My Honkai Star Rail: Reversing All Phenomena Chapter 49

"..."

Ruan Mei silently gazed at the life creations she had personally nurtured. Faced with those pairs of round, darting eyes, she did not need the Synesthesia Beacon to hear their voices to know that she had failed.

She saw none of a Genius's brilliance. There was only simple, unadorned emotion in her creations' eyes.

No, the Cat Cat Cakes were probably simple enough, but the Shaomai Dog, with its mischievous grin and obvious lack of good behavior, was clearly rather naughty. Seeing the Cat Cat Cakes gather around Ruan Mei first, it excitedly circled around, trying to cut in line and make itself known before its creator.

However, while scrambling about, it bumped into a console button. The Phase Flame stored within the device broke free of its restraints, flickered once, and vanished without a trace.

"Woof?!"

After all, these were lives Ruan Mei had created in the direction of Genius. These creations, which combined pastries with the physical traits of cats and dogs, possessed basic intelligence. The Shaomai Dog immediately realized it had caused trouble, while the Cat Cat Cakes also panicked and scattered in a flash, intending to retrieve the Phase Flame.

"You—"

Ruan Mei had barely uttered two words when the batch of creations ran off and disappeared.

She suddenly understood why Hua Yi had directly expressed his hope that she would create only a single individual when asking about the cultivation progress of the Hunt Swarm.

Because he had already anticipated this sort of unexpected development.

Ruan Mei had been wholly focused on Cultivating Geniuses. If an individual like Siskor truly appeared, then it would be time for two Geniuses to converse.

Just as when she met Herta, Herta would never suddenly run away without any intention of speaking.

I have clear ideas for when research proceeds according to plan, yet I lack contingency plans for unexpected developments. Is this my selfishness?

In the blink of an eye, Ruan Mei concluded that she had no convenient way to recall her creations, nor could she locate the Phase Flame again. She also understood the other meaning Hua Yi had conveyed to her beyond the value of life.

She still did not understand Hua Yi. Not nearly enough. Yet he was already quite familiar with a Genius's nature.

After shutting down the operating instruments around her, Ruan Mei attempted to contact Hua Yi.

The call request was quickly accepted.

"The Genius cultivation project has failed. All the life I created has run away, but they themselves do not possess the ability to threaten the lives of Space Station personnel. The Seclusion Zone is sealed. Based on my observations, they lack a Genius's intellect and cannot crack the system backend, so their range of activity will not extend beyond this zone."

"Mm, and?"

Hua Yi knew she had more to say and gestured for her to continue.

For a moment, Ruan Mei felt as if she had returned to childhood, when she had still been a little girl who often made mistakes.

"...The Phase Flame has disappeared as well. The Seclusion Zone has no facilities to guard against Phase Teleportation, nor does it have a Tracking Instrument. I cannot determine its current location. I'm sorry."

"Since Madam Genius has lowered her proud head, I suppose she can see more ordinary people now, right?"

"I will reassess the dangers of cultivating the Hunt Swarm Leader."

"There's no need. The Phase Flame will not be lost. I'll bring Star to the Seclusion Zone shortly."

"Thank you."

Receiving Ruan Mei's apology and thanks, Hua Yi smiled and checked the messages he had received. Sure enough, he saw a report that the relevant department had just sent over, stating that they had successfully intercepted the Phase Flame before it could teleport into the Cosmic Stars and completely leave the Space Station. It also provided coordinates that were still changing rapidly.

The Station Master had no intention of letting innocent researchers run themselves ragged chasing the Phase Flame, nor did he intend to rush about and retrieve it himself.

"Hello, esteemed Madam Herta. Your collection ran away. Go retrieve it."

"The Phase Flame? It's not that dangerous. Why do you specifically need me to go? Isn't that troublesome?"

"Because you played a part in this. You know the Phase Flame's characteristics, and you also know that Ruan Mei was not fully prepared, as well as the fact that the Seclusion Zone lacks a Space Containment Device. Yet when you spoke with her face-to-face, you did not offer even a single reminder."

"Taking this chance to make Ruan Mei owe me a favor is a guaranteed profit with no risk."

Wasn't that what you were thinking?

Herta had intended to ask that, but after thinking it over carefully, Hua Yi really did not seem like someone whose actions could be swayed by favors, not even favors from a Genius.

Seclusion Zone

In only a short while, Herta had guessed most of the reason why Hua Yi, despite clearly knowing about Ruan Mei's oversight, had not reminded her in advance.

