The world through the eyes of Aha, the Aeon of Elation?
His curiosity far outweighed his reverence for supreme beings.
Ye Cang cupped the black-and-white mask in both hands and pressed it against his face.
At his touch, the mask came alive, instantly turning into a viscous gel that adhered snugly to his skin, fusing seamlessly as if the two had become one.
A voice resonated in his mind: [System initializing…
Game *Honkai: Star Rail of Abomination* installed.
Loading login system…] [Downloading update patch…
Checking file integrity…
99%…
100%!] [Verifying system holder information…
ID: Ye Cang.
Welcome to the world of *Honkai: Star Rail of Abomination*.] A magnificent cosmic star chart unfolded before Ye Cang.
At the heart of the cosmos, where thousands of stars coalesced, a line of text quietly shimmered: [Click anywhere on the interface to enter the game.] Following the instruction, Ye Cang reached out and tapped the star chart.
The world expanded instantly before his eyes, and a mini avatar of Ye Cang appeared at the center of the universe—right beneath a massive tree of light.
Beside him stood four icons representing Paths: Remembrance, Elation, Abundance, and…
Envisage.
Envisage?
What Path was that?
He had never heard of it before!
The four Path icons presumably represented four Pathstriders’ lords—the four Aeons before him.
Ye Cang carefully lifted his head to look at Aha, the Aeon of Elation who had given him the black-and-white mask.
A terrifying status panel materialized in front of his eyes: ———— [Aeon of Elation: Aha] Path: Elation Rank: Aeon Light Cone: The Humor of Life Eidolon: ★★★★★★ Relics: Lord of Elation’s Game (?), Tomb of the Mourners (?) Traces: ?
Information: “Erudition is a heap of scrap metal, Preservation is a blockhead, Hunt has zero sense of humor, and Destruction is a lunatic.
All Aeons are one-track minded—Aha gets no respect at all!” — A (self-proclaimed) astronomy expert Masked Fool To understand joy is the exclusive privilege of intelligent life; neither cold stone nor burning stars can appreciate the humor of existence.
For uncounted eons, Aha has pursued the essence of Elation— Seeking worthy rivals to play against, games to pass the age, and endings unconcerned with victory or defeat; Seeking knee-slapping jokes, absurd misunderstandings born of chance, and wild, soaring ballads.
And now, facing the source of abominable contamination that threatens to infect the cosmos, Aha’s long-dormant blood surges once more.
“Let’s play a game.
This time, the wager is the entire universe.” ———— Staring at the status panel filled almost entirely with question marks, even someone as composed as Ye Cang couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.
The power of an Aeon was far beyond his comprehension—in a sense, it couldn’t be quantified by numbers at all.
How could paper stats ever express the terrifying combat power that could obliterate stars and galaxies with a wave of a hand?
Ye Cang racked his brain and couldn’t come up with a thing, ultimately accepting the question marks provided by the system and adopting an attitude of solemn respect.
Taking advantage of the moment, Ye Cang glanced at the other three Aeons one by one, intending to record their data for future reference.
However, his small scheme was easily seen through by Aha, who casually swatted him out of the illusory world housing the Tree of Existence, saying with a beaming smile, “Peek at things you shouldn’t, and you just might die, you know!” It felt like falling from the clouds, or awakening from a grand dream.
Ye Cang slowly opened his eyes to a familiar yet unfamiliar ceiling.
This time, there was no piercing pain, no crazed raving.
He woke from the dream, but apart from the sky-shrouding Tree of Existence supporting the galaxy and the four majestic figures standing beneath it, he remembered nothing else.
Including his origins, his birth, his transmigration, and that endless 25th day.
He rolled out of bed and sat down beside the empty desk.
A line of text, shining like starlight, appeared before his eyes: [Prologue: Night of the Galactic Abomination] With a thought, the text dissipated like smoke, outlining a familiar attribute interface: [Pathless Walker: Ye Cang] Path: None (Pseudo-Abundance) Rank: Emanator Light Cone: None Eidolon: None Relics: None Traces: High-Dimensional Observer, Curse of Eternal Damnation, Turn-Based Combat Inventory: *Death Diary*, Black-and-White Mask Information: The end of the Path is ill omen.
The starry sky is tainted by abominable contamination, and the world is choked with malice and madness.
All Aeons have become unnamable abominations.
Eerie, ominous, contaminated, dark, rotten, chaotic, insane, foolish, crimson…
You can trust no one.
The only one you can trust is yourself.
Now, march forward through death—O Pathless Walker.
———— “Is this…
a game world named *Honkai: Star Rail of Abomination*?” Ye Cang paused.
The blank space in his Remembrance seemed to reveal a few familiar outlines.
Guided by that vague sense of familiarity, he immediately locked his gaze on the empty desk.
*There should be a diary here.* As the thought formed, he saw a black leather diary materialize out of thin air on the desktop.
[*Death Diary*] Rarity: ★★★★★ Purpose: Sacrifice Remembrance, rewind time Information: A diary carrying the power of Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance, and an unknown Aeon.
Possessing the power to turn back time, its cost is the consumption of the user’s memories.
Ye Cang gasped slightly.
As expected, his memories of what happened before the rewind were rapidly being extracted from his mind!
Without hesitation, he flipped open the diary, glanced at the three answers he had previously written, quickly retrieved his fountain pen, and penned a line beneath them: *In the Interstice of Paths, I was granted an audience with four Aeons.
They were—Elation, Remembrance, and…?* Who were the other two?
He had forgotten.
Ye Cang’s brow furrowed.
The rate at which his Remembrance faded was far faster than he had anticipated.
Yet, his memories from before his transmigration remained completely unaffected!
Was it because the *Death Diary* could not absorb memories that didn’t belong to this world?
Or perhaps…
He didn’t dwell on it.
Shifting his gaze upward, he began scanning his recorded memories and quickly discovered another characteristic of the *Death Diary*— The words recorded in the diary were not erased from his mind as his Remembrance faded.
As long as something was written down on these pages, he retained a clear Remembrance to validate it.
“I see.
So that’s why keeping a diary diligent is necessary?” Ye Cang muttered to himself before slowly rising to his feet.
With a thought, the *Death Diary* vanished from his hands, replaced by the half-black, half-white mask of a comical clown.
“Elation, huh?” Ye Cang raised his hand, resting the black-and-white mask against his face before walking toward the door.
“Come on then.
Let me begin…
Round Two!”