I was transported to a broken world, yet my dreams are connected to Star Iron?

　"interesting……"

　A smile crept onto Black Tower's lips.

　She hadn't encountered anything so interesting to her in a long time.

　……

　"Holy crap, what did I just see?!"

　Lingmo suddenly opened her eyes.

　"That's incredible! A giant black tower has appeared in space!"

　"Um……"

　It seemed that because Lingmo's movements were too big, Xilin, who was lying on her chest, suddenly moved, which startled Lingmo. She quickly held her breath and waited until the purple-haired loli in her arms fell into a deep sleep again before she began to recall the scene she had just seen in space.

　"Without a doubt, that is indeed the Great Black Tower. Although I've only seen it in the game, I shouldn't be mistaken..."

　"But if that's the case, then the other world I linked to was Star Iron... But aren't Honkai and Star Iron under the same worldview? In other words, the other world I went to was actually a journey to the future?"

　"Hmm... never mind, I'll stop thinking about this for now. Ever since I transmigrated, my memories of the time before are a bit hazy. I need to think about the plot of Star Iron more carefully..."

　Whether it was due to the side effects of time travel or some other reason, Lingmo's understanding of Xingtie's storyline was like pencil marks erased by an eraser—a mixture of clarity and ambiguity. Fortunately, aside from being tortured on the lab table or lying in a cage every day, she had plenty of time to recall the plot.

　but……

　[Beep beep... The system startup conditions have been met by the host. The system is now running.]

　[The host's body has come into contact with the "Black Tower." The Black Tower character card has been added to the character pool.]

　[The host's body has come into contact with the "Black Tower's Lace Gloves," and the gloves have been added to the weapon pool.]

　【detected……】

　To the sound of a slightly—no, very familiar—beautiful voice, Suzuma stared in disbelief at the screen that suddenly lit up in front of her, and the prompts that popped up on it.

　"What? I actually have a system?"

　"No, no, no, that's not the point..."

　Ignoring the pop-up message on the screen, Lingmo was somewhat incredulous.

　"System, why does your voice... sound so much like Kiana's?"

　【Hello, host.】

　The system did not provide a direct answer to Lingmo's question.

　【Customer service representative Xiaoqi is here to assist you.】

　Chapter 3 Your teammate Black Tower is feeding you.

　"Customer service, Xiaoqi?"

　Lingmo was dumbfounded when she saw the "system sprite" on the screen with the head of the End of the Treasure Coin as its avatar.

　Yes, if you are not satisfied with my service, I can change my profile picture.

　Hi, missed me? It's customer service representative Xiao Ai!

　"So you only changed the profile picture and didn't change the person, right... then whatever you want."

　Lingmo breathed a sigh of relief: "I thought it was another classic scenario where the so-called system spirit's avatar is actually me, and then I'll come out of the system and become your wife."

　【Haha... How could that be? I'm just an ordinary system sprite cat.】

　Lingmo wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt that customer service representative Xiaoqi seemed a little guilty.

　"As everyone knows, the credibility of such statements is about the same as the idea that simulations don't affect reality or that the Cat Guest System is reliable. I doubt even Theresa could fool her, right?"

　[Ahem... Alright, let's not dwell on that. Host, shall I introduce the system's functions to you?]

　"Your attempt to change the subject is so obvious..."

　Lingmo was carefully examining the screen that appeared in front of her: "Alright, so your system's functions are just these two card pools?"

　[That's right, anything the host touches will appear in this card pool, and the host can consume it...]

　"Can I use the crystals I get from missions to draw cards?"

　Lingmo's lips twitched slightly. In less than a minute, she had already figured out the purpose of all the icons on the screen.

　Of course, this wasn't because she was exceptionally talented, but because...

　This system is a 100% perfect replica of Michi and Michi's daily oral care!

　The daily tasks only reward a maximum of 60 crystals, a single card draw costs 160 crystals, and the probability of getting a gold card is only 0.6%... Needless to say, Suzumo only needs to read the beginning to memorize the rest.

　【That’s right! 】

　"Why don't you tell us something that no one knows..."

　Okay, although the system's functions are a bit rudimentary right now, it can actually be upgraded.

　Once certain conditions are met, the system will automatically upgrade and unlock new features.

　"What are the conditions for upgrading?"

