Miss Geng watched her livestream's popularity soar and began to actively advance the game's main story.
The plot of Honkai: Star Rail's Version 1.6 primarily revolved around the experimental creations of Ruan Mei.
On the screen, the little gray-haired girl, under Orchis's intervention, did not consume Ruan Mei's pastries. After a few fruitless attempts at persuasion, Ruan Mei knew that continuing to coax her would inevitably arouse suspicion, so she had no choice but to give up.
This brought the progress of Ms. Ruan Mei's experiment to a halt, leaving her without her intended assistant.
But the story had to move forward. The dessert creatures Ruan Mei had cultivated, following their original destined trajectory, escaped her control and began scurrying all over the space station. The station's researchers immediately knew it was the handiwork of the great Ruan Mei, feeling both curious and troubled.
What were they to do? After all, these were the precious creations of a member of the Genius Society. If anything went wrong, a group of mere mortals like them couldn't possibly take responsibility.
However, Ruan Mei was temporarily unavailable to attend to outside matters, as she had been invited by Herta to a meeting about the Simulated Universe.
Someone had to deal with these little things, so the lead researcher, Asta, naturally entrusted the task of retrieving the "cat cakes" to the seemingly idle Trailblazer.
The players accepted this mission without hesitation.
-----------------
(Hunting them down one by one is just too inefficient.)
The little gray-haired girl propped up her chin and took out her phone to ask her Astral Express family if they had any good ideas. And so, the most knowledgeable person in the whole village! The external brain who spent all day immersed in the data bank, Teacher Dan Heng, came up with an idea: Why don't you map out the distribution of where these little things appear and use that to deduce the location of their main base? You might find a once-and-for-all solution in Ruan Mei's lab.
(Look up what scents the cat cakes like. Maybe you can lure them all out.)
The Trailblazer thought it made sense and followed the trail to Ruan Mei's lab. While reviewing the experiment logs, she accidentally discovered that Ruan Mei was also secretly researching some unspeakable, mysterious creature. The document only marked a location, while the content was written so ambiguously that nothing could be made of it.
I'm a little curious... The Trailblazer's personality had always been that of a restless, curious child.
But isn't it a bit rude to go digging into someone else's secrets? Since the mysterious creature hasn't appeared, there's no need to get to the bottom of it, right?
So, the little gray-haired girl's choice was...
[→Go]
[→Go immediately!]
I'm already here, there's no reason for me to turn back before the story's finale. Since I've investigated this far, it's not too much to ask for a proper beginning and end, is it?
-----------------
"...Wait, Gray, something's not right. There's an ominous aura ahead. Maybe we should stop the investigation here."
Kisaragi advanced the plot. Under the watchful eyes of her many viewers, the little gray-haired girl walked into the Seclusion Zone. Just as Stelle arrived in this dim environment and was looking around, she heard a familiar yet unfamiliar voice next to her.
Looking closely, it was actually the girl who had stopped her from eating Ruan Mei's pastries earlier. Orchis had appeared once again.
"You are? The girl from before? Why are you here?"
Has she been following me in secret this whole time?
The little gray-haired girl was puzzled. Just as she was about to ask more, she heard a male voice emerge from the darkness.
"Talking to yourself to build up courage? It seems you've run into some trouble?"
A strange man wearing a plaster head, Dr. Ratio, appeared before the Trailblazer.
The man couldn't perceive Orchis's presence. He only saw the little gray-haired girl dawdling at the elevator entrance, refusing to go in, so he had to take the initiative to approach.
To be honest, Dr. Ratio was very reluctant to admit that he was somewhat looking for a scapegoat: if you, the Trailblazer, don't act as the trailblazer and trigger the Swarm King: Skaracabaz left by Ruan Mei, fighting it for fifty-six seconds while I observe and protect from the side to ensure that thing is eliminated and doesn't harm innocent people, I can't just leave either. That was his reasoning.
If the Trailblazer wouldn't go in on her own, Dr. Ratio could only egg her on.
"Nameless, I know who you are, and I know you're working for Asta."
'I was originally a visitor to the space station who stumbled upon this place and witnessed Miss Ruan Mei's experiment. My objective is likely the same as yours. Since you are here, I will not interfere."
