[Wow, Old Yang is so cool!]
[Welt Yang always shows up at the perfect moment to flex the hardest!]
[Uncle Yang still loves adjusting his glasses like that.]
[Gotta admit, Old Yang actually looks pretty badass.]
[Of course! Welt Yang is unmatched—nobody can compare!]
[Old Yang really is that reliable, steady adult!]
— —
"I've apparently left such a strange impression on everyone…" Sunday gave a wry smile. "Please believe me—I have no malicious intent in returning to my homeland. 'Order' can never return to Penacony."
Welt Yang shook his head. "After you used the power of Harmony, I'm afraid it's very difficult for me to take those words at face value."
The next moment, his expression turned grave. "Answer my question: why are you here?"
Sunday let out a deep breath. "To earn your trust, it seems I have only one choice. Oneweek, come out. We now have one more person we can rely on."
The Pepeshi hiding in the shadows hadn't expected to be sold out so quickly. He could only step forward.
Sunday recounted his experiences to Welt without holding anything back.
After listening, Welt Yang pondered for a moment. "So, it was people from the IPC who saved you?"
"It should be some kind of agreement my sister reached with them. And the reason I can move freely in Penacony is largely thanks to this Mr. Oneweek's help." Sunday gestured toward the Pepeshi beside him.
"As you can see, I returned to my homeland only to bid it farewell. Would you be willing to show leniency and give me a chance to leave without regrets?"
Welt Yang did not answer immediately. After careful consideration, he spoke slowly. "For safety's sake, until you have completely left Penacony, you must travel with me."
Sunday gave a slight nod. "I am deeply grateful."
"I too left my homeland in haste once—I can understand that feeling. But this is only my personal opinion. My companions also have the right to know about this matter."
"The other members of the Astral Express are still in Penacony?"
"Come with me to meet them." Welt Yang looked down at Oneweek. "You too."
Oneweek clicked his tongue. "Yeah, yeah—I get it. This is about to get real lively."
Welt Yang then led the two to a shopping arcade passage. "We're here. They should be nearby."
At this moment, Sunday voiced his own question. "Mr. Yang, there is one thing I find puzzling.
The crisis of the Festival Star has already been resolved. The Astral Express should have set off once more on its journey of Trailblazing. What is keeping everyone in Penacony?
Could it be that after my departure, someone else stirred up new trouble?"
Welt Yang followed Sunday's words. "And if that were the case—what would you do?"
"I seem to have no standing to offer suggestions. I will defer to the judgment of you Nameless."
Welt Yang gave a faint smile. "No need to worry—Penacony is not in danger. We have not departed yet simply because of a special 'passenger.'"
Sunday was curious. "Passenger?"
"The Express was entrusted with delivering a certain passenger back to their homeland. We are only stopping briefly in Penacony…"
Before he could finish, Welt Yang sensed something off.
"The guest you speak of—could it be this lady?" Before Sunday finished speaking, Tingyun walked past him.
"Or… these ladies?"
As he spoke, the camera slowly pulled back. Countless Tingyuns filled the screen.
[Tingyun won the revival match.]
[This isn't just winning—she straight-up massacred the competition.]
[Damn, how many ads did she watch? It's not reviving one—it's reviving an army.]
[Perfect—one for each of us, no fighting needed.]
[You really are something!]
[So many Tingyuns… I can openly kidnap one and no one will notice, right?]
[Is this the Tingyun Universe?]
[Super love your Hundred Tingyuns!]
[The world needs more Tingyuns.]
[Finally seeing Tingyun again—how long has it been?]
[Mom, this is literally paradise.]
[I feel like Sunday's brain is about to overload.]
— —
Seeing this sight, Welt Yang couldn't help but suck in a breath. "This… shouldn't be possible…"
At that moment.
March 7th came running in a panic toward Welt Yang. "Uncle Yang, you're finally here—big trouble!"
At the same time, aboard the Radiant Feldspar.
The scene shifted back to the airship.
[Nooo, I want to see Tingyun!]
[Don't cliffhanger like this!]
[Old Mi, are you even human?]
[Tingyun, hold on—just a little longer and it'll be your turn!]
— —
The camera focused on Himeko as she gazed at the scenery below the airship.
"The journey of organic life is always full of variables—I often find myself fascinated by it." An elegant voice came from behind.
