[Honkai: Star Rail] Take the Astral Express and Wander Teyvat

[Reader Advisory: Be sure to read the guide below before starting!!!]

[Note: Once the story begins, the blurb will be fixed. Before then, it will continue to be polished.]

Zhou Chen, an outstanding employee at her former company with a P35 rating, had planned to quit and travel to the ocean planet Lushaka. But her spaceship was caught in the aftermath of a battlefield involving the Xianzhou, the Denizens of Abundance, and the Destruction Legion. She was swept into the most unpredictable temporal turbulence in the universe, and everything spun around her until her vision went black.

She had almost lost her ten-zero balance of Credits for good.

But she did not die. Instead, she found herself lying on soft grass, surrounded by pastoral forests and meadows. Looking up, she could see a huge train stretching across the sky and through the floating islands.

"Who am I? Where am I?"

A fat black cat lay on her stomach, yawning with boredom.

[You're finally awake. I don't know who you are, but this is Teyvat, a planet on the verge of destruction.]

"Teyvat?! That can't be right. I was supposed to be going to Lushaka!"

[I don't know, but the vehicle you were riding brought you here.]

In the deep crater behind her lay Zhou Chen's private spaceship, so wrecked it could not possibly be any more wrecked. She silently mourned it.

[Your body was on the brink of death. I used my power to save you. You'll need at least three months to recover. But in less than a month, Teyvat will be submerged by the Abyssal tide and become a dead planet.]

The black cat hopped onto the grass. [I saw your homeland in your dreams. If you want to go home, repair the train in the sky. In return, you must travel with me for at least three months.]

"...Of course."

The black cat turned away, so it did not see the knowing smile on Zhou Chen's face.

After twenty days of making the most of her spaceship's scrap parts, Zhou Chen finally repaired the red-and-black train that stretched across the sky and Celestia.

The enormous cat perched on her shoulder asked, [Do you know where this extraterrestrial vehicle came from?]

"I do. It's the Astral Express, which disappeared from the universe long ago. The Trailblaze Aeon used to ride it across the stars, connecting different worlds and breaking one planet's despair after another. It made the Nameless aboard the train famous throughout the universe." Zhou Chen asked curiously, "Oh, by the way, Mimi, can you drive?"

[...Mimi doesn't have hands, only paws.]

"Okay, I'll try to learn how to drive it within ten days. Then you can handle the fuel and finding passengers, all right? After all, you're a... remarkable Mimi."

"And pack up anything you want to take with you."

[...Not just that.]

"Hm?"

[I want to take all of Teyvat.]

"Mimi, are you serious?"

Mimi, or rather, the black cat, was absolutely serious.

For one reason or another, this newly formed duo really did pry an entire landmass of Teyvat loose, load it onto the train, and tear around the universe aboard the Astral Express.

In the end, their train met the one led by navigator Himeko. The two Astral Expresses ran side by side, bringing to mind the glorious days when Akivili, the Aeon of Trailblaze, was still alive.

Welt Yang, Dan Heng, March 7th... More and more passengers boarded the neighboring train, and it grew livelier by the day. Everyone was curious about the secret hidden aboard the train Zhou Chen drove. Why did it look completely empty, yet somehow feel packed with people?

The brave Trailblazer, the Galaxy's Sexiest Trash Panda, finally asked.

Zhou Chen was taken aback. "Because there really are a lot of people you can't see aboard this train. They all come from the same place."

"Where?" the Trash Panda pressed, curious.

"Teyvat."

Teyvat's passengers naturally made their presence felt, too.

The people of Liyue advised Dan Heng to kill the Vidyadhara elders and reform the Vidyadhara. The people of Sumeru suggested that the Mara-Struck Xianzhou natives recover in dreams, free themselves from the curse, and heal their souls.

When they reached Penacony, the people of Mondstadt cried out excitedly, "May Lord Barbatos bless Penacony with freedom!"

When they reached Amphoreus, Little March was kidnapped, and the Trash Panda and the Little Azure Dragon nearly died there. Even the Natlanese, who had been eager to fight, were helpless in the face of an Emanator of Destruction's birth. The parents aboard the train were frantic, calling everyone they could to save the children's lives.

Zhou Chen said, "Don't panic. I have a way."

Himeko said, "I'm counting on you, Xiao Chen... Wait, what are you doing?"

The young girl with red hair, green eyes, and twin braids reached into her chest and pulled out a shard of ice.

Zhou Chen smiled. "Sending the coordinates."

The ice shattered in her hand.

Himeko heard a voice.

[Coordinates confirmed. Initiating jump.]

The next instant, the dazzling starry sea outside the window was swallowed by a dark tide. After countless spatial jumps, the dragon fleet arrived at the coordinates. The steel behemoths and bio-weapons halted outside Amphoreus, their vast ranks blotting out the sky.

Inside the carriage, Himeko caught the limp girl. She watched her body stretch and reshape, until the eyes that opened were an entirely different, fiercely predatory shade of emerald.

"You're from that company, the [Red-Haired Ambitious Schemer]..."

Zhou Chen smiled. "But I've already left the Interastral Peace Corporation, Miss Himeko. You can just call me Zhou Chen."

Zhou Chen pointed out the window. "Iron Curtain, the Destruction faction's army of annihilation. Requesting permission to exterminate."

[Target confirmed. Extermination authorized.]

They once said that the birth of the Iron Curtain would mark the universe's final destruction.

But now, new computing power had joined the fray.

"Well, if everyone's already calling me an ambitious schemer, isn't taking down an Emanator of Destruction a perfectly normal way to kick off my comeback?"

Little March, just rescued, slammed her hand on the table in outrage. "How is that normal, exactly?!"

The Trash Panda cheered, raising her bat. "Let's do another one! Another one!"

The Little Azure Dragon restrained them both with one hand. "Everyone, take it down a notch."

[Reading Guide: Must Read Before Starting]

1. The female lead has no romantic pairing. She has plenty of identities and is a master of secret identities. She's actually a powerful lunatic who loves to smile, and she can call on even crazier big shots.

2. The screen time for Genshin Impact's Teyvat characters and the Astral Express Crew will be kept as close to a 4:6 split as possible. Aside from the most popular characters, there will also be some lesser-known ones. Original characters will appear later.

3. The main stories of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail won't take up much space. The story will focus more on original plotlines.

4. Teyvat's characters will be able to go out into the universe in the future. Mimi will find everyone in Teyvat a suitable habitable planet!

5. As for content warnings, I can only say there are no common triggers. I'm not sure about less common ones. Characters from my other works set in the same universe will make guest appearances, so enter with caution if that bothers you.

6. Feel free to bookmark, comment, and leave messages. I love reading everyone's comments and seeing where your imaginations take you!!!

Theme: Survive desperate situations and forge a future