Honkai: Star Rail — A Nameless Traveler, a New Path Every Day - Chapter 9

Then, Pam got a little angry again.

What’s going on?!

“Passenger Youyan! Do you know how worried the train conductor was yesterday? There was such a big bug crawling in the carriage, the conductor thought you were going to turn the carriage into a bug nest!”

“I’m sorry.” You Yan crouched down, looking Pam in the eye. “I made the train conductor worry.”

“Hmph!” Pam turned her face away, but turned back after two seconds, her eyes full of concern. “Are you feeling alright now? Are you hungry? Would you like the train conductor to heat up some curry rice for you?”

“Sure, but conductor, may I bring a little one on board?”

“Little guy? It’s not a nose-walking beast, is it?”

“Of course not.”

Youyan stretched out his hand, and a beautiful blue insect was lying in his palm. It looked very well-behaved.

“You look a bit like Papa from yesterday…”

“To be precise, it is the rebirth of a breeding envoy.”

It wasn’t a fabrication, but a real breeding envoy he created, but its fate was forcibly locked by him yesterday.

This means that the blue bug is just a very resilient bug.

Pam’s little hand froze in mid-air, her round eyes fixed on the beautiful blue worm in Youyan’s palm.

“You said… what kind of handkerchief is this?”

“A breeding envoy,” You Yan answered frankly. “But don’t worry, I’ve sealed its fate. Right now, it’s just a relatively sturdy ordinary insect; it won’t split, it won’t get infected, and it won’t suddenly grow bigger.”

Pam pointed her little finger at the insect, then at the flame, and finally at herself.

“It’s very well-behaved.” Youyan held the insect up to Pam. “Look, it can even glow.”

As if to echo its owner’s words, the blue insect gently fluttered its wings, and a soft fluorescence emanated from its carapace. Indeed… it was quite beautiful.

“This isn’t about whether it shines or not!”

“What’s the problem?”

“Yes…yes…”

Pam opened her mouth, but found herself unable to utter a coherent sentence. The train conductor thought carefully: the insects didn’t divide, didn’t infect, didn’t grow larger, and were quite pretty…

It seems there’s really no problem?

“It’s like a part of myself that’s been separated from me. So it’s naturally close to the people on the train and won’t hurt anyone.”

“…Will it bite?”

“No. Its mouthparts have degenerated; it can only suck up liquids now.”

Will she poop randomly?

“No. Its metabolism is very clean, and it produces almost no waste.”

“Won’t it disturb the passengers’ sleep?”

“No. It spends most of its time dormant, and its wingbeats are so low that they are barely audible.”

Pam asked a question, and Youyan answered it.

When asked in the end, Pam found that she couldn’t find any reason to refuse.

“Then…what’s its name, Pa?”

You Yan was stunned for a moment.

He looked down at the little guy in his palm, then looked up at Pam, and suddenly laughed.

“It doesn’t have a name yet. How about the train conductor gives it one?”

“Really?!” Pam’s eyes lit up instantly. “Pam can name it?”

“Of course. You’re the train conductor, so naturally the new members on the train should be named by the train conductor.”

“Well, let the train conductor think about it…”

Pam, with her hands behind her back, circled Youyan’s palm twice, her expression as serious as if she were about to give an important speech at an interstellar peace conference.

“It’s blue, and it glows… and it’s so small…”

Pam suddenly stopped and slapped her little paws.

“Let’s call it Little Blue Lantern!”

“…”

You Yan’s expression froze for a moment.

Little blue light?

Is this the train conductor’s naming skills?

But looking into Pam’s expectant eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything against it.

“…Good name.” He nodded. “Simple, easy to remember, and descriptive.”

“Right, right, Pam!” Pam’s ears perked up with joy. “Little Blue Lantern! From now on, you’re a member of the train, Pam! Be good and don’t cause trouble, Pam!”

The little blue insect seemed to understand, and gently flapped its wings, emitting a faint buzzing sound.

“It said thank you,” You Yan translated.

“It can talk, huh?”

“It’s not exactly speaking, but I can roughly understand what it means. After all, it’s a part of me.”

Pam carefully took the little blue light.

“It seems to be rubbing against my handkerchief!”

“It likes the train conductor.” You Yan smiled. “I told you, it will be friendly with everyone on the train.”

“Then, where will it sleep? Should we prepare a little nest for it?”

“It doesn’t need to be too complicated, just find a corner and put a soft cushion there. It’s not picky.”

“Then the train conductor should go find it a cushion!” Pam, holding the little blue lamp, ran off, completely forgetting that she had just been angry with Youyan.

Youyan stood there, watching Pam’s retreating figure, a slight smile playing on his lips.

“You’re quite good at making the train conductor happy.”

The date March 7th appeared out of nowhere.

“I’m not just trying to comfort him.” You Yan turned around. “I genuinely think that the train conductor should have a little companion. We’re always running around, and the train conductor is all alone on the train. Even if he doesn’t say it, he must feel lonely.”

March 7th paused for a moment, the teasing on his face faded, and an indescribable expression appeared on his face.

“…You.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” She walked over and stood next to him. “It’s just that I feel like you’re the same person, whether you’re an insect or a human.”

“They were originally the same person.”

“I know.” March 7th nodded. “But this morning when you turned into consciousness, I was worried. After all, yesterday you were that cowardly big bug, and today you’re suddenly so…so calm, I almost thought you didn’t remember us.”

“I remember.” You Yan looked at her earnestly. “I remember the food you brought me, I remember you talking to me, and I remember you sneaking into the confinement section to find me, Senior March 7.”

The last “senior” made March 7th shudder.

“Don’t, don’t call me that! It feels weird!”

“But you really are my senior. The day before yesterday when I boarded the train, you even taught me how to use all the facilities on the train.”

“That happened yesterday! And yesterday you were in breeding, today you’re intellect… Why do you remember it so clearly!”

“Because it’s my experience,” You Yan said matter-of-factly. “Whether it’s pioneering, breeding, or knowledge, it’s all me. It’s just that I’m looking at things from a different perspective.”

March 7th was silent for a while.

“Then…the you from yesterday, that big bug you, are you still here now?”

This question made You Yan think about it seriously for a few seconds.

“Yes,” he finally answered, “but not as an insect. Rather, as a memory, an experience, a… part of me. Just as today’s knowledge will become tomorrow’s memory. All destinies are me, only they cannot coexist at the same time.”

“That sounds complicated.”

“It is indeed complicated. But it is also very simple—I am who I am, just changing my skin every day.”

The scenery outside the train window became dreamlike and enchanting.

“It’s so beautiful.”

March 7th sighed.

The view outside the dark red window looked somewhat surreal. It resembled dust, mist, or countless tiny particles floating in the starry sky. They moved slowly with the train, casting a hazy red glow on the porthole.

“What’s that?” March 7th leaned closer to the window, pressing his palm against the glass. “It’s so beautiful… but also so strange. When we first warped over here, the flight path didn’t indicate that this area had any nebulae.”

You Yan did not speak.

His brain was racing—his thinking speed under the influence of his intellectual destiny was many times faster than usual. Visual information, flight path data, star chart memory, deductions of various possibilities…

“Wandering Flame?”

“…Don’t go near the window yet.”

His voice was calm, but there was something unsettling about it.

March 7th subconsciously took a step back: “What’s wrong? What did you see?”