[A thoughtful little tip from your foster father:[The Anti-Entropy Entertainment building (and the underground lab beneath it) has now been bound as the Host's third stronghold. Kiana Kaslana's movements within this range will no longer be restricted.]
[Note: Your foster father still preferred it back when you two were stuck with a one-meter limit—when you couldn't even go to the toilet without reciting the Chu Shi Biao! Sigh~ I miss those days, Prime Minister!]
Su Yu stared at the System panel that had surfaced before his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching a few times.
This dark history was apparently going to follow him for the rest of his life.
Just as Su Yu was inwardly grumbling that this System loved teasing him as much as ever—
Welt's car pulled to a stop in front of the peeling iron gate of the Happiness Community.
He closed the notification, realizing that over the coming 180 days, not only would he himself be shuttling back and forth to the studio, but Kiana, this Valkyrie, would probably be bouncing back and forth just as often.
Su Yu pushed open the car door and set his foot down on that pitted, uneven concrete road he'd walked countless times before.
From the grand narrative of saving the world, he tumbled back down into a stairwell steeped in the smell of Old Wang's Red Braised Pork wafting over from next door.
That enormous sense of dislocation—seamlessly switching from a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster to a rural sitcom—was disorienting enough to make a person want to burp.
Kiana climbed out from the other side of the car, her long white hair swaying once under the streetlight.
She took a deep breath. That air—a blend of cooking grease, laundry detergent, and someone's salted fish drying on a balcony—made her wrinkle her nose.
"I still think this neighborhood smells weird."
"That's because you don't get it," Su Yu corrected her with a completely straight face. "This is what you call down-to-earth, everyday human warmth. Without this salted-fish stink, how would it set off the greatness of us saving the world?"
The two of them had just reached the landing on the third floor when they heard a burst of frantic commotion.
"Chongchong! Chongchong, get back here! Stop running!"
Ms. Himeko's voice thundered from the far end of the corridor.
That full-throated, penetrating power rivaled the boldness of her bellowing "another jug!" at the izakaya after downing eight steins of draft beer.
Su Yu quickened his pace, and the sight that greeted him was a chaotic scene straight out of a comedy.
Their charming, alluring landlady—Ms. Himeko—was at that very moment sprawled in a most undignified, one might even say full-body-prostrate, posture across the dust-covered floor of the hallway.
One of her hands was thrust into the crack in the corner of the wall, the other braced against the floor. That iconic head of long red hair was strewn everywhere, her face smeared with dust and cat fur.
Her silk loungewear had gone all crooked, the sash nearly coming undone, on the verge of an accidental reveal.
"Su Yu! You brat, you've finally clawed your way back from the dead!"
The instant she saw Su Yu, Himeko practically looked upon him like a living Bodhisattva.
She scrambled up off the floor, slapping the dust off her knees with zero regard for her image, her face wearing an aggrieved, survivor's expression.
"That cat of yours has turned into a demon! From the day you got into that accident and went to the hospital, it's been on a hunger strike in protest! It won't touch a single thing I feed it! Won't eat the premium cat food, won't eat the special little dried fish, and it turned its butt on me even over the outrageously expensive canned tuna I bought!"
Himeko planted both hands on her hips, her words coming faster and faster, exactly like a neighborhood-committee auntie driven mad by a bratty kid:
"It just guards your door all day like some Wife-Watching Rock! Hisses at anyone who comes near! I kindly reached out to pick it up and this little ingrate almost scratched three bloody welts into me! I ask you—me, a landlady in the bloom of my beauty, collecting only that pittance of rent from you every month—do I really deserve this double torment, physical AND mental?!"
Su Yu didn't even get the chance to soothe the irascible landlady.
From the crack in the corner of the wall came a sudden, tremulously wronged "Meow~"
A ball of white fur poked its head out from the shadows.
Heterochromatic eyes.
One blue, one gold.
Exactly like Kiana's.
The moment Chongchong saw Su Yu, the entire cat underwent a dramatic transformation.
Its originally puffed-up fur instantly flattened, and those two heterochromatic eyes trembled violently.
Then it charged out.
It was a headlong, tumbling sprint, all four legs practically tangling together.
"Meowww——!!"
Chongchong made a leap of faith, its two front paws clamping desperately onto Su Yu's pant leg.
That cry was shrill and full of a thousand twisting sorrows—not like it was fawning for affection, but more like it was denouncing a heartless philanderer.
Its claws scrabbled frantically upward, dragging several heartbreaking white streaks into the high-end casual trousers Su Yu had only just changed into a few days ago.
Su Yu bent down and scooped up this trembling ball of white fur.
The moment Chongchong was lifted, it immediately buried its whole head into the crook of Su Yu's neck.
Its body was shaking violently, a string of rapid, broken whimpers coming from its throat.
Su Yu could feel that this little thing had gotten thinner.
