[Night, P Station Headquarters building.]
The explosive popularity of the Honkai Impact 3rd video truly brought some shock to people in this world, and at the same time, brought trouble to the programmers of P Station.
Kevin was one of them. From the very first day he became a programmer, Kevin knew that the path he was about to walk was a road of no return.
The sound of keyboard tapping echoed crisply in the empty office. The ceiling lights in the office had long been turned off by property management, and the only remaining light source in the entire space was the small USB desk lamp at Kevin's workstation.
Under the illumination of the desk lamp, Kevin's face looked a bit tired.
Suddenly, Kevin heard a sound from behind him. He turned his head, and what came into his view was a cup of Starbucks-style coffee.
"Young people don't go to bars or date, planning to grow old together with test cases, huh?" The senior colleague at the next desk laughed as he handed the coffee to Kevin, then began packing up his things.
Under the cold light of the screen, the senior's receding hairline was particularly noticeable.
Kevin took the coffee. The bitter liquid slid down his throat but brought a trace of warmth.
"My girlfriend's lab has been busy lately. If I go back, I'll just play games anyway. Might as well finish work first," Kevin said as he instinctively looked at the photo frame on his desk.
In the photo, he stood side-by-side with a purple-haired girl wearing glasses, both smiling brightly.
"You kid, work is work, but you still have to take care of your body." The senior patted Kevin on the shoulder and left the office with a smile.
Once again, the large office was left with only Kevin alone.
He chuckled self-mockingly and threw himself back into work.
"To think, mighty P Station, actually crashed due to a sudden surge in traffic from a single video…" Kevin looked at the angry rant from leadership in the work group chat, feeling somewhat incredulous.
Out of curiosity, Kevin clicked on the video link, and once he did, he couldn't stop. By the time he came back to his senses, it was already close to midnight.
In the video, those heroes fighting desperately to save the world, and the barrage of excited bullet comments on the screen, gave Kevin a strange sense of distance.
He calmly watched the whole thing, but inside, there were no waves of emotion.
"Clearly it's a blood-boiling story about saving the world… why don't I feel anything at all?" Kevin murmured to himself, his fingers lightly tapping on the desk.
He picked up the now-cold coffee, took a sip, and his gaze once again fell on the photo frame on the table.
The purple-haired girl in the photo, Mei, was smiling at him.
Just then, his phone vibrated. Kevin picked it up. On the screen was a message from Mei.
[Mei: Still working overtime? Don't overwork yourself. Come home early.]
Kevin smiled and quickly typed on the screen.
[Kevin: Yeah, I'll be done soon. What about you? Done with your experiment?]
[Mei: Just finished, about to head back to the dorm. The lab data today was a bit complicated, made my head explode.]
[Kevin: That's tough. Once you're done with everything, I'll treat you to a nice meal.]
[Mei: Sure. But don't push yourself too hard. Oh right, I watched that Honkai 3 video today. It seems pretty popular. Have you seen it?]
Kevin looked at the phone screen, hesitated for a moment, but still replied:
[Kevin: I watched it. But… I don't know why, I don't feel much about those save-the-world stories. Do you think… I don't have the potential to be a hero?]
After sending the message, Kevin nervously waited for Mei's reply.
A few seconds later, the phone vibrated again.
[Mei: Silly, who said a hero must save the world? In my eyes, you've always been a hero. At least, you're my hero.]
Kevin looked at this message, and the corners of his lips lifted involuntarily. His fingers paused briefly on the screen, then finally replied.
[Kevin: Thank you, Mei. Just hearing that from you is enough.]
[Mei: Come home early. Don't make me worry.]
[Kevin: Yes ma'am!]
Putting down his phone, Kevin let out a long breath. He looked again at the photo frame on the desk. Mei in the photo was still smiling, as if silently supporting him.
"Maybe… I really saved the world in my past life." Kevin laughed at himself. In his mind, some blurry images suddenly flashed, flames, ruins, and thirteen hazy figures…
But he quickly shook his head and tossed those thoughts away.
"But in this life… I just want to live an ordinary life with you." Kevin said softly, as if making a promise to the Mei in the photo.
He turned off the computer, tidied up the desk, took one last look at the small USB desk lamp, and switched it off too.
The office fell into darkness. Only moonlight streamed in from the window, casting a faint silver glow over his back.
Walking out of the building, the night wind was slightly cool. Kevin looked up at the starry sky, feeling a peaceful calm inside.
