Chapter 262 - 262: Akivili, You're Not Even Acting Anymore

"Wow, March, your promotional video is so cute!"

Bai Heng leaned in close to the pink-haired girl, her fox ears twitching slightly as her sparkling eyes remained glued to the glowing screen. The newly released PV perfectly captured every ounce of March 7th's charm. Lively, bursting with boundless energy, and occasionally a little ditsy—her ultimate girlfriend vibes were practically overflowing from the display.

"R-really?" March scratched the back of her head sheepishiy. A furious shade of pink crept up the tips of her ears, perfectly matching her hair. Though she tried to sound humble, the wide, pleased grin stretching across her face completely betrayed her true feelings.

"Hehe, okay, enough about me..." She quickly cleared her throat, adjusting her posture before aggressively clicking on the other two character avatars on the screen. "Let's see Stelle and Caelus's videos!"

Meanwhile, deep within the Divination Commission.

Qingque sat perfectly upright at her desk. Her brow was furrowed in deep concentration, presenting the flawless image of a dedicated diviner hard at work.

In reality, the jade abacus resting flat on her lap was displaying the vibrant interface of Celestial Jade. Her thumbs swiped stealthily under the wooden table, thoroughly enjoying the thrill of slacking off on company time.

Suddenly, a sharp notification ping broke her focus. A message banner dropped down from the top of her screen.

Qingque glanced at it out of the corner of her eye, but her thumbs didn't stop moving. 'I have to finish this round first. Priorities.'

A few moments later, the victory screen flashed. She withdrew her hands contentedly, stretched her shoulders, and finally tapped the lingering message notification.

The blood drained from her face. Her entire body froze solid.

It was Leon's official account. The one she had been monitoring like a hawk. It had just posted a massive update.

'Guys, who understands this kind of pain? I am about to be publicly executed.'Cold sweat immediately broke out across Qingque's forehead, matting her bangs to her skin. Leon had warned her, very clearly, that he was going to put her into his game. And this new update... was undeniably the Xianzhou Luofu chapter.'This... no way. Please tell me this is a joke.'

Her scalp tingled with impending doom, yet her traitorous fingers moved on pure autopilot. They initiated the game client update while simultaneously opening up Guinaifen's live stream in a floating window.

Speaking of which, ever since getting to know Guinaifen at their last social gathering, the two had quickly bonded into tight-knit gaming buddies. Just a few days ago, Qingque had even dragged Guinaifen and Sushang into a chaotic, hours-long session of Celestial Jade.

'That Sushang... her luck is honestly something else,' Qingque thought, shaking her head.

The moment the stream loaded, Qingque was greeted by the sight of Leon's in-game avatar solemnly spreading wild, baseless rumors about Lan, the Aeon of The Hunt.

Her mouth twitched violently.

'I knew it... I knew those rumors sounded way too familiar. So it really was you all along!'

Qingque could already foresee the chaotic "shadow general" meme catching fire and burning across the interastral network within the hour.

However, that wasn't the detail currently threatening to stop her heart.

More... according to the leaks, the next major story beat involved her, Qingque, sitting down to play a casual game of Celestial Jade with three literal Aeons.

Thinking about that exact scene being fully rendered, voice-acted, and broadcasted to trillions of players across the universe, Qingque suddenly felt a strange, floating sensation in her chest.

'You know what? This life was worth it.'

Yes, she had completely given up on resisting. After spending so many days on edge, jumping at shadows, she had finally reached enlightenment. Since she couldn't change the inevitable, she might as well sit back and enjoy the ride to hell.

On the other side of the network, Guinaifen's live stream was booming.

"Eh?" Guinaifen blinked at her monitor, leaning closer to the camera. "The main quest has been split into two different paths?"

On the screen, the quest log clearly branched into two distinct storylines. One path followed the perspective of the Astral Express Crew, tracking their collective arrival at the Xianzhou Luofu. The second path was locked entirely to Leon's perspective, showing him heading down to the Luofu completely alone.

"It seems like the game lets us choose which perspective to play first..."

Guinaifen stroked her chin, her eyes darting toward her rapidly scrolling chat. She made a decision in a split second. "Well, say no more, family! Of course we are going with Leon first! Let's see what kind of trouble he's getting into!"

There were dozens of massive streamers broadcasting Honkai: Star Rail right now. According to the standard user interface design, the Astral Express route was positioned at the very top, meaning the vast majority of players and streamers would naturally click that one first.

But for the sake of premium stream content? Guinaifen knew exactly what her audience wanted. She had to choose the chaotic route.

After all, Leon's casual "rumor-spreading" cutscene from a few minutes ago had already caused countless netizens to lose their collective minds. Although a few critical voices complained about the lore implications, they were quickly drowned out. With the emotional weight of the Belobog arc still fresh in everyone's hearts, the player base trusted the developer's vision implicitly.

Guinaifen slammed her mouse button, locking in Leon's solo questline.

The loading screen faded, and the cinematic slowly unfolded.

"You guys go ahead first."

Leon stood in the Parlor Car, waving his hand at Welt and the others with a gentle, relaxed smile. "I'll head down to the surface myself a little later."