Its once round little belly now had the faint outline of ribs when he touched it.
"Okay, okay, I'm back." Su Yu cupped Chongchong's rump with one hand, gently stroking down its back with the other. "Stop denouncing me. How about I open two cans of your favorite supreme brand later to make it up to you?"
Chongchong lifted its head from the crook of his neck, those heterochromatic eyes damp, and fixed Su Yu with a resentful stare for three whole seconds.
That look was the one you'd give a scumbag.
Then it dove back in, nuzzling its head madly against Su Yu's chin, refusing to let go even if it killed it.
Kiana stood off to the side, watching this scene.
Her lips moved, and something flickered in the depths of her eyes.
"Look at that."
Her voice sounded like she was grumbling, but that little upward lilt at the end of her words couldn't disguise the fact that she was aching with heartbreak.
"Even Chongchong, who normally only cares about eating, got so angry at your reckless little stunt that it went on a hunger strike. A certain someone really ought to reflect long and hard on his character."
Holding Chongchong, Su Yu shot Kiana a look that was half a smile.
Under his gaze Kiana's face flushed red, and she immediately turned her head away in a poorly-concealed cover-up, pretending to study which brand that flickering, sound-activated light at the end of the hall was.
Watching this cozy "family of three"—one man, one cat, one girl—Himeko rolled her charming eyes and stroked her chin.
"Fine, the cat's returned to its rightful owner, intact. I can't stand this sour, sappy stench anymore. I'm going back to my drinking."
She patted the dust off herself and shuffled off toward her own room in her flip-flops.
Halfway there, she suddenly whipped her head back around and fiercely barked at Su Yu:
"Next time you feel like playing some near-death car-crash thrill game, remember to board the cat with me ahead of time! Don't let it go on another hunger strike—my heart aches over all that opened cat food money going to waste with no one to eat it!!!"
"Got it, got it, Sister Himeko is the most understanding and reasonable of all!"
"Hmph!" Himeko's door slammed shut with a bang.
The corridor returned to that quiet particular to an old residential building, mixed with the various scents of everyday life.
Su Yu fished out his keys and opened his own somewhat rusted security door.
A familiar smell rushed at him.
The rented apartment wasn't big, but Kiana had kept it reasonably tidy.
On the coffee table sat a few instant-noodle bowls she hadn't gotten around to clearing away a few days ago; on the TV cabinet stood that HOMEI plushie Griseo had won at the amusement park and given to Kiana; on the windowsill hung two pairs of socks in different colors, one for each of them.
Su Yu set Chongchong down on the sofa and turned to head into the kitchen to find the cat food.
He'd only taken two steps.
Behind him came an extremely faint "click."
It was the sound of the security door's deadbolt latching shut.
And then, the living room light didn't come on.
In the darkness, a pair of arms wrapped around his waist from behind.
The force was strong, as if she wanted to knead him into her own body.
Kiana buried her face against his back.
Her forehead pressed into his shoulder, the tip of her nose greedily rubbing against the fabric of his T-shirt, breathing in that scent that put her utterly at ease.
All the composure she'd forced up in the top decision-makers' conference room, all the ease she'd deliberately maintained in the car, all the tsundere front she'd stubbornly propped up in the hallway... in the instant that door closed, in the darkness where there was only the two of them, all of it shattered like glass, scattered across the floor.
Oh, and there was also one cat off to the side watching the show.
Her shoulders began to shake violently.
"Why."
Kiana's voice was muffled, coming from his back, thick with a heavy nasal congestion.
"Why do you always end up like this when you clear a dungeon—"
Su Yu didn't move.
He could feel clearly that a patch of warm liquid was rapidly spreading across the back of his T-shirt.
"You clearly promised me you wouldn't push yourself. We clearly agreed that no matter what monster, what apocalypse we ran into, we'd shoulder it together!"
"And what happened? The moment I woke up, what I saw was you lying in a pool of blood, every bone in your body shattered, barely even breathing!"
Her arms clamped down tight, as if the moment she loosened her grip Su Yu would vanish all over again.
"Do you have any idea how I felt back then?"
"I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead."
"I really... thought you were dead."
Her voice completely broke on those last few words, crumbling into broken, choking sobs.
"If you really had died because of me... what would be the point of me staying alone in a world without you—even if I regained my freedom, even if I never had to hide and run again, what would any of it mean?"
The rented apartment was very dark.
The light of the streetlamp outside filtered through the gap in the curtains that hadn't been drawn fully, casting a narrow band of orange-yellow light across the floor.
Su Yu stood at the edge of that band of light.
He sighed and slowly turned around.
Kiana didn't let go; her arms adjusted their position as he turned, shifting from around his waist to hugging his chest.
Her face was buried against his chest, refusing to lift up like an ostrich.
Su Yu lowered his head.
