Honkai Star Rail: Saving the World with a Mobile Game — Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Sister! Your Eyes Are as Beautiful as Gems

It wasn’t just Ash. From the looks of it, the entire Astral Express Crew—Stelle and Dan Heng included—had plunged into deep trouble on Amphoreus.

This wasn’t the standard trailblazing hazard. Someone, or something, was actively interfering with Elio’s script, forcibly dragging everyone off their predetermined tracks.

While the script always contained branching possibilities, the Stellaron Hunters had no intention of marching toward a bad ending.

“Kafka, outside the confines of the script, I believe there are still many things we can do,” a mechanical voice rumbled. “Such as hunting down the anomaly and stopping his dangerous actions.”

Sam stood motionless, completely unfazed by the looming danger, yet an inexplicable, freezing pressure radiated from the armor’s chassis.

The recent communication with Ash had served a dual purpose: a request for backup, and a telepathic probe. Theoretically, according to the script, this was the exact moment the Astral Express should have crashed, severing all contact with its crew. Yet, Ash’s signal had punched right through the interference.

Something felt terribly wrong. Whether it was the strange cadence of his voice during the call, or the bizarre IP address Silver Wolf had managed to trace, the pieces didn’t fit.

Someone had hijacked the narrative on Amphoreus, and Ash was likely the first casualty.

They couldn’t even be sure if the voice on the other end was truly him, or which ‘state’ of his existence had answered the call. The cosmos harbored far too many strange Paths.

So, who was pulling the strings? At this very moment, the only variable existing outside Elio’s script was this mysterious game that had materialized out of thin air.

The mastermind behind the account ‘Tonight Eat Roast Chicken’.

Kafka’s signature smile faltered, her expression turning unusually serious. “An unexpected variable has surfaced. Are you planning to descend upon Amphoreus directly?”

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the towering mech. “But, your body…”

For a piece that was supposed to remain off the board to suddenly enter the fray violated every rule they operated by. But just as they suspected, an unknown entity was deliberately warping the Amphoreus script, entirely rewriting the rules of engagement.

Sam gave a slow, heavy nod. “That’s right. But it will be fine.”

Kafka and Silver Wolf remained silent, perfectly understanding the weight of that decision.

Deep within the cold, metallic shell of the mech, Firefly’s youthful face tightened with a flicker of genuine anger.

‘Everyone… Ash.”Wait for me…’

[Wait, wait!]

[Wait for my precious you? Little Gui, pick Firefly for me! I need to see what kind of edgy dialogue the most violent, ruthless Stellaron Hunter is going to spit out!]

[Wouldn’t Kafka be the better pick?]

[She’s got the highest bounty among the Hunters. I really want to know what she’s like in these memory fragments.]

The digital battlefield faded as Stelle’s memory sequence reached its final fragment.

A prompt materialized on the screen: a choice between Firefly and Kafka.

Sitting in front of her streaming setup, Guinaifen agonized over the glowing dialogue options. She chewed her lip, then her eyes lit up with a streamer’s cunning. She had the perfect solution to satisfy her entire audience: talk to Firefly first. Then, right before the dialogue sequence locked in, she would force-quit the game, reload the save file from before the plot triggered, and pick Kafka.

Through this shameless save-scumming, her viewers got to experience both sides of the story.

As the final lines of dialogue played out, Guinaifen leaned back in her chair, her eyes wide.

“I… I can’t believe it…”

[This is so dissonant. Utterly dissonant! If the game didn’t explicitly state it, who would ever guess these guys are the Stellaron Hunters?]

[Sam can speak this gently? ‘We’ll meet again’? What happened to setting the seas ablaze?!]

[And Kafka calling herself a ‘safe haven’? Mommy?]

[Even if this lore was actually canon, I wouldn’t dare write it. If I had to guess, the real Stellaron Hunters have already mobilized to hunt down the dev for this slander.]

[Upstairs is a prophet. The dev is going to get knifed…]

As the dual conversations concluded, Stelle was ejected from the memory space. A notification chimed, revealing that a free Memory Lord had joined the roster.

Guinaifen’s chat exploded with excitement, but halfway across the galaxy, this exact moment was causing Asta a massive headache. The lead researcher had fully intended to swipe her card and max out the new character’s Eidolons immediately. Now she was staring at the screen in disbelief, realizing she couldn’t whale for a free story unit.

What kind of game design was this?

Left with no other option, Asta could only grit her teeth and continue pushing through the main plot, hoping the upcoming mission rewards would drop the necessary Eidolon materials.

Back in the game, Mem materialized beside Stelle in a physical form. After a brief exchange, the crew realized this little entity was the key to breaking their current deadlock.

Relying on Tribbie’s guidance, the party of four swiftly handled their way back to Okhema. Phainon and Dan Heng split off, rushing to provide backup for Mydei. Meanwhile, Stelle, Castorice, and Mem ventured into Kremnos City, tasked with gathering scattered memories to unravel the dark secret behind Nikador’s immortality.

