"Snipers don't fire twice from the same spot."
Raven coldly replied to Jackal. With a shake of her cloak and a light leap, she flew onto the rooftop of the neighboring building and continued moving.
She had to end this before the Purifying Thunder of Seven Sins threw another tantrum.
"Hey! What am I supposed to do, you bastard?!"
While moving at high speed, Raven turned back to glance at Jackal.
Though she couldn't see her clearly, the tacit understanding they had built over the years made a voice ring out in Jackal's mind.
—Who cares about you, dumb mutt?
"Just you wait..."
Jackal's gritted teeth could be clearly heard beneath her mask.
Having changed positions, Raven set up her sniper rifle again.
"Hm? Someone's taking advantage of the chaos to shoplift?"
Through the Purifying Thunder of Seven Sins' built-in "high-dimensional vision"—in other words, a full-map wallhack—Raven discovered that someone was leisurely sweeping up goods inside the merchant guild and tossing them into...
A teapot?
Wait, wait, wait!
W-What the hell was this?!
No! You alien, wasn't running into Honkai on your first day unlucky enough? And on the second day, you were casually out shopping?
Were you out of your mind?!
No, how were you adapting to Earth this fast?!
Raven had never expected to see Liu Bai here.
There was no way she had mistaken him. Anyone who could forget Liu Bai's face after seeing it had to be face-blind, not to mention the highly recognizable little girl beside him.
Stay calm, stay calm.
It was fine, Raven.
She had already found Kiana anyway.
As long as she captured Kiana here, Liu Bai couldn't possibly get involved.
But why had no one told her that guy had come here?!
Raven took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
Fine, she couldn't blame Liu Bai for this. Who knew why her Highlord had decided to let the lab rat roam free? Wasn't he afraid someone would lure him away?
"Phew..."
Raven slowly exhaled, steadied herself, and shifted her gaze away from Liu Bai toward somewhere else.
"Reinforcements have arrived... Yelan from the merchant guild, and Rita? That's quite an unexpected combination."
"Miss Kiana, are you all right?"
The Lifeline Threads in Yelan's hand effortlessly sliced off a Dead Soldier's head. She then turned to look at Kiana.
Though they were threads formed from water, their sharpness was no less than that of divine weapons.
It was Kiana's first time seeing Yelan fight—was this the unique art known as Elemental Power?
Converting Honkai energy into pure elements and controlling them was completely different from what she had learned at St. Freya Academy.
"What could possibly happen to me?!"
Kiana was panting heavily, and her stubborn front was painfully obvious.
"Catch." Yelan drew two pistols from her waist and tossed them to Kiana. "Go back into the merchant guild first. You're their target."
"Their?"
Kiana froze.
"This wasn't just an ordinary Honkai attack?"
"What kind of Honkai attack would rush straight for the merchant guild?"
Yelan raised her hand with a grim expression, strands of Lifeline Threads poised to strike.
Then Yelan couldn't help muttering, "Seriously, we used to be friends raising hell together in the Free Zone. Serpent really doesn't show any mercy."
"Huh? What did you say?"
"None of your business! Get back to the merchant—!"
Clang—!
Almost on instinct, the Lifeline Threads in Yelan's hand narrowly sliced apart a bullet flying in from afar.
Yelan looked toward the direction the bullet had come from.
She couldn't make it out at all. Even Yelan could only see a tiny black dot.
But with that distance and such precise sniping...
Yelan didn't need to think to know who had fired.
"Hey, hey~ She's getting serious? Raven's taking this way too seriously."
(Sigh, Lady Ningguang, what kind of trouble did you take on? Couldn't you just send this troublemaker back... Though this situation really was exciting enough.)
She was surrounded by Honkai Beasts, with an absurdly powerful sniper lurking in the distance.
Yet despite being in danger, there wasn't a trace of fear on Yelan's face—she loved this feeling of being accompanied by danger, dancing on the edge of a blade.
