After Lao Mu killed it with Seele as he normally did in battle, the minor enemy actually revived, and Seele didn't gain a Reprise turn!
"Holy crap, has Seele really fallen out of the meta?"
Has Seele Really Fallen Out of the Meta!
In their first battle after arriving at Luofu, they encountered an Abominable Soldier. Its innate Abominable Buff restored it to half health after its first death!
Even more critically, Seele did not trigger Reprise after taking its first life!
This monster mechanic, which targeted Seele so specifically, immediately sparked heated discussion among the viewers!
"What's going on? This monster can revive? Why didn't Seele trigger Reprise after killing its first life?!"
"Could this be a bug?! @Pam, come take a look!"
"It's not a bug. I tried it with Seele several times, and it's always like this. It should be a mechanic!"
"Huh? Then isn't this monster Seele's nemesis?"
"Seele's really about to fall out of the meta now!"
"No, why did I see this right after pulling Seele? Nooo—!"
"Lao Xi, don't panic!"
The blogger The Connoisseur also caught wind of the uproar immediately. His previous video advising everyone not to pull Seele had gained him quite a few followers, and he had feasted on the traffic!
This new uproar seemed to validate the point he had made before. As an immortal of internet traffic, how could he possibly let such a perfect opportunity slip by?
So The Connoisseur immediately made an image involving Seele and an Abominable Soldier, adding a caption to the Abominable Soldier in the picture!
Mara-Struck Revival! Lao Xi.jpg
"Luofu Xianzhou has arrived. Welcome General Jing Yuan back to his post!"
After attaching the image to a post and adding a caption, The Connoisseur published it!
Like droplets of cold water hitting a boiling vat of oil, the players erupted!
In no time at all, a wave of discussion surrounding Seele swept through the community, with players eagerly sending their heartfelt greetings to the game's official team!
"I'm seriously speechless. Why is there even a revival mechanic like this?!"
"What's with the devs? They deliberately made a monster to target Seele just to sell Jing Yuan?!"
"They've gone insane trying to prop up Jing Yuan. My Seele!"
"Exactly! Did all the money we spent get invested into the monsters or something?!"
"Is this how you repay the trust of us players?!"
"Fuck you, give us our money back!"
"I'm so damn disappointed!"
"Actually, it's not that bad. Reprise can trigger after you kill its second life!"
"It's already over!"
"This is targeted. It makes me feel revived!"
"Can she beat a Hunt Envoy? Very blue, huh!"
"The little delinquent from Belobog's Underworld, stand at attention!"
"What do I do? I just poured all my resources into pulling Seele. I only just got her—can I stuff her back in and return her?"
"Don't listen to these people stirring things up. Seele's strength is completely fine, okay?!"
"Thanks for the comment from someone still stubbornly refusing to admit it!"
"Good thing I listened and saved all my Stellar Jade. With proper planning, I've achieved a relatively successful Star Rail life at such a young age. Now I'm just waiting for Jing Yuan to come out so I can enjoy him properly!"
"Honkai: Star Rail, young people's first financial product!"
Character strength in a game was always an enduring topic among players. Even the mechanic of a single minor enemy could trigger a storm of controversy!
The comments beneath The Connoisseur's post had already surpassed five hundred thousand, and some people were no longer satisfied with arguing there. They went straight to the official Honkai: Star Rail Seele PV to protest, demanding that Seele be buffed!
For a while, even the account's private messages were flooded with related messages, leaving Lin Guang utterly confused at first.
Once he understood the full story, Lin Guang revealed a helpless smile.
Players really were easily influenced by these baseless controversies!
Then he remembered that he had been much the same as a player in his previous life, and it suddenly seemed perfectly normal.
Only this time, Lin Guang was not only part of the game's official team—he also possessed memories of several future versions of the game from his previous life!
Knowing the future game environment clearly, Lin Guang found these arguments strangely amusing!