During their investigation, they crossed paths with Damianos, the explorer from earlier.

To the players’ surprise, Aglaea hadn’t executed him. She merely extracted a solemn promise from the man before sending him packing. In the end, the crew managed to obtain crucial photographs of Kremnos City from him.

The players, however, were absolutely furious at the NPC.

[What the hell? This is the guy who leaked the secret in the first place! If it wasn’t for him, would Aglaea have interrogated us?]

[I’m telling you, the one who deserves the blame is this backstabbing coward!]

[I am so done. I thought he got offed after the guards took him away, but he’s actually still alive and kicking?]

[Wait, that doesn’t make sense. Given Aglaea’s ruthless temperament, shouldn’t she have just smote him on the spot?]

Right as the chat was boiling over with complaints, the camera angle shifted. Weaver appeared on screen, smoothly transitioning the perspective over to Aglaea and Tribbie.

Guinaifen, who had been slurping down a bowl of instant noodles while idling in a safe zone, nearly choked on her broth.

[Senator Kenis]—!

A brand-new character strutted into the frame, exuding an aura of suffocating arrogance.

Before the scene even fully rendered, her sharp, condescending voice cut through the air.

“Remember your place, Aglaea. Whether it is the Chrysos Heirs or the Senate, our elevated status is a privilege granted by the citizens of Okhema.”

Kenis crossed her arms, tilting her chin up to look down her nose at the golden-haired ruler. “Before you attempt to overstep your bounds and pass judgments far beyond your station, recall the Golden War. Think very carefully about the final, miserable fate of those so-called heroes.”

The Senator delivered her venomous remarks with practiced ease, her tone dripping with aristocratic superiority. She didn’t even spare Tribbie, casting a disdainful glare at the girl standing nearby.

“If you find yourself lacking in historical comprehension, perhaps you should have her give you another remedial lesson!”

Faced with such blatant humiliation, Aglaea remained perfectly still. She didn’t snap back. She didn’t summon her authority. Viewed from behind, her solitary silhouette looked inexplicably lonely against the grand architecture of Okhema.

Guinaifen stared at the screen, her noodles completely forgotten.

Aglaea wasn’t the absolute, uncontested authority in Okhema?

There were actually people who dared to mock her to her face?

The tense cinematic didn’t last long, quickly returning control to the player.

A quiet sense of helplessness lingered in the subsequent dialogue between Aglaea and Tribbie, but there was no time to dwell on it. A new objective updated on the screen: investigate the infiltration of the strife remnants.

The sequence required three back-to-back battles. Armed with a fully maxed-out E6 roster, Guinaifen flattened the enemies with a stylish, apocalyptic bombardment, barely breaking a sweat.

It was during the quiet aftermath of the fighting that the tone shifted.

Aglaea stumbled upon a little girl wandering near the encroaching black tide. The child was deaf and mute, desperately searching for a knucklebone amulet she had dropped into the hazardous sludge. Without hesitation, Aglaea stepped into the mire and retrieved it.

The battle UI faded away.

“Is this it?”

A simple necklace strung with polished bones appeared in the center of the screen.

Perhaps it was just the audio mixing, but Aglaea’s typically stern voice sounded noticeably softer.

The little girl couldn’t hear the words, nor could she speak her own, but through the faint glow of a golden thread connecting them, she projected her pure, unadulterated joy. “Yes, that’s it! Thank you, sister…”

“Sister…”

Aglaea’s voice caught in her throat.

As if struck by a sudden, painful memory, she forced a fragile smile onto her lips. She knelt slightly, her tone shifting into a gentle but firm admonishment.

“You must remember, you cannot play alone on the streets in the future… even here in Okhema.”

“Your ‘weakness’ will inevitably become a target for enemies. For the masses, the cost of committing evil is far smaller than the cost of doing good… I speak from experience.”

For some reason, the game’s UI specifically highlighted the word ‘weakness’ in a glaring yellow font.

The little girl was clearly too young to grasp the heavy philosophy behind the warning. But from the very bottom of her heart, her bright, innocent pupils reflected nothing but deep gratitude toward the golden ruler.

“Although I don’t understand, thank you for the reminder, sister!”

“And sister… you’re really beautiful! Just like the goddess Moneta recorded on the ancient stone slabs, all golden and shiny! Your eyes… they’re like two precious gems. I really envy them!”

Aglaea fell completely silent.

A beat passed, and the girl gently pressed the bone amulet into Aglaea’s hands.

At that exact moment, far removed from the digital world of Amphoreus.

Aboard the Astral Express, Himeko sat in the parlor car, having just played through that very same sequence. She stared at her screen, a deeply complex emotion swirling in her eyes.

And not far away, in a quieter corner of the carriage, Welt was locked in a quiet, serious conversation with Sunday.