Li Mu fought back the urge to grin, completely ignoring her glare.
"This is MEI. You need to become her companion. She will be one of the strongest anchors you have for inheriting the authority of Finality."
"A mysterious organization has recently set their sights on her. I need you to protect her."
Kevin had already mentally agreed, but she couldn't help asking, "Aren't we supposed to be saving the world? Why am I playing bodyguard?"
"Because this classmate of yours possesses an unimaginable talent for scientific research, and an intellect so terrifying even the Honkai takes notice. Her existence is absolutely critical to our ultimate victory over the Honkai."
"No more questions." Kevin accepted the request.
She stood up and shot Li Mu a spectral, lifeless glare. "But right now, I need to go home and lie down."
Just as Kevin turned to leave, Li Mu stopped her.
"Hold on, you can't go just yet."
He shoved a pile of clothes into her arms.
Kevin looked down. It was a complete outfit. Though the style was relatively conservative, it was undeniably women's clothing.
Kevin looked back up, locking eyes with Li Mu.
"Don't look at me like that." Li Mu pointed at her chest. "You're not seriously planning on walking outside like that, are you?"
Following his finger, Kevin looked down. Her original male clothes hung loosely off her new, much smaller frame. The oversized collar drooped low, revealing an alarming amount of pale, snow-white skin.
Her entire face instantly went nuclear red.
She was just about to explode, but Li Mu had already slipped behind her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shoved her into an empty guest room.
"Hurry up and change."
...
When Kevin emerged from the room again, she looked like a completely different person.
She wore tight jeans paired with women's sneakers, and a black, form-fitting top that highlighted the sleek, athletic contours of her midriff, with a blue jacket layered casually over it.
She looked like the textbook definition of a sporty, high-energy high school girl.
Li Mu looked her up and down. He felt like the outfit was missing something. Then, noticing her long white hair falling loosely to her waist, it clicked.
Under Kevin's perplexed gaze, Li Mu miraculously produced two hair clips from nowhere and held them out.
"Which one of these do you think looks better?"
Kevin was about to refuse, but she admitted that leaving her hair hanging loose like this would be a hassle. She looked at the two clips in his hands.
One had a small star decoration, and the other had a chameleon.
"Do you have any others? These are way too... girly."
"You are an honest child." Li Mu immediately shoved both clips into Kevin's hands.
Kevin didn't argue. She pocketed them and turned to leave.
But before she could take a single step, Li Mu's voice rang out again.
"Wait, one more thing."
Ignoring Kevin's exasperated eye roll, Li Mu turned around and effortlessly pulled open a hidden compartment behind his living room bookshelf.
When Kevin saw what was inside, her jaw dropped.
Pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenades, longswords, combat knives... and was that massive tube—which looked taller than her current height—a portable rocket launcher?!
"You have an actual armory hidden in your house?!" Kevin gasped. But then she shrugged. "Actually, considering you're a time traveler, I guess it makes sense."
Li Mu pulled out twin silver handguns with a sleek, metallic finish and pressed them into Kevin's hands.
"MK-215 handguns, manufactured by Massive Electric. Unlike the standard models on the market, these are exclusive, custom-made weapons meant for Fire-MOTH operatives. They're powered by Honkai energy, giving them significantly more firepower than standard firearms."
"They'll be more than enough to deal with early-stage zombies and weaker Honkai beasts."
Feeling the cold, heavy steel in her hands, Kevin's eyes practically sparkled.
Honestly, what guy wouldn't love a pair of high-tech lethal toys?
The only problem was, she had zero firearms training. Fortunately, Li Mu had already anticipated this.
"Don't worry about not knowing how to use them. I'll find you an instructor soon to give you systematic combat training."
"An instructor? Coming from a guy who casually drops knowledge about cosmic gods and the end of the world, I can't even imagine what kind of monster you'd pick to train me."
Kevin snarked, desperately trying to use the banter to drown out the lingering grief of losing her little brother.
"Anyway, I'm heading out. My parents are on their honeymoon, so I have the house to myself. But I really need to figure out how I'm going to explain to them that the son they raised is now a daughter."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that for now." Li Mu suddenly produced a handful of ID cards and a thick folder from nowhere. "Because for the foreseeable future, you are no longer Kevin."
"What do you mean?"
Kevin opened the folder Li Mu handed her. Inside was a profile attached to a photo of a girl who looked exactly like her.
She read the attached information:
[Kiana: A mysterious young girl from Siberia, suspected to be the heiress of a prominent European aristocratic family.]
[Sexual Orientation: Female. Possesses extraordinary martial arts skills, supernatural intuition, and physical capabilities far beyond a normal human. Also possesses a strong, albeit simplistic, sense of justice.] (Don't ask)
[Background: Traveled to the Far East in search of her missing father, Siegfried. Enrolled in Chiba Academy by sheer coincidence, using it as a cover to hide her identity.]
[...]
[Note: There may be deeper secrets regarding her true identity. Further background details to be added later (I haven't thought of them yet).]
"What is this?"
"A fully verifiable identity file, and your brand-new persona," Li Mu explained. "From this moment on, you are Kiana. After all, you can't exactly keep living your life as Kevin right now, can you?"
