The diary entry ended abruptly right there.
The past of this body’s original owner froze along with those scribbled words on that endless April 25th—a date that had seemed doomed to go on forever.
It felt like turning a page of history—a heavy, pitch-black history.
Yet that treacherous, murky past was literally yesterday, the night before he arrived in this world, back when he had still been checking his phone with breathless anticipation, hoping he’d won a closed beta key for *Honkai: Star Rail*.
Clearly, Ye Cang’s luck hadn’t delivered, or he wouldn’t have spent a small fortune buying a beta key from a scalper.
Who could have guessed that his purchase would end up being a literal ticket aboard the real Astral Express?
And so, here he was.
“…” Ye Cang took a deep breath and closed the pitch-black Death Diary.
Shutting his eyes, he felt the chill of the book’s cover beneath his fingertips.
He felt as though the entire universe were spinning around him, or as if an endless sea of darkness were surging forward to swallow him whole.
He opened his eyes again, suppressing the urge to immediately explore the Astral Express.
Sitting at the desk, he picked up a fountain pen and drew up ink.
After a brief silence, reason finally conquered his confusion and fear.
He tightened the barrel of the pen, turned to the latest blank page in the Death Diary, and put pen to paper: [Astral Calendar Year 1, April 26 – Astral Express] 1.
My name is [Ye Cang].
Before transmigrating, I was a university junior in Huaxia on Earth.
I transmigrated to this world after buying an exorbitantly priced *Honkai: Star Rail* beta key from a scalper.
I suspect this world might be a parallel universe of *Honkai: Star Rail* with an independent Lovecraftian cosmology.
It’s extremely bizarre and dangerous!
2.
The original owner of this body was named [Cang].
He appears to have been a transmigrator who could reverse time.
He tried to nip a bizarre corruption in the bud before it could spread, but ultimately failed.
Furthermore, he seems to have been infected by this corruption, repeatedly murdering his companions aboard the train.
According to clues in the diary, he is likely either driven mad or dead.
3.
Is [Cang] truly dead?
Is my transmigration connected to his descent into madness?
4.
In this world, memories seem to be unreliable.
The cause is currently unknown, but I suspect it might be related to Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance.
Must be careful of [Fuli] and His followers, the [Garden of Recollection].
5.
“Death Diary”—not a great name, but now isn’t the time to nitpick.
The Death Diary appears to have a time-rewind function.
Every death resets the user to the previous day (?) or to the last time an entry was written (?).
This hypothesis still needs verification, but for now, I’ll treat writing in it as creating a save point.
6.
Memories of each death fade rapidly (?).
This also needs verification, though if possible, I hope I never have to verify it.
7.
What is the strange corruption Cang mentioned multiple times?
Has the crisis aboard the Astral Express been resolved?
8.
What does “Beware of March 7th” mean?
9.
I am about to explore the Astral Express.
If the entry for the 26th ends abruptly here, it means I’ve encountered danger.
Please be extremely careful.
“…” Ye Cang lifted his head and looked out at the starry sky beyond the window.
Gorgeous and infinite, it was a breathtaking sight that helped dilute the suffocating dread weighing on his heart.
Certain he had nothing else to record in the Death Diary for now, he closed the black notebook and tucked it carefully into his jacket, making sure to clip the fountain pen onto its cover.
Time to go out.
The moment he made up his mind, Ye Cang took a deep breath and gripped the metal door handle.
Before building up the courage to turn it, he surveyed his surroundings once more.
Finding nothing within sight that could even remotely serve as a weapon for self-defense, he gave up on the idea.
He flexed his wrist.
*Click—* The lock cylinder turned, making a nerve-wracking metallic sound.
The door opened.
Instead of stepping right out, he cautiously cracked it open a sliver and carefully peeked through the narrow gap to inspect the corridor outside.
It was dead silent, as if he were venturing into an abandoned kingdom or a deserted palace.
The comparison felt apt because the corridor’s decor was far more opulent, elegant, and luxurious than anything Ye Cang had seen in the game.
One couldn’t help but admire the taste of the Conductor—or perhaps the artistic sensibilities of Akivili, the Aeon of Trailblaze.
Considering Akivili was dead, he preferred to believe this was the work of Himeko, the Navigator.
“Himeko…” Thinking of that woman, Ye Cang—a six-year veteran Captain—felt a pang of melancholy in his heart…
which lasted for just a fleeting second.
Even if it was just a game, the red-haired woman’s “Final Lesson” had left an indelible mark on his soul.
Naturally, Ye Cang began to empathize deeply with [Cang] from the diary.
