Honkai Star Rail: Saving the World with a Mobile Game — Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Cipher Is So Mean! Why Is She Bullying Castorice?

【”Shut-in Princess?” She couldn’t be talking about Castorice, could she?】

【That nickname cuts deep. Is Cipher calling our precious Castorice a total hermit?】

【So Castorice is just like me, a socially anxious shut-in!】

The livestream chat scrolled rapidly as Guinaifen’s eyes returned to the game screen.

Cipher’s written message was unapologetically flippant. The cat-eared girl had brazenly swiped the gift Castorice had painstakingly prepared for Caelus, leaving nothing but a single, mocking coin in its place.

Worse, she had left a ransom note directing them to the Cloudstone Celestial Palace, boldly declaring that if they wanted the item back, they would have to pay a steep premium. It was a blatant scam.

Left with no other choice, Caelus and Castorice began a wild goose chase to track her down.

“This Cipher is seriously wicked! The portrait of Aidelia hanging in Castorice’s own home? She swapped it out for a fake!” Guinaifen slammed a hand on her desk, her fists clenched in righteous indignation. “And now she’s blackmailing her? She’s totally picking on Castorice just because she looks like a soft, dazed pushover!”

Of all the Chrysos Heirs introduced so far, Castorice was undeniably the most innocent. How could anyone have the heart to bully her?!

To add insult to injury, somewhere along their trek, the Divine Blood Nectar Caelus had been carrying was also expertly pickpocketed.

Fortunately, after scouring the area, they finally cornered Cipher on a sunlit rooftop.

Just as the players had suspected.

This was the mysterious new character teased in the promotional video.

Golden combat boots, sleek grey hair, a black hood, and a pair of twitching, undeniably cute… cat ears.

This was Cipher.

After a brief, snappy exchange, the truth spilled out.

Cipher had lured the duo here under the guise of a task assigned by Aglaea—to guide Castorice toward the Spark of Death.

Yet, in a classic twist of defiance, Cipher had no intention of fulfilling that duty. Instead, she wanted to bluntly persuade Castorice to abandon the quest and shirk her heavy responsibilities entirely!

Guinaifen and Sushang immediately recalled Aglaea’s previous evaluation of this particular Chrysos Heir.

She was a master of escaping and dodging responsibility!

Aglaea’s regal voice echoed through a sudden memory sequence:

“Escaping, escaping responsibility, escaping the oracle, escaping fate—’Thou shalt walk with greed, and thou shalt die for a penny.'”

“Have you forgotten? I should have made my stance clear long ago.”

“I understand this prophecy is incredibly heavy for you, but now I need you to escort Castorice to fulfill her lifelong quest.”

Cipher’s recorded reply dripped with cynical amusement. “Oh, I see. You want Castorice to march to her death for nothing, and you want to drag me down into the mud with her?”

To coax the reluctant Cipher into joining Fire Chasing, Aglaea had actually resorted to a high-stakes monetary bet, the loser forfeiting everything they owned.

The wager depended on whether Castorice would actively seek out Thanatos. Naturally, Cipher’s current interference was a desperate attempt to win the bet by convincing the girl to give up.

However, it was painfully clear that Cipher had already lost.

To prove her unwavering determination, Castorice agreed to Cipher’s extortionate demand for more money without a second thought.

“I have lived through a longer time than most people. Even if I am not as adept at business as Lady Aglaea, I still have some savings.”

“I… can give them all to you,” Castorice said, her soft gaze hardening with absolute resolve.

The sheer sincerity of those words actually short-circuited Cipher’s smug demeanor. “Then how the hell are you going to live the rest of your life?”

“Castorice is too cute!” Guinaifen squealed.

“That cat girl is so mean!” Sushang chimed in.

“But what’s up with this strange oracle? Does every Chrysos Heir have one?” Guinaifen pursed her lips in thought.

【No way, is Castorice actually loaded? How much money are we talking about?!】

【At least Cipher has a sliver of a conscience; she only took eighty percent in the end.】

【Stop bullying Castorice! I feel like she’s about to cry, she’s too pure for this world.】

【Actually, it makes sense. Giving it away is fine, since Castorice won’t be able to use it later anyway…】

Once the extortion was settled, the perspective shifted.

At the break of a new day, the trio met punctually at the city gates.

After Cipher spent a few minutes mercilessly teasing the flustered Castorice, they prepared to set off.

The players watched closely as…

In the time it took for Cipher to pivot on her heel, a golden cat coin was flicked high into the sky, catching the morning light before landing perfectly back onto her fingertip.

Guinaifen and Sushang stared at the screen, their faces blank with anticipation.

In the very next second, after Caelus handed over another coin, crackling sparks of lightning erupted beneath Cipher’s boots. She grabbed Caelus by the collar and sprinted forward in one explosive, reality-tearing stride.