Himeko turned with a smile. "I never expected to encounter Mr. Screwllum in Penacony. I thought the Genius Society hadn't received an invitation to the Festival."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries between Himeko and Screwllum, they cut straight to the point.
The topic was the next destination of the Astral Express—Amphoreus.
They obtained three useful pieces of information.
Amphoreus is influenced by three Paths, one of which is Erudition.
Ordinary Pathstriders do not leave traces in the Mirror of Memoklept—which means there is at least an Emanator, or perhaps even an Aeon themselves inside.
Finally, Herta is extremely interested in Amphoreus and is preparing to study it.
As the plot progressed, their conversation shifted from Amphoreus to Ruan Mei, and finally landed on Tingyun.
"So the Astral Express took it upon itself to escort her home out of a sense of duty?" Screwllum asked.
"For the Nameless, is there really a clear line between official business and personal matters? This was her own request—she hoped to make a brief stop at a station before returning to the Xianzhou to sort out her thoughts. After all, to the Alliance… her identity is rather special."
"Since this guest is so unique, shouldn't you accompany her personally, Miss Himeko?"
Himeko gave a gentle smile. "I left that to my companions. They know 'Miss Tingyun' far better than I do, and young people are more suited to sightseeing vacations. I imagine… they're having a wonderful time right now?"
[Flag raised sky-high.]
[So much information packed in.]
[Just world-building and explaining why Tingyun boarded the Express.]
[Same kind of foreshadowing they did for Penacony—keep mentioning it over and over until it feels natural when the new story starts. At its core, Honkai: Star Rail is basically a road-trip series.]
[And they already told you the difficulty—Amphoreus is at least Emanator-level combat.]
[Himeko's last line about them "having fun" almost made me lose it.]
[They're definitely having the time of their lives—a whole crowd of Tingyuns is keeping them company.]
— —
"So… can someone explain this to me?" Welt Yang stared at the swarm of Tingyuns ahead.
The next moment, he turned to March 7th. "March?"
"Ah? Um… well…" March 7th grabbed Stelle's arm and stepped forward. "Stelle, you explain! You're more articulate."
Stelle scanned the surroundings and smirked confidently. "Obviously, there are a lot of Tingyuns here."
March 7th looked exasperated. "We can all see that! You don't need to emphasize it!"
She gave up—compared to Stelle, she was still more reliable. "Sigh… fine, I'll do it. After we split up earlier, we were taking Miss Tingyun around sightseeing when we ran into something weird."
Welt Yang frowned. "Was there a problem with the dreamscape?"
"More like man-made disaster… We met a Pepeshi who said he was recording a 'don't laugh challenge' and asked us to try a candy that would make us laugh uncontrollably once eaten."
Oneweek spoke in a deadpan tone. "So that's what kind of 'don't laugh challenge' it was."
[This Oneweek guy is kinda weird.]
[Yeah, his tone when complaining is off.]
"I told her not to get involved, but she insisted on trying it—and the moment she did, things went wrong." March 7th continued.
"What happened?" Welt Yang motioned for her to go on.
Stelle gave a thumbs-up. "Mad Laugh March 7th is born!"
[Hahaha, Mad Laugh Bat?]
[As expected of my GOAT!]
[Stelle is still peak Elation. Doesn't Aha want to take a look?]
— —
"Hey—don't interrupt!" March 7th shot Stelle a glare. "Anyway, the two of us ate the candy and couldn't stop laughing—we rolled around on the ground for ages before we could stand up. When we finally did… Miss Tingyun…
Miss Tingyun ate the candy too, but instead of laughing, she started sneezing nonstop! Achoo! Achoo! Just like that—and then right in front of us, she went poof and turned into a bunch of Tingyuns!"
[How much is this candy? I'm buying!]
[I want some too!]
[Something this beneficial to humanity should've been released ages ago!]
— —
After roughly piecing together the sequence of events, Welt Yang turned his gaze to Sunday. "Do you have any theories?"
"The dreamscape is a world of memetic substance. This condition is most likely because her mind is particularly sensitive—after the stimulation, fragments of her memory detached and manifested as separate individuals." Sunday reassured them.
"No need to worry. Similar incidents are not uncommon in beautiful dreams."
March 7th looked at the android in front of her. "Uncle Yang, who is this?"
Welt Yang: "You can drop the disguise now."