He could clearly see that iconic ahoge on the top of her head, which was now like a withered blade of dead grass drained of vitality, trembling faintly in the darkness.
He raised his hand and laid his palm over the back of her head.
His fingers threaded into that head of soft white hair, smoothing it down stroke by stroke.
"I promise."
His voice was very soft.
Kiana's shoulders were still hitching and trembling.
"Liar. You say that every time, and every time you charge to the very front."
"This time it's for real." Su Yu let out a soft chuckle. "Because I'm not fighting a lone battle anymore."
"We've got the deep-pocketed Eden bankrolling us, we've got the stone-faced war god Kevin as muscle, we've got the crafty old schemer Welt to backstop everything, and we've got the genius hacker Bronie handling logistics."
"Oh right, and we even scored a free S-rank maid from Schicksal."
He paused, his chest resonating with a slight vibration:
"And more importantly, there's you, Kiana."
Kiana's fingers clenched once on the T-shirt at his back.
She finally lifted her head from his chest.
Those eyes glistened wetly in the darkness, her once-exquisite little face crying like a little smudged kitten, the tip of her nose flushed red, precariously trembling teardrops still hanging from her long lashes.
She looked at Su Yu.
Su Yu looked down at her too.
The distance between the two of them, at this moment, was somewhat dangerously close.
He could feel her exhaled breath brushing against his chin—warm, carrying a faint milk-candy sweetness particular to a young girl.
Kiana's gaze, as though beyond her control, slid slowly from his eyes down to his lips.
Then, as if scalded, it snapped abruptly back up to his eyes.
Her cheeks flushed hot in the darkness at a visible speed, her very breathing growing a little ragged.
Su Yu's hand slid from the back of her head to her cheek.
His thumb brushed away the still-damp teardrop at the corner of her eye.
The tip of Kiana's nose was almost touching Su Yu's face.
He didn't pull away.
The atmosphere reached the utmost peak of ambiguity in that moment, as if even the dust motes in the air had stopped drifting.
And in this drawn-out moment—one that would earn applause even from a soap-opera director!—
Deep within Su Yu's mind, there suddenly came a "BOOM," a psychic shriek sharp enough to shatter his consciousness space!
"HEY!!! HUMAN!!!"
Sirin's voice, carrying a terrifying rage that could boil the entire Pacific Ocean, reverberated madly through Su Yu's skull.
"Where do you think you're putting that filthy hand of yours!!!"
Su Yu's body abruptly stiffened.
"This Queen isn't dead yet! Both my eyes are wide open and watching!! Do you really think I don't exist anymore?!"
Sirin's psychic barrage strafed across like machine-gun fire.
"Don't you dare kiss that dumb Paramecium who only knows how to eat!"
"Despicable Kiana! That mouth is MY exclusive territory! That man is MY possession too! Get your grubby paws off him!!"
"You two—now, this instant, immediately—maintain a safe social distance of at least three meters from each other!!!"
The corner of Su Yu's mouth began to twitch uncontrollably and violently.
Kiana felt the stiffness of his body and the bizarre expression on his face, and tilted her head in confusion, the ahoge atop her head swaying along with it.
"What's wrong? Su Yu, is one of your wounds hurting again?"
"It's... it's nothing."
Su Yu's voice sounded like he'd been constipated for three days and three nights, straining with extreme difficulty.
His current predicament could only be described as a state of utter dire straits:
His right hand was still affectionately lingering on Kiana's cheek.
In his arms was the girl he most wanted to protect with all his might in this world—
a soft, warm, tear-streaked girl who was gazing up at him with those damp blue eyes brimming entirely with him.
And in his head...
another girl who looked exactly the same, but whose personality was as irascible as a menopausal fire-breathing dragon, was outputting a heaven-defying jealousy powerful enough to trigger an on-the-spot earthquake in the entire consciousness space, at a terrifying rate of eight hundred words per second.
"I'm warning you, human!!!" Sirin had gone completely berserk inside his mind. "If you dare kiss that idiot right under my nose today, tonight I'm hijacking your account! I swear I will forcibly seize control of this body and hijack it! And then I'll use this body to drain you dry—no! To castrate you!!!"
Su Yu drew in a deep breath.
Then let it out in a long exhale.
As the saying goes: a man is a creature who repeatedly probes at the edge of courting death.
He lowered his head.
And under the gaze of Kiana's blue pupils, slightly dilated in bewilderment, he gently landed a kiss as light as a feather upon her forehead.
"Welcome home, Kiana."
"AAAAAHHHH you bastard Paramecium——!!!"
The shriek in his mind instantly shot up eighty decibels, nearly breaking through the auditory limit of carbon-based life.
Kiana was so flustered by the sudden forehead kiss that her whole self flushed crimson.
From her neck all the way up to the tips of her ears, she looked exactly like a boiled giant mantis shrimp.
