Honkai Star Rail: Corruption System

Sparkle's cool fingertips, carrying an unsettling, mischievous touch, gently traced over the well-tailored little black suit of the Hanu doll.

"Brother, look at this outfit, it fits so well, doesn't it?"

Her voice was cloyingly sweet, wrapped in a light laugh, yet it felt like an icicle piercing Daziel's nerves, causing every inch of his muscles to tense and stiffen instantly.

Daziel struggled with all his might, the doll's short limbs flailing uselessly in the air, tracing arcs of despair.

"Hmph! Hmph!"

Dull, angry grunts were the only protest he could muster now, sounding so insignificant.

Sparkle effortlessly pressed Daziel against the cold, hard metal casing of the Dream Arcade machine. The chilling touch seeped through the doll's fabric straight to his core.

Nearby, the black bag exuding a strange, unnamable odor lay carelessly discarded.

It seemed Sparkle didn't intend to use its contents?

Sparkle leaned down, her masked face almost touching the comical bowler hat on Daziel's head.

"Don't be so impatient, brother."

Her breath was warm, carrying an ominous sweetness as it brushed over the little Hanu's head. "The real show… has only just begun its overture."

Daziel felt he had been completely reduced to a mere doll, having entirely lost control of his own body, left to Sparkle's mercy.

The familiar sense of shame, like a surging tide, instantly engulfed his consciousness, nearly suffocating him.

Sparkle's fingers, with a cold and curious exploratory touch, slowly roamed over his doll body.

Suddenly, Daziel's body jolted violently. A strange yet exceptionally familiar sensation, not originating from the Hanu doll…

emanating from a certain part of him!

Daziel realized with utter horror that although his body had been forcibly transformed into a short, comical Hanu doll…

A certain crucial part of his body had, incredibly, retained its original size!

This absurd, nightmarish "big component on a small frame" reality made Daziel's scalp tingle intensely, his mind almost blanking out!

Even at this height, I can experience such a novel way of playing?

What in the world is this?! A system BUG?! Or the dreamscape's own malice?!

True, anything can be twisted and deformed in a dream, but this is too ridiculous! It's completely beyond the realm of common sense!

What's even more ridiculous is…

Why is the subject of this 'big component, small frame' situation Sparkle, this impish brat?

Shouldn't it be some older-sister type character?

Almost simultaneously, Sparkle's roaming movements also paused slightly, as if she had noticed something unusual.

Then, from behind that perpetually smiling mask, erupted a laugh even shriller, more filled with morbid delight and unrestrained amusement than before.

"Oh my, oh my! This is truly… this is truly wonderful! I was actually a little worried just now whether I should attach some interesting little extra parts to you!"

Sparkle's eyes glinted with an almost insane excitement, like a hunter who has finally found their most coveted prey, or a child who has received their most desired new toy.

Monstrous waves of shame, anger, and fear surged within Daziel, like three venomous snakes, tearing wildly at his sanity.

Firefly stood quietly to the side, the worried expression on her face seeming to freeze instantly, as if she had put on a mask.

As her gaze fell upon Sparkle's increasingly bizarre and unnatural actions, her eyes began to uncontrollably dart away, not daring to look directly.

It wasn't entirely feigned; a genuine shame and unease stemming from a young girl's instinct quietly surfaced, coloring her pale cheeks.

Sparkle's current behavior had far exceeded the boundaries of a so-called "joke," carrying a substantial implication of violation.

It was only at this moment that Firefly truly understood that this Masked Fool named Sparkle genuinely had no bottom line and dared to do anything.

"Um… Miss Sparkle…"

Firefly's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, carrying a distinct tremor that even she herself hadn't noticed.

"I… I think I should probably wait for you outside…"

Once Firefly confirmed that Sparkle didn't seem to intend to physically harm Daziel, she immediately averted her gaze, no longer daring to look at the absurd and extremely unsettling scene.

The moment her words fell, Firefly, as if fleeing a plague, hastily pulled open the booth door in a panic and disappeared outside.

In this regard, Firefly's reaction was completely different from how Bronya had supposedly reacted when she peeked at Daziel and Cocolia engaged in that forbidden act.

Although Bronya had repeatedly muttered, "Gah! I don't want to see!"…

Her body had been very honest, still peeking through slightly spread fingers, watching the entire process frame by frame.

In contrast, Firefly now had completely lost even the most basic courage to peek, only wanting to escape this suffocating space.

The moment the booth door clicked shut, the last glimmer of hope in Daziel's eyes also extinguished, leaving only boundless despair.