　【Qibao doesn't know~】

　Customer service representative Xiaoqi's voice sounded guilty again.

　[I will only know if you, the host, trigger this...]

　"...That's exactly what I expected, it's useless."

　Lingmo covered her face.

　I achieved a great time of 1 minute in the challenge of guessing the system's birthplace, surpassing one percent of the Cat Travelers. You should try it too!

　"Well, something is better than nothing. Should I draw a card now?"

　Lingmo moved her finger to the gacha interface: "Speaking of which, judging from the things you filled the weapon pool with... the character pool seems to be much more cost-effective than the weapon pool? And if I draw a character card, how should I use it?"

　[Ahem, host, please take another good look at the user agreement.]

　Customer service representative Xiaoqi reminded her.

　[The character pool is different from the weapon pool; it's not 100% guaranteed to drop a character. If you don't get a four-star or five-star, it's as if you didn't pull at all. And right now, host, you only have one five-star character, the Great Black Tower, in your gacha pool. The probability of getting a character is practically zero...]

　Furthermore, all items obtained from the system have a time limit. The weapon pool's time limit usually ranges from half an hour to a day, while the character pool's character cards may only be used for one to three hours. Even if you draw them, you should use them at crucial moments.

　"Oh... so this is to let me draw a trial card."

　Lingmo suddenly realized, her face showing an expression of having been tricked by capital: "How ruthless... You're not going to tell me next that the characters summoned by the character cards also have their own consciousness, and if I don't get along with them, the character cards might even turn around and attack me, are you?"

　No, because the actual method of using character cards is through possession summoning, similar to the effect of a demi-Servant in Fate, which only grants the host power and certain personality traits.

　[By the way, since the host has been in this world for seven days, you now have about fifteen initial daily login draws... Want to give it a try?]

　"Let's do a few pulls first, I'll save the ten-pull for later."

　Lingmo glanced at the meager contents of the weapon pool and decisively became a hoarder.

　……

　"Phew... I really am a genius."

　Meanwhile, on Xingti's side, Heita looked at Lingmo, who was already floating in the repair pod, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

　Not long ago, she dragged the recovered Lingmo back into the spaceship. Without even changing her blood-stained clothes, she stuffed Lingmo into the repair pod and began a full scan.

　The scan results were also beyond her expectations. Apart from having only the physical abilities of an average girl, Lingmo's brainwaves were abnormally active. In layman's terms, she was having an intense dream.

　Of course, if it were just an ordinary dream, it wouldn't attract the attention of the Black Tower. The key point is that just as the Black Tower was about to break Lingmo's dream and wake her up, a power she had never seen before suddenly appeared in Lingmo's dream and stopped her.

　Moreover, this power, which does not belong to any particular destiny, has definitely surpassed the level of ordinary Commanders, and can even be said to have reached the level of a Strong Commander. This has put Black Tower in a dilemma.

　Putting aside the risks of rashly contacting this power, the key issue is that, given the girl's physical condition, she is completely unable to withstand any probing contact from the Black Tower. The collision of the two forces, even if it is a deliberately controlled aftershock, could easily blast the girl's body into fireworks again.

　However, this is no challenge for Black Tower.

　Since they couldn't find out, they decided to observe first. Using some tricks from the Flowing Light Memory Garden and Pinocchio's dream observation device, the Black Tower easily reproduced the image of Suzuma in another world.

　"She looks like she's communicating with something... a medium of information that only she can see? That's right, her facial expressions prove it."

　"The environment she's in doesn't seem very good either. This kind of accommodation was completely banned on my Azure Star hundreds of years ago... Moreover, both she and the purple-haired girl next to her seem to have needle marks on their bodies, and coupled with their very familiar clothing... their identities are most likely some kind of special experimental subjects?"

　"Huh? Wait, what's this...?"

　As the changes appeared on the screen, Black Tower suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked at the experimental table on the side.

　Because, just now, a scalpel that was clearly out of place with the surrounding style suddenly appeared in Lingmo's hand, and its pattern and style were exactly the same as the scalpel that Heita had just used to cut open Lingmo's clothes on the experimental table next to her.

　Immediately afterwards, a familiar black lace glove and a tube of pale green nutrient solution appeared in Lingmo's hands.