"But if you fail, I will intervene forcefully to prevent any unnecessary trouble."
Dr. Ratio's words made it sound as if he were graciously yielding a great opportunity to someone else.
"Um... who are you?" The little gray-haired girl looked at the bizarre plaster-headed man and scratched her head in confusion.
"You do not need to know information that is of no help to your trailblazing path. It would make communication highly inefficient."
"The true 'creation of Ruan Mei' is hidden in the giant culture dish below. Please, enjoy the genius's theater."
This guy is so weird.
But since the plaster-headed man could enter the depths of Herta Space Station, he must have been granted access by Herta and wouldn't harm her for no reason.
The little gray-haired girl scratched her head with a simple, honest, and guileless expression, staring at Dr. Ratio as he sat down to play chess for leisure, then glanced in Orchis's direction.
"..."
Orchis was just about to say something when she saw the Trailblazer blink at her, then blink again.
From the player's perspective, the surface-route Stelle was very shy and didn't interact much with strangers, having her own business to attend to. Her gaze carried a hint of bashful signaling, and though it was unclear what she was bashful about, she just stood there with a little expression, smiling in a way that was troubled but not overly so.
A little lady as harmless as a small animal—that's our darling Stelle.
In Stelle's eyes, the plaster-headed man, Dr. Ratio, was a weirdo. Orchis, who had suddenly popped up twice talking to her, was also a strange person. On top of that, Ruan Mei didn't seem very proper either, getting handsy with her right off the bat. Surrounded by a group of weirdos in a weirdo's mysterious lab, in an environment with so many strangers, the little gray-haired girl felt it was best not to get too involved with these people.
March 7th and Dan Heng often told her to protect herself when she was out and about, and not to run off with strangers!
They were afraid their good companion would be abducted by some weirdo if she wasn't careful for a moment!
You're the one who almost ate the medicine that Dan Shu ground up from Vidyadhara people. You should have learned your lesson!
So... Hello! Thanks! Goodbye!
My family doesn't let me play with strangers.
Orchis could only watch as the Trailblazer trotted off into the depths of the lab, giving her no chance to speak.
Left behind, the puppet girl's melancholic expression was like that of an abandoned puppy, incredibly gloomy and pitiable.
Yet, she couldn't stop worrying about the Trailblazer. Feeling that something was wrong with the lab, she had no choice but to follow the protagonist into the abyss.
[Little Gray Hair, you're so heartless. How could you leave your wife hanging there just to push the main story?]
[I command you to go on a date with Orchis at once! Stop worrying about that baby-level 12+ main story, okay? Give us some girl-on-girl interaction!]
[This plot feels a bit flat.]
[Orchis doesn't have much of a role either.]
[Ruan Mei even went to a meeting, she's completely MIA.]
[The first half was just following Ruan Mei's creations around on an exploration quest. I was about to fall asleep. Am I here to be a Pokémon Master? Now that we're deep in the lab and Orchis finally shows up again, this Dr. Ratio guy pops out and gets in the way.]
[It never ends! First Dan Heng, now Dr. Ratio, showing up every five minutes to hog the screen. Can't you let me build some bonds with my Orchis? I've had enough of bonding with the bros. No more men, no more men, no more men.]
[How can you talk about our benefactor like that? He's a free limited character who's a complete unit at E0S0, and he's so strong.]
[Forcing a male character into my roster that I can't even decompose into gold prisms or something for new pulls... miHoYo really deserves to die.]
[I'd just like to ask, would miHoYo dare to give away Ruan Mei for free? They'll happily bait the female players, but they have to squeeze every penny out of the male players' wallets, is that it?]
[Wow, you guys can turn anything into a slippery slope argument, can't you? You could just not play for a few months and let the mail expire.]
[So basically, beautiful girls don't deserve resources or good stories. Look at the treatment and prestige the High Elder gets. You all complain, but in the end, you'll just obediently top up. They'll write some bland little story to placate you Orchis-fans and Ruan-fans for a bit, then give you a free limited five-star to shut you up. The male characters are free, but the female ones are kept precious and locked away. Just look at this main story for Ruan Mei and Orchis! It's like they wrote nothing at all!]
[Children, Orchis is a discarded piece. We're doomed.]
Kisaragi looked at the noisy barrage of comments in her stream, the streamer barely managing to keep a straight face and not laugh out loud.
