A white-haired girl in a bright red qipao, with two bun-shaped hair knots... wasn't that Kiana?
And what the hell was that outfit?
Was it New Year's?
"But that guy's looking at us all lecherously!"
"Hm?" Yelan turned to glance at Liu Bai.
Liu Bai raised a hand at her somewhat awkwardly in greeting.
What did she mean, lecherous eyes...? That accusation was way too much.
"You're not allowed to talk about customers like that. If you slander a customer again, I'll dock your pay. Then when you can't pay back your debts, your entire Far East Branch will have to come work for me."
Yelan reached out and knocked Kiana on the head, then turned around and gave Liu Bai an extremely professional business smile.
"Welcome to the Liyue Merchant Guild~ Handsome, are you here to buy a gift for your girlfriend? We've just received a new shipment of turquoise jewelry, and it's currently on sale for ten percent off~"
"Uh... well, I'm his bodyguard." Guinaifen, standing beside Liu Bai, awkwardly took half a step back.
"Oh my~ Appearances really can be deceiving." Yelan showed no embarrassment over getting their relationship wrong. With a quick change of tone, she smoothly covered for herself. "Please forgive my earlier rudeness, esteemed customer. What can I help you with?"
Supermarket Shopping Spree
"I'm here to buy some ingredients."
As he spoke, Liu Bai was somewhat surprised to see Yelan here. After all, she was considered one of the merchant guild's core figures. Normally, the bosses of branch merchant guilds were generic NPCs.
Was this some special event?
Kiana, a character from the Honkai Impact 3rd side of things, was even standing nearby.
But Liu Bai had already been shocked by too many surreal things. He was only mildly surprised.
"Oh my, you're here to make a purchase?" The smile on Yelan's face widened.
Generally speaking, procurement orders did not have small sales volumes.
"Please, follow me."
Yelan led Liu Bai and Guinaifen into the merchant guild, leaving Kiana pouting at the entrance.
Entertaining customers... she didn't know how to do that.
Once Yelan left, Kiana simply leaned lazily against the doorway and started slacking off.
"Ugh... what was Mom thinking...?"
She was a dignified B-rank Valkyrie, yet she had to stand at the entrance as some kind of receptionist. What kind of logic was that?!
"...Say, Miss Receptionist." In the resplendent Chinese-style corridor, Liu Bai could not help asking Yelan about Kiana. "She doesn't seem to be from your merchant guild, does she?"
"Hm? You're quite observant."
Yelan turned around with a relaxed, carefree smile on her face.
"I don't think that has anything to do with being observant." Liu Bai's tone was equally casual. "I just don't think a receptionist who's already on the job would still need the boss to train her hand in hand."
"Eh... that really is an angle I can't refute." Yelan stretched, but immediately remembered that doing so in front of a customer was somewhat improper and quickly lowered her arms.
Nice. Much appreciated.
That outfit came with built-in underarm bonuses...
Liu Bai silently commented to himself.
This was why he installed mods in the first place...
He had clearly installed lewd mods, so why was he still trying to survive in a game world?!
"But I'm sorry. Although you've seen our establishment's less-than-presentable side, that child really is just a newcomer who started work recently."
Yelan regained some of her businesslike tone.
Hearing that, Liu Bai withdrew his pointless musings.
Oh, so she was saying it was none of an outsider's business?
"This is our merchant guild's ingredients section. What would you like?" Yelan stopped and gestured toward the side in invitation.
"Wow... wow, wow!" The blast of cold air and the dazzling assortment of ingredients made Guinaifen cry out in surprise. "This is my first time in such a big supermarket. It's amazing."
"Little Gui has never been to a supermarket this big?"
"There was a merchant guild over on the Xianzhou, but I didn't have money to go in. Though Miss Tingyun from the Interastral Peace Corporation is a very kind person."
"See? You can find a comparison more fitting than a company." Liu Bai walked into the refrigerated section, teasing her as he looked over the various ingredients. "By the way, is Miss Tingyun's neck all right?"
There were fairly conventional ingredients like shrimp, ham, and mushrooms.
There were also Genshin-style ingredients like Activated Starshrooms and seaweed—things that characters in games could casually eat, but which made people in reality wonder whether they were even edible.
"Eh? You know—"
Boom—!
Before Guinaifen could finish speaking, a deafening explosion suddenly rang out from outside, violently shaking the entire merchant guild.
