Chapter 255 - 255: Holy Crap, The Game Updated

Bronya's steps faltered, her boots coming to a sudden halt against the cobblestone.

Honkai: Star Rail.

That game.

Of course she knew about it. In fact, she was a fiercely loyal player. Blessed with a brilliant tactical mind but cursed with rather clumsy reflexes for fast-paced action, she had always gravitated toward turn-based strategy games.

Ever since she discovered the title—a digital chronicle carefully recording Leon's trailblazing journey across the cosmos—she had been hooked. She had scoured every virtual inch of the Belobog map, unearthing practically every hidden easter egg and secret interaction. For the Supreme Guardian to achieve such a flawless completion rate amidst her suffocating mountain of daily paperwork... one could only imagine the sheer amount of sleep she had sacrificed to squeeze in that playtime.

Naturally, her completionist streak was aided by the fact that Leon hadn't released a single content update since wrapping up the Belobog storyline.

A realization suddenly clicked into place. Just moments ago, as they strolled shoulder-to-shoulder down the quiet street, Leon had repeatedly glanced down at his glowing phone screen.

Had he been secretly preparing to push the new game update live this entire time?

A soft breath escaped her lips. So... he hadn't been bored by her company. He hadn't been distracted by some other passing fancy. He was simply handling his work as a developer. And the fact that he had gone out of his way to mention it to her just now felt like a deliberate, gentle reassurance—a quiet explanation to ensure she wouldn't misunderstand his divided attention.

A warm, fluttering sensation brushed against the walls of her heart, melting away the lingering chill of the Belobog night.

She tilted her head slightly, her slate-gray eyes tracing the profile of the man walking beside her. Leon slipped his phone back into his pocket. Catching her lingering gaze, he turned his head and offered her a lazy, effortless smile.

For a fleeting second, the warm glow of the surrounding streetlamps seemed to pale in comparison.

Bronya quickly lowered her eyelashes, trying to hide the faint flush creeping up her neck, but the corners of her lips betrayed her, curling upward into a sweet, involuntary smile. A crisp night breeze swept down the avenue, gently fluttering the silver-gray ends of her hair.

She had walked these streets a thousand times, yet tonight, the eternal winter of Belobog felt exceptionally gentle. His smile carried the exact same warmth as the first, long-awaited ray of sunshine piercing through an early spring frost.

Meanwhile, light-years away, the massive version update for Honkai: Star Rail dropped without a single warning announcement.

Guinaifen was right in the middle of a lively gaming broadcast when her monitor abruptly cut to pitch black. A second later, a system prompt ruthlessly kicked her back to the desktop.

"Eh?" The red-haired street performer blinked in confusion, scratching the back of her head as she leaned closer to her webcam. "What just happened, family? Did the client crash, or did my router finally give up the ghost?"

Muttering under her breath, she furiously clicked the reconnect button, only for a massive progress bar to pop up on her screen. An enormous update package was downloading.

"Holy crap!" Guinaifen's golden eyes instantly lit up like miniature supernovas. She slammed her hands on her desk, leaning so close to the camera that her face took up the entire frame. "Family, the game updated! Is it finally the Xianzhou Luofu chapter?! Oh my god, am I going to be a playable character?!"

The chat scrolling down the side of her screen instantly exploded into a blurry waterfall of text.

"Wait, Little Gui is getting put into the game? For real?!"

"Hold on, does this mean our streamer actually knows the Nameless from the Astral Express?!"

"What the hell, this patch dropped out of nowhere! Not even a teaser trailer!"

"Well, the lead developer is that Trailblazer, Leon. You know how those Nameless operate—doing whatever they want, whenever they want, is basically their entire brand."

Driven by the sudden hype, the viewer count in Guinaifen's broadcast room skyrocketed, breaking past her previous records in seconds.

She had been streaming non-stop for the past few days to capitalize on the local festivities. The Xianzhou Luofu was exceptionally lively lately, entirely due to the highly anticipated Aetherium Wars. Cloudford had been officially designated as one of the primary tournament zones, and she, the great Guinaifen, was a legitimate challenger who had fought tooth and nail to obtain an official Qualification Badge.

