Honkai Star Rail: Summoning the Chrysos Heirs — Chapter 16

Chapter 16: On How to Infiltrate The Authorities

“Cyrene.”

“Gender.”

“…Female.”

“Age.”

“Um… eighteen?”

The pen in the police officer’s hand paused against the paper. He slowly lifted his head, his gaze sweeping over Cyrene with the cold, calculating weight of a forensic examination.

“Why did you go to the Hongda Chemical Plant?”

The air in the interrogation room seemed to freeze. The only sound was the low, mechanical hum of the overhead ventilation.

Cyrene lowered her head. Her slender fingers unconsciously twisted the hem of her shirt, a picture of nervous hesitation as she seemingly struggled to organize her thoughts. After a long, drawn-out moment of silence, she spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

“I am… quite interested in those abnormal things.”

She looked up, her azure eyes wide and swimming with an innocent, almost naive light.

“The Xinhai City Paranormal Forum posted an anomaly bounty. I saw someone’s description. It was incredibly detailed, far too realistic to be entirely made up. I just went over out of curiosity.”

“Xinhai City Paranormal Forum?”

The officer blinked, clearly thrown off by the sheer absurdity of the answer. He swiveled his chair around, his fingers flying across the keyboard of a nearby laptop. The harsh blue light from the screen reflected off the lenses of his glasses, dancing in tandem with the scrolling web pages.

The rapid clacking of keys ceased. The officer did not turn back around, keeping his eyes locked on the monitor.

“Forum nickname.”

“This…”

Cyrene’s voice hitched in her throat. Her previously upright posture went entirely rigid.

The officer caught the sudden shift in her demeanor. He turned his chair back, eyeing her with renewed suspicion. “Is there a problem?”

“No, it is nothing…”

Cyrene felt a sudden, intense heat flush her cheeks. The corner of her mouth gave an involuntary twitch. She took a deep, steadying breath, acting like a martyr stepping onto the execution block. Her voice dropped to the faint buzz of a mosquito.

“The forum nickname is… Pink Puppy.”

The moment those two words left her lips, a chilling sensation of utter social annihilation crawled straight up her spine. When she first registered the account, she had fully intended to use the name Pink Fairy. Yet, in a momentary lapse of reason, her brain had short-circuited, flashing to Mimi’s appearance and that dreadful moniker. Her finger had slipped, hitting enter before she could correct it.

Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine a stern, uniformed police officer would one day demand she say that embarrassing handle out loud in a formal interrogation.

“I see it.”

The officer remained entirely immune to the comedic tragedy of the situation. He scrolled his mouse with practiced efficiency, locking onto the stickied post.

“Paying a large sum to find real supernatural events that occurred recently in Xinhai City.” He read the title aloud, enunciating every single syllable. He clicked a few times, discovering that the original poster had locked the reply section behind a privacy filter.

He snapped the laptop shut. His gaze sharpened into a blade.

“Please show me your forum homepage.”

Cyrene nodded obediently. She fished her phone from her pocket, handled to the forum, and offered the device forward with both hands. The officer took it, his thumb swiping across the glass as he carefully audited the account’s background data and history.

The heavy silence returned, broken only by the steady drone of the air conditioner.

A minute later, he slid the phone back across the metal table. He leaned forward, clasping his hands together. An invisible, heavy pressure radiated from his posture.

“Miss Cyrene, some things do not add up.” He stared directly into her azure eyes, his tone dropping into a dangerous register. “I have reviewed your records. Your parents unfortunately passed away in a car accident while traveling abroad. Prior to this week, there is absolutely zero data indicating you possessed any interest in the occult, the supernatural, or the abnormal.”

He paused, tapping a single finger against the tabletop.

“Even this account was created mere days ago. The user level was entirely artificially boosted by throwing money at forum coins.” His voice grew heavier, pressing down on her. “Why did you suddenly post this bounty? And why did you appear so precisely in such a highly dangerous, restricted location?”

Cyrene shrank back, pulling her shoulders up to her ears. Her throat worked, producing an audible swallow that echoed in the quiet room. It was a flawless display of sheer terror. She bit down hard on her lower lip, her eyes darting away as if physically repelled by the officer’s intense scrutiny.

“The reason for this… I…”

She stammered, dragging out the silence until it stretched thin, before finally asking in a fragile, cautious tone, like a drowning girl grasping at a lifeline.

“Can I talk to that… Sister An Ning?”

“You want to see her?”