Only this could make her feel vividly alive.
—All right, in plain terms, she was just a little crazy.
"Looks like I wasn't too late."
Rita arrived at the merchant guild's front entrance at that moment.
Faced with the crowd of Honkai monsters before her, she still wore that proper, elegant smile.
"Although Lady Theresa assigned me to babysit, I truly didn't expect a fish to take the bait on the first day. Miss Kiana, please head back inside."
"...All right."
Looking at Rita, Kiana hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn't keep arguing.
—Mainly because Rita would tattle to her sister!
What a total bastard!
Sometimes, an older sister was scarier than a mother—especially when that older sister was bad with words but incredibly good at fighting.
But then again, Kiana really didn't know why her sister had to work at headquarters.
Her mom already had headaches every day over headquarters matters...
"Oh, right, Miss Kiana. If you run into those two customers from earlier inside the merchant guild, remember to look after them while you're at it."
Only then did Yelan remember that she hadn't made arrangements for Liu Bai and Guinaifen.
"Got it!"
Clang—!
A bullet tried to block Kiana's path, but Rita had already raised her scythe to intercept it as though she had foreseen it.
"...That sniper is far away."
The smile on Rita's face faded somewhat.
"That direction?"
"Leave the sniper to you, Lady Rita."
Yelan's Lifeline Threads mercilessly harvested the Dead Soldiers' lives.
"It is my duty." Rita nodded lightly, then abruptly lowered her voice. "Alvitte, deploy the drones. Lock onto that sniper and have Lady Theresa take her out."
"Understood."
The team technician's reply came through the miniature communicator hidden in Rita's collar.
Rita then glanced at Yelan.
"Let's deal with these in front of us first..."
"Ding-dong~ 3,000g has been credited to Merchant Guild Pay. Payment source: mysterious meat, 30 catties."
"Ding-dong~ 8,000g has been credited to Merchant Guild Pay. Payment source: Activated Starshrooms, 50 catties."
"Ding-dong~..."
The phone in Yelan's waist pouch suddenly started chiming at the most inopportune time.
Rita: "..."
"Ms. Yelan, is that...?"
"Ah, well..."
Listening to the endless notifications from the phone in her waist pouch, the faces of the only two customers from early that morning involuntarily surfaced in Yelan's mind.
Those two customers were unexpectedly relaxed.
Chapter 16: Raven: I Walk on Thin Ice All My Life
Yelan Favorability: 1020
"...?"
Liu Bai, who was scanning items, froze when he heard the system notification.
What was that notification about?
Liu Bai looked around. There were several surveillance cameras nearby, but they were all smoking—having a notification suddenly go off like that was terrifying!
"Chew, chew..."
Guinaifen, who had been in such a hurry moments ago, had already decided to take it easy. She was now chewing on a mushroom called a Starshroom.
"Whoa, the texture is so weird, but why is it also slightly sweet and tasty?"
Well, that was just what happened when two people with big nerves got together.
"This should be enough materials."
Liu Bai made one final tally of the supplies he had bought.
Money came fast, and went fast too.
One hundred thousand was gone just like that.
"All done, Little Gui."
"Oh, oh, you're finally ready to leave, old man."
Guinaifen swallowed the Starshroom in her mouth and complained with her hands on her hips, though she clearly no longer felt any sense of urgency either.
Liu Bai waved, preparing to take Guinaifen around to the back entrance.
"Hey, hey, hey! You two over there! Stop right... ahem, stop right there!"
Just as Liu Bai and Guinaifen reached the corridor, Kiana blocked their way.
Kiana stood before them with her hands on her hips, looking somewhat disheveled.
"...Ms. Receptionist?" Guinaifen warily glanced at the panting Kiana.
She didn't look like she was here to pick a fight.
"What are you two doing wandering around at a time like this?!" Kiana put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest, trying to look more imposing. "Do you know how dangerous it is right now?!"
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