"Boss! Are you okay?" Guinaifen reached out and caught Liu Bai, who had nearly lost his footing. "What was that...?"
Even though Guinaifen was not from Earth, she could tell the nature of that massive noise.
An explosion.
Then, piercing beeping sounds rang out throughout the merchant guild.
"Damn it! Honkai energy!" Yelan realized what had happened as well. Ignoring the coat draped over her shoulders, she flung it aside and sprinted back the way they had come, having no mind to care about Liu Bai and Guinaifen.
"Boss, what do we..." Guinaifen looked to Liu Bai for guidance.
There was no need to say much. It was obvious that they had become involved in some kind of trouble.
Damn.
Ha... trouble.
Guinaifen felt that she had already grown accustomed to all sorts of trouble, yet this sudden situation still made her panic.
"It'll be troublesome if we run into bandits looting the place..."
Guinaifen muttered.
Her eldest brother had once become an interstellar pirate in order to support her and her younger siblings.
He had been a righteous outlaw who robbed the rich and helped the poor without harming innocents, but that did not stop Guinaifen from knowing what most bandits were like. Incidentally, it was precisely because her eldest brother was a righteous outlaw who only stole money and never hurt people that their family had been pardoned by the Xianzhou.
"Not bandits."
Liu Bai helped Guinaifen steady herself.
Damn it, his physical condition was still too weak.
"It's..."
"What is it?"
A short-haired maid with one eye covered and a scythe in her hand had somehow appeared at the doorway, smiling as she stared at Liu Bai.
"Who are you?"
Guinaifen pulled out the drumsticks at her waist and stepped in front of Liu Bai, shielding him behind her as she warily watched the maid.
A bandit?
The other party did not look particularly vicious—but then again, it was not as though her idiot eldest brother looked particularly vicious either.
Weren't there beautiful women among the notorious Stellaron Hunters too?
"...It's dangerous outside. Please stay here obediently and don't move around."
After saying that, the scythe-wielding maid gave Liu Bai a deep look before turning and leaving, heading toward the merchant guild entrance where the explosion had occurred.
"Eh?"
Watching the maid decisively leave, Guinaifen, who had already prepared herself for bloodshed, froze for a moment.
"Not a bandit? Is she someone like the Cloud Knights?"
"Hard to say."
Liu Bai's expression was grave.
"Also, the one outside isn't a bandit. It's Raven."
Raven, Kiana... and now Rita.
What a coincidence.
Three women made a show.
Not to mention Yelan.
"Eh? Miss Raven?" Guinaifen jumped in surprise. "H-how does this have anything to do with Miss Raven?"
"I forgot to tell you."
Liu Bai was quite calm.
"You know about the Stellaron Hunters, right?"
"Who doesn't know them?!"
"World Serpent is like a smaller version of the Stellaron Hunters? No, maybe they're even a little worse?"
"...A den of thieves?"
"Relax, it's not that serious. After all, a planet isn't like the universe. There aren't that many deeply tangled complications."
Panicking would not help.
"O-okay, then. A den of thieves it is."
Liu Bai's calmness quickly rubbed off on Guinaifen.
It was not as though she had never stayed in a den of thieves before.
"Boss, what do we do next? Run?"
"Let's go. I know the way."
In a high-freedom open world, a player who had never robbed a shop was not a good player.
"But before that, let's buy some things."
"At a time like this, you still have the mood for shopping?! Can't we just find a market somewhere? And who are you even paying now?"
"Some things can't be bought at a market."
Liu Bai glanced at the shelves. Everything had QR codes.
There was nothing more to say. Time to sweep the shelves.
"I'm buying things properly, after all. Leave some room for future meetings."
This Person Was Kind of Weird
"Cough, cough... where did all these Honkai Beasts and zombies come from?!"
Kiana dodged the charge of a Knight-Class Honkai Beast, then raised her leg and kicked away another zombie.
"And that explosion just now—"
Bang—!
On the rooftop of a building some distance from the merchant guild, a woman wearing a Jackal mask arrogantly kicked the black sniper rifle beside her twice.
"Hey, hey, Raven, don't kill all my experimental materials."
"Shut up, Jackal. I know better than you that I used ordinary bullets just now."
After snapping back at her, Raven put away her gun and stood up.
"Hey! Raven, what are you doing?" Jackal looked extremely displeased as she watched Raven turn and leave.
Before you continue