The Gamer who traveled to Honkai: Star Rail

With the death of the Propagation Emanator, this trial finally came to an end.

"Equilibrium..."

As Pei Guang and the others heard this word again, the space around them returned to normal. 

Stelle looked at Pei Guang, who was busy looting nearby corpses, and asked curiously, "Ah Guang! Looks like we passed the trial. Do you know what the specific reward is?"

Pei Guang replied, "No idea? Let me take a look. Oh right, Stelle! Go collect the nearby bug corpses, and the eggs too. I'll deal with everything in a bit."

This battle could be considered a great success. Besides the Emanator's body, they had also collected various powerful True Sting bug corpses. Pei Guang planned to roast them or use them for synthesis: maybe he could make something useful out of them.

While Stelle was cleaning up the battlefield, Pei Guang checked his system. And sure enough, the system log did show a new notification.

[World Level has increased. You have received this world's favor. The chance of receiving rewards after defeating powerful enemies has increased. The base amount of rewards has also risen. Your strength has been recognized by this world: everyone's level cap has increased, and base stats have slightly improved.]

Reading this message, Pei Guang muttered, "Damn, there really was a level system? Just hidden, huh? Well, a base reward increase is good news…"

By now, Pei Guang and his group had been released by Bucket. With the enemy's death, the summoned trash can and people disappeared, but the enemy's corpses remained. Pei Guang noticed something different: these True Sting corpses were faintly glowing.

Upon closer inspection… credits, credits and more credits!

Tons of credits!

And among them, some green, blue, and even purple glows.

Looking closer, they were various materials native to this world. At that moment, Pei Guang realized the base reward increase wasn't just for show: it was real.

"Hard to imagine… even killing bugs drops money. If I kill other people…"

As far as NPCs or monsters went, if they could drop loot, he had no issue killing them all. But on second thought, he decided against it. He'd worked hard in this run to get this far.

Since he was taking a relatively peaceful route, might as well stick with it. Besides, some games had hidden stories or easter eggs that only triggered when you followed a peaceful route in your first run. 

He had invested so much by now, it made sense to keep going.

Pei Guang became even more resolute in his decision: everyone plays games differently, and players' choices are always influenced by both real life and their in-game experience.

For now, Pei Guang was thoroughly enjoying this gaming experience.

As Pei Guang passed this wisdom check, over on the other side, Stelle was overjoyed while looting.

"Credits! Relics! Huh? Is this Path material? Ah Guang! These bugs are worth a fortune!"

Hearing that, Pei Guang said, "Hold on to them for now. I'll explain more later. All I'll say is: soon enough, we'll be popping gold out of other people."

Pei Guang was in a great mood. Monsters dropping loot now meant a massive improvement.

At the same time, though, he was a little upset: the trial only counted as passed once the Starcrusher Swarm King was dead, and loot only dropped from monsters after that.

He didn't even want to imagine what kind of top-tier items might've dropped if he'd killed the Starcrusher Swarm King after the world level had increased.

Still, not a big deal!

The Starcrusher Swarm King's body alone could bring him tons of value. He could sell it to the Ten-Lords Commission, keep the best organs for crafting gear, and even sell the prettier parts to Asta as memorabilia. 

He had already perfectly divided up the insect.

What? Ruan Mei? She only asked him to kill the thing, not recover it! Besides, Pei Guang didn't have much affection for her. 

He thought of her briefly, but didn't even consider giving her a share of the leftover loot.

After over half an hour, Pei Guang had collected everything he could from the space, even all the various fluids that leaked out of the bugs. Everything was cleaned up thoroughly.

Once everything was done, Pei Guang prepared to lead everyone back. However, just as he was about to leave, Below One Bucket refused.

The bucket waved to Pei Guang, then clenched its fist.

This battle had shown it its own shortcomings, but also made it realize that in countless worlds, trash remained uncollected. Somewhere, on a living planet, an activated trash can was suffering under mountains of garbage.

