Real World
The players, having discovered new characters in the Punklorde teaser PV, naturally wouldn't pass up any opportunity to make new content. And as the MVP of the PV, the beautiful older sister Veyl naturally became the players' new target for torment and memes.
Because the element of Veyl's bionic arms was just too perfectly suited for Wende's massage skills, a series of meme images and comics about Wende teaching Veyl massage techniques began to circulate. The fan artist known as the "CP Queen" even personally drew a short comic strip of Wende and Veyl.
Veyl: Master, do I press here?
(CRUNCH…)
Stelle, acting as the test subject, slowly gave a thumbs-up, the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth shockingly conspicuous.
"Er… yes, but also… maybe not."
Wende said this as he quietly dialed 120.
It was believed that this scene would become even more chaotic once miHoYo officially released her character model. In short, just by showing her face once, the lovely Sister Veyl had already become the players' new source of entertainment.
There was no other reason for it; the functionality of bionic arms was simply too vast. It was hard for them not to be memed to death (helpless shrug). As for the other two new characters who made an appearance, they certainly wouldn't be spared by the players either!
From the moment the Punklorde PV was released until now, the number one spot on a certain video site's lewd art rankings was… Star Rail's second shota! The white-socked Nolan!
What? You ask who's number one? That's obviously little Wende! Little Wende is number one in the world!
But little Nolan…
[[He can't compare to my wife/husband/mother/father little Wende, but he'll do in a pinch.]]
[[It's fine! They're both my XP!]]
[[@GenshinImpact, your little sister game is releasing shotas, and you're still hung up on those generic teenage boys of yours?]]
[[We want shotas! We want shotas! Give us shotas!!!!]]
[[Do you guys actually want shotas, or do you just want to expose your inner lust?]]
[[Can't I just pour my xx onto a sho-...]]
[[User has been banned]]
[[The light of righteousness!]]
---
"This probably doesn't have anything to do with me, right…?"
Wende shook his head. Hope that guy's okay.
He didn't even know how many Emotion Points he had accumulated by now. A million still seemed like a distant dream, didn't it?
Whatever. He never held much hope for it anyway. That unknown reward was just a pie in the sky the system had drawn for him. No matter what the reward was, he'd have to be the one to make sense of it. Rather than kill his own brain cells, it was better to just let it sit there…
"Wait, isn't there something I haven't used yet?"
As if something had just occurred to him, Wende neatly arranged all the ingredients on the cutting board. Then, under Stelle's completely baffled gaze, he thoughtfully tied an apron on for her and gave her a big thumbs-up.
"Do your best! Everyone's dinner tonight is counting on you!"
Wende patted Stelle's shoulder with great confidence. Before she even had a chance to ask a question, he slipped out of the kitchen and hurried back to his bedroom.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, Wende looked at the one-time [Crossover] opportunity on his system panel and took a deep breath.
How could he have forgotten about this thing?
He slapped himself on the head. Was it because he turned small and then got dragged away by Stelle to be a workhorse for a while? Did the experience dumb him down?
Gazing at the crossover option, Wende's hand hesitated.
What level of "crossover" did this even mean? Would he travel to another game world… or would it be some other kind of story related to him? Would he become a playable character again? Or an NPC?
If this crossover really sent him to another world, what would happen to this one? Would he just be missing? Or would the system pause time here?
It couldn't be that he'd develop a split personality, right? Two Wendes?
No, no, that was a bit too horrifying.
For a moment, Wende was indecisive. This damn system panel didn't even have a customer service line; he had no idea about the specifics…
Steeling himself, Wende thought through every possibility, not daring to treat the crossover option lightly.
"Tsk… I can't just let it sit here forever, can I? How many favorability points did I have to sacrifice for this thing? Judging by the bullet comments from the last livestream, there are probably more smut doujins of me than there are of Pom-Pom! After paying such a huge price, it can't possibly screw me over, right?"
Wende thought about his image in the real world… better not to think about it. At this point, even if he cursed out those players in the real world, they'd probably just beg him to curse at them some more.
Sigh… Only by becoming a character yourself do you realize just how utterly insane the craziness you used to partake in was!
He lamented, he felt ashamed, and he'd probably do it again next time…
"Whatever, a crossover is a crossover. Based on the system's usual bullshit, it probably can't do anything too terrible to me, right?"
Wende clung to a sliver of hope as he lightly tapped the [Crossover] button on the screen.
[Please select the world you wish to crossover with.]
[1. Guns Girl Z]
[2. Honkai Impact 3rd]
[3. Genshin Impact]
[4. Tears of Themis]
"…"
Looking at the options on the screen, Wende fell into a deep silence.
So… you really are a fucking miHoYo system? These options are way too specific! And how is Tears of Themis even on here?! If I went there, wouldn't I be cursed by ten thousand people?!
After a fierce internal roast, Wende looked at the options and began to mull them over again.
First, Guns Girl Z was definitely a pass. He was afraid of being "blood-sucked" by the Second Sister. He couldn't risk something happening to him in Star Rail over a crossover; his home was still here, after all!
Tears of Themis could also be passed on. It wasn't even in the same league…
That left miHoYo's third sister and fourth sister to consider.
Wende stroked his chin, lost in thought.
Genshin Impact… seemed a bit unreliable. What if he went over there and had to design a character kit for himself again? He didn't want to burn any more brain cells on that kind of thing!
Honkai Impact 3rd… If he did a crossover with Honkai 3rd, he probably wouldn't become a playable character, right? After all, only Valkyries were controllable characters…
"Alright! Then I choose Honkai Impact 3rd!"
After everything he'd been through, Wende, who had been successfully conditioned by the system to just go with the flow, decisively chose Honkai Impact 3rd. The worst that could happen was becoming a Stigma. That was way better than designing a whole character and weapon!
[Honkai Impact 3rd crossover selected. Honkai: Star Rail will begin its open beta in the world of Honkai Impact 3rd in ten minutes.]
"???? Whaaaat!!!!"