In fact, she was already packing her bags to travel to Belobog in a few days to participate in the Interastral Tournament Festival. It was a decent-sized galactic event—not the biggest in the universe, but certainly nothing to scoff at.

"Little Gui, quit stalling! Do you actually know the Trailblazers or are you just bragging?" the bullet chat relentlessly demanded.

"Of course I do! Just look at this, feast your eyes..."

Guinaifen giggled proudly. She snatched her phone off the desk, hurriedly pulled up a specific photo from her digital album, and shoved the glowing screen right up to the webcam lens. It was a lively group photo taken after a massive celebratory dinner a few nights ago. Everyone in the frame was smiling brightly, their faces flushed with good food and great company.

"See that? See that right there?" She pointed enthusiastically at her own grinning face squished into the corner of the frame. "Your favorite streamer is right there in the VIP circle!"

The influx of new viewers flooded the chat with shock.

"My god, she really knows the Nameless? They even let her in the group photo?"

"Okay, that is actually insanely cool."

"Little Gui has flexed this exact same photo at least twenty times this week..." her veteran fans complained helplessly in the chat, though even they couldn't hide their pride. "But honestly, we can't even be mad. It's a massive flex."

"Hey streamer, what are the Trailblazers actually like in person? Did you meet General Jing Yuan? What about Master Diviner Fu Xuan?!"

"Wait, hold the phone... zoom in on the back left! Why are there two Stellaron Hunters chilling in that photo?! I thought the rumors about the Luofu General teaming up with the Hunters were just conspiracy theories! Is that actually real?!"

A barrage of intense, politically loaded questions began rapidly filling the bullet chat, some carrying a sharp, accusatory sting regarding the Luofu's internal affairs.

Guinaifen immediately played dumb, her eyes darting away from the monitor as she pretended to adjust her microphone. She was just a humble street performer and a small-time streamer; she absolutely did not have the political armor to survive a galactic controversy. Some secrets were better left buried.

...What the red-haired streamer didn't realize, however, was that those exact same dangerous rumors had already sprouted wings, flying far beyond the casual gossip of the internet.

Deep within a highly secure, restricted chamber on the Xianzhou Luofu.

"I will get straight to the point."

Feixiao leaned back comfortably in her ornate wooden chair. She crossed her long legs, her tone as breezy and casual as if she were discussing what to have for lunch. The actual subject matter, however, was heavy enough to execute a hundred men.

"According to the official logs, the Astral Express was initially guided to our borders by the Stellaron Hunters—a faction of heavily wanted criminals—to resolve the sudden Stellaron crisis. But anyone who has walked the galaxy for more than a day knows exactly what kind of blood-soaked reputation those Hunters carry."

The Merlin's Claw paused, her sharp, predatory eyes locking onto Jing Yuan with a knowing half-smile.

"So, why exactly did the great General Jing Yuan trust their side of the story so readily? Could it be... because there happens to be a certain old acquaintance of yours hiding among their ranks?"

Sitting across the table, Huaiyan's thick brows knitted together in a severe frown. "General Feixiao, I advise you to watch your words. A routine inquiry into General Jing Yuan's tactical decisions should not devolve into baseless suspicion between fellow Arbiter-Generals."

The elderly forge master paused, the ambient temperature in the room seeming to rise as his voice dropped to a dangerous, rumbling baritone. "That particular Stellaron Hunter was also once my disciple... Tell me, are you planning to interrogate my loyalty to the Alliance next?"

"Elder Huaiyan, please, don't be so quick to anger." Feixiao waved a hand dismissively, the relaxed, teasing smile never leaving her face. "I am merely echoing the harsh criticisms currently circulating among the higher-ups within the Alliance. They have their doubts regarding General Jing Yuan's methods. Today, I am simply acting as their mouthpiece."

