My Honkai: Star Rail System Arrived Early

"I don't know where Tingyun's and my deaths will be written yet, so it's not good to talk about that now. But Changchang's side—changing that won't be hard."

Ji Yuan thought to himself.

How to stop his own sister from becoming a widow in the future? Simple—just make sure she doesn't get married or fall in love for now.

Even if a hundred years passed, Changchang would only be a young woman of two hundred fifty or sixty. There'd still be time to talk about it then.

"Mm, when I get back, I'll preach to Changchang about the evils of early romance and make sure she absolutely doesn't date. If she so much as stirs up a single romantic thought, I'll break her legs."

Fighting and fooling around aside, as the older brother who'd grown up with her, Ji Yuan felt it was his duty to ensure his sister's happiness.

As for whether that short-lived ghost in the prophecy referred to him—the thought flickered through Ji Yuan's mind for an instant before he tossed it aside.

When they were little, Sushang had once said she wanted to marry her brother and be his wife, but that was just childish nonsense.

They were siblings.

Now that she was grown up, she should have long since thrown away that kind of make-believe thinking.

The three of them boarded a Star Skiff for travel within the Star-skiff. Ji Yuan walked behind, lugging the luggage alone, while Tingyun and Sushang walked ahead. As they went, Sushang kept getting drawn out by Tingyun's probing questions.

"Changchang, did your brother have anyone he liked back on the Yaoging Star-skiff?"

"Someone he liked? Nope~"

Sushang thought for a moment, then spread her hands in answer to Tingyun.

Tingyun's smile grew even brighter.

Ji Yuan had booked a small Star Skiff with only three seats.

With Sushang there, Ji Yuan felt at ease sharing the skiff with Tingyun.

If it were just the two of them, Ji Yuan wouldn't dare even if you gave him the nerve.

Sushang was the first to reach the side seat. She patted the middle spot and called out to Ji Yuan, "Big bro, big bro, come sit here."

Ji Yuan was still dragging the heavy luggage along when Tingyun stepped in front of him, reached out, and grabbed the handle.

"Seeing you all sweaty like this, let this little woman help you with that distance."

Tingyun said to him.

Then her hand gripped the luggage's pull rod, trying to lift it—but she tugged twice and couldn't budge it.

She scratched her head, looking a bit troubled.

Seeing this, Ji Yuan quickly grabbed the rod.

"I'll do it."

He said this as he tried to lift the luggage. But as he pulled, he found his hand caught by Tingyun.

"Let's do it together."

Ji Yuan looked at Tingyun's hand.

If you're helping me with the luggage, fine—but why grab my hand instead of the other side of the rod?

Tingyun ignored that. She held Ji Yuan's hand, and together they lifted the luggage onto the Star Skiff.

Ji Yuan sat in the middle seat. Tingyun took the other side, naturally crossing her legs. And that wasn't all—she reached down and slipped off her high heels.

Seeing Ji Yuan's gaze on her, Tingyun leaned back in her seat and said lazily, "Wearing these is so tiring. Since there's no one else here, I might as well take them off."

As she spoke, she deliberately spread her toes, giving them a good stretch right in front of Ji Yuan.

Her feet were dainty and delicate, her toes like pearls, pale and fair, her ankles slender as willow branches. Ji Yuan was sure that if he gripped them, he could not only hold them fully but have a knuckle's worth of room to spare.

Ji Yuan felt his palm itching to try.

Beside him, Sushang nodded in agreement. "Yeah, walking back and forth in boots all day really is tiring. How about—"

Before she could finish, Ji Yuan's nearly uncontrollable hand finally found a use.

It turned into a knife-hand and landed squarely on Sushang's head.

"You've been walking around in those boots all day—aren't you afraid they stink?"

"They don't stink! I sniff them every day before I shower, and they're not smelly at all!"

After taking the blow, Sushang hugged her head in grievance and said to Ji Yuan.

Ji Yuan's face twisted in disgust.

Good grief, this sister was beyond saving.

Sushang was frantic, trying several times to take off her boots to prove it to Ji Yuan, but each time he held her down and delivered another knife-hand.

After a few hits, Sushang was not only aggrieved but also shocked inside.

When did her big brother get so strong? She couldn't dodge him at all. And this was just with his hands—if he used a sword, it would probably be even worse.

Could it be that after falling behind him in academics, my martial skills are slipping too?

No way!

When Mother finds out, she'll definitely scold me to death!

Sushang thought to herself.

The Star Skiff arrived at Chang'le Sky. Ji Yuan led Sushang and Tingyun toward the house he had bought.

As they walked, Ji Yuan said to both Sushang and Tingyun:

"Once we enter the room, you two need to stay behind me. I've set up a whole bunch of defense systems in there. If you go in without knowing about them, it could easily get life-threatening."

Hearing this, Sushang asked in surprise: "Hey, old bro, we're just living here—what are you doing?"