The officer frowned. He studied Cyrene for several long seconds, weighing the tactical value of the request. Slowly, the deep lines on his forehead smoothed out.

“Fine. I will go find her now.” He stood, pushing his chair back with a harsh scrape against the floor. “Wait here.”

The heavy metal door clicked shut. The rhythmic thud of his boots faded down the corridor.

Cyrene’s tense, trembling shoulders instantly collapsed. Her entire body melted over the cold tabletop, sprawling out as if all her bones had suddenly vanished.

Good. It seemed she had successfully deflected the worst of their suspicion for now. If they genuinely considered her a high-risk hostile element, they would never have left her unrestrained in a standard interview room.

She rested her cheek against the chilled metal. A sharp, calculating light flickered deep within her azure pupils, entirely replacing the innocent facade.

‘This world… actually has Ability Users?’

In the future scenes the System had projected earlier, the human soldiers fighting the monsters had all relied on standard firearms. That display of pure, conventional military force had completely misled her into assuming this was a mundane, magic-less technological reality.

But that girl, An Ning, had shattered that assumption. She had proven through raw, crackling action that Supernatural Abilities existed here., the authorities had already adapted, establishing a dedicated, specialized branch known as the Special Bureau to handle them.

In that case…

Cyrene tapped a finger rhythmically against the table. A brilliant, highly efficient plan began to take shape in her mind.

Instead of wandering the city streets like a headless fly hunting for Abominations, it would be infinitely more effective to infiltrate the internal ranks of the authorities. She could disguise herself as a newly awakened Ability User, join their organization, and gain full access to their classified intelligence network.

Whenever they encountered an anomaly that was too dangerous, too complex, or simply too troublesome to handle, she could quietly leak the coordinates to Phainon. He would descend, obliterate the target, and secure the resources. This strategy would rapidly accelerate her own power progression while simultaneously doing the Special Bureau a massive favor.

It was the ultimate win-win scenario.

‘Right, let us see how much capital I earned from that little performance.’

With a mere thought, the pale blue interface of the System bloomed across her vision.

[Name: Cyrene]

[Gender: Female]

[Race: Unknown]

[Ability: Memory Imprint]

[Memory Trace: 30]

‘Thirty points?’

Cyrene raised a delicate eyebrow at the number. These Memory Traces were the direct result of her desperate flight from the monster and her subsequent rescue by An Ning. The System likely calculated the payout based on the deep, lasting impression she had left on the others during that life-or-death crisis.

The process had been rather pathetic, involving far too much running and screaming for her tastes, but free resources were always the sweetest kind.

Satisfied, she dismissed the holographic panel. She adjusted her posture, sitting up straight and preparing herself for An Ning’s arrival.

A few minutes later, the doorknob turned.

An Ning stepped into the room. She had stripped off her ruined combat gear, changing into a set of simple, loose-fitting casual clothes. Despite the fresh attire, her complexion remained a sickly, translucent pale. It was the obvious physical toll of severely overdrawing her Supernatural Ability.

She pulled out the chair opposite Cyrene and sat down heavily. Taking a slow, deep breath, An Ning forced her features into a mask of stoic professionalism, desperately trying to maintain the dignified aura of a field commander.

“I have been briefed on the situation.” She looked at Cyrene, softening her tone as much as her exhaustion would allow. “Tell me whatever it is you need to say.”

Cyrene blinked. Beneath the table, her hands twisted together in a tight knot. Her face shifted, displaying a perfectly timed expression of deep hesitation.

She let the silence hang for several seconds, acting as though she were gathering every ounce of her courage. Finally, she asked in a soft, trembling voice.

“Sister An Ning… that lightning you used back in the factory… is it like a superpower from a comic book?”

An Ning stared at her blankly. She clearly had not anticipated that, after all this buildup, Cyrene would ask something so rudimentary. Yet, upon further reflection, it was the exact logical reaction an ordinary civilian would have after their first exposure to the hidden world.

An Ning nodded, maintaining her calm facade. “Correct. Supernatural Abilities do indeed exist in this world. As do those monsters.”

Hearing the explicit confirmation, Cyrene let out a long, shaky breath, acting as though a massive weight had been lifted from her chest. She raised her head, meeting An Ning’s gaze directly. Though her voice remained quiet, it carried a crystal-clear resonance within the confined space of the interrogation room.

“The reason I suddenly started looking into the paranormal… the reason I went to that factory…”

Cyrene paused, letting the tension peak before delivering the line she had carefully crafted.

“It is because I realized that, not too long ago… I seem to have awakened an Ability of my own.”