Players were extremely satisfied with the Honkai Chronicles event, willing to give it a full five-star rating.
On Hokuto's side, he familiarized himself with several of the Flame-Chasers he hadn't met before, while deepening his rapport with those he was already on good terms with.
Of course, there was also the matter of evading certain people with ill intent—like Mobius.
All in all, it had been a very fulfilling day for him.
Following this gathering, the "Chasers" did not all leave Linjiang immediately.
Truth be told, most of them were rather… idle. With Eden providing free lodging, folks like Vill-V were even excited to stay in Linjiang for a while.
This also made Hokuto feel like the number of weirdos around him had suddenly multiplied.
So… Eden really wasn't considering renaming this place to the Golden Courtyard?
Regardless of the Flame-Chasers' actions or their hidden motives, Hokuto wouldn't neglect the work he needed to do—such as producing the next segment of Honkai Impact 3rd's main story.
Whether it was the long-anticipated "Durandal vs. Mei," or "Raiden Mei becoming Herrscher of Thunder," or Lament of the Sinner—fans were eager.
Speaking of which, when Hokuto handed over the "Island Villa" storyline to Raven, she barged in almost immediately.
Hokuto remembered the chaos that day vividly.
Raven had stormed into the office, shouting at the top of her lungs.
Leaving behind all sorts of cryptic lines…
"I was so foolish… really. I bought the island, built the villa, decorated it beautifully… It looked so good… Why did I use it as collateral?"
"I entered this industry full of confidence… But that day, Sora came running and said, 'Teacher, teacher, something terrible has happened!' My heart instantly sank…"
"Everyone said, 'It's over, the game might flop…' Then after a few days of observing, I noticed even people at Raven Studio had become obsessed with Honkai Impact 3rd…"
She rambled on for quite some time. When Sora rushed in later, Raven had to suppress her emotions and wave it off to avoid worrying her.
"I was just talking nonsense. Don't mind me."
"Actually, I don't care anymore."
"Really. Not one bit."
She lifted her head high, silently letting her tears fall inward.
If she truly didn't care, why had she lost control and stormed into the office just now?
All Hokuto could do was respond: "I'll reasonably raise your salary so you can save up sooner."
In short, though the process of making Honkai Impact 3rd's main story remained as chaotic as ever, production stayed on track.
Goofing around was one thing—but the girls understood what was truly important.
After players completed the Honkai Chronicles event, celebrated the Spring Festival, returned to school or work, adjusted themselves mentally and physically—
Honkai Impact 3rd launched another major update under great anticipation.
New characters, new story, new events.
And most importantly: major main story releases!
Chapter 15: Dust of the Lost Path
Chapter 16: Imminent Storm
Chapter 17: Thunders Over Nagazora
…
…
At Elysia's house.
The newly arrived tenant, the green serpent lady, was in her room.
"Klein, thank you for your hard work… You're coming over here? Hm… So Klein, you finally can't stand those fake and boring people either?"
"You're just here to check if I've been eating properly?"
"…"
"Of course I have. I'm Dr. Mobius! …That's all. I have things to do."
Mobius hung up the call, rubbed at the dark circles under her eyes, and silently tied up the trash bag full of instant noodle containers from the bin.
Afterward, she planned to change clothes and take out the garbage.
She opened the wardrobe.
"…"
Mobius fell silent at the sight of what hung inside.
After a while—
"E—LY—SI—A!!"
She grabbed the pink maid outfit that had mysteriously appeared in the wardrobe, tossed aside the thought of taking out the trash, and stormed out furiously.
In a few strides, she arrived outside Elysia's room.
Knock knock knock knock knock knock—!
She pounded on the door.
"Stop putting weird things in my wardrobe—!"
But there was no reply from inside.
Mobius cautiously gripped the door handle. A gentle turn—and the door opened.
"Elysia?"
She entered the room, still holding the maid outfit. No one was there. The computer was on, and the livestream was active.
"She started a stream? But she's not here?"
Mobius casually tossed the maid outfit onto the bed, stepped in front of the computer, and saw the chat filled with comments like "Where's Miss Pink Elf?" and "Miss Pink Elf has vanished."
Riiing~~ Riiing~~
Suddenly, her phone rang.
Mobius picked it up and answered.
"Hello?"
