Among the people from Honkai Impact 3rd who often came to the bar, Raiden Mei bore a strong resemblance to the Dr. MEI of the previous era. If Mobius were to see her, she would definitely feel suspicious, but for some reason the two had simply never crossed paths. Perhaps it was because Mobius valued efficiency and rarely lingered in the bar.
As for Himeko, in the previous civilization there had also been someone who looked very much like her, and that person had held a high position in Fire Moth — a squad captain, no less — and had only just been cut down after turning into the Herrscher of Flames not long ago.
Bronya went without saying. She looked strikingly similar to Prometheus. For Mobius not to know Prometheus was basically impossible.
Theresa, though she didn't resemble anyone Mobius had known, at least had her share of fundamental knowledge.
The only exception was Kiana — unlearned, ignorant, and unable to provide Mobius with any useful information.
You could only call that fate.
"Ding-a-ling!"
"Kiana, I knew you'd be here — hurry back for your make-up lessons." As soon as Theresa entered the bar, she walked straight over and pinched Kiana's ear.
"Make-up lessons?" At that, Mobius gave Kiana a suspicious look.
With a perfect score in history, shouldn't the rest of her grades be good as well? Why would she still need remedial lessons?
"Ahem, don't get the wrong idea — I'm the one tutoring someone else." Seeing Mobius' gaze, Kiana immediately blurted out.
Kiana was really struggling to preserve her dignity in front of strangers.
"Isn't that right, Auntie?" At the same time, she sought help from her dear aunt.
"Hm? Oh, yes, that's right — you're the one doing the tutoring. So hurry back." Seeing the pleading look in her niece's eyes, Theresa seemed to catch on, and nodded.
If Kiana wanted to save face in front of outsiders, then give her a chance to play the honor-student role. It didn't really hurt anything.
It wasn't like anyone was going to die over it.
Besides, as an aunt, backing up your niece's dignity in public was perfectly normal.
Once Kiana was taken away by Theresa, Chen Luo suddenly turned his gaze toward Mobius.
"What? Is something the matter?" Noticing Chen Luo staring, Mobius instinctively touched her own face.
Did she have something on it?
"No, nothing like that. It's just that, since I'm on summer break right now — though I've been busy these past few days — I was planning on coming over to your lab for an internship in a few days. So I wanted to ask you to set up my entry ahead of time." Chen Luo said.
"Oh? You want to come to my lab?" Light suddenly flashed in Mobius' eyes.
Chen Luo wanting to come to her lab — now that was good news.
"Don't worry, no problem at all. I'll arrange the entry for you ahead of time. When you come in a few days, just head straight to the lab." Mobius patted her chest in assurance.
"And about my identity problem…"
"Relax, I can handle something like that. The world is such a mess right now — one more person or one less person, what difference does it make? Just a matter of one word." Mobius waved it off as nothing.
"Oh, right. Let me just confirm — your lab's faction belongs to Fire Moth, right?" Chen Luo asked again.
"Hm? How do you know the name Fire Moth?" Mobius frowned slightly.
Had she ever mentioned that name to Chen Luo?
"You brought it up more than once when you were drunk, saying you wanted to smash in the skulls of those funding-providers up in Fire Moth's leadership." Chen Luo replied with a straight face.
"Mm, so drunken words are true words. I really do want to smash their skulls in." Mobius nodded in agreement.
"I was just thinking — if your lab belongs to Fire Moth, would I end up having to deal with them too?" Chen Luo asked.
"You don't need to worry about that. My experiments are indeed under Fire Moth, but you probably won't ever have the chance to meet them." Mobius waved her hand.
"I see. Well, alright then. Sorry to trouble you with forging an identity for me."
"Leave that to me." Mobius saw nothing strange about it.
Or rather, at this point Mobius was already too swept up by Chen Luo.
Once Chen Luo actually stepped into her lab, whether he went willingly to the operating table might not be his decision anymore.
…
On the morning of the fifth day, after waking up from a nap in the bar, Chen Luo instinctively checked his faction list.