The last observer, and the only faint possibility of a variable in his mind, had thus vanished.

Sparkle, however, seemed completely unfazed by this, even letting out a low, pleased chuckle from behind her mask.

"See, I told you, this kind of scene isn't suitable for innocent little girls to watch."

She refocused all her attention on this "new toy" in her arms, which had already lost the ability to resist.

The time that followed, for Daziel, felt like an eternity of torment in the deepest pit of hell.

Sparkle's so-called "games" were varied, each movement filled with malicious amusement and undisguised torment.

Every touch of her cold fingertips, every deliberate pose she arranged him in, relentlessly deepened the brand of shame in the depths of Daziel's soul.

The originally sweet fragrance in the air now became incredibly thick and nauseating, as if trying to corrode his consciousness along with it.

The psychedelic lights and shadows on the booth walls kept spinning and distorting, further disorienting his already chaotic senses.

Daziel went from initial intense, futile resistance to gradual numbness, like a doll that had truly lost its soul.

"…" "…"

Even his final grunts of protest became weak and weary, almost inaudible.

His spirit felt as if it were being slowly ground away by an invisible dull knife, his consciousness beginning to blur intermittently.

His stamina had long been exhausted in the previous struggle; this tiny Hanu body simply couldn't bear the burden.

Being forcibly turned into Hanu in the dreamscape, although his iconic baseball bat had been bizarrely retained, the source of power to drive his body—

The Thundering Heart, had not been granted to this doll body along with it…

This bizarre configuration felt like a high-performance CPU paired with a low-end graphics card, or Lü Bu riding a scrawny mutt into battle, filled with an absurd sense of powerlessness.

In his field of vision, Sparkle's mask, perpetually wearing that eerie smile, became increasingly blurry, like a reflection in water.

That ubiquitous sweet fragrance seemed to transform into tangible shackles, coiling around him layer by layer, tightening his breath.

Ultimately, all that remained was a complete loss of all strength, a sensation of falling endlessly into a bottomless abyss.

Under the dual assault of boundless humiliation and bone-deep exhaustion, Daziel completely lost consciousness, sinking into darkness.

…

An unknown amount of time passed, perhaps as long as a century.

Daziel's eyes snapped open, his consciousness instantly returning.

The familiar, dim ceiling of the booth came into view.

He tentatively moved his fingers; it was his familiar, slender hand, and he could feel the real sensation of touch.

His body… had returned to normal!

The person who designed this little Hanu arcade machine probably never imagined in their entire life that Brother Hanu could be used in such a way.

A lingering, ambiguous, nauseatingly sweet scent still hung in the air, reminding him that everything that had just happened was not an illusion.

Daziel propped himself up, his movements somewhat stiff.

Not far away, Sparkle's clothes looked somewhat disheveled. She was leaning limply against the cold wall, her eyes closed as if resting, yet a lazy, satisfied smile hung on her lips.

Seeing this, Daziel felt his stomach churn violently, a strong wave of dizziness rushing to his throat.

The aftereffects of changing from small to large were even harder to bear than the moment of entering the dream.

He forcibly suppressed the raging anger in his heart and that lingering sense of nausea, staggering to his feet.

Firefly…

How is she?

Daziel pushed open the heavy door of the booth. The cold light of the corridor outside seemed somewhat glaring.

He immediately spotted the small figure curled up in a corner not far away—Firefly.

The girl was hugging her knees tightly, her head buried deep in her arms, her long hair scattered, covering her face. She seemed to have fallen asleep.

The soft light shone quietly on her, outlining a tranquil and fragile silhouette.

This scene formed an incredibly stark and ironic contrast to the appalling events that had just transpired inside the booth.

A strong sense of self-blame and remorse, like an icy tide, instantly surged into Daziel's heart.

Firefly…

He had actually let Firefly be forced to witness such a defiling spectacle…

Even if it was just observing, it was enough to taint her pure soul.

In the original story, Firefly always maintained the persona of a sweet girlfriend, similar to March 7th. For such a character, Daziel really couldn't bear to see her corrupted…

An intense desire to protect, intertwined with deep guilt, made his chest tighten, almost suffocating him.

Daziel took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, then abruptly turned and walked back into the booth that had brought him such immense humiliation.

"Sparkle, get over here!"

Daziel's voice, suppressing a torrent of imminent anger, was low and hoarse, each word seeming to be squeezed from between his teeth.

Sparkle lazily lifted her eyelids, those alluring pink eyes looking at him with a hint of mockery.