The anguish of sacrificing everything yet remaining powerless to protect those he loved; the despair of watching the very people he wished to safeguard die one after another before his eyes; and the ultimate realization that he himself was the culprit behind it all…
He couldn’t imagine how shattered [Cang] must have felt when that endless pain and despair exploded in his mind all at once.
He couldn’t know for sure; he only knew one thing— Today was the 26th.
The inescapable April 25th was finally over, and the person standing here now was Ye Cang.
He took another deep breath, his heart aching subtly.
But this time, he stepped out of his room and entered the deserted corridor.
Although he didn’t know how [Cang] had managed to escape the 25th in the end, there was no doubt that he had broken the loop.
Suicide rewound time.
To save everyone on the Astral Express, Cang had to actively reset time and learn through trial and error across countless deaths…
But according to the diary, the “monster” that killed Himeko and the others was Cang himself.
How did he manage to kill that “monster” without triggering another reset?
Ye Cang stopped in his tracks, his expression grim.
Opening the diary and supporting it with his hand and arm, he quickly jotted down two new lines with his fountain pen: 10.
The corridor is deserted, provisionally marked as safe.
The method [Cang] used to break the loop is likely related to my transmigration.
If death triggers the loop, what if the soul is killed while the body remains alive?
(To validate this theory, I must first prove that in the world of *Honkai: Star Rail*, the soul is a tangible reality rather than an ethereal philosophical concept.) 11.
Based on hypothesis #10, if [Cang] wanted to protect everyone on the Astral Express, his only option was to kill the “monster” first.
Since he likely lacked the means to destroy his own soul, I cannot rule out the intervention of a third-party power…
An Aeon?
That’s right—he mentioned he was an Emanator of an Aeon.
That Aeon’s name was…
[xxxx].
“…” Ye Cang pressed two fingers to his temple, massaging it counterclockwise for a moment.
He felt as if those four redacted characters were strangely familiar, yet he had no Remembrance of them whatsoever.
Giving up for now, he closed the diary and walked down the corridor toward the front car of the train.
Along the way, he passed three rooms.
The nameplates read Welt, Himeko, and March 7th in turn—evidently their respective private quarters.
He tried turning the doorknobs, but none opened.
The door to the Archives was unlocked, but it was empty inside, with no sign of Dan Heng.
So he jotted down another entry in the diary: 12.
Two anomalies: March 7th’s room door cannot be opened, and Dan Heng is absent from the Archives.
No danger encountered so far.
With nothing left to explore in this car, Ye Cang stowed the notebook in his jacket and walked toward the Parlor Car ahead.
He cautiously pushed open the connecting door between the cars, his body slightly crouched as he took a light step back, ready to react to any sudden danger.
*Creak—* The expected horror or attack never came.
As the partition door slid open, a bubbly, beautiful girl came into view.
She had neatly trimmed, shoulder-length pink hair and beautiful gradient eyes resembling rose quartz half-submerged where the ocean meets the blue sky.
She wore a distinctive blue-and-white jacket paired with a sailor collar and bowtie.
Holding a plate of mini cakes, she turned halfway, looking in surprise at Ye Cang, who stood frozen in place, before a warm, sunshiny smile bloomed across her face.
“Hi!
Ye Cang, you’re awake?
I was just about to bring you some cake!
Come try it!
It’s an absolute masterwork dessert baked by Conductor Pom-Pom himself!” “M…
March 7th?” Ye Cang felt dazed.
Before he could react further, the pink-haired girl affectionately grabbed his arm and yanked him straight into the Parlor Car.
Only then did he notice the long wooden table set in the center of the elegantly decorated Parlor Car, flanked by huge translucent windows on both sides.
Welt Yang, Himeko, Dan Heng, and Pom-Pom sat along its sides, leaving the open seats at either end for Ye Cang and March 7th.
“Everyone’s…
here.” Bewildered, Ye Cang was pushed into the head seat by March 7th.
The playful girl hopped over to the far end of the long table, leaning forward on one delicate foot with one hand braced on the tabletop.
Raising a sparkling crystal wine glass toward him, she giggled.
“Come on!
Let’s toast the guest of honor at our party—our very own Ye Cang—for successfully making it to April 26th of the Astral Calendar!
Cheers!” “…” The smile froze on Ye Cang’s face.
*Ye Cang?
How does she know my name is Ye Cang?* *The owner of this body she knew was supposed to be [Cang]!* *And “successfully making it to April 26th”…
that was a fact nobody should know except himself and the original owner of this body!* Then, he remembered the words [Cang] had written at the very end of the diary: *”Beware of March 7th.”*