It was Aventurine—who hadn't appeared again since being overpowered by Acheron!
And a strange female voice!
The sudden post-credit surprise instantly pulled the audience back in!
--------------------------------------
"Diamond just initiated a meeting—about you. After all, the cost of losing a cornerstone is far too high."
In the room, Aventurine was gently stroking his ear with his finger, seemingly on a call with someone.
On the other end of the line was an incredibly lazy-sounding female voice.
"As expected. So is 'Diamond' planning to demote me, or kick me out of the Ten Stonehearts?"
Aventurine looked fine, and his tone had regained that usual flippancy.
And from this brief exchange, the audience could already guess what was going on.
Because of the cornerstone's destruction, Aventurine had to take responsibility.
"It's a rare opportunity—why not take a gamble?" Jade said gracefully from the other end.
"Hmph, fine, I'll bet. Let's see which rotten place collapses first, Area B46."
Familiar with Jade's style, Aventurine cut in before she could speak: "Of course, the stake is my life—just like before, ma'am."
"Haha, alright."
"In that case, let's quietly wait for the end of the bet. But before that, you should enjoy it while you can."
"Thanks to you, the moment the Jade Stone was sent to The Family, The IPC's arrangements were already in place."
"Now, it's harvest time…"
Just as Aventurine was about to say more in response to Jade—
He suddenly glanced around the floor with a serious expression.
"That's all for now, ma'am. We'll talk another day."
He hung up the call and turned around.
At some unknown point, the two guards outside the door had already collapsed on the ground, and Boothill was standing in the room, the muzzle of his gun aimed firmly at him.
"A IPC fugitive dares to knock out two employees in broad daylight—do you know what that means?"
As usual, Aventurine tried to probe the Galaxy Ranger before him with words.
But Boothill was already out of patience.
"Cut the crap! Tell me—where is Oswaldo Schneider!"
Boothill's voice was low and growling, like a wolf's howl squeezed from his throat, filled with uncontainable hatred and killing intent.
This short scene, lasting less than a minute,
Once again piqued the audience's interest, eyes glued to the screen.
But just then—
The screen went black.
The scene ended completely!
...
: Aaaaaahhhh! Damn it! Can MiHoYo let me go just once?! Stop cutting off like this!
: We already had the perfect ending after defeating Sunday, when Little Robin reunited with Sunday. Why come out and tease us again!?
: Aventurine meeting Boothill, Jade's plan, The IPC facing The Family next—God, I really want to know what happens next!
: Damn you, Mihoyo!!
...
Just when the audience was satisfied, this post-credits scene stirred them up again.
All kinds of curse words flooded the screen.
But no matter what was said—
The nerve-wracking Penacony arc finally got a perfect ending.
And Mihoyo's answer sheet exceeded all expectations.
...
#PenaconyEnding
#TheMostElaborateFakeEnding
#WhoGotFooled
#Mikhail
#Sunday
#PenaconyForeshadowing
Related trending searches instantly topped the charts on all major platforms.
The traffic was so huge, even the internet were lit up by it.
And with the full conclusion of the arc—
Alongside that surge in traffic came reviews from big names across the industry.
"I can now declare: the Penacony arc has exceeded even the entire Xianzhou's narrative peak."
"A true masterpiece."
In the livestream room, Rion took off his glasses, wiped the lenses, then earnestly returned to work.
As a renowned screenwriter, he felt compelled to explain what made Penacony so brilliant.
The audience might know the show was good, but not why it was good—if he could use this chance to raise viewers' critical standards and eliminate space for trash series, he'd be more than happy.
"We talked before the twist, how it pressed down the pressure…"
"All I can say is, after watching so many episodes of Honkai: Star Rail, I can responsibly tell everyone—"
"A show with an outline is a good show. Without one? Trash!"
"I'm calling out a bunch of current shows right now—are you kidding me? That's what you call a series? Half a script gets filmed, and when they run out, the director, screenwriter, and actors slap stuff together to drag it out."