As if time and space had violently folded in on themselves, the scenery blurred into a streak of light, and they arrived at their destination in the blink of an eye!

“Holy Xianzhou expletives!” Sushang shrieked, nearly falling out of her chair.

Guinaifen whipped her head around, utterly bewildered. “What was that noise, Shangshang? Why were you just sputtering ‘b-b-b-b’ like a broken record?!”

Realizing she had completely lost her composure, Sushang waved her hands frantically, a sheepish grin spreading across her face. “Don’t mind me, don’t mind me, Little Gui! I just got jump-scared by the speed!”

“I didn’t expect her to literally run straight through the loading screen. Quick, quick, let’s check the map!”

Opening their eyes, Caelus and Castorice found themselves standing in the desolate world of Styxia. Mem, the little memetic companion, fluttered out of thin air to join them.

Looking ahead, the magnificent, decaying city-state loomed like a titan’s corpse.

Though it was withered and ruined, choked by the ashes of time, the sheer architectural scale still whispered tales of its former glory and majestic grandeur.

As Caelus conversed with Castorice on screen, Guinaifen felt a surge of genuine awe.

“This is Styxia? The Author’s world-building is insane; every version’s new map has such a distinct, stunning atmosphere!”

“I bet if this wasn’t just a game, but a fully simulated reality construct, it would attract millions of tourists!”

【@RoastChickenTonight, my streamer sister is talking to you! Hurry up and build this in real life!】

Stepping into a territory so intimately tied to the concept of “death,” Guinaifen tried to crack a few jokes to keep the heavy atmosphere at bay.

But as Castorice, Caelus, and Mem crossed the sprawling Stygian Bridge, the eerie environmental storytelling took over.

Young children, diligent apprentices, haggling market merchants, armored centurions—various translucent ‘lost souls’ drifted along the path, endlessly repeating the exact same mundane actions from their past lives.

A chill ran down Guinaifen’s arms. The looping phantoms dragged up some very bad memories for both her and Sushang.

Hadn’t the Ghost-Hunting Squad dealt with a terrifyingly similar situation back on the Luofu?

Fortunately, they bumped into the cat girl halfway across the bridge and learned that Mydei was also operating in the area!

Hearing that the reliable powerhouse was nearby provided the players with a massive wave of security.

Pressing forward, Caelus, Castorice, and Mem fully crossed the River Styx and breached the shadowy interior of the Styxia Temple.

Along the way, Guinaifen expertly handled various ancient mechanisms and puzzle instruments. The reward for her diligent puzzle-solving was a trove of missing memory fragments related to Castorice’s past.

They witnessed her very first meeting with Aglaea and the solemn process of her joining Fire Chasing.

But there were deeper, hidden memories—truths that even Castorice herself seemed unaware of.

The first belonged to Amonet, who had left a cryptic fairy tale behind for Castorice. It revealed that the Queen of Styxia had personally entrusted the infant Castorice to Amonet out in the freezing ice fields.

The next was a fragmented recording from an alchemist scholar. It claimed that the giant dragon, Polykrus—the beast historically blamed for bringing destruction to Styxia—actually represented the concept of rebirth.

And the entity that had truly brought absolute death to the city was a young girl cradled in the dragon’s arms… a girl who had long since gone missing!

【Wait, does this completely overturn all the previous lore? The Author actually has the guts to pull this twist?!】

【In the Fables of Styxia, the one who brought death wasn’t the dragon, but Castorice?!】

【So Castorice and that dragon, Polykrus, represent the two sides of a coin: life and death.】

【That means the River Styx, which flows toward The End of the West Wind—the world of death—was blocked by Polykrus, which is exactly why there are so many wandering souls trapped outside!】

【I get it now! Castorice’s original home was never Aidelia; the Queen of Styxia gave her to Amonet!】

“Like a butterfly, alighting on the branch of death…”

“Castorice… I think, that is her name.”

Within the glowing memory crystal, Amonet’s voice softly spoke Castorice’s true name for the very first time, presenting her to the Queen of Styxia.

The revelation didn’t just shock Caelus and Castorice in the game; it left Guinaifen and Sushang sitting in stunned silence in front of their monitors.

The complex puzzle pieces were finally snapping together. They were agonizingly close to the core truth of Amphoreus.

But the game gave them no time to process. The moment the memory faded, a massive Black Tide Creation ambushed them, forcing an immediate, desperate battle.

Just as the monstrous entity reared back to strike a lethal blow, a familiar, electrifying presence shattered the tension.

CRASH!

Brilliant crimson crystals violently erupted from the ground, piercing straight through the Black Tide Creation and pinning it in place.

Without a doubt, they had finally caught up with Mydei!