How He Came to Transmigrate

The three pressed on into danger, leaving Bai Luoming alone.

Bai Luoming leaned against the cold metal wall and slowly slid down to the floor.

Fluorescent light strips were embedded in the walls around him, and red warning lights flashed overhead. He slowly reached out and pressed his palm to the floor. It felt hard and faintly cool against his skin.

The sounds of battle came from around the distant bend in the corridor. Metal clashed against flesh and blood, the sounds reaching his ears one after another.

Bai Luoming used the wall to pull himself up, shuffled to the corner, and peered around it.

In his field of vision, the pink-haired girl drew her bowstring. An icy-blue screen of light appeared out of thin air, blocking the downward slash of a Voidranger's arm blade and sending ice crystals flying.

As far as Bai Luoming knew, no existing technology could possibly produce effects like those, or the elemental particles visible to the naked eye in the air.

Watching the scene, Bai Luoming felt his heart skip a beat.

Then Dan Heng's figure became a swift afterimage. The tip of his spear pierced another Voidranger's body with precision, and the monster fell with a wail.

Stelle followed close behind. She swung her baseball bat in a wide arc, using a textbook home-run swing to send a lunging Voidranger flying. It slammed into a wall more than ten meters away, leaving a distinct dent.

Bai Luoming's fingers instinctively tightened around the metal edge of the corner, and its cold touch made him shiver.

The familiar people and scenes of battle before him matched the game characters buried deep in his memories, one by one.

His heart began to race uncontrollably, but he was still trying to explain it away, searching for some small comfort.

Maybe it's a prank show using the latest technology? Holographic projections?

Just then, a severed Voidranger limb came flying toward him. It grazed his ear and struck the wall behind him with a bang.

Flying metal fragments grazed his cheek, leaving a burning sting.

The pain was unmistakable.

Bai Luoming raised a hand and wiped his cheek. His fingertips came away smeared with warm red.

That touch of crimson on his hand shattered the last hope he had been clinging to.

"You've got to be kidding me. How did I end up transmigrating to this place?"

He slowly crouched down, his back against the wall, and buried his face in his hands.

This is the damn world of Honkai: Star Rail, the one they call anime Warhammer...

When Emanators fought, planets were routinely caught up in it. Destruction's minions carried out terrorist attacks all over the place, and every so often there were disasters like Stellarons and the Swarm.

In this world, it was hard for an ordinary person to live a peaceful, stable life. You never knew whether tomorrow or an accident would come first.

He recalled his last memories before transmigrating.

He had seen SP Himeko from Honkai: Star Rail and thought about returning to the game. After saving up enough special passes, he had eagerly pressed the button for a ten-pull.

A brilliant golden light had flashed across the screen. Before he could even make out what it was, an even more dazzling white light filled his vision.

The next time he woke up, he was lying here.

Worse still, his knowledge of this world had come to an abrupt halt after he finished Penacony's main story. Everything he knew about the plot after that came from fan-made videos and meme posts, scattered scraps that made it hard to tell truth from fiction.

Bai Luoming gave a bitter laugh that sounded almost like a sob.

The sounds of battle ahead stopped.

Footsteps approached, and March 7th jogged back to his side. She spotted the streak of blood on his face at once, and her voice tightened. "You're hurt?!"

Bai Luoming lifted his head from his hands. Seeing the genuine concern on the girl's face, he forced down his surging emotions and managed a smile uglier than a cry. "It's a scratch. I'm fine."

Without waiting for an answer, March 7th pulled a bandage from her magical pocket, deftly tore it open, and stuck it on him.

"Thanks." Bai Luoming let her pull him to his feet and brushed the dust off his pants.

Dan Heng and Stelle came over as well. Dan Heng's gaze lingered on the bandage on his face for a moment. After confirming that he was all right, he got straight to the point. "Now we can talk. Who are you, and where did you come from?"

His tone was matter-of-fact, but it carried a pressure that could not be refused.

