Honkai: Star Rail – Banner Character, Delivering Knives to the Player [62]

Lingzhou unfolded half of his wing, abruptly fanning it to the side—

A fierce wind roared, sweeping the airborne flames and ice shards upwards, causing them to devour each other.

① "That's one big guy."
② "Are those two also Fragmentum creatures?"

Lingzhou: "Mm, Blaze and Ice Out of Space."

Stelle eagerly bounced in place.

"A double serving of ice and fire? Interesting. A gust leads the way, bat shatters the heavens!"

Instantly crouching, Stelle shot straight toward the enemies.

Both hands gripped the bat tightly, precisely smashing onto Ice Out of Space's head.

Following through, her right foot kicked its torso, using the force to flip gracefully backward, landing securely in front of Lingzhou.

"Huh? Not even a scratch?"

Lingzhou corrected: "The attacks worked. Keep going—I'll use wind to disrupt their projectile barrage."

Hook: "Hehe, the Pitch-Dark Hook the Great arrives! Make way, make way, make waaay—boom!"

Shortly afterward, under the trio's combined assault, the two Out of Space creatures vanished simultaneously.

Victory CG played.

Lingzhou conjured four giant cyan fists, striking from both sides, crushing the enemies' heads between them.

As the attacks landed, the fists flattened into open palms, stacking upwards to form stepping stones.

A dark-grey silhouette flickered into existence, bat in hand, stepping onto the wind platforms, rapidly approaching the two Out of Space creatures.

"Bat swings, shadow follows—"

The bat's afterimage sliced diagonally downward from the sky, then swept upward in the opposite diagonal, tracing a V-shaped trajectory.

Hook clutched her drill, darting through the base of the 'V,' planting lethal explosives.

Stelle stepped on Lingzhou's wind platforms, quickly catching up with Hook, stylishly flicking her bangs with two fingers.

Dazzling fireworks blossomed brilliantly behind the two silhouettes, one large, one small.

Stelle didn't look back at the explosion, tossing her bat into the ticket-space and clapping her hands, savoring the moment.

"No horns to break this time, but those monsters' heads felt pretty nice to smack—very solid."

Hook proudly declared, "So? Now you've seen how awesome Hook is, right?"

① "Pitch-Dark Hook the Great truly lives up to the name."
② "Good teamwork. A promising future ahead."
③ "Not bad. Little Hook’s pretty skilled at jumping to smash kneecaps."

Ah Xian wasn't petty enough to bicker with a little loli and thoughtfully chose to praise her.

"Our MC's just too cool—especially that final pose, flicking her bangs without looking at the explosion. Absolute perfection."

"But seriously, why does Lingzhou and MC's combo skill only exist in cutscenes? Such a shame."

[One support sweeps away fireballs and ice shards, two attackers finish the job—we three really are super strong now.]
[Did nobody notice MC's lines? LOL!]
[A Qing: You too know how to chop beef offal?]

Hook: "I told you Hook is strong. I wouldn't trick you! Now hurry and find your supplies. I'll keep watch."

The two exchanged helpless smiles.

What a tiny grown-up this kid is.

"I'll check the orphanage. You and Hook head to that pharmacy," Lingzhou suggested.

Stelle patted Hook’s little head gently. "If anything happens, notify us immediately, got it?"

"Aiya, Hook knows! Hurry up already!"

Separating from Stelle, Lingzhou lightly leaped, reaching the orphanage gate.

The gate was unlocked, rusted with years of disuse.

Even before entering, the scent of age hit him directly.

Lingzhou paid it no mind, stepping leisurely into the orphanage, glancing around before ascending the stairs to the second floor.

A gentle breeze stirred through the long-abandoned building, dispersing odors and locating the pharmacy.

Lingzhou raised his head, noticing a huge hole in the ceiling.

It was unclear whether a human or monster had smashed through it.

With a thought, Lingzhou formed a wind current beneath the hole, effortlessly floating upward.

Taking this shortcut into the pharmacy, he quickly assessed the quality of the stored medicine.

Unsurprisingly, most of it was expired.

Even without alternatives, Lingzhou promptly disposed of those completely unusable.

Left here, someone else might take them, dying from medicine rather than illness.

"Congratulations, darling! You've found some usable meds! A friendly reminder—there's also treasure hidden in the orphanage~~"

A gift box abruptly popped up next to Lingzhou, and from within sprang a bizarre mask.

"Treasure? More like a clown’s jack-in-the-box scare."

Lingzhou was utterly accustomed to this.

"┮﹏┭...Did Aha mess something up?"

"I've clearly offered my pounding heart to darling already..."

"Not being trusted by darling wounds Aha deeply. But that's okay…"

"Even if darling treats Aha like a wildflower by the roadside, receiving just a tiny bit of sunlight still makes Aha happy…"

Lingzhou remained unmoved. "Where's your citation?"

"No such thing! This is from Aha's sincere, heartfelt emotions, absolutely not copied!"

"I believe you."

"Which part of your face shows belief?"

"Belief doesn't have to show on my face. Me looking skeptical ≠ actually being skeptical. Why question my inequality of certain victory?"

"You're so unreasonable, darling! Aha is angry! If you don't comfort me, I'll ignore you for three whole seconds!"

Lingzhou: (?■_■)

"Alright, three seconds are up. Just tell me what you're up to."

"Waaaah! You actually didn't comfort Aha!"

"Believe it or not, Aha will ignore you for thirty seconds!"

"It's now increased to three minutes!"

"Nooo, papa, please! Aha promises not to cause trouble anymore. I'll listen to anything you say!"

"If darling keeps being this perfunctory, Aha absolutely, absolutely, absolutely won't speak to you for three days!"

"You win! I won't appear in front of you for three whole years, no matter how much you miss Aha!"

"You laughed! You laughed! Yay! Aha feels so special—darling finally laughed!"

The eerie mask jumped from the gift box, transforming into a tiny sprite circling excitedly around Lingzhou.

Lingzhou caught it effortlessly, unable to refine it immediately.

"If you're satisfied, scram already. Quit disturbing my business."

"Aiya, there's clearly a script. Why not read it? Isn't copying the answer easier?"

Hearing this, Lingzhou glanced at Him.

"You think yourself the puppeteer in control, yet fail to realize you'll inevitably become one of the puppets."

"Do you really not know better than I why Order and my patron fell?"

Those words landed heavily. The tiny sprite Aha blinked blankly for a moment.

After several seconds, He spoke again, pitifully and aggrieved:

"Taiyi was an old friend, Qi even older. After they vanished, Akivili disappeared abruptly at some point too..."

"Actually, Aha feels terrible inside—blue, thin mushrooms..."

"And there's the entire Tianyu clan—"

"Enough. Either way, I won't be a puppet again," Lingzhou interrupted Aha.

Aha sighed dramatically.

"Fine, fine, fine. But darling, to use your own words: in this universe, no one escapes the fate of losing control eventually."

Lingzhou nonchalantly replied, "At least, on my way to that end, whom I strike down or protect is still my decision."

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This is a fan translation of 崩铁：卡池角色，给玩家发刀 by 三十度幻. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!