She abruptly buried her scalding cheeks back into Su Yu's chest, the tips of her ears so red they seemed about to drip blood, both hands clutching at his clothes, her voice as faint as a mosquito's whine:
"D-dummy Su..."
Quiet settled over the rented apartment once again.
The streetlamp's light outside the window still fell across the floor. At some point Chongchong had hopped down from the sofa, padding silently over to the two of them's feet, rubbing against Su Yu's ankle.
Then, thoroughly content, it curled up in that band of orange-yellow light, closed its eyes, and began to purr.
Su Yu held the girl tightly in his arms, listening to her gradually steadying breath—which even carried a trace of secret delight—feeling those minute tremors of fear on her back finally recede, bit by bit, until they had completely faded away.
Deep in his mind, Sirin's roar gradually shifted from fury to a sulky muttering, and finally dissolved into a single reluctant, tearful little "hmph."
"Despicable Kiana, you just wait, you just wait!"
She didn't blame Su Yu; instead she turned her spearhead toward this Paramecium, this "seductress" servant of the Queen, wishing she could throw down and settle it right then and there.
But after thinking it over—the current her couldn't beat her—she could only sullenly let the matter drop.
The corner of Su Yu's mouth curved.
A pure-hearted first love in his arms, a tsundere Queen living in his head.
One crying outside from being moved, one throwing a jealous fit inside his head.
The System had been right, after all.
This damned love-rivalry gauntlet.
Painful, yet happy.
Blissful, Worrisome.
This was, more or less, the most hardcore—and most worth-protecting-with-his-life—everyday life for him, Su Yu, in this world.
The night flowed on soundlessly.
Chongchong, sprawled on the floor, opened its eyes and looked at those two figures embracing each other.
It raised a front paw and covered its own nose with it.
What a sappy pair of lovebirds.
The thought that these two were not only its poop-scoopers but also its... it really was the height of rotten luck.
The next morning.
Through the gap in the curtains at the Happiness Community that hadn't been drawn fully, a thin, slender sliver of light leaked in, falling upon Kiana's face.
She didn't move.
She had, miraculously, not moved.
Normally at this hour, this young lady would either perform a "Fierce Tiger Descending to the Ground" and kick the blanket off the bed with one foot, or clamp the pillow tightly over her face, mumbling like a broken repeat-recorder: "Mei... let me sleep five more minutes..."
But not today.
She just lay there quietly, eyes cracked open a sliver, staring at the water stain on the ceiling left by a leak—one whose shape closely resembled HOMU.
Her petite nose suddenly twitched twice.
Fried eggs.
Bacon.
And that sinful carb-scent of caramel-like sweetness that toast gives off when it's browned to a slight char in hot butter in a frying pan.
Kiana's throat bobbed.
In the Tai Xu Illusory Realm she'd trained bitterly under Fenghuang for half a month, and each day's meals had been "spiritual sustenance" that the Immortal Fu Hua condensed out of sword qi.
That stuff, once in your mouth, was no different from chewing a fresh-breeze napkin.
Her mouth had long since gone utterly bland and flavorless.
Kiana sat up in bed, sliding her feet into that pair of cotton slippers she'd stomped out of shape, her hair a mess, the collar of her T-shirt slipping off one shoulder.
The very picture of an internet-addicted girl who'd just come out of an all-nighter at a cybercafé.
She made no sound.
Stepping lightly, she walked to the boundary between the living room and the kitchen, and stopped.
Su Yu stood in front of the stove.
He wore a gray T-shirt with a dark-blue apron on over it.
The apron was printed with a HOMU holding up a frying pan—a trophy Kiana had bought for fifteen yuan at a night market a while back.
His left hand gripped the pan handle, his right holding the spatula, in the middle of scooping a fried egg—its edges slightly charred, the yolk still faintly quivering—onto a plate.
His movements were very practiced; a flip of the wrist, and the egg landed steadily right beside the bacon.
The range hood above the stove hummed, whisking away most of the greasy fumes, but a wisp of savory, salty steam still spilled over the edge of the pan, drifting to the tip of Kiana's nose.
She still didn't make a sound to disturb him.
She only tiptoed over to the dining table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Both hands cupping her cheeks, her chin resting softly in her palms, her gaze so tender it could almost draw out threads, she just watched quietly.
Watched as Su Yu plated the fried egg he'd finished, then cracked a second one into the pan.
The instant the egg white hit the hot oil it let out a crisp "sizzle," its edges rapidly curling up into a ring of lace-like char.
His profile was lit by the incandescent bulb above the stove, a thin sheen of sweat on the bridge of his nose.
Kiana's gaze slid from his profile to his arm.
That arm was a size thicker than she remembered.
The muscle lines, now that his second-stage Genetic Lock had stabilized, were faintly visible beneath the sleeve of his T-shirt.
Kiana's fingers unconsciously tightened a little against her own scalding cheeks, the ahoge atop her head swaying twice in delight.
