The living room finally returned to that 'habitable' state.
The solid wood dining table, having died a glorious death, was packed into a black trash bag along with its short life. The glass shards scattered all over the floor and the milk stains mixed with dust were also cleaned up.
Although missing a table, the originally crowded dining area suddenly opened up, though it now revealed a desolate sort of poverty, like a house with nothing but bare walls.
This wasn't post-disaster reconstruction; it looked more like a moving company had just looted the place.
Su Yu leaned the broom against the corner of the wall and glanced at the flickering System panel above his head.
[Item: Absolute Freedom Time Experience Card][Status: Available][Time Remaining: 30:00][Description: This is your life-saving straw. After activation, the bound target will obtain a brief 'Materialization' privilege and will no longer be subject to the one-meter restriction. During this time, she can go wherever she wants and do whatever she wants. Limited to 30 minutes. Timer pauses automatically upon returning to range. Refreshes daily.]
The copywriting for this System was really getting more and more punchable.
Su Yu withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Kiana, who was squatting on the ground like a squirrel, picking up the last few scraps of wood into the bag.
He turned to Kiana: "Do you want to go take a shower?"
Kiana was still squatting on the ground, picking the last wood chips into the bag.
Hearing this, her movements paused.
A shower.
To take a shower alone.
No need to worry about that one-meter red warning box popping up, no need to shamefully listen to that man loudly reciting the Chu Shi Biao outside the door just to cover the awkwardness.
Heaven knows why he has to recite 'The late Emperor had not yet finished his undertaking but collapsed mid-way' while someone is using the toilet.
"...Un."
She nodded, her voice as light as a mosquito's hum, but that 'Un' clearly carried a sense of relief, like being released after serving a sentence.
Su Yu pointed in the direction of the bathroom: "New towels are on the top shelf; the pink one is yours."
"I've already adjusted the water heater for you. Left is hot, right is cold. Don't scald yourself."
"As for clothes... there's an old T-shirt of mine on top of the washing machine. It's washed and never worn. Just make do and wrap yourself in it for now; we'll go buy new ones after we eat."
Kiana stood up and walked toward the bathroom.
When crossing that one-meter threshold, Su Yu noticed her shoulders tense up slightly—it was a subconscious fear reaction, afraid 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 turned her head and glanced at Su Yu.
Those heterochromatic eyes held some kind of complex emotion—like gratitude, yet also like a wariness she hadn't completely let go of.
In the end, she said nothing and turned to walk into the bathroom.
With a click, the door lock fell into place.
...
Hot water poured down from the showerhead, wrapping that scarred body in white steam.
Kiana stood in the stream of water, eyes closed, letting the warm droplets slide down her hair tips, cheeks, and collarbones.
In the narrow space, the mirror was quickly obscured by mist, and even that constantly noisy world was shut out.
She couldn't remember how long it had been since she had taken a hot shower as thoroughly satisfying as this.
In those days of hiding and fleeing in Arc City, a bath was a luxurious delusion.
Most of the time, she could only sneak into public toilets in abandoned parks late at night when no one was around, hurriedly wiping her body with freezing tap water.
The water from the pipes in winter was as cold as ice, freezing her until she shook all over, the sound of her chattering teeth echoing in the empty restroom.
But now, the hot water enveloped her entire body like a warm hand, washing away the exhaustion accumulated over who knows how many days, bit by bit.
She looked down, watching the water flow down her calves and swirl into the drain to disappear.
The water was clear; there was no blood.
She raised her arm to check those wounds.
To her surprise, most of the wounds had actually begun to heal.
Those cuts that should have been red, swollen, and inflamed, or even required stitches, had now formed thin scabs, the edges glowing with a faint pink—the color of new skin.
It seemed that even in this world without Honkai energy, this body still retained that detestable recovery ability.
It's still that monster's body after all.
As soon as this thought surfaced, Kiana buried her face in her palms. The water slipped through her fingers, bringing a slight sensation of suffocation.
There were too many unresolved questions in her mind.
Why did she appear here?
Why did she transmigrate to this world that was so peaceful it made one want to cry?
Where did Sirin, who always haunted her like a ghost, go?
That consciousness of the Herrscher of the Void, who was always mocking her and trying to seize control of her body—why was there no movement from her at all?
She couldn't distinguish whether those vicious words from before were the whispers of the Herrscher of the Void or her own auditory hallucinations.
At least right now, Kiana couldn't feel her presence.
At least, right now...
And that true 'Fu Hua'—that Fenghuang consciousness residing within her body—was also gone.
Did they fall into a slumber because this world has no Honkai energy?
Or did they not follow her to this place at all?
If it's the latter...
Then inside this shell, only she remains.
No Herrscher's power, no Celestial's guidance.
Only a idiot named Kiana Kaslana who has nothing.
Questions crawled in her heart like dense swarms of ants.
But at this moment, a single image kept floating up in her mind.
That man.
Su Yu.
He had grabbed her wrist deathly tight, almost hanging onto her to stop her from leaving.
His voice.
"Do you expect me to watch helplessly as a living person turns into air and vanishes right in front of me?!"
That was the first time in so long that someone had said such words to her.
Not "You are humanity's hope," not "You must fight."
Just simply—he didn't want her to disappear.
"...Just consider it repaying a debt."
She said to herself in her heart.
"I want to live."
That voice still echoed in the depths of her mind, sharp and malicious. Heh... Live on? Relying on you? A monster who has killed countless people, a sinner burdened with blood debts? Are you even worthy?
Kiana clenched her teeth.