"Sigh..." March puffed out her cheeks, crossing her arms. Her tone carried a heavy dose of complaint. "Last time in Belobog, you slipped away halfway through the mission, and this time you won't even set off with us?"

"Alright, alright," Leon soothed, his smile widening into something far more teasing. "Next time I'll definitely accompany you guys from start to finish, I promise."

"Then I'm off too."

As Stelle, Caelus, March, Welt, and Serval walked toward the train's exit doors one after another, Leon straightened his posture and offered Himeko a polite, respectful nod.

"Goodbye."

"Safe travels." Himeko watched him turn and stroll toward the opposite end of the carriage.

The heavy doors hissed open, then clicked shut. The Parlor Car fell completely silent for a fleeting second.

Without a sound, Leon's figure dissolved into thin air, fading from the spot like a phantom.

The camera cut to black. The next moment, the scene faded back in. Leon was quietly standing in a narrow, ancient alleyway deep within the Xianzhou Luofu. The bluestone pavement beneath his boots was slick with morning dew. Copper bells hung from the distant, sweeping eaves, chiming softly as a gentle breeze swept through the corridor. Everything looked incredibly peaceful, a perfect slice-of-life moment.

However, in the very next instant...

Subtle, violent ripples warped the space directly around him. The air itself seemed to crack and fold.

Several towering figures emerged silently from those spatial distortions, stepping into the alleyway as if walking through a bead curtain.

Guinaifen's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

Dumbfounded. That word was entirely tailor-made for her current expression.

In her live stream, the chaotic blur of the bullet chat came to a violent, screeching halt. It grew so unnervingly quiet that Guinaifen genuinely thought her internet connection had dropped.

Deep within the Divination Commission, Qingque stopped breathing.

High up in the Seat of Divine Foresight, Jing Yuan froze.

Across different sectors, Feixiao and Huaiyan stared at their respective screens. Everyone shared the exact same, synchronized thought: 'Did my eyes just deceive me?'

"This... what is this?!"

After a full five seconds of dead air, Guinaifen let out a sharp, ear-piercing scream that clipped her microphone.

"Five Aeons just casually dropped into the Xianzhou Luofu?! No, wait... Big Brother Leon is just hanging out with five Aeons?!"

On the glowing screen, five distinct entities stood quietly in a semi-circle around Leon. Their character models and overwhelming auras perfectly matched the universally recognized, mythological depictions of the universe's highest beings.

Remembrance. Elation. Preservation. Erudition. Destruction.

After those five seconds of absolute silence, Guinaifen's chat box exploded with the force of an avalanche.

[Wha... what the hell is going on...?!]

[No, is this for real? The developer wouldn't just make this up for shock value, right?!]

[F-five Aeons?! In an alleyway?!]

[Remembrance, Elation, Preservation, Erudition... and he even brought Destruction?!]

[Why is Nanook there?! Someone explain why Destruction is just chilling?!]

The text scrolled so fast it formed a solid white block, completely covering the gameplay screen. If a viewer didn't manually disable the chat overlay, they wouldn't be able to see a single pixel of the game.

The entire internet was undergoing a collective meltdown.

"F-five Aeons... they just arrived like it was a casual meetup?!"

Qingque let out a scream that rivaled Guinaifen's, her hands gripping the edges of her desk so hard her knuckles turned white.

'Leon, you absolute menace! And you still have the nerve to look me in the eye and say you aren't Akivili?!'

Inside the Seat of Divine Foresight, Jing Yuan's hand remained suspended in mid-air, his porcelain teacup inches from his lips.

He stared blankly at the holographic monitor, completely speechless for a long, agonizing minute.

'...Lord Akivili, you aren't even trying to act normal anymore, are you?'

Elsewhere, Feixiao, who had been laughing uproariously at Leon's earlier antics, felt her smile shatter and freeze into a mask of pure shock.

"Jing Yuan..." She turned her head slowly toward her communicator, her tone thick with complex disbelief. "I understand now. I finally understand why you place so much blind trust in the Astral Express and the Stellaron Hunters."

She paused, her throat working as she struggled to squeeze the next few words out of her mouth.

"This Leon guy... could he actually be the literal reincarnation of Akivili?"

Huaiyan didn't say a single word. The ancient general just silently, mechanically raised his teacup and took a slow sip.

Then, he violently flinched. He had burned his tongue.

After living for so many centuries, Huaiyan honestly couldn't remember the last time he had been so distracted that he let hot tea burn him.

Meanwhile, at the absolute peak of the Xianzhou Alliance's hierarchy, Marshal Hua stared at her private monitor, spiraling into a state of deep, existential self-doubt.

'Did the producer of Honkai: Star Rail... sneak his own personal delusions into the script?'

How could anyone dare to write such an outrageously blasphemous plot?

But then, her mind flashed back to Jing Yuan's highly classified official report. She remembered the terrifying, obvious truth: that the colossal gaze of Qlipoth, the Amber Lord, had truly descended upon the Xianzhou Luofu just days prior.

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