is about to start. I have basically understood your situation. Before that, I have something to tell you..."

"Remember, I will only say it once."

"I know your life experiences are very special, but this is the Astral Express. The passengers on the train are more or less involved in some secrets that cannot be revealed."

"Since you have chosen to get on the train, you must abide by the rules here. It's not just you two who are special. Do you understand?"

"Well, we know."

Listening to Pam's instructions, Ilu nodded in deep approval.

At this moment, none of the people in this train are easy to provoke. They are either middle-aged retired uncles tinkering with black holes or hidden dragon masters...

When you think you can beat them, there will always be someone who suddenly jumps out, activates a hidden second form, shouts about friendship and bonds, rushes over, and then beats you to a pulp.

"I'm Pam, the conductor here. If you have any problems on the train, just come to me." After leaving this sentence, the seemingly honest and cute conductor turned and left without any hesitation, as if it was still holding a grudge.

"Ilu, did you notice that?" Seeing this scene, Stelle couldn't help but whisper in Ilu's ear, "I don't know if it's my imagination, but it doesn't seem to like us very much..."

"It's okay; just spend more time together," Ilu smiled and said. "It may just not like the topic we just talked about."

After all, they laughed at its height in front of Pam, and it was very face-saving that they were not kicked off the train.

"Next, it's time to walk around the train and get familiar with the environment."

...

"Wow! What a long carriage. I have to see who lives in these rooms!"

In the real world, Jia Hun also boarded the train smoothly. She controlled the Trailblazer to walk into the guest room of the Astral Express. She couldn't wait to visit the nearby rooms one by one and soon learned the location of the crew's rooms.

Just as she was about to go deeper and find her and Ilu's room, Pam's voice suddenly came from the train:

"(Hey-hey-hey-) Attention, all passengers, please pay attention!"

"The train is about to jump; please gather in the train lobby immediately!"

"Ah! But I haven't found our room yet..."

Although she said this, Jia Hun still decided to go to the observation car to see the situation first. After all, the train conductor said that everyone would gather and jump to the next planet.

Compared to the environment of the guest room, she still cared more about what the next planet looked like.

...

[Repeat once again - the train is about to jump; please gather in the train hall immediately!]

"Oh? Is it going to jump so soon?"

Listening to the announcement from above, after walking around the train and returning to the room to sit down and rest for a while, Ilu raised her head in surprise.

Without thinking too much, she got up from the bed and met Stelle, who was wandering aimlessly in the corridor. The two returned to the train hall together.

"You're too late! But now everyone is finally here."

Seeing Stelle and Ilu return to the observation car, Pam nodded with satisfaction and then pointed to the sofa seat next to her. "Hurry up and find a place to sit down. Don't run around the train like March 7th. Be careful not to lose your teeth when you jump."

"Uh... So, March 7th has lost a tooth?"

Hearing it said this, Ilu's expression suddenly became strange. She couldn't help but cast her eyes at March 7th, who was standing by the window looking at the scenery.

She couldn't imagine what March 7th would look like if she lost a tooth...

How tragic would it be if a beautiful girl who loves to show a bright smile lost a front tooth?

"Hey! Don't listen to the conductor; I haven't lost any teeth!"

Hearing this, the pink-haired girl on the side put her hands on her hips and said angrily, "I just got a big bump on my head; it will heal soon."

In order to protect herself, she would summon ice to shield herself when she was about to fall... Well, it's just that sometimes falling on ice is more painful than falling on the ground, but March 7th can guarantee that she has never lost any teeth!

"Ahem, it's just a metaphor. Who told you, March 7th, to be so worrying every time?"

After saying that, Pam coughed twice and changed the subject: "Okay, go and sit down quickly. The final preparations before the train jump are about to begin. We are going to the next stop."

"So where is our destination this time?"

Stelle blinked curiously.

"The next destination of the train is a very small planet, numbered 'Jarilo-VI'."

Before Pam could speak, Himeko answered her question first: "According to the records in the records, it is a lush and beautiful planet."

"However, a long time has passed, and perhaps there have been earth-shaking changes there..."

"Wow, that's really exciting!"

"I really want to see what it looks like."

A few minutes later, the jump was completed—

Everyone stood in front of the window, looking at the lifeless planet shrouded in snow not far away, and fell into silence for a while.

"Uh, where did the train take us? Is this still Jarilo-VI?"

"In terms of universal rationality, yes."

"This change seems to be a bit big..."

"This is not a bit big; this is too big!"

---