The Gamer who traveled to Honkai: Star Rail

Meanwhile, lurking in the shadows and evading Stelle's search was Ifrit, the Duke Inferno, observing everything happening here.

It remembered every word Pei Guang said.

The space station incident? All its doing. As a devoted follower of Nanook, it pursued desire-fulfilling destruction.

It had intended to stir up conflict in the space station, toying with hearts and minds and driving it toward ruin, just like that Destruction Lord who once sowed chaos in the Xianzhou Luofu.

It even planned to pin the blame on Pei Guang, who had scammed a massive sum of resources out of the Annihilation Gang.

Yes, they had already investigated Pei Guang's funding scam. It hadn't expected to run into him here again so soon.

Old grudge, new grudge… it would settle them both today. 

He wanted to show Pei Guang just how terrifying the Annihilation Gang could be: that no one who crossed them would ever walk away unscathed.

Especially now that he knew Pei Guang was on good terms with the Xianzhou Alliance, the very force that had just finished cleaning up its beloved Destruction Lord. 

If the Xianzhou Luofu dared to humiliate the Lord of Destruction, then he would humiliate, or destroy, Pei Guang, to send a message to the Alliance and the Trailblazers:

The Annihilation Gang would not be ignored.

And for that… he was preparing.

There was just one small, awkward problem now: something was affecting the space station.

Whatever power it was, anything it tried to throw out simply couldn't leave. And anything outside? Couldn't get in either.

But it wasn't a big issue. 

Inside the space station, it had found something interesting, some coordinates left behind by someone. 

When activated, these coordinates could summon Legion Voidrangers.

These coordinates were left by Silver Wolf.

Why could they still bring in Voidrangers from outside? Because the coordinates were left before the station was reinforced. 

After reinforcement, the properties of the space station's defenses mistakenly classified those coordinates as internal, which meant the Voidrangers embedded in them could still come through.

Strictly speaking, those Voidrangers sent out by Silver Wolf hadn't truly left the space station, so they could still return. However, due to the containment effect, the Voidrangers summoned this way couldn't leave through any other method either. 

To leave, they'd have to go through Herta Space Station itself. This was exactly what Ifrit, the Duke Inferno, had discovered.

And there were quite a few of them. Just Trampler-class units alone numbered five. With all the Voidrangers combined, there were fifty or sixty of them.

Even if these fifty or sixty Voidrangers couldn't take down Pei Guang, that was fine: he had a plan.

He would wait for Pei Guang to investigate, and when he found out where the missing people were, he would summon those Voidrangers directly to those locations via the leftover coordinates.

He wanted Pei Guang to witness their deaths, especially the death of the one he valued most, Asta. 

Though this would require using more of his essence to support the summoning and risk damaging his own origin, he believed the plan was flawless. Even if Pei Guang reacted quickly and managed to eliminate the Voidrangers, he could still use the distraction to escape the station.

But what Ifrit didn't know was that his plan was full of holes. 

Forget Pei Guang for a moment: Veritas had already discovered some of the coordinates Silver Wolf had left behind in the station. 

They had a very specific activation method. He could've triggered and resolved them, but chose not to, believing the station should handle its own problems. 

Instead, he just left some safeguards in place near each one.

As for Ifrit's tricks? Veritas had already started taking precautions. He wouldn't claim to handle everything, but he was confident he could protect these people.

Facing Ifrit directly would be tricky, sure. But just facing a wisp of its fire essence latched onto some peculiar relic inside the station? That was easy. 

His plan was doomed from the start.

Because Veritas had modified the teleportation coordinates. If danger really arose, what would be summoned wouldn't be the Voidrangers: it would be creations of Ruan Mei.

Ifrit was unaware of any of this.

He continued preparing to strike, wanting a bit of ceremony before acting. For example, sending out an announcement first, then making his move when no one expected it.

He wanted Pei Guang to find something was wrong, just as he located the missing people, and then summon the Voidrangers to kill them. 

Just imagining Pei Guang's agonized expression at that moment, or the breakdown of trust in the station… he felt like witnessing the aesthetic of destruction itself, similar to Phantylia's.

Ifrit had no idea he was dancing on a blade's edge. If Phantylia knew what he was thinking, she would've died laughing.

Though Phantylia didn't know ithis plans, she did sense something big was about to happen. Simple reason: the power furnace now had more than the usual three residents. Two more had arrived.

One wore a clown mask: "Everyone! Just now, I received a divine revelation from our boss in a wine glass. They told us something fun is about to happen! All we have to do is stay here and watch the show!"

The Star Destroyer ship erupted in a festival-like atmosphere.

 Even Phantylia and her former colleagues began to feel excited!

They couldn't pursue their philosophy of destruction in this place, the only entertainment was watching what happened outside on the screen.

The group was full of unreliable oddballs, but they were always caught up in interesting events. It was sure to be a good show.

Meanwhile, back in the space station, Asta's phone buzzed, and she immediately tensed up.

Seeing the latest video on her screen, she turned to Pei Guang. "Ah Guang, there's an update. Take a look."

Pei Guang leaned over to see the video playing on her phone.

"Ms. Herta's Exclusive Flash Report! We interrupt this broadcast for breaking news! Breaking news!" The video was Herta-related, like the last one.

What Pei Guang and Asta didn't realize was that someone had eyes on them. Ifrit saw them watching the news and knew it was time to act. 

He had chosen the most shocking moment to shatter Pei Guang's will.

The broadcast continued.

"New developments in the attack on Ms. Herta, The Annihilation Gang has claimed responsibility and promises to take further action."

A video message from Ifrit began playing.

Pei Guang furrowed his brows. "The Annihilation Gang? A Duke? I knew it! It really was the Annihilation Gang! All I did was scam them out of a little bit of funding!"

Ifrit seethed with hatred at that comment. 

A little bit? If it were just a few people and some pocket money, fine. But Pei Guang had somehow forged debt documents that led to astronomical sums owed by the Gang.

Didn't matter which faction you were in: if you bore the Annihilation Gang's name, all your assets were frozen.

This wasn't "a little" fleece: this was total annihilation! They had to teach Pei Guang a lesson.

But Pei Guang had no idea he was already a marked target, so he continued commenting. "This Emanator looks kinda unique. Covered in fire? Looks like high-grade fuel to me."

As for all the grand speeches the Duke was giving about destruction and divine gifts… Pei Guang didn't take in a word. 

The Annihilation Gang was already on his blacklist, they weren't good people anyway. He'd just take them out if he ran into them again.

Asta muttered, "So it really was the Annihilation Gang… These guys…"

Pei Guang shrugged. "Just a bunch of mid-tier mobs. I checked some lore and even talked with some experts. Even the Aeon of Destruction looks down on these guys."

After offending the Annihilation Gang, Pei Guang had consulted Phantylia. While she refused to help, even she looked down on the Gang.

She summarized it in just three words: Not pure enough. 

If you had to define that purity, she said even a baby accidentally breaking a vase had more raw destructive instinct.

Yes, Phantylia had seen that line from the original Dr. Primitive, and she found it quite amusing.

Ifrit had been waiting for the perfect moment to strike, but upon hearing Pei Guang's words, his fury exploded. 

He would show this impudent guy just how dangerous he was.

In an instant, blue flames burst from Asta's body. 

Stunned, she gasped, "Fire?"

Looking at the flames engulfing her body, she was instantly overwhelmed with fear. 

Without thinking, she reached out toward Pei Guang beside her.