Chapter 23: with translation of chapter title

The doll stopped on cue, frozen in place, the abnormal light in its eyes extinguished, returning to standby mode.

Black Tower casually drew a complex optical screen in midair, her fingers flying as she operated it, tracing the source of this outrageous attack.

A few seconds later, she let out a cold snort, her tone laced with suppressed anger: "You ran pretty fast…"

The opponent's counter-tracking methods are extraordinarily skilled, and it seems mixed with… another kind of unpleasant interference.

Just then, San Yue Qi suddenly remembered something, exclaiming: "Right! Star! Star is still in the simulation universe! Inside it won't also…"

Her words reminded everyone.

The simulation universe is Black Tower's pet project, and Star is still testing inside it!

Jizi also showed concern, about to speak, when her communicator rang, carrying Walther's steady but slightly hurried voice: "Jizi, I've already reached the door. The situation inside seems to have stabilized? I'll go in now to check on Star's condition."

Walther pushed open the heavy laboratory door and immediately saw Star standing beside the simulation universe access device.

She had her back to the door, and in the dim blue glow of the instruments, her figure gave off a gloom utterly unlike her usual carefree demeanor.

"Star?"

Walther frowned slightly, that sense of unease making him slow his steps, his voice laced with concern: "Are you alright? Has the commotion outside not affected you in here?"

Only then did Star slowly turn around.

When he saw her face clearly, Walther's heart jolted.

The girl's shoulder-length gray hair was somewhat disheveled; most striking were the faintly reddened corners of her eyes, and the gold irises holding an extremely complex emotion—sorrow, resolve, and… a heaviness he knew all too well, belonging to a "warrior."

Star's gaze locked onto Walther, her expression unprecedentedly grave, as if she bore the weight of the whole world.

She drew a deep breath, then spoke in a low, firm tone, almost like an oath:

"Yang Shu,"

She even clenched her fists tightly against her chest, striking a pose Walther knew by heart, declaring: "Humanity will surely triumph over the Honkai!"

"!!!"

Those words struck Walther's ears like a thunderclap!

His pupils contracted sharply, his whole body tensing instantly; almost instinctively, he began gathering destructive gravitational force in his hand, a micro quasi-black hole nearly slipping free!

Years of battle memory and conditioned reflexes made him maintain the highest level of vigilance toward those words and everything they represented.

"You m……"

Walther forcibly suppressed the urge to strike, stepped forward in a quick stride, locked his gaze on Star's eyes, trying to find any trace of manipulation or disguise, his tone unprecedentedly grave: "What did you just say? Who taught you that line?!"

His voice even carried a barely perceptible tremor—this was too eerie, too illogical!

Facing Walther's approach, Star showed no retreat, she continued to stare straight at him, eyes firm (even with a sense of mission she herself didn't fully grasp), repeating: "You… need not know!"

Walther: "……"

He looked at Star's pose of "I have awakened, you lot best keep silent," his mouth twitching violently, a vein throbbing faintly on his forehead.

(Inner thought: …Should I not have held back just now? Perhaps smashing straight through to clear the door would have been the right choice?)

【Scene Shift: Astral Express】

Heimu Lady lounged comfortably on the sofa, via the system's live broadcast "appreciating" the wonderful changes in Walther's facial color and the near-loss-of-control power in the main control cabin section.

The system doll stood aside, delivering a terse tactical replay in a flat electronic voice: "Surface action: create data chaos, trigger large-scale anomalies on the space station, successfully forcing the Black Tower Core Consciousness to intervene. Actual strategic core: target the key objective 'Star' with directed cognitive interference, creating information disparity and psychological shock. Execution efficiency: excellent."

It slightly turned toward Heimu, its inverted-cross eyes flashing data: "Ma'am, forgive my curiosity, what kind of information did you implant in the target 'Star' to trigger such… a violent chain reaction?"

Heimu waved her hand nonchalantly, as if merely tossing a pebble: "It's nothing major. I just let her… experience the story of 《Past Joyful Land》 immersively from the perspective of a 'firsthand experiencer'."

She lifted the drink the system had offered and took a sip: "Of course, I made her 'play' the role of the Thunder Lawgiver from start to finish, going through it completely."

(Note: This is a highly realistic, emotionally intense conscious experience that Heimu Lady crafted for Star by invading the simulation universe and blending it with her own past-life memories.)

The system doll fell silent for a moment: "…Understood. Using a highly condensed tragic narrative and role immersion, it delivers a high-intensity mental shock to the target, causing cognitive disarray and emotional resonance, thereby producing unpredictable behavioral deviations. The strategy is ingenious."

Just then, Heimu seemed to sense something, set down her cup, rose gracefully, walked to the observation window, gazed toward a certain direction of the space station, and smirked: "This won't do… if Black Tower just goes ahead and catches that cute little Yinlang, this play would be missing an important scapegoat… cough, important role?"

【Scene Shift: Black Tower Space Station, a relatively secluded maintenance area】

A faint light flickered, and Yinlang's virtual projection appeared here, looking somewhat furtive.

She scratched her signature blue-gray hair, her face showing clear confusion.

"Strange… was the connection completely cut off just now? I thought that attack of mine had knocked out half of that old witch Black Tower's base…"

She muttered under her breath while looking left and right, "Looks like there's no damage after all? I got my hopes up for nothing… and why is it so quiet?"

She had originally been in it just for the spectacle, wanting to observe her own "masterpiece" up close, and maybe find another chance to throw a wrench in Black Tower's works to avenge her sealed title.

Yet the silence here made her feel something was off.

Just as she was about to pull up the control interface and try reconnecting to the space station's main network to check the situation, a cold voice sounded from behind her, undisguised anger in its tone:

"Did you smear brightening agent on your cheeks? You're so plump."

Yinlang's body stiffened instantly; she turned around extremely slowly, and when she saw behind her that tall figure wearing a purple witch hat, eyes seeming able to freeze the soul, her lips twitched uncontrollably.

(Inner thought OS: I 【beep】! Great Black Tower?! The Core?! Nobody told me she'd personally go online for a 'mountain patrol' today?!)

Yinlang instinctively swallowed a nonexistent gulp of saliva, forced out a dry, awkward smile trying to bluff her way through, and subtly stepped back: "Uh… hi? Well, what a coincidence, Heimu Lady… nice weather today? I was just… passing by, yeah, just passing by to have a look…"