PS: This is a crackfic. If you can't handle dense memes, best to back away. I already spelled this out in the prologue—why click in just to complain about too many jokes?
Loen Kingdom, Tingen City, Iron Cross Street.
The street was bustling with pedestrians. Public carriages rattled along the middle lanes, while hawkers bellowed their wares on both sides.
"Gentlemen" and "ladies" in Victorian-style clothing lingered at the stalls. Shirtless workers and ragged vagrants hurried past, hoping to find day labor before the sun fully rose—otherwise, they'd likely go hungry tonight.
In the middle of the crowd, a strangely dressed man stood out—but oddly, no one seemed to notice him. People brushed past him as though he were nothing but air.
He wore a white T-shirt and a black-and-white jacket emblazoned with a flexing, silver trash can. Black wide-legged jeans hung loosely down, and a sky-blue baseball cap shaded his face. Around his neck dangled headphones glowing in rainbow hues, with a chibi blue-haired angel-girl drawn on them. Random weird trinkets hung all over his body, none with any obvious use.
His name was Sairuis Bruce.
He drifted along with the crowd, aimless, scanning this new world. He was a transmigrator—and this wasn't even his first time.
In his first life, he'd been an unlucky, frail university student on Earth. Average face, average life, average everything. Even his name—Chen Ming—was bland. As he once joked, "Might as well have been Chen Sheng—at least then I could freeload off some historical destiny."
He remembered his first transmigration clearly. That day, he'd been outside his house, telling fairy tales to a neighborhood kid.
The story went like this:A tall man walking down the road saw a cardboard box. He opened it, and inside were two adorable catgirls. He reached out, stroking their ears, their big eyes, sharp noses, chins… After a long pause, he nodded, certain of his conclusion. Then he pulled out a chainsword and "faithfully processed" those damned xenomorphs.
The child bawled in terror. Chen Ming only smiled warmly, like the rising dawn, feeling like a towering hero—like the setting sun at dusk, noble and grand.
Unfortunately, there was no time to console the kid, because the next to arrive on the "battlefield" was the kid's grandmother.
"Traitor! Where do you think you're running!?"
The old lady descended from the heavens on a motorcycle and plowed straight into Chen Ming. Word was, her surname was Guan—descendant of Guan Yu. Back in her youth, she'd been a famous biker girl known as Red Firecracker.
That was Chen Ming's first transmigration.
...
When consciousness returned again, Chen Ming found himself surrounded by darkness—save for faint starlight in the distance, like the rural night skies of his childhood.
The sudden shift panicked him. He looked down and saw his own body glowing faintly. People don't glow—that made no sense.
Then, a light screen appeared before his eyes. White letters on a blue background read:
"Welcome, Transmigrator."
His fear eased a little. Transmigration? Like in novels? His heart raced. Stars circled him, as though he were the center of the cosmos. He whispered, trying to calm himself: "Transmigration? Me? So you're the system?"
"Yes indeed, chosen one! You are the child of destiny! And I shall be your aid!"
His joy surged. Anxiety gone, Chen Ming straightened, pretending to be calm. "Then, system, introduce yourself."
The screen replied eagerly:"I exist to make you successful in another world—wealth, power, wives by the dozen, beastgirls, mechgirls, elves, human beauties—you name it."
"That's wonderful!" Chen Ming remembered standard tropes. "System, what about a main quest? And… a newbie gift pack?"
"Of course! Your first quest is to overthrow a tyrannical dynasty. As for your newbie gift pack—you'll receive the blessings of four gods."
"Four divine blessings as a starter pack? That's… ridiculously OP. Which four?"
"The God of Wisdom and Change. The God of Strength and Courage. The God of Life and Nature. The God of Art and Beauty."
Chen Ming frowned. "Hold up. System, you never told me your name. Don't tell me you're something like the Tzeentch System?" He began edging backward.
An orange-red glow flashed. The panel displayed:
"Close, but not quite. I am… the Shengqi System."
"Ah… Shengqi. Yes, Shengqi is great. Who said it was bad? This system is awesome!"
Suddenly, Chen Ming shrieked like a stepped-on goblin, then bolted."EMPEROR! SAVE MEEE!"
He managed two steps before stopping abruptly, a manic grin splitting his face.
"Ah-ha~"
The laughter wasn't his. It echoed from everywhere. Light burst forth, orange-red radiance driving away the dark. Stars twinkled, laughing along. Auroras of rainbow color danced, like clowns, like masks.
Chen Ming laughed too—his clothes, his hair, even his body parts laughed with him.
"Transmigrator, Aha grants you blessing."
Masks appeared—smiling, weeping, sly, kind. Circus props tumbled about: confetti cannons, juggling balls, hoops.
Chen Ming realized he was standing atop a giant red smiling mask. A smaller mask floated to him—simpler, crimson, its grin wild yet controlled.
Knowledge surged into his mind:This was Aha, the Aeon of Elation, the god of fun and mischief—a special NPC from the game he once played.
Chen Ming panicked. Was this really Aha, or just Tzeentch in disguise?
"Mom, I really can't tell!!" he cried inside.
A sad-faced mask chimed in: "Very good, full board and lodging."
Light fell on him, flooding him with bliss. He realized—it didn't matter who Aha really was. If a god could alter his thoughts, stuff things into his brain, then truth and lies meant nothing. If the being said "I am Aha," then so be it.
And besides, if it was Tzeentch, he'd already be corrupted.
"Look what I found—a little outsider cutie! Oh wow, a game called Honkai: Star Rail! Aha's a character, yes indeed! But not in the gacha? How cruel! No Elation path either? So mean~"
[Cough Cough 4.x leak]
Masks babbled, props flew. Gloves tried stuffing a giant blue bird into a firework tube. The bird exploded. The gloves bickered, then beat up a music box until fireworks blasted them apart.
And so, in this chaos, Chen Ming became a Masked Fool, officially renamed Sairuis Bruce under Aha's command—an Emanator, one blessed to act as Aeons' hands in the mortal world.
...
From then, things escalated. Other Aeons came. Blessings piled up. He became a collector, a trickster, a rider of worlds. He joined, mocked, and invented orders—like the "Spring Brow Knights," spreading gospel of eyebrows unrivaled. He even conned some Pure Knights of Beauty into admitting eyebrows count as beauty.
Time blurred. Just as he thought he'd spend his life in Star Rail's universe, he transmigrated again—into a steampunk world resembling his old home.
(End of Chapter)