Rion pointed at the camera, looking like he was about to explode: "The first twelve episodes had high standards. The next thirty-six? All made up on the fly. They'll spend twenty minutes filming someone eating a meal—what garbage. Now look at Honkai Star Rail."
"The creativity throughout the whole plot is out of this world! Absolutely imaginative."
"Every scene, every line, even the acting—none of it is meaningless."
"Everything is either foreshadowing or a hint. And even more impressively, they tied everything together in the end. No, not just 'tied together'—everything was part of their plan from the very beginning."
...
: Holy crap, the way he put it, it really does make Star Rail look like that.
: And each episode is basically movie-length. The third episode is nearly three hours long. Yet in such a massive runtime, it seems like there's not a single shot that's wasted.
: It's all essence—no filler. And it doesn't feel boring at all. It's mind-bending, but with just a few simple clues, it brings you joy and drives you to explore deeper layers on your own.
: It's all intentional guidance, I'd say. It's really astonishing.
: Where the hell did MiHoYo find this group of people?
...
Looking at the comments in his livestream chat, Rion couldn't help but laugh.
"One student said something very true."
"Star Rail doesn't feel dull. A lot of the information is actually new, but it's not hard to understand because it leads you in very simple ways that fully immerse you."
"Like the structure of Episode 1 and 2."
"A lot of people can't quite turn that mental corner—they don't think about the deeper layers, the struggle of fate, or whether the characters' actions are suspicious."
"But they can be guided by a murder case, and think: hey, is Firefly the villain? Is Aventurine the villain? Is Acheron the real villain? They can pick up on that."
"So it ends up feeling like a suspense film. Everyone wants to solve the mystery! And with that, it doesn't even need complicated exposition."
"And beneath that layer of suspense and thrill, the plot slowly gives you more information. It starts with character setups and conflicts, and gradually evolves into ideological clashes, struggles. It deepens the core underneath the simple surface."
"It gets our blood boiling."
As Ms. Yun continued after Rion, she pulled out her little blackboard and started writing and sketching furiously on the front.
Soon, the board was filled edge to edge with dense writing.
nameless — Trailblaze and investigating the missing Nameless — dragged into murder case — uncovering the truth — Watchmaker's secret revealed — inheriting the will.
Aventurine — reclaiming Penacony for The IPC — drawn into murder case — battling Sunday — seemingly defeated but actually breaks the game — revealing his origins, shaping his character.
Acheron — mysterious first appearance — drawn into murder case — knows a lot but waits for timing, which increases viewer suspicion of her being the killer — reversal — but her goal remains a mystery.
Sunday — gentle first appearance — duel with Aventurine looks like he's the boss — brother of a murder victim (clears viewer suspicion) — part of the murder case left unresolved.
Gallagher — ordinary uncle — one of the murder case investigators — kills Sunday (character twist, shocking impact).
Firefly — sudden encounter — wandering on the street together to create first audience impression — one of the murder victims — triggers audience emotions, intensifies the desire to find the killer.
At this point, Ms. Yun circled everything with a large ring.
Then she drew a downward-pointing arrow and wrote: "Who killed Robin?"
"There are so many clever design choices in Star Rail, I can only give you a rough outline, but each character's story thread has a lot of branching details—we won't get into those now."
Pointing to the writing on the blackboard, Ms. Yun said with emotion:
"Just by looking at this, you can recall the shock you felt while watching, right?"
"This whole part is basically Robin murder case."
"MiHoYo used identities—like Sunday being the brother, or Acheron's weird behavior—combined with their reactions to the crime, to lead us into misjudging."
"And then they use Gallagher to wrap up that entire story arc. By that point, we're already emotionally invested…"
"He's the killer? SHE'S the killer? Holy crap! How did he die?! HOLY CRAP!! You were the killer all along?!"
"Our emotions are yanked back and forth to a peak—wanting to find the killer, then finding the killer, then questioning why it all happened."
"Boom, we're trapped. Through the character Gallagher, and linking to Mikhail and the others, combined with the earlier dream memories, we fall into another emotional loop."