It was nothing more than concern for the Space Station's members. He hoped the Geniuses would not act too recklessly and casually conduct dangerous experiments like creating the Hunt Swarm.

In truth, even if one combined the weight of all those experts, Scholars, department heads, and researchers, it still would not come close to the influence of a single Genius. Yet in Hua Yi's heart, the benefits he could obtain did not outweigh everything else.

He cherished the people around him.

As one of the very few people who knew that this fellow could wield the power of multiple Paths, Herta also understood that whether it was Hua Yi concealing his abilities from the other Space Station members while displaying his talents to her, or their ideological overlap in wanting to gain something through the Simulated Universe, it all showed that her place in his heart was certainly not insignificant.

Just as he had not placed the rest of the Space Station in a dangerous situation for a Genius's favor, he would not sell out a Genius in the future for some other benefit.

Though Herta did not think there were many things in the vast sea of stars whose value could surpass her own.

"You... fine. Leave recovering the Phase Flame to me. But Ruan Mei still owes me a favor. She lost my thing, and I have to retrieve it myself. If that isn't a favor, what is?"

"To be fair, that's true."

After ending his communication with Herta, Hua Yi looked toward Star, who had long been ready to depart.

"Let's go. We'll take the elevator to the Seclusion Zone."

"Okay~"

The Galaxy Bat Hero was quite excited right now.

A sealed zone that was no longer open to researchers, one that even the higher-ups of major departments lacked permission to enter, was practically like a secret base. It felt like an adventure.

And they were going there to look for Ruan Mei's creations, which made it feel like hide-and-seek.

Maybe they would even find treasure chests during the exploration, or abandoned ownerless Curios. Star was full of enthusiasm.

The treasure hunt began!

Upon reaching the central elevator, Hua Yi took out his access card. After strict system identification, the elevator started up and descended into the depths of the Space Station.

Unlike the brightly lit Control Zone and Base Zone, which remained illuminated around the clock, even allowing one to clearly see the outside scenery through the observation window while inside the elevator, the shaft leading to the Seclusion Zone was pitch-black.

Only the Capsule-shaped Elevator itself retained a patch of light. That illumination, which would normally have been bright enough, seemed exceptionally thin within the excessively deep and long shaft.

Inside the steadily descending elevator, Star watched the elevator doors with their observation window gradually leave the light above and enter the Seclusion Zone. She felt as if she, too, were falling into darkness.

Little by little, step by step. Not quickly, yet impossible to stop.

It was a little creepy.

She tightened her grip on the Baseball Bat in her hand, hoping to draw some comfort from the reliable weapon.

The elevator reached its designated position. Some device began to Exhaust and Depressurize, releasing what sounded like a heavy sigh, mourning for passengers who had fallen into the abyss.

Beyond the opening elevator doors lay complete darkness and utter silence.

There was none of the white noise found in other parts of the Space Station, nor were there footsteps or voices from passing researchers. Once Hua Yi and Star stepped out of the elevator, the Transport Equipment behind them automatically departed the sealed area and returned to another zone to await orders. The last source of light vanished with it.

The corridor they currently stood in clearly had Transparent Outer Walls like those in the Control Zone, through which they could see the stars. Yet only now did the girl understand that starlight was nowhere near as dazzling as she had imagined.

At the very least, the stars visible from the Seclusion Zone were far too dim.

All that remained was darkness so deep one could not see a hand before one's face.

The air seemed frozen. It was so quiet that she could hear every breath she took.

The Galaxy Bat Hero let out a muffled gulp. Even her bat could no longer give her a sense of security, and she immediately wrapped both arms around the person beside her.

"Say something!"

"Something."

With two words that barely counted as words, Hua Yi effortlessly dispelled the terrifying atmosphere, teasing Star as her brows furrowed and her eyes flickered.

"Weren't you excited earlier? How long has it been before you lost your nerve?"

"This place is way too creepy. Compared to this, I'd rather fight the Doomsday Beast head-on."

"I understand. Unknown Fear is what scares people the most."

After tapping away on his Personal Terminal, he awakened the Lighting System that had entered sleep mode when the zone was sealed. The equipment did respond, illuminating the surrounding area.

The corridor resembled the Observation Corridor in the Base Zone, but some lighting equipment had been damaged. Several lights flickered on and off, while others did not light up at all. It was indeed no longer as dark, but it still looked strange and dangerous.

