Honkai: Star Rail: I Can Fix This Gender-Bent World — Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Plugging It In

Hearing this, Clara said nothing, her silence a stubborn wall.

Chen looked down at the small, pale face before him. Her lips were pressed into a thin, white line, and a tremor ran through her small shoulders—a clear sign the girl was terrified. Yet she refused to make a sound, only glaring up at him with large, tear-filled eyes.

It was as if she believed that defiant stare alone could stop him from finding Svarog.

At that moment, the last vestiges of Chen’s amusement at bullying a child finally gave way to a pang of guilt.

Tsk, this little one is fiercely protective, he thought with a sigh.

On the Herta puppet’s normally expressionless face, a rare trace of exasperation surfaced, as if to say, ‘What am I supposed to do with you?’

He squatted down, bringing his gaze level with Clara, who was still sitting on the dusty ground. He deliberately softened his voice, though it still couldn’t quite be called gentle.

“Hey, little one.”

Clara watched him warily, her lips pursed even tighter. She remained silent.

“I told you, I’m here for Svarog. I have serious business,” Chen said, trying to inject a pragmatic, no-nonsense tone into his voice. “This is important. It concerns the survival of everyone, both above ground and down here. This isn’t a game.”

A flicker of hesitation crossed Clara’s eyes, but she still didn’t speak.

Seeing this, Chen’s mind raced. If the hard approach wasn’t working, he’d try a softer one—or rather, an offer she couldn’t possibly refuse.

He gestured toward the nearby deactivated mech and the spot on the ground where the turret had been. The turret had since reverted to a crooked little robot, which was currently swiveling its lightbulb-like eyes curiously at the Geo-Map drone.

“See that?” Chen’s tone shifted, now carrying the unmistakable pride of a genius creator. “That big guy, and this little gadget.”

“For me, fixing their problems is as simple as playing with building blocks.”

Clara’s gaze subconsciously followed his pointing finger, landing on the damaged shell of the mech she called Uncle Fortress. Her eyes then drifted to the strangely shaped Geo-Map drone, and a hint of longing finally broke through her guarded expression.

Chen caught the shift and struck while the iron was hot. He looked directly into Clara’s eyes, ready to throw down his trump card.

“So, take me to see Svarog.”

He let the words hang in the air for a moment before delivering the final blow.

“If she’s really in trouble like you said… stuck in self-repair… maybe I can help you fix her.”

“Fix… fix Big Sister Svarog?” Clara murmured, her voice a weak whisper laced with disbelief.

“Yes,” Chen confirmed with a firm nod. “I’m in a hurry. I don’t have time to waste playing games with you out here. Lead the way. I’ll see her, confirm the situation, and if it’s convenient, I’ll take a look for you. Do we have a deal?”

Silence fell once more, but this time it was thick with a fierce internal struggle.

Clara looked from Chen back toward the gate behind her. That was her home, the sanctuary she shared with Big Sister Svarog, the haven she was so desperate to protect. This strange young lady was powerful and frightening, but… she said she could fix Big Sister Svarog.

Big Sister Svarog had been asleep for so long, and her self-repair was progressing at a painfully slow pace. Watching her day after day, Clara had felt nothing but anxiety and fear.

Finally, the desperate hope for Svarog’s recovery won out over her fear of the stranger.

Clara nodded.

“…Can you really fix Big Sister?” she asked softly, one last plea for confirmation.

“It’s better than you tinkering blindly or leaving it broken forever, right?” Chen didn’t offer a one hundred percent guarantee, but that very nonchalance—born from absolute confidence in his technical skills—was far more persuasive.

Clara took a deep breath, as if she had just made the most monumental decision of her life. She scrubbed at the tear stains on her face with the back of her hand and shakily pushed herself up from the ground.

“Then… then come with me.” Her voice was still small, but the quaver of tears was gone, replaced by a precocious seriousness. “But… but you have to promise me. You can’t bully Big Sister Svarog, and you have to speak gently…”

“Fine, fine, I’ll try to be as gentle as possible,” Chen replied casually, standing up. He fell into step behind Clara, who was moving her short legs quickly, trying her best to walk with a steady gait.

As he passed by her, his eyes fell on the soft, fluffy, pale-white hair on her head, and his hand suddenly felt itchy. He gave in to the impulse, reaching out to give the small head a gentle rub.

“Just lead the way, Little Guardian.”

The texture was just as soft as he’d imagined.

[Ding.]

A notification chimed in the depths of his mind, audible only to him.

[Clara’s Icon: Unlocked.]

It’s done.