　"So that's how it works... There aren't many abilities related to splitting and replicating in the universe. I never thought I'd encounter one today."

　Thoughts flickered in Black Tower's eyes, and a hint of joy, as if he had solved a long-standing puzzle, appeared on his lips.

　"So, is that why she sees me as her savior? With such abilities, yet trapped in such a remote deep space, no wonder she hasn't been able to save herself... I really am a genius for discovering something like this."

　"However, it's fortunate that I discovered it quickly enough."

　"It seems that this little guy's ability to acquire items is limited. I don't know if it requires consuming something or if there is a cooldown period. Anyway... since this guy is pleasing to the eye, and I am indeed interested in her abilities, it should still be not too late to give her a little help now."

　"Hmph, when you get out, remember to thank the great and kind Lady Black Tower properly~"

　Chapter 4 Black Tower: These are the amazing tools I've prepared for you.

　"A scalpel that cuts through the exoskeleton of a true cricket like slicing tofu, a black silk glove with built-in detection, analysis, and electronic decryption capabilities, and... a bottle of Kangfuxin liquid?"

　Lingmo shuddered as she looked at what she had gotten from her three single pulls.

　"As for Star Iron, will Black Tower just dissect me like that...? Judging from what I drew from the gacha pool, I feel like my situation is pretty bad!"

　[Don't worry, my dear host. If your body is indeed ravaged in another world, I will notify you immediately.]

　Customer service representative Xiaoqi comforted her.

　As for now... well, the Black Tower hasn't done anything outrageous to the host yet, except for stripping him naked.

　"?"

　Lingmo's pretty face suddenly flushed: "This isn't considered outrageous?!"

　[Because she soaked you in the repair fluid, it's reasonable for her to take off her clothes. Otherwise, how do you think the recovery fluid you extracted came into contact with it?]

　[Furthermore, if you really want to go to Star Iron right now, then the only option is suicide, and I, Xiaoqi, don't recommend you do that... Although you can be resurrected, doing this kind of suicide too often might gradually lead you to an extreme of not valuing your own life... Unless absolutely necessary, and even if it really is necessary, I don't want you to do it.]

　[Besides, even if you wanted to commit suicide right now, you probably couldn't do it without Sirin noticing anything amiss. If you wake Sirin up, you'll have to bear the consequences, okay?]

　Clearly, even though the system had just started up, the customer service representative, Xiaoqi, seemed to be very familiar with Xilin's personality.

　[Especially if Celine becomes aware of your self-destructive tendencies, then in the future, being locked in the basement is quite possible.]

　"It's just a West 0, there won't be any problems."

　Lingmo clearly disregarded the system's warning: "Judging from our interactions these past two days, Xilin is still quite well-behaved, and her favorability rating has increased faster than I expected... Could it be because I'm very popular with children?"

　"However, it's really unnecessary to commit suicide and go back to Star Iron because of this. Judging from the current situation, there is still plenty of time. We should be able to establish contact with the Black Tower before Sirin becomes a law."

　Do you have enough time?

　"Hmm, if I remember correctly, Sirin's transformation should be on February 1st. Before I died in the lab yesterday, I heard people talking about the date. There should still be a whole week until Sirin's transformation, which is plenty of time for me to prepare myself."

　"So... since things have come to this, let's go to sleep first."

　Lingmo lay back down and closed her eyes peacefully.

　"Maybe I'll be lucky enough that this sleep will trigger a time travel?"

　……

　"Hmm... So if she's sleeping in her dreams, my observations will be interrupted?"

　Looking at the now-blacked-out Dream Observer, Black Tower resisted the urge to use ancient methods to repair it and instead turned his attention back to what he had in his hands.

　"Judging from what I just heard the girl talking to herself, her name seems to be Lingmo, right? Lingmo, Lingmo, you've really given me a big problem..."

　Having just decided to help this poor girl, Heita quickly got to work. However, after sorting out the current situation, Heita realized that she was facing quite a few difficulties.

　First, there's the spaceship's speed. As soon as she made the decision, she changed the destination to the Black Tower Space Station and put the spaceship's engines into overload mode. Even so, the return trip would still take at least two days. After all, the original purpose of her trip was to go to a remote star system to obtain materials. Being able to return within two days was already the result of Black Tower going all out to send the spaceship back to the factory for major repairs.