Eh?! I could transform into Haxxor Bunny and bring Haxxor Bunny herself along to argue with Silver Wolf? This was way too funny!
I could even transform into Raiden Mei and cross blades with Acheron? Huh? Cook rice, seriously?
Hehehe, Aha, you were the one who set me up, weren't you?! Liuge looked at the crowd glaring hungrily at him from behind and wiped away a cold sweat...
P.S.: "A pure chaos-for-fun story." "Please familiarize yourself with the protagonist before reading. You can skip straight to the Xianzhou arc after Chapter 33! I'm not very familiar with Herta Space Station or Belobog, so the writing there is terrible."
What the hell kind of survey was this?!
It seemed that he really had transmigrated.
Listening to the continuous rumbling and piercing alarms outside, Liuge, curled up in the corner of an unknown warehouse, only found them noisy.
No one could have imagined it! No one could have imagined that, on a long-awaited day off, after finally logging into Honkai: Star Rail to play through the new main story, the first thing he saw would be a life-wasting survey.
For the sake of the supposedly guaranteed mysterious reward, Liuge decided to waste a few minutes.
"Your gender?"
—Male.
"Your age?"
—Twenty-two.
"Your preferred combat style?"
What kind of weird question was that?
But if he had to name a style he liked, it definitely had to be "Aether Edit," even though he still did not quite understand the finer details of that ability.
But "Aether Edit" was just too cool!
Besides, it suited a programmer's usual combat methods—he meant work!
"What do you like about Honkai: Star Rail?"
"Herta Space Station."
Hmph! People ultimately liked rich ladies, and they ultimately liked fragrant, soft, petite ones. Other than Herta Space Station, where else could there be?
Although Belobog was pretty good too, that triple-turbo Bronya was still too mediocre. Seele's traits were even less distinct. Only Cocolia could count as a worthy opponent.
As for the Xianzhou...
It would be impolite to keep criticizing it.
After filling it out for around three to five minutes, the moment Liuge tapped confirm and submitted it, everything before his eyes went black.
In the blink of an eye, the lazy dog lost his doghouse and appeared in a steel corridor filled with a metallic texture. Before he could even confirm whether this development was a little too cosmic, blinding red lights and deafening alarms followed.
"Attention! The Antimatter Legion is attacking! All combat personnel, prepare to repel the Antimatter Legion!"
"Attention! The Antimatter Legion..."
Listening to the broadcast, Liuge more or less realized where he was.
Without a doubt, this was Herta Space Station.
"Well, this really was a waste of life. Damn it!"
Then Liuge very sensibly hid in this warehouse and calmly considered which would arrive first: that trashy woman's Trailblazer, or that femme fatale's mom.
But speaking of which, if he had transmigrated because of the survey he had filled out earlier, could the combat style he selected grant him the combat ability he wanted?
After all, he had already truly arrived at Herta Space Station, the supreme city of rich ladies he had wanted to reach.
By universal logic, transmigration had to come with a cheat. Otherwise, it would be like not being able to find a charger before bed or not being able to find your phone after getting up—truly terrifying.
Listening to the increasingly close barrage of gunfire, Liuge's not-so-calm analysis was beginning to heat up.
Rat-a-tat-tat...
Intensifying firepower, the sounds of things falling, the noise fading away, followed by the clear sound of heels striking the floor...
"Silver Wolf, there's someone inside this warehouse."
The voice was lazy, though it carried a faint trace of confusion.
There was no doubt that the owner of that voice was an incredible older woman.
"Hm? According to the script, we shouldn't encounter anyone along our route. We'll only run into trash mobs like Voidrangers."
This time, it was a crisp voice, seemingly belonging to a young girl.
Probably an unparalleled noob—meaning in terms of gaming skill.
"So, do you want to go in and take a look?"
"I think you're just too idle, Kafka. Since they don't intend to come out, that means they won't get in our way... And you still want to go in and take a look? Are you in a hurry to stir up trouble?"
"Alright, you're right."
Her soft laugh carried a slightly deeper meaning.
From that conversation alone, Liuge, lying in the warehouse and looking at the unfamiliar ceiling glimmering with flowing light, had basically confirmed who the two people passing by were.
Kafka and Silver Wolf of the Stellaron Hunters.
Judging from what they said, this was before the Astral Express had arrived, when the Stellaron Hunters were about to awaken the Stellaron Core—though he had no idea whether the Trailblazer would be male or female this time.
"Maybe... I should follow them and take a look?"
That thought survived for only an instant. Knowing that his combat strength was still inferior to a slime's, Liuge pulled his legs in and immediately dismissed the idea.
Speaking of slimes... Genshin... Stop!
He strangled his wandering thoughts. As he patted his forehead, the corner of Liuge's eye suddenly caught a ball of white light that had appeared without warning atop a crate to his left-front.
"What the hell? Did I get a cheat?"
With thirty percent doubt, fifty percent excitement, and another twenty percent excitement, Liuge was about to stand and approach it.
Bang—
The warehouse door was blasted open amid a violent roar. A humanoid creature, purple-black all over, with purple flames burning from its forehead and golden blades on both arms, walked in.