The corner of Chen’s mouth couldn’t help but curl into a faint smirk before he quickly smoothed his expression back to one of calm indifference. Another icon obtained. While it didn’t seem particularly useful for combat at the moment, the sense of fulfillment and security that came with completing his collection was always a pleasure.

Clara seemed to freeze for a moment under the gentle touch, her cheeks flushing a faint red. She didn’t say anything, merely ducked her head and walked forward even faster.

Passing through the heavy gate, they entered a space that was no longer a disorganized, abandoned camp. Instead, a path had been clearly planned and organized. At the end of the passage stood an even heavier alloy door.

Clara walked up to it, stood on her tiptoes, and skillfully operated a control panel set into the wall beside it.

“Big Sister Svarog… is inside,” she said, turning to glance back at Chen. Her purple-red eyes were a mixture of tension and hopeful expectation. “She… she might not be able to respond to you normally right now.”

“Mm,” Chen nodded, gesturing for her to open the door.

The alloy door slid open silently, revealing the space beyond. It was exceptionally spacious, with thick cables and pipes hanging from a high, domed ceiling. The surrounding walls were embedded with countless flickering data panels and indicator lights.

In the very center of the room was a circular platform, raised above the floor and connected to dozens of pipes and lines of varying thickness.

And in the center of that platform—

Chen’s breath hitched.

He had been mentally prepared. He knew that in this gender-swapped universe, Svarog’s appearance would inevitably be different. But seeing it with his own eyes… the impact far exceeded any fantasy his gamer brain could have concocted.

Standing there quietly was not the tall, heavy, industrial-strength robot from his memories.

Instead, it was a mecha girl. Her figure was petite, but the silhouette was unmistakably female.

She stood about a meter tall, her main armor a silver-gray that had been burnished by the passage of time. The lines of the chassis combined raw strength with a fluid, non-human beauty. The structures at her chest, pauldrons, waist, and abdomen were clearly precise defensive and power-output units, yet they were cleverly shaped to accentuate the curves of a female form.

Her head was no longer a simple helmet but a silver headpiece with a clean, geometric aesthetic. Two simplified armor plates extended from the sides of the headpiece, resembling twin ponytails of metallic hair. Her face was obscured by a pair of sharp, tactical visors, but below them, one could just make out the faint outline of a well-defined jaw.

The most striking feature was her right arm. It was not flesh and blood but a perfectly proportioned silver prosthetic, a limb of pure mechanical artistry. Her left arm was relatively normal, though the forearm was also encased in thin armor.

At this moment, she stood motionless in the center of the platform, her optical sensors dark. Several thick maintenance arms extended from the platform’s edge, connected to interfaces on her back and thighs, performing some kind of slow, methodical self-diagnostic and repair.

She was perfectly still, like a sleeping Valkyrie cast in steel and circuits.

Chen felt his throat go a little dry.

As a transmigrator who, at his core, still possessed the mind of a normal male… and who had a natural, almost primal appreciation for the fusion of machinery and the female form… the visual impact of this scene…

…it hit his aesthetic sensibilities—and certain other instincts—right on the mark.

Clara looked worriedly at the silent figure on the platform. She then glanced carefully at the brown-haired young lady beside her, who had suddenly fallen silent, and explained softly, “Big Sister Svarog has been self-repairing… she hasn’t fully started up in a long time…”

Chen forced himself to tear his gaze away from the mechanical beauty of Svarog’s waistline and thighs. He cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound professional and calm, even though his heart was still pounding.

“Mm… I can see that.”

As he spoke, he unconsciously began to walk toward the platform. The mechanical creation instincts belonging to Herta started to automatically analyze the state of the mecha girl before him.

“Let me see…” Chen paced halfway around the platform, his fingertip tapping lightly on his chin.

“Tsk,” he couldn’t help but mutter under his breath. “This Old Timer model is probably older than the Herta Space Station itself. Wireless scanning is being blocked completely. Looks like I’ll have to do it manually.”

Hearing this, the little girl grew even more nervous. “Manually…?” she asked fearfully. “Will it hurt Big Sister Svarog?”

Chen didn’t look back, his gaze still fixed on Svarog, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. “Don’t worry, I know how to handle it. It’s not like I’m taking her apart.”

He stepped forward and held up his index finger for Clara to see.

“Watch closely. I’ll just use this, plug it into the interface, and scan around a bit. Whatever’s wrong with her will be clear immediately.”

“Pl-plug it in?” Clara pictured the scene of that finger being poked into an interface on Big Sister Svarog’s body and couldn’t help but shiver. But seeing Chen’s matter-of-fact expression, she didn’t dare ask any more questions.

She could only plead softly, “Then… then you must be very gentle…”