"Stuff like being a hero, I'll leave that to others." He muttered to himself, then walked toward the direction of home.
———
Meanwhile, during the days when Honkai 3 wasn't updating, netizens could be described as doing everything short of tearing apart heaven, they were basically analyzing the story frame by frame, just to find some hidden dialogue or foreshadowing among the characters.
Among them, there was an uploader named "Fictional Historian" who stood out as the best.
As a professional uploader, Fictional Historian naturally wouldn't miss this great opportunity to rake in traffic.
After days and nights of analysis and editing, Fictional Historian updated his first video, "The Biggest Scam in Film History! Healthy, Sunny, Positive?"
At the beginning of the video, Fictional Historian swore confidently, "Family, after studying Honkai 3 day and night, I've discovered a shocking secret!"
"Of course, before I explain the secret I found, I must let everyone know one thing…"
"No one… understands… Honkai 3… better than me!"
"For those familiar with me, you know, although my fame isn't legendary, at least it's famously unknown, but my greatest strength is that I've never lied to my fans!"
At this point in the video, only a few sparse bullet comments floated across the previously clean screen.
And the content of the comments was stuff like, [Bullshit!]
[Doesn't your conscience hurt?]
[Didn't you promise to wear women's clothes in the group once you hit 1,000 followers? Did you post it yet?!]
Of course, Fictional Historian couldn't see these bullet comments and naturally didn't respond to them. In the video, Fictional Historian continued to explain the content shown in the prologue of Honkai 3.
"Brothers, based on what I understand, and combining it with the situation in the real world, I boldly speculate that the worldview of Honkai 3 is a female-centric worldview."
"Otherwise, how do you explain that all the ones going to the battlefield are women, and not men?"
At this point, many viewers also realized he might have a point.
But at the same time, some people rebutted, "So what does that prove? Isn't that just like the real world too?"
As if he had already anticipated this rebuttal, Fictional Historian continued, "I believe that at this very moment, many of you are cursing me in the bullet comments, saying 'Isn't this the same as real life? What's there to say?'"
"But I want to say, you're wrong! And completely wrong!" His voice suddenly turned passionate. "Think about it, what are the women fighting against Honkai called in the video? Valkyries, right? But why are the men simply called 'warriors'?"
"Doesn't this prove that the majority of the power resisting Honkai is female, and male warriors are rare, perhaps even nonexistent?"
"But here's the problem, if men are rare, then how do you explain Van? What's the point of his appearance?"
We can say that while Fictional Historian didn't have many followers, his speaking skills were indeed excellent. With just a few words, he successfully guided the viewers' thoughts into his rhythm.
As if sensing that his viewpoint had stunned the audience, his tone became more smug.
[Of course, all that was just the appetizer. Now comes the most exciting part!]
[According to my research, Van may appear to be around the same age as characters like Kiana, but in reality, they're not peers at all! The best evidence is that he's comrades with Himeko!]
[And based on my careful observation, I can't sense any youthful vitality in Van's eyes, he actually looks more like an old man full of gloom.]
[When he interacts with Kiana and the others, even though the girls in front of him are so cute… (omitting 10,000 words of fangirling over the OG trio), he's completely unmoved!]
[There were so many chances, and he ignored them all! It really makes me jealous, I mean, furious!]
[They say free things are the most expensive. Likewise, someone like Van who asks for nothing in return is the scariest kind.]
[Based on the current plot, two of the three main girls are Herrschers who can destroy the world. Combined with Van's phantom appearing in Kiana's dream space, I have every reason to believe, Van's goal in getting close to them is to control them, and thus achieve world domination!]
To prove his point, Fictional Historian even added video clips for explanation, his attention to detail was on par with his college thesis.
This serious-yet-absurd style left many viewers stunned.
Of course, some long-time fans kindly explained to new viewers.
[Kid, got a lot of question marks in your head? Don't worry, I'm a long-time fan and I'm just as confused!]
[You're getting more and more abstract. You could match my Eagle-sis now!]
[As expected of Fictional Historian, your ability to fabricate history is getting stronger and stronger!]
However, in the face of bullet comment skepticism, Fictional Historian wasn't nervous at all. Because the video was made exactly to go the abstract route.
Even if the prediction turned out wrong, there'd be no problem. In fact, getting it wrong might be better. Then he could ride the video's heat, post an apology video, and cash in on some more uncle-fans. Simply perfect.
Just as Fictional Historian was fantasizing while looking at the backend analytics, he suddenly discovered, the Honkai Impact 3rd video had updated again.
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