Leon: "Are you taking the Furnace Core back, or the secret passage we used to come down?"
Bronya replied, somewhat sheepishly, "That's one of the reasons I came to you. Taking the Furnace Core might cause unnecessary trouble. Please guide me."
Leon: "Leaving now? I can take you to the entrance."
"Yes, now."
"Then let's go."
As Leon turned to step forward, March 7th couldn't help but ask, "Don't we need to check with Sampo?"
That guy Sampo had said the secret passage was tied to his… business dealings between the upper and lower districts.
"No need. He won't mind."
Leon gave a meaningful smile, gesturing for Bronya to follow.
As the two disappeared into the dim light, March 7th sighed helplessly.
"Ugh…"
"Hey."
Stelle sighed too.
"Why're you copying me?" March 7th pouted.
"You're overthinking it. I'm sighing because Bronya's set up a flag. Going back up, she's probably in for trouble."
"Stop jinxing things!"
"You're the one who brought up flags first. Speaking of which, she didn't seem to get what a flag is," Stelle said, puzzled.
March 7th lit up her phone screen, her voice listless.
"No signal underground or above. Even if there was, with Bronya's personality, she's not exactly surfing the web. You expect her to understand?"
① "Fair point."
② "When Bronya left just now, you forgot to say goodbye or add a few words."
With an obvious choice in front of them, most players instinctively picked option two.
March 7th, confused: "Goodbye? I said it. I don't think I forgot anything. What do you mean?"
Ah Xian, waiting for follow-up options, was met with Stelle's smirking expression.
"You should've thrown in some 'kind words'—wishing Bronya bad luck to break the flag she set."
March 7th froze.
Ah Xian and the live stream audience froze too, then burst out laughing.
[Looks like Stelle really loves eating March's elbows!]
[LOL, no elbow yet.]
[Teasing March's jinx mouth like that? Gotta eat one now. I'm eating it!]
[Grabbing and munching, huh? Little greedy cat.]
But this time, March 7th didn't elbow Stelle.
Instead, she raised her fair, shapely right leg and aimed a kick at Stelle's butt.
"You'll end up tied up by me one day, and I'll pry open your mouth, spoon-feeding you mustard or castor oil!"
"Oh, ho ho… spare me, heroine!"
Stelle let out an exaggerated yelp.
"Both of them are so cute~~"
"The characters aren't just stuck with repetitive shrugging or arm-crossing anymore. So much more lively."
"Oh, right—this interaction between Stelle and March, isn't it riffing on the Lycoris Recoil butt-kick friendship gag?"
"Hmm, not quite. Stelle didn't kick…"
[Considering the male protagonist's perspective, it's just March kicking, right?]
"True, a male lead kicking a girl's butt wouldn't be polite."
[Getting kicked by March wifey feels so good. More kicks, please—this is a reward, a reward!]
[Tying up works too, hehe…]
[Your abacus beads are bouncing off my face.]
[Hold on, hold on—you're all focused on the kick and ignoring the castor oil?]
[What's that mean?]
[Castor oil's a laxative. You get what I'm saying, right?]
[No clue.]
[It's forced 4i…]
[???]
[Know the heavens!]
[How's someone linking this to that blooming stuff?]
[With March wifey saying it, it's not entirely unacceptable…]
[Ah Xian, this is prime doujin material right in front of you.]
"Enough, you lot. Me drawing a March 7th x Stelle or Caelus doujin? Would I do that?"
Ah Xian glared, her words making everyone's mouths twitch.
You wouldn't draw it?
But soon, their speechlessness turned to understanding.
"I haven't even started on my own doujin of being ** by my husband Leon. Why would I bother with anything else?"
"Yukionna's widow got ** a few times, so I'll draw myself getting ** by my husband Leon at least three times as much!"
Good grief.
The live stream audience instantly gave her props.
At the same time, they wondered why the mods hadn't stepped in yet.
After all, terms like "mining pit" were thrown around—on a novel site, that'd earn a death stare from a yandere Shenhe.
Ah Xian got more animated, carelessly blurting out explicit banned words, finally crossing the line—
Since Honkai: Star Rail launched, the mods, who'd been closely monitoring her stream, played their first card.
A pair of twos!
[Live content suspected of spreading vulgarity. Stream interrupted for three minutes. Please mind your language, streamer!]
Seeing the announcement on the stream, viewers froze, then laughed uproariously.
[Got too cocky, fangirling over Father Leon like that, and now you're eating humble pie!]
[Mods probably held back for ages, and it's only three minutes.]
[Verbal vulgarity warnings are way less severe than visual ones.]
Ah Xian's stream getting banned didn't hurt her popularity—it made it livelier.
It's just three minutes; a bit of chat, and it'd pass.
When the stream came back online, Leon, who'd escorted Bronya out of the underground, had returned.
[You played behind our backs? Who's filling me in on the missing plot?]
"Relax, no need to catch up. After Stelle got her 'reward' from March, Leon came back."
Ah Xian rolled her eyes, pointing at the camera.
"Sorry, my love for my husband Leon overflowed a bit, and I got carried away."
"No more catching me slipping or hoping to toss me a bomb."
The mods rolled their eyes too.
So exhausting.
Leon: "What're you two…"
Stelle: "Reporting, sir! I got bullied by Senior March again!"
She deliberately emphasized "senior."
March 7th raised her brows. "Hey? One more word, and I'm giving you another kick. Always acting goofy—caught Aha's glance, did you?"
Stelle: "Nah… I'm tired. Wanna sleep. Let's head back."
Leon's gaze held a hint of strangeness.
He glanced at something perched on his shoulder, then at Stelle.
Could he say—
Aha was literally glancing at them?
But this glance wasn't that glance—it meant something else.
While the two weren't paying attention, Leon subtly threw a punch at the mask on his shoulder.
"Oh~~ Is this Darling's commanding might? Aha's hit the peak of divine life! When can I get a charged-up punch?!"
Leon: "…"
He grabbed the mask and delivered a 360° spinning flying kick.
No charged-up punch, but how about a dragon tail swing?
Stelle turned back, puzzled.
Was that a gust of wind?
But seeing Leon's calm, unbothered demeanor, she chalked it up to her imagination.
Only Leon's ears caught the lingering echo of a voice.
"Damn you, Darling! Aha will be back—!"