"Dearest Mobius~~ I suddenly had something urgent to deal with, but my livestream hours for the month aren't enough~~ So…"
"Why should I stream for you, Elysia?" Mobius cut her off.
She had never streamed on Elysia's behalf—because she had zero interest in the matter.
Elysia paid no heed to Mobius's coldness and continued sweetly:
"Please~~ You don't want Klein to find out you've been eating nothing but instant noodles at home, do you?"
"…How do you even know about that?" Mobius started to lose her composure.
If Klein started nagging, it'd be annoying.
"Ah, Klein asked me about it earlier, but I didn't say a thing, promise~~"
Elysia replied sincerely, then pleaded again, "Just this once."
Beep beep beep—
Mobius held her phone, her expression shifting for a moment. In the end, she sat down at the computer.
But for some reason, she deliberately adjusted her voice to mimic Elysia: "I'm back~"
[Miss Pink Elf, you're finally back! We've been waiting forever.]
[Be patient, Miss Pink Elf just had something urgent… Now hurry up and continue the Honkai Impact 3rd story!]
"Today, I'm so happy to share another sweet and heartwarming episode of Honkai Impact 3rd with you all~"
As she spoke in disguise, Mobius launched the already-logged-in account.
She entered the main story page.
[??? Miss Pink Elf, did something happen? Honkai Impact 3rd is sweet and heartwarming???]
[Sure, the story is addictive, but definitely not sweet or heartwarming.]
[Come to think of it, has Miss Pink Elf ever criticized Honkai Impact 3rd? Maybe she genuinely thinks it's sweet and heartwarming.]
As the audience flooded the screen with bullet comments, Elysia's reputation took collateral damage.
And yet—no one noticed.
The Miss Pink Elf now on screen wasn't the same Miss Pink Elf from earlier.
Miss Pink Elf had been "possessed" by Mobius!
Mobius clicked into the latest chapter.
The scene opened on a city buried in wind and sand.
The timeline: Just before the Arc City incident.
Location: North Africa, Schicksal's Vimur Laboratory.
It had once been a modern metropolis, an economic hub linking Europe and Africa, a city on the Mediterranean that never slept—a paradise.
Sadly, after a Honkai outbreak, it became a graveyard all the living avoided—a desert-isolated land of the dead.
But it had become the ideal location for a Schicksal base.
There, Schicksal launched the 42nd activation experiment since acquiring the 2nd Divine Key. A deep-purple space gate appeared in the sky, and hundreds of quantum-type Honkai Beasts poured out, descending upon the city.
In a corner of the city, beneath a chaotic sky, a golden-haired Valkyrie stood in a striking pose, leaning on her knight's lance, calmly observing the catastrophe before her.
"Detected 'Quantum Shadow' intrusion. Lady Durandal, the rest is up to you."
"Understood."
Durandal replied nonchalantly and leapt into battle.
Players were granted a chance to freely try out Durandal's battlesuit.
With miHoYo's signature combat feedback, a massive drill-themed ultimate, and explosive damage output—
The exhilaration overwhelmed players, many of whom felt the itch to pull from the new Durandal gacha.
[Durandal is only sixteen?! She's already this strong! Limitless potential!]
[Durandal? Dur-andal? You don't get it? Durandal → Duran-dumb → Goose!]
[Pfft, Goose and Paramecium, two of a kind. One's Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, and the other's… a Herrscher? Doesn't add up.]
"To be fair, the Kiana we know in the story is a clone. So theoretically, an original still exists—the real Kiana."
Mobius caught that comment and analyzed aloud: "Maybe Durandal is the real Kiana."
[Whoa!]
The viewers were fired up—but not because of Mobius's theory.
After all, Kiana had white hair and Durandal had blonde hair—they clearly weren't alike.
[Miss Pink Elf is analyzing the plot now?!]
[Normally, she'd say: Kiana is a cute girl, Durandal is also a cute girl, and cute girls are destined to meet~♪]
[Yeah, yeah. Miss Pink Elf's behavior today feels off.]
[Are you implying this isn't Miss Pink Elf anymore? Don't go overboard.]
Facing all the "I totally get Miss Pink Elf" comments—
Mobius responded playfully: "Oh my, you all understand Miss Pink Elf even better than I do? But… Miss Pink Elf is [Miss Pink Elf]."
"And I am [Me]~~"