Welt Yang gave a small nod, but his gaze stayed locked on Huo Linfei as he twitched in pain.
"Forcing the summoning of something beyond your control and triggering an internal backlash…" Welt's voice was calm, but not unkind. "Young man, you still don't understand your own power well enough."
He lifted a hand. A stabilizing field enveloped Huo Linfei, steady and firm, like a warm net catching him before he could fall apart.
"Get some sleep first."
Huo Linfei felt his consciousness blur. The last thing he saw was March 7th's worried face—and the Doomsday Beast's body being swallowed by a black hole.
"The height of a fountain… will never exceed its source…"
"Wha…?" Huo Linfei's drifting awareness, suspended in darkness, was roused by an aged voice. "That line… sounds so familiar…"
"A Superbeast Warrior's Energion will never exceed the faith in his heart…"
"I remember now—this voice… Teacher Xuan Yizi!"
But no matter what he did, Huo Linfei couldn't open his eyes or break free of the darkness.
"It's strange. He reads like an ordinary human no matter how you test him. Why would Polka go out of her way to dump him on the station and not leave a single explanation?"
A girl's voice—unfamiliar, but crystal clear—cut through.
"Pol… ka?"
Pain stabbed into him next.
"—Reaction threshold just broke 9000! Log it, now!"
"Don't get too close! Their energy resonance almost blew the scanner last time!"
His vision returned in a blur.
Several researchers bustled around him. Huo Linfei tried to move—only to realize glowing restraints had locked his wrists and ankles in place. Even worse, his chest was covered in electrode pads, all linked to seven or eight humming machines.
"Oh? Sleeping Beauty's awake?"
A delicate, porcelain-doll-like face suddenly filled his view. "I'm Herta, the owner of this space station."
Huo Linfei blinked.
The voice was clearly coming from the girl's mouth, but it carried a maturity—and a teasing edge—that didn't match her appearance at all. He blurted out without thinking:
"That's a pretty fancy doll…"
The lab went dead silent.
"D-Doll?" The girl—no, Herta's puppet—straightened with a twitch at the corner of her mouth. "Didn't expect the guy the Lord of Silence sent over to be this rude."
"Lord of Silence…?" Huo Linfei was completely lost. He tried to draw on his Energion, only to find the restraints suppressing it hard.
Then his attention snagged on something across the room.
In a medical pod lay a gray-haired girl, also hooked up to multiple monitors and instruments.
[System Alert: Stellaron energy detected nearby.]
[Recommendation: maintain distance.]
"Hey—can you at least unchain me first?" Huo Linfei rattled his wrist. "I'm not a criminal…"
"Not until I figure out what that energy inside you actually is." Herta's puppet folded her arms. "Every scan says you're a normal human. Yet you can manifest a flaming suit of armor out of nowhere, and while you were unconscious you raised the entire medical ward's temperature by ten degrees."
The door slid open.
March 7th stormed in like a whirlwind. "Ms. Herta! Mr. Yang said you can't treat him like a lab specimen—oh! You're awake!"
The moment she saw Huo Linfei, her eyes lit up. She skidded to a stop, pink hair flicking up in a playful arc from the sudden braking.
Huo Linfei's heart skipped again. Even bound up like this, he couldn't stop himself from grinning.
"Miss March! Are you here to visit me?"
"W-Who's visiting you on purpose?!" March 7th planted her hands on her hips, cheeks puffing. "I'm here to make sure Ms. Herta doesn't do anything too extreme!"
"No extreme experiments," Herta's puppet said blandly. "But plenty of interesting phenomena."
She tapped the console, and a holographic display popped up—two sets of waveform graphs.
"Look. This is the Stellaron's energy reading. And this is your energy fluctuation while you were unconscious. Similarity: seventy-eight percent."
In the medical pod, the gray-haired girl abruptly opened her eyes.
Golden irises stared straight at Huo Linfei.
The instant their eyes met, every instrument in the room shrieked into alarm at once.
"Again!" Researchers scrambled in panic.
Huo Linfei felt the electrode pads on his chest turn scorching hot. A resonance surged through him, and his Energion began spilling out uncontrollably. The restraints made a strained cracking sound, as if they were reaching their limit.
Flame-like patterns surfaced across his skin.
"Suppress it!" Herta's puppet shouted.
The door opened again.
Welt Yang strode in with his cane, moving faster than his composed demeanor suggested. The moment he saw the scene, he slammed the cane down.
A stabilizing field expanded outward.
The screaming alarms softened. The readings eased back toward normal.
"I told you to proceed gradually," Welt said, frowning. "His energy system isn't the same as anything we know from the Paths."
Huo Linfei gasped, then muttered under his breath—half reflex, half nerves:
"So it really is that 'Welt-the-sit-up'… no wonder there's a Honkai prefix…"
The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.
Everyone turned to stare.
March 7th even tilted her head. "Mr. Yang has a nickname like that?"
"Ahem—countryman! It's just an affectionate nickname between fellow countrymen!" Huo Linfei forced a dry laugh, then hurriedly changed the subject. "So… can you unchain me now? I promise I won't run."
Welt adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. "You know me?"
"Uh… I've heard of you back on Earth," Huo Linfei mumbled—then immediately raised his voice. "I mean, you just look like a highly respected elder!"
Herta's puppet fell silent for a beat, then smiled.
"Interesting."
She snapped her fingers. The restraints clicked open.
