Orchis, who had caused such a stir in the real world, was now curled up all alone in the most remote corner of Herta Space Station's [Seclusion Zone]. Due to the different flow of time between the two worlds, she had no idea how many days and nights she had been left abandoned in the laboratory. As a memetic entity, she could not be perceived by anyone other than the Trailblazer.
A cyan glow cast down from a culture dish, illuminating her delicate face. The doll-like girl slowly opened her eyes.
"…"
Her muddled consciousness began to clear. Orchis was awake.
The first thing she did upon waking was to quickly assess her situation. She had successfully survived.
There were no emotional fluctuations, no ecstasy or sentimentality. The girl's expression was exceptionally placid.
Orchis had always been objective and action-oriented. After briefly confirming her status, she knew she should clarify what needed to be done in the next phase and make ample preparations.
Where am I? What do I need to do? And what is my ultimate goal?
She always strictly anchored her self-perception with these three benchmarks to reduce internal friction and pointless waste of her life.
(First, let's check how many production points I have.)
(Then, how much time has passed since my last standby?)
As she thought this, Orchis raised her head. The latter question was quickly answered. She looked at the brightly lit laboratory, at the incandescent lamps on the ceiling radiating light and heat. Through her surroundings, the girl quickly gained a rough understanding of the new plot point.
The Seclusion Zone had been activated!
And this place was precisely the laboratory used by one of the Simulated Universe's collaborators—that genius of the life sciences—to study the Path of Propagation.
Orchis's gaze swept across the laboratory, and she soon spotted a woman near the control platform.
Her attire was completely different from, even contrary to, the sci-fi style of the space station, suffused with an ancient charm.
Her cyan-black hair cascaded like a waterfall, a cool, dark-blue sheen shimmering within the black. A golden buyao hairpin swayed gently in her hair, its fine tassels hanging down, contrasting with the cool white skin by her ear and lending her a noble, unapproachable air.
The longest river in the world of Star Rail support characters! More or less every player had fought winning battles to this day with her help.
Genius Society #81, Ruan Mei!
At this moment, Ms. Ruan Mei was fiddling with a glass container in her hands, inside which a strange flame burned slowly.
According to Orchis's memories, that was a Phase flame. In the version 1.6 storyline, Ruan Mei had borrowed this curio from Herta as soon as she arrived at the space station and buried herself in research. She would later lose it carelessly, leading to the content related to Duke Inferno and Dr. Ratio.
With this in mind, Orchis began to walk closer to the woman, her mind continuously recalling more of this genius's "great achievements."
For example, in the story, big sister Ruan Mei used an anti-truth serum on the game's protagonist, the little gray-hair, not only making the workhorse do her bidding but also getting her beaten black and blue by a giant bug. Afterward, she even blurred our dear Stelle's memory of her. This series of actions sparked considerable controversy among the player base at the time.
Some felt she didn't treat the little gray-hair as a person and felt wronged, warning everyone not to be deceived by the wicked woman's power and beauty!
Others felt Ruan Mei's character was exquisitely crafted, and the sense of detachment between her divinity and humanity veiled her in a unique layer of charm!
Everyone had their own opinion on who was right or wrong, but looking back from the perspective of the future plot, Orchis could only say that in the grand environment of the Genius Society, where everyone was a demigod, the geniuses of the Simulated Universe were still far too human. At least they didn't subject you to the mental pollution of regressing an entire planet to its primitive state with "Bananana" or give birth to a terrifying mechanical Lord Ravager that annihilates the entire universe, which was only pieced back together with great difficulty by Cyrene's divine power of Remembrance.
Looking back from the tragic grandeur of Amphoreus's world-destruction and re-creation, big sister Ruan Mei's story seemed so much more intimate and adorable.
-----------------
"Tayzzyronth… Through the Simulated Universe, I was able to glimpse the beginning and end of the Swarm Disaster, seize the data of the Swarm King and its progeny, replicate and cultivate them, thereby opening up a new branch of research. By all reasonable judgment, I will succeed. The 'It' I recreate will blossom with unprecedented life. Will Herta and Screwllum like this experiment? Probably not. So I need an assistant before they notice…"
Ruan Mei murmured to herself, recording her experiment's details.
The woman sought to peer into the life of an Aeon, and the path of research was by no means limited to the Path of Erudition. So she began to collect fragments of Propagation and was even eager to conduct an Emanator experiment on Herta Space Station. The geniuses walked their own paths of desired curiosity, each taking what they needed.