"It was only for caution—otherwise we would have been stopped by Bloodhounds multiple times along the way." Sunday glanced at Oneweek. "Oneweek, remove my mask for me."
The android reverted to Sunday.
"Long time no see, everyone."
"You—you—you—what's going on?!"
March 7th retreated several steps in fright!
Stelle slapped her own face. "Am I still dreaming…?"
Welt Yang spoke patiently. "Calm down. This time, allow me to explain."
Welt recounted the earlier events to the two.
"At this point, I believe Sunday has no reason to lie. To avoid unnecessary complications, I will accompany him until he leaves Penacony." Welt Yang pointed to Oneweek beside him. "This Mr. Oneweek is an old acquaintance of Sunday's."
"Hello, beautiful ladies." Oneweek first flashed a smile at March 7th, then looked at Stelle. "And as for this one… truly heavyweight. Was it you who gave this control freak a proper thrashing?"
Stelle shook her head, tone serious. "Let's not bring up past heroics."
[Hahahaha, I'm fucking dying.]
[This one is truly heavyweight.]
[Indeed, it is I!]
— —
March 7th gave a helpless laugh. "Today has just been one surprise after another… Last time it was Miss Tingyun, the time before that it was Miss Acheron. Why does it feel like every time Uncle Yang goes out, he comes back with someone unbelievable?"
Welt Yang cleared his throat lightly and steered the conversation back on track. "We'll put his matter aside for now. We need to quickly restore Miss Tingyun to normal."
"That… might not be so simple. Uncle Yang, you'll understand once you see—these Miss Tingyuns are a bit hard to reason with."
Seeing no other option, the group followed March 7th and attempted to communicate.
"Miss March 7th! Have you considered my previous proposal?" one Tingyun called out to stop her.
"Proposal? Um… which Miss Tingyun are you?"
The subtitles labeled this Tingyun: Tingyun • Make It Big!
[This "Make It Big" one—I really couldn't hold it together.]
[Make it big! Make it BIG!]
"It's me! The one planning to unite all Tingyuns and establish the 'Tingyun Merchant Guild.' What a rare opportunity to work with myself—such perfect synergy is sure to make business smooth sailing!
But we can't leave the dreamscape, so we can't do external trade. That's why, seeing how clever Miss March 7th is, we wanted to pull you in for external dealings!"
"Ahaha, I'll think about it… Wishing you all the best for now."
After the group walked away, March 7th turned to Welt Yang. "See—Uncle Yang, look."
"Indeed, they're quite self-absorbed." Welt Yang also found it rather troublesome.
Looking at so many Tingyuns, Stelle showed an envious expression. "I want to split into several of myself too."
March 7th delivered a precise roast. "Yeah, right—you wouldn't even know how to split the baseball bat."
At this point, Welt Yang could only continue seeking Sunday's help. "As the host of this dreamscape, do you have any ideas?"
"It's hard to judge immediately. Let's speak with a few more nearby Miss Tingyuns."
After contacting several more Tingyuns, the group retreated to a corner with no Tingyuns around.
"Old Sunday, what do you think?" Oneweek suddenly asked.
[Hahahahaha, I really couldn't hold it.]
[That came out of nowhere!]
[Hahaha, I'm dying.]
[Old Sunday's English name is Sunny!]
[Hahaha, Old Sunday.]
[Sunday gets yet another new nickname.]
— —
Sunday forced a smile. "Perhaps a different form of address, friend."
Oneweek shrugged. "Just makes it friendlier—like how this foxian lady does it."
Sunday ignored Oneweek and turned to the Express crew. "Miss Tingyun's trouble matches my earlier guess. After that prank, she fragmented into every facet of herself. In other words, what is scattered here are the various aspects of 'Tingyun.'"
March 7th scratched her head. "Your explanation somehow made it sound even more complicated."
"In short, this is not an uncommon occurrence in dreams. Using 'tuning' may resolve everyone's troubles. However, these Miss Tingyuns are all quite willful. Is there any one of them we can actually communicate with?"
"Someone we can communicate with…" March 7th thought for a moment. "Ah, I think there is one."
[Hi everyone~ Just a quick note! I just graduated from college, to celebrate, I did a mass release on Patreon for all of my stories. Thank you so much for your support. I'll still be continuing the stories for the foreseeable future.]