Honkai: Star Rail: I Can Fix This Gender-Bent World — Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Settled

Chen, still in the form of the petite Herta, crossed his arms over his chest. He perfectly mimicked her signature, slightly condescending tone.

“That sounds like… a somewhat interesting proposal.”

“But, Herta,” he continued, his voice crisp, “you of all people should understand that true collaboration must be built on a foundation of equality and sincerity.”

Chen, as Herta, raised a single, delicate finger.

“You mentioned design optimization and performance enhancement. That’s all well and good.”

“But how am I to know that your ‘optimization’ won’t come with a few hidden backdoors?”

“Or that the ‘enhancement plan’ you provide isn’t just a convenient way to study the underlying logic of my abilities?”

“Or, even worse, an attempt to replicate or reverse-engineer them for your own control?”

“So,” Chen said, the corner of his mouth curling into a provocative smirk that looked utterly incongruous on his current, doll-like face, “if you truly wish to establish a deeper cooperative relationship…”

“Why don’t we start by strengthening the very foundation of our cooperation?”

“Discussing matters of this magnitude with a remotely controlled puppet… it feels a bit disingenuous, don’t you think?”

His gaze locked onto the Herta puppet’s inorganic eyes as he stated his condition, each word delivered with deliberate weight.

“Let me meet the real you, Herta.”

“If you can agree to that premise… then this ‘cooperative research’ might just be worth pursuing.”

March 7th’s jaw went slack. He leaned over and whispered urgently to Dan Heng, “Whoa, Chen… he’s got guts. The real Herta… I heard almost nobody’s ever actually seen her, right?”

The boyish Herta puppet went still, its movements ceasing for a moment. It stared at Chen for several long seconds before finally speaking, its voice a flat, unreadable monotone.

“…An interesting proposal. And… bold enough.”

The puppet tilted its head, a gesture of cold curiosity.

“You seem quite confident that I’d be interested in this meeting of yours. Confident enough to believe I’d pay the price of revealing my true self for it?”

“It’s a reasonable deduction,” Chen replied, not backing down an inch, his logic as clear and sharp as a shard of ice.

The Herta puppet fell silent again, its glass-like eyes unfocused, as if it were synchronizing vast streams of data with its master light-years away. After a few tense seconds, a soft, almost dismissive “Hmph” escaped its lips.

“…The logic holds up.”

The boyish puppet crossed its arms, having finally reached a decision.

“Fine. I accept this prerequisite.”

He extended a finger and swiped through the air. A miniature, shimmering holographic star chart materialized at his fingertip, swirling with nebulae and distant suns.

“My true self is currently in a deep-layer laboratory on the Azure Star.”

“When my current research concludes, I will contact you to discuss the terms of our cooperation.”

Herta had essentially confirmed the temporary agreement with Chen. But she clearly had no intention of wasting another second on him. The puppet’s head swiveled, its gaze landing on Qiong, who had been standing off to the side, looking completely lost in the whirlwind of conversation.

“Hey, Gray-hair.”

The puppet spoke with its characteristically impatient tone.

“Don’t just stand there looking vacant. Do you want to meet my true self as well?”

“As a Stellaron Host, your data isn’t nearly as fascinating as that little magician’s over there,” the puppet continued, gesturing dismissively toward Chen, “but it still possesses… some research value.”

Qiong seemed to take a moment to process that she was being addressed. She looked up, her silver eyes blinking with a hint of confusion, and glanced at the puppet. Then, without a word, she gave a small, decisive shake of her head.

The gesture was subtle, but her refusal was unmistakable.

On the puppet’s exquisite little face, a visible crack formed in its perfectly crafted mask of indifference.

“Huh?”

“The chance to meet my true self is an opportunity countless people would beg for, and you… you’re refusing?”

It crossed its arms, tilting its small head to one side, its tone dripping with incredulity. “Is there something wrong with your head?”

“Hmph, fine. I can’t be bothered with you. Anyway…”

The puppet’s gaze dropped to the seemingly ordinary baseball bat that Qiong was clutching to her chest.

