Honkai Star Rail: I Played the Villain, Now the Heroines Want Revenge — Chapter 174

Chapter 174: The Seed of Rebellion

“Wait, Jiang Li…” You started to whisper, a cold dread lancing through you. Don’t be a fool. Don’t draw attention.

But it was too late.

Jiang Li wiped her tears away with a dirty sleeve, her small shoulders straightening. She took one, two, then three determined steps out from the shadow of your protection, her tiny, white fox tail held up with a resolve that belied her terror.

Her internal thoughts were a chaotic mix of fear and newfound duty. Brother worked so hard. He humiliated himself… he knelt in our parents’ blood… just to keep me safe. I can’t just hide. I have to be brave, too!

She stopped a few steps away from the two older Foxian girls, who watched her approach with a mixture of curiosity and cold indifference. The silver-haired one, Saran, looked particularly harsh, her arms crossed, her expression guarded.

Jiang Li flinched but didn’t back down. “Um… hello there,” she managed, her voice small and still thick with the remnants of her tears. She tried to smile, a wobbly, fragile expression.

“My name is Jiang Li, and this is my brother, Orion…” She gestured back to you, still half-hidden. “We… we were just brought here today. We ask for your kind care, big sisters!”

She finished her introduction with a deep, shaky bow. When she looked up, she forced that small, innocent smile again. In the oppressive gloom of the slave pen, surrounded by the stench of unwashed bodies and despair, that smile was like a single, impossible candle flame. It was fragile, out of place, and yet, it was undeniably warm.

The silver-haired girl, Saran, visibly recoiled. Her cold, appraising gaze shattered, replaced by sheer, unfiltered shock.

She had survived in this place for who knows how long. She had seen everything. She had seen slaves betray each other for a crust of bread. She had seen cruelty, violence, and smiles used only as masks to hide a striking knife.

But this… this was different. This wasn’t a smile of supplication or a mask of deceit. It was real. Terrifyingly real. There was no calculation, no angle, no hidden plea for protection. It was just… a greeting.

The sheer, idiotic, suicidal innocence of it left her speechless.

The other girl, the one with dark hair, Neergul, peeked out from behind Saran’s shoulder. Her eyes were wide, but held none of Saran’s hostility—only a deep, ingrained fear mixed with a spark of curiosity.

The silence stretched. Jiang Li’s smile faltered, her courage wavering under Saran’s intense, unblinking stare. She thought she had failed. But then she remembered her brother kneeling in blood. She would not fail.

Steeling herself, she took another small step forward and extended her trembling, dirt-stained hand.

“Can… can you be my friends?” she asked, the question so honest it was painful. “I didn’t have many friends before… really, only my brother.”

She glanced back at you, her rose-colored eyes shining with unshed tears. “But… I feel like I can become good friends with you! I really do!”

Saran’s gaze wavered. Her green eyes flickered to her companion, Neergul, who had now fully emerged. Neergul’s fear had been replaced by that same open curiosity. The cold front they had built was cracking.

“You… aren’t you afraid of us?” Saran finally asked, her voice rough, as if unused to kindness. “We could sell you out to the guards for an extra ration. Or worse.”

“Why should I be afraid?” Jiang Li tilted her head, her innocence a shield. “You’re Foxians, just like us. Your ears… they’re like mine.” She pointed to her own white, fluffy ears. “Precisely because this place is so scary… shouldn’t we help each other?”

This simple, childish logic struck the two older girls like a physical blow. It was a truth so basic, so fundamental, that it had been completely buried under the daily struggle for survival. They were all Foxians. They were all slaves to the Borisin. Why were they enemies?

From the shadows, you watched, your calculating mind shifting. This… this is an unexpected variable. Your sister’s foolish bravery… it was actually working. It was disarming them in a way no threat or bargain ever could. This alliance… it was weak, built on a child’s hope, but it was better than nothing.

Saran stared at Jiang Li’s outstretched hand for a long, heavy moment. She saw the dirt under her nails, the tremor she was trying to hide. This wasn’t a trap. It was just… a kid.

Slowly, as if lifting a great weight, the silver-haired girl reached out and grasped Jiang Li’s hand. Her grip was firm, her palm calloused.

“My name is Saran.” Her voice was still rough, but the ice had broken. She nodded to the girl behind her, who now stepped forward fully. “This is Neergul. She… doesn’t talk much.”

“Big Sister Saran! Big Sister Neergul!” Jiang Li’s face lit up, her smile returning, bright and genuine this time. “This is great! I made new friends!”

You watched your sister, a strange mix of emotions swirling inside you. This was not the shy, clinging girl who hid behind you. Today, she had mustered a courage you didn’t know she possessed. She was also fighting, in her own way. She was trying just as hard to survive.

“Brother!” Jiang Li turned, her eyes bright, and beckoned you over. “Come and meet our new friends! This is Big Sister Saran and Big Sister Neergul!”