"Fine. We've collected enough data anyway."
Huo Linfei sat up, rubbing his wrists—only for his eyes to drift, helplessly, toward the medical pod.
The gray-haired girl was sitting up now, watching him with a wary, almost feral intensity.
"That's Stelle," March 7th leaned in and whispered. "She joined us while you were out. There's a Stellaron inside her, and you… kind of look like you have something similar?"
"What even is a Stellaron?" Huo Linfei shook his head. "Energion is a potential energy that exists in all living beings—at least, that's how the setting describes it. I just happen to be able to actively draw it out."
That drew even more curious looks.
Welt stepped closer. "Setting? Could you explain in more detail? As far as I know, this form of energy isn't recorded in any known Path."
"Well, uh…" Huo Linfei scratched his head.
Then he realized Stelle had somehow moved right up to his bedside. Close enough that he could feel her breathing.
"Prove it," Stelle said, short and flat, and poked him in the chest.
"—Hey! Don't just touch people!" Huo Linfei recoiled, face flushing. "Men and women shouldn't be—y'know—so casual!"
Stelle ignored him completely and leaned even closer.
She smelled faintly of cosmic dust. Her golden eyes reflected his panicked expression.
"Why do you react like a Stellaron?"
"How would I know? I don't even know how I got here—"
[Warning: Energion resonance imminent.]
The system prompt flashed across his retina.
At the same moment, Stelle's hand pressed flat against his chest.
A blinding burst of light erupted where they touched.
Huo Linfei felt his Energion surge out like a breached dam, flooding toward her in a violent torrent.
"Separate them!" Welt barked.
March 7th reacted instantly, yanking Huo Linfei backward by the collar. Dan Heng appeared at the doorway—no one even saw him arrive—and with a flick of his spear, he wedged space between them.
But it was too late.
Huo Linfei's hair abruptly turned a vivid, eye-searing pink—
And the tips of Stelle's hair were dyed with a flame-like orange-red.
The lab fell into stunned silence.
"…INFRINGEMENT!" March 7th was the first to scream. "That's my signature hair color!"
Stelle touched her own hair tips, then looked at Huo Linfei's new look—and, unbelievably, nodded with satisfaction.
"Better than before."
Huo Linfei looked like he was about to cry. "System! What is this?!"
[Temporary fusion between Energion and Stellaron.]
[Side effect: abnormal hair pigmentation for up to 72 hours.]
[Estimated recovery time: 48 hours.]
Herta's puppet was practically vibrating as she recorded data. "Fantastic! Keep going! Call Asta over—get her to film it!"
"No!" Welt and March 7th snapped in unison.
Dan Heng sighed and hauled Huo Linfei off the examination table. "We're leaving. Himeko's already prepared a meeting room on the Astral Express."
Huo Linfei flicked his new pink bangs aside and suddenly remembered something.
"Wait—when I was unconscious, I thought I heard 'Pol… ka…' Who's that?"
The air congealed.
Herta's puppet paused mid-motion. The lab lights flickered, strangely, once.
"…You misheard." Herta's puppet's voice shifted—flat, mechanical. "Prepare to transfer, children of the Express."
Welt's eyes narrowed at the anomaly, but he only tightened his grip on the cane.
"Let's go, Huo Linfei. We need to talk—about where you came from, and about this 'Energion.'"
Huo Linfei followed them out.
As they passed Stelle, she stared at him for a few seconds, then casually reached out and tugged his pink bangs.
"You're interesting," she said. "More interesting than Dan Heng."
Dan Heng's back stiffened noticeably.
March 7th shoved herself between them, cheeks puffed again. "Don't flirt with the patient! And you—Huo Linfei—don't smile at Stelle!"
"I'm not!" Huo Linfei protested, wronged.
But he couldn't stop the grin anyway.
Sure, turning into a pink-haired mess out of nowhere was absurd—but watching March 7th fume (over her "exclusive" hair color being stolen) somehow made it feel… not like a loss. Almost like a small win.
Just as they were about to leave the lab, Herta's puppet called out behind them.
"Hey. Pink-haired kid."
Huo Linfei turned.
The puppet stood amid overworked, overloaded instruments, expression unreadable.
"If you ever remember the name Polka Kakamond…" she tilted her head slightly, "…tell me."
The lights flickered again.
Huo Linfei was about to press for answers, but March 7th grabbed his arm and dragged him away.
"Don't mind her! Herta always acts all mysterious!"
Out in the corridor, Huo Linfei's bright pink hair drew endless double-takes from the staff.
Dan Heng, walking in front, suddenly asked without turning around:
"Where are you really from?"
"You interrogating my household registration?" Huo Linfei shot back on instinct—then shrank under the reflection off Welt's lenses. "Uh… Earth. But maybe not the Earth you're thinking of…"
March 7th suddenly asked, "Will you join us?"
"Huh?"
"The Astral Express," March 7th clarified, eyes flicking toward his hair. "You're suspicious, yeah, but ever since Mr. Yang heard you're from Earth he keeps thinking about it… and we fought together too, didn't we?"
Huo Linfei looked at Welt Yang's back and remembered the legends he knew—an old familiarity, the thrill of meeting someone from "home," surged up in his chest.
"Of course I'll join!" he declared. "But first I need to figure out how to control this damn Energion…"
And ideally—
He'd really like his hair color back, too.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? (All Chapter 26)
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