Bai Luoming quickly weighed whether to make up a lie full of holes. But he might end up boarding the train in the future, and his origins weren't entirely impossible to talk about anyway. After all, Old Yang was a precedent.

I might as well... tell the truth. Selectively.

He spread his hands in an open gesture. "My name is Bai Luoming. I come from a planet called Earth."

The moment he said "Earth," Bai Luoming noticed that Dan Heng's fingers, hanging at his side, seemed to move. But the movement was so slight that he couldn't be sure he had seen it right.

His brow furrowed slightly. He felt as though he had heard that name somewhere before, but he couldn't recall it for the moment.

He quickly lowered his eyes and suppressed the strange feeling.

"Earth..." March 7th tilted her head, looking thoughtful.

Then she scratched her head. "That sounds so familiar, but I just can't remember."

"Do you remember how you got here, then?"

Seeing the others lost in thought, Stelle spoke up.

March 7th and Dan Heng both turned to look at her.

Bai Luoming frowned, looking somewhat puzzled. "I don't know either," he said softly. "I remember I was playing a game, and then suddenly I was here."

Seeing Bai Luoming's puzzled expression, March 7th walked over and patted him on the shoulder, comforting him:

"Hey, it's okay. Maybe Aha did it. Once we're back on the train, we'll look through the records for you and see if there's any mention of your home."

That was right. When anything unreasonable happened in the universe, you could always pin the blame on Aha.

Aha: so?

Watching her earnest expression, Bai Luoming felt the corner of his mouth twitch uncontrollably.

Dan Heng didn't pursue the subject. Judging by Bai Luoming's reaction, he didn't seem to be lying, and he showed no hostility. Dan Heng set the matter aside for the time being.

"Let's go." Dan Heng turned around. "The Master Control Zone is still some distance away."

The four set off again.

Dan Heng still led the way, with Stelle close behind. March 7th walked third, but she kept glancing back at Bai Luoming at the rear of the group.

Bai Luoming stayed behind them of his own accord. He was strictly a noncombatant now, and that was the safest position.

As he walked, he studied the metal walls around them and the pipes overhead, and began thinking about what he should do now that he had come to this world.

Right now, he had no weapon, no Path, and no superpowers.

As for a system, he had tried calling out to one in his mind earlier, but there had been no response at all.

His only advantage now was his foreknowledge of "part" of this world's plot. But that advantage was highly unreliable, tainted by fan-made content and memes, and its credibility was questionable.

The corridor was so quiet that only their footsteps could be heard.

At last, March 7th couldn't hold back. She turned to look at Bai Luoming again, walking backward as she struck up a conversation. "Hey, what's your Earth like?"

"Earth? There's nothing particularly unusual about it. In terms of technology, it hasn't even reached the level of a planetary civilization."

"Is there anything fun there? If you ever get back home, you've got to take me for a look." March 7th's eyes sparkled as she listened to Bai Luoming's description.

Bai Luoming looked into her beautiful eyes and smiled. "Yeah, there's all kinds of things. If we get the chance, I'll definitely take you there."

He spoke lightly, but inside he was silent.

Barring any surprises, he could never return to his Earth. If he was lucky, he might be able to get to Old Yang's Earth.

At the front, Dan Heng suddenly stopped and raised a hand.

The group froze instantly.

March 7th put her hand on her bowstring, and Stelle took the baseball bat off her shoulder and held it in her hand.

Only the low hum of the air-conditioning system remained in the air.

A few seconds later, Dan Heng lowered his hand. "...Perhaps it was my imagination. Let's keep going."

He started walking again, but a little faster than before.

Bai Luoming's heart tightened. He hurried after them, trying to close the distance between himself and the three ahead.

Just as he lifted his foot and took his next step...

The metal wall to the left exploded outward without warning!

Boom!

Metal fragments flew in all directions with the blast. A Voidranger emerged from the hole and raised its arm, aiming straight at Bai Luoming at the back.