How far has the story even gotten? Can't you guys finish watching the story first before you start discussing it?
Grabbing a few snippets and taking them out of context to make slippery slope arguments... this is why I say the miHoYo game community is a work of art, who gets it?
-----------------
"By the way, has anyone in the chat played the hidden-route story?"
Miss Geng suddenly remembered something and asked her viewers.
"Orchis at least made an appearance this time. There should be a lot of different plot points between the hidden-main and surface-main routes, right?"
At the very least, in the scene just now, the inner-route's little gray-haired girl would definitely listen to what Orchis had to say instead of running off alone.
Kisaragi was very much looking forward to what kind of story the other route would present, and then she heard the chat say something shocking.
[The inner-main character pointed her lance right at Ruan Mei's neck.]
[Ruan Mei is seriously terrifying. She tries to drug the protagonist as soon as she appears. Did you know, streamer? There were computer parts in that cake. If you eat it, you'll become Ruan Mei's toy and won't be able to say anything, completely mind controlled!.]
Huh? Kisaragi was full of question marks. Drugging? Mind control? Toy?
What kind of words that shouldn't exist are you saying in a 12+ game?
[The main plot is actually more or less the same. Both little gray-haired girls receive a commission to investigate the truth about Ruan Mei, then track her down to the depths of the lab. Wow, my MC was so cool there. She could just tell Dr. Ratio to scram if he wasn't going to do any work.]
[Raising her lance as a threat, 'I've already seen through your scheme! Are you a friend or an enemy? You choose.' Oh my god, that's literally me!]
Stop it! You people, how can you just start spoiling everything?!
Kisaragi was in disbelief. I just asked you guys if the content between the two routes had significant differences, how could you bunch of jerks spoil the entire other route in an instant?
Damn it! Why didn't I enable the level 30 follower-only chat restriction beforehand!
"Change of plans! I curse all of you in the chat to have no seasoning packets in your instant noodles from now on! I'm not continuing this surface-route story for now!"
Although there's no hierarchy between the protagonists of the two routes, nor should there be, we big kids who grew up with anime all love the dark stuff!
I was planning to save the ruthless, laconic Trailblazer to savor slowly later!
[??? How can the streamer bully the chat? Weren't you the one who asked?]
[Geng-jiejie, don't be hasty. It's no use getting worked up.]
[How about this, streamer? I see you've already reached the depths of the lab. The parts before this are basically the same, except for what we spoiled. It's still not too late to skip ahead in life. Go to another stream and watch a streamer playing the inner-main character to see what happens next. That way you won't be spoiled.]
I guess that's the only way.
If I don't finish watching the hidden-route story, which is heavily related to Orchis, these Orchis-fans who have been repressed for too long will become completely lawless.
Kisaragi made a swift decision, opened the Honkai: Star Rail streaming section on the website, and began to lurk in other streamers' channels to watch them play through the story.
-----------------
Orchis's story diverged between the two routes.
In the surface route, since Orchis had no contact with the Trailblazer, she would frequently appear to offer help in the early stages of Version 1.6.
In the inner route, however, because Orchis had given the Trailblazer her pocket watch, she had for some reason come to the depths of the lab to wait.
When the little gray-haired girl went to check on Orchis's status, the girl seemed to find the protagonist's arrival unbelievable.
She said bluntly that the Trailblazer should not have come here, that this was the end she had chosen for herself.
Kisaragi suddenly felt a strong sense of disconnect. Was this the backlash from forcibly crossing world lines? Her own little gray-haired girl had just been gazing deeply into Orchis's eyes in the corridor a moment ago!
But in all fairness, Orchis's lines here were very thought-provoking. The end she had chosen for herself?
Why did it sound like she was here to welcome her own death? The puppet girl also urged the Trailblazer to escape this place quickly!
Soon, the plot revealed the truth of this laboratory to the players: Ruan Mei was cultivating an Emanator of Propagation here! The moment the Swarm King: Skaracabaz appeared, it brought an immense sense of pressure to the players. Not only was it a behemoth on screen, but its lore was also connected to those chilling insects from the Simulated Universe story. Even in terms of gameplay difficulty, the Swarm King was considerably formidable.