Kevin hesitated. Even though her gender had changed, completely abandoning her own identity still felt incredibly wrong.
But to Li Mu, this was absolutely crucial. In fact, this specific step was the entire reason he had set up this elaborate scheme.
So, he pulled out his trump card.
"Saving the world isn't a safe job, Kevin. You will be targeted by incredibly dangerous people. To prevent your family from getting caught in the crossfire, I highly suggest you adopt a secret identity."
Li Mu's voice carried a demonic, hypnotic allure.
"Kevin... you don't want your loved ones to be put in mortal danger because of you, do you?"
Kevin fell silent. She sighed internally. He was right. She could never put her parents at risk.
"I... accept." She felt like she was dancing perfectly to the tune Mu was playing.
"Kiana" nodded in defeat and walked toward the door. Her back radiated an aura of bleak, soul-crushing despair.
Thankfully, Li Mu didn't stop her a third time.
As soon as "Kiana" was completely out of sight, Li Mu closed the door.
At that exact moment, a mechanical chime rang out in his mind.
[Mission: Witness Kiana enroll in Chiba Academy. Reward: A-Rank Stigmata Selector Box x1, Crystals x300.]
[Mission Status: Check-in complete.]
[Rewards available for claim.]
[Mission: Witness the heiress of MEI Corp, Raiden Mei, enroll in Chiba Academy. Reward: A-Rank Stigmata Selector Box x1, Crystals x300.]
[Mission Status: Key individual 'Raiden Mei' not detected.]
"Pfft..."
Li Mu slapped a hand over his mouth, desperately fighting back a grin.
Don't laugh. Don't laugh.
But when something this hilarious happens, how can I possibly hold it in?
"Pfft... hehehehe..."
Yeah, the whole "Regressor" sob story was a complete load of crap he'd fed Kevin. He wasn't a time traveler. He was just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill transmigrator.
And the only reason he had gone to such psychotic lengths to trick Kevin was because of this completely unreliable, borderline-braindead System that had dropped him off fifty thousand years too early!
The System's function was actually beautifully simple. It was a "Check-In" System. Stand in the right place, witness the right event, and get utterly overpowered rewards. It was a golden ticket to absolute godhood... assuming the stupid thing hadn't gotten the timeline completely wrong.
Just looking at his upcoming mission log made Li Mu's vision go dark.
What the hell did it mean by "Check in at the Escape from Nagazora"?
What the hell did it mean by "Check in at the Descent of the Herrscher of the Void"?
What the hell did it mean by "Check in at the Final Lesson"?!
System, do you have any idea where I am right now?!
I'm in the Previous Era! The era that literally only exists as tragic backstory for the main plot!
Li Mu was so angry he wanted to laugh.
The current timeline was at least fifty thousand years away from the start of the main story. What was he supposed to do? Survive the apocalyptic Previous Era on his own, freeze himself, and wait fifty millennia to finally start using his System?!
The problem was, if he had the power to survive the entirety of the Previous Era without help, he wouldn't need this trash System in the first place!
In an era predestined to be erased by Finality, where seven billion people would be slaughtered down to less than a hundred thousand, the survival rate of making it to the next era was literally less than one in a million!
Who the hell would be arrogant enough to gamble their life on a 0.0001% chance of survival?
So, fueled by an unimaginably powerful desire to live, Li Mu had engaged his own terrifying intellect to forge a path to survival.
As the saying goes: back a man into a corner, and he'll do literally anything.
After a lot of brainstorming, Li Mu actually came up with a potentially viable exploit.
If he couldn't wait fifty thousand years to trigger the main story... why couldn't he just force the main story to happen right now, and check in that way?
It was common knowledge that this world, governed by the Cocoon of Finality, operated on "cycles." The Previous Era and the Current Era were almost identical reflections of each other. You could easily find the "parallel equivalents" of the main cast right here in the Previous Era.
And Li Mu had discovered a loophole: as long as a parallel equivalent perfectly matched the background and traits of their future counterpart, the System would actually flag them as the "authentic" character!
So... if I force Dr. MEI to act like Raiden Mei, make Kevin act like Kiana, and track down Bronya's Previous Era counterpart, the main trio is fully assembled!
He already had leads on the equivalents for Otto and Theresa. Hua was literally already alive in this era. Add Himeko from the Fire-MOTH to the cast, and the scripts for The Descent of the Herrscher of the Void and Final Lesson were ready to shoot!
Once he assembled his cast and built his stage, he could use the Check-Ins to acquire unimaginable power fifty thousand years ahead of schedule.
And when that happened? The Herrscher of Finality?
Hah! I'll beat the absolute crap out of her!
The only hiccup was that right at step one, the System had rejected Kevin as a valid "Kiana."
Even though the System was an artificial idiot, it wasn't blind. It could clearly tell that Kiana was supposed to be a girl, and Kevin was a guy.
So, for the sake of checking in, Kevin had to make a small sacrifice.
Thinking about this, Li Mu couldn't help but feel a surge of righteous indignation on behalf of his best friend.
"It's all your fault, you piece of trash System! You made my best bro lose his brother! I despise you!"