Vroom!
Silver Wolf, wearing her signature goggles, suddenly jerked her arm. Her senses snapped back from the Herta Space Station to the high-rise building where she and Kafka were staying.
Seeing her flustered state, Kafka found it rather amusing and teased, "That was quite a reaction. Did those people finally catch your tail?"
Silver Wolf's face was ice-cold; she was in no mood for jokes. She immediately pulled out her phone to check something.
A moment later, she looked like she was about to burst into tears. "It's gone... everything is gone. Not a single thing left... This is too much! It's just too much!"
"Now, now, stop the fuss. You're not a child anymore."
"I am not making a fuss!" Silver Wolf took a deep breath as if she had just finished venting. Her gaze regained its usual clarity. "Kafka, I have something to show you."
"What? Is it that [Spirit of Punklorde] thing you mentioned? You know I'm not that interested in it."
"No..."
"Oh."
"It's another game."
Kafka: "..."
"Listen, Silver Wolf, I know you love games. Even if your accounts are banned, can't you just hack into a nearby IPC branch and get them back? Don't let yourself go like this."
"No, this game is the real deal."
As she spoke, Silver Wolf projected the game screen from her phone directly in front of Kafka.
Kafka felt a bit helpless. However, seeing how upset Silver Wolf had been a moment ago, she decided to humor her and take a look.
Hum!
Honkai: Star Rail launched!
Kafka saw a retro-style steam train sailing through the cosmos.
"The Astral Express?"
"A game centered around a train... that's quite novel."
Silver Wolf shook her head. "Don't ask me, I'm playing it for the first time too. But I can tell you this: the plot of this game mirrors reality. We might even make an appearance!"
"Oh? Now I'm actually a bit interested. I wonder what kind of image the production team has given me?"
As soon as she spoke, the smile on Kafka's face froze. Silver Wolf was stunned as well.
She had just said they might appear in the plot. And yet! Right from the start, there was a close-up shot of Kafka playing her Void Violin!
They had expected some world-building or an introduction to the setting. Instead, the game jumped straight into the main event: the two of them invading the space station!
Kafka stopped smiling and began to watch the story intently. As the plot progressed, her expression grew increasingly grave.
"Silver Wolf, was our invasion of the station recorded by surveillance?"
"Impossible! I disabled all remote links at the time. Not even a sensor signal could get through, let alone surveillance. Besides, if we had been caught on camera, someone would have stopped us. We wouldn't have left so easily."
Kafka didn't argue. She knew that much was true. It was impossible for the Space Station to have recorded their movements back then!
Then what is with this plot?
It was identical to what had actually happened! Even certain minor details were consistent to a startling degree!
Soon, Kafka saw herself in battle. She saw the animation for her Ultimate.
— [Twilight Trill]
"Regardless of how this story came to be, this Ultimate effect really suits my taste."
A look of admiration flashed in Kafka's eyes. Even she had to admit that the animation was perfectly designed for her. Not only did it match her combat style, but it also possessed a certain artistic beauty.
Silver Wolf let out a whistle. "See? I told you this game was something else!"
"Hmm..."
"Look, look! I'm out too!" Silver Wolf's eyes sparkled with excitement. As soon as her character joined the party, she couldn't wait to test her skills.
Ultimate activated!
— [User Banned]
"What is that supposed to mean?!" Silver Wolf was so annoyed she almost laughed.
Immediately after, she watched her character unleash a barrage of attacks on the enemy as if she were playing a rhythm game.
"Not bad. It matches my hacker style, and there's even a bit of Aether Editing in there!"
Silver Wolf was satisfied with the animation. However, as someone sensitive to game numbers, she frowned when she saw the damage output.
"Why is my Ultimate single-target while yours is AoE? And my single-target damage isn't even as high as yours?"
Kafka smiled. "How should I know? I didn't design the game. Let me think... Ah, I see! My skill must have some other mechanics attached to it. It can't just be pure damage; it must have some powerful secondary effects. We'll see when the time comes!"
"Fine, fine, I believe you."
As they fought their way through monsters, they continued to keep a close eye on the plot. Finally, they reached the room where the Stellaron was kept. Seeing her own hands placing the Stellaron into the vessel felt like reliving yesterday's memories.
"I didn't think I'd see this again with my own eyes," Kafka murmured.
"Enough. This game has revealed more than enough already!" Silver Wolf slammed her hand on the table. "This developer knows us inside and out! Not even Elio is an exception!"
Kafka stared at the screen, her eyes reflecting the dim light. "This level of detail is very similar to Elio's ability. But while Elio writes future possibilities into a [Script], this developer has turned the past into a game."
"I don't care. I'm posting this in the group to ask our colleagues and Elio."
Indeed, the Stellaron Hunters had their own group chat. It wasn't an official group, but a local network Silver Wolf had built to evade detection by the IPC and other factions.
Soon, Silver Wolf posted a brief summary of the game in the chat.
Sam was the first to reply: "What is Star Rail? Never heard of it. By the way, Kafka, Elio's next Script involves you. Aren't you going to prepare?"
Kafka replied on her phone: "Thank you. I'll be ready."
Sam didn't reply again. It was unclear whether he had gone to download the game in secret or simply wasn't interested.
"If I remember correctly, we have one more colleague, don't we?" Silver Wolf began to spam-tag Blade.
After a long while, as if finally unable to endure the harassment, a reply came through.
"I don't know it. Not interested."
Silver Wolf had expected this attitude. She immediately sent Blade a clip of Dan Heng's Ultimate animation she had seen during a livestream.
A few seconds later, Blade replied instantly: "It's him! Imbibitor Lunae!"
"Where did you get a recording of his battle?"
"Wait, this doesn't look like a real fight. Where is he?"
Silver Wolf sent a devious grinning emoji and replied: "I'm not sure. This is just a scene from a game."
Blade stopped replying.
Silver Wolf turned to Kafka with an intrigued look. "Do you think he'll play it himself? I really can't imagine that guy playing a video game."
"You never know. Blade has always been very... attentive when it comes to that man."
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