It had a very thick health bar, would split when attacked, and its attacks could wipe out a huge chunk of a character's health in a single blow.
A boss designed to be very difficult to defeat in the game would intuitively make players feel the immense pressure the story characters faced against the enemy.
Kisaragi watched the streamer in this channel deplete the Swarm King's first health bar. The screen immediately went black, and the game entered a new cutscene.
-----------------
The Trailblazer knew that the Swarm King: Skaracabaz was an overwhelmingly powerful foe, and that if its maw were to unleash its breath, the entire space station would fall.
(It's an Emanator of Propagation...?)
(If I back down here, I will die, Orchis will die, and everyone on the space station and the Express will die. I can't turn a blind eye to such an obvious fact!)
I will be the one to defeat it!
For a Pathstrider to face an Emanator directly, fear and flight would be natural reactions. But the little gray-haired girl simply wiped her wounds and charged forward bravely!
[Whoa! Little Gray Hair!]
[So badass, Little Gray Hair!]
[You have such a protagonist vibe, Little Gray Hair!]
[How can you be so heroic and courageous, Little Gray Hair!]
Charmed! Kisaragi made a strange sound, suddenly feeling an inexplicable excitement and eagerness.
Are we gacha gamers finally getting a protagonist who doesn't just sleep, lie on the ground, or act as a camera?!
Are we finally not sacrificing the protagonist's character development just to sell new units?!
The gap between the two Trailblazers was growing wider and wider. The officials hadn't depicted it so directly before, but now, comparing the hidden-main and surface-main was just... The surface-main character was still cautiously looking around, all cute and confused, when she arrived at the Seclusion Zone.
One is a delicate little hamster, while the other's Will of Preservation is so maxed out that it makes the audience feel it's only natural for this person to wield a lance of fire!
Having experienced the surface route before coming to the inner route, Kisaragi felt the contrast in this scene was even more profound and immersive.
The plot continued to unfold. Orchis was protected behind the Trailblazer! Stelle told Orchis to run!
The protagonist protecting his leading lady! Staying behind alone to cover the retreat! Full of spirit and resolve!
But the leading lady decisively refused, offering the protagonist a plan. I won't run! I'll stand by the protagonist's side and face this together!
I can't let you face this danger alone! You're not protecting me! I will fight alongside you!
Oh my god, these two!
This is mutual devotion, say whatever you want!
[Children, I'm gonna have a taste of Stelle/Orchis goodness first.]
[Finally, none of that 'protagonist stays behind to cover the retreat, and then the dumbass side character just stands there watching' trope. This is real interaction!]
This battlefield description and emotional drama are just perfect. Both the heroine and the protagonist are acting logically, moving the plot forward reasonably!
And that's not all, there's more! Besides being capable and supportive of the protagonist, the golden pocket watch Orchis gave the player earlier was also a big deal.
At first, players thought it was just an ordinary accessory.
It wasn't until Orchis used the pocket watch to summon a legion of puppets that everyone realized—
Our wife gave her entire fortune to the little gray-haired girl!
That pocket watch was actually a Curio! Orchis's weapon! A talisman to protect the little gray-haired girl from disaster in a critical moment!
And the price of this talisman, looking at the game screen where the puppet girl was curled up on the ground, on the verge of death, was self-evident.
[My Orchis, how could this be...!]
[She gave the pocket watch to the protagonist, using her own life to shelter the Trailblazer's path forward, while she herself waited in an unknown corner for the day she would disappear and sacrifice her life.]
[Loyal and unwavering, willing to give everything for you. Even if you forget me, my everything belongs to you.]
Holy, shit, holy, fuck.
No one could form proper sentences anymore, their keyboard typing a jumbled mess.
The stream chat erupted. Today, all the Orchis-fans had gone completely insane!
WIFE!!!!
Look closely, learn well, this is the quality a female lead should have.
Wise, intelligent, doesn't hold you back, and protects the protagonist while being protected.
A spirit of self-sacrifice, watching over you in silence, fighting only for the protagonist, absolutely unwilling to let you fall into danger alone.
We're sorry, miHoYo, we were speaking too loudly just now.
So you do know how to write beautiful girls and are willing to dedicate resources to them?!
Orchis, conquer the world!
