Meanwhile, over with the Stellaron Hunters.
Silver Wolf began to sense that something was off while choosing a character.
If this was merely a Memokeeper using some secret method to record everything, then the game's protagonist should have only been Himeko.
Yet now, she could actually choose the male protagonist, Qiong.
"Kafka, something's wrong. This doesn't seem to be a simple recording."
Kafka also saw the Qiong Silver Wolf had selected on her phone.
"This development did appear in Elio's script before. Still, this really isn't something a Memokeeper could accomplish. Silver Wolf, can you find the developer's information?"
"I'll try."
With that, Silver Wolf pulled up a virtual screen and began working, preparing to use the IP address from the game's release to locate them.
But no matter what she did, she couldn't dig up even a shred of information.
"No. I can't crack their concealment methods for now."
Kafka also searched for the game's Official Account on her phone and immediately found it.
The Star Rail Official Account currently had 360,000 followers. Its level-two account status made it obvious that it had only just been created, and its only post was the previous hotfix update announcement.
"No, I can't dig up any personal information from this account either."
Seeing that even Silver Wolf couldn't lock down the other party's location, Kafka could only suppress her doubts and planned to ask Elio when she returned.
After Yan Shi finished designing the promotional plan, he began gradually allocating the game's advertising budget.
A large number of game streamers began receiving promotional assignments for the Honkai: Star Rail mobile game, and Sweet Potato Pigeon was one of them.
He was barely considered a top-tier PNG virtual streamer in the gaming category. He usually made game walkthrough videos and discussion content as well, giving him a certain degree of influence in gaming circles.
However, in order to show off his supposedly professional gaming skills and insight, Sweet Potato Pigeon often made outrageous claims during his streams, leaving his viewers utterly stunned.
Whenever things later reversed and he got proven wrong, he would have his moderators patrol the chat intensely while pretending nothing had happened himself. As a result, his reputation was mixed.
This time, Sweet Potato Pigeon was quite curious when he received the promotional assignment.
After all, his promotional rate wasn't cheap. If they could afford to pay that much, why had he never seen any ads for them before?
And the moment Sweet Potato Pigeon saw that it was a turn-based mobile game, he automatically filled in all the details in his head.
Ah, so it was some ancient game with no real promotional value, and they were planning to ride a big streamer's popularity to make a quick buck at launch, huh?
There hadn't even been a closed beta, let alone a public beta announcement. The Official Account only had a hotfix update post. They were clearly ready to run off at any moment!
Thinking he had uncovered the truth, Sweet Potato Pigeon had already defined the game in his heart and prepared to properly expose its true nature on stream later.
After all, as long as he streamed the game itself, a commercial stream didn't say he couldn't secretly badmouth it!
Heh heh, this time, I'd use your game to show those heizis what a professional game reviewer was!
Thus, after downloading the game, Sweet Potato Pigeon immediately launched it and began streaming as he introduced it to his viewers.
"Brothers, a turn-based mobile game actually came out today. Let Sweet Potato give it a taste test first!"
His avatar appeared in the bottom-right corner of the screen, and the barrage immediately began expressing concern for the streamer.
"He's here, my favorite little devil streamer!"
"Streamer, last time you said you'd eat your screen if your revenue prediction was wrong. You still haven't made good on that, and I'm waiting to see it!"
"I just love how the streamer is bad but loves playing, then gets mad and plays dead after being proven wrong!"
"Ting Zhi! Heizi, shut up! Thanks!"
"Our Pigeon works so hard already, are you guys out of your minds? Do you have any resin? If you've got the guts, stop eating the eggs our Pigeon lays!"
"Exactly. We finally found such a fun electronic pet, don't break him so quickly!"
There were so many heizi comments flooding the screen that they couldn't possibly all be banned. After all, Sweet Potato Pigeon had only rage-quit his stream in humiliation a few days ago, and everyone still remembered it.
Looking at the barrage from those heizis made Sweet Potato Pigeon's teeth itch with rage. But he knew he couldn't handle them all for now, so he could only resort to playing dead and casually start talking about the game.
"Wow, this game's opening animation is actually pretty good. It looks quite decent."
The opening CG was playing in the game, and the viewers' attention was drawn to the first character to appear, Kafka.
"Hm? This game's character models are pretty good. They're so detailed."
Some viewers who had already learned about the game also came into Sweet Potato Pigeon's stream.
"That's Kafka of the Stellaron Hunters. Every character in this game was made based on real people!"
The viewers in the stream all cried out in surprise, Sweet Potato Pigeon included.
Judging by the game's quality so far, it really was quite good. Had they moved the entire budget into the opening?
Sure enough, he still had to focus on gameplay. With that thought, Sweet Potato Pigeon quickly pushed through the story. As a pseudo-hardcore player, he had no habit of watching game plots.
The combat section arrived quickly. After briefly looking through the tutorial, Sweet Potato Pigeon immediately began voicing his opinion.
"This game's story looks alright, but the gameplay is really dragging it down!