She continued writing on the blackboard.
Many people in the livestream were recording or silently taking notes.
Soon, Rion wrote a few more characters below the arrow.
Mikhail — a predecessor of the Nameless who died wrongfully — burning with rage, must clear their name — relic disappears (suspense) — Misha (foreshadowing resolved, audience shocked) — inheriting the will.
Dreamflux Reef — the dark side of Penacony — The Family isn't as glamorous as it appears — Stellaron crisis — conflict points back to The Family.
Boothill — space cowboy identity, boards The Express, goal is to find Acheron — his conversation with Dan Heng hints he'll use the alliance token, setting up a fake ending — fires the gun and declares the official return of the space cowboy.
After writing these, she added a few more notes to the storylines of the earlier characters.
Firefly – Revealing Identity – Target of the Stellaron Hunters.
Acheron – Boards The Express to meet Dan Heng and Aventurine – the reveal of her goal, related to a senior Cloud Knight – memories shape her identity and the story of Tiernan – in the final moment, her character is fully formed, leaping from the most suspected person to the most trusted one.
"At this point, all our emotions had shifted to demanding an explanation from The Family, because Penacony was full of hidden chaos."
"Of course, those in the bullet chat just here for fun don't count as people, haha."
Ms. Yun made a joke, then looked at the blackboard and said: "And if you want to resolve the Stellaron crisis, have you noticed how smoothly our logic transitioned? We can understand the shifts in the situation without needing too much information."
"Why?"
"Because MiHoYo had already laid out plenty of groundwork during the 'murder case' storyline."
"Other shows struggle to deepen impressions of new characters, but MiHoYo directly used a brilliantly crafted 'murder case' to preliminarily shape all the new characters, explain all the background stories, and plant all the foreshadowing."
"They didn't bore anyone, and even transitioned smoothly into the real plot of Penacony: the Stellaron disaster, the conflict with The Family, the clash between Order and the Trailblaze ideals."
"Their hooks were always there."
At this point, the hidden chaos was indeed overwhelming.
...
: Holy crap, that's why I feel like Penacony's plot is one twist after another, no way to stop!
: Amazing, pure skill.
: Just solved the murder case, and an even bigger mystery appears, tightly linked to familiar characters—there's no disconnect at all.
: Hearing the teacher say this, I finally see the full structure of Penacony. All I can say is—damn, it's brilliant!
...
"That's not all."
Looking at the bullet chat, Ms. Yun smiled slightly: "Each character is also connected to the faction they represent, and these connections will ultimately influence the decisions of the major forces in the galaxy, which makes the story vital within the worldbuilding."
"And makes us even more eager for the upcoming plot."
"Look, characters like Boothill, who aren't deeply tied to Penacony, provide the hook for the Cloud Knights and Xianzhou."
"The conversation between Sunday and the Dream Master hints that the true boss of Order is still at the Harmony base— even the Dream Master is just a pawn."
"The truth behind Harmony's annexation of Order was subtly hinted at when Robin embraced Sunday."
"Aventurine's dialogue represents that the IPC has long been eyeing this situation, ready to make a move."
"And that unused Alliance Jade Token, which keeps showing up to remind us of its existence—don't you want to know where it'll finally be used?"
"I don't know if you do, but I really want to find out what's behind all these damn setups!"
...
: Teacher stop, I'm dying of anticipation here holy crap!
: Damn, Teacher, maybe you shouldn't have said all that—I'd rather not know, now my brain won't stop thinking!
: But seriously, after hearing the analysis, I finally realize just how intricate these three Penacony episodes really are!
: Now to those production teams trying to copy Honkai Star Rail's success—I just want to ask, are you okay?
...
The bullet chat flooded the screen.
Many had already clipped this part and shared it across platforms.
At that moment, Ms. Yun just shook her head and said with heartfelt emotion:
"This group at MiHoYo manages to write every character well within a grand narrative, and through every character's story, depict the vastness of the universe."
"This kind of skill is truly despair-inducing."