"Alright, no more joking around. Do I still need to keep observing the technological development of the Tianyang Federation, just like all those ordinary civilizations before?" Seeing the System's inexplicable despondency, Shen Wan, being a good buddy, decided to stop teasing it.
"Ding. Read it if you want; after all, it's almost coming to an end. So far, you've directly or indirectly assisted the development of over a thousand civilizations, and you practically know what every kind of development looks like. So..." The System, which had just been feeling extremely depressed, suddenly perked up. "From the developmental trajectories of these thousand or so civilizations, what have you figured out?"
"Huh? Are we doing reading comprehension now?"
"Ding. No, no, no. Should I say... your acceptance speech?" The System didn't quite know how to put it.
"Oh, then my verdict is: the so-called Honkai—in the context of *Honkai: Star Rail*—is still, just like in *Honkai Impact 3rd*, a periodic natural disaster. It takes various forms, including but not limited to natural calamities, the invasion of colossal titans, Stellaron disasters, and even the collapse of human nature."
"Ding. The collapse of human nature? Are you talking about the civilization of Minor Six Satellite?" Although Shen Wan's words carried some rather startling implications, the System deliberately sidestepped that topic, instead recalling the outcome of a certain civilization from the past:
Because they successfully completed the research and development of controlled nuclear fusion, they solved the energy problem for spaceship navigation in the Minor Six Satellite civilization of the Minor Galaxy—a place where the planetary density was so high that the gravity exceeded the average gravity of cosmic planets by a hundredfold. This allowed a civilization whose foundational technology had already reached the interstellar level, but which had never been able to travel through the cosmos due to energy issues, to finally soar into the vast universe.
However, only after they had visited a few nearby planets to collect mineral resources unavailable on their home planet, and after the dozen or so countries that formed the federation had existed for just a few short years, did a war break out over resource allocation and a few historical grievances. At first, it was fought rather lukewarmly, but the moment a certain country launched a nuclear bomb, things spiraled completely out of control. Nuclear war—essentially the most insane kind of war mortals could wage when there were no Emanator-tier entities around. And just like that, this civilization, which had only just stepped into the interstellar era, vanished into the river of history without raising a single ripple.
"Did you go and check out the outcome of the Mecas civilization later on?" Shen Wan still had a deep impression of the very first civilization he had personally guided to success.
"Ding. Well, old Kaludan lay low and farmed resources for a while, feeling that he—or rather, Mecas—had got his groove back. So he launched an interstellar war under the banner of 'Liberating the One and Only Mecas.' But he didn't expect that the other planets had all held something back when providing technological aid to Mecas, so..."
"So the Mecas civilization ended up being jointly destroyed by the other civilizations of the Skarand System?" Shen Wan, who hadn't originally held out any hope of learning the fate of the Mecas civilization, grew interested.
"Ding. No, just as Mecas was about to be obliterated, the Antimatter Legion arrived in the Skarand System. It seemed to be led by Phantylia."
"That Lord Ravager obsessed with physical destruction, huh? Now that's a regular O. Henry ending—Honkai made an appearance in the form of the Antimatter Legion," Shen Wan muttered.
"Ding. Who's O. Henry?" the System asked.
Emm, this System avoided certain topics, but it didn't shy away from that one.
"Cut to the chase. Where is this last civilization?"
"Ding. Give me a second to script a random generator; whoever it lands on is the one."
"Hey, you don't even have that function! I've never seen you use it before." Shen Wan was extremely surprised.
"Ding. The Host must not look down upon the System. The System is omnipotent." The snarky System occasionally liked to act coy.
"Ding. The result is out. It's a planet called Jarilo-VI. It seems it used to be an interstellar civilization too, but because of the invasion of the Antimatter Legion and the influence of a Stellaron, it's now a wasteland world. First step, set a small goal: lead them out into the universe."
"What?" Although nearly forty Amber Eras had passed, he still had a relatively deep impression of the plot of Star Rail. After all, if you time-traveled to a world whose development you once understood, how could you completely forget the information that once allowed you to connect with it?