And in the kitchen, Su Yu was focused intently on flipping the second egg.
His movements looked focused, as if he were carrying out a precision operation demanding full concentration.
But in reality—
inside his brain, a top-level strategy conference concerning the survival of humanity was underway.
"Su Yu."
Fenghuang's voice sounded in the depths of his consciousness.
"Your current strength truly is no longer what it once was. But one hundred and seventy-nine days from now, when the full-scale Honkai arrives, relying on just you, Kiana, and Rita—three people—won't be enough to plug the gaps in Arc City's entire defensive line."
Su Yu poked the yolk with his spatula, confirming it was still runny.
"I know. And in the worst-case scenario, Kiana and Rita—even I—will all have to actively charge into the Honkai world to settle things," he answered in his mind, his tone very steady.
"In this peaceful world, there's a severe gap at the top tier of combat power. Even counting Fu Hua and the disciples of the Inch Heart Dojo, that only adds a few more capable high-level infantry."
"Facing Honkai Beasts swarming in droves like a tsunami, all we've got is a handful of max-level mains—no, forget it, we don't even count as max-level mains; at best we're closed-beta veterans leading a horde of newbie-village greenhorns. It just can't be carried."
Fenghuang fell silent for two seconds. "What's your idea?"
Su Yu scooped the finished second egg onto the plate and turned off the stove's flame.
"Squad Monitor, do you remember what I told you about—the time I injected the first dose of the body enhancement serum?"
"I remember. You said that pain was like being thrown into Lord Lao's alchemy furnace and burned alive to death three times over."
"Right. But once I'd taken it, my physical constitution kicked straight through the door of the carbon-based-life limit."
Su Yu set the frying pan into the sink; the hot oil hitting cold water let out an ear-piercing "hiss."
"If we could analyze this serum, turn it into a mass-producible version, and then pick suitable people to inject it into..." He paused. "—wouldn't that mean we could mass-produce a squad of super Spartan warriors capable of squaring off head-on against lower-tier Honkai Beasts?"
Fenghuang didn't answer right away.
Su Yu could feel her seriously weighing the feasibility of this plan.
At that very moment, the System's light-screen popped up in the upper-right corner of his field of vision.
The font wasn't large, but that distinctive, mischievously-flavored bold red formatting let Su Yu recognize at a glance that this was the System's "thoughtful tip."
[Ah-hah, the Host has finally seen the light! Your foster father has waited ever so long for these words!]
[Good news: When the soon-to-launch "Starfire Furnace" plan settles its accounts, the System will hand out tiered assessment rewards based on the soldiers' training performance. And the grand finale prize among them does indeed include—the first-stage Genetic Lock serum (mass-production version) formula!]
Su Yu's eyes lit up.
[Bad news: While the Genetic Lock serum forcibly breaks through the human body's limiter, it also generates a horrifying neurotoxin and a sensation of genetic tearing. Back then, Host, if you hadn't muscled your way through on the freakish willpower of a man who's lived two lives, you'd have long since died in agony as a convulsing corpse.]
[Conclusion: For anyone who isn't a heaven-defying-constitution, iron-willed non-human, injection means instant death. As for the success rate of ordinary people... roughly three percent?]
[Your foster father's ultimate advice: When the Host selects qualified candidates, give priority to those "whose heads aren't quite right" or who "feel no pain"—peerless madmen. After all, what normal person would voluntarily inject this kind of thing into their own body?]
Su Yu rolled his eyes in his mind.
"Squad Monitor, did you hear that?"
"I heard."
Fenghuang's tone carried a few extra notes of gravity.
"A three-percent success rate... that truly is cruel. But if we can find the right candidates, this path is walkable."
Su Yu took two plates out of the cupboard and began plating.
His hands were moving, but in his head he was running rapidly through a roster.
"Fu Hua." This was the first name that came to him.
"She entered the Dao through martial arts and became a grandmaster while still a youth. In this materialist world without Honkai energy, she's already touched the ceiling of the human body. Her mental fortitude is absolutely top-grade, and with that temperament of hers..."
"She can hold out," Fenghuang nodded without hesitation.
"Even though I was thinking the same thing, Squad Monitor, you praising yourself so bluntly is still a bit—"
"You're right, sorry. Though that Fu Hua is my Counterpart, in the end she isn't me."
Fenghuang sighed.
"But going by how you've gotten along with her these past days, I believe that once she learns the truth of the world, she will, without the slightest hesitation, plunge that vial of poison into her own vein."
No matter which world's Squad Monitor it was, would they, in the end, all walk down that same road named "sacrifice and protection"?
Su Yu felt a slight tightness in his chest. But he quickly steadied his emotions and continued calling forth his generals.
This time it was Fenghuang who spoke up on her own initiative: "Eden."
"Eden?" There was a trace of surprise in Su Yu's tone.