Anti-Entropy.
Schicksal.
St. Freya Academy.
Fire Moth.
"Nice! I knew it — no reason I couldn't join Fire Moth." Chen Luo clenched a fist.
This was the trick he'd just come up with yesterday.
Since the previous civilization and the current civilization both existed within the same world, and since this seven-day event stated that one could join any faction in the Honkai world, even repeatedly —
Then here was the question: why shouldn't Fire Moth count?
"Man, Fire Moth — they really do have the good stuff." Chen Luo stared at the faction shop, nearly drooling.
Not to mention anything else, the Fire Moth shop had piles of Divine Keys.
It even had the Third Divine Key that Raven was holding right now.
And the most crucial thing — the Thirteen Flame-Chasers were also part of Fire Moth's faction!
Ha! Since he'd already joined Fire Moth, there was no need to bother with World Serpent!
Thinking it through, Chen Luo suddenly felt elated.
Back then, they wouldn't give him the time of day — but now, they couldn't even reach him.
"What's up? You look so happy. Oh, right, I have some good news for you." Raven walked over when she saw Chen Luo so cheerful at the survivor base.
"Because I finally don't have to join World Serpent! What trashy World Serpent? So what if I don't join? Back then you wouldn't give me the time of day — but now you can't even reach me!" Chen Luo looked at Raven smugly.
Of course, Chen Luo knew Raven didn't really have much to do with it. The main issue was Raven's suspicious nature and his own too-conspicuous behavior — understandable enough.
"Oh, right, what was that good news you were talking about?"
"…Nothing." Raven suddenly shut her mouth.
How could she say it? That just now Gray Serpent had told her to invite Chen Luo over to World Serpent as a guest?
Right now she almost wanted to smash Gray Serpent with the Third Divine Key.
Why hadn't he told her earlier? Chen Luo had originally wanted to join World Serpent — and Gray Serpent had stayed silent. Now that Chen Luo didn't want to anymore, he gave her the task.
But thinking it over, that bonus was really tempting.
Three million US dollars.
Just thinking about it made Raven ache with regret.
"Hm? Why are you staring at me like that? Don't worry, I'm not going to pester you about taking me to World Serpent anymore." Seeing Raven's increasingly odd look, Chen Luo reassured her.
"…I was just thinking, how many zombies should I kill today."
In the end, Raven still didn't say it out loud.
Because if she did, and Chen Luo became unwilling to go to World Serpent, he would definitely be on guard against her. But if she didn't say it, didn't that mean it was possible she might try to trick or ambush him into being taken to World Serpent?
After all, that was a 3,000,000 US dollar bounty.
Raven had originally thought she'd be killing an unbelievable number of zombies in a single day, but it turned out to be unbelievably few — mainly because the Third Divine Key wasn't very cooperative. In a day she could only kill around 600.
According to Chen Luo, this job was only going to last four days in total. That would be 2,400 zombies.
At 1,000 US dollars per zombie, that made 2.4 million dollars.
Ah, little money, little money…
"Your Third Divine Key still refuses to turn back into a sniper rifle? Little Third, Little Third, can't you show a little backbone and kill a few more zombies?" Chen Luo sighed as he looked at the Third Divine Key.
If you killed a few more, I could get a few more crystals — why not? At most, I'll buy you some food later.
Emmm, wait a second, can a gun even eat food?
Lubricating oil?
"Little Third?" Raven froze for a moment.
"The Third Divine Key. She is the Third Divine Key, right? So, Little Third. I think she quite likes the name." Chen Luo explained.
"Like it my ass…"
"Buzz!" Before Raven could finish her grumble, the slingshot in her hand suddenly began assembling itself quickly, and in the end, a sniper rifle appeared in her hands.
"…She really does like it." Raven almost choked on her breath.
"Little Third?" Raven tentatively called to the Third Divine Key.
"Buzz!" The Third Divine Key, which had just assembled into a sniper rifle, suddenly turned back into a slingshot.
"???"