Once a project began, there was no room for others to intervene.
Ruan Mei was tinkering with a Propagation Emanator in Herta's domain… Although she hadn't announced it beforehand, and regardless of whether the experiment's content was agreeable, Herta herself would surely be delighted by Ruan Mei's choice. For there was nothing more precious than a favor owed by a genius.
Orchis stood right beside Ruan Mei. As a memetic entity, she couldn't be observed by anyone with whom she hadn't established a bond, nor could she affect the outside world.
Though she existed in the world, she was like a ghost…
The doll-like girl reached out and waved her hand in front of Ruan Mei, but the lady showed no reaction. Even if Orchis had any mischievous intentions, her hand would simply pass through the moment it touched a physical object.
Looking at the experimental data, Orchis couldn't make heads or tails of it. The genius's manuscripts, regarded as priceless treasures by the world, held no practical value for her.
A lonely observer, as if spurned by the world.
[This memetic entity thing, it really is quite empty.]
This sentence was not spoken by Orchis, nor was it her thought. It was a voice that suddenly rang out in the girl's mind.
Orchis immediately turned her head. This kind of telepathy was very familiar to her.
Sure enough, at the other end of the laboratory, the girl saw a grinning red mask.
Although her time with the Aeon of Elation was always filled with speechlessness due to his eccentric personality, Orchis felt a little bit of joy at this moment.
After all, Aha was an acquaintance who knew her inside and out. No matter what, he was one of the girl's few confidants.
[Having fun by myself with no playmates is no fun at all. I can't stand such boring days. Show some love for this lonely old Aeon.]
Elation is boisterous; it requires a social existence. The loneliness and desolation of nihility are absolutely unacceptable!
That was why Aha was never good at dealing with the big, dark, handsome one. The existence of a meme, where being alive is worse than being dead, was truly unbearable.
Aha actually quite liked Orchis, this weirdo who voluntarily became a ghost.
Even though the girl could modify her settings and create connections with others by fabricating stories with her production points, what if Orchis was dead on arrival? She had no certainty that she would be popular with the players. To perish unnoticed in a small corner, lonely and desolate—the thought was quite terrifying, wasn't it?
True death is the moment of being forgotten. For a meme to experience this feeling while alive was not fun at all.
"But on the other hand, if the memetic entity option succeeds, as a character whose existence is based entirely on the Trailblazer, the emotional value the player gains will be unprecedented. The conversion rate of the production points return is completely worth the risk. Besides, if I don't succeed, I have no future to speak of anyway."
Orchis replied nonchalantly. The character persona she had established for herself hadn't even fully developed yet.
The previous plot was just her, through her existence as a meme, suddenly appearing and disappearing like a cosmic ghost in front of the Trailblazer and the player. The player only knew that Orchis was mysterious, had a favorable impression of the protagonist, and seemed to have some connection to the little gray-hair's past, but they had no idea what kind of existence Orchis truly was.
"In the next phase, I must let the little gray-hair know that I'm a memetic entity."
Orchis's eyes narrowed. She had no intention of resting or adjusting right after waking up, immediately diving headfirst into brainstorming the next script.
There was still much to do.
[Oh, Teacher Bai, you cold, ruthless, iron-blooded careerist. Is your mind really filled with nothing but the Trailblazer and the main story? How can you be so fun yet so uninteresting at the same time? You should have more humanity, more sentimentality. I think humans should feel a sense of grievance in the face of difficult circumstances. Rationally weighing pros and cons and forging ahead is not the way to go. Look at me! Though you're lonely as a meme, you still have me! I can be the one you complain to. Come on. You haven't said it, but I know you, as a player, must have deep feelings for this world. It must be painful not being able to interact with your favorite characters, torturous not being able to get close to your 2D waifus. To trick a naive, amnesiac Trailblazer into embarking on a journey, to manipulate her life with utilitarian schemes—don't you feel any guilt? Look at our dear Stelle, she's kept in the dark and still has to thank you. Are you really prepared to perform this long-running drama, which only an Aeon like me can appreciate, without any real communication?]
Aha's words seemed nonsensical and illogical, but beneath the playful teasing, there seemed to be a hint of concern for Orchis.
The Aeon of Elation had always been watching humanity, so he understood human nature. Some psychological counseling had to be done for prevention.
