[The Express is about to depart. Are you ready, Trailblazers? I hope this journey will eventually reach the stars!]
"Emm..."
Looking at the familiar Astral Express on the screen, the heart-wrenching music, and the eye-catching countdown to the server opening, Ilu couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
What is this...
Matryoshka?
Am I playing myself?
Or did I go back to the timeline before the server opening?
Since there is still some time before the game opens, Ilu clicked on the official community to see what the players were discussing—
[Open the door!]
[Very urgent, open the door quickly!]
[Huh ah ah ah ah ah!]
[Didn't you say that the server would be opened in advance? Why can't I get in?]
[Didn't you watch the preview live broadcast? This public beta has added a lot of content, and some plots have also changed. I'm afraid there will be problems if the server is opened early.]
[It is said that a new permanent crew member has been added to the Express group, but the gacha pool seems to have not changed. It is estimated that it is a four-star permanent crew member.]
"Huh?"
Looking at the comments from players one after another, Ilu's face was full of confusion.
When did the Express group add a new permanent crew member? She just met with March 7th and the others, and she didn't see anyone else right?
Wait!
As if she had thought of some possibility, the expression on her face froze instantly, and the corners of her mouth twitched.
Could this so-called four-star permanent character be me...?
"Hey, why do you have that expression? Did you remember something?"
Just then, Herta, who had just been directing the staff to organize the equipment not far away, suddenly came over. It scared Ilu, who subconsciously wanted to turn off the screen of her mobile phone.
But before the screen went dark, Herta still caught a glimpse of the content on it and frowned.
"Ilu, what are you looking at?"
"No, nothing."
"Be good, be obedient; let me see."
After all, this phone was given to her by Herta. If the other party wanted to take it back, Ilu would naturally feel embarrassed to refuse.
By the same token, she was not worried that the secret would be exposed.
You know, when she turned on the phone, the icon of [Honkai: Stae Rail] appeared on the screen. If Herta could see this game, she should have seen it long ago.
"Tsk, why is this kind of thing on my phone..."
After opening the phone and seeing the content on the screen, Herta's brows became more furrowed and her mouth twitced.
Ilu who was standing beside her was also stunned after noticing her reaction. It was the first time she saw such a disgusted expression on Herta's face. She couldn't help but approach curiously.
What caught her eyes was an embarrassing love poem:
[Miss Herta, you are as light as a swallow, tap dancing on your lush skin.]
[You made my heart tremble.]
[You made the Stellaron clump together, blocking the road of the star rail.]
"So embarrassing! Who wrote this..."
After reading the whole poem, Ilu's expression became strange. She wanted to laugh, but she didn't dare to laugh out loud.
Of course, the most embarrassing thing was the person described in this love poem.
Miss Herta, who was facing social death, was petrified at the moment, but Ilu did not dare to go forward to comfort her because the smile on her face was about to burst.
She feared that she would accidentally laugh out loud and become the last straw that overwhelmed the heartstrings of this great scientist.
If that happened, Herta would definitely use a curios to forcefully erase her memory.
No, no, she must hold it back!
"Read less of this kind of thing in the future; it will affect your IQ."
After deleting this love poem that came from nowhere, Herta returned the phone to Ilu with a gloomy face, then turned around and left the room without any nostalgia, as if she didn't want to stay even for a second.
After Herta left and she was the only one in the room, Ilu turned on her phone again.
"Huh, it should be okay this time."
Seeing that [Honkai: Star Rail] was still alive on the screen and had not been deleted by Herta, Ilu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and feel a little excited.
She probably understood that the love poem just now should be the self-protection mechanism of this golden finger.
Only she could see the real [Honkai: Star Rail]. Others would see something that would embarrass them.
In this way, Herta would probably not look through her phone again in the future, which was also a good thing.
"Hey, it's Herta's account... Forget it; I'd better register a new one. I can't always use Herta's number to send messages to others."
Just as she was about to open the communication software to send a text message to Himeko and the others, Ilu suddenly noticed that she was still using Herta's account. After hesitating for a while, she decided to create an account of her own.
"Like this... like this... then like this... well, it's almost done."
After entering the basic information, she finally made a (＾－＾)V gesture to the camera as her avatar. Ilu quickly registered her personal account successfully and sent friend requests to everyone in the Express group.
After doing all this, she opened [Honkai: Star Rail] again. At this time, there were less than three minutes before the game was launched.
The comment area was full of the words "open the door," and Ilu was also looking forward to it. She wanted to verify what the difference between the game and reality was, and by the way, see who the new Express Crew member was.
Wait until I enter the game; let me see what you look like...
[Distance to server launch: 3, 2, 1]
As the countdown to the server launch ended, the Star Rail on the screen burst into dazzling light and then got stuck at that moment.
Huh?
What's going on? It's stuck?
Just as she was about to restart the game, a deafening explosion suddenly came from nowhere, and the whole room began to shake violently.
Ilu, who was sitting on the bed, was shaken to the ground, and a piercing alarm sounded in the containment section, as if something incredible had invaded the space station.
What happened again?
Rubbing her red forehead with her hand, Ilu glanced around, her face a little confused.
But soon, she realized what had happened.
If she remembered correctly, the plot of the game started when the Herta Space Station was attacked, which meant...
After realizing this possibility, Ilu immediately jumped up from the ground, picked up the Iron Cavalry Transformation Sheath beside her pillow, and rushed into the empty corridor.
From a distance, she could see a big hole blown up somewhere in the space station, and a group of purple-black humanoid monsters was pouring out of it continuously, wreaking havoc in the space station.
They were the basic combat units of the [Antimatter Legion], Voidrangers walking on the Path of [Destruction].
"Oh my god, the plot starts now?!"