What if your Honkai Star Rail was like this?

Chapter 262: Chapter 262: Hot Favorites List for the Championship

”Report—! General Feixiao of Yaoqing requests an audience!”

Just as the group was chatting animatedly, the messenger Cloud Knight came running over again, delivering the message.

”Please come in.” Qingque ordered.

”Yes!”

A few seconds later, the doors opened, and Feixiao strode in meteorically. Behind her, Jiaoqiu was still whispering: ”General, if you really don’t know what to say, just say whatever comes to mind. Frank people might not always be likable, but dishonest people are definitely not.”

”Also, absolutely don’t use Borisin slang.”

Feixiao nodded: ”I understand.”

On the other side, upon seeing the visitor, Qingque decided to strike first, so she cleared her throat and said: ”General Feixiao, you’re a bit late in arriving.”

She knew that among the two visiting generals, this young and vigorous General Feixiao was the main one responsible for evaluating her. Therefore, she decided to start with the other party’s tardiness, at least not letting the initiative be seized by the opponent.

Feixiao stood tall with her chest out, her gaze sharp, showing no restraint in her edge: ”Sorry! I’m late!”

Qingque: ...

Tch... As expected of the Skystrike General; the first words out of her mouth disrupted her plan.

Since the other party had apologized so frankly, if she continued on this topic, it would instead make her seem petty.

Qingque adjusted her mindset: ”Since you’ve said that much, please take a seat. Let’s discuss the main matters. General Feixiao, you’ve come all the way from Yaoqing. Besides being invited to observe the Wardance Ceremony, you should also have the task of evaluating this general on behalf of the Alliance’s higher-ups, right?”

Her thinking was: Rather than passively waiting for the other party to probe her, better to bring the matter out into the open boldly. This way, General Feixiao would definitely, for the sake of face, deflect with something like ”Just kidding” or ”No, no,” which would actually help her gain the initiative.

Feixiao nodded: ”Yes!”

Qingque: ...

Damn it, as expected of the Skystrike General; the second sentence disrupted her rhythm again.

This put her at a disadvantage.

Feixiao casually pulled out a checklist and read from the items on it: ”May I ask, General Qingque, in your daily work, do you slack off and laze around, delegating all your work downward?”

Qingque: !

As expected of the Skystrike General—not only seizing the initiative but also using a precise follow-up attack to control the rhythm. And this question... Could she already know something?

Qingque put on a serious face: ”No, no, absolutely not. General Feixiao, when we speak, we must have evidence. Don’t be blinded by baseless rumors.”

Feixiao looked puzzled and asked: ”Is that so? But I just found a bunch of complaint letters from the Sky-Faring Commission in the complaint box at the entrance of the Seat of Divine Foresight. Does that count as baseless rumors?”

Qingque was stunned for a moment. Complaint box? Hadn’t she installed three surveillance cameras on it? How could anyone still dare to submit one?

No... That’s not the point. The point is, the surveillance footage showed no one throwing in complaint letters at all?!

The actual situation:

A certain matcha-flavored little cake, whose height was in the surveillance blind spot, tiptoed with great effort to finally toss the complaint letter in, muttering indignantly: ”Stinky kid, laze yourself to death! Dumping all the work on me—I’m done!”

...

Qingque coughed lightly and said: ”A while ago, the Luofu encountered some upheaval, so it was normal to have a lot of things to handle all at once. It’s also normal for employees to vent some frustrations.”

Feixiao asked again: ”Then, regarding the rumor that you abused your authority to secretly favor subordinate female employees, is that true?”

Qingque swallowed a mouthful of saliva: ”No, no, absolutely not.”

Secretly favor? How could caring for one’s subordinates be called secretly favoring? That was clearly giving Little Fu a chance to advance. After all, she didn’t want to get fired either!

Who filed the report?

”General Feixiao, you really can’t believe rumors about this kind of thing. The final interpretation rests with the parties involved.”

Feixiao nodded thoughtfully: ”That makes sense. Then... General Qingque, regarding the paper ’One Hundred Ways to Kill Hoolay’ that Yaoqing sent you a while ago, have you read it? Have you put it into practice?”

Qingque paused for a moment: ”Well... I tried it, but the effect wasn’t great. Do you want to see it in person?”

Feixiao nodded: ”Sure, right now?”

”Please.”

...

On the other side.

—”Breaking news, breaking news! The hot favorites list for the Wardance Ceremony championship has been released! Come take a look if you’re interested!”

Stelle and the others had just come out of the Alchemy Commission when they saw a large crowd gathered around an electronic bulletin board on the roadside. Upon inquiring, they learned that the registration list for the Wardance Ceremony had come out, and various media outlets had made a hot list based on the players’ fame for everyone’s amusement.

”The top of the list is... Bailu?”

Stelle tiptoed to peer from outside the crowd. When she made out the name at the very top, she was immediately a bit surprised. Of course, she had great confidence in Bailu’s strength, but... When did Bailu have time to compete?

Come to think of it, she seemed to have gone on vacation to Penacony with old Jing before. Had the Dragon Masters changed gender? Actually giving Bailu such a long vacation?

Stelle could understand Bailu ranking first; after all, she was a local from the Luofu. If she couldn’t rank first on her home turf, that would be too embarrassing.

Moreover, Bailu’s own strength wasn’t lacking. Just ask around the Luofu—who’s the strongest there?

And ranking second was none other than Zhuming’s Yunli, which made sense too. After all, Zhuming was also a Xianzhou; everyone would definitely support their own people. Plus, Yunli was General Huaiyan’s disciple, so her strength was undoubtedly not to be underestimated.

But when Stelle saw the third place, she suddenly froze, her eyes filled with utter confusion.

Because the white-haired little loli in third place looked extremely familiar, basically identical to Big Sis Clara...

”Isn’t that Clara?” Dan Heng said puzzledly. ”How did she come to the Luofu too? Did Belobog get connected to the network so quickly?”

March 7th rubbed her chin: ”Who knows... But it probably isn’t just a resemblance. Let’s call and ask later. By the way, how did she rank third on this list? Logically, Belobog shouldn’t have much fame in the galaxy, right?”

Stelle looked around cautiously and poked a passerby, asking: ”Excuse me, sir, what’s the background of that girl ranked third on the list? I haven’t heard of anyone like her before.”

The passerby smiled and answered enthusiastically: ”You mean that girl named Clara? I don’t know the specifics, but I heard she comes from some obscure little planet in the galaxy. But a few days ago, a fugitive from the Ten-Lords Commission wanted to escape from Starskiff Haven and was spotted by this girl.”

”So she caught the fugitive? And then found out that fugitive was actually a notorious galactic criminal?” Stelle asked.

The passerby thought for a moment: ”Catching the fugitive... Sort of, but more accurately, she caught the spaceship.”

Stelle: ???