You let out a quiet sigh. The gambit had worked. You stepped out of the shadows, the heavy, cold metal of the slave collar feeling heavy and demeaning around your neck. You gave a stiff, formal bow, just as you had seen your father do to important clients.

“Hello. I am her brother, Orion. Please take care of us.”

Saran’s gaze was sharp. It moved past Jiang Li to you, and her eyes immediately locked onto the collar. “That one… it’s a ‘Breaker’ collar. They put those on… battle slaves.”

[Inorin’s Note: A ‘Breaker’ collar is a device used by the Borisin to control slaves destined for gladiatorial combat, often equipped with disciplinary mechanisms.]

“Yes,” you replied, your voice flat. It was only then, as you looked closer, that you saw the identical, tarnished metal ring hidden beneath the high collar of Saran’s own ragged tunic. “You too.”

“You’ll die,” she said, not with malice, but as a simple, cold statement of fact. “The pits… the survival rate for new battle slaves is almost zero. They break us for sport.”

“I know,” you replied calmly, your voice betraying no emotion. You had already accepted this. “But it’s better than letting my sister go to her death.”

This time, both Saran and Neergul looked at you with a new, sober understanding. They understood the sacrifice. They understood what your cold, emotionless submission to the Borisin leader had bought.

Saran fell silent, looking from your cold, resigned face to Jiang Li’s tear-stained but hopeful one. She felt a strange, painful twinge in her chest. “You two siblings… you really have a good relationship.”

Neergul, the quiet one, spoke for the first time, her voice barely a whisper. “Your clothes… the fabric… are you from a Celestial Ark?”

[Inorin’s Note: “Celestial Ark” (Xianzhou) is the term for the massive, city-like flagships of the Xianzhou Alliance, such as the Luofu or the Fanghu.]

“Yes! Our hometown is the Xianzhou Fanghu!” Jiang Li nodded enthusiastically, her spirits lifting. “It’s so beautiful! There are palaces in the sky, and star-skiffs that fly like fish, and…” She began to chatter, describing the wonders of the Luofu, a place that now seemed a million light-years away.

Saran and Neergul listened, captivated. Their eyes, once dull with despair, now held a faint, painful light of yearning. To them, the Xianzhou Alliance was not just a place, but a paradise, a heaven they could never reach.

“Escape…” Saran’s voice cut through Jiang Li’s description, sharp and bitter as she laughed. “You want to escape?”

Her laugh was ugly. “Child, do you know how many have tried? Do you know how high the walls are? Do you know how many bodies I’ve seen hung from the city gates, left to dry in the void-wind as a warning?”

The atmosphere, which had just lightened, plummeted back into heavy despair.

But Jiang Li, with her impossible, stubborn hope, wasn’t scared. She just tightened her grip on Saran’s hand. “Then we’ll figure it out together!” she insisted. “Four people are smarter than one! Big Sister Saran and Big Sister Neergul, plus me and my brother… we’ll definitely find a way!”

Saran stared at Jiang Li, at her bright, trusting, rose-colored eyes. She was stunned. In this hellhole where trust was a death sentence, where a kind word was just a prelude to betrayal, this girl… this girl she had known for less than fifteen minutes… trusted her completely.

“You… you’re an idiot,” Saran’s voice choked, and she roughly wiped her own eyes. “You’re a complete, naive idiot! In a place like this, being so trusting will get you killed faster than anything!”

“Then let’s just get stronger together so we don’t get killed!” Jiang Li declared with a brilliant smile, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “Big Sister Saran protects Big Sister Neergul, my brother protects me, and then we all protect each other! That way, no one will die!”

This simple, childish declaration silenced the other three. You, Saran, and Neergul all looked at her. In this dark, hopeless place, if there wasn’t even this single, foolish spark of hope, what was the point of drawing another breath?

“Alright!” Saran suddenly pushed herself to her feet. The weariness and cynicism fell away from her like a shed skin. For the first time, a fire ignited in her green eyes—a fire of rebellion. “It’s settled then! The four of us. We live. And we escape. Together!”

“Mm!” Neergul, inspired by her friend and this new, strange girl, also nodded, her small fists clenched.

You watched this scene, a genuine, faint smile touching your lips for the first time. This… might actually work. “Of course,” you agreed, adding your own quiet strength to their vow.

“This is great!” Jiang Li jumped up, her tail wagging happily. “It’s a promise! A pinky-promise!”

And so, in that small, dark prison cell, in the heart of the Borisin stronghold, four ill-fated Foxian children—two future generals, one future… something else… and one kind-hearted soul—forged a bond that would one day shake the stars.

Many years later, when the name ‘Feixiao’ echoed through the Xianzhou Alliance as a symbol of valor and an unyielding will, the General of the Fanghu would often find herself staring into the void. She would remember this day. She would remember the smell of blood and fear, and the impossible, brilliant smile of a little girl who changed her life.

She would remember the day she chose to hope again. A day she would never, ever forget.