"The choice... is yours."
Caelus heard these words and turned to look at the camera, as if asking the audience for help in making this decision.
[Red!]
[Red!]
[Red!]
[...]
[Blue!]
[Blue!]
[Blue!]
[...]
The barrage was flooded with these two choices.
[Red or blue? Why does this feel so familiar?]
[Where's Neo? Morpheus? The Matrix?]
[Wait, how should we choose? I don't get it!]
[Remember Interstellar? When the protagonist spent hours on a planet, but decades passed on the ship? It's the same idea!]
[Gravity affects time. Keep that in mind.]
[So what will Caelus choose?]
[Isn't that up to the writers?]
[Just tell Rocky the truth. We have no right to make this choice for him.]
[Pick blue. Can time really be overcome? Rocky might die before he even reaches her.]
[Are you heartless? If that's the ending, I'm taking Su Chen down with me.]
[Red! If they truly love each other, we shouldn't stop them, even if the ending is bittersweet.]
[Blue! Life is full of lies—what's one more?]
[Truth!]
[Lie!]
[...]
Unsurprisingly, the barrage exploded with debate.
Caelus stood before Rocky.
The familiar guitar BGM played again, its melancholic tone making the audience uneasy.
"Oh, my best man! You fixed the relay, right? And you've got the message backups—which one's mine?" Rocky eyed the two data chips in Caelus's hands, raising an eyebrow.
Caelus stared at the red and blue chips, seemingly lost in thought.
Finally, the camera focused on the blue one—the lie.
Then—
The blue chip was pocketed. "Red. This is Lesley's answer."
"You hesitated. Are you sure red's the one?"
"I'm sure."
...
Before long.
Rocky frowned deeply. "So waiting for her to return is impossible. Even if she travels for months across light-years, in my timeline, I'll be an old man by then.
Spending a lifetime waiting, enduring endless longing and loneliness...
Honestly, buddy, you didn't really think I'd be that naive, did you?
Hah! Of course I won't wait for her. I won't wait!"
Caelus said nothing, only patting Rocky's shoulder.
[Another couple defeated by distance...]
[Red was bad enough—blue would've been worse.]
[Maybe it's for the best. No point waiting for someone you can't afford to wait for. Reality's cruel like that.]
——
Just as the audience thought the story would end predictably—
Rocky's expression cleared. He gripped Caelus's shoulders firmly.
The BGM shifted to Take the Journey, the Season 1 ending theme.
"I won't wait...
I'll chase her. I'll chase time itself!
If spacetime has become a mountain between us, then instead of waiting for her to cross it, I'll climb it myself!
Maybe it'll take me ten years to live through one month of her time, but at least our timelines will sync.
That's better than sitting here doing nothing."
The camera zoomed in on Rocky's face—his eyes held no hesitation, as if speaking directly to the audience:
"Right?"
The barrage fell silent.
"Whatever you think, Caelus, my mind's made up. I'll talk to my mentor, pack my things, and go find Lesley!"
"But..."
After some back-and-forth, Caelus didn't stop him, only warning of the dangers ahead—which Rocky brushed off.
"Then take this poem." Rocky pulled a crumpled note from his messy desk. "Goodbye, my friend."
Caelus took it—Rocky's final poem: Goodbye, Herta.
Subtitles appeared beside the screen:
"Darkness musters in the distance,
Dissecting time with cruel precision.
The petals of love have fallen,
Like clockwork in infinite dimensions.
We've no choice but to slide into the universe's ominous tremor,
As if down a twilight slope.
Yet overhead, the stars still revel,
Their graceful weariness our only hope."
As the audience read, the BGM crescendoed perfectly with the final line:
#"Come with me, take the journey..."#
[Again?! miHoYo and their perfect timing!]
[So romantic—chasing time!]
[Betting everything to defy time itself! Pure love forever!]
[If the mountain won't come to me, I'll go to the mountain.]
[This BGM, plus that earlier guitar track... miHoYo nails this bittersweet cosmic melancholy.]
[Tearing up here. "I will chase time"—such a ridiculous yet heroic declaration!]
[I hope Rocky and Lesley get a happy ending.]
[No way—the progress bar's almost done!]
[What? There's still minutes left—enough for a whole song!]
[Caelus, if they make it, you have to be best man!]
[May Rocky overcome time itself and find his love.]
——
Some time later.
Back in the Master Control Zone, Bernard stood waiting.
Caelus returned the blue chip—the lie.
"I figured. Truth is, Rocky's my favorite student. If I'd told him myself, I wouldn't have been able to let go." Bernard exhaled in relief.
"That fool's impulsiveness—is it his strength or weakness?
Well... only time will tell."
With that, the story concluded. The Astral Express logo appeared once more.
[I should've listened to you guys. Why did I watch this late at night? Now I can't sleep!]
[I'm broken. Time for sad music and existential dread.]
["Only time will tell"? Su Chen!!! How dare you leave it open-ended! Just show them together!]
[Even one line would've been enough! Just lie to us!]
[miHoYo's back to their knife-throwing ways.]
[Not a knife—this is romance. Remember Star Rail's theme? Having the courage to move forward despite knowing the outcome. Fits the Trailblaze ideal perfectly!]
[Stop crying—there's still 5 minutes left!]
[Wait, is Su Chen showing mercy?]
[Let's gooo!]
——
The screen indeed cut to Rocky and Lesley.
Subtitles appeared:
"Song: 'To: The Faint Star'—Season 1 EP Release."
[One knife wasn't enough? You had to twist it?!]