Character development is about quality, not quantity! Can the fans of other characters say the same?
[Even though my Orchis only appeared in the launch story, and now that she's back, it's straight into fighting alongside the protagonist against a powerful enemy.]
[So what if she has little screen time? So what if she doesn't get resources or a playable model? No one can question Orchis's girlfriend power anymore!]
This goddess is the reason the little gray-haired girl embarked on her journey, and she reveals her true heart in the face of crisis, giving her all for her beloved!
In just a few scenes, all the essential female lead elements are maxed out! Can the others with so much more story even compare?!
This is the power of my Orchis! Few lines, little screen time, but her character is firmly established in such a short amount of content!
Her girlfriend power can no longer be contained!
As long as they serve up her past memories later, explain her relationship with the little gray-haired girl, and add some dating scenes to deepen their bond, our hidden-route little girlfriend will reign supreme in the world of girlfriends for all eternity!
Wait... looking closely at the story, it's not over yet, there's something bigger!
[Oh my god! Lord Trailblazer!]
Behold our great hidden-route little gray-haired girl! She! She's actually! While holding the lance of fire, she's also picked up her baseball bat!
As Orchis commanded her puppet army in a desperate resistance, the protagonist suddenly revealed a cold, desolate, and stern expression!
Dual-wielding! A world-shaking tremor! This was actually a brand-new combat skill that the little gray-haired girl developed only in Orchis's special route!
Resonance Interplay, charged burst, heaven-and-earth-shattering, she charged forward to fight the Emanator of Propagation to the death!
So strong, my Stelle! So cool, my Stelle! Go for it, my Stelle!
Our protagonist should be wearing a black trench coat and dual-wielding!
[All Orchis-fans, fall in!]
[Here!]
[Present!]
[Here!]
[Keep your expressions arrogant and tattoo this scene onto your foreheads!]
Such an intimate and close interaction with the protagonist, and the protagonist even used an exclusive dual-wielding skill in Orchis's story.
[Someone! Screenshot all of the little gray-haired girl's lines, inner monologues, and battle scenes! Aren't those royalist fans fond of nitpicking? It's time to put pressure on those who push the 'main' and 'discarded' theories, who slander our Orchis as some mysterious female passerby, and who question my Orchis's status as the main heroine!]
Kisaragi looked at the chat in her own stream and the other streamer's channel, a massive insurgence was rising!
Everyone was stunned by the little gray-haired girl's new combat skill and ecstatic about Orchis's related plot!
According to general story logic, when a protagonist uses a new form or new skill, there should be a "newbie protection period" moment of glory. Thus, the audience had an inexplicable, fated feeling that the Trailblazer was about to utterly crush the Swarm King: Skaracabaz.
Our Honkai: Star Rail is a positive, optimistic, and sunny space comedy!
The protagonist awakens the power of their bonds to protect the heroine. How could they possibly lose in a scene like this!
After we beat this ugly-ass giant bug, we'll happily start the dating storyline with our white-haired waifu.
Thank you, miHoYo writers, for giving us such a cute waifu like Orchis and such a cool protagonist like the Trailblazer!
As a world-class game, our Star Rail is unstoppable!
...Huh? Wait a second.
Why has the screen suddenly gone weird?
Why did the hype background music that just started playing when our protagonist was dual-wielding suddenly stop?
-----------------
On the screen, the picture suddenly went dark.
Kisaragi and the viewers in her stream held their breath as they watched this scene.
Something's wrong!
The Trailblazer's power was seen to be faltering, their strength gradually failing.
Although from the beginning of the battle, the little gray-hair's inner monologue and the story's narration had been saying that the Trailblazer was no match for the Emanator.
But the combat skills Orchis displayed, her care for the Trailblazer, and the Trailblazer's own incredibly powerful last-ditch burst of strength had lulled everyone into a sweet, prosperous dream.
The audio-visuals! The character emotions! The combat rendering! It was all a seamless, perfect flow!
But it came to a screeching halt! The power in the Trailblazer's hands could no longer grip their weapon, and they were sent flying by the Swarm King!
"——!!!"
In the desperate moment when the Emanator of Propagation was about to deliver the final blow to the little gray-hair, a sharp claw burst out from a rift. A giant humanoid puppet forcibly interrupted the Swarm King's attack. Before the audience could even get a clear look at the owner of the claw in the rift, the plot took a sharp turn!