As for how to deal with this wave of player emotions, naturally, it was the tried-and-true method used by every major game company—play dead!
Don't underestimate that method. Some official teams handled controversies even worse than simply playing dead!
For example, some games had planned to give out ten pulls from the start, but deliberately pretended to select only part of the player base. After getting flamed, they changed it to ten pulls for the entire server, making themselves look like they had admitted their mistakes and corrected them.
But because they folded too quickly, players dug up the truth that the whole thing had been staged on purpose. The backlash became even fiercer than before, and supposedly that battlefield still hadn't quieted down!
So sometimes, remaining aloof and doing nothing was the best choice. Time would provide the answer!
Seeing the screen full of inflammatory barrage comments in his stream, Lao Mu hurriedly spoke up to interrupt them. He still had promotional duties to fulfill, and as a streamer with professional ethics, how could he let people see his livestream filled with insults aimed at the sponsor?
"Ahem, alright, alright. It's just that minor enemies can revive. Maybe it counters Jing Yuan too. Don't let all this drama lead you astray!"
They returned to the Main Story.
As they continued exploring ahead, they found Tingyun surrounded by a group of Abominable Soldiers!
[Tingyun, please step back! They have fallen to Mara-Struck. They are no longer our comrades...]
The situation looked dire, but fortunately, the three members of the Train Crew stepped in and saved her.
[Thank you for saving this damsel in distress, heroes~]
[This humble lady is Tingyun, a Reception Envoy of the Luofu Sky-High Fleet Merchant Guild. May I ask for my benefactors' honored names?]
The moment Tingyun appeared, paired with that soft and coquettish "benefactors," the viewers were immediately pulled back from the controversy!
"It's Tingyun! She's so pretty! Her character art is gorgeous too. Too bad I still haven't pulled her!"
"So this is a Foxian? That tail looks so fluffy. It must feel amazing to bury your face in it!"
"That 'benefactor' made my whole body go numb. My soul's about to get hooked away!"
"She was born with the constitution of a succubus. She's way too attractive!"
"She really is attractive. Tingyun in my team can never get enough healing because the enemies keep focusing her!"
The viewers chatted excitedly in the livestream, while aboard the Star Rail Express, March 7th looked somewhat downcast as she watched the scene of first meeting Tingyun in the game's story.
"Did Tingyun really... leave?"
As someone who had personally experienced the incident, March 7th knew very well what Tingyun's final fate had been.
Seeing March 7th looking somewhat dejected, Himeko moved close, placed both hands on her shoulders, and softly comforted her.
"We never found Tingyun in the end. Maybe she was actually alright?"
"Really?"
March 7th perked up when she heard that.
"Of course. Maybe we can even learn Tingyun's whereabouts through the game's story!"
March 7th hurriedly nodded. She watched the story even more carefully now, as if afraid she might miss some detail!
Meanwhile, on Luofu Xianzhou.
Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan fell silent as they watched Tingyun's figure.
After a long while, Fu Xuan finally asked.
"General, should we inform Yukong, the Sky-High Fleet Navigator? She... was quite close to Tingyun."
Yukong, the Sky-High Fleet Navigator, was Tingyun's direct superior at work. In private, she had taken great care of Tingyun, a fellow Foxian, and the two had a close senior-junior relationship.
Jing Yuan stared intently at Tingyun's figure in the game. His expression became unusually serious, and his brows furrowed slightly.
"Wait a little longer. If scenes of Tingyun meeting disaster appear later, it would only tear open Yukong's wounds again."
My Head Itches—Am I Growing a Brain?
The story moved to the Train Crew beginning their conversation with Tingyun. The Train Crew originally said they could help deal with the Stellaron, but Tingyun said they should first head to the central hub for shelter and let Lady Yukong make the decision.
Thus, the group arrived together at Luofu's Palace of Astrum. Along the way, because of the Stellaron outbreak, the residents all looked deeply worried.