"Better safe than sorry."

Ji Yuan said seriously.

"What if someone tries to invade our home without us knowing?"

His tone was brimming with pride.

But his pride only lasted a few seconds. The moment they reached his house's entrance, it was instantly replaced by gravity.

The house's defense system had been activated.

"Stay behind me."

He stood in front of Sushang and Tingyun.

At the same time, he opened the remote surveillance feed to see who the intruder was, planning to report them to the Cloud Knights right away.

As he checked the monitor, Ji Yuan saw a Laser Net already deployed.

And behind the Laser Net, sitting duck-legged on the ground and trembling, was a little green-haired Fox Folk girl.

"Old bro, are you kidnapping and abducting girls now?"

Sushang stared at the video on her phone, dumbfounded, and asked Ji Yuan.

Chapter 27: Ji Yuan: When will I ever catch a powerful Year-Scorching!

The green-haired little girl was curled up in a corner. Her shoes had been kicked off somewhere, leaving only her small feet in cotton socks, tucked in and trembling nervously. Ji Yuan estimated her shoe size at about 30 to 31—Fox Folk naturally had smaller feet than other races, and Huohuo was just a child, making her seem even more petite.

Her knees pressed tightly together, her short little legs splayed outward in an inward-bowed posture. Her green hair was a mess, and she kept waving a small flag in her hand, as if trying to use it to escape her predicament.

Sushang's expression twisted with conflict, then she looked at Ji Yuan.

She gritted her teeth and said: "Old bro, you just locked this girl up without hurting her, right? If that's the case, you'd better run. I'm a Cloud Knight, but you're still my brother!"

Hearing this, Ji Yuan immediately gave her a chop to the head.

"What do you take your brother for? That thing is my defense system. She stepped into my doorway and got trapped by it."

"Old bro, why would you install something like that in a house right next to a busy market?" Sushang complained to Ji Yuan in exasperation. Then, with a hint of excitement, she added: "So is that girl inside a thief? Well, as a Cloud Knight, maintaining public order is my duty. Come on, I'll go catch her right now and teach her a lesson."

"She's not a thief. She's my student."

Ji Yuan introduced Huohuo's identity to both Tingyun and Sushang.

"Student?"

Sushang looked confused.

Tingyun also showed curiosity.

Ji Yuan didn't have time to deal with them—his student was still in danger, and he needed to rescue her as soon as possible.

Watching a strand of her hair fall onto the Laser Net array and instantly burn to ash, Huohuo's trembling legs shook even harder.

"Tail Master, wh-what should we do? It's all, all your fault for pushing me in."

She complained to her tail.

That morning, she had come to Ji Yuan's doorstep to find him for her magic lessons, but Ji Yuan had already left for Flowing Cloud Ferry. Huohuo had come up empty.

She had no choice but to wait at the door for his return.

After standing for a long time, Huohuo was fine, but her tail grew impatient.

I, Tail Master, am a figure of great stature—how could I wait around for you? So with a flick, the tail shoved Huohuo into Ji Yuan's courtyard.

Once inside, before the tail could say anything else, a Particle Cutter flew straight at Huohuo. She barely dodged it, but after that came a second trap, then a third.

After dodging several in a row, Huohuo was finally cornered by the Laser Net.

"How was I supposed to know this guy was so paranoid?"

The tail was also frustrated.

"Then what do we do now?"

"Take it easy. Worst case, I leave you and find a new host," the tail said, though it had already eyed the wall behind them, planning to break through it and escape with Huohuo.

But it had clearly overestimated Huohuo's courage. The moment it finished speaking, her trembling grew worse. Then, suddenly, her right leg stiffened, and her whole body froze.

"Cr-cramp."

Huohuo said with a grimace.

Because of the intense pain, she couldn't control herself and stumbled forward.

"Ah!?"

Ahead was the Laser Net, and Huohuo couldn't help but close her eyes.

It was over. Everything was over.

Just as she braced herself for the pain, she suddenly felt her body caught and landed on a firm 'cushion.'

"Good grief, what's going on with you? How did you end up in my house?"

Huohuo pushed herself up with both hands and found that the cushion beneath her was none other than her teacher, Ji Yuan.

"T-Teacher."

Huohuo greeted Ji Yuan with a red face.

She was actually lying on top of her teacher.

"Huohuo, watch out. This guy's lolicon level has gone up again. Seeing you in danger, he dove right under you to be a meat cushion."

Tail spoke up again.

Ji Yuan clenched the Suiyang Manipulation Technique tightly in his hand, itching to take control of it right then and make it fly around the Luofu Starfaring Vessel for three years straight.

"No, Teacher isn't that kind of person. I... I believe in Teacher."

Huohuo spoke up to defend Ji Yuan at that moment.

She tried to struggle to her feet, but the cramp in her leg instantly made her cute little face scrunch up in a frown.

"Ugh... it hurts so much."