Sparkle’s heart tightened.
The next second, the sound of uniform footsteps echoed from outside the room—it was the sound of countless Herta Puppets activating simultaneously, dense and swarming in from all directions.
Herta walked back to her chair, sat down again, and fixed her purple eyes on the large screen in front of her.
On the screen, the surveillance feeds began to switch; every corner was being searched one by one by countless Herta Puppets.
Bullet comments—
[WTF WTF WTF!]
[Streamer, run!]
[Herta is getting serious!]
[It’s over, it’s over, it’s over.]
[Streamer, are you still there?]
Sparkle swallowed, but she didn’t move.
Why would she run?
The safest place for her right now was right here.
No matter how much Herta searched, she would never find her own room—who would think that the person they were looking for was standing right under their nose?
She stood where she was, watching the surveillance feeds on the screen switch rapidly, watching countless Herta Puppets shuttle through the corridors, watching them search cabin by cabin, holding hammers, expressionless, their movements as uniform as an army.
It was somewhat spectacular.
The bullet comments were also scrolling—
[This scene is amazing.]
[So many little Herta Puppets.]
[So cute, I want one.]
[Streamer, are you still not running?]
[She’s betting that Herta won’t think of it.]
Sparkle’s lips curled up.
She bet right.
Herta stared at the screen for a long time, her brows furrowing tighter and tighter.
Those Herta Puppets had searched every corner and turned over every cabin, but they hadn’t found anything.
That white-haired girl had seemingly vanished into thin air.
Herta’s fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of her chair, her purple eyes narrowing slightly.
Sparkle stood by and watched, feeling so amused—
“So this is what it feels like to madly test the boundaries of courting death?”
“It’s too thrilling!”
She leaned in a little closer, wanting to see the expression on Herta’s face clearly.
That little face was within reach, the light from the screen reflected in her purple eyes, blinking occasionally, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
Herta, when she was serious, was even more…
Wait.
Sparkle suddenly felt a vibration.
It wasn’t her shaking; the entire space station was shaking.
“Boom!”
A violent explosion came from the distance; the lights in the room flickered a few times, and the data streams on the screen experienced a brief disruption.
Herta lifted her eyes slightly, looking in a certain direction.
Toward the platform.
The Doomsday Beast was fighting the members of the Astral Express.
Sparkle stumbled, her body uncontrollably lunging forward—
And then she crashed straight forward, losing her balance completely.
Time stopped.
Sparkle maintained her clumsy, lunging posture, having bumped straight into the back of Herta’s chair, her shoulder brushing against the fine, elaborate fabrics of the puppet’s elegant Victorian dress.
She could feel the sudden stiffness of the situation, the absolute stillness of the room, and then—
A small, firm hand instantly caught her by the collar to steady the collision.
Sparkle slowly raised her head.
Herta was looking down at her.
There was no expression in those purple eyes, just staring straight at her, making Sparkle’s back go cold.
That exquisite face was less than ten centimeters away, close enough to see herself reflected in the depths of those eyes—a stunned, completely busted version of herself.
Sparkle’s brain crashed for three seconds.
Invisibility?
Oh right, invisibility.
That sudden physical impact, the disruption of her focus—
She stiffly looked down at herself, then stiffly looked up at Herta, and finally stiffly squeezed out a smile.
“Oh my…”
Her voice was dry, “What…
what a coincidence…”
Herta didn’t speak, just kept looking at her.
Bullet comments—
[???????]
[WTF, she materialized!!]
[Contact breaks it?!]
[It’s over, it’s over, it’s over, it’s over.]
[Streamer, run!!]
[This, this, this, this, this]
[Streamer, you really are careless.]
[I’m afraid it was an intentional carelessness.]
[Streamer, was it on purpose?]
Sparkle continued to smile: “If I said I was looking for the restroom and took a wrong turn…
do…
do…
do you believe me?”
Herta’s eyes narrowed slightly.
From that narrowing of her eyes, Sparkle read four distinct words—
What.
Do.
You.
Think.
Sparkle felt her blood run cold.
The next second.
Sparkle moved.
She practically scrambled backward away from Herta and bolted for the door.
Her white twin-tails whipped out two silver arcs behind her, and in her red eyes, there was only one thought—
Run, run, run, run, run!
