Chapter 5: Invitation From The Train Crew
Looking at the juice on the coffee table, with no coffee, Meng Huaifeng breathed a sigh of relief.
Under the gaze of everyone in the train crew, Meng Huaifeng sat up straight a bit uncomfortably, coughed lightly, and said, “Well, let me first talk about my origin.”
“Sure, I’m also very curious. You have no high-tech devices on you, so how did you appear there?” Himeko said with a gentle smile.
Except for the fact that the Honkai: Star Rail World is a game world, Meng Huaifeng hid nothing and explained his origin and the existence of the system one by one.
As the saying goes, honesty begets honesty. Seeing Meng Huaifeng hide nothing and trust them so much, Welt, Himeko, and Dan Heng’s gazes toward Meng Huaifeng softened a bit, and both sides established a good foundation of trust.
“Hey hey, there’s really such a thing as a system? You’re not some novel’s protagonist, are you?” March 7th said noisily.
“Maybe. Every world has its own protagonist. The person who has the greatest impact on the world’s fate during a certain period is the protagonist. And since I traveled near you, it means you are also protagonists.” Meng Huaifeng said.
“Hehe, I also think I’m the protagonist. So where’s my system? System, come!” A Xing, in good mental condition, stood up and shouted confidently.
However, there was no response, and no system answered her. A Xing sat back down without any embarrassment.
“What system? Trash can?” March 7th said with an expression like she couldn’t bear to watch.
“Yes!” A Xing was not polite at all, her eyes lighting up as she decisively said.
“Eww~” March 7th had a disgusted look on her face: “How could a protagonist be this abstract? I think Dan Heng is the real protagonist. An unknown past that seems very heavy, hidden mysterious power—no doubt, the protagonist must be Dan Heng, that’s how it is in novels!”
Dan Heng said somewhat speechlessly, “I’m just an exiled person, not some protagonist. On the other hand, March, why can’t you be the protagonist?”
“Huh, me? Me? Is that possible?” March 7th widened her eyes.
“Why not? A mysterious unknown past, a girl wrapped in ice and drifting in the universe, and amnesiac—this fits the novel protagonist situation you described too.” Himeko teased.
“I… I can’t do it.” March 7th waved her hands repeatedly. Although being a protagonist seemed cool, with her personality, she would definitely mess it up, right?
“Speaking of which, Welt also fits the protagonist archetype.” Himeko said.
Welt was stunned for a moment. In the original world, he might really have been the protagonist once?
But that was in the past. In this world, the protagonist wouldn’t be him.
“Finding a stranded train in your youth and repairing it alone to set it sailing again—Himeko, you’re the protagonist.” Welt countered.
“Right! The protagonist must be Sister Himeko. She picked up Dan Heng, picked me up, and picked up A Xing.” March 7th suddenly realized and said firmly.
“I don’t want to be any protagonist. Leave that to you young people.” Himeko covered her mouth and chuckled lightly.
“No need to guess. When I travel, I get a little intel on the travel world and the future. In the future I obtained, there are two endings. If A Xing joins the train, the protagonist is A Xing. At some point in the future, you will directly face Destruction’s Nanook, join forces with numerous factions, and stop him from destroying the universe. If A Xing doesn’t join the train, the protagonist is Sister Himeko. The ending still shakes the universe, but countless companions will fall in the god-slaying campaign.” Meng Huaifeng interjected.
“We’re fighting the Destruction Aeon? For real?” March 7th widened her eyes.
“So it’s a good thing A Xing got on the train, leading to a better future. A Xing, the protagonist spot is yours now.” Himeko was glad she had persuaded A Xing a few more times back then to get her on the train.
Otherwise, familiar companions from the future might never be seen again.
“Hmph, I told you I’m the protagonist. Leave it to me. Little Nanook, got him.” A Xing swung her baseball bat imposingly.
“Don’t brag. Beat an Envoy first.” March 7th snatched the baseball bat from A Xing’s hand, which nearly flipped the coffee table.
“So we’re now in another world, outside the Tree Sea system, a world Acheron has never set foot in. No wonder I feel like I’ve suddenly advanced a big step on the Pioneer Destiny.” Welt brought the topic back.
“Oh, really! My Pioneer Destiny has advanced a lot too!” March 7th said in surprise, realizing late.
“The train’s fuel has increased a lot too, almost full, Pamu.” Pamu chimed in.
“Earlier, I scanned this planet with the train’s instruments. Based on comparison, it doesn’t match any known planets in the knowledge base. Also, we can’t connect to the Network of a Thousand Stars now; we can only use the train’s local network.” Dan Heng said.
“Pamu and I checked the train’s star map. This universe has no stellar paths or realm anchors. We can faintly sense our world’s stellar path network, but it’s extremely distant, impossible to warp jump to. Conservatively, connecting them might take tens of thousands of years, and that’s without barriers at the universe boundaries.” Himeko also said.
“If Acheron were here, it would be great. Maybe she could forcibly connect the two universes.” Pamu said with some nostalgia.
“Did you forget about me? My system is dormant, but it only needs two years to recover. Since you could travel here with me, I can send you back too. And the system said that traveling back to the previous world, no matter how long you’re here, only one day will pass there, including everyone’s age and lifespan.” Meng Huaifeng said.
“Of course not forgotten. But as pioneers, it’s rare to come to a completely unknown world, so of course we should properly pioneer it, and then see if we can link the two worlds together.” Himeko said.
“It’s said that many years ago, it was Acheron who connected worlds one by one with stellar paths, forming our current universe.” Welt said.
“Though we don’t have an Aeon’s great power, with proper planning and more time, we might still accomplish this!” Himeko’s eyes seemed to be glowing.
It’s been thousands of years since a new world was pioneered. Instead, worlds occasionally go offline, routes blocked, stellar paths dimming.
If it can really be done, it will open a brand new chapter in pioneer history, writing a new page.
Perhaps it won’t be long before a new Pioneer Aeon is born!
“We can discuss how to do this later. Since we have to stay in this world for at least two years, Huai Feng, do you want to join the Stellar Train?” Himeko smiled and invited Meng Huaifeng.
“Yeah, able to randomly travel worlds—that’s practically an Innate Pioneer Sacred Body! It’d be a waste not to join our train crew.” March 7th persuaded.
Though the meeting process was somewhat unfortunate, meeting the train crew in the first world was also Meng Huaifeng’s luck.
“Of course. Please take care of me from now on.” Meng Huaifeng stood up and bowed to everyone.