An old, loyal trash can that had spent its whole life doing its job was wounded by a so-called Antimatter Legion. Alone, it kept holding on, and as trash cans across the universe rallied to support it, they all shared in its pain and lament.

And then there was the Annihilation Gang: they threw garbage everywhere, causing untold agony to the empty trash cans in the corners.

They were bullied by trash. They couldn't fulfill their duty. They couldn't uphold their beliefs. As trash cans, they were forced to live without dignity.

Seeing all this, Bucket knew it had to do something. As the second brother of the trash can family, now that it had mobility, there was only one thing it wanted to do: ensure that no trash in the universe went uncollected ever again.

Seeing Bucket's serious expression, Pei Guang nodded and said, "Good luck, Bucket! If that's what you want to do, go for it! Even if I made you, you've got your own beliefs now. Just remember: next time we meet, mark more of the trash cans that can be opened. You do know what I'm after, right?"

Hearing that, Below One Bucket nodded and gave him a thumbs up. It knew exactly what Pei Guang wanted most: those seasoned, worn-down, and completely full trash cans.

As it set out on its journey, it would mark the locations of such trash cans on every planet for Pei Guang. It even harbored a trash can's ambition: to ensure that every full trash can on every planet could meet someone like Pei Guang—someone who opened them with hopeful anticipation.

Sensing the determination from the trash can, Pei Guang patted his shoulder. "Go on! Go boldly on your expedition! You're a mature trash can now. You need to learn how to fight monsters and level up on your own. There will always be a spot for you in our team!"

Watching the powerful trash can leave, Pei Guang felt a bit reluctant inside. But he knew that according to the flow of the story, there was no way such a powerful companion would stick around forever.

The story couldn't allow the player and their team to become too overpowered. Someday, when he and his teammates face enemies on the same level as the trash can, it would naturally return. 

And by then, it would come back carrying the results of its grand expedition.

And so, the Below One Bucket left. 

Watching its back, Stelle also waved. "Take care! Don't forget to bring back some local specialties!"

The trash can waved back with one hand, then crossed its arms and gave a final wave without turning back. As it gradually faded from view, both Pei Guang and Stelle thought it looked so cool, so dashing. 

There were people with four limbs everywhere: but a trash can with four limbs? That was something you rarely saw.

Thinking about this, Stelle felt a bit pained. "It's kinda sad... We probably won't see another trash can as stylish and elegant as it for a while, huh?"

Pei Guang comforted her. "Could be, but hey, look on the bright side: we might run into another cool trash can in the next dungeon~"

After chatting a bit, Pei Guang and Stelle got ready to return to Himeko and report that everything was over. However, they forgot about Ruan Mei's creations. 

Those constructs hadn't been wiped out by the bugs: instead, they'd wandered off with the trash can.

Pei Guang had no idea about this. If he had, he would've sung a song right there as a send-off, wishing them a good voyage.

And he wasn't just boasting! Lately, he'd been secretly training his singing. 

He had now reached an average level, and Pei Guang felt that given some more time, reaching pop star level wasn't out of the question.

But when the two returned to the control cabin, they were greeted by a flying tackle.

"Ah Guang~!"

It was March 7th. 

She threw herself at Pei Guang and clung to him, her voice full of worry. "How did you two run into a Propagation Emanator? And you even beat it? Do you know how worried we were?"

Back when Pei Guang and Stelle were fighting the Emanator, March 7th had wanted to go support them, but Himeko stopped her. It wasn't that Himeko didn't want to help Pei Guang: it was because this was a trial of Equilibrium.

No one had ever forcibly joined an Equilibrium trial before, and Himeko didn't dare take the risk of throwing the others into the unknown. 

Besides, she had asked Pei Guang beforehand, and his response was that it would be fine—and even if it wasn't, they could always run.

Though worried, she chose to trust him as a senior. And after all the people who could evacuate had done so, she stayed behind to wait for the result. 

Only when the Equilibrium trial and the power of Propagation completely disappeared did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.