"Has the Stellaron problem on that world been solved? If it hasn't, do I still have to deal with the Stellaron?" Shen Wan, finally bringing his brain online, probed indirectly, hoping to get some plot-related information.
"Ding. You're an Emanator of the glorious Erudition, and you're scared of a mere Stellaron?" The System was rather surprised.
Although Shen Wan had never encountered a formidable enemy over such a long period of time—even though the number of planets ultimately destroyed at the hands of other civilizations or factions like the Antimatter Legion was no less than a hundred—coincidentally, Shen Wan had never run into a formidable enemy at the Emanator tier or above. Even so, he had never shown cowardice in his conversations with the System. Aside from expressing a slight trace of fear when debriefing (and mutually screaming at each other) with the System after an audience with Nous, Shen Wan had always maintained a confident demeanor.
"I'm not scared, I just hate trouble," Shen Wan quickly covered his tracks.
Hearing this, the System didn't press the matter further: "Ding. It seems the Stellaron problem hasn't been solved yet, and the current situation is rather tense. Who knows, before you even have time to develop them, this civilization might just get destroyed. What do you think? Want to give it a try, or drop this planet and pick another civilization for your final attempt? After all, it really was randomly generated; it's completely normal if a few random rolls turn out to be impossible to complete."
"No, no... Never mind, let's go with this one. Time to challenge my Achilles' heel." Shen Wan, who had been about to hastily refuse and switch civilizations, slammed on the brakes at the very last second before the words left his mouth. He couldn't let the snarky System catch onto anything. Even though he often slipped up in his speech and the System didn't usually care, what if? After all, it was a troll of a System; he couldn't afford to give it an opening.
"Ding. Oh~ Very well, then. This is the one." The System was full of subtext, but just as it had in the past whenever Shen Wan misspoke, it didn't probe any deeper.
"Ding. Alright, passengers please sit tight and hold on. The ship is about to begin its warp. Passengers, please prepare yourselves!" Using words that stirred a faint sense of nostalgia in Shen Wan, the System remotely initiated the ship's warp.
In an instant, the entire vessel seemed to turn into a state of nothingness. The interior glowed with an all-encompassing, deep-blue hue, and then the ship surged forward at blinding speed.
...
Not long after, the ship appeared beneath a new expanse of starry skies, neighboring a planet that was nearly completely frozen over. Shen Wan looked out the window. There didn't seem to be a shred of green representing vegetation on the planet's surface; apart from the white of the snow and the blue of the sea, only a single human settlement displayed a different color.
"Is this Jarilo-VI?" Although he felt a sense of deja vu and could confirm this was indeed Jarilo-VI, the second major map from the game, Shen Wan still put on an act of playing dumb after his previous slip of the tongue.
"Ding. Yes. According to the System's scans, Jarilo-VI has only a single human settlement left. Aside from that, there are no signs of intelligent life whatsoever, though there are quite a few Fragmentum monsters."
"Then I'm heading down. Heh, Xia'ai Tongxue, help me set the landing coordinates. Just a little south of that human settlement will do."
"Understood, Master. Parameter settings complete. Considering that this expedition involves only the Master alone, please enter one of the small boarding pods on the ship and wait for launch," replied the ship's AI, addressed as Xia'ai Tongxue.
A few minutes later, stepping out of the boarding pod in casual wear, Shen Wan felt a faint chill. Are you kidding? He had served as an Emanator of Erudition for a few thousand years and had walked the paths plenty; this trivial bit of low temperature was nothing to him. He had seen environments far harsher than this—Caluso III in the Bignell Galaxy, for instance, stayed below -60 degrees Celsius year-round, and the humans there had evolved bizarre shapes to cope with the bitter cold. Not to mention growing primitive fur, even the thermal membrane on their arms was strange enough. Yet even under those conditions, all he needed to do was put on a cotton-padded jacket and he could move around freely.
Relying on his superhuman mental strength, Shen Wan quickly located north and slowly set off.