Although Orchis lived in this new world, as a memetic entity, she couldn't connect with most things in it. It was like being trapped in a cage, only able to watch. Everything outside was irrelevant to her, and she couldn't genuinely integrate into this place.
She held a player's perspective, yet was not in reality; she held a character's perspective, yet could not truly live in the world of Star Rail.
As for the few who could perceive her existence, like Stelle… Orchis was also wrapping herself in lies, playing the role of a pleasing little girlfriend to deceive her. Her true heart was not here.
[You don't seem to have any problems now, but in the future, can you really endure the loneliness? Can you even be considered alive like this?]
Hearing this, Orchis gave Aha a peculiar look.
"How come you've suddenly become so pretentious after just a few days?"
Did you eat too much angsty teen literature and break your brain?
The Aeon of Elation scratched his head and explained.
[You get it, don't you? Here's what happened.]
[I posted the picture of you lying in the lab, your eyes vacant, looking so broken that it was quite exciting to see, to the community. I felt that such a beautiful sight shouldn't be enjoyed by me alone, so I shared it to make the Orchis fans happy and generate some traffic and hype.]
Huh?
[Being a leaker is so much fun! Enjoying being put on a pedestal by everyone!]
[Watching the players' ugly faces as they speculate on the plot, crying their eyes out and mourning your demise, teasing those red-nosed clowns is so amusing. But a twisted sense of guilt also rose in my heart. I felt like I was trampling on everyone's feelings. Seeing how much the players like you, I figured I should at least shed a crocodile tear and offer you a few words of comfort to go along with their wishes.]
You son of a bitch!
[But hey, Teacher Bai, you can't deny that what I just said is an objective problem you have, right?] Aha's tone shifted.
Was Orchis really going to keep deceiving the little gray-hair, to play the part of a little girlfriend with no genuine feelings?
While there was nothing wrong with living just for the sake of living, humans, after all, have emotions.
The Trailblazer was still so young and was bound to be tormented by the writers' pens in the future. The female characters who fell in love with the little gray-hair all met bad ends. Firefly ended up in a medical bay, Cyrene was in an infinite loop with Amphoreus, and Castorice was a 2D character in a book. They were either widowed or on the road to widowhood. Akivili's terrible luck with love was truly something else.
As Akivili's friend, Aha really had to step in. He really did.
So he sent her an even more insincere doll of a girlfriend.
You're already miserable, so I must make you even more miserable, my friend. Otherwise, how would you know you're on a trailblazing path?
"...Then I'd have to say, if a person pretends to be a little girlfriend for a lifetime, on what grounds can you say she's pretending?"
How is a lie not a special kind of love?
Orchis shrugged. If there were no feelings involved, who would be willing to act in a play for a lifetime? Don't we, the Chinese internet masses, all believe in following our hearts' desires, that our fate is in our own hands, and that we'd rather die on our feet than live in humiliation?
To put it bluntly, if she didn't have a deep love for this game world, its stories, and its characters, she wouldn't be putting up with this farce at all.
"And from a god's-eye view, you can't deny that I'm actually a very good person. Don't make it sound like I'm tormenting Stelle."
Would a good person call themselves a good person?
[How so?] Aha asked, puzzled.
We netizens of 2025 are masters of self-inflicted internal conflict.
We're all about clear accountability, with the main goal being a clear conscience.
"At the end of the day, I'm a transmigrator who didn't seize the protagonist's opportunities or meet her romantic interests ahead of time. I'm just creating some sad little stories, and I might even end up protecting the world. I'm taking on all the tragic drama myself, ensuring the safety of all the other little girlfriend competitors."
The holy savior who will stop the little gray-hair from being widowed, and the only price is to eat some tragic little stories. Is that really a PUA character?!
In the 2025 version of the world, there's probably no transmigrator more pure and loving than me!
And I even have to keep asking with concern, "Trailblazer, are you okay? You can't believe it when a boy or girl says they're fine, you know."
My god, I'm practically a saint.
"No one cares about the Trailblazer more than I do!"
[—!]
Aha did a tactical lean-back. On second thought, it really did make sense, which earned him a speechless look from Orchis.
"Understand now? Don't spout such nonsensical, abstract nonsense a second time. If you have the leisure for that, you'd be better off telling me all the player community feedback, calculating my production points, and figuring out how to advance the new story."
In a way, isn't this a method to change the Trailblazer's tragic fate? I can't let her be widowed again.