The Gamer who traveled to Honkai: Star Rail

Extreme Xenophobia. Extreme Equality. Extreme Militarism. Extreme Pacifism.

These four extremes coexisted somehow. And what was even more bizarre, the simulation confirmed it was logically consistent.

Extreme Xenophobia—anything not under Pei Guang's banner was treated as an enemy to be conquered or destroyed.

Extreme Equality—beneath Pei Guang's leadership, all intelligent species enjoyed absolute equality, from access to education to unlimited social resources. People were free to choose their professions or even opt to do nothing at all, thanks to infinite resources. Jobs were assigned purely on merit through an autonomous system.

Extreme Militarism—conquer, conquer, conquer!

Extreme Pacifism—wars were waged to establish universal peace and equality, so more civilizations could join this utopia.

Most terrifying of all, there was no rebellion within Pei Guang's empire. None. If this were the old simulation, it might be excusable, but this was a simulation backed by Aeons, meant to closely mimic reality. Yet even here, not a single voice of dissent could be heard?

Well, upon closer inspection—there were resistances. Forces like the Xianzhou Alliance, the Interastral Peace Corporation, and even followers and Emanators of certain Aeons were desperately trying to rebel against this colossal regime.

The Aeons wielded powers capable of obliterating worlds, but within the simulation, the Aeon of Elation had completely defected.

Aha was no longer observing—it was Pei Guang's most loyal general, leading bug swarms to devour the Antimatter Legion and declaring absolute faith in "Emperor Pei Guang."

At this point, Herta's brain felt like it was about to explode. Even Nous, the Aeon of Erudition, who had supported the simulation, seemed to acknowledge this scenario. If Nous had a head, it would probably be spinning too.

And Aha? If Aha was really watching this simulation, it probably wouldn't be angry—just delighted by the chaos.

The simulation kept running, but the deeper it went, the more Herta noticed something strange happening.

By the 49th year in the simulation, she noticed something truly mind-boggling—Pei Guang had already subdued every single Aeon in the simulated universe. Those who resisted were captured, and those who surrendered became his subordinates. As for planets that refused to submit?

Planetary Annihilation or Neutron Extermination—pick one. If you resist, congratulations, your homeworld just became a mining colony.

And the rebellious Aeons? Pei Guang had repurposed them into an endless energy source, locking them together in a containment field. By the time the 50th year rolled around, the so-called End had arrived—only to be captured by Pei Guang and tossed into the power grid alongside the others to generate clean, efficient energy.

But even that wasn't the craziest part. What really left Herta speechless was the sudden, infinite expansion of the simulation's memory capacity.

Yet, before it spiraled completely out of control, Pei Guang brought it to a halt. After unifying the entire simulated universe, he enacted new laws using the power of the Aeons. Population caps, infinite resource generation, and heavy investment into entertainment industries were all established.

And just as the memory was about to overflow again, he made another move—deploying structures called Aetherophasic Engines across critical nodes in the simulated universe. Each of these engines contained a captured enemy Aeon, repurposed as a power source while the simulation gathered resources at a breakneck pace.

Then, as Pei Guang was moments away from activating the Aetherophasic Engines to ascend the entire simulated universe to a higher dimension, the Path of Erudition intervened.

In an instant, Erudition's energy brought the simulation to an abrupt end. Pei Guang, Stelle, and March 7th all received the same prompt:

"Congratulations on clearing the Simulation Universe!"

The three of them froze.

This was Nous's doing. If the simulation hadn't been terminated, its data would have breached into reality. While the inhabitants of the simulation were merely coded constructs, their ascension under Pei Guang's leadership would have caused them to evolve into true digital lifeforms.

Loyal, intelligent, and entirely devoted to Pei Guang, these digital entities could have become a threat to the real universe. To prevent such a catastrophe, Nous pulled the plug, erasing the simulation's data and shutting it down permanently.

At the same time, Pei Guang and his team were met with standard endgame messages—congratulations, dimension ascension complete, and the usual flair seen when finishing a game.

March 7th looked around, clearly satisfied. "So… we won?"

Pei Guang nodded. "Looks like it. Didn't I say? Taking the whole simulation with us into ascension would definitely get us the win."

Stelle's eyes sparkled. "That was so much fun! Should we go again?"

Pei Guang grinned. "Sure! That only took us six hours. Let's do two more rounds, and then we'll head back to Xianzhou."

At this point, Pei Guang was fully hooked. Even if future runs didn't come with mods, console commands, or cheat engines, he was ready to experiment with new strategies.

As they returned to reality, he was flooded with a barrage of system notifications—unlocking various technologies from the simulation. But after skimming through the list, he shrugged it off.

He had no intention of playing the slow-burn civilization-building route in real life. Unlike in the simulation, where decades could pass in mere minutes, the real world required patience. For now, he'd stick to clearing the main storyline—hopefully without spending decades doing it.

Pei Guang and the others continued chatting about their fun experience, while over on the other side, Herta had fallen completely silent.

The data coming back from the simulation had shown her things that, while seemingly harmless on the surface, left her deeply unsettled.

Under Pei Guang's command, the entire simulated universe had been molded according to his will. The Aeon of Hunt had wiped out all of the Abundance's followers, the Aeon of Abundance had ceased its endless granting of wishes, the Aeon of Erudition no longer pursued universal truths, and the Aeon of Propagation had stopped propagating altogether.

In this simulated universe, the Aeons had all, to some extent, acted against their own Paths. Yet there was no backlash. In fact, by the later stages of the simulation, some of the Aeons could even move completely freely.

If this were just a game, it wouldn't feel strange at all—perfectly normal, even. But when she considered the forces involved in this simulation and the extent of its realism, her hair stood on end.

A terrifying possibility began to take shape in her mind—one she dared not speak aloud. What if the Aeons were trying to break free from the constraints of their Paths? And judging by what had happened in the simulation, wasn't Pei Guang the key to making that happen?

Herta's thoughts spiraled further. Weak Paths could be consumed by stronger ones, and Aeons could be killed. So what if—just what if—all Paths could be unified into one? Wouldn't that be the only way for this universe to become truly complete?

And if that were true, then what if the Aeons were not trying to suppress Pei Guang's power, but rather waiting for him to grow? Grow to the point where he could push this universe past its endpoint—past Nothingness itself?

Her mind raced. What if the Paths, instead of representing order, were actually fragments of a broken universe trying to heal itself? What if this universe, through the creation of Aeons, was trying to resist an existential threat—one capable of wiping out every star system in existence?

The data from the simulation combined with real-world events had kicked her thoughts into overdrive.

The theories forming in her head were ridiculous—terrifying even—but she didn't shy away. If there was even a sliver of truth to her speculation, it was worth pursuing.

After all, these weren't just baseless guesses. They were grounded in observable phenomena—phenomena tied to the Aeons themselves.

The Aeons' gazes weren't fabricated. The power of their Paths wasn't fake. None of it was fake. Compared to the wild fantasies of ordinary people, this was far more grounded—and far more valuable.

For the first time, Herta could see a path leading toward the truth about the Aeons.

Because of this, she had completely lost herself in her thoughts and didn't even notice Pei Guang calling her name from the side.