"Hum!"
Silver Wolf, wearing her goggles, suddenly trembled.
Her senses returned from Herta Space Station to the high-rise building where she and Kafka were.
Seeing her flustered state, Kafka found it amusing and teased, "Why are you so shaken this time? Did they catch your tail?"
Silver Wolf's expression was cold, and she wasn't in the mood for Kafka's jokes.
She immediately pulled out her phone and began checking.
After a moment, she looked like she was about to cry. "It's gone, all of it, nothing's left… This is too much, too much!"
"Alright, stop crying and fussing. You're not a child anymore."
"I'm not crying or fussing."
Silver Wolf took a deep breath, as if she had just vented her emotions.
Then, her gaze returned to its usual clarity.
"Kafka, there's something I need to show you."
"What? Is it that [Punklorde Mentality] you mentioned? You know I'm not really interested in that."
"No…"
"Oh."
"It's another game."
Kafka: "…"
"Listen, Silver Wolf, I know you love games. Even if all your accounts got banned, just hack into a nearby branch of the IPC and get them back. Don't give up like this."
"No, this game is really something."
With that, Silver Wolf projected the game screen from her phone in front of Kafka.
Kafka sighed.
But seeing how upset Silver Wolf had been earlier, she decided to humor her and take a quick look at the game.
"Hum!"
Honkai: Star Rail launched!
Kafka saw a retro-style steam train traveling through space.
"The Astral Express?"
"This game is themed around a train? That's quite novel."
Silver Wolf shook her head. "Don't ask me. This is my first time playing too."
"But I can tell you, the game's story is based on reality. You and I might even make an appearance!"
"Oh, now that does pique my interest. I wonder how the developers will portray me?"
As soon as she finished speaking.
Kafka's smile froze.
Silver Wolf also paused.
She had just said that the game's story might include both of them.
And then!
The opening scene was a close-up of Kafka playing an invisible violin!
She had expected some setup, maybe an introduction to the story's background.
But instead, it jumped straight into the heavy scene of their invasion of the space station!
Kafka stopped smiling and began watching the story seriously.
As the story progressed, her expression grew more and more serious!
"Silver Wolf, was our invasion of the space station recorded on surveillance?"
"Impossible! I destroyed all remote links at the time. Not only surveillance, but even detection signals couldn't get through."
"Besides, if we had really been caught on camera, why didn't anyone stop us? And why did we leave so easily?"
Kafka didn't argue.
In fact, she knew this very well.
At that time, the space station couldn't have recorded their movements!
But what about this story?
It was exactly the same as what had happened!
Even some of the details were shockingly accurate!
Soon.
Kafka saw her own battle, saw her ultimate skill animation.
—[Tremolo at the End of Tragedy]
"Regardless of the story, the effect of this ultimate skill really resonates with me."
Kafka's eyes showed a hint of admiration.
Even she had to admit.
This animation was designed perfectly to match her!
Not only did it fit her combat style, but it also captured an artistic beauty in the process!
Silver Wolf whistled.
"See? I told you this game was good!"
"Hmm…"
"Look, look! I'm in it too!"
Silver Wolf's eyes sparkled with excitement.
Once she joined the team, she couldn't wait to try out her skills.
Ultimate skill activated!
—[Account Banned!]
"What does this ultimate skill name mean?!"
Silver Wolf was both amused and annoyed.
Then.
She saw herself playing a rhythm game, unleashing a barrage of attacks on the enemy.
"Not bad! This fits our hacker style, with a bit of Aether editing mixed in!"
After watching the ultimate animation, Silver Wolf was quite satisfied.
However, being highly sensitive to game mechanics, she frowned when she saw her damage numbers.
"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 would I know? I didn't design this game."
"Let me think… Ah, I get it!"
"My skill must have some additional mechanics. It can't just be pure damage. It must have some powerful secondary effects. You'll see!"
"Alright, alright, I believe you."
Aside from battling monsters.
The two were also closely following the story's progression.
Finally, they reached the room with the Stellaron.
Seeing herself place the Stellaron into the vessel, it felt like reliving yesterday's events.
"I didn't expect to see this again with my own eyes," Kafka murmured.
"Enough! This game has already revealed too much!"
Silver Wolf slammed the table.
"This developer definitely knows a lot about us!"
"Even Elio might not be an exception!"
Kafka stared at the screen, her eyes reflecting the faint glow. "This level of detail is similar to Elio's ability. But Elio writes future possibilities into [scripts], while this developer turns past events into a game."
"Never mind, I'm going to post this in the group and ask our colleagues and Elio."
That's right, the Stellaron Hunters had their own group chat.
However, it wasn't a regular group. It was a localized network Silver Wolf had created to avoid detection by organizations like the IPC.
Soon.
Silver Wolf summarized the game's details and posted it in the group.
Sam was the first to reply. "What's this Honkai: Star Rail? Never heard of it."
"By the way, Kafka, Elio's next script involves you. Shouldn't you prepare early?"
Kafka replied on her phone, "Thank you, I'll prepare."
After that, Sam stopped responding.
It was unclear if he had secretly downloaded the game or if he really wasn't interested.
"If I remember correctly, we have one more colleague, right?"
Silver Wolf started spamming Blade with mentions.
After a while, it seemed Blade couldn't take the harassment anymore and finally replied.
"Don't know, not interested."
Silver Wolf had expected this from Blade.
She immediately sent him a clip of Dan Heng's ultimate animation from the livestream.
A few seconds later.
Blade replied instantly. "It's him! The Moon-Drinking Lord!"
"How do you have footage of him fighting?"
"Wait, this doesn't look like a real battle?"
"Where is he?"
Silver Wolf sent a sly smile emoji. "I don't know. This is from the game."
Blade stopped replying.
Silver Wolf, however, looked intrigued and asked Kafka, "Do you think he'll play the game himself? I can't imagine what he'd be like playing a game."
"Who knows? Blade is always very focused when it comes to that man."
To be continued…