Honkai Star Rail: My Path Changes Every Day! — Chapter 204

Chapter 204: Is the Shackling Prison a Kind of Cosmic Jail?

[Path: Trailblaze → Abundance & Trailblaze]

Rekka stood in front of the mirror, wincing as he inspected the fresh, fierce hickeys blooming across his neck. The twin sisters, Rozaliya and Liliya, had ambushed him first, leaving their obvious marks. And just when he thought he had escaped, March 7th had cheerfully cornered him to add her own contributions to the canvas.

“Are you having an allergic reaction?” Himeko’s elegant voice drifted over, laced with a hint of amusement.

“It’s from March, Rozaliya, and Liliya kissing me,” Rekka replied, his voice deadpan.

He fell silent for a moment, aggressively tugging at the collar of his heavy cloak to pull it higher. He didn’t actually like wearing high-collared cloaks. It made him look entirely too much like Jiahao for his liking. But if he didn’t cover his neck, the seven or eight vibrant red marks looked less like affection and more like the aftermath of a gruesome vampire attack.

“Sister Himeko, I’m going out for a walk,” Rekka announced, turning on his heel.

He needed to lie low. If this chaotic affection continued to escalate, he had a sinking suspicion that someone was eventually going to ‘make a life’on this train. And he meant that kind of’making a life’—the kind that resulted in tiny, chaotic toddlers running around the parlor car, though anyone else would have assumed he meant murder.

“Everyone here is a talent, and they speak so well. I really love it here,” he muttered sarcastically under his breath as he slipped away.

Stepping through the spatial distortion, Rekka found himself wandering the cold, oppressive corridors of the Luofu’s Shackling Prison. To a Trailblazer who had conveniently slapped down a Trailblaze-exclusive anchor in the area, infiltrating the Xianzhou’s most secure penitentiary was about as difficult as strolling into a public restroom.

Actually, the environment here was rather interesting today. For instance, quite a few of the mechanical jailers were lying flat on their backs or slumped against the damp walls, seemingly taking a nap in broad daylight.

“Wake up, wake up, you’ll catch a cold sleeping on the bare floor,” Rekka said kindly, crouching down to nudge a soundly ‘sleeping’ aurumaton jailer.

“Huh… why is no one moving? Is the work pressure in the Shackling Prison really this high?” He increased the force in his grip, shaking the heavy metallic shoulders of the Ingenium twice. The machine’s head lolled lifelessly to the side with a heavy clank, completely unresponsive.

“Zzt…”

A spark arced from the chassis of another Ingenium sprawled on the ground, emitting a weak, crackling electronic stutter.

“Yaoqing… envoy…” The mechanical voice distorted, skipping like a broken record. “Am… bushed…”

With a final hiss of static, the Ingenium completely broke down, its optical sensors fading to black.

Deep within the abyssal corridors of the prison, a low, heavy thud echoed through the darkness. It was immediately followed by guttural, beast-like growls and the ear-piercing screech of reinforced metal bars being violently wrenched apart. The commotion reverberated down the empty, cavernous passages, carrying with it the distinct, metallic scent of fresh blood.

This was the Eternal Prison. It was the deepest abyss of the Ten-Lords Commission, designed to hold the most dangerous, high-profile criminals in the cosmos. Every single prisoner locked in these lightless depths possessed extraordinary, world-ending skills. It was the very same abyss where the Imbibitor Lunae, Dan Feng, had once been chained.

A massive, imposing canine humanoid slowly pried open the supposedly indestructible blast gates, his bulging muscles straining against the alloy before he squeezed his hulking frame through the narrow gap.

Out at last. The air of freedom.

The Borisin Warhead, Hoolay, felt a dark, primal joy swell within his chest. His kin had finally come to kill him.

Excellent. After taking a brief, savoring breath of this free air, the old wolf would engage in a brutal deathmatch to decide the victor against the new wolf. Then, he would gladly entrust the beating crimson moon to the new generation…

However, the old Warhead, who had been chained in the dark for centuries, was destined for bitter disappointment.

The pack that had come for him hadn’t arrived to claim his life. They were here to rescue him, to drag him back to the throne so he could become the Borisin Warhead once more.

“Since the last hunt, how many times has Qingqiu rotated?” Hoolay’s voice was a low, rumbling growl. He did not immediately fly into a rage.

“Great Hoolay Khan, enemy of the Foxians, hunter of all living things!” A Borisin, currently wearing the skin of a Foxian, bowed deeply. “At least seven hundred years have passed since you last led our tribe across the hunting grounds of the sea of stars. Seeing you as cunning and sharp as ever brings me infinite joy.”

Seven hundred years have passed.

“Good… very good…” Hoolay murmured, the syllables grinding together like stones.

