Playing Stat-Sticks in Honkai: Star Rail

March 7th was annoyed and chased after the two of them, swinging her little fists.

Dan Heng watched the three of them bicker from behind, shook his head, and followed.

After a bout of roughhousing, the group continued to walk out of the valley.

Along the way, March 7th and Liuge noticed several Rift creatures frozen into ice-blue sculptures.

This discovery immediately made them realize that Stellaron might truly exist on this planet.

After all, not far from the frozen Rift creatures were Rift roots, which fully indicated that this was the result of a Stellaron.

If they were to speculate based on this idea, the situation in the snowfield might be an anomaly caused by a Stellaron.

"It looks like our survey mission this time has turned into an expedition, and we also need to seal and retrieve the Stellaron here!"

Liuge said to the group after a round of checks.

"Alright! Looks like we'll be busy for a while!"

March 7th, holding her blue camera, took a picture of Liuge who was squatting by the Rift roots, inspecting them.

"March, if you can, please don't give me a double image!"

"Hmph, what do you mean? Don't you trust my photography skills!"

March 7th was annoyed.

You can question my intelligence, but you absolutely cannot question my photography skills!

Of course, Liuge was just joking. He wasn't actually inspecting any Rift roots at the moment; he was purely squatting there to pick up trash.

[Snow]

Quality: White

Effect: Can cool down your feverish body (Seven hundred years of continuous snow, it can already be your ancestor).

"Liuge, say something!"

As soon as March 7th said this, Liuge was instantly dazed, and a video he had seen before crossing over inexplicably popped into his mind.

'Honey, say something!'

Damn it, I can't think about it anymore. If I keep thinking, March 7th's face will twist into that kind of expression.

Shaking his head, Liuge let out a long breath.

"Alright, let's go. We should be able to get out of here soon."

Liuge recalled the plot a little. Although the time nodes in reality and the game were different, after walking for so long, they were likely to encounter old Sampo.

After walking for about five more minutes, Liuge and the others arrived at a relatively open corner.

Suddenly, Liuge's and Stelle's gazes were drawn to several snowdrifts not far away.

For Liuge, this was old Sampo digging pits in advance and waiting for them there.

As for Stelle, she purely felt that these suspicious snowdrifts might yield something good.

Well, it was the scavenging mentality of a junk collector!

At this moment, Liuge waved his hand, stopping the others from advancing.

Seeing his gesture, March 7th immediately summoned her Six-Phase Ice bow and arrows, and Dan Heng summoned his Cloud-Piercer spear. Stelle, on the other hand, looked at Liuge blankly, not knowing what was wrong.

"Is there an enemy?"

March 7th looked around vigilantly, and Dan Heng was also on guard.

"Wait a moment!"

Liuge looked around, found a frozen humanoid Rift creature, and waved his hand to open the Aether Edit interface.

After skillfully operating it, he threw the golden Stat-Stick he had previously combined but never used onto the humanoid Rift creature.

"Come on! My most loyal warrior! Battle-Ready Bodyguard!!!"

Under March 7th's dumbfounded gaze, Liuge uttered these slightly chuunibyou lines.

The next moment, in the sight of the three of them, the frozen Rift creature transformed into a muscular man holding a physics holy sword.

However, the joints of this muscular man were all puppet bearings.

"A puppet? Or an automaton? He instantly created a combat partner?"

Dan Heng thought to himself as he looked at the muscular man who resembled a puppet.

On the other hand, Liuge chuckled mischievously and pointed at the snowdrifts, ordering the Battle-Ready Bodyguard.

"Go on, give whatever's in those snowdrifts a good dose of 'love' education!"

Upon receiving the order, the Battle-Ready Bodyguard instantly locked onto the snowdrifts.

In the blink of an eye, it darted out.

The moment it darted out, one of the snowdrifts immediately jumped out a man with blue hair and a cunning look. He looked at the charging muscular man with a terrified expression and pleaded, "No, no, no, I'll come out myself! Don't threaten me with this muscle man! Old Sampo isn't good at dealing with people like this!"

"Oh wow, someone's actually here!"

Liuge put on a surprised expression.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't lie to me! You know I'm right here!!!"

"No, I don't!"

020 Gepard

March 7th and Stelle looked at the blue-haired man, who was dodging the attacks of Liuge's Battle-Ready Bodyguard, completely bewildered.