“That broken baseball bat you’re holding is a registered item in my Curio collection.”

The puppet pointed a small finger at the bat.

“If you want to take it with you, that’s fine.”

“But the condition is… you let me study you for a bit.”

Qiong’s reaction was instantaneous. The moment the words left the puppet’s mouth, her arms tightened around the baseball bat, pulling it flush against her body as if to shield it.

“It’s… not a broken baseball bat.”

Qiong’s voice was soft, almost a whisper, but laced with an unyielding firmness. She lowered her head, her cheek brushing against the worn, wooden surface of the bat.

“It’s… my partner.”

Hearing this, March 7th’s eyes lit up. He whispered in admiration, “Wow, Qiong… she really, really loves that bat.”

The Herta puppet clearly hadn’t anticipated such a response. It was silent for two seconds, then its voice sharpened with disdain.

“Partner? That thing? It’s a piece of wood. It has no consciousness, its design is crude, and its only function is being hard.”

“And you call it a ‘partner’?”

“What tedious, anthropomorphic sentimentality. Such an inefficient mode of cognition!”

“It is a Curio! A tool! Its underlying principles are what matter, not your feelings about it!”

“This ‘partner’ nonsense serves no purpose other than to interfere with rational judgment!”

Qiong didn’t answer. She simply hugged the bat tighter, her knuckles turning white. Her posture screamed a single, defiant message: You can say whatever you want, I’m not letting go.

‘Good grief,’Chen thought, mentally facepalming.’Herta, the queen of pure logic, trying to reason with Qiong, whose brain is still half-scrambled but whose stubbornness is at an all-time high. They’re not even on the same planet, let alone the same wavelength.’

Seeing the atmosphere rapidly approaching absolute zero, Ms. Welt stepped forward with a timely, gentle cough.

“Mr. Herta, if the goal is simply to monitor the stability of the Stellaron within Qiong, and no harm will come to her, then perhaps an arrangement can be made? How about she visits you for an examination once she’s properly settled in?”

Ms. Welt adjusted her glasses, her calm, measured tone acting as an anchor in the small standoff. Her gaze swept over Qiong, who was still clutching the bat as if facing a mortal enemy, and then to the Herta puppet, whose expression screamed “you’re all wasting my time.”

“Suit yourselves!”

Seeing her objective achieved, Herta turned her puppet’s gaze back to Chen.

“The temporary agreement is established. Once I’ve handled a few higher-priority projects on hand, I will contact you via the beacon.”

Her gaze flicked one last time to Qiong—or rather, to the bat in her arms.

“As for you, Gray-hair. When you’re settled on the Astral Express and have nothing urgent to do, remember to come to my designated research room. And don’t hold it so tight. No one’s going to steal your ‘partner’.”

With that final, cutting remark, the spark of intelligence in the boyish puppet’s eyes vanished completely. It went limp, becoming just another inanimate doll, its expression frozen and vacant.

Almost at the same time, a grateful male voice cut through the quiet.

“Everyone! Thank you so much! The threat to the Master Control Zone has been cleared, and Order is being restored to all sectors!”

Young Master Asta hurried over, his handsome face etched with sincere relief. He first bowed solemnly to Ms. Welt and Uncle Himeko, his gaze sweeping across the members of the Astral Express crew, finally coming to rest on… Chen, who was still in his Herta form, arms crossed, a lingering expression of ‘finally, that’s over with’ on his face.

Asta stopped short, his eyes widening in surprise.

This… petite girl with brown hair, clad in an exquisitely complex dress, stood before him.

‘That familiar crossed-arm posture,’he thought,’that slight, almost arrogant tilt of the chin…”And that unmistakable aura of “I’ve solved it, now don’t bother me”…’A conclusion, as logical as it was instantaneous, struck him.’This must be a new puppet created by Master Herta!”And it’s a female version!”Has the Master recently developed a new research interest in the gender expression of her puppets?’