"Oh, brother's awake? Did you sleep well?"

Her tone was terrifyingly casual, as if everything that had just happened was merely a harmless dream.

"What on earth are you trying to do?!"

Daziel questioned sharply, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists, his knuckles white from the force.

"Those things… what you did to me just now…"

He could barely bring himself to utter the words describing the specific actions; if he did, he would surely attract the attention of the "censors."

Sparkle yawned elegantly, her movements languid, as she slowly stood up from the wall, straightening her slightly disheveled clothes.

"Oh, brother, don't be so angry. Games are only fun if you get into them, aren't they?"

She chuckled lightly, walked to the door, reached out, and gently nudged Firefly, who was curled up outside.

"Little pitiful one, wakey wakey, don't sleep anymore, it's about time we set off."

"You guys… are you finished?"

Startled awake by the push, Firefly groggily lifted her head, rubbing her sleepy eyes. The moment she woke, her expression was a little strange; first shy, then turning to bewilderment.

"Set off? Set off where?"

"You'll know when we get there."

Sparkle turned around, her smiley face mask once again facing Daziel.

"Let's go, brother, to get the good stuff we really need."

The three of them once again silently traversed the dazzling, ever-changing, debauched lights and shadows of Penacony's streets.

Firefly's voice carried a hint of uncertainty. "This road… are we heading back to Oti Mall?"

Sparkle replied in a cheerful tone, "That's right, my cute little pitiful thing. The really interesting stuff is waiting for us over there."

Finally, Sparkle stopped in front of a bizarre shop with a huge, incessantly rotating eyeball sign.

The sign clearly read—[Dream Emporium].

Daziel froze for a moment, then was instantly speechless.

After going around in such a huge circle, not only had they returned to the Oti Mall, but they had even precisely returned to this Dream Emporium, filled with its strange atmosphere.

That absurd apocryphal tale of Aha and Akivili, Daziel really didn't want to experience it a second time.

The owner of the Dream Emporium, that eyeball rotating like a giant searchlight, who called himself Dr. Edward, immediately greeted the group with effusive enthusiasm:

"Welcome to the Dream Emporium! Dr. Edward is wholeheartedly at your service to provide the most top-tier dream experiences!"

Dr. Edward's giant pupil focused on Daziel.

"Oh! Esteemed Trailblazer from the Astral Express, we meet again—haha, and you've brought two such interesting new friends today!"

Sparkle stepped forward, her tone familiar.

"Hi, Dr. Edward. I'd like my friends to experience something a bit… hmm… more interesting. You should know what I mean."

Dr. Edward's eyeball rotated excitedly a few times.

"Of course! Dr. Edward always welcomes distinguished guests who pursue ultimate pleasure and novel experiences! May I ask, which esteemed guest's recent dreams should be used as material this time?"

Without hesitation, Sparkle pointed her finger at Firefly, who stood beside her looking ill at ease.

"Let's use the dream this little sister just experienced as the base."

Firefly was startled upon hearing this, looking up in bewilderment.

"Uh… Miss Sparkle, what are you doing?"

Dr. Edward patiently explained:

"Miss, please rest assured. Allow me to explain in detail. This is a high-end custom service our shop offers specially for experienced patrons: you can entrust me with any impressive dreams you've experienced these past few days, and supplemented with relevant emotional imprints you bring, I can meticulously concoct a personalized Dream Bubble for you that can be repeatedly experienced and savored."

"You heard that, right? It's about recording your dream, letting you relive it. As for the emotional imprints, they're already prepared, all right here—"

Sparkle patted the black bag beside her triumphantly.

In an almost bragging tone, she read out the names of the extreme emotional data streams contained in the bag:

"'The Rear Entry: A Moment's Hesitation, A Lasting Thrill,' 'The Untamed Garden: Shame and Novelty,' 'The Unstoppable Torrent'… Oh right, and that crucial 'dilator' to induce pain and anticipation…"

"Fuse all these wonderful emotions perfectly. Make it a unique, special Dream Bubble belonging to this little pitiful thing."

Daziel stood frozen on the spot as if struck by lightning, his blood seemingly congealing.

The materials… were actually emotional imprints?!

Not the physical props he had previously assumed?!

Thinking back… it did seem to be the case…

During the "game" Sparkle had subjected him to earlier, that black bag had remained unopened from start to finish.

So, those shameful names didn't represent specific objects at all, but merely the complex and intense emotional reactions a person has when faced with certain props or activities!

But… would Firefly agree?

