She grabbed the monkey, lowered her voice, and said urgently, “Teleport!
Teleport!
Anywhere!
Get me out of here!”
The monkey blinked, “Are you sure?”
“Sure!!!”
“Alright then.”
The monkey jumped down from her hands, swiped its little paws through the air, and muttered, “The world is a dazzling place, I go wherever I want—Teleportation, activate!”
Sparkle’s vision twisted instantly.
It was as if a hand had crumpled the entire world into a ball and then suddenly pulled it apart.
Colors and lights all churned together, turning into a chaotic blur.
The last sound she heard came from outside the door—
“Is anyone there?
If you don’t open the door, we’re going to find a way in—”
Then everything vanished.
The knocking continued, but there was no response from inside the room.
After knocking for a while longer, voices drifted in from outside:
“Is there nobody here?”
“Didn’t they say this room often has loud shouting and commotion?
How come no one has come out?”
“Maybe they went out?”
“Knock again.”
They knocked for a few more minutes.
Still no response.
The two uniformed officers looked at each other, and one of them scratched his head, “That’s strange.
I clearly heard sounds coming from inside.”
“Forget it.
Let’s head back for now and check again tonight.”
The footsteps faded away.
The hallway fell quiet again.
Sunlight shone in from the window at the end of the corridor, landing on the tightly shut door.
Behind the door, the room was completely empty.
11:47 PM, a university male dormitory.
Kennato lay on his bed, holding his phone above his face.
The faint light from the screen illuminated a face typical of someone pulling an all-nighter—dark circles under his eyes, a dazed gaze, and the classic expression of someone thinking, “Just five more minutes and then I’ll sleep.”
He had maintained this position for over two hours.
He didn’t know what was wrong with the AC Station’s recommendation algorithm today; one moment it was showing him random gibberish, the next it was pushing “You’re Already Crying,” and then it pushed “Cabbage Smiles at Me.”
He scrolled and scrolled, scrolling until his finger was almost calloused.
“Boring…”
He muttered, his thumb continuing to swipe up.
Then he stopped.
In the livestream recommendation bar on the left side of the screen, a small thumbnail caught his eye.
The cover featured a young girl with white hair and red eyes, wearing twin tails, with heart and diamond face paint, a small top hat on her head, making a peace sign at the camera. This chapter is updated first at novelping(.)com.
Just as he was about to close it to go to sleep, he caught sight of a livestream room in the corner.
The title read: [Honkai: Star Rail] Fan creation?
AI?
Special effects?
Come watch Sparkle-chan take you on a tour of the real Herta Space Station!
Below it was a line of small text: All AI!
All special effects!
All big production!
Do not take it seriously!
Kennato’s finger paused.
He had seen plenty of clickbait titles these days, but this was the first time he’d seen one like this.
He scoffed, thinking it was just another small streamer trying to ride the hype of Honkai: Star Rail, probably just finding a coser to awkwardly act in front of a green screen, then adding some AI effects to fool people.
But his hand clicked on it uncontrollably.
As soon as the livestream appeared, Kennato was stunned.
It wasn’t a green screen, it wasn’t a studio.
The screen showed a room full of sci-fi vibes—silvery-white metal walls, streamlined cabin doors, intricate pipes and indicator lights overhead, and transparent portholes in the distance, with the pitch-black universe and twinkling starlight outside.
A few lines of text floated in the corner of the screen, scrolling continuously:
[This livestream is purely special effects synthesis; all scenes are AI-generated]
[The streamer is in a professional studio, please do not take it seriously]
[The streamer has a hole in her brain, the hole has water, the water has fish, the fish are blowing bubbles, and the bubbles are full of fun!]
[Fan creation, unrelated to the official game, focused purely on entertainment]
Kennato blinked.
There weren’t many people watching the livestream, just about three hundred, but the comments were scrolling by incredibly fast—
“Holy crap, what level of special effects is this?”
“Is this real-time rendering done in Unreal Engine 5?”
“This environment is too realistic, what studio could build something like this?”
“No way, with this lighting and these reflections, you’re telling me this is AI?”
“The streamer’s voice is so nice, it sounds a bit like…
you know who…”
“Like who?
Say it, don’t leave us hanging!”
Kennato only then realized there was no sound on the screen.
He frowned, reached out to tap the screen, and turned the volume all the way up.
The next second, a crisp voice entered his ears—
“Yes, yes, yes, this is all special effects!
All special effects!
This is our fan creation studio, a real-life set built with a Honkai: Star Rail theme, aiming for an immersive experience!
I am your good streamer, Sparkle-chan, welcome everyone to today’s absurd livestream!”
On screen, a young girl with white hair held a phone, speaking directly into the camera.
Her long white hair was tied into twin tails, with delicate braids at the ends that swayed gently as she spoke.
She wore a small top hat tilted on her head, with a spade pendant hanging from the brim, heart and diamond face paint on her face, and matching heart and diamond earrings dangling from her earlobes.
She wore a modified red and white uniform with wide sleeves and a neck accessory with a plum blossom pattern—
It was as if she had walked straight out of the game.
No, it should be said she was even…
even more vivid than in the game.
Sparkle leaned closer to the camera, her red eyes magnifying on the screen, her eyelashes long and curled, her skin so white it was almost transparent.
She tilted her head, the heart painted on her face wrinkling slightly, looking incredibly playful.
“Dear bosses, today I’ll show you something real.”
She lowered her voice mysteriously, “Although it’s all fake, even fake things have to be faked seriously, right?”
After saying this, she turned around, and the phone camera swept across the entire cabin.
There were tiny scratches on the silvery-white walls, and a few crates were piled in the corner, with the Herta Space Station logo stuck on them, even showing traces of dust.
The pipes overhead occasionally flashed with the light of indicator lamps, and the starry sky outside the porthole was moving slowly—
Kennato stared at the screen, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.
Something was wrong.
This was too wrong.
Although he wasn’t a special effects expert, he had watched enough behind-the-scenes footage of big movies to know what green screen compositing looked like.
The lighting, reflections, depth of field, and all those details in this frame.
How the hell could this be AI?
The comments were already exploding—
“No way, is this really not actual footage?”
“Streamer, where on earth are you???”
“What film studio can build a set like this?
Tell me and I’ll go check it out!”
“Wait, look outside the window, the stars are moving!!!”
Sparkle leaned over to the porthole and pointed the camera outside.
In the pitch-black universe, there was a huge blue planet in the distance, with twinkling stars, and occasionally, the light of a shooting star streaked by.
“Fake, fake, it’s all fake.”
Sparkle’s voice came from off-screen, with a hint of a smile, “Outside is a giant LED screen, a studio we built with a huge investment.
You know, money makes you willful.”
As she said this, she reached out and knocked on the porthole.
“Knock, knock.”
It sounded solid.
Kennato swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
What the hell kind of livestream is this?
Sparkle turned back, made a peace sign at the camera, the heart painted on her face wrinkling even more from her smile: “Alright, alright, whether it’s real or fake, next, Sparkle-chan will lead everyone to tour this—uh—Herta Space Station themed studio!
I emphasize again, everything is fake!
It’s all acting!
Please don’t mind it!
It’s all special effects!
It’s all AI!
It’s all technology!”