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ArabicHonkai Star Rail: My Chat Group is Full of Broken Timelines — Chapter 16
Chapter 16: The Glamoth Veteran Shows Her Strength
Firefly realized, for the very first time, that food this delicious could even exist in the universe.
The charred, fruity aroma of wood-fire roasting still danced at the tip of her nose. The succulent juices of the Dreadwing had left a rich, savory aftertaste on her tongue, and even her fingertips seemed to be stained with that deeply satisfying scent.
She looked down at the now-empty metal tray, only then processing the fact that she had, by herself, devoured the entire portion of roasted wings—a serving easily taller than two people stacked together.
“Sorry…” Firefly curled her fingers, a blush creeping up her cheeks that burned brighter than the lanterns hanging from the eaves of Aurum Alley. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. “I wasn’t paying attention… and I ate it all.”
Seeing her mortified expression, Kazuki couldn’t help but smile. “It’s fine. I bought it for you, after all.” He had already eaten with Jing Yuan and Bailu earlier that evening; his main goal now was to let Firefly experience something new and wonderful.
Besides, he thought, watching her eat with such unadulterated joy was far more satisfying than eating it himself.
Firefly finally let out a small sigh of relief, a faint smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she followed Kazuki deeper into the winding alley.
The evening breeze drifted past, carrying the sweet fragrance of osmanthus. She subconsciously leaned a little closer to Kazuki. Their shadows danced on the stone-paved path, stretching long before overlapping and separating under the swaying lantern light, and their footsteps seemed to grow lighter with every step.
As they approached the entrance of Du’s Tea House, Firefly suddenly stopped. She pointed at several men lying haphazardly in front of the shop and asked with genuine curiosity, “What are… what are those people doing lying there?”
Some were slumped against the doorframe, snoring loudly, while others were muttering nonsensically to themselves. The sharp, pungent smell of alcohol wafted over on the wind.
Kazuki glanced over from a distance and explained with the knowing air of a local, “Boss Du, the owner of this shop, is a bit of a crafty one. On the surface, he sells tea, but his ‘tea’ canisters are actually filled with high-proof spirits—strong enough to catch fire. These guys probably got a little too greedy and drank themselves unconscious.”
“Alcohol?” Firefly tilted her head, another word she didn’t recognize. Looking at the dazed, incoherent state of the drunks, she instinctively felt that this was not a good thing.
She suddenly looked up at Kazuki, her eyes filled with an unexpected seriousness. “Do you drink, too?”
“I don’t really like it,” Kazuki said, waving his hand dismissively. “Besides, I’m still young, and the elders in my family keep a close eye on me. Anyone who wants to pressure me into drinking would have to think twice.”
He had passed the Xianzhou adult examination at the age of twenty, making him a legal adult. However, in the eyes of the long-lived Xianzhou natives, who often counted their age in centuries or even millennia, he was no different from a toddler.
So, despite his legal status, no one ever actually tried to force him to drink. Kazuki found himself feeling a little emotional about it; back on Earth, at his age, he would have been dragged into drinking sessions without question.
As they walked and ate, they eventually arrived at the small theater next to Chen’s Workshop, just as a storyteller was passionately recounting an ancient legend of the Xianzhou.
A crowd had gathered before the stage, listening with rapt attention while lazily waving cattail fans to ward off the evening warmth. Though they looked no different from the other people milling about, they carried an almost tangible air of old age about them.
Firefly pulled Kazuki to a stop beside them. Even though she didn’t understand most of the historical allusions, she listened with intense focus, her eyes following the storyteller’s animated gestures like an attentive little animal.
“You mentioned before that your job is also storytelling, right?” Firefly remembered what Kazuki had told her about his work.
“Yeah, but I’ll probably resign in the future,” Kazuki said with a sigh. “After all, I’m planning to find this world’s Ms. Herta, and once I do, it might be hard to return to a peaceful life like this.”
“A peaceful life…?” Firefly lowered her head. This was also the first time she had ever truly felt a sense of peace.
Just then, the originally sparse crowd in Aurum Alley suddenly erupted into a commotion. Someone began running toward the center of the alley, shouting frantically.
“What’s wrong?” Firefly instinctively grabbed Kazuki’s sleeve, her grip tight.
“I don’t know. Let’s go see.” Kazuki’s curiosity was piqued. The Xianzhou people’s love for gathering at the first sign of a spectacle seemed to be etched into their very DNA. The people around them surged in the same direction, and even the storyteller paused his tale to peer into the distance.
The two of them squeezed forward with the crowd. Just as they reached the front, they heard someone shout in pure panic, “This is bad! Someone’s become Mara-Struck! Quick, contact the Ten-Lords Commission!”
“Mara-Struck?!” Kazuki’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately pulled Firefly back.
This was no joke. A Xianzhou native who succumbed to the Mara lost all sanity, their strength surging uncontrollably as they became an immense danger to everyone around them. He cursed himself for his curiosity; he should have known to get as far away as possible.
But it was too late.
A man with disheveled clothes and bloodshot eyes was flailing his arms wildly, letting out low, beast-like growls from deep in his throat. Horrifyingly, golden ginkgo leaves were sprouting directly from his skin.
“Hold him down! Don’t let go!” someone shouted.
But with a sudden, violent exertion of force, the man broke free from the people trying to restrain him. He lunged like an out-of-control beast toward the densest part of the crowd—and that direction was precisely where Kazuki and Firefly were standing.
“Watch out!” Kazuki instinctively reached for the Stone Fire Dream Body, but before his fingers could even twitch, Firefly had already moved.
Her movements were a blur, so fast they were almost impossible to follow. In the blink of an eye, she had closed the distance and was directly in front of the rampaging man.
With a fluid twist of her waist, she converted the rotational force into a beautiful, devastating roundhouse kick that landed squarely on the man’s chest. The motion was clean, precise, and agile, carrying the explosive power honed by years of brutal warfare, yet it possessed a strange, almost artistic grace.
Crack!
The man was sent flying like a tattered sack, crashing heavily against a roadside wall before sliding limply to the ground. He was out cold, showing no further signs of movement.
The alley fell into an immediate, deafening silence. Everyone, including Kazuki, was utterly stunned.
Firefly calmly retracted her leg and patted the dust from her skirt, as if she had just done something completely insignificant.
She turned around and looked at Kazuki. The razor-sharp edge in her eyes vanished, replaced once more by her usual timid appearance. Her voice carried a hint of uncertainty. “Um… are you hurt?”
“Uh… I’m fine,” Kazuki managed, his mind still reeling. “Actually, you didn’t need to rush out just now…” Not only could he have handled it himself, but Aurum Alley was a place known for its hidden masters.
Soon, a few brave souls cautiously approached the unconscious man, lifting him from the ground and placing him in an open area. Most of the customers in Aurum Alley were regulars, and it didn’t take long for someone to recognize him.
“Isn’t this A-Hong? How could a lad this young become Mara-Struck?”
“Sigh, don’t even mention it. It’s only been a few decades since the last war. Over the years, so many of the retired Cloud Knights’ youngsters have succumbed to the Mara and left us far too soon…”
“A-Hong was such a good kid…”
Firefly stood to the side, listening silently. She didn’t understand what “Mara-Struck” truly meant, but she could feel the deep regret and sorrow in their voices. It was a familiar feeling, like watching a comrade fall on the battlefield. She instinctively looked toward Kazuki.
“Is what they said… the Mara-Struck state, very scary?” she asked softly.
“The Mara-Struck state represents the end of a Xianzhou native’s life,” Kazuki explained, his voice low. “For them, it means a total inversion of the senses and the loss of all human relationships…”
“Will you… become like that too?” For some reason, the thought sent a genuine spike of fear through Firefly.
“It’s possible,” Kazuki admitted, “but that day is still a long, long way off for me, so don’t worry. On the contrary, Firefly, about that Glamoth matter…”
“Ah, Ms. Robin sent me a file,” she said, her focus shifting. “Let me download it.”
In front of her, on a screen only she could see, a small red dot appeared.