Honkai Star Rail: Saving the World with a Mobile Game — Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Exposing the Stellaron Hunters’ Memories, the Whole Internet is Blown Away!

Guinaifen’s heart raced, a sudden flush of heat rushing to her cheeks. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, pushing her in-game avatar to sprint faster across the map. It felt as though someone out there in the digital ether was genuinely sacrificing their life to buy her these precious seconds.

But Nikador’s predicament was far more complex than anyone had anticipated. Upon returning to the city of Okhema, she discovered the grim truth: neither Tribios nor Aglaea could resolve the looming crisis. The encroaching disaster had somehow deceived death itself. The only entity capable of providing answers was the Titan of Time—Orionis.

Left with no other options, Stelle and Dan Heng set out on their journey once more. Guided by Tribios, they retraced their steps to the Janupolis Temple, accompanied by Phainon and Castorice. They handled through a massive maze of towering gateways and endured the grueling Trial of Talanton’s Scales. Finally, they stood before the colossal form of Orionis, bearing a weight that far exceeded the mere fate of a single world.

Unfortunately…

Orionis was entirely uncooperative. The ancient Titan seemed to reject their very presence, stubbornly refusing to communicate and withholding any semblance of aid. Instead, she coldly scolded the four of them for their intrusion.

By now, the players watching behind their screens—along with Himeko, Welt, and the rest of the Astral Express crew—had developed a deep emotional attachment to this virtual world. From a Trailblazer’s perspective, they all desperately wanted these young heroes, burdened with the heavy mission of Deliverance, to succeed and survive.

“What is this Orionis’s problem?” Guinaifen gripped her mouse, inexplicably furious at the massive Titan on her monitor. “Doesn’t the lore literally say that if the black tide hits, everyone is doomed? And she’s just sitting there refusing to help?!”

Seeing that diplomacy was a dead end, Phainon cracked her knuckles on-screen, fully prepared to bypass the talking and throw hands.

But who could have predicted that, right at this hair-trigger moment, the Galactic Baseballer would do what she did best?

Click.

Right in the middle of the tense standoff, Stelle actually pulled out March 7th’s camera and snapped a photo.

At that exact second, the gears of fate violently shifted. That single, seemingly random action triggered a bizarre reaction from the ancient Titan.

“Mother… Mother?”

Castorice, who understood the ancient Titan language, blinked in sheer confusion and translated the murmurs aloud. “Mother? Mother?”

She turned to the gray-haired Trailblazer. “Your Excellency Stelle, could you please step forward? Orionis seems to be calling for you.”

[Huh? What the hell is ‘Mother’? She’s calling the MC?!]

[LMAO, interesting strategy. To avoid getting elbow-dropped by the MC, the boss just straight-up calls her ‘Mom’?]

[Holy crap, as expected of our MC! Does Stelle have some crazy hidden identity? An Amphoreus deity is calling her Mother!]

[Wait, hold on. Is it actually Stelle? What if it’s because of the camera?!]

[Does March 7th have a hidden identity IRL?!]

Seeing this, the livestream chat exploded into a frenzy of theories. Someone quickly pointed out that during the fake ending’s cast list, March’s name had several question marks next to it, whereas Stelle’s did not. Did that prove March was the one hiding a massive secret?

But the wild speculation was cut short. Under Orionis’s relentless, echoing calls, Stelle finally accepted the Titan’s invitation, deciding to plunge into the sealed memories alongside her.

“Come with me… follow me.”

“With me… pay homage to your past…” Orionis murmured, her voice blurring into a low, indistinct rumble.

Then, the screen cut to pitch black.

When this scene played out, Guinaifen’s chat room completely lost its collective mind.

The past?

Wait, what past was Stelle supposed to have?!

As veteran fans of the Astral Express, the players all knew the lore: Stelle had woken up on the Herta Space Station and immediately joined the Express crew. What other past could she possibly possess? Did it have something to do with the Xianzhou Luofu, or maybe Penacony?

It couldn’t be that she actually had some terrifying hidden identity!

At that exact moment, it wasn’t just the ordinary gamers losing their minds. Aboard the real Astral Express, Welt Yang and Himeko exchanged a deeply loaded glance.

They knew this child harbored many secrets. But when they first found her on the Space Station, she had been a blank slate—as naive and empty as a newborn. How could she have a past that predated them?

