Seeing Dan Heng's incredibly cool Ultimate, Guinaifen's eyes lit up with little stars.
Once she finally managed to calm down, she couldn't help but feel a surge of indignation toward the developer.
"With a character like this, why won't you let me spend money?!" she cried. "Who are you looking down on!"
She even felt the urge to take over as the game's designer herself.
If she were in charge, she would have set up different payment tiers for a character like Dan Heng. The first tier would have an Ultimate with no special close-up. The second tier would unlock the close-up effect, but without the ink-wash style background if you wanted the full version, you'd have to pay extra! Only the third tier would be the complete, breathtaking version of the move.
Developer, do you even know how to make money?! You have to do it like this!
Unfortunately, the creator hadn't done anything of the sort. Instead, the character was handed out completely for free. She didn't actually know this mysterious developer, Yu Ling, so she could only leave a suggestive comment in the game's review section.
Suppressing those thoughts for the moment, she turned her attention back to the story.
Though the elite Voidranger was struggling, it suddenly let out a violent roar. Phantom images began to flicker in the air one after another, its Voidranger lackeys emerged.
March 7th immediately grumbled in annoyance, "Hey, hey, hey! Bringing in the whole gang just because you can't win a fair fight... aren't you guys just sore losers?"
As she spoke, she began to retreat slowly. Dan Heng gripped his spear, moving into a position to cover their rear.
Right then, a propeller-shaped piece of machinery suddenly appeared. Spinning at high speeds, it instantly shredded one of the Voidrangers. Then, a Monomolecular Saw extended from the blades, cutting through the enemies ahead like a hot knife through butter. To finish it off, the elite Voidranger was smashed to pieces.
The group didn't hesitate, immediately breaking through the front.
The screen shifted. On the other side of the space station, a pair of slender, jade-like hands gently folded together.
A mature, magnetic voice rang out: "It's always such a narrow escape. But... it's good to have you back."
A woman with long, flowing red hair appeared on camera, wearing a gentle smile.
"Another new character!" Guinaifen's face flushed with excitement. "And she's a mature older sister type! I wonder if she'll be playable!"
In the livestream, the moment this red-haired woman appeared, the bullet chat exploded.
"What a beautiful lady!"
"I love this kind of mature and gentle woman!"
"Wait, do you guys not recognize her? That's Himeko, the Navigator of the Astral Express!"
"So it's really her! Not only is she a top-tier scientist, but she's actually this stunning in person!"
"I'm in love. From now on, I'm only stanning Himeko!"
On the Astral Express, Welt Yang let out a soft smile when he saw the Monomolecular Saw appear. He'd had a feeling ever since Dan Heng showed up. Sure enough, Himeko had made her entrance as well.
"As expected of Himeko," Welt remarked. "In the eyes of the children, she is truly reliable."
Himeko didn't seem to mind the praise. She was busy operating a nearby screen.
"Himeko, what are you doing?" Welt asked, curious.
"I tried looking up information regarding this game, but the public data is pitifully sparse. All I know is that the developer goes by Yu Ling. I can't even tell if it's an individual, a company, or an organization."
"However..."
"However what?" Welt pressed.
"I found a related livestream. It's a young girl from the Xianzhou. Like us, she's just started experiencing the game."
Himeko turned the screen toward Welt. Sure enough, the game progress on the stream was nearly identical to theirs. The viewer count in the top right corner had already surpassed ten thousand.
"Her stream usually only has a few thousand people. It was only because she started streaming Honkai: Star Rail that she attracted so much attention in such a short time."
"It seems this game is beginning to go mainstream," Welt noted with a sigh.
Meanwhile, the comments on the stream continued to pour in.
"What do I have to do to marry Himeko?"
"This older sister is too charming. I fell in love at first sight!"
"I'm a woman and even I can't handle this!"
"I've got the material for my dreams tonight."
Himeko glanced at the comments and calmly turned off the chat overlay. On the screen, the game was playing out the scene of her first meeting with Stelle. Aside from a few minor word choices and subtle facial expressions, it was almost identical to her own memory.
It was as if an invisible camera had been recording everything as it happened, only for it to be turned into a game.
Because of this, Himeko was contemplating a certain possibility. If the game's plot ended at the space station, that would be one thing after all, those were past events that could be reconstructed with enough technology. But if the story continued, did that mean they would soon see the situation on Jarilo-VI?
She turned her head, looking out the window at the ice-covered planet below. Just as she was thinking about contacting Dan Heng and the others on their Trailblaze expedition, her phone buzzed with a notification.
It was a message from March 7th.
Himeko looked it over. The gist was that everything was going smoothly so far. With the help of a robot named Svarog, they had obtained information regarding the Stellaron. They planned to rest for the night and head to the Stellaron's location tomorrow.
Himeko hesitated, but decided not to tell them about the existence of Honkai: Star Rail just yet. It wouldn't be too late once they finished their mission tomorrow. She would, of course, keep a close eye on the situation below to ensure no accidents occurred.
Setting her phone down, she heard Guinaifen's startled cry from the screen.
"Everyone! Am I seeing this right?! Himeko is also a playable character! And she's joined our team! Ahhh! I have to try out her skills right now!"
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