Not only did this group dislike following the crowd themselves, they also deeply despised those who did—and turned that contempt into real action!
Li Men from Blue-12138 Blue Sea University was one such person.
As a loyal veteran player of Yuan Nong Zhou, the number-one game on the gaming rankings, Li Men always carried a sense of superiority toward players of other games.
Even when interacting with classmates in real life, that superiority immediately showed itself whenever he learned that they either did not play Yuan Nong Zhou or had less gaming experience than him.
Other than that, though, Li Men was usually fine. Everyone just assumed he was joking around.
One day, when he returned to the dorm, Li Men saw his roommate Deng Hui playing Honkai: Star Rail and immediately exclaimed in fake surprise.
"Yo, isn't this that... whatever, Star Rail Tracks?"
"It's Honkai: Star Rail."
Hearing Deng Hui correct him, Li Men continued with a grin.
"Why aren't you playing that... what was it, Horse Girl?"
Deng Hui said, "I've been playing it all along, okay? You Celestial Being, get lost already."
Li Men said, "Come on, what's so fun about a turn-based game? You just don't understand how great Yuan Nong Zhou is."
Looking at the Honkai: Star Rail screen on Deng Hui's phone, filled with more pretty character art, Li Men pretended to sigh helplessly.
"Ah, all you do is play anime games!"
When Li Men returned to his desk, Liu Fei, one of his closer buddies, was sitting nearby.
Liu Fei was playing a game on his phone. The moment he saw Li Men approach, he quickly switched screens.
"Hey, what are you playing? Why are you smiling so happily?"
When Li Men asked him, Liu Fei replied somewhat unnaturally.
"Ah, nothing. Let's log in and play Yuan Nong Zhou!"
Li Men noticed the strange look on Liu Fei's face and figured the guy had to be hiding something from him.
So that evening, he pretended to be heading to the bathhouse, then doubled back halfway through. Sure enough, he discovered something strange about his buddy Liu Fei!
Liu Fei was holding up his phone with the classic anime-game idiot grin on his face, and the screen displayed Honkai: Star Rail!
The red bucket holding Li Men's toiletries fell to the floor, and the noise startled Liu Fei, who had been playing Honkai: Star Rail!
Liu Fei did not know how to face Li Men at that moment. He wanted to explain, but Li Men cut him off.
"You've caught Star Rail?"
Li Men's face was filled with disbelief!
He could not believe that his best buddy had betrayed him!
They had clearly agreed to look down on those brainless, trend-following anime-game players together!
"Li Men, listen to me, this isn't some anime game..."
Li Men did not want to hear Liu Fei's excuses at all. Looking bitterly disappointed, he said,
"Do you know what people who play Star Rail turn into? That old anime-game addict in the dorm next door—don't you know what happened to him after trying to pull Seele?
"He spent 6480, but his pulls still went off-banner and gave him some Bronya instead. Now he's completely lost it. Even if he gets cured, he'll still be drooling!"
At that, Li Men hurriedly pulled out his phone, looking flustered.
"Quick, go make a post on the Yuan Nong Zhou forum and confess. Everyone will forgive you. You've only caught Star Rail so far. If you catch Zenless Zone Zero, even ten copies of your household register won't be enough!"
"It's too late..."
In his panic, Li Men completely failed to notice Liu Fei's expression. Liu Fei ran both hands through his hair and muttered, his face gradually taking on that anime-game idiot grin!
"It's too late! Hehe! I'm only one pull away from a gold drop now. As long as I find a few more treasure chests on the map, I can pull Seele! Hahahaha!"
Watching Liu Fei get infected by the anime-game sickness, Li Men's eyes became slightly moist.
It was all his fault. He had failed to notice Liu Fei's changes, allowing him to be infected by the anime-game virus. Honkai: Star Rail had ruined him!
That night felt incredibly long to Li Men. In the end, he made up his mind to cut ties with Liu Fei, who had followed the trend into anime games!
Being around these trend-following anime-game players was simply beneath someone of his status!
After that, Li Men truly stopped associating with Liu Fei. The two of them, who had once attended classes together and returned together, now went their separate ways. Outsiders were all curious about what had happened.
One day, Li Men was in the dorm, chatting on the phone with his online girlfriend, Liu Yan.
The two had met through Yuan Nong Zhou. Having lost his roommate, Li Men poured his emotions into his girlfriend.
"Baby, I'm back at the dorm. Let's log in and play Yuan Nong Zhou together!"
"Ah, okay. Sure, let's log in."
Liu Yan seemed somewhat distracted on the other end of the call, but Li Men did not think much of it.
Just as the two were about to log in, Liu Yan suddenly burst out in excitement.
"Oh, oh, oh! Gold drop! I got a gold drop!"
Sensing that something was wrong, Li Men quickly asked,
"Baby, what are you talking about? What gold drop?"
Li Men had never told Liu Yan about his unique preference, so Liu Yan answered honestly.
"I was pulling in Honkai: Star Rail just now. Let me tell you, I'm seriously so lucky—I got Seele in just fifty pulls..."
