Also, they wondered whether a wrong answer might carry some unpleasant penalty; after all, correct answers earned points, and the better the rewards those points could redeem, the more likely there were to be some harsh punishments.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, and what is free is always the most expensive.
March 7th: "Himeko, who is this guy named Caelus? How is there a photo of him with us?"
Himeko: "Hmm—I don't know either, March, I've never seen him."
March 7th then turned her head to look at Trailblazer with a puzzled expression.
"Trailblazer, do you have any siblings, or is he really your lover?"
"How could that be? The moment I woke up, I saw you and Dan Heng; I haven't met anyone else at all. Besides, the video showed photos of you with him, and Himeko with him too. Since none of you recognize him, how would I?"
"Well—that's true too."
March 7th looked thoughtful. Suddenly, an idea struck her, and she turned her gaze toward Pom-Pom, who was busy cleaning.
"Pom-Pom, aren't you the Conductor? Is there any Trailblazer named Caelus?"
"Passenger March 7th, there is no Trailblazer named Caelus here."
With that, Pom-Pom ignored March 7th and went back to cleaning.
"Huh? Even the Conductor doesn't know him?"
[Ding! Time's up. No one grabbed the chance to answer. Now starting random selection... Selection successful. User Lumine, please answer...]
[Aether: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ, I still have Lumine offline—so she was just invisible! @Lumine, come out quickly.]
[Kamisato Ayaka: Traveler, don't worry. Your sister must have something important to attend to, which is why she couldn't stay with you.]
[Ganyu: That's right, Traveler, try to relax.]
[Lumine: ...Brother, once your journey is complete, you'll understand me. System, I choose... A.]
[Ding! Congratulations to user Lumine for answering incorrectly. The penalty is playing her fan-made video — "Teyvat's Ultimate Playbook for Sea Kings". This video will be played after the Q&A session concludes.]
[Li Sushang: Huh? There's a penalty for getting it wrong? Still, it's just playing a video, nothing too bad. Good thing, or else I wouldn't dare answer anything in the future.]
Upon seeing the system's penalty, most people breathed a sigh of relief. After all, it was just playing a video; it was no big deal.
Now everyone could freely race to answer and earn points.
[Ding! Because user Lumine answered incorrectly, the next rapid-fire round will begin in ten seconds.]
[Himeko: Alright, Dan Heng, little March, and Trailblazer, you can safely race to answer now.]
[Trailblazer: Hehe, Himeko, I told you there's nothing to worry about if you get it wrong, but you wouldn't believe me.]
[Klee: Yay! Acting Grand Master Jean said Klee is allowed to play this guessing game now.]
[Ding! Congratulations to Mona, Noelle, Baizhu, Kaveh, Qingque, and three others for grabbing the correct answer simultaneously. Random selection in progress...]
[Ding! Congratulations to user Baizhu for winning this round's answering opportunity. Please select...]
[Aether: Doctor Baizhu, choose C. Trailblazer and Caelus might be the exact same person.]
[Amber: Ah, Traveler, how did you know?]
[Collei: Hey, hey, hey, it's Amber! Amber, are you doing well?]
[Eula: →_→]
[Amber: Oh, it's Collei! I've been doing great lately. Whenever you want to come to Mondstadt, remember to come find me.]
[Collei: Okay, I will definitely go find Amber to play.]
[Aether: Amber, hold off on the questions for a moment. I'll talk to you guys later. Baizhu, trust me and choose C.]
Seeing Traveler Aether answer with such certainty, many people had their doubts, and Baizhu was no exception. But then he figured that since Aether didn't belong to this world, he might know something they didn't.
In the end, Baizhu decided to trust the Traveler. After all, he had no idea what to choose anyway, so he might as well follow the Traveler's advice.
[Baizhu: Very well, then I choose C.]
[Ding! Congratulations to user Baizhu for answering correctly. Earned 50 points.]
{The author would like to make a note here: in the Honkai: Star Rail universe, if you choose Caelus, you don't get Trailblazer, and if you choose Trailblazer, you don't get Caelus. Therefore, the author considers Trailblazer and Caelus to be the exact same person. If you don't like it, please don't flame me.}
[Amber: Uh, it really was that? But why?]
[Kafka: As expected? What a pity, I didn't manage to grab it.]
[March 7th: Σ(?д?|||)?? That guy is Trailblazer? How is that even possible?!]
[Lin Yu: Hehe, the moment Traveler Aether said to choose C, I already knew what was going on. Aether, should you explain, or should I?]
[Aether: Hmm, you can help me explain it. I'm busy doing a commission right now.]
[Lin Yu: Alright, that works, I'll explain.
Why would we say that Trailblazer and Caelus are the same person? Actually, it's very simple. Someone discovered your world and created a storyline identical to yours.
Based on the game setting conventions in some worlds I've visited, when a game starts, it lets you choose between two protagonists, while the other either disappears, becomes your enemy, or goes off plotting some major scheme.
When watching the video just now, you might not have paid attention to Kafka and Silver Wolf's dialogue. You can scroll up and check it; after reading it, you'll see the probability of Trailblazer and Caelus being the same person is even higher.
Furthermore, the chat group already has Trailblazer, but there is no Caelus, which increases the probability even more. Naturally, the choice has to be C.]
After reading Lin Yu's explanation, everyone finally figured it out—there was no such person as Caelus in the chat group at all.
And Trailblazer realized that person was simply herself. What was there to be afraid of? It was just a false alarm; she had actually thought Himeko and March had found true love.
Trailblazer's mind spun: Caelus is me, and I am Caelus. Wouldn't that mean I can get all cozy with March 7th just like in the photo?