"What kind of joke is this, Professor?" Aventurine took off his sunglasses and chuckled dismissively.
"I think the only ones in the IPC who’d beco gacha characters are soft-hearted folks like Topaz."
"Soone like —a scheming gambler—how could I possibly beco a playable character in Honkai: Star Rail?"
"Are you expecting players across the universe to pull for a gambler’s banner?"
"Besides, to reach my current position, I’ve done plenty of unsavory things. I’d rather Yu Ling not expose them."
"That’d only make my already-disgusting business partners despise even more."
"Oh, of course—no offense to you, Professor."
Aventurine took a sip of water, convinced that Ratio was just ssing with him.
Ratio closed Honkai: Star Rail and opened another window—Guinaifen’s livestream.
At the sa ti, he said, "Since that’s the case, let’s make a bet."
"What kind of bet?" Aventurine perked up.
"On whether or not we’ll beco playable characters in this ga."
"Sure, Professor. But you should know—my luck has always been excellent."
Aventurine was confident.
He was certain soone like him would never make the cut as a playable character.
Hell, he had a better chance of being a weekly boss than a gacha unit!
From a player’s perspective, soone like him had zero "appeal."
Profit-driven.
A pathological liar.
Even within the IPC, he’d been reported by countless colleagues.
Aventurine had no delusions about being liked.
Still, he had absolute faith in his own sches.
"At the very least, I expect to have so screenti in Penacony’s storyline."
"As far as villains go, I’d say I’m a decent one, no?"
"Who knows? Maybe Yu Ling will make a weekly boss."
"What do you think, Professor Ratio?"
Aventurine glanced over—only to see Ratio already wearing his plaster head.
Typing sothing on the screen, Ratio replied:
"Then tell —how would you design the skills of a self-proclaid ’Veritas Doctor’ if he beca a playable character?"
Aventurine leaned closer.
Seeing Guinaifen’s livestream, he smirked.
"Oh? You watch streams too? I actually quite enjoy this strear—"
Mid-sentence, Aventurine froze.
Because Ratio had just sent 20 Storm Tuning Forks as a superchat.
Along with a pinned ssage:
[Go to the Space Station and accept the quest "When the Stars of Ingenuity Shine."]
---
Guinaifen’s Livestream
A dazzling special effect exploded across the screen.
[User "Veritas Doctor" has gifted 20 Storm Tuning Forks to strear Guinaifen!
ssage: "Go to the Space Station and accept the quest ’When the Stars of Ingenuity Shine.’"]
Guinaifen blinked, then excitedly rubbed her hands together.
"Thank you, big boss Veritas Doctor for the 20 Storm Tuning Forks! Absolute legend!"
"The Space Station?"
"Huh? There’s still a quest there?"
"Isn’t that just the Trailblazer’s starter zone?"
She teleported to the Master Control Zone of Herta Space Station.
Wandering aimlessly, she soon overheard two researchers chatting near a billboard.
Researcher A: "Big news incoming!"
Researcher B: "What news?"
Researcher A: "Don’t spread it—but Ruan i is coming to the Space Station!"
Guinaifen was certain—this dialogue was newly added in the update!
She’d scoured every inch of the Space Station before, collecting all chests and hidden Easter eggs.
She definitely would’ve rembered this conversation.
And the na "Ruan i" made her pause.
"Wait... why does that na sound familiar?"
Just then, as if triggered by the Easter egg, an in-ga ssage popped up.
It was from Herta—but this ti, she wasn’t nagging about Simulated Universe testing.
[Herta: Got so good news for you.
Ruan i’s coming to the Space Station.
Trailblazer: Ruan i?
Herta: Genius Society #81, Ruan i.
I invited her. Screwllum’s here too. We’ve got important things to discuss.
Co back and introduce yourself—let her see who’s been testing the Simulated Universe.
Oh, and show so respect. You won’t get many chances to et her. ]
After the ssage, a prompt appeared:
[Accept Quest: "When the Stars of Ingenuity Shine"?]
[Optional: Watch the Story Preview. Click to Play.]
Guinaifen gasped.
Because the quest marker was golden—aning it was either a Trailblaze Mission or Trailblaze Continuance!
This was main story content!
"No wonder!"
"No wonder I couldn’t find the new main quest!"
"All the side quests were distracting , but the actual story looped back to the Space Station!"
"Totally missed it—right under my nose!"
"So the last two limited 5-star characters in this update must be tied to this quest!"
Guinaifen grinned.
She really owed this "Veritas Doctor" viewer big ti—not only for the donations but also for pointing her toward the main story!
Double rewards!
She leaned closer to the screen, ready to scrutinize every second of the preview.
---
Herta Space Station – anwhile
A crowd of researchers huddled around a large screen, buzzing with excitent.
A female researcher walking past, files in hand, barely spared them a glance.
Ever since Honkai: Star Rail took the Space Station by storm, this had beco the norm.
These researchers barely cared about their actual work anymore—just glued to the screen, watching ga lore.
She couldn’t understand them.
She’d joined the Space Station to beco a biological expert like Ruan i!
Sure, the deeper she delved into the field, the more she realized the gap between herself and Ruan i...
But she was determined to get as close as possible!
She had no ti for gas—every ounce of her energy went into research.
Adjusting her glasses, she imagined what Ruan i would think of these "ti-wasting" researchers.
"The diversity of life truly manifests in the strangest ways..."
Just as she was about to walk away—
Soone suddenly shouted:
"HOLY—THE HIDDEN MAIN QUEST IS HERE!"
"THE STORY’S BACK AT OUR SPACE STATION!"
"AND—RUAN I’S MAKING AN APPEARANCE!"
The female researcher froze.
...What did I just hear?
Ruan i?
She’s actually in the ga?!
Without another thought, she dropped her files and joined the crowd.
To be continued...
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