Although players were curious, it was clear miHoYo had no intention of revealing the agreement between Kevin and Otto just yet.
The scene shifted.
To the meeting room of the Helios.
A familiar yet unfamiliar twin-tailed red figure appeared at the center of the screen—Tesla, back from the abyss.
In her typical tone, Tesla mocked that Raicel had been completely wrecked from the beginning, and instead of repairing it, they might as well make a new one.
Raiden Mei, who heard Tesla's comment, remained silent and continued tidying up the piles of documents on the other table.
Over the past few months, they had been searching every day for traces of Kiana and Himeko.
Intel of all sizes had poured in from all over the world. The useful ones had been printed and filed, and over time, they filled the room that was once meant for meetings.
Seeing that Mei was still looking for Himeko touched the players—bringing a complex blend of surprise and melancholy.
Surprise that Himeko might still be alive?
Melancholy at the possibility that Mei simply refused to believe Himeko was gone... and thus never gave up.
And they were shocked at how deeply immersed they had become in the story—emotionally stirred by just a few lines.
Before Honkai Impact 3rd, most of them were the kind of mobile game players who skipped story content altogether.
Immersed in the plot? Rarely even read it.
Yet now, with every update of the main story, they eagerly awaited to find out what happened next.
To them, this was a brand-new experience. That games could be more than just grinding and gacha pulls—they could have characters so vivid you couldn't forget them.
As the players pondered, Mobius stayed focused on the story.
Tesla and Mei conversed, and Mei recalled the changes she had seen in Kiana in Arc City. The pessimistic and helpless emotions welled up like a flood.
Tesla, never good at comforting others, could only offer to head back to the intelligence room—maybe she'd find something useful to lift Mei's spirits.
She lingered at the door, glancing back several times before quietly leaving.
Mei was left alone in the room, organizing the scattered documents, her mind consumed by thoughts of Kiana.
Over four months had passed since the battle with Schicksal.
In that time, how many cities touched by Honkai had Kiana passed through? How many tragedies had she witnessed?
Faced with lives lost to the Great Honkai, would she blame herself for all of it? Would she choose to shoulder that burden alone?
Mei trembled. Though her battle wounds had healed, the pain in her chest only deepened.
She dared not think further—but she couldn't stop herself either. Her thoughts dropped like stones into a frozen lake—cold, heavy, sinking deeper into the dark.
For the first time since they had met… Kiana felt… so…
So… unfamiliar.
Mei's emotions had reached their limit, like a pot of water filled to the brim—just one more drop and it would overflow.
And when it did, something would break.
There's a saying: "Either break the silence, or be broken by it."
Given the way the plot was unfolding, it was far more likely Mei would explode like a thunderclap.
—Bang!!
The door was suddenly kicked open.
Dr. Tesla rushed in, announcing she had found a trace of Kiana.
A glimmer of hope pierced Mei's frozen heart.
She looked even more eager than Dr. Tesla, packing her things quickly and urging Tesla to hurry—to head for Nagazora, where the lead had come from.
Nagazora—the place where Kiana and Mei had first met, known, and grown close. They had once studied together at Chiba Academy there.
After a period of travel—
Mei and Tesla arrived in Nagazora aboard the Helios, quickly devising a plan to find Kiana—
Build a simple detection array to track Honkai energy as a way of locating her.
With the plan set, they took immediate action. But Nagazora, now submerged by seawater after the Third Eruption, had undergone drastic changes.
Former pathways were blocked, progress was slow.
[I hate fetch quests the most. Can we please just get to the point already? Kianaaa! I'm anxious here!]
[Will Kiana and Mei reunite? No tragic twist, right?]
[Didn't the miHoYo CEO promise in a live broadcast that Kiana and Mei would reunite soon?]
[You trust miHoYo's CEO that easily?]
[Of course we do! Reunion doesn't mean there won't be pain.]
Having played Honkai Impact 3rd for so long, players thought they understood miHoYo's writers well.