"You've seen the way she drives like her life means nothing." Fenghuang cut right to the point. "The craving for extreme stimulation in her very bones is purer than any madman's."
"Her body has been conditioned by the most top-tier science; her foundation is superb. And more importantly, her spirit—for the sake of pursuing that split-second ultimate art and dopamine, there's no suffering she wouldn't dare to endure."
"This kind of dopamine-driven personality, when facing extreme pain, is actually more likely to break through the human physiological defense mechanism."
Su Yu nodded, deeply in agreement.
This top-of-the-leaderboard big sister of ours—when she went wild, even he found her frightening.
"Third, Kevin." This time Fenghuang spoke very quickly.
"The reckless-brute genes handed down through the Kaslana family—even in this world without Stigmata, that innate, freakish physical constitution is absolutely Outclassed by None. And that man..."
"Is an iceberg with an absolute-zero deadpan face," Su Yu grumbled with pinpoint accuracy in his head.
"...What I meant to say is, his emotional control is frighteningly strong. A person like that, when enduring tearing agony, can lock his mind down, which actually lets him grind through it better than someone whose emotions run wild."
Su Yu nodded silently, then added: "There's also Kalpas."
Fenghuang's tone turned subtle: "As I recall, in this world he's the head chef at that Kindling place, isn't he?"
"Yeah. Have you seen the way he juliennes potatoes? He swings that cleaver in his hand like the Chainsaw Maniac! And it seems his factory settings had the pain nerves forcibly deleted—last time he got splashed on the back of the hand by boiling-hot oil in the kitchen, he didn't so much as blink an eyelid, just kept madly tossing the wok."
"My estimate is that after he takes the serum he not only won't die of pain, he'll kick over the lab bench and shout, 'That's it? Crank up my dose!'"
He ran through the roster once in his mind.
In truth Su Yu still had many backups in his heart—nearly the entire Golden Courtyard was on the list. He surmised these Counterparts, like the prior civilization of the Honkai world, must all possess various terrifying talents.
But.
Just as Kevin had said.
Those girls—those girls who represented this world's everyday life and happiness.
Aponia had an orphanage; she was the Mother Aponia there, deeply beloved by the children.
Felis could leisurely take an afternoon nap every day, though she was often dragged off by Aponia to help out at the orphanage.
Griseo was still a child, and at the same time a genius painter of limitless promise—and though she operated privately under the identity of "Painted World," it did nothing to diminish her boundless future.
As for Elysia.
She was the soul of the Golden Courtyard, and Eden's most important dear friend—she represented the love and beauty of the human world.
And she, too, was someone they absolutely had to protect.
Even Kosma—he was nothing more than a child, a chuunibyou boy still in high school, as dull as a block of wood, being wooed by Daisy without even realizing it.
And of course, you ask about that Vill-V, the one who runs all over the world day in and day out claiming to be searching for the ultimate magic?
Mobius had long since made the call: the moment that woman came back, she'd immediately requisition that brain of hers with its eight slices. Genius labor like that would be a waste not to use.
As for when Elysia was mentioned.
Mobius's gaze had trembled ever so imperceptibly: "Elysia? Tell that woman to scram as far away as possible. I don't want my lab reeking of her scent—that would slow down my research."
This was Snake-Snake's particular way of showing care: on the surface repulsed to death, in reality caring beyond measure.
And as for those who had already been swept into this whirlpool, fighting for the fate of the world—
Su Yu stood before the stove, holding two plates of steaming breakfast, his gaze falling on that expanse of old residential buildings outside the window, dyed golden by the morning light.
If it were possible.
He too didn't want to drag these people in.
In this peaceful world, every one of these people had their own ordinary, precious everyday life.
And what he had to do was to hand them a vial of serum that could make a person wish they were dead, and then say: "Here, for the sake of saving the world, inject this. Three percent success rate. If it fails, you die."
Su Yu's fingers tightened once on the rim of the plates.
"Su Yu."
Fenghuang's voice rose up in his consciousness.
"Once the serum is in hand, just tell Kevin and the others outright. Never underestimate humanity's resolve and courage in facing life and death head-on."
"Remember, you're not fighting alone."
Su Yu drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the hesitation in their depths had been swept clean away.
He carved those names firmly into his heart, took up the plates, and turned to walk toward the dining table.
Kiana was still holding that "lovesick maiden Wife-Watching Rock" pose from earlier.
Both hands cupping her cheeks, eyes fixed on him without blinking, the ahoge atop her head drooping limply like a radar antenna that had been rained on and lost its signal.
Su Yu set the plate down in front of her.
A perfect fried egg, crispy bacon, golden toast, paired with a small dish of ketchup and a glass of steaming milk.
He undid his apron and draped it casually over the back of a chair, then sat down across from Kiana.
Kiana's gaze moved from Su Yu's face to the fried egg on the plate.
