Honkai: Star Rail – Banner Character, Delivering Knives to the Player [18]

Once the two rainbow-generating beauties had finished their colorful masterpiece, Lingzhou kindly handed them each a thermos.

"Rinse your mouth."

March 7th took it and sipped tentatively.

A warm wash, a gulp of hot water—the comfort that surged through her felt like narrowly surviving a catastrophe.

Soothing. Cozy. A quiet kind of joy.

“Thanks—eeyaaah—!”

Halfway through her thanks, a pile of snow slid from a nearby dead tree’s branch… right down the back of her neck.

That chill? No one could endure it without reacting.

Stelle glanced upward briefly, then wisely stepped out from beneath the snowy canopy.

“Lingzhou, where’d that thermos even come from?”

“Obviously from the consumables section of my inventory.”

“...Huh?”

Stelle looked genuinely puzzled.

“Did you just pull us into the game world?”

“What game world? Inventory is inventory. Ours is just the Astral Express’s special portable storage system, courtesy of our train passes.”

March 7th’s eyes drifted to the bat-like staff on Stelle’s back, her expression skeptical.

“…What’s that look for?”

Stelle shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

“I’m thinking… did you even glance at the Nameless Trailblazer Handbook I gave you last night?”

“Judging by what I remember? No.”

Stelle answered, dead serious.

March rolled her eyes skyward.

“No wonder you’re lugging a bat around everywhere. I thought you were trying to act cool with some kind of chuuni persona.”

“One more word and I’ll go red-tempered on you.”

“Sss-heehee~? You say that now, but once I give you the ol’ one-two, you’ll know the pain of a beautiful girl’s righteous fists!”

March raised her dainty fists, making the most threatening cute face she could manage.

Stelle didn’t take it personally. She unfastened her train pass from her collar and looked at it curiously.

“So how does this portable space actually work?”

“Just think about what you want, same as I’m thinking about giving you a good whack right now. Then act on it.”

March did exactly that—lightly tapped Stelle with a closed fist.

“┗|｀O′|┛ Aaaugh— Why’d you elbow me!? Where’s the 'beautiful girl’s righteous fists' you promised?”

Stelle yelped, but she did manage to get the hang of it—successfully storing her weapon into the inventory.

“When you ignore your senpai’s advice, fists won’t cut it. Gotta elbow you for real!”

“Playtime’s over,” Lingzhou said, a slight smile tugging at his lips. “Someone’s coming.”

He stepped forward casually, but placed himself ever so slightly in front of them.

His eyes flicked to the nearby shuttle but decided not to recall it into the inventory.

“No complaints here. Locals already, right after we land? That’s a great start for this Trailblazing mission—it’s all uphill from here!”

March beamed with a bright, confident smile.

---

From the player’s perspective—

Ah Xian clicked “Begin Mission.” The screen went black—then unexpectedly, a full cinematic cutscene began to play.

The camera swept rapidly through the clouds, descending slowly onto a snowy expanse of terrain.

“Huh. So they added a new intro cut-in for Jarilo-VI on release…”

She was just admiring the scenery when the camera angle suddenly shifted, tracking a blurry object plummeting through the sky.

When it crashed into the ground, the entire screen shook violently.

“Wait—did they actually crash the ship?”

Before her words even fully left her mouth, a semi-static story image slammed onto the screen.

Before she could examine it, a familiar voice pierced through the stillness, loud and queasy:

“Uuugh…”

“Who gets motion sick from a shuttle?! That’s so lame—uuurgh—”

By now, it was unmistakable.

In the scene, the shuttle lay half-buried in snow, tilted at a ridiculous angle.

Two familiar girls were bent over in front, producing vivid, flowing seven-colored rainbows.

And beside them stood Lingzhou, cool as ever, holding two thermoses, waiting with the patience of a saint.

He was totally fine.

He was simply letting his companions finish vomiting in peace.

“Hahahahaha!”

Ah Xian broke into unrestrained laughter.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trained for this—I can’t hold it in!”

[man！what can I say?]
[This is a car crash—literally and narratively. Who let him fly that thing?!]
[I bet it was our girl. She roasted March just now.]
[Nah, feels like it was Lingzhou…]
[LMAO, definitely Lingzhou. That comeback line in his reentry voice line? Too on point.]
[‘Kids, I’m back!’]
[Did not expect the guy who keeps calling himself reliable to be a vehicular menace.]
[Still landed, didn’t he? That’s what matters!]

Lingzhou: “If you were prone to motion sickness, you could’ve said something. I’ve got meds for that.”

From there, the snow-in-the-neck gag, and Stelle not knowing how the pass worked, had the whole stream chat buzzing.

Pure chaos. Pure joy.

[She really elbowed her. miHoYo’s comedic timing is criminal.]
[Elbow her for real!]
[March’s elbow isn’t violence—it’s affection!]

“Wait… so when characters summon weapons from thin air, it’s because they actually have an inventory system?”

“I thought those train passes were just flavor lore for the Astral Express.”

[Okay but then explain—how do non-Express characters pull out weapons from nowhere?]

“It’s anime logic. Let Star Rail have bags and everyone else use storage rings, alright?”

“The later Xianzhou maps tie into space compression tech anyway, so stop sweating the sci-fi.”

The static scene faded.

Lingzhou: “Playtime’s over—someone’s coming.”

March 7th: “No way, already meeting locals? This trip’s starting strong—smooth sailing from here on!”

“Oh no. She said it.”

“In games, that kind of line’s always a jinx.”

“Wonder if it’s Sampo or Gepard.”

On-screen, a shadowy figure emerged from the snowy landscape.

As the features came into view, Ah Xian wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“Yep, it’s Sampó. But why’s he approaching them on his own? Wait… is he limping?”

???: “Ow ow ow… damn, that hurts… Hey, heroes! You’ve got to follow the rules when flying—shuttles aren’t bumper cars, y’know?!”

Seeing the tall man limping over, March glanced at her teammates.

They said nothing.

So, with great reluctance, she stepped forward.

March 7th: “We didn’t hit you. If Lingzhou had hit you, you’d be dead already…”

Stelle leaned in toward Lingzhou, whispering, “Are we dealing with a scam artist?”

Lingzhou: “Want me to just elbow him unconscious?”

Stelle: “I’m down.”

March 7th: “HEY—don’t plan your ambush out loud!”

She already knew Lingzhou had a loose mouth and loved messing with people.

And now she had Stelle, who was apparently just as unfiltered.

At this rate, they were one glib remark away from catching Aha’s attention!

Is this really how Nameless should behave?!

???: “No no no! It’s not a scam, I swear! I’m Sampo, and I just tripped while stargazing! I’m fine! Really!”

Dear god.

These three were terrifying.

They were seriously discussing elbowing him unconscious—in subzero temperatures! He’d freeze to death!

[Lingzhou’s so sketchy. And Stelle’s not helping!]
[They were genuinely thinking about doing it too.]
[Why does everyone sound like March? You guys seriously can’t tell Lingzhou’s just messing with people?]

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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!