Chapter 228: The Discussion Reached a Deadlock
With the new members settled in, Stelle and March 7th quickly took over, eager to give them a proper tour of the group.
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Stelle: "Let me formally introduce everyone! This is Himeko, the navigator of our Astral Express. Super reliable! She's incredibly knowledgeable and has seen many, many planets!"
[Honkai: Star Rail] - March 7th: "Right, right! Himeko is amazing! It's just... well... she's particularly enthusiastic about making coffee!"
March 7th's wording was carefully chosen, a subtle warning wrapped in praise.
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Dan Heng: "Himeko is experienced in interstellar travel. She is a steady and reliable person."
With the unified recommendation of the Trailblaze crew, Himeko and Welt quickly earned the trust and welcome of the other chat group members. Their presence, calm and mature even through text, felt like a grounding force, and they integrated smoothly into the strange, multiversal family.
[Genshin Impact] - Lumine: "Seeing Ms. Himeko and Mr. Welt successfully join the group is a relief. Paimon and I are almost at the agreed-upon location with the Captain. We need to deal with some important matters in Natlan first, so we might not be able to reply to messages promptly for a while."
[Genshin Impact] - Paimon: "Exactly, exactly! It's a big deal about saving Natlan, we can't be late!"
Hearing that the duo had urgent business, the group immediately voiced their support.
[Genshin Impact] - Hu Tao: "Oh? Going to handle big business! In that case, this Funeral Parlor Director wishes you a smooth journey and swift success! If you encounter any trouble, remember to call for help... ah, no, remember to ask everyone for help!"
[Genshin Impact] - Venti: "May the Anemo guide your path and bring good fortune and victory~"
[Genshin Impact] - Lumine: "Thank you, everyone. Don't worry, we're very strong now."
[Genshin Impact] - Paimon: "Exactly! Don't underestimate me, Paimon! I'm also very strong!"
This last point was silently and unanimously acknowledged by the members who had fought alongside her during the final exploration activity. They had seen firsthand what she was capable of.
Only Hu Tao, staring at Paimon's declaration, felt a storm of question marks brewing over her head. How strong could a flying guide—emergency food—possibly be?
Venti, on the other hand, simply offered a pensive smile. He had long sensed an extraordinary aura clinging to Paimon, and now, his suspicions felt all the more certain.
Lumine and Paimon's hurried departure left a momentary silence in the chat group. But it wasn't long before the curiosity of the newest members broke through the quiet.
Hu Tao and Venti were captivated by the dazzling array of functions on the chat group interface—the sign-in rewards, the mysterious gacha pools, the vast item mall, and the activity log for "Amphoreus's Temporary Stelle."
[Genshin Impact] - Hu Tao: "Wow! There's so much you can exchange with these points! Hehe, this Funeral Parlor Director needs to study this carefully. Maybe I can develop a cross-dimensional business!"
[Genshin Impact] - Venti: "Ehe~ This gacha pool looks very interesting! I wonder if I can draw some exotic wine from another world? Even if I can't, just looking at these descriptions is refreshing~"
Compared to Hu Tao and Venti's wide-eyed fascination, Welt and Himeko appeared much calmer. Stelle and the others had already briefed them on the basic operations of the chat group, and they had far more pressing questions that needed answers.
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Himeko: "Welt, the top priority is to clarify the time anomaly on Amphoreus. Stelle, did you confirm that you spent several days on the planet, while only one system hour passed on the Astral Express?"
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Stelle: "Absolutely true! We completed the exploration activity, dealt with a local deity named Nikador, and even had a celebration feast!"
[Honkai: Star Rail] - March 7th: "Yeah, Himeko, we almost thought you forgot about us!"
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Welt: "Discrepancies in the flow of time are not impossible in the universe. They are usually related to the curvature of spacetime caused by extreme gravitational fields, such as the regions near a black hole."
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Welt: "But from all external observation, Amphoreus does not exhibit such gravitational characteristics. Dan Heng, did you feel any abnormal gravitational fluctuations on-site?"
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Dan Heng: "No, Mr. Welt. The gravitational environment on Amphoreus was no different from a standard habitable planet. Unless this spacetime distortion effect was highly localized or disguised by some unknown force."
The two most knowledgeable members of the Astral Express crew began a deep dive into complex theories, their messages filled with professional jargon like black hole physics, spacetime curvature, and reference frame transformations.
Wise, though unfamiliar with this level of astrophysics, was still fascinated, trying his best to grasp these cosmic mysteries that surpassed his entire understanding of the world.
Stelle, however, felt her head starting to ache. These convoluted theories were definitely not her strong suit. Her strength lay elsewhere—in her quick thinking and her knack for grasping the simpler, more tangible points.
Suddenly, a past experience clicked in her mind.
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Stelle: "Wait! Uncle Welt, Himeko! Do you remember that researcher at the space station who went to chase time—Rocky!"
[Honkai: Star Rail] - March 7th: "Ah! I remember! Was it that researcher who went after his friend because a 'starquake' caused their time to desynchronize?"
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Stelle: "Right, right, right! That's the one! You see, Rocky and Lesley's timelines became different because of a cosmic phenomenon. So, could Amphoreus also be affected by something like a 'starquake'?"
Stelle felt a flicker of pride at her "clever" discovery, but March 7th immediately poked a hole in her logic.
[Honkai: Star Rail] - March 7th: "But Stelle, I remember Lesley's time slowed down because of the starquake. She felt like only a short time had passed on her spaceship, but Rocky had been waiting at the space station for a long, long time."
[Honkai: Star Rail] - March 7th: "If Amphoreus is a similar situation, then our time here should be slow, and the outside time should be fast. But it's the opposite! We felt like many days passed, while only an hour went by outside!"
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Welt: "March is right. The time dilation effect caused by a 'starquake' typically means internal time flows slower than external time."
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Welt: "The current situation, where the internal time flow of Amphoreus is significantly faster than the external universe, is difficult to explain with a simple starquake model."
The discussion seemed to have stalled again. After a moment of hesitation, Wise typed out a new idea.
[Zenless Zone Zero] - Wise: "I have a thought, though it's a bit undeveloped... Could Amphoreus itself be a 'channel'or a'boundary' connecting to another universe? Different universes might have different fundamental flows of time, which would create this difference."
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Himeko: "If it truly were a connection point between two universes, its spatial structure would inevitably be extremely unstable. It would emit strong, unmistakable spacetime fluctuations."
[Honkai: Star Rail] - Himeko: "And given the curiosity of the Genius Society towards unknown phenomena, if there were such an obvious cosmic-level anomaly, Amphoreus would absolutely not have remained so 'obscure.' It would have become the focus of research for various major factions long ago."
One after another, each conjecture was logically refuted. The atmosphere in the chat group grew somewhat stagnant. Neither relativistic effects nor the inter-universal connection hypothesis seemed to perfectly explain the strange reality of Amphoreus.
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