She blinked, a mischievous glint flashing in her eyes. "Why don't you just pretend my face belongs to one of those stubborn old fogies from the Ten-Lords Commission? Doesn't the interrogation sound much more palatable that way?"

In truth, Feixiao trusted Jing Yuan implicitly. Her aggressive line of questioning was nothing more than a necessary political theater to provide the rest of the Xianzhou Alliance with a bulletproof explanation. After all, the recent chaotic events on the Luofu had kicked up a massive interstellar storm.

Unhurried and entirely unbothered by the pressure, Jing Yuan calmly picked up his porcelain teacup. He blew softly on the steaming surface before taking a measured sip.

"I trusted them because Fu Xuan used the Matrix of Prescience to peer into the past and deduce the inevitable future," he replied, his voice smooth and steady. "Five Aeons descended upon the Luofu during the crisis... I assume both of you reviewed the surveillance footage, noting the specific glance that Stellaron Hunter cast toward the ice planet of Belobog."

He set the teacup back onto its matching saucer with a soft clink, his golden eyes reflecting a deep, unshakable peace. "That Stellaron Hunter was physically present on the Luofu when the Aeons cast their gaze. That cosmic alignment alone is more than enough to verify the absolute truth of the matter."

Internally, Jing Yuan acknowledged that if it hadn't been for the sudden, overwhelming manifestation of those Aeons, justifying his collaboration with wanted criminals would have been a political nightmare. But now? The gods themselves had provided his alibi.

"Fair enough. Moving on to the next discrepancy," Feixiao said, her thumb swiping casually across the digital notepad on her jade scroll. "The official report states that Dan Shu, the leader of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, harbored treasonous intentions. It claims she colluded with the Antimatter Legion, using the smuggled Stellaron to forcefully revive the Ambrosial Arbor."

She continued scrolling, her brow arching slightly. "But Dan Shu was merely a Chief Alchemist. How could a civilian scholar wield that much tactical influence? It is one thing for her to secretly communicate with foreign enemies to summon a Stellaron..."

Feixiao looked up, her gaze sharpening into a piercing glare. "The Ambrosial Arbor is rooted deep within the Scalegorge Waterscape. That is the sacred, heavily fortified territory of the Vidyadhara. How exactly did an alchemist bypass their elite guards without triggering a massive alarm?"

Jing Yuan offered a soft, enigmatic smile.

"That is an excellent question, General Feixiao," he murmured, his tone light but layered with unspoken implications. "However, you are asking the wrong person. You should direct that inquiry to the Vidyadhara High Elders."

Feixiao stared at him in utter silence for two long seconds, searching his relaxed features for any sign of deception. Finding none, she suddenly dropped her intense posture, looked down at her jade scroll, and rapidly swiped away the interrogation file.

"Hmm... alright then. I am done asking."

She let out a long, exaggerated exhale, tossing the expensive device onto the center of the wooden table with a careless clatter. "Done and dusted."

Raising her arms, she performed a lazy, feline stretch, her tone instantly shifting back to one of immense relief. "Thank the Hunt, I am finally finished regurgitating all those paranoid questions from the old fogies... Honestly, who thought it was a good idea to assign a diplomatic interrogation to a martial general like me? This kind of tedious paperwork should have been shoved onto Jiaoqiu's desk. He's the one who actually enjoys this political verbal sparring."

Huaiyan shook his head helplessly at her sudden shift in demeanor, though the tense lines around his mouth finally softened.

"So, what is General Feixiao's final verdict?" Jing Yuan asked unhurriedly, steepling his fingers beneath his chin. "Have the many lingering doubts within the official report been satisfactorily addressed?"

"The General's answers were refreshingly frank."

Feixiao completely shed her lazy, carefree facade. She sat up straight, her aura shifting back into the commanding presence of a seasoned Arbiter-General. "Even if certain minor details remain shrouded in political red tape, my intuition rarely misses the mark. And my intuition tells me... there is absolutely nothing improper about your conduct, Jing Yuan."

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