Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

"’Lil’ Gui, I need your help! One time, while walking through Aurum Alley, minding my own business, my eyes betrayed me. Despite my best efforts, my gaze was locked onto the toes of my grandmother’s cousin’s friend. Have I been possessed?’ What do you think, Huo squared?"

Huohuo blinked at the strange comment Guinaifen referenced.

"Toes? Why would a Heliobus be focused on... toes? What emotions could they possibly feed on?"

Guinaifen noncommittedly shrugged.

"You tell me. I’m not the expert."

The Foxian girl grimaced, wondering when her expertise expanded to the domain of feet, before turning her gaze to her Tail. There was a mocking snort, before suddenly:

"Lust, I guess. You humans are sick, you know that?"

***

Mission Synopsis: Requesting relegation. Victim was not a victim, but the perpetrator. Subject seemingly developed a fetish towards the digits of the human female’s foot. Recommend wearing shoes within his proximity. Castration may also help.

Signed: Huohuo, Judge-In-Training.

***

"’@Lil’ Gui I’ve seen it! Every night, whenever I come down for a late-night snack, my tablecloth happens... to not be on the table, where it belongs. None of my belongings are missing, so it couldn’t be a thief. It must have something to do with the Heliobus outbreak!’ Looks like a catch."

Sunny briefly drew attention to a post that caught his eye. Sushang squinted at it.

"I don’t know... what if they were sleepwalking, or something?"

He scoffed, as if appalled by the idea.

"Sleepwalking? Sounds like something a Heliobus would do..."

"...Really?"

***

Mission Synopsis: Suspended. The victim seemed to have been experiencing somnambulism, an effect that no recorded Heliobus has the power to inflict. However, considering the nature of these entities, it is not unlikely that one has developed either the Ability or the technique needed to move living humans without pulling them out of their slumber. Ascended Sunless states that there is Heliobus possessing the victim, but I have not detected an occurrence of possession. So, it has been decided that the victim should be supervised until proof arrives.

Signed: Huohuo, Judge-In-Training.

***

"’My quiet little brother has suddenly gone berserk. We got separated in Exalting Sanctum, and when we met up again, he was like a completely different person. It’s a little scary, so please send help!’ Huh, that does sound pretty serious. We should deal with it!"

Huohuo’s eye twitched at Sushang’s words.

"Ugh... I don’t have a good feeling about this."

Tail snickered, her tail shaking with his voice.

"I bet it’s one of the top dogs — not that any of them can match up to me, of course."

***

Mission Synopsis: Requesting relegation. The victim, the little brother of the reporter, was not possessed by a Heliobus or any other creature that carries the power of possession. Rather, it seems that the victim — a minor — managed to get his hands on illegal hard drugs. Why it was used randomly in the midst of Exalting Sanctum is unknown.

Signed: Huohuo, Judge-In-Training.

***

"You lot are looking really sorry, you know that? In fact, you’ll be even sorrier soon, when I become whole again and devour you all—!"

"What if, and hear me out, what if we tie Huo squared to a stick and use her as a ghost detector?"

"Lil’ Gui, I don’t know if... why is Huohuo running away?"

"Good call. If she stayed any longer, I might have made that ’what if’ a reality."

"Stay away from me!"

Tail hovered around, face tightened into an irritated expression as he was interrupted by the banter of these pesky humans. Sneering, he sent a piercing glare towards Huohuo.

"Shut up! Your shrieks are killing me!"

"Wah—!"

Nope. Nothing changed. What kind of wuss could possibly be afraid of every little thing? Honestly, hunger aside, he’d be doing the world a favor when he finally possessed that runt. Maybe humanity would grow more of a backbone.

Turning his floating body to the other three fooligans, Tail watched as they went through post after post, the amount overwhelming due to the big boom in Guinaifen’s streaming career — specifically having to do with hunting Heliobi and the little interview she snuck in. Which was more impactful? Well, if she was asked, Guinaifen would say it was all thanks to her amazing camerawork.

Under the ambient darkness of Fyxestroll Garden, Sunny, Guinaifen, and Sushang were separately going through anything that may or may not be a lead to a Heliobus encounter. They sat on a bench under a canopy, lanterns softly lighting the surroundings. At the edge of the canopy, Huohuo was shivering in place, casting a watchful eye on Tail.

Sunny yawned.

"Welp, it’s been... not fun, but it looks like I’m about to hit the hay... whatever a hay is."

Sushang looked up from her screen, raising a brow.

"But... we just got here?"

It had been almost a week since the Ghost-Hunting Squad, as it was called, had been formed. The delegations were questionable, though simple.

Huohuo functioned as the professional Heliobus expert... as professional as a girl scared of ghosts could be, at least. She knew her stuff, though. Then again, most of it came from Tail, who was conveniently sealed into her tail, thus becoming said tail.

Guinaifen’s platform was being used as an intel gathering tool, drawing in rumors and reports in order to actually find where the elusive Heliobi have went. There were dozens of them spread across the Luofu at the moment, and without her fame, small as it was, there was almost no chance at finding them all in a short amount of time — ’short’ referring to a decade, minimum.

Unfortunately, Guinaifen’s fanbase seemed to collectively hold the shared IQ of a shrimp, split between thousands of filthy consumers. Anything could be a Heliobus encounter, according to the weak sparks their brain cells emit.

Sushang... well, officially, she was here as a Cloud Knight representative. In reality, she was only here because of connections. As a Cloud Knight, literally anyone else would have been more reliable than this klutz.

Sunny? He was here to kick Heliobus ass and look good while doing it. Both would fuel the intelligence machine that was Twitt— er, the social media site Guinaifen was using. In a way, it could be said that he was doing Sushang’s job, as well as half of Guinaifen’s job.

Curling up on the bench, he said:

"I’ll wake up in a few minutes. Before that... remember the guy who told me to take off my shirt?"

Guinaifen resisted the urge to laugh.

"Yeah?"

Sunny sighed with thick melancholy.

"He said he would give me his life savings, but... I only got twenty thousand credits. Enough for maybe five meals...."

He shut his eyes.

"Broke ass bitch..."