Mr. Liu Bai, You Wouldn't Want To...

About half an hour later, Yelan stopped the car beside an abandoned building in the suburbs.

The moment the car came to a halt, several girls wearing tactical goggles and black ultra-short combat shorts immediately gathered around.

They were so short they reached the tops of their thighs—practically no pants at all...

Awesome.

"Vice Captain! You're finally here... uh, and who is this?"

The Valkyries of the Undying Blade also noticed the other person in the car.

They knew Yelan. She was currently the temporary person in charge of the Heavenly Dome branch chamber of commerce... but what was this handsome guy doing here?

He did not look particularly intimidating. This was a battlefield!

"An outside assistant for this operation. He's here to observe how our Undying Blade fights."

During the drive, Rita had given Liu Bai a somewhat embellished explanation of Schicksal and what the Undying Blade did.

"Outside... assistant?"

Though their expressions could not be seen behind their goggles, anyone could sense the doubts running through the team members' minds.

This guy looked weak and delicate. He did not seem like he could fight at all...

Was their vice captain really just flirting with a guy?

"Report the situation. What is the source of the Honkai here?"

"Based on the readings, it's a Honkai Emperor," one of the team members replied.

It was the strongest type below the upper-tier Honkai Beasts, already beyond the category of elite monsters.

By game standards, it was a mini-boss. Above that, Emperor-Class Honkai Beasts and Judgment-Class Honkai Beasts counted as high-level bosses and world bosses.

"A Honkai Emperor... just the right opponent."

With an elegant smile, Rita manifested a scythe in her hand.

This kind of peak lower-tier Honkai Beast was perfect for demonstrating her abilities.

She could dispose of it effortlessly, yet it was intimidating enough.

"Prepare for battle! Draw it out first."

"Yes!"

Although the team members privately suspected that their vice captain wanted to show off in front of a man, they did not slack off in the slightest.

Several Valkyries pulled grenades from their waists and hurled them through the windows and doorway of the building in unison.

At the same time, several temporary party-join notifications popped up in the system.

"Energy Absorption Grenades. Throwing weapons designed specifically to absorb Honkai energy. They work well against both people and beasts." Yelan had no intention of helping and continued serving as Liu Bai's commentator.

Boom—!

Roar—!

The explosion and roar rang out almost simultaneously.

"Hm...?" Bai suddenly felt that something was off.

But in the next moment, another thunderous crash came from the building, and a massive figure emerged from the smoke.

"Uh..."

Liu Bai stared at the little giant walking out of the smoke, his face filled with incomprehension.

Massive body, mask on its head, purple mineral-like crystals on its back, and violet lightning crackling around its entire body—this was a fucking Thunder Helm Lawachurl!

And they called this a Honkai Emperor!?

Liu Bai looked at Yelan in confusion, but she seemed completely unconcerned.

"You really are lucky. You ran into a rare species like Hilichurls."

"A rare species?"

"Ah, they're Honkai Beasts whose origins have yet to be determined. Although they look humanoid, they were not transformed from humans, so they've been classified as Honkai Beasts. Since they differ from regular Honkai Beasts, this category was simply named after a race from a certain science-fiction novel."

Yelan watched Rita slowly approach the Thunder Helm Lawachurl.

"Besides, just in terms of the value of their research materials, they're not as valuable as normal Honkai Beasts. They have some traits of flesh and blood, and their vitality is a little weaker than normal Honkai Beasts, but their sense of oppression... is still there, right?"

A three-meter-tall muscular monster giant was indeed intimidating.

But Liu Bai's attention was not on that at all.

"I see..."

So that was the setting?

Liu Bai felt like he somewhat understood the creator's train of thought.

Genshin itself only had so many monster categories: elemental lifeforms, mutated beasts, Hilichurl tribes, autonomous mechanisms, the Abyss, the Fatui, and some humanoid monsters.

Had they all been crudely tossed into Honkai?

Hmm... anything humanoid but not human had been classified as a Honkai Beast. Then beasts that were not even humanoid would definitely be classified as Honkai Beasts.

And then there were those that looked somewhat human, or looked human but not quite human. The better ones were probably Deadwalkers, while the worse ones were simply Honkai Beasts.

After all, the mod description had never mentioned adding any Abyss faction or any Snezhnaya faction to the game.

Those guys had it kind of rough. They did not even get to be people anymore.

Still, would it not feel strange for things like autonomous mechanisms to become Honkai Beasts?

Roar—!

In the open area outside the building, the Thunder Helm Lawachurl seemed to sense danger when it saw the silver-haired maid slowly walking toward it. It instinctively took a step back and let out a threatening roar.

"Excuse me."

Rita smiled faintly, then swung her scythe and rushed forward.