"Even if I'm unbearable," her voice was very low, so low only she could hear it, "Even if I'm ugly, even if..."
She didn't finish that sentence.
But in some corner of her heart, that weak voice suppressed the Herrscher's mockery for the first time.
She raised her head and wiped the mist off the mirror with her hand.
A young girl's face was reflected in the mirror.
Her skin was pale, there were faint dark circles under her eyes, and those heterochromatic eyes still held lingering fatigue and confusion.
Ugly as hell.
But at least, there was a little bit of light in those eyes.
——————
The bathroom door opened, bringing out a pleasant scent of body wash.
Kiana walked out wearing that 'borrowed' old T-shirt.
It was a black, loose-fitting short-sleeved shirt of Su Yu's. On her, it looked like a somewhat ill-fitting mini-dress; the hem swayed loosely, covering down to the tops of her thighs, revealing a pair of legs that were toned but covered in tiny scars.
Her wet white long hair was draped over her shoulders, the ends still dripping water, soaking the collar into a deep dark patch.
But that signature ahoge had already perked up again like a stubborn little antenna.
A delicious aroma wafted through the living room.
Cheese, tomato sauce, and the smell of toasted dough.
For someone who had been starving for days, this was simply a biochemical weapon from heaven.
Su Yu was sitting on the sofa—since the solid wood dining table that should have served its purpose had been chopped into firewood by someone.
He could only spread two large pizza boxes directly on the carpet like a primitive man.
"Takeout's here," he looked up and saw Kiana, pointing to the two boxes. "Two extra-large pizzas. One Bacon Cheese, one Hawaiian style. Is that enough for you?"
Kiana walked over and sat down beside him.
Within the one-meter range.
The countdown on the System panel paused, displaying [Time Remaining: 17:23].
She stared at the two boxes with exaggerated smiley faces for two seconds, as if confirming this wasn't some hallucination.
Then she reached out and lifted the lid.
Heat rushed to her face. The golden cheese pulled into long strings, and the charred aroma of bacon mixed with the sweet and sour tomato sauce to form a mouth-watering scent.
She picked up a slice and stuffed it into her mouth without any hesitation.
The richness of the cheese, the crispness of the crust, the savory saltiness of the bacon—all the flavors exploded on the tip of her tongue.
It had been too long.
She hadn't eaten this kind of junk food that made people feel happy for too long.
One couldn't find such piping hot things in the trash cans of Arc City; the expired cold rice balls in convenience stores were as hard as stones, and the water from vending machines always carried a taste of rust.
She couldn't remember when the last time she ate pizza was.
Maybe it was back at St. Freya Academy, or maybe on the Hyperion, celebrating a completed mission with everyone.
Those distant memories, appearing as if from a past life, floated up like bubbles and then shattered.
The food turned into a warm current, sliding down her throat into her stomach.
That warm sensation spread from her lower abdomen, making her whole body feel toasty.
Kiana's movements paused.
Her nose felt a bit sour.
"What's wrong? Is the pineapple on the Hawaiian pizza hard to eat?" Su Yu's voice came from the side, carrying that teasing tone that was impossible to hate. "I said this thing is heresy."
"...It's nothing."
Kiana lowered her head, blinking rapidly to suppress that rising heat.
Then she accelerated the speed of stuffing pizza into her mouth, as if racing against something.
One slice, two slices, three slices...
She ate too fast, not even having time to break the cheese strings, stuffing them into her mouth attached. Tomato sauce stained the corner of her mouth, but she didn't care to wipe it, just rolling it into her mouth, her cheeks bulging like a hamster.
Su Yu watched this scene before him, and the taut string in his heart finally relaxed.
At least she's willing to eat.
Being able to eat is a blessing.
As long as she is willing to eat, it means she still wants to live.
He didn't speak, simply silently pushing the tissue box to Kiana's hand, then picked up a slice of pizza himself and began to eat.
The living room fell quiet, leaving only the sound of chewing and the occasional noise of a drink straw.
Su Yu looked up at the flickering System panel.
[Congratulations Host on successfully binding the target character!]
[Because the Host successfully fed and comforted the target, current recognition has slightly increased.]
[Please, Host, start the preliminary preparation work as soon as possible, including but not limited to: Script Outline, Character Settings, Art Style... In order to let your canary fly freely under the sun, please be sure to work hard!]
Su Yu looked at those words filled with a capitalist's face, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.
This broken System, when it came to rushing people, was more punctual than a client's deadline.
But he found that he didn't seem as repulsed by this noisy light screen as before.
At least—
If it weren't for this System, he might really have only been able to watch helplessly as this girl beside him, who was stuffing her face with pizza, dissipated in the air like a phantom.
Su Yu took a sip of cola to wash down the grease in his mouth, his brain beginning to spin at high speed.
Gamifying Honkai Impact 3rd.
The technology tree of this world had grown very crookedly. Although there was no Honkai energy, the holographic projection and VR technology were several streets ahead of his previous life.
That kind of immersive feeling was simply custom-made for action games.
If players could personally experience the Valkyries' battles, that impact... would definitely be a hundred times stronger than simply watching the plot.
Especially the story of Honkai.
That idiot spirit of fighting for all the beauty in the world even if covered in cuts and bruises.
Thinking of this, Su Yu glanced at Kiana, who was struggling to swallow a large mouthful of dough beside him, his gaze softening slightly.
Since he picked up this stray cat, he had to be responsible to the end.
No matter what, the road was already paved.
The next thing to do was to tell this story to the whole world, and then...
Keep this idiot truly in this beautiful world.
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