[Oh? You benefactors arrived rather early. Sorry to keep you waiting. Lady Yukong is awaiting you inside the Palace of Astrum.]
Tingyun stood at the entrance. From the sound of it, she did not intend to go inside with them, which would ordinarily have been nothing unusual.
But now, those who knew Tingyun had been replaced felt there were suspicious details everywhere.
"Could it be because Yukong and Tingyun knew each other well, so she was afraid of being exposed if she met Yukong?"
Jing Yuan rubbed his chin as he thought. He felt that he had probably fallen into a trap of thought!
If you examined someone with suspicion, you would only find the answers you wanted to see!
Still, Jing Yuan noted the point of suspicion in his mind. Then the scene shifted, showing Yukong coordinating and commanding operations in the central hub.
Having already received Tingyun's message, Yukong's expression turned serious when she saw the three members of the Star Rail Express. After exchanging a few polite words, she directly rejected the Star Rail Express's offer of help.
[A mere Stellaron. The Alliance has long known of this object and has its own ways of dealing with it. The Xianzhou has sailed for eight thousand years and witnessed countless crises of survival. Though this disaster has come fiercely, the Xianzhou still has the strength to handle it. There is no need to borrow outsiders' power to quell this calamity.]
Yukong's words left the viewers full of admiration.
"A mere Stellaron...?"
"This development isn't right! Shouldn't they be kneeling and begging us for help once our kingly aura bursts forth?!"
"Wake up. This is Xianzhou civilization, a force that can actually summon Star Gods to intervene!"
"As expected of the Xianzhou Alliance. The Stellaron that once determined the fate of Jarilo's planet is nothing much in their eyes!"
"The Stellaron crisis is an internal matter of the Xianzhou. Outsiders are forbidden from interfering!"
After some discussion, Yukong not only said they did not need help, but even questioned the Star Rail Express's landing permit. According to the records, it was Silver Wolf of the Stellaron Hunters who hacked the system and opened the gate for them!
Her sharp verbal offensive made the viewers feel the atmosphere turn tense as drawn blades. Just when everyone thought a fight was about to break out, a voice sounded!
[Hehe, Yukong, don't be so fierce. If word gets out, won't the galaxy laugh at the Xianzhou Alliance for lacking hospitality?]
General Jing Yuan's illusory Projection appeared at just the right moment to smooth things over. Together with Yukong, they played one good cop and one bad cop!
He went on about how the Star Rail Express acted righteously and helped those in need, saying the Divination Department believed they were accomplices but that he absolutely refused to believe it. It had to be the Stellaron Hunters shifting the blame onto them. One flattering compliment after another was piled onto the Train Crew until they were nearly elevated to the heavens!
All that could be said was that General Jing Yuan truly lived up to his name. In just that short time, even the viewers were starting to be talked around, and their favorability toward Jing Yuan soared!
"Waaah, Jing Yuanyuan is so nice! That Yukong was way too fierce!"
"Lord Clear Soup!"
"Lord Braised!"
"Lord Vanilla!"
After all that praise, Jing Yuan finally revealed his purpose: he wanted the Star Rail Express to help capture Kafka!
Jing Yuan: [If you treat me with sincerity, Luofu shall naturally repay you with sincerity.]
After that series of flattering tactics, the Train Crew could only agree. March 7th especially had been thoroughly charmed into compliance!
Watching this part of the story again aboard the train, March 7th felt that something was off when viewing it as an outsider!
Damn it, my head itches. Am I growing a brain?
After the Train Crew left in the story, General Jing Yuan's true body appeared, speaking with the Projection of a girl standing before him.
[Diviner Lord, you heard my conversation with them. What are your thoughts?]
That "Diviner Lord" made Fu Xuan place one hand on her hip. The camera then shifted to Fu Xuan, and the viewers finally saw another character from the Space Comedy PV!
"Wow, it's Fu Xuan from the PV we saw before!!"
Before you continue