"Cough cough… Where are all these Honkai Beasts and Dead Soldiers coming from?!"
Kiana dodged a Knight-class Honkai Beast's charge, then kicked another Dead Soldier away.
"And that explosion earlier—"
Bang—!
On the rooftop of a distant Chamber building, a woman in a Jackal mask arrogantly kicked the black-clad sniper beside her twice.
"Hey, Raven—don't beat my experimental material to death."
"Shut up, Jackal. I know better than you I used regular bullets."
Raven snapped back, then stood and shouldered her rifle.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Jackal glared as Raven turned to leave.
"Snipers don't fire twice from the same spot."
Raven replied coldly, flicked her cloak, and leaped gracefully to the neighboring rooftop, continuing to relocate.
She had to finish this before Penitence's Seven Thunders threw a tantrum.
"Hey! What about me, you jerk?!"
Raven glanced back at the rapidly receding Jackal.
Even without seeing clearly, years of "mutual understanding" let Jackal's mind fill in the blank.
Who cares about you, dumb dog.
"You just wait…"
Under the mask, Jackal's gritted teeth were audible.
Now repositioned, Raven set up her sniper rifle again.
"Hm? Someone's taking advantage of the chaos for a zero-cost shopping spree?"
Through Penitence's Seven Thunders' scope its built-in "high-dimensional vision," essentially a full-map wallhack Raven spotted someone casually looting the Chamber and tossing items into… a pot?
Wait wait wait!
This guy?!
First day on Earth, already ran into Honkai—bad luck. Second day, casually strolling through a mall like nothing happened?
Is your brain okay?!
No how are you adapting to Earth this fast?!
Raven never expected to spot Liu Bai here.
Impossible to mistake him. Even a face-blind person couldn't forget that face especially with that equally distinctive little girl beside him.
Calm down. Calm down.
It's fine, Raven.
She'd already located Kiana.
Grab Kiana here and there'd be zero connection to Liu Bai.
But why hadn't anyone told her he was in the area?!
Raven took a deep breath to steady herself.
Fine this wasn't Liu Bai's fault. Who knew why Herrscher-sama was letting her precious lab rat roam free? Wasn't she worried he'd get kidnapped?
"Phew…"
Raven exhaled slowly, refocused, and shifted her scope away from Liu Bai.
"Reinforcements are here… Chamber's Yelan, and Rita? That's an unexpected combo."
"Miss Kiana, are you alright?"
Yelan's water-formed threads sliced cleanly through a Dead Soldier's neck. She glanced back at Kiana.
Those silk-like strands looked soft, yet their cutting power rivaled divine weapons.
Kiana was seeing Yelan fight for the first time—was this the unique art called elemental power?
Converting Honkai energy into pure elements and controlling them—it was completely different from what she'd learned at St. Freya.
"I'm fine, obviously!"
Kiana panted, her bravado paper-thin.
"Here." Yelan drew two pistols from her waist and tossed them to Kiana. "Head back inside the Chamber. They're targeting you."
"They?"
Kiana blinked.
"This isn't just a random Honkai attack?"
"Since when do Honkai attacks focus exclusively on the Chamber?"
Yelan's tone turned sharp as more threads coiled, ready to strike.
She muttered under her breath, "Seriously… we used to run together in the Free Zone, and now Serpent's crew won't hold back at all."
"Huh? What was that?"
"Nothing! Get back insi—"
Clang—!
Almost on instinct, Yelan's threads barely intercepted a bullet screaming in from afar.
She looked up toward the origin.
Too distant even for her, it was just a tiny black speck.
But that range, that precision…
No need to guess who pulled the trigger.
"Hey hey~ Going for the kill shot already? Raven's taking this way too seriously."
(Sigh… Lady Ningguang, what kind of trouble did you inherit? Can't we just send her back…? Though this is honestly kind of thrilling.)
Surrounded by a swarm of Honkai Beasts, with an ultra-long-range sniper watching from above.
Yet in the heart of danger, Yelan showed no fear—she thrived on dancing along the knife's edge.
Only then did she truly feel alive.
Okay, to put it bluntly: this woman is way too into this.
"Looks like I'm not late."
Rita arrived at the Chamber's front entrance.
Facing the horde of Honkai monsters, her face wore the same elegant, composed smile.
"Though Lady Theresa assigned me to watch the child, I didn't expect fish to bite on day one. Miss Kiana—please head inside."
"…Fine."
Kiana hesitated at the sight of Rita, then swallowed her usual stubbornness.
Mainly because Rita would tattle to her sister!
Total snitch!
Sometimes big sisters were scarier than moms—especially when the big sister was clumsy with words but freakishly strong.
Speaking of which… Kiana still didn't understand why her sister was stuck working at headquarters.
Mom was constantly stressed over headquarters stuff…
"Oh, right Miss Kiana, if you run into those two guests from earlier inside the Chamber, keep an eye on them too."
Yelan finally remembered she hadn't arranged anything for Liu Bai and Guinaifen.
"Got it!"
Clang—!
Another bullet tried to intercept Kiana's path only for Rita to preemptively block it with her scythe.
"…That's quite the range."
Rita's smile tightened slightly.
"That direction?"
"Leave the sniper to you, Lady Rita."
Yelan's threads harvested Dead Soldiers without mercy.
"My pleasure."
Rita nodded lightly, then dropped her voice. "Alvitr deploy drones. Lock onto that sniper. Have Lady Theresa take her out."
"Understood."
A tiny comms device hidden in her collar relayed the technician's reply.
Rita glanced at Yelan.
"Let's clear these out first…"
Ding-dong~ Chamber account received 3000g. Source: Mystery Meat, 30 lbs.
Ding-dong~ Chamber account received 8000g. Source: Activated Stellaron Mushroom, 50 lbs.
Ding-dong~…
Yelan's phone suddenly erupted with nonstop payment notifications.
Rita: "…"
"Lady Yelan, is that…?"
"Ah… this…"
Listening to the relentless alerts from her pocket, Yelan's mind involuntarily conjured the faces of the only two customers they'd had that morning.
Those two guests… were surprisingly relaxed, weren't they?