The living room finally returned to a state that could be described as "habitable."
The solid-wood dining table that had died a glorious death—along with its short, tragic life—was stuffed into black garbage bags, and all the shattered glass and milk stains mixed with dust were cleaned up.
With the table gone, the once-cramped dining area suddenly looked spacious.
It also looked bleak in that "we own nothing" kind of way.
This wasn't disaster recovery—it was more like they'd just been looted by a moving company.
Su Yu propped the broom against the wall and glanced up at the flickering system panel above his head.
[Item: Absolute Free-Time Trial Card]
[Status: Available]
[Remaining Time: 30:00]
[Description: This is your lifeline. After activation, the bound target gains temporary "materialization" privileges and is no longer limited by the one-meter restriction. During this time, she can go wherever she wants and do whatever she wants. Limited to 30 minutes. Returning to range pauses the timer. Refreshes daily.]
The system's wording was getting more punchable by the day.
Su Yu looked away and turned toward Kiana, who was squatting on the floor like a squirrel, picking the last few bits of broken wood into the trash bag.
"Want to take a shower?" he asked.
Kiana froze mid-motion.
A shower.
A shower… alone.
No worrying that the red one-meter warning would pop up.
No having to listen—humiliated—while the man outside loudly recited "When the late Emperor's great undertaking was still unfinished…" to cover up the awkwardness.
God only knew why he chose to recite The Memorial to the Throne whenever someone went to the bathroom.
"…Yeah." She nodded, her voice so light it was almost a mosquito's buzz—yet there was unmistakable relief in that single syllable, like someone newly released from prison.
Su Yu pointed toward the bathroom. "New towel's on the top shelf. The pink one's yours."
"I already adjusted the water heater. Left is hot, right is cold. Don't boil yourself."
"And clothes… there's an old T-shirt of mine on top of the washing machine. Clean, never worn. Wrap yourself in it for now. After we eat, we'll go buy you new stuff."
Kiana stood and headed for the bathroom.
As she crossed the one-meter boundary, Su Yu noticed her shoulders tense—an instinctive fear response, terrified her body would turn transparent again.
But nothing happened.
The countdown on the system panel began to tick.
[29:59]
[29:58]
[29:57]
Kiana looked back at Su Yu.
In her mismatched eyes was a complicated emotion—gratitude, tangled with a wariness she hadn't fully set down yet.
In the end, she said nothing and stepped into the bathroom.
Click. The lock engaged.
…
Hot water poured from the showerhead, wrapping that scarred body in white steam.
Kiana stood under the stream with her eyes closed, letting the warmth run from her hair, down her cheeks and collarbone, sliding away.
In the cramped space, the mirror fogged quickly—along with the noisy world outside—sealed off behind mist and glass.
She couldn't remember how long it had been since she'd taken a real, thorough hot shower.
Back in Sky City, when she'd been hiding and running, bathing had been a luxury she didn't deserve to imagine.
Most of the time, she could only sneak into an abandoned park's public restroom late at night and rinse herself off with icy tap water.
In winter, the pipes were cold as ice.
She'd shivered so hard her teeth chattered—echoing in that empty restroom.
And now…
Hot water wrapped around her like a warm hand, washing away exhaustion that had piled up for who knew how many days—little by little.
She lowered her head, watching the water flow down her calves and spiral into the drain.
The water was clear.
No blood.
She lifted her arm to examine the wounds.
To her surprise, most of them had already begun healing.
Cuts that should've been swollen, infected—maybe even needing stitches—had formed a thin scab now, the edges tinted faint pink: the color of new skin.
So even in a world without Honkai energy…
This body still kept that disgusting healing ability.
Still the body of a monster.
The thought surfaced—and she buried her face in her hands, water sliding through her fingers, bringing a faint suffocating feeling with it.
There were too many unanswered questions.
Why was she here?
Why had she crossed into a world so peaceful it made her want to cry?
Where had Sirin gone—the one who always haunted her like a ghost?
Why was the Herrscher of the Void consciousness—the one that always mocked her and tried to seize control—completely silent?
She couldn't tell whether those cruel whispers earlier were the Herrscher's murmurs…
Or her own hallucinations.
At least right now, she couldn't feel her at all.
At least right now—
Even the real "Fu Hua"—the Crimson Phoenix consciousness that once lived inside her—was gone.
Was it because this world had no Honkai energy, and they'd fallen dormant?
Or had they never come with her in the first place?
If it was the latter…
Then this shell really only had her left.
No Herrscher power.
No immortal's guidance.
Just a Kiana Kaslana who had nothing—
A useless idiot.
The questions crawled through her heart like ants, dense and relentless.
But right now, one image kept surfacing, over and over.
That man.
Su Yu.
The way he'd grabbed her wrist, almost hanging off her to stop her from leaving.
His voice—
"Am I supposed to just stand there and watch a living person turn into air and vanish right in front of me?!"
It had been the first time in so long that anyone had said something like that to her.
Not "You're humanity's hope."
Not "You have to fight."
Just—
He didn't want her to disappear.
"…Just take it as repayment," she told herself in her heart.
"I'm going to live."
