Being a Cosplay Big Shot in the World of Honkai Impact 3rd

As long as he paid his rent on time, the old man didn't insist that Li Pu pay monthly or semi-annually. If funds were tight, he could even postpone payment.

So, if there was one person Li Pu was most unwilling to offend in this world so far...

It would probably be this security guard.

And this security guard's identity seemed unusual. He himself said he was once a combat hero. However, he didn't elaborate on the specifics or why he became a security guard.

He claimed it was purely because he had nothing better to do and wanted to contribute his remaining years of service.

Considering this person was both his landlord and a senior, Li Pu naturally didn't dare to be careless. As soon as he received the call, he immediately rushed downstairs.

"If it's about paying rent, I guarantee I can pay on time this month," Li Pu said with a wide smile.

Having money made his words much more confident.

"If you want to pay for the whole year," Li Pu said with a hint of pride, "I can even pay it all at once."

"Oh?" The old man put down his newspaper, looking serious as if he were about to scold him but was holding back. "Didn't you just find a job, kid? How do you have money so quickly?"

"Don't tell me you actually went out and became a gigolo?"

"No backbone!"

"What are you talking about?" Li Pu was completely bewildered. "Gigolo? When did I ever become a gigolo?"

"Then tell this old man, who was that girl today?!" Mr. Li said indignantly. "Dyeing her hair white at such a young age."

"She doesn't look like a proper girl at all, and she even came specifically to find you."

"You kid, you have hands and feet," Mr. Li said angrily. "Being a gigolo, spending the girl's money."

"Aren't you ashamed?!"

Although Mr. Li didn't particularly like the white-haired girl who visited today, he could tell from her attire that she wasn't from an ordinary family. Her family must be well-off.

"White hair?" Li Pu felt even more confused. "Who?"

"Dyeing her hair white and wearing a star-shaped hairpin," Mr. Li described. "She also seemed to be wearing those 'colored contact lenses' or whatever they're called."

"She's a student from that foreign school, St. Freya."

As the most famous school in Changkong City, St. Freya! Never mind its teaching quality or whether it ranked among Changkong City's key schools.

It was known as Changkong City's elite girls' school!

Children from families without money couldn't afford to attend.

As an elite girls' school, the old man knew a bit about it.

"Oh, you mean Kiana?!" Li Pu immediately knew who the old man was talking about. Li Pu felt a bit surprised. "Why would she come looking for me?"

"Where is she?" Li Pu looked around. This tiny security room couldn't possibly hide a living person, could it?

"I sent her away," the old man said, sounding somewhat disgusted. "She even gave herself a foreign name."

"I feel like I've gotten into some trouble," Li Pu scratched his head. He felt that the old man's actions... well, never mind. He wouldn't comment on what the old man did.

But he could guess the general situation.

"It's not as complicated as you think, and I'm not a gigolo," Li Pu explained. "Here's what happened..."

The young man began to explain...

After listening to Li Pu's explanation, the old man's expression softened slightly, and he even showed some approval. He patted Li Pu's shoulder and praised him, "It seems I misjudged you, young comrade. You did well."

"However, even with this money, you shouldn't spend it carelessly. Frugality and hard work are traditions of our army."

"They must not be abandoned."

The old man continued to lecture Li Pu for a long time, like a political class, before finally letting him leave.

After returning from the old man's place, Li Pu immediately lost the desire to splurge.

It wasn't that he suddenly felt he should be frugal, like knowing to drink the soup from instant noodles and not waste any vegetables. It was just that he felt something was strange.

He and Kiana had no particular grievances. Even if they did, it was only about that little incident with Mei.

And Mei didn't seem to mind anymore. This Herrscher had actually followed him all the way here.

This made Li Pu's hair stand on end.

This was not a good sign.

For now, Kiana, and Changkong City felt like a place where only Honkai Impact 3rd characters existed, but it wasn't actually Honkai Impact 3rd.

But what if this Herrscher was truly that Herrscher?

Then the current situation would be a deepening conflict. If a real conflict broke out, he would definitely be at a disadvantage.

So... so... so...

"System~ about that..." Li Pu instantly entered his system. "Can we renegotiate? About that equipment's transition, can we change it? I'm willing to be the Bed King, a good king."

"But I don't want to be so embarrassing. Look at this..."

"No, absolutely not! Impossible!" The System refused unequivocally with a triple rejection.

"To be a good Bed King, you must discard your sense of shame."

"You must cast it aside!"

Chapter 11: Cross-dressing Can Solve Problems

There are many things in the world that leave you speechless, and you can't quite figure out if they're helping you or hurting you.

Take this System, for example.

It skillfully rejected Li Pu's request three times, yet it also presented him with a piece of logic that felt both right and wrong, wrong and right.

"You must cast aside all sense of shame," the System said, patiently guiding him. "That's why I'm asking you to perform these transformation exercises, which you might find embarrassing."

"But do you know what a girlish heart is? You definitely don't, and without knowing, you won't understand why these things are so popular worldwide."

"Just like most boys have a dream of being a hero, female knights also have a soft, girlish dream."

"If you want to be a King of Understanding and understand others, you need to put yourself in their shoes and consider their problems."

"Simply reading text files isn't enough," the System said, sounding earnest. "You also need to learn to analyze characters, interpret them, and think from their perspective: 'What if I were her