Both of them desperately wanted to know what the game’s creator, Ash, was going to write next. Was this just a fabricated plotline for the game, or did Ash actually know something about Stelle’s true origins?

A similar situation was unfolding across the Xianzhou Luofu and the Herta Space Station.

The Xianzhou was relatively calm; the characters featured so far didn’t have any world-shattering secrets to hide. But over on the Space Station, things were spiraling. Since the game involved Madam Herta’s true form, Arlan had initially intended to strictly manage the researchers’ playtime.

Unfortunately, the entire station seemed possessed. Every single department was addicted to Honkai: Star Rail!

The worst part was that Arlan couldn’t enforce a ban even if he tried, because Lead Researcher Asta had fallen down the rabbit hole harder than anyone else.

There was no doubt about it. Asta had originally downloaded the game with a critical eye, intending to analyze it. But after experiencing the sheer dopamine rush of pulling beautifully designed characters and watching their magnificent combat animations…

In just half a day, she dropped a 200,000 credit deposit. Then another 200,000.

Asta went all-in! She was completely, hopelessly out of control.

“Aglaea is so incredibly strong!” Asta squealed, her eyes glued to her monitor. “Wow! Bailu is just too cute, and Bronya’s kit is amazing—she’s the perfect support for Aglaea’s team!”

She paused, tapping her chin. “Speaking of which, since this game features characters from so many different planets, I wonder if the Space Station will get a banner…”

“If we do…”

Asta drifted into a daydream, already calculating how many millions of credits she would need to max out her own potential in-game avatar. As a pure meta-slave and combat-power whale, she had bought her way to a top-tier account and completely ignored the community lore discussions. If she hadn’t already steamrolled through all the Pure Fiction and Forgotten Hall stages and gotten bored, she wouldn’t have even realized the main story had reached a massive climax.

Back in the game, the long stretch of darkness finally dissipated, broken by a familiar, squeaky voice.

When Stelle opened her eyes, a little pink creature hovered confusedly in front of her.

“It’s you again?” Stelle asked. “Where are you taking me?”

“Mem, Mem?”

“It’s you, it’s me, where to, take you?” the creature babbled.

[Ah? The visuals are back! It’s that pink rabbit again!]

[Bro, are you blind? That is clearly a hamster. How is that a rabbit?]

[Wait, is that really the point right now? The point is that it showed up again! We saw this thing near the train at the very beginning of the game.]

[What exactly is this thing, and why the hell is it inside a memory?!]

Seeing Mem officially reappear, the players instantly sensed that something massive was brewing.

The scene shifted. The screen seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second, and then a highly familiar, upbeat melody began to play.

It was the Astral Express’s parlor car.

“Is this… the train?” Guinaifen gasped. Having been a guest on the Express herself, she recognized the plush seating and warm lighting immediately. “How did we get back here? And wait, are those Himeko and Dan Heng?”

She squinted at her monitor. “Hold on, something feels really off!”

Following Mem’s voice, Guinaifen clicked to initiate dialogue with the two figures standing by the window.

How to describe it? Having interacted with the real Himeko and Dan Heng, Guinaifen immediately noticed a jarring disconnect in their voices and speech patterns. They were muttering bizarre lines—something about a script, and some absolute nonsense about ‘Chaotic Beef Offal’.

The veteran Astral Express fans in the chat noticed the anomaly at the exact same time.

The very next second, the illusion shattered!

The forms of Himeko and Dan Heng glitched and shifted, melting away to reveal two entirely different figures: a mature, dangerously elegant woman draped in a black coat, and a grim young man with deep blue hair, half his face obscured by his locks.

The scene froze. Every single player experiencing the plot sat in stunned silence.

Aboard the real train, the expressions of Himeko and Welt darkened into absolute solemnity.

There was no mistaking it.

Those two weren’t Express members. They were Kafka and Blade of the Stellaron Hunters.

This wasn’t the Astral Express, and it wasn’t just some random planet. This so-called memory of Stelle’s past was directly tied to the universe’s most wanted terrorist organization!

Soon, another memory fragment materialized nearby, revealing the towering, metallic figure of Sam.

Approaching the mech triggered a new conversation. It was plain, familiar, and shockingly gentle—lacking any of the bloodthirsty edge one would expect from an interstellar terrorist group. It sounded exactly like a casual chat between close friends or family.

And looking at the in-game Stelle’s bewildered expression, it became terrifyingly clear: she herself hadn’t even known this memory existed!