"Aren't we looking for Ruan Mei's creations? How about we split up? It would be more efficient."

"Absolutely not! The protagonists in horror movies always run into danger after getting separated!"

"Oh, you're pretty experienced."

Allowing Star to tightly hold his hand, Hua Yi led the way with a clear destination in mind, having long memorized the Seclusion Zone Map.

After passing through the corridor, an isolation door far heavier and several times wider than most doors on the Space Station blocked their only path forward.

It was the second Permission Detection Checkpoint after the elevator. Even if someone cleverly hacked into the elevator, or relied on their strong physique to leap down from the elevator shaft and break into the Seclusion Zone, they would still be stopped by this Explosion-proof Door.

After detecting Hua Yi's super authorization, the isolation door opened automatically, revealing another elevator behind it.

"Just how deep is this place?!"

"We're currently in the shallow layer of the Seclusion Zone. After taking this elevator down, we'll barely count as reaching the middle layer. The Space Station hides quite a few secrets, and you, with a Stellaron inside you, are one of the greatest secrets. So go boldly onward."

They took the elevator deeper once more, passing through corridors whose walls had been reinforced by several levels and whose defensive capabilities had significantly improved. Then they encountered another door.

The view beyond it was finally no longer gloomy. This was a laboratory, brightly lit, with a Large Smart Terminal operating normally. Its screen displayed all kinds of complex images and strings of characters.

Star did not understand any of it, but Hua Yi did.

After tapping the touchscreen a few times, he brought up Archived Data. The recording showed Ruan Mei during her research.

"During the process of Cultivating Geniuses, I added personal preferences into the [concept]. I am not certain of the result. They possess two emotional traits at once: cute, weak, sensitive, prone to crying; ferocious, instigative, domineering, confident..."

Genius Can Simplify Problems

"The laws of things always appear complicated and moving on the surface, yet simple and plain at their core. Attribution of All Things—one formula can resolve the confusion of all beings."

The Ruan Mei in the recording still spoke in a gentle, unhurried tone. Her expression was calm, yet she possessed the bearing of a Genius.

"I want to understand the Essence of Life, the thing every individual possesses yet does not know they possess—whether it is the Materiality of Existence, or Unknowable Things beyond matter."

In such a short span of time, she had almost immediately acted upon her thoughts, and once she acted, she succeeded in creating an entirely new life as a human.

Such an achievement, akin to that of a creator god, did not stir even the slightest ripple within her. As though creation, enough to drive countless Scholars mad, was merely an ordinary matter.

For Ruan Mei, it truly was.

Ordinary people wandered through the sea of knowledge, thirstily absorbing wisdom as they walked along thorn-covered roads, dreaming of knocking open the Door of Truth.

Yet that door had long since been broken through by Genius and left behind.

The heights that ordinary Scholars pursued their entire lives yet failed to attain were merely a path traveled by Geniuses, so ordinary that they could not produce the slightest fluctuation in her heart.

She only wanted to strip away the distractions of the outside world as though following coordinate axes, and uncover life's most primordial and beautiful form of existence.

Even though Star 307 knew little about scientific research, after living on the Space Station for so many days, she had seen the research projects of the various departments through constant exposure. Compared to Ruan Mei now, the difference was immediately obvious.

A Genius really was a Genius. There was an immense distance between them and ordinary people.

No matter how hard one tried, it was difficult to even glimpse their back.

I've dealt with Herta before, and I met Ruan Mei the moment I arrived at the platform. Why am I only getting such a clear sense of it now?

When they spoke with me... no, more precisely, when they spoke with Hua Yi, they did not seem particularly different.

Right, did Ruan Mei really intend to do something to me back then?

Bad woman!

"Meow."

A catlike cry mixed into the playback. Hua Yi easily recognized that it had not come from the speakers, but from the corner of the office.

A black cat-shaped creature inside a mung bean cake shell was one of the lives Ruan Mei had cultivated: a Cat Cat Cake.

"It's pretty cute, huh? Uh, it shouldn't be dangerous, right? It isn't some alien creature or a predator's lure, where its harmless appearance suddenly splits open when we get close, revealing savage fangs and a long tongue inside?"

"It isn't dangerous. You've watched quite a few horror movies."

"Oh, then I'm relieved."

Star took out her Personal Terminal and began taking photos of the Cat Cat Cake, while Hua Yi directly activated the Synesthesia Beacon, a tool capable of enabling communication across species.

"Meow meow. (I am not a qualified creation.)"