While this guy hiding in a snowdrift was suspicious, it wasn't to this extent.

However, the two of them had become somewhat immune to everything Liuge did now.

Thinking this, Liuge must have his reasons for not stopping.

As for Dan Heng, he just held his spear and watched silently, making no move to intervene.

After all, someone hiding in the shadows like this couldn't possibly be a good person.

And so, the group silently watched the man, who looked quite pathetic but hadn't had a single thread of his clothing touched by the Battle-Ready Bodyguard's attacks, for a full ten minutes.

"Alright, alright, I give up! Stop hitting me, stop hitting me. I surrender, I confess, okay?!"

The man seemed unable to endure any longer, so he flopped onto the ground, adopting a posture that suggested they might as well kill him.

Seeing this, Liuge finally had the Battle-Ready Bodyguard cease its attack.

Immediately after, the Battle-Ready Bodyguard vanished from its spot.

When the group walked closer, they saw the man lying on the ground, gasping for breath.

"I say, you guys must be new recruits from the Silvermane Guards! You're really going all out."

After catching his breath, he sat up cross-legged and looked at them helplessly.

"Stop the chatter! Get up quickly, you wanted criminal..."

Liuge walked forward, putting on a detached expression.

"Bad luck. I didn't get caught by Gepard, but instead by you new recruits!!"

The man helplessly extended his hand.

"Come on, take me away!"

This attitude of immediate surrender completely stunned March 7th and Stelle.

In contrast, Dan Heng looked at Liuge beside him.

"Do you know him?"

"No!"

Liuge shook his head, then looked at the man with a playful expression.

"I was just trying to trick this guy, I didn't expect an unexpected gain."

"What was that?"

The man looked at them in surprise, scanning them back and forth as if he had discovered something.

"You guys aren't from the Silvermane Guards?"

"Then what are you?"

March 7th asked curiously.

Upon hearing March 7th's reply, the man immediately jumped up.

"Good heavens, I thought you were those Silvermane Guards. You came at me with a full combo without holding back, but it turns out you're all peddlers like me!"

"???"

Stelle was even more confused by the man's words, but she had a feeling it wasn't anything good.

"What? You want to fight us?"

Liuge looked at the man, eager to try.

"Heh heh, how could I possibly do that! Let me introduce myself, my name is Sampo Koski, and I'm a merchant."

"A merchant?"

March 7th looked confused.

"That's right, if you want it, anything I have, Sampo can get it for you. Whether it's information or anything else."

"Simply put, he's a petty thief who hangs around everywhere, gathering information,"

Liuge interjected from the side.

"Oh, my friend, please don't say that. I, Sampo, am a renowned honest merchant throughout Belobog."

Sampo clasped his hands together and rubbed them incessantly, looking like a shrewd businessman.

Hearing Sampo's words, Liuge sneered inwardly.

He knew the plot, so he was perfectly aware of whether this guy in front of him was a good person or not.

If you asked him to do something, he'd eventually get it done, but the process would be very convoluted. He wouldn't give you a direct answer either; he'd make you find it yourself.

In the story, March 7th asked Stelle what she dreamt about again. Stelle's face was so bad that the answer she got was that she dreamt about Sampo.

Stelle's expression immediately changed from a smile to disgust, and she said, "Yuck, that really was a nightmare."

It was quite amusing.

"Alright, alright. Since you say you're a merchant, you must be a local here, right?"

Liuge interrupted Sampo's blustering mouth.

"My friend, you're asking for information, right? This..."

"Hm?"

Liuge stood by Stelle with a smile, and Stelle, being very sensible, slung her baseball bat over her shoulder.

In an instant, Sampo stopped talking.

Next, everyone learned about the current situation on the planet Jarilo-VI.

Starting with the cold wave that began seven hundred years ago and continuing to the present, the only remaining city on this planet, named Belobog, was preserved by the Architects.

The Silvermane Guards were the police officers and enforcers within Belobog.

The group followed Sampo towards the city of Belobog.

Suddenly, Sampo frowned slightly, and his steps gradually slowed until everyone caught up to him.

"So..."

Sampo, who was about to say something else, was interrupted by a loud shout.

At the corner ahead, three people appeared, clad in iron armor but with extremely warm inner linings.