Na Ke Xia, maybe you don’t know who he is yet, but he will soon appear in the world of “Honkai Impact 3: Star Dome Railway”. You can choose to train him into the most powerful character, break his limits, and make him the main force in your team. These seemingly easy tasks in the virtual world hide endless fatigue and loneliness.
Whenever I see these constantly accumulated materials and the boundaries of breakthroughs being broken one by one, I can’t help but think of the emptiness in life that I have been pursuing but can never fill. No matter how we break through and how we pursue those glorious goals, we will find in the end that all efforts are nothing more than illusions and emptiness again and again.
1. Breakthrough loneliness: Keep moving forward in the virtual world
Na Ke Xia’s growth process is like the life of countless ordinary people. Starting from a weak existence, through countless materials and challenges, he gradually becomes stronger and breaks through one limit after another. Every breakthrough is a sign that he has become stronger, but every breakthrough means more loneliness and helplessness.
In this world full of fantasy and battles, every breakthrough of Na Kexia is not only an improvement of ability, but also an accumulation of loneliness. You collect materials and break through bottlenecks one after another, but you never realize that you have gone too far on this road, and the shadow of loneliness has quietly followed.
I remembered Yu Hua’s description in “To Live”, those seemingly ordinary people are persisting every day, living just to live. Every breakthrough of Na Kexia is just like everyone’s struggle in life. Although it is difficult, you will still move forward because you have no other choice. Breakthrough has become a part of life. It is like fate that cannot be avoided and can only be repeated over and over again.
2. Light Cone: Bringing you more than just power
In the world of “Honkai Impact: Star Dome Railway”, light cone is an important prop to enhance the strength of the character. Na Kexia’s exclusive light cone “Life should be burned to ashes”, like all light cones, brings powerful power to the player. You can equip the light cone on Na Kexia to make him stronger. It seems that all this is like a simple collection task, collecting light cones, improving combat power, and bringing stronger combat power.
But the symbol behind this is more than that. The light cone, like many seemingly beautiful goals in life, provides you with motivation to pursue, but once you have it, it seems to lose the excitement and satisfaction you once had. You have gained powerful power, but you find that this power has not brought real changes, but has made you fall into a deeper emptiness.
I once read a sentence in Yu Hua’s novel “Brothers”: “People live in this world not to become stronger, but to feel the pain of living.” Perhaps, the light cone does not mean real change for Na Kexia. It is more of an illusory reward, a short-lived comfort when you are constantly pursuing breakthroughs. The real power lies precisely in your ability to face the impermanence of fate and those uncontrollable pains.
3. Accumulation of materials: the emptiness that can never be filled
In the process of Na Kexia’s growth, you need to constantly collect various materials, from “empty omen” to “echoing wail” to “eternal elegy”, and each piece of material represents a small progress. You try your best to collect them, and try your best to break through each level, as if these seemingly insignificant materials can help you move towards the final victory.
However, like many pursuits in life, these accumulations will not fill the emptiness in your heart in the end. The more you get, the bigger the hole in your heart. You think these materials can constitute your complete identity and power, but in the end you will find that all this is just superficial brilliance and cannot fill the confusion and loneliness in your heart.
Yu Hua wrote in “Xu Sanduo”: “No one can get happiness through continuous accumulation. Happiness is a momentary feeling, not a long process.” The material accumulation process of Na Kexia may be this “long process”. You keep working hard and keep collecting, but you find that you may not be able to feel the real satisfaction in the end. It is like endless quicksand, always slipping quietly between your fingers.
4. The trajectory of destiny: an unchangeable cycle
Every time Na Kexia breaks through a new level, he moves towards a higher goal. Every success seems to bring new hope. However, have you ever thought that behind the breakthrough, there may be an endless cycle? No matter how many times he breaks through, no matter how much material he collects, he still has to face the trajectory of fate in the end. This trajectory is destined not to change.
This sense of powerlessness of fate is the reality that each of us must face in life. No matter how hard you try, how hard you fight, you will eventually find that the trajectory of fate has been predetermined. You can’t change your past, nor can you really predict your future. That Kexia’s breakthrough is a symbol of this helplessness. He tried his best for a little change, but he couldn’t jump out of the trajectory of fate.
Just like Yu Hua’s protagonist Fugui in “To Live”, he is also struggling and trying to change his fate, but no matter how hard he tries, he still returns to the starting point in the end. Fate seems to always determine your life inadvertently.
V. Conclusion: Finding meaning in loneliness and fate
The story of that Kexia may not be just a simple plot about the game. It shows the efforts of human beings to face loneliness and pursue breakthroughs through breakthroughs, light cones, and the accumulation of materials. And behind this effort, there is often endless emptiness and confusion. In this virtual world, we seem to be able to change everything and gain everything, but in the end, we will still be led by the trajectory of fate.
Perhaps, we can learn something from it: in the difficult situation of life, don’t just pursue those illusory achievements, but learn to face your own heart and find the real self. Whether you are in the virtual world or in real life, the biggest challenge is always to learn to reconcile with yourself.