“Answer me, whelp of Dulan!” Hoolay suddenly snapped, his aura flaring with oppressive weight. “Why have you grown into Foxians? Why have you taken on the likeness of our slaves?!”

The disguised Borisin flinched. “I was ordered to come and release you from this abominable cage. This was destined by fate. To that end, I had to consume a vile potion, don the skin of a filthy beast, and use this disguise to deal with their Xianzhou hypocrisy…”

The Warhead’s mood rapidly soured. This wasn’t what he wanted. What his blood truly craved was a direct, visceral fight to the death right here on the cold prison floor with the strongest wolf of the current tribe. The winner would tear the beating crimson moon heart from the loser’s chest and leave this place as the new Warhead, the undisputed Wolf King.

“…Fine,” Hoolay sneered, his fangs glinting in the dim light. “Since you have an escape plan, tell me, how do you intend to flee this boundless sky-ship?”

“We have already placed decoys on the outskirts of the Shackling Prison. Once the time is right to create chaos, my brothers, disguised like me, will prepare a ship for your escape. According to the plan, we have a total of four hours to leave this place…”

A cowardly, pathetic plan.

The Warhead narrowed his eyes, his gaze piercing through the darkness. “You think such a plan can succeed?”

“To rescue you, we had no choice!” the subordinate pleaded. “The angel of the Lord Ravager who sent me said, [Only your return can end the Borisin’s long division]. All the brothers on this mission are prepared to sacrifice themselves—as long as it means you can leave this place!”

This was slightly more to his liking. Weak, cunning—these whelps possessed all the pathetic traits of the Foxian slaves that the Warhead utterly despised, but at least they retained a tiny spark of courage that bordered on absolute stupidity.

The pack might indeed be facing a true crisis of survival. When the wolf pack is in danger, there is no reason for the old wolf not to return and save the day.

But… The angel of the Lord Ravager.

He would interrogate these whelps about that specific detail after they broke out.

“Give me one of those potions that turned you into Foxians,” Hoolay demanded, extending a massive, clawed hand.

Unsurprisingly, the whelps looked shocked and immediately refused.

“Fools,” Hoolay scoffed, his voice dripping with contempt. “Bloodlust is etched deep in the bones, not painted on your fur!”

The old wolf felt a pang of disappointment, though he had already expected as much from this soft generation.

“This Foxian slave… is he also food offered to me?” The old wolf turned his massive head, his gaze locking onto a squinty-eyed Foxian standing among them.

Jiaoqiu.

He was a Yaoqing envoy who had only just arrived at the Luofu today. His original intention was to descend to the very bottom of the Shackling Prison to formally extradite the high-profile Borisin criminal, Hoolay. But while inspecting the imprisonment status at the lowest level, he had been abruptly kidnapped by this group of Borisin masquerading as his own kind.

Clearly, this was no simple, improvised jailbreak.

“No… Great Warhead,” the leader hastily interjected. “This is an envoy of the Yaoqing Xianzhou. Keeping him alive will be of great use to us.”

Sniff sniff…

Hoolay suddenly flared his nostrils, drawing in a deep breath of the stagnant prison air.

Even with the heavy, face-masking torture device clamped over his muzzle, that particular scent was still something Hoolay could never forget.

That was the scent of ‘Tushan’from Foxian legend, the’Dulan’ of Borisin legend. Regardless of whether it was a he or a she, this ancient canine entity had brought the blessing of Abundance to all the canines of Qingqiu.

But beneath that familiar scent, there was something else. Something far more potent. The old wolf paused, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his scarred features.

Did the Lord Ravager… really send an envoy?

“Whelps,” Hoolay growled low, his muscles tensing. “Did the angel of the Lord Ravager you mentioned come down here with you?”

The leading Borisin was clearly taken aback by the question. “I… we received no such news. Only we are on this mission. There is no one else…”

“I smell it,” Hoolay insisted, his voice dropping to a dangerous rumble. “Right here on this level of the prison. Something… carries the aura of the Lord Ravager. Not that thin, lingering scent on your bodies, but the pure, unadulterated aura of the Lord Ravager itself…”

Even while being held hostage at blade-point, a sharp, calculating glint flashed behind Jiaoqiu’s perpetually squinting eyes.

Hoolay had clearly perceived something that these ‘ordinary’Borisin could not. And that’something’ might just be the chaotic variable needed to break the current situation.

“Over there.” Hoolay raised a massive arm, pointing down the dark corridor.

He slowly turned his head. The heavy face-masking torture device completely blocked his vision, but a predator of his caliber didn’t need sight to perceive his prey.

Was Hoolay trying to release the other prisoners?

Jiaoqiu, being roughly shoved along by his Borisin captors, quickly dismissed the thought. Setting aside the sheer impossibility of easily releasing them, even if those high-profile criminals were somehow set free, Hoolay would undoubtedly be the very first target they’d attack.