In Daziel's eyes, she was still a pure, untainted sheet of paper, uncorrupted by worldly affairs!

To let her dream carry such defiling emotions…

Sure enough, the color instantly drained from Firefly's cheeks, leaving her as pale as paper.

She shook her head violently, her feet instinctively taking a small step back, her body trembling slightly with fear.

"No… No way! Absolutely not!"

Firefly's voice was thick with tears, filled with strong resistance.

Protecting that last pure corner of her heart was the only meager dignity she had left.

Yet, the smile in Sparkle's eyes didn't diminish in the slightest. Her figure, like a phantom, drifted lightly towards Firefly.

She leaned close to Firefly's ear, her warm breath ambiguously brushing the girl's sensitive earlobe.

The surrounding light seemed to be sucked away at this moment, leaving only the heavy shadow cast by Sparkle as she whispered.

Her voice was extremely soft and low, like a lover's whisper, yet it was like the sharpest icicle, stabbing word by word into the softest part of Firefly's heart.

No one could hear what Sparkle actually said to Firefly.

They only saw Firefly's face rapidly change from deathly pale to ashen, and finally flush with an unnatural crimson.

Shock, humiliation, fear, despair…

All sorts of complex emotions flashed intensely across her clear eyes, eventually settling into a dead stillness.

Finally, under Sparkle's cold and playful gaze, Firefly trembled violently.

The girl silently nodded, crystalline tears finally unable to hold on, teetering on her long eyelashes, stubbornly refusing to fall.

Dr. Edward's giant eyeball began to rotate at high speed, emitting a low, rhythmic hum.

The lights of the surrounding instruments flickered intermittently. Firefly's previous dream, transformed into a soft, pale pink halo, slowly emerged.

Sparkle emptied the bag in her hand, and several twisted, dark data streams exuding an ominous aura surged out.

These imprints of extreme humiliation and complex emotions seemed to have considerable compatibility with Firefly's dream.

The pink halo and the dark data streams, guided by a strange, invisible force field, began to intertwine, collide, and merge.

Finally, they condensed into a peculiar Dream Bubble, emitting a mesmerizing, multicolored luster, yet tinged with an ambiguous aura, quietly suspended in mid-air.

Dr. Edward's voice sounded:

"Esteemed guest, your custom Dream Bubble has been meticulously crafted for you. And as per custom, our establishment has retained a backup of the data for you."

Sparkle reached out and took the Dream Bubble, her fingertips carelessly toying with that dangerous and alluring luster.

"Alright, let's go back to that 'good place' from before and slowly experience this special gift. I guess if we inhale this Dream Bubble directly here, the scene might be a bit inconvenient."

Her tone was as light as a child about to share candy. As she spoke, she lowered her head meaningfully, her gaze sweeping over Daziel.

Alarm bells blared in Daziel's mind. A strong, ominous premonition, like Svarog's iron claws, fiercely gripped his heart.

Firefly kept her head bowed, like a soulless puppet, silently following Sparkle, her steps heavy and slow.

Inside the booth, that ambiguous, sweet fragrance still permeated the air, like invisible threads, coiling around one's nose, impossible to shake off.

Sparkle held the freshly made, psychedelically colored Dream Bubble directly in front of Daziel.

"Big Brother Daziel, come on, have a taste? This is a surprise specially customized for you."

The smile behind her mask was full of mockery and undisguised cruelty.

Firefly cowered in a shadowy corner of the room, her hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes, her knuckles white, her cheeks flushed and burning, not daring to look up.

Daziel stared deadly at the Dream Bubble, his eyes as if looking at an incredibly venomous snake.

Sparkle saw through Daziel's internal struggle and hesitation, and spoke again to entice him:

"Although you, brother, might know some things about the past due to certain special abilities, what's recorded in this Dream Bubble is fresh news that just happened last night."

"It even, even involves some little secrets of Penacony, and secrets from deep within the heart of that cute little stowaway miss."

"Well? Brother, aren't you curious at all? Don't you want to experience it personally?"

Daziel had to painfully admit that every word Sparkle said accurately piqued the intense curiosity deep within his heart.

Secrets about Penacony… about Firefly…

After a brief yet intense internal struggle, Daziel took a deep breath, as if having made some kind of decision, and accepted the Dream Bubble.

He brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply.

Instantly, the world spun. An intense sensory impact surged like a bursting dam, instantly overwhelming his entire consciousness.

His consciousness, like a kite with a broken string, plummeted rapidly, falling into a scene that was both familiar and incredibly strange and bizarre.