A knife would always come. They were mentally prepared.
But they still wanted to know where Kiana and Mei's journey would go.
Even knowing full well a blade might be waiting, they would still walk right into it.
Because Kiana, Mei, and the others in this story—they had all become deeply compelling.
Truthfully, maybe years from now, Honkai Impact 3rd would be outdated. But they'd still remember the time they were once so enchanted by it.
And if Hokuto knew what the players were thinking, he'd probably wave it off and say, he still had a bunch of plot bombs he hadn't thrown yet.
Outdated? Not happening!
Even just the side minigames they were developing could keep Honkai fans playing endlessly.
After all, this world wasn't like the one before—there were no real alternatives for that kind of variety.
So Hokuto figured players better be prepared to find out that Honkai Impact 3rd would still be in a league of its own years later.
At that point, maybe someone would sigh:
"It's already 20XX, and miHoYo's Honkai 3rd, made years ago, is still knocking all these major studios to the floor. Whose fault is that?"
Back to the story.
Mobius had Mei setting up detection devices across the ruined city.
While players debated the Kiana-Mei reunion, some still grumbled that miHoYo had inserted a boring fetch quest right when things were heating up.
Was this another old-school trope?
Like: "Brave warrior, I know you're off to slay the demon lord, but can you unclog my toilet first?"
[Next time I do the Honkai Impact 3rd feedback survey, I'm going to mark everything as 'Very Easy'—and also tell miHoYo to cut out these fetch quests from the main story. Seriously, they're annoying.]
[So you're the one saying 'Very Easy'? You trying to make Deep Archives harder for us?!]
[Honestly though, fetch quests are a drag.]
Mobius used Mei to execute a combo, clearing a few wandering enemies, and then glanced at the comments.
"This fetch quest—maybe miHoYo didn't include it just to stretch gameplay time."
She moved the character beside a high-rise.
"According to the plot, this used to be a bustling metropolis of over three million. Now, after the Honkai, it's just ruins."
"Same with the North Africa experimental base mentioned in the last chapter. Once the biggest transport hub in North Africa—now buried in desert sand."
Mobius shifted the camera perspective—
Letting the audience see the submerged skyscrapers and weeds overtaking what was once prosperity.
Desolation. Ruin.
All that remained was the debris of civilization.
Staring at the sight, many viewers felt a wave of sadness.
"I think this fetch quest is miHoYo's way of making us look at how much Honkai has destroyed."
"To help us truly understand how terrifying the Honkai is."
"Otherwise, why would miHoYo go through the trouble of modeling this area in such detail, and optimizing it too?"
[Miss Snake actually sounds pretty convincing. I thought miHoYo was on the first level—but they're actually five levels ahead?]
[No way... You really believe miHoYo put that much thought into a fetch quest?]
[Don't underestimate them. The writers are obsessive about these kinds of details.]
[Now that you mention it, this is kinda impressive. The detail, the polish—this is a free game?!]
[Be confident—you paid! (smirk emoji)]
The audience gradually came to a consensus. Many indie studio devs watching were scribbling notes as usual.
Turns out, even a simple quest can be a subtle way to elevate the story.
They suddenly felt enlightened.
Unlike the big studios quietly hoping miHoYo had run out of steam—
Many small studios actually admired miHoYo.
Because they'd learned so much from them.
So they truly respected Honkai Impact 3rd, and even more so—respected miHoYo and that one person behind it all.
[Come to think of it, Miss Snake wasn't even snarky this time. She actually stood up for Honkai 3rd. Looks like even she likes it.]
[Even Miss Snake can't resist Honkai 3rd.]
["My dear Elysia♪": Wow~ Stirring up a heated discussion again. You're really something~ Although I'm no slouch either~♪]
["My dear Elysia♪": Miss Snake, are you happy? Doesn't it feel good to be loved by all?]
"Heh~~ I'm not like you, Elysia."
Mobius answered coolly while placing another detector in-game.
At the same time, she triggered the next cutscene.