The four words Honkai: Star Rail entered his ears, and Li Men felt as though he had been struck by lightning!
His girlfriend's delighted voice continued from the other end of the call, mixed with lines like, "Disappear among the sea of butterflies, illusions of the past!"
"Let me tell you, Honkai: Star Rail's rewards are seriously so generous. You get twenty pulls just for logging in, another fifty from the level events, and now with the Stellaris Gift, you get ten limited pulls just by logging in..."
Li Men could no longer remember what came after that.
He only remembered that the rain that day had been heavy, and his heart had hurt!
Why? Why did every single one of them have to betray me?!
"NO—! Liu Yan!"
Just as Li Men fell into despair.
His phone suddenly received a text message, and then the screen changed!
A man's voice rang out!
[Do your friends always leave you behind, leaving you all alone?]
[Honkai: Star Rail—your companions aboard the train will never abandon you!]
"Boss, this ad is way too creative..."
All Traffic Is Blown in by the Wind ### After watching the finished advertisement sent over by the ad agency, Lin Guang nodded in satisfaction.
Mm, it had that old familiar flavor!
The people at the ad agency had seen all kinds of things, including every bizarre ad imaginable, but today's one was still far too ridiculous!
"Boss, this ad of yours is way too creative..."
"It's decent. There's no problem with the final cut. We can start placing it across the major websites and forums."
"Understood. I'll arrange it right away!"
After finishing his coordination with the ad agency, Lin Guang began another intense round of searching for himself online to see whether there was anything interesting about his game.
Some of the walkthrough creators he had contacted earlier had also begun uploading their videos one after another. There were quite a few videos about character strength as well, and Lin Guang even saw Silver Wolf's first-clear video for Simulated Universe.
Looking at the person's obvious ID and avatar, plus the account's various game-related records, Lin Guang guessed that the account was meant for posting records of all kinds. The account they actually used to browse online was probably another one.
He also came across Asta's pull video. She had ruthlessly maxed out both the Standard Banner and the limited banner. Most eye-catching of all was the tens of millions of Stellar Jade she still had left, drawing countless comments from viewers!
Zhao Camera: Rich lady, hungry hungry, feed me!
Playing Cards to the Death: Th-this... is this the Star God of wealth!???
Goblin Chieftain: The power of money!
March Is My Wife: The doctor said when I was young that my stomach was bad, so I can only live off a rich woman!
A Gay Is Undoing My Pants: That slap was for March 7th!
As Lin Guang continued browsing other videos, he came across one whose popularity was rapidly soaring!
To the Dim Star!
More and more people were beginning to notice this fan creation as well!
Aboard the Star Rail Express.
March 7th discovered the video by chance. After clicking into it, a mournful musical rhythm began at the start. The winding melody immediately made her eyes light up!
"Star, come take a look! I feel like I've seen this video title somewhere before!"
March 7th mercilessly grabbed Star, who was mooching off the computer in her room, and dragged her over!
"This is... didn't you do this side quest in the game before? You forgot already?"
As someone who had personally experienced the event, Himeko naturally remembered it all. After being reminded, March 7th recalled it as well.
"It's Rocky and Leslie's story!"
In the video, a phantom clock hand spun endlessly. As the rhythm of the music changed, two Chibi Characters chased each other atop a Möbius Strip!
Then the singing began!
[Sitting at the edge of a lonely galaxy]
[What can traverse the distance of light-years]
[Starwinds occasionally pass through, yet bring no message]
[Perhaps they have long understood that this is a tacit ending]
Rocky appeared on-screen, alone as he gazed out the window at unanswered messages, seemingly having made some sort of decision!
Then the scene flashed, revealing Leslie's back. She seemed to be looking up at the same starry sky as Rocky, while the music shifted into a female voice.
[The romance of countless stars is intoxicating]
[Occasional glimmers from beyond the heavens pass through the clouds]
[Perhaps reunion only gains meaning once distance has grown]
[But why create the boundless rift of time]
The two Chibi Characters were divided across opposite ends of the Milky Way, and the song reached its climax!
[If only by crossing beyond the stars, escaping gravity, can we love]
[Drifting into infinite spacetime, the unresponsive silent sea]
[Through the vicissitudes of ages, only the stars bear witness to this journey]
[Crossing the cosmos at last, beyond the Dim Star]
As messages documenting Rocky and Leslie's interactions appeared, the duet between the male and female voices sent shivers through countless viewers!
The scene changed again. On this Möbius Strip, the two Chibi Characters chased each other until, at last, they synchronized!
[Reaching out to bid farewell to old footprints]
[Gazing at the galaxy waiting light-years away]
[Did it too possess memories beyond reach]
[Crossing distant boundaries, chasing toward the unknown]
Rocky's love poems appeared one after another. They seemed about to reach Leslie, only to shatter at the final moment.
[Waiting is a foolish placebo]
[Even every second cannot halt scorching breaths]
[Better to dive deep beneath the stars and examine the traces of history]
Before you continue