Honkai: Star Rail: I Can Fix This Gender-Bent World — Chapter 105

Chapter 105: Side Effects

Chen drew the jade talisman from the folds of his robe. As per their agreement, he sent a brief, coded pulse of energy through it—a simple signal to inform Ms. Welt that he was safe. With that done, he leaned against the cool alley wall and began to organize his thoughts.

‘Teacher Dan Heng must have already infiltrated the Luofu by now,’he mused.’And Bailu is safe for the moment. That’s good.’

The real surprise was Jingliu. Her icon had unexpectedly unlocked, but it came with a terrifying catch: the very real risk of becoming Mara-Struck. This incident had taught him a crucial, if unsettling, new fact about his transformation ability.

Chen considered the cause with intense focus.

‘Let’s trace this back. That overwhelming, maddening feeling… it was triggered because I immersed myself too deeply in her past while I was transformed. I let myself feel what she felt.’A spark of understanding lit up in his mind.’Does that mean… as long as I don’t try to deeply empathize with the negative states of these high-risk characters…’

“…and just borrow their appearance and abilities, I’ll be fine?”

The more he considered it, the more sense it made. A completely different, and frankly unhinged, thought suddenly popped into his head.

‘Wait a minute. If I were to unlock Firefly’s icon… wouldn’t I also get to experience what Entropy Loss Syndrome feels like?’His eyes widened with a strange mix of horror and morbid curiosity.’Whoa, does that mean I could cosplay as a girl who literally burns her life away for power? I mean, it sounds agonizingly painful, but it’s also kind of… exciting? No, no, wait, what the hell am I thinking?!’

He shook his head vigorously, physically trying to dislodge the dangerous train of thought. For now, such reckless ideas had to be suppressed. The priority was clear: verify his new hypothesis, push forward with the main quest, collect more icons, and find Dan Heng.

With a renewed sense of purpose, he focused his will. A soft luminescence flowed around his body, reshaping his form. A moment later, Jingliu—with her cascade of silver hair, her iconic black blindfold, and an aura of cold, deep loneliness—stood in the alley once more.

Chen immediately turned his senses inward, carefully assessing the state of his body and mind.

Good. His thoughts were clear, his body felt light. That previous sensation, the awful pressure swelling inside his skull… that restless, gnawing feeling as if something monstrous was about to sprout from his very soul… had vanished without a trace.

“As I thought!”

Chen let out a quiet sigh of relief, a deeper understanding of his transformation system settling into place.

‘So, as long as I don’t actively try to connect with the most negative, traumatic parts of their history, I’ll be fine.’He flexed his fingers, feeling the phantom chill of Jingliu’s power flow through him without resistance.’By just using their forms and basic abilities, I won’t be corrupted or trigger any nasty side effects. I got way too carried away playing the erhu earlier. That was like taking a running leap into the abyss of Jingliu’s memories myself… No wonder things almost went south.’

Having figured this out, most of his anxieties about using Jingliu’s form evaporated. He just had to remember not to get too into character.

Meanwhile, the group from the Astral Express was on the move.

Ms. Welt, March 7th, and Caelus had begun using the Diting, graciously provided by Tingyun, to track the elusive Kafka. The small, psychic creature trotted ahead, its head cocked as it pointed them in a specific direction.

March 7th, however, kept glancing back down the path they’d come from.

“Aunt Yang, are you sure we don’t need to wait for Chen? Won’t he get into trouble running around out here all by himself?” he asked, his voice laced with worry.

“Chen knows what he’s doing,” Ms. Welt replied, her tone calm and steady. “And his abilities are unique. Acting alone might actually be more efficient for him. We will proceed as planned and find Kafka’s trail as quickly as possible. Remember, everyone, safety first.”

As she spoke, her gaze drifted to Caelus, who had been trailing quietly beside her. Ever since Chen had split off from the group, the boy had grown unnervingly silent. He wasn’t sticking close to March 7th or seeking reassurance from Ms. Welt as he usually did. He simply followed, his presence a muted shadow.

“Caelus? What’s wrong?” March 7th noticed his friend’s strange behavior and leaned in, lowering his voice. “Still worried about that unreliable guy?”

Caelus gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod. He didn’t speak, but his grip on the baseball bat tightened until his knuckles turned white. He could feel it—a hollow space in his chest now that Chen wasn’t around, as if some vital support had been kicked out from under him. Even with Ms. Welt and March 7th right there, the feeling was different. He didn’t have a name for this emotion; he just knew, instinctively, that he felt dejected and deeply uneasy.

Ms. Welt also saw the change in Caelus’s mood and understood immediately. These two children, Caelus in particular, had developed a rather obvious reliance on Chen’s chaotic but comforting presence.

She walked over and placed a gentle hand on Caelus’s shoulder. “Caelus,” she said softly. “Chen is cleverer than you think, and stronger than you think.”

Caelus looked up, his vacant gaze meeting Ms. Welt’s steady, trusting eyes.

“He promised he would come back,” she continued, her voice a warm anchor. “So he definitely will. Right now, we have our mission, and he has his. We need to trust him, and we need to trust ourselves. Okay?”

He then looked over at March 7th’s concerned expression. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Caelus nodded again, this time with more conviction. He raised his bat and gave it a gentle, experimental swing, as if trying to stir himself back to life. The dazed, dejected look in his eyes began to fade, replaced by a flicker of renewed focus.

“That’s the spirit!” March 7th grinned, patting him firmly on the back. “Once we find a lead on Kafka, or that guy Chen comes running back on his own… we’ll give him a proper interrogation about where he went off to play!”

Seeing Caelus’s mood lift slightly, Ms. Welt decided not to delay any further. Following the Diting’s guidance, they pressed onward in their hunt for Kafka’s trail.

Shifting the view back to Chen.

After verifying that the Jingliu form was both safe and controllable, he felt his spirits soar. A wide, confident grin spread across the stoic sword master’s face, a completely incongruous expression.

“Alright! Status fully restored! Let’s get this show on the road!”

Chen felt a surge of energy.

“Objective one: Find Teacher Dan Heng! Objective two: see if I can run into Big Pillow Li and Luocha while I’m at it!”