The voice still echoed deep in her mind—sharp and venomous.
Live? With you? A monster drenched in blood, a sinner carrying a mountain of debt—how dare you?
Kiana clenched her teeth.
"Even if I'm unbearable," she whispered, so low only she could hear, "even if I'm ugly, even if…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
But somewhere deep inside, that fragile voice—weak as it was—pressed down the Herrscher's sneer for the first time.
She lifted her head and wiped the fog from the mirror.
A girl's face stared back.
Pale skin.
Faint dark circles under the eyes.
Those mismatched eyes still held exhaustion and confusion.
Ugly as hell.
But at least—
There was a little light in them now.
The bathroom door opened, releasing a clean, pleasant scent of body wash.
Kiana stepped out wearing the borrowed old T-shirt.
It was Su Yu's black oversized short-sleeve—on her it looked like a badly fitted short dress, the hem swaying down to her upper thighs, revealing legs that were lean and tight… and covered in tiny scars.
Wet white hair hung over her shoulders, water still dripping from the tips, soaking a dark patch around the collar.
But that signature ahoge had stubbornly sprung back up like a tiny antenna.
The living room smelled good.
Cheese.
Tomato sauce.
Warm baked crust.
For someone who'd been starving for days, it was basically a biochemical weapon straight from heaven.
Su Yu was sitting on the sofa.
Since the dining table that should've been doing its job had been chopped into firewood by someone, he could only spread two enormous pizza boxes right on the carpet like some kind of caveman.
"Delivery's here." He looked up at Kiana and pointed at the boxes. "Two extra-large pizzas—one bacon-and-cheese, one Hawaiian. Enough for you?"
Kiana walked over and sat beside him.
Within one meter.
The timer on the system panel paused and showed:
[Remaining Time: 17:23]
She stared at the two boxes with exaggerated smiley faces for two seconds, like she was confirming this wasn't a hallucination.
Then she opened the lid.
Steam rushed up.
Golden cheese stretched into long strings.
The smoky bacon and sweet-sour tomato sauce blended into a scent that made saliva flood her mouth.
She grabbed a slice and shoved it in without hesitation.
Rich cheese.
Crisp crust.
Salty bacon.
Everything exploded on her tongue.
It had been too long.
Far too long since she'd eaten the kind of junk food that could make you feel happy.
There was no hot pizza in Sky City's trash cans.
Expired convenience-store rice balls were cold and hard like rocks.
Vending machine water always tasted faintly of rust.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten pizza.
Maybe at St. Freya Academy.
Maybe on the Hyperion, celebrating after a mission.
Those distant memories—like from a previous life—floated up like bubbles…
And popped.
The food turned into warmth, sliding down into her stomach.
That heat spread from her lower belly, making her feel softly, gently warm all over.
Kiana paused.
Her nose stung.
"What? Is the pineapple on the Hawaiian pizza disgusting?" Su Yu's voice came from beside her, in that teasing tone that somehow never made her hate him. "Told you it's heresy."
"…It's nothing." Kiana lowered her head, blinking rapidly to force the heat back down.
Then she started eating faster—like she was racing something.
One slice, two slices, three…
She ate too quickly, not even bothering to break the cheese strings—just stuffing them in, mouth corners smeared with tomato sauce, cheeks puffed like a hamster.
Su Yu watched.
And the taut string inside him finally loosened.
At least she was willing to eat.
If she could eat, that meant something.
Being able to eat is a blessing.
As long as she still wanted to eat, it meant she still wanted to live.
He didn't say anything.
He just quietly pushed the tissue box toward her, then picked up a slice himself.
The living room fell quiet—only chewing, and the occasional sip through a straw.
Su Yu glanced at the flickering system panel again.
[Congratulations, Host. Target character successfully bound!]
[Because the host successfully fed and soothed the target, current cognition has slightly increased.]
[Please begin pre-production work as soon as possible, including but not limited to: story outline, character setting, art style… In order for your canary to fly freely in the sunlight, please work hard!]
Su Yu's mouth twitched at the shamelessly capitalist wording.
This trash system chased people harder than a client's deadline.
But he realized he didn't hate that noisy light screen as much as before.
Because at least—
If it hadn't existed, he might really have had to watch the girl beside him—currently devouring pizza—fade away like a mirage and vanish into thin air.
He took a sip of cola to cut the grease, and his mind started running at full speed.
Turning Honkai Impact 3rd into a game.
This world's tech tree was… weird. No Honkai energy, but their holograms and VR were leagues ahead of his previous life.
That kind of immersion was practically tailor-made for an action game.
If players could experience a Valkyrie's combat firsthand, the impact would be—
Easily a hundred times stronger than just watching cutscenes.
Especially a story like Honkai's.
That dumb, stubborn spirit—bleeding everywhere, still fighting for all the beauty in the world.
He glanced at Kiana beside him, struggling to swallow a huge mouthful of crust, and his eyes softened slightly.
Since he'd picked up this stray cat…
He'd have to see it through.
No matter what, the road was already laid out.
Now all that remained was to tell this story to the entire world—and then…
Truly keep this idiot in a world this beautiful.
-------
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