Turn-based games are antiques from who knows how many years ago. They're completely stat-check games. You hit me, I hit you—there's no room for skill at all.
I dare say that later on, you can just leave every battle on auto!"
Hmph, a professional game reviewer had to be bold enough to make judgments!!!
Brother, You Smell So Good
Seeing Sweet Potato Pigeon start spouting nonsense in his stream again, the barrage grew even more active.
"Here it comes. With Sweet Potato saying that, this game is definitely going to be a hit!"
"Oh my god, this is my favorite episode!"
"It's locked in! With Sweet Potato ruling out the wrong answer, everyone can pull without worry!"
"There are rewards for guessing right and punishments for guessing wrong. What's Sweet Potato eating this time?"
Seeing that the barrage clearly didn't believe him at all, Sweet Potato Pigeon snorted coldly.
"Hmph! Just watch. In this kind of game, as long as you spend money for stats, you can clear it without even using your hands!"
Elsewhere, Lao Mu was a casual entertainment streamer, so he didn't care much about gameplay and had been going through the story with his viewers.
At this point, the story had reached Himeko's appearance, and the Train Crew began to show up.
"This person's coordinates weren't sent from the Space Station..."
"At a time like this, why are you still worrying about that? This living person is right in front of us. They can't be fake, can they?"
"...Their heartbeat and pulse are very weak. March, prepare to administer artificial respiration."
"Ah... th-that wouldn't be appropriate, would it?"
Seeing this, the corners of Lao Mu's mouth began twitching uncontrollably.
"But it's to save someone, so there's no choice."
But in the next moment, the smile on Lao Mu's face froze.
"Ah?! I... I don't have much experience! Dan Heng, you do it!"
Fuck, I'm not into guys!
The barrage instantly erupted in delight.
"Alright! I'll do it!"
"Brother, you smell so good!"
"Brother, open your mouth, it's urgent!"
"Lao Mu, turn around. I'm Kafka!"
"No matter how cold a man is, his rectum is warm!"
"OMG, the men in the barrage scared me unconscious! Good thing I'm a straight guy!"
"You'd better be!"
Fortunately, Himeko opened her eyes in time in the story. Otherwise, Lao Mu would have slept against the wall in his dreams that night.
"Stop—shut up!"
"They're awake!"
Seeing Himeko open her eyes, March 7th hurriedly shoved Dan Heng away, her enormous head taking up the entire screen.
"So cute!"
Lao Mu's favorability toward March 7th, who had saved him, immediately soared.
"Are you alright? Can you understand what I'm saying? Do you remember your name?"
This time, the protagonist only had one option.
"I... don't remember anything."
"...That could be troublesome. Can you try to remember? Your name is..."
There was only one choice: "My name is Himeko." Obviously, it needed to read out your own ID.
Another wave of barrage swept across the screen.
"No way, you really can?"
"Divorced three times with two kids~"
"General Lan is obsessed with me!"
"Kafka, step on me!"
"Aha and I are evenly matched!"
"Damn, they really got creative with this!"
A whole pile of absurd IDs appeared in the barrage. It was practically a showcase of humanity's strangest stars shining together.
Luckily, Lao Mu had the foresight not to use some ridiculous ID. He continued playing the story.
"Himeko? Hello, I'm Dan Heng, and this is March 7th."
"This Space Station was attacked by the Anti-Matter Legion. We came to provide aid at the request of Station Master Asta."
Three dialogue options then appeared, two of which introduced the game's background. They were also things that existed in reality.
"Where should I go..."
"Return to the Master Control Zone. Asta and the researchers who evacuated in time are all there."
"The Star Rail Express is also parked nearby! So you don't need to worry about monster attacks. We'll resolve this crisis!"
"Who are you?"
"Dan Heng and I are members of the Star Rail Express. Nice to meet you!"
Seeing this, Lao Mu understood.
"Then it looks like we'll join the Star Rail Express and become Nameless later on! I'm kind of looking forward to seeing where we'll go!"
Although interstellar civilization was highly advanced nowadays, it was still basically impossible for ordinary people to travel across star systems.
Unless they happened to encounter kind Aeon Faction forces like the Star Rail Express, the Knights of Beauty, or the Mourning Performers and got a ride along the way.
Otherwise, they could only remain trapped in one small corner. Now that they could personally experience it through a game, it was rather exciting.
After Dan Heng gave March 7th some instructions, he said that he was going to find Arlan from the Security Department and left.
Just as March 7th was about to take Himeko to the Master Control Zone, she suddenly spotted a Baseball Bat lying on the ground.
"Himeko, why don't you take this with you? The Legion is running around like rabid dogs in space, and the way back isn't safe either. It's better to bring some weapon for self-defense. Just a suggestion, though—it's fine, you've got me!"
The story then came to a temporary stop, and a brand-new character button appeared in the upper-right corner.
Here it came! He could finally look at the characters!
And aside from himself, there was actually a March 7th too!
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Go into battle and see what skills I have!"
Before you continue