Seeing this, the Thunder Helm Lawachurl let out an angry roar. Like an ape, it pounded its chest twice with dull thuds, then charged at Rita with its fist raised.

Frost mist spread as silver light traced a beautiful arc.

The maid spun through the air and gracefully passed over the giant.

The giant remained frozen in place in its punching stance.

Defeated normal boss Thunder Helm Lawachurl. Obtained Gacha Coins ×5

A one-hit kill.

Liu Bai was not surprised by the outcome. Sister Rita only seemed weak compared to those overpowered heroines.

In low- and mid-level matches, Rita was still capable of stomping weaker opponents.

The mod's balancing was actually quite good.

A powerful player carried the weaker ones, and the rewards were not reduced at all. Did that count as living off a woman?

Well, it was not so bad that these guys had been classified as Honkai Beasts. Otherwise, a Thunder Helm Lawachurl would not qualify as a boss.

"I'll leave the cleanup to you all."

After putting away her scythe, Rita politely nodded to her team members.

"U-Understood!" The Valkyries of the Undying Blade looked flattered beyond measure.

After giving her instructions, Rita smiled at Liu Bai. "Mr. Liu Bai, would you like to try touching this big fellow?"

Mr. Liu Bai, You Wouldn't Want To...

In the end, Liu Bai did touch it.

Not for any particular reason. He was simply curious what the "scarf" around a Lawachurl's neck felt like.

Hmm, his final conclusion was that it was rough.

It felt terrible.

Then Liu Bai spent the entire day running around the suburbs with Rita.

They darted back and forth between various locations. Although they did not encounter another boss guaranteed to drop Gacha Coins, Rita's effortless slaughter let Liu Bai scrape together enough for a ten-pull by the end of the day.

"So, Mr. Liu Bai, you now have a general understanding of the 'things beyond common sense' lurking around you, correct?"

After cutting down the last Deadwalker, Rita looked at Liu Bai.

After a day of effort, it was time to receive an answer.

"...They really are beyond common sense."

Liu Bai truly wanted to tell Rita that it was still not enough, but if he actually said that, he might not be able to leave peacefully.

Well, mainly because fooling Rita was not as good as fooling Raven.

Both the benefits and risks were better that way.

And honestly, Liu Bai really felt sorry for the Deadwalker girls... and their underwear.

"So, back to the matter of my sister. Since Miss Rita told me all this, you surely were not just informing me, right?"

"That's right. I assume Mr. Liu Bai also would not want your sister to continue sinking into a dark organization?"

"..."

So, was he supposed to say, "Please don't," while taking off his clothes?

~Ahem:

"Cough, what I mean is, if Mr. Liu Bai can find a way to persuade your sister to leave the organization known as World Serpent, I can guarantee with my reputation that her past offenses will be forgiven. I can even provide her with a job that lets her stand in the sunlight."

Rita seemed to notice something from Liu Bai's expression and hurriedly changed her wording.

"Then what do I need to do?" Bai was curious how Rita intended to proceed. "Even if I know about this now, my sister has never told me anything. I can't exactly go ask her directly, can I? If she starts questioning me..."

At the same time, he was telling Rita that he could not confront her head-on.

"Wait for an opportunity. I'll create a chance for you to join World Serpent. Then you only need to act as an informant."

Rita gave him an encouraging smile.

Honestly, the purpose of her leading the team here had been to find the visitor from beyond their world and bring him back.

But if the opportunity arose, Rita would not mind landing a vicious blow on World Serpent.

After all, World Serpent had been acting far too arrogantly in every respect lately.

If she could also lure away one of World Serpent's ace combatants, that would be even better.

At least judging from their previous encounter, the overall combat ability of "Snake" might even be slightly higher than Rita's.

Talents like that were hard to come by. Even the person's younger brother was quite capable. It would not be a loss if she got a two-for-one deal.

"Miss Yelan, please send Mr. Liu Bai back—oh, and make sure to hide the wristband identifying him as an outside participant."

"Don't worry. I definitely won't let my sister find out."

Liu Bai's answer satisfied Rita, and she turned to Yelan.

"..."

Yelan revealed an expression as though she wanted to speak but stopped herself, then finally spread her hands to indicate that she would not leak anything.

"Then I'll trouble Miss Yelan with taking Mr. Liu Bai back."

"I'm telling you..." Yelan drove with one hand, wearing a strange expression. "You fooled Rita far too thoroughly. Be careful she doesn't realize it and cut you down. I won't protect you when that happens. You brought it entirely upon yourself."

"Isn't there still Raven?"

Liu Bai wore an innocent smile.

"Besides... who said I was planning to betray anyone?"

Switching sides for a little profit and playing both ends against each other would be far too ugly.