I’m surrounded by strange things in Honkai: Star Rail! [1]

"Hmm... Hmm... Yes, this is the feeling, Xiao Jiang, you’re the best!"

At the headquarters of the Sky-Faring Commission's "Whistling Flames Guild" trading group, a dust-covered fox girl, upon entering the door, immediately hugged a young outlander boy who wore a face full of disdain.

"Lighten up a bit, Sister Tingyun! You’re hugging me too tightly, I can’t breathe! Also, stop saying things that can easily be misunderstood!"

The other members of the trading group had long been used to this and simply suppressed their laughter, leaving space for the pair who, every time they met, started this strange play.

Ever since the multi-talented chief representative of the trading group brought this orphan back from a certain planet, she developed an odd interest. Each time, she wouldn’t stop until she had hugged him to near suffocation. Even after repeated checks by alchemists from the Alchemy Commission and spellcasters from the Divination Commission, they found nothing unusual about the boy’s body, let alone any curses or spells.

Considering the fox girl's remarkable performance and that she hadn’t crossed any moral or legal lines, everyone turned a blind eye to Tingyun’s strange hobby and accepted this outlander boy as a member of the Xianzhou Luofu under the title of "adopted brother."

However, no one could understand—what exactly did she see in this outlander?

Indeed, what did she see in me? This was the biggest question Jiang Yan had ever had since crossing into this strange world.

After inexplicably arriving in this universe’s era, before even getting accustomed to his home planet’s environment, he was suddenly hugged by this fox girl who had come for trade negotiations. She coaxed and enticed him to the Xianzhou Luofu.

A stunning fox spirit throwing herself into his arms, providing food, lodging, and pocket money—what kind of man could resist such a test? Jiang Yan didn’t even put up the slightest resistance and was mentally prepared to be refined.

But unfortunately, aside from hugging him tightly, sniffing him intensely, and occasionally licking him, she never took it any further. This left Jiang Yan feeling oddly empty.

What kind of game was this? Was he some kind of emotional battery?

But since it wasn’t anything harsh, Jiang Yan gradually accepted this as her peculiar quirk and enjoyed his life on the Xianzhou Luofu, going with the flow.

Of course, being in a treasure trove, Jiang Yan had no intention of leaving empty-handed. Who knows when this fox spirit might tire of him? Before that happens, he thought he might as well learn some skills that many outlanders dreamed of mastering. Wouldn’t that make returning to his home planet a guaranteed success?

Tingyun was very supportive of Jiang Yan's ambition. She even personally contacted the academies and martial halls to ensure he received extra care. However, Jiang Yan's academic life was far from ideal.

The academies welcomed outlanders who loved Xianzhou culture, but this "thirty-year compulsory education" and the slow-paced teaching... Jiang Yan felt it would be better to study on his own.

As for the martial halls, although they had an open-door policy, Jiang Yan, being an outlander, couldn’t handle the intense pressure from remote-controlled flying swords, which cut the content he could learn by half. Even though the instructor frequently praised Jiang Yan's natural talent for swordsmanship, and the Xianzhou breathing techniques and body-strengthening medicines were effective, watching his fellow Xianzhou peers—who looked his age—playing with flying swords and floating cannons made it hard for him to feel proud of his progress.

Especially one day, after failing to defeat an eight-year-old Xianzhou child in a hundred rounds, Jiang Yan began to see all of the instructor’s praise as pity and politeness towards outlanders. From that day on, he never parted from his sword, training even harder.

"Rest? What right do I have to rest? They have flying swords, they have thousands of years. What do I have?"

This mindset was common among outlanders in Luofu. Facing the Xianzhou people, who lived long lives and possessed far superior physical abilities, many ordinary people found their mental state cracking. However, Jiang Yan was luckier than most—his guardian’s strange love for him continued:

"Troubled and stubborn—Xiao Jiang, you’re the best! Keep it up!"

As a genius girl who helped Luofu connect with sixteen different worlds through trade, renewed a mutually beneficial agreement with the Interastral Peace Corporation, and made the "Seafest" a renowned event across the galaxy, Tingyun had enough status to be capricious. So from then on, rare pills from the Alchemy Commission were supplied to him freely, and even the prestigious drug-blending dragon maidens were often invited to help Jiang Yan with his health. The Sky-Faring Commission's weapon specialists were also called in as sparring partners for him… This enviable treatment only further elevated Jiang Yan’s already strange reputation.

So much effort was being put into an outlander—what was the point? Even Jiang Yan himself couldn’t figure it out.

But he soon stopped worrying about it. After all, when you’ve got so much going on, you stop feeling anxious. All his "assets" were tied to his life anyway—whenever they wanted to take it, they could. What was there to fret about?

However, despite being mentally prepared to "repay his debt" with his life, Jiang Yan never got the chance, even as he grew from a boy into a young man. The debt only piled up more and more until it became part of his routine.

Just as Jiang Yan thought this life, like the everlasting Xianzhou Luofu, would continue unchanged, one day, two judges from the Ten-Lords Commission appeared before him.

"Judges of the Ten-Lords Commission, Xueyi, here on the King’s edict for a mission. Please come with us."

The mechanical girl who spoke didn’t show any credentials, but clearly, no one in the Xianzhou dared to impersonate the Ten-Lords Commission.

"Okay, alright."

Though he was an outlander, Jiang Yan had heard countless terrifying stories about the Ten-Lords Commission over the years. Yet, being an outlander, Jiang Yan, who spent most of his time studying or practicing, didn’t panic in front of these judges, who were like grim reapers to most Xianzhou people.

He had just come of age and wasn’t interested in seeking immortality. What could be so terrifying about them? They were probably just investigating something and needed his statement.

Jiang Yan’s thoughts were reasonable. Recently, many things had been happening on the Xianzhou Luofu. First, the Medicine King's secret techniques caused chaos. Then, there were reports of a Star Rail train suddenly breaking through the closed spaceport. After that, even the vital Jianmu tree, which affected the lives of all Xianzhou people, began to regrow. It would be stranger if the Ten-Lords Commission weren’t conducting investigations.

With Jiang Yan’s full cooperation and no restrictions placed on him, he was brought into the mysterious Ten-Lords Commission. After a complex and detailed spell examination, though the expression of the mechanical girl remained serious, the white-haired girl in front of her seemed more relaxed. She poured a cup of tea for Jiang Yan at a desk, holding a giant brush as she began the routine questioning:

"I am a special envoy of the Ten Lords, Han Ya, listed last among the four judges of Capture, Lock, Punishment, and Inquiry. By the King’s favor, I wield the Heaven Pen to record sins and pass judgment. The purpose of this visit is to inquire about your adopted sister, Tingyun."

This question suddenly filled Jiang Yan with a deep sense of unease.

"Sister Tingyun? What’s happened to her?"

"Although the truth is still unclear, what can be confirmed is that the Miss Tingyun you know is no longer with us. Please accept my condolences."

"What???"