"This is bad!"
It was a Voidranger: Reaver!
Liuge instinctively rushed toward the ball of light, while the Voidranger charged at him as though it had come specifically for him.
A chilling blade gleam, accompanied by murderous intent, engulfed the entire space.
But before he could be cut into seventeen pieces, Liuge reached that spot and touched the ball of light.
Acquired Stat-Stick: Strength Proceed with Aether Edit?
The moment he touched it, a voice sounded in his mind.
With life and death at stake, Liuge immediately chose to edit it.
At the same time, the surrounding space froze as if it had entered one of those time-stop series. The blade trail drawn by the Voidranger halted at his side, while a transparent screen appeared before him, displaying six three-dimensional images and square options marked "new."
"...This was Aether Edit?"
His eyelid twitching, Liuge took several steps to avoid the blade's range, moved behind the Voidranger, and then selected the Stat-Stick labeled "Strength."
"Edit Stat-Stick 'Strength' onto the right hand?"
Yes!
As he confirmed it, something seemed to fuse into Liuge's right hand, and he could feel some kind of power increase.
Then time began moving again.
The chilling blade fell. Liuge, now outside its attack range, clenched his right fist, took a small step forward, and slammed a seemingly plain but actually powerful punch into the back of the Voidranger's head.
With a dull thud and a burst of air, the Voidranger flew away and crashed heavily into the steel wall. Without lingering, it transformed into black particles and vanished.
"Th-this... is Aether Edit even legal?"
Staring blankly at the shallow dent left in the wall, then dazedly looking at his fist for several seconds, Liuge more or less understood.
With a thought, the screen and three-dimensional images appeared again, except there was now a light spot on the model, located on the right hand where he had just added the Stat-Stick.
After fiddling with it a little, Liuge confirmed that the Stat-Stick could also be removed... In other words, this was a loot-collecting game; in even simpler terms, he was going to become a scavenger.
If nothing unexpected happened, this Aether Edit probably required him to collect all kinds of Stat-Sticks, combine and edit them, and thereby develop abilities of varying strength.
That was a solid ten out of nine for sheer power!
"I can barely count as having the ability to protect myself now. Herta Space Station is so huge, and there are so many weird Curios here... Should I try seeking wealth amid danger?"
After struggling at full health for several seconds, Liuge gritted his teeth, cautiously poked his head out, and walked out of the warehouse. But before he had even taken two steps, blinding golden light flashed into his eyes.
"G-golden legend?"
Yes, the moment he stepped outside, he saw two golden balls of light, both displaying their Stat-Stick types.
"Stat-Stick: Character"
Perhaps it was a scavenger's instinct, or perhaps it was humanity's craving for golden light, but Liuge reached out his hand—
Acquired Character Stat-Stick: Genius Hacker (Female) Acquired Character Stat-Stick: Femme Fatale
"Holy shit! Transformation?!"
Haxxor Bunny
"I like two-dimensional characters."
Looking at the Stat-Sticks shimmering with golden light, Liuge could not help frowning.
"But I don't want to become a two-dimensional character."
But then again, did these female-exclusive Stat-Sticks imply something—of course, he was not trying to show off his fists here. He meant that Aether Edit could perhaps even rewrite a person's reality?
"Mm, transformation forbidden!"
A normal human being should still have some hesitation. He could not try it immediately after obtaining the Stat-Sticks, much less casually abandon his vital little brother!
Certain of each other's importance, Liuge put away the interface and returned to his essential work as a scavenger, continuing onward with caution. He could not even overlook Trash Cans.
Relying on his hearing to barely avoid the combat zones, he traveled for quite a while before picking up three ordinary white Stat-Sticks in succession—
Stat-Stick: Speed, Stat-Stick: Concealment, and Stat-Stick: Listening.
Like the Strength Stat-Stick from before, they were only the lowest-tier Stat-Sticks, though their enhancement effects were still nine times higher than Liuge's own base stats.
During that time, Liuge tried combining Stat-Stick: Concealment with Stat-Stick: Speed, and the final result was—
Stat-Stick: Stealth 1
It eliminated a certain degree of footstep noise without affecting speed.
Like a sneaky little dog, Liuge poked his head out from around the corner. The corridor before him was covered in scorched marks, but at least there were no Voidrangers in sight, and he could not help relaxing...
Then a humanoid creature holding a heavy cannon, built like a hulking boulder of a man, walked over.
When it spotted Liuge, whose eyes were slowly widening, it first tilted its head and paused for a second. Then it raised its pitch-black cannon barrel as energy began gathering.
"Unlucky, unlucky, unlucky!"
Instinctively taking a step back, Liuge retreated behind the corner as blazing light and searing heat erupted.
Seeing this, Liuge decisively chose to retreat, darting back behind the corner.
"Cough, cough, cough... Terrifying!"
The smoke and dust from the explosion made Liuge cough instinctively.
Boom, boom, boom.
Urgent footsteps mixed with heavy-cannon-level killing intent echoed through the corridor.
Before you continue