"!!!"
What the hell do you mean by that?
I'm the master here.
"Try it again." Raven looked up at Chen Luo.
"No way. You're the one who pissed her off." Chen Luo shook his head.
You make the mess and expect me to clean it up? Since when does that make sense?
"But I need it to kill zombies."
"…Little Third, forgive this little crow who paces, runs, and rolls on the ground, won't you?" Chen Luo said tentatively.
"Buzz!" The slingshot in Raven's hands hesitated for a moment, then turned back into a sniper rifle.
"…What is pacing, running, plus rolling? And what the hell is with the name 'Little Crow'?" Raven had a million complaints in her heart, but didn't know how to voice them.
"You don't need to know that. You just need to know that right now you need to go on a killing spree. Go for it, I believe in you." Chen Luo patted Raven on the shoulder.
"…" Raven was speechless.
She was tired. Let the world end.
…No, wait. It can't end yet. I need to earn money first.
One zombie's head is worth 1,000 US dollars.
And so, with both Raven and Chen Luo fired up, the two of them continued their joint exploration of Nagazora City.
* * *
"Mm?" While killing zombies, Chen Luo suddenly paused, patted the mech under him, and then vanished instantly from where he stood.
Durandal slowly opened her eyes, and what entered her sight was an unfamiliar ceiling.
"Where… am I? So thirsty…" Durandal felt her throat dry.
"Will warm soup do?" A familiar male voice sounded.
"Mm?" Durandal tilted her head slightly, and saw Chen Luo sitting at her bedside, holding a baby bottle.
Wait, a baby bottle?
Durandal could only stare as Chen Luo shoved the bottle into her mouth.
"Mm…" Although Durandal wanted to resist, her body's need for hydration urged her to drink.
But after just one sip, she sank into the rhythm of drinking.
Except… this didn't seem like water. It tasted like a very light broth, with a faint sweetness, and was pleasantly warm.
Seeing Durandal so relaxed, Chen Luo was very satisfied with his little stroke of genius.
First, he'd pulled a baby bottle from his inventory — one he'd gotten while sweeping up goods at the mall — cleaned it, and filled it with soup made using "Mom's Flavor."
Looking at Durandal's comfortable expression now, it was clear she was very satisfied with Chen Luo's setup.
"I, Chen Luo, am simply a genius."
The only problem was, the feeding method was maybe just a little embarrassing.
"How's that? Feeling better now?" Seeing that Durandal had finished the whole bottle of soup, Chen Luo asked.
"Much better. Thank you." Durandal said with a conflicted expression.
"Do you remember what happened?"
"I do."
"Then could you tell me your thoughts after being wounded by the pseudo-Herrscher?"
"…No." Durandal hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.
"Ah, I thought after saving you twice we'd at least be friends by now." Chen Luo said with some disappointment.
At the same time, he glanced at the discount meter, which had already reached a 22% discount.
By logic, that was pretty close to the level of good friends, wasn't it?
"Of course not. I'm supposed to capture you, don't forget that. You can't be too trusting." Looking at Chen Luo's disappointed face, Durandal instinctively reminded him.
"But indeed, this time I lost because I got careless against a Herrscher who doesn't even have a Herrscher Core. I really do need to learn a lesson." Durandal murmured.
Even now, she couldn't figure out why she'd been so careless at the time.
But it wasn't all bad. After being poisoned and then waking up, her poison resistance seemed to have subtly improved.
"Alright, let's not talk about that for now. Here, eat this. Tricolor Dango. Just like the Sweet Madam you had before, it's food that helps restore wounds." Chen Luo said, handing the dumpling over to Durandal — who now had more than 80% of her HP restored and was more than capable of beating him down with one punch.
"Mm, thank you."
"By the way… who changed me into this nightgown?" Durandal asked, sounding casual.
"…Theresa."
Since Chen Luo really hadn't seen anything, he wasn't about to take the blame for this one.
"Theresa?" Hearing that name — which shouldn't have appeared here — Durandal froze for a moment.