A light voice came from behind her:
“All Herta Puppets, the target is in Cabin 3, Zone B.”
Sparkle’s scalp tingled.
She rushed straight into the corridor.
Then—
“Bang!”
Just as Sparkle rushed out of the room, a black shadow whistled in from the side!
She instinctively dodged to the side, and a Herta Puppet holding a hammer bigger than itself swept past her; the hammer smashed into the wall, creating a deep dent!
Sparkle’s pupils constricted!
Another Herta Puppet rushed over from the other end of the corridor, also holding a hammer, also expressionless, also murderous!
“Hiss—!!!”
Sparkle took off running!
Behind her, the sound of hammers smashing into the floor went “bang bang,” and cracks appeared in the floorboards.
Sparkle didn’t even dare to look back, her short legs moving rapidly, her red and white figure sprinting through the corridor.
“Help—!!!”
Her voice echoed in the corridor.
Behind her, seven or eight Herta Puppets were in hot pursuit, hammers held high, each swing bringing a gust of wind.
While running, Sparkle turned her head to look at Fuli on her shoulder: “What other tricks do you have?!
Tell me quickly!”
Fuli was holding onto her collar, its little paws trembling slightly, but its tone remained leisurely: “There is one.”
Sparkle’s eyes lit up: “What, what?!
Hurry up!”
“Keep pulling.”
Sparkle almost choked.
Now?!
I have seven or eight hammer-wielding ones behind me, and you want me to pull?!”
Fuli spread its paws: “What else then?
Teleportation works too, but are you willing to leave?”
Sparkle gritted her teeth.
She wasn’t willing.
Although she was being chased miserably right now, she wasn’t willing to just teleport away like this.
Besides, who knows what kind of place it would be if she teleported to the next world?
What if it were one of those high-risk worlds where you land and immediately face a massive ultimate attack?
That would be truly hopeless.
“Pull!”
She squeezed the word out through her teeth, “How much do I have left now?”
A translucent panel appeared in front of Fuli, and the number on it made her vision go dark.
[elation points: 2950]
“That’s not right?!”
Sparkle’s eyes widened while sprinting, “I saw over four thousand before!
Are you messing with me?!”
Fuli spread its paws, its tone innocent: “Where do you think those bullet comments from just now popped out from?”
Sparkle was choked up.
Those bullet comments.
Those bullet comments with maxed-out special effects.
So they were all burned from elation points?
She thought it was some flashy move Fuli pulled, but it turned out it was burning money—no, burning elation points.
“You—” She gritted her teeth.
Sparkle dodged another flying hammer, turned into another corridor, and continued sprinting: “500 points per pull!
Do you know how expensive that is!”
Fuli chewed on a banana, its tone containing a hint of grievance: “I didn’t set the price; go talk to the system.”
“Why isn’t it 160 per pull!”
Sparkle was on the verge of tears, “Aren’t we Mi-style!”
“Do you understand inflation?”
Fuli rolled its eyes, “Do you understand financial crisis?
Do you understand rising raw material prices?
Even bananas have gone up in price now; I want to file a complaint myself!”
“Shut Up!!!”
Fuli hurriedly waved its paws: “Stop talking, stop talking, pull first, pull first, they’re catching up behind!”
Sparkle looked back and saw that the Herta Puppets had already caught up within five meters.
“Pull, pull, pull!
Pull quickly!”
Fuli extended its little paw and swiped in the air.
A virtual gacha interface appeared, flickering with light—
Then a ray of light flashed.
[First pull: Consumed 500 elation points]
[Congratulations!
Obtained—t-virus (Resident Evil series)]
Sparkle almost crashed headfirst into the wall.
“What the hell is this?!”
She grabbed the small bottle that appeared out of thin air, looking at the conspicuous “Umbrella” logo on it, and felt terrible.
“What’s the use of this thing?!”
She yelled wildly while running: “It might be good for showing off on Blue Star, but what is this thing in the Honkai: Star Rail world?
If you smash this on the ground, people who don’t know might think it’s someone’s spit!!!”
At least from Sparkle’s perspective, given the power scaling in Honkai: Star Rail, this thing was no different from spit on the ground, maybe even worse.
Fuli scratched its head: “Uh…
at least it’s a collectible?”
“Collect your head!!!”