It was still that humiliating private booth, still the perspective of that short, comical Hanu doll.

But this time, the hands placed upon him, that figure, were completely different.

It was Firefly!

It was Firefly with flushed cheeks, hazy eyes, filled with an unusual, watery vapor!

The Firefly in the dream proactively pressed herself against the Hanu doll he was playing, her movements clumsy and awkward, yet possessing a startling boldness and initiative.

She was actually repeating the actions Sparkle had performed on him earlier, and even…

In some aspects, more explicit, more direct.

Those eyes, usually clear as water, were now filled with a certain indescribable, unusual desire and bewilderment.

The her in the dream completely subverted the shy, introverted, pure young girl image from reality.

Daziel, from a first-person perspective, watched in utter astonishment as all this happened to him—or rather, to the Hanu doll. The sense of absurdity and shock shot straight to his head, throwing his thoughts into chaos once more.

Finally, the image froze on Firefly's rapid, broken gasps, her eyes uncontrollably rolling upwards, showing the whites.

Her body went limp as if losing all support, as if she had completely passed out at the peak of extreme pleasure.

That scene, carrying a morbidly distorted impact, was deeply seared into Daziel's mind.

His consciousness was abruptly and forcibly pulled back to reality. Daziel gasped for breath, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

He looked with an incredibly complex expression at the trembling young girl cowering in the corner.

His voice, dry and hoarse from excessive shock, carried a hint of unbelievable tremor.

"That Dream Bubble just now… was that really you… your true thoughts last night?"

Firefly's body jolted violently as if struck by an electric current. She buried her head even deeper, almost wanting to shrink into a crack in the floor.

Boundless shame made her entire body burn, almost curling her into a ball.

Under Daziel's complex and scorching gaze, she finally nodded, as faint as a mosquito's buzz, silently admitting to those unbelievable, deepest, hidden desires that even she herself was afraid of.

"Oh my, oh my, so that's what our little pitiful thing was thinking deep down."

Sparkle's voice was filled with exaggerated surprise, yet her tone was laden with undisguised malice and a desire to stir up trouble.

"Since you wanted it so badly, why didn't you say so earlier? Isn't it uncomfortable to keep it all to yourself, right?"

She deliberately distorted the content of the dream, pushing the atmosphere into an even more awkward and ambiguous state.

"Sparkle! Shut up!" Daziel snapped, trying to stop her further provocations and humiliation.

But Sparkle, like a slippery eel, deftly avoided Daziel's angry gaze, her delighted laughter echoing endlessly in the small private room.

Firefly was thoroughly provoked by Sparkle's malicious words, her cheeks so red they looked like they could bleed.

Perhaps, the lingering effects of the Dream Bubble were still fermenting within her.

She abruptly raised her head, her watery eyes glinting with a mixture of shame, despair, and a do-or-die desperation.

Her hands clutched tightly at the hem of her clothes, her voice intermittent yet exceptionally clear as it reached Daziel's ears:

"I… I want…"

"…"

"To be like in the dream… let me… reach ecstasy and die…"

…

The moment her words fell, the air seemed to freeze instantly, time itself stopping its flow.

Daziel stood completely stunned, his mind a blank, utterly unable to process this sudden information.

This… is this really the Firefly who was usually shy and introverted, who would blush just from talking to him a little too much?

The morbidly excited glint in Sparkle's eyes instantly blazed to its peak. She suddenly reached out and gave Firefly a hard push on her back!

"Aiya!"

Firefly let out a short cry of surprise. Her body, caught off guard, lost its balance and stumbled directly towards Daziel in front of her.

The girl's soft and burning body, trembling noticeably, pressed tightly against Daziel's chest.

Her fingers instinctively clutched at the clothes on his chest, as if it were her only lifeline.

Daziel's body instantly stiffened like a stone sculpture, his mind a chaotic mess, reason and instinct waging a fierce battle.

The ambiguous and tense atmosphere in the private room was instantly stretched to its limit, like a taut string on the verge of snapping out of control.

"Bang!"

Just at this critical moment, the door to the private room was violently kicked open from the outside by an immense force!

A blindingly intense beam of light, like a sharp sword, swept in, instantly dispelling the ambiguous dimness within.

Accompanying it was a cold and authoritative shout!

"Bloodhound Family! Vice squad! Everyone inside, don't move! Hands on your head! Stand against the wall!"

_____________________

(I tried writing the lemon scene for this chapter, but it was turning out really weird — that whole Hanu thing was just too strange lol sorry.)

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