Clang—
In the dim laboratory, time seemed to stand still.
A golden pocket watch fell to the floor.
Clutching her chest, Orchis finally collapsed to the ground, her strength failing her. She couldn't even hold onto the watch, a truly pitiful sight.
The Swarm King seemed to have discovered her location. It spread its wings in fury, whistled past, and tore the girl apart with the mouthparts on its lower jaw.
The people in the stream watched this scene in disbelief.
Merciless, with a deafening roar.
"I'm... sorry..."
The shattered puppet girl, sliced in half for all to see, her last words spoken with a haggard face were that she couldn't do anything.
Until the very end, she was thinking of the Trailblazer. From start to finish, she never once thought of herself.
Kisaragi watched Orchis being impaled in the sky, her mouth slightly agape, a strange light flashing in her eyes.
Wh-what?!
-----------------
[????????????????????????????]
A deathly silence suddenly fell over the stream's chat.
After a long moment, their stalled minds reconnected, and bullet comments began to flood the screen.
Only then did people belatedly realize what had happened, and one after another, they began to scream!!!
[HUH????] [DANGER!] [WAIFU!] [NOOOO!]
[Writer, what are you trying to do?!] [GWAAH!]
[Don't do it!] [Why?!] [Here comes the angst.]
[Dun dun dun.] [The consequences of celebrating at halftime.]
[Death replay.] [You monster.]
[Easy, happy, sunny.] [Space comedy.]
She has no right to say sorry. She didn't do anything wrong.
[Streamer, your favorite 'kill the pretty girl' QTE is here.]
[miHoYo, are you motherfuckers starting this again?]
[I knew they wouldn't give us a pretty girl with maxed-out stats with good intentions.]
[Are they finally starting to kill off characters who serve no purpose?]
[Why do they have to do Orchis like this QAQ]
I feel so awful right now. Orchis has been my rock for the past year. If it weren't for her, I would've quit the game long ago.
[I wandered on that platform every day. During that time, I kept hoping Orchis would appear.]
[I was pretty indifferent to Orchis before, and even found it annoying how much the community argued about her, but this is just too...]
[Why do they have to debase the characters they designed themselves.]
[They even went as far as cutting her in half.]
[So because puppets aren't human, they can be used to satisfy all sorts of twisted fantasies in the presentation, is that it?!]
[Has Honkai: Star Rail really become the first Honkai series game for many young people?]
[You called us all out for just this?]
[Hey! This is what I wanted to see! The moment she dies tragically after genuinely giving her all for the protagonist is just too delicious!]
[This chat is way too pure, it's scary.]
Kisaragi leaned back tactically, utterly astounded by both the plot development and the community's reaction.
It-it's actually—it's—
My favorite pretty-girl-on-a-skewer!!
They build up a character to be wonderful and likable, just starting to show hints of a relationship with the protagonist, and then splat, they kill her off the very next second.
Without a shred of pity, a precious pretty girl is treated like trash!
They say, "We will turn this imperfect world into the one we desire," and then the writers go and destroy everything beautiful.
(Do you even understand our miHoYo's little quirks? What are you so happy about?)
(Aren't you afraid the devs will see how crazy you stans are in the community, decide they don't want to develop the character anymore, and just let her come see you one last time?)
I-I was just kidding!!
Kisaragi broke out in a cold sweat, but her eyes were shining as she revealed a very bloodthirsty, old-school otaku smile.
The smiles of the Orchis-bros didn't disappear; they just moved to my face.
Yes, this is why I choose miHoYo, love the bird-burning writers, and am loyal to miHoYo!
A miHoYo life isn't complete without world-class angsty plot twists that torture pretty girls until they're on the ground, gasping, crying their eyes out!
Now Star Rail is truly a dynasty, kids! Let's start my favorite misery competition and the contest for which group of characters can't even form a single complete set of parents!
I want to see the widow Stelle! I want to see the widower Caelus! Their beloved dies, their soul scattered! That expression of a world collapsing! Like a little puppy that's fallen into the water! Yet they endure the humiliation and carry on their loved one's will, whether they're wiping away tears in despair or pressing forward, broken but resolute! It's all so delicious!