She wandered aimlessly around the observation car out of boredom, then suddenly stopped.
Leon was not in his original spot. Instead, he was standing together with Himeko.
This meant there was an extra Easter egg dialogue!
Sure enough, approaching it displayed the prompt to press F to eavesdrop.
Himeko: "What happened to that giant True Stinger Insect?"
Leon: "After sending Argenti away, I took action and eliminated it. I didn't let a single insect escape. It's just that…"
Himeko: "Could it be that you discovered something extra?"
Leon: "No, I just find it strange. You should be familiar with the route in that star sector. Although it's remote, it has been a safe region for a very long time."
"The car wash star we are currently at is adjacent to it, less than fifty light years away."
"And in the other direction of this car wash star is the Asdana star system."
Hearing this, Himeko instantly understood the problem, her tone turning grave.
"Could it be because the Family is busy preparing for the Harmony Festival and has no time to spare, so they overlooked the potential risks?"
Leon: "That's a possibility. But I have always believed in the cockroach nest truth—"
"When you see one cockroach in the house, it means there might be a bigger nest hidden somewhere, with many more cockroaches."
"In the dozens of nearby star sectors, there might be a massive insect nest hidden."
"…I hope I'm overthinking it."
The content of their conversation left the players completely confused.
There was information, but it wasn't complete.
The term "Asdana star system" was very unfamiliar. It sounded like it might be the star system where Penacony was located?
There was no further dialogue. Interacting with the other members of the train crew also yielded no extra information.
Argenti's companion quest ended here.
...
More than twenty days later, on December 8th in Ah Xian's world, at noon.
She was streaming when she noticed someone in the live chat sent a highlighted message reminding her to watch the newly released official video.
"Honkai: Star Rail"TGA Entry Video: "Stories That Never Get Old"
She opened the official channel and clicked on the latest video, glancing at the description.
Those people, those events—familiar at first sight, yet ever fresh upon revisiting.
With the support of all Trailblazers, "Honkai: Star Rail" won "TGA 2023 Best Mobile Game."
Your companionship is the meaning for this story to continue.
"Yo, it actually won Best Mobile Game of 2023. Not bad. Well-deserved too."
Setting aside how strong Honkai: Star Rail's quality is, just looking at this year's mobile games, whether in popularity or anything else, Star Rail is far ahead.
The video wasn't long—only 1 minute and 44 seconds.
Black Swan could be considered an old acquaintance among players, an old satellite character. She narrated the video.
By the time she finished watching, Ah Xian's emotions didn't fluctuate much.
The entry video had little connection to the story. Most of the footage in the video wasn't in the game.
If there was anything new, it was probably the big blue bug that Argenti was fighting?
Could that be the giant True Stinger Insect that swallowed the train in the companion quest?
Black Swan: "Perhaps, on the next page of the book… I will also appear in your story?"
The Honkai: Star Rail logo appeared. Ah Xian was already about to close the video page.
However, the scene changed, showing a magnificent and luxurious reception desk.
A back view of someone with a long blade at their waist quickly appeared in everyone's sight.
"Welcome to Penacony, miss. May I have your name?"
At this moment, the camera moved to the character's front face—
"Galaxy Ranger, Acheron."
"Holy shit!! Mei?!"
The moment she saw that face, Ah Xian couldn't help but exclaim. She was so excited she almost jumped out of her chair.
Reflexively, she rewound the video and paused at the moment Acheron's face was shown.
"This…"
Her excited mood was quickly replaced by confusion.
The players in the live chat also exploded, sending a long string of question marks and comments like "Mei?"
"To be honest, she looks similar, but the differences aren't small."
Since the official release hadn't published Raiden Mei's official art yet, she could only open the in-game model screenshot from the story.
That was Raiden Mei wearing a Japanese-style kimono. She looked somewhat dignified, yet also gentle.
"The pupils are similar—both purple. But Acheron's pupils are snake-like vertical slits, while Mei's are more like a normal black dot."
"The hair color and hairstyle are also quite different. The most important thing is the horns—Acheron doesn't have the oni horns on her head!"
"But this blade at her waist… the hilt looks a lot like the one in the main story, just a different color."
[Hallucinating the neighboring Raiden Shogun Baalzebul...]
[In terms of temperament, she really does resemble Ei more. But if you say this design can skip over Raiden Mei, I'll say it right here—it's absolutely impossible!]
[Indeed. Whether it's the Hokushin Itto-ryu Mei from Honkai Impact 2 or Raiden Mei from Honkai Impact 3rd, they both look alike.]
[In just one more week it'll be the 1.6 preview. There should be extra information?]
[The 1.6 characters are Ruan Mei and Dr. Ratio… The main stage is probably not Penacony. That means there's no 1.7, and after 1.6 ends it'll go straight to 2.0?]
"When we go to Penacony is secondary. The main thing is I can't figure out a few points."
"If Acheron is really the Raiden Mei from Izumo, what does she have to do with Penacony?"
[No, there is a connection. Leon once said something to Mei in the main story.]
[Back then Mei asked Leon about his identity and abilities. Leon's answer at the time was that he was a Nameless, and his abilities came from Abundance.]
"That's right!"
Reminded by the chat, Ah Xian also recalled that part of the story.
Assuming Acheron really was Raiden Mei, and assuming she knew that the Nameless of the Astral Express would visit Penacony.
Then, in order to find the Nameless—or rather, to find Leon—it would make sense for her to appear in Penacony.
...
With all kinds of expectations, countless players finally waited for the 1.6 version preview livestream.
If there was one thing that caused the biggest sensation, it was Dr. Ratio being given away for free.
However, with Leon before him, compared to that, the hype caused by Dr. Ratio didn't last very long.
Besides another free five-star character being given away, the appearance of many satellite characters also took up a lot of attention.
For example, Black Swan from the first Starry Sky Prophecy video, Sparkle who appeared in 1.3, and Aventurine who spoke with Topaz in version 1.4.
In addition, there were new characters never seen before, such as Robin, Sunday, Firefly, and so on...
Of course, among them, the one that received the most attention was undoubtedly Acheron.
She had both the popularity boost from previous Honkai works and the influence related to Leon's main story.
Being able to appear at the very end of the TGA promotional video showed that she would definitely play an important role in the story.
Even though version 1.6 hadn't been updated yet, some players were already spamming "When are we finally getting to 2.0? I can't stand this broken 1.6 version for even a second" memes.
However, time could not be skipped.
No matter how much they looked forward to the new map Penacony, 1.6 still had to be played.
There was the interlude story, as well as the new Simulated Universe DLC—Gold and Machinery.
The previous Swarm Disaster allowed players to glimpse part of Leon's past. So what about this one?