She picked up her fork and poked at the yolk.
The golden runny center oozed slowly out from the break, spilling over the bacon.
"Looks like the same old plain, unremarkable flavor as ever."
Her nose gave a little snort.
"Not a shred of improvement in your cooking. Barely, just barely, edible."
Su Yu picked up his own fork and raised an eyebrow.
"Not to your liking? Perfect, then—I burned a lot of brainpower last night. If you're not eating it, I'll take it all—"
Before he could finish his sentence.
Kiana's left hand had already become a blurred afterimage, executing an extremely textbook "White Crane Spreads Its Wings," whisking the entire plate—along with the fried egg, bacon, and toast on top of it—and clamping it firmly against her chest!
At the same time her right hand seized both the fork and the spoon.
Dual-wielding! Two-blade style!
The scene that followed, Su Yu could only describe as "Hungry Dragon's Roar" and "Reckless Boar Charge."
Kiana's eating speed was so fast it made you wonder whether there was a black hole installed in her throat.
The fried egg was split in two by the fork and directly vacuumed in.
The bacon was rolled into a tube and swallowed in three bites.
The toast was dunked madly in ketchup—one bite, two chews, forced down the throat!
There was no conversation whatsoever at the dining table. Only the savage sounds of chewing and the occasional satisfied "Mmm~."
That ferocious, food-guarding appearance made it look like there were eight hundred Herrschers chasing after her from behind, trying to snatch away her bowl.
Su Yu looked at the empty spot in front of himself—so clean even the ketchup had been licked to a shine—then looked at Kiana's cheeks, puffed out like a Tibetan sand fox's from being stuffed too full.
He shook his head speechlessly and silently picked up the last piece of toast remaining on his own plate.
Three minutes later.
A sweeping-wind-and-devouring-clouds finish; the battle was over.
With not an ounce of ladylike composure, Kiana set down her knife and fork, leaned back against the chair, and patted her round little belly in satisfaction.
A resounding burp.
She wiped the ketchup from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. That tsundere expression from moments ago—the one disdaining the "same old flavor"—had long since flown off to who-knows-what faraway land, her face now written all over with the dopamine ecstasy carbs bring.
"So what's the next big move?" Kiana pushed her chair back and, like a big shot, crossed her legs.
Su Yu pulled out a tissue and wiped up the milk she'd spilled all over the table during her savage feeding.
"Things on Eden's end should be about wrapped up with the officials soon. Afterward I'll go meet with them and fully launch the [Starfire Furnace Plan]."
"Starfire Furnace?"
"Simply put, it means recruiting a batch of the very top elites among humanity to Arc City for specialized training in Honkai-energy resistance."
Su Yu wadded the tissue into a ball and, in a perfect three-pointer form, tossed it into the trash can, then looked up at Kiana.
"But the top priority is Honkai-energy resistance, so there may well be quite a few troublemakers among them."
"I might need you to go help me keep them in line."
Kiana's ahoge twitched.
"Be an instructor to them. Anyone you don't like the look of—give them a little physical transcendence or something." Su Yu tossed out the bomb offhandedly.
"SHIING——!!!"
The ahoge atop Kiana's head, originally drooping limply, instantly snapped straight up and taut, like a radar antenna receiving Ultraman's transformation signal!
The whole process took less than 0.1 seconds!
"Make me an instructor?!" Her voice shot up a full half-octave, carrying an incredulous tremor.
"To discipline other people?!"
She sprang up from her chair, both hands slamming down on the tabletop with a "clap," the enormous force jolting Su Yu's milk glass into two little hops.
"Really really really?!"
Su Yu looked at those eyes bright enough to serve as flashlights, forcibly suppressing the twitch at the corner of his mouth.
At St. Freya Academy, Kiana Kaslana was famously the "dead-last tail-ender."
Bottom of every exam, late to every training, made to stand in punishment by Himeko.
Though she scored full marks in combat class, alas, her other subjects dragged her down.
And now, in this other world!
This former "eternal tail-ender," this "Paramecium incarnate," actually had a chance to turn the tables from washed-up fish to top dog—to be someone else's teacher, and even to beat people up openly and aboveboard?
Su Yu nodded solemnly.
"Of course it's for real! You're now Anti-Entropy's absolute T0-tier chief enforcer! For a supreme post like this, one bearing on the life and death of all humanity—who else but the great, glorious, and correct Miss Kaslana could be equal to it?"
Kiana's ahoge swung wildly atop her head, like a flagpole whipped by a strong wind.
"Hmph-hmph! Since you've begged me so sincerely, then this young lady shall be magnanimous and, reluctantly, take on this heavy responsibility!"
She planted both hands on her hips, chin lifted haughtily, her tail thoroughly cocked up to the sky.
"But because of the time constraints, you probably won't be able to stay there all day," Su Yu added. "But it's fine—after all, the personnel selected will be coming to Anti-Entropy's underground training grounds for intensive training anyway."
"That'll be your moment to really show off."
Kiana gave a grand wave of her hand: "Got it, got it! Anyway, to celebrate this instructor's inauguration—Su Yu! Bring me another serving of breakfast!"
"As you command."
Su Yu shook his head with a smile and got up to head to the kitchen.
His retreating figure disappeared behind the kitchen doorframe.
The sound of the rice cooker being opened drifted over, accompanied by the fresh, faintly steamy sweetness particular to cooked rice.
Sitting at the dining table, Kiana's carefree, silly expression, in the very instant Su Yu turned away, receded bit by bit like an ebbing tide.
She lowered her head and looked at her hands resting on her knees.
These hands had gripped a sword day and night for half a month in the Tai Xu Illusory Realm.
Instructor.
She was actually going to be an instructor to those people?
To teach others how to fight, how to survive in a hopeless situation, how not to flinch in the face of Honkai Beasts.
Kiana's fingers curled inward once.
To be honest, when she'd heard this news just now, beneath that surge of excitement and pride, there was something roiling that she didn't want to admit.
Guilt.
Who was she, Kiana, anyway? A dumb Paramecium who took forever just to recite the multiplication table and could only throw punches when trouble came.
In those dark days wandering Arc City, she couldn't even protect herself, and had nearly been devoured by the monster inside her, to go and hurt innocent people.
A self like that—did she really have the qualifications to stand high upon a podium, to guide, to decide the life and death of others?
Her fingers clenched tighter.
Su Yu's voice came from the kitchen.
Kiana lifted her head and looked at that doorframe.
Su Yu.
That guy who talked a mile a minute and cooked delicious food—he had, before all this, been nothing more than an utterly ordinary ordinary person.
No Honkai energy, no Stigmata, no Valkyrie armor.
Yet he had, purely on the strength of a mysterious serum that could torment a person to death and a tactical dagger weighing over eighty kilograms, thrown himself without the slightest hesitation in front of an S-rank Valkyrie's deadly scythe.
He had never once asked himself whether he "had the qualifications" to be a savior, nor whether he was "worthy" to be commander-in-chief.
He had simply stood there resolutely, covered in blood: "I'm not yet so weak that I need a girl to save me at the cost of sacrificing her own life."
Kiana's fingers, bit by bit, loosened.
If that dummy could do it.
Then what reason did she, this young lady, Kiana Kaslana, have not to?
She was a descendant of the Kaslanas, with the blood of the Kaslanas—who swore to protect humanity unto death—flowing through her veins.
She had gone through hell-like tempering in the Tai Xu Illusory Realm; even Fenghuang, the Immortal, had praised that her sword heart had reached the realm of perfection.
She had defeated Rita Rossweisse.
She was one of the few people in this world who had truly witnessed just how terrifying Honkai was.
If even she flinched back out of "fear" and "unworthiness," then who would protect this world that had only just accepted her?
Who would protect that big dummy, Su Yu?
Who would carry this power back to that shattered, broken world, and bring everyone—Mei, Auntie Himeko, all of them—back safe and sound?!
Kiana's hand curled into a fist.
But this time, there was no confusion left in her heart at all.
Su Yu came out of the kitchen carrying a fresh serving of breakfast.
"Your second serving of breakfast, esteemed Instructor."
He set the bowl down in front of Kiana and, on the way, gave a pinch to her collagen-filled cheek.
Kiana lifted her head and looked at him.
The gloom and unease on her face had already been swept away, restored once more to that carefree, invincible, brilliant smile.
The corners of her mouth curved up high, her eyes curving into two lovely crescent moons.
"Thanks, Su Yu."
Su Yu sat back down across from her, watching this wild Paramecium wolf down its food in contentment.
The sunlight outside the window had now completely crossed over the windowsill, brazenly lighting up the entire living room.
Chongchong strolled out of the bedroom at a leisurely cat-walk, leaped nimbly onto the low cabinet beside the dining table, and curled itself comfortably into a ball.
Its fluffy tail draped over its own nose, it purred contentedly, narrowing those heterochromatic eyes.
This old rented apartment was suffused with the mingled, deeply reassuring everyday warmth of fried eggs and bacon.
From downstairs came the booming calls of Grandpa Wang next door walking his birds, along with the faint strains of some retro enka from who-knows-what decade drifting out of Himeko's room.
One hundred and seventy-nine days.
The apocalypse countdown had, indeed, like a sword of Damocles hanging over humanity's head, quietly begun to turn.
But at this moment.
With a white-haired girl eating her second breakfast, a dozing heterochromatic white cat, and a "mad" game producer who was calculating how to inject the Genetic Lock serum into the whole world—
everything, it seemed, wasn't quite so frightening anymore.
The days of saving the world went on.
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