Honkai Star Rail: My Chat Group is Full of Broken Timelines — Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Holy Crap! Doxxed!

Faint light filtered through the porthole of the Stellaron Hunter vessel, casting long, narrow beams across the cold metal floor.

Blade sat up from his bed, the joints in his shoulders and neck letting out a soft crack. It was a rare, peaceful sleep, the kind he hadn’t experienced since the Sedition of Imbibitor Lunae. There was no violent surge of the Mara clashing in his veins, no spectral figure of Dan Feng haunting his nightmares—only the gentle hum of the cabin’s circulation system.

He rose and walked to the washbasin, cupping his hands to splash frigid water onto his face. The mirror reflected a pair of crimson eyes, the fiery glow slowly receding, replaced by a tranquility that felt alien.

Perhaps… perhaps staying with the Stellaron Hunters wasn’t entirely a bad thing. Even if he couldn’t find the true death he sought, he could at least find moments of respite among them.

Walking through the sterile corridor, Blade arrived at the common area where Kafka and Stelle usually spent their time. Stelle was sprawled out on the carpet, groaning at the game screen projected by the holographic display, her fingers a blur across the virtual keyboard.

Kafka sat at the bar, slowly stirring a violet-hued drink with a silver spoon. Her light purple, wavy hair cascaded over her shoulders as she watched the liquid swirl.

Blade’s gaze swept the room, but he didn’t see the silver-white-haired figure he was half-expecting. He approached the bar, his voice retaining its usual cold, hard edge. “Is he gone?”

“Yes, he’s gone.” Kafka looked up at him, a faint, knowing smile playing on her lips. “He’s not one of us, after all. He carries his own burdens and has his own path to walk.”

Blade crossed his arms, his expression unreadable. “Is that what Elio said, too?”

“Yes,” Kafka nodded, pushing a glass of clear liquid across the bar toward him. “But he also said that one day in the future, our paths will cross again.” She paused, her smile deepening slightly. “By the way, Bladie, he left something for you before he left. Said there’s a special medicine inside to alleviate the Mara-Struck.”

“Alleviate the Mara-Struck…” Blade couldn’t help but let a frown crease his brow. In the memories that stretched back eight hundred years, being afflicted with the Mara was a death sentence. The idea that the Xianzhou had developed a special medicine for it now seemed utterly foreign.

He picked up the palm-sized metal box from the countertop. Opening it, he found several vials shimmering with a faint blue luster, nestled neatly inside. Beside them lay a note, written in elegant, precise script.

It was brutally simple: “One vial a day to temporarily suppress the violent urges.”

Blade pinched one of the vials between his fingers, a slight chill seeping into his skin from the glass.

After a long, silent moment, the corner of Blade’s mouth twitched into an almost imperceptible arc, a fleeting expression so swift it might have been an illusion.

“Quite thoughtful of him,” he murmured, the words barely a whisper.

…

‘Same as usual,’ Kazuki murmured to himself. The journey back and forth to the world of “Emperor the Third” had become second nature. By now, he could flawlessly execute the transfer with every trip, successfully uploading another fragment of Herta’s memories into the consciousness trapped within that iron-curtain body.

However, Emperor the Third still showed no discernible change. Not that Kazuki was in a hurry.

Quantitative change would eventually lead to qualitative change. Just like the eternal, grinding cycle of Amphoreus, Herta’s memories were stones cast into stagnant water; sooner or later, they would stir up ripples. All he could do was deliver this “spark,” day after day, until Ms. Herta and Screwllum found a way to crack the shell.

“Back? Any new progress today?” The Fifth Mirror floated up from the console, the projection of Herta within it crossing her arms and looking at him with raised eyebrows. This particular mirror always addressed him in that slightly critical tone, yet it would always quietly angle its reflective surface toward him as he spoke, as if afraid of missing a single word.

“Same as always. Just repeating meaningless data,” Kazuki said, slumping into his chair and taking a long gulp of water from the cup on the table. “But compared to before, when all it did was scream ‘kill, kill, kill,’ I suppose this is an improvement.”

He felt that the current Emperor the Third was more like a system that had “stalled out.” Under the constant deluge of Herta’s memories, its own consciousness had been scrambled by countless conflicting fragments, leaving it temporarily unable to piece together a coherent self. Achieving a true breakthrough would likely take much more time.

“Hmph. She’ll remember her identity sooner or later,” the Fifth Mirror declared, its tone laced with an unquestionable pride. “How could my, Herta’s, consciousness be defeated by some broken puppet!”

“Yes, yes, Ms. Herta is the greatest,” Kazuki echoed with a placating smile.

He had long since grown accustomed to this mirror’s particular brand of arrogance. It was a perfect creation of Herta, right down to its temperament—proud, sharp, and vividly alive.

As they chatted, Kazuki suddenly remembered a question that had been nagging at him for a while. “By the way, Ms. Herta, how exactly do you create a memory bubble containing all of Herta’s memories every single day?”

If the Fifth Mirror was truly that powerful, it was hard to imagine the sheer effort Herta must have poured into its creation. One could only chalk it up to the peerless technology and tireless work of a Genius.

“Hmph. You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.” The Herta in the mirror raised her chin, her expression screaming ‘mortals aren’t worthy of understanding a Genius’s logic.’ “Just treat it as magic.”

“Almighty magic, huh…” Kazuki chuckled. He wasn’t cut out for scientific research; even if Herta broke down the principles for him, he’d probably still be lost in a fog. In that case, he might as well just accept this “magic.”

“Glad you know your limits,” the Fifth Mirror snorted, its surface suddenly dimming. “We’re not far from the first laboratory where Ruan Mei might appear. I’m going to rest for a while.” Before it finished speaking, it landed on the console with a soft thud, lying face down like a sulking stone.

‘Do mirrors need to rest, too?’ Kazuki shook his head, chalking it up to another one of Herta’s little quirks. He walked to the porthole and watched the star-dusted belt flashing past outside. Ruan Mei’s laboratory was not far ahead, and with it, hopefully, news about Tingyun.

Just then, Kazuki’s phone suddenly vibrated, the screen lighting up with a new message.

Asta had given him this phone not long ago. He hadn’t expected that after only a few days, Silver Wolf would find a way to hack in and add him as a friend.

【LovesWolfGod: Get online!】

Kazuki raised an eyebrow, his fingers quickly tapping the screen to reply.

【General Fei Peng: Wolf, why the new name?】

【LovesWolfGod: Stop the nonsense. You’re lecturing me about my screen name? Didn’t you change yours too?】

【General Fei Peng: How is that the same? I’m Galaxy Ranger Fei Peng now. Watch out, or I’ll trace your connection to Penacony and ‘IRL’ you!】

【LovesWolfGod: What Galaxy Ranger? Aren’t you just little Kazuki from the Xianzhou Luofu?】

【General Fei Peng: Holy crap! Doxxed! My bad, I shouldn’t have been talking smack online!】

【LovesWolfGod: Do you have any dignity left? Fine, just get online now.】

Kazuki was about to reply when he suddenly remembered something, his fingertips pausing over the screen.

【General Fei Peng: In a while, an organization called the Stellaron Hunters will come looking for you. You thinking of joining them?】

There were a few seconds of silence on the other end before a new message popped up.

【LovesWolfGod: Stellaron Hunters? Is it more interesting than games?】

【General Fei Peng: You’ll probably like it.】

【LovesWolfGod: Cryptic weirdos, get out of the galaxy. But… Stellaron Hunters? I’ll consider it.】

Then, another message followed immediately after.

【It really has been boring in Penacony lately. I wanted to hack the Screwllum Planet’s firewall, but that guy Screwllum doesn’t even bother with me. It might be nice to have another place to find some fun.】

Kazuki knew the real reason Screwllum wasn’t engaging with Silver Wolf. He was likely preoccupied with the “iron curtain” project and cracking the complex firewall Lygus had erected using Sonnet Algebra.

Just as he was about to put down his phone, the notification chime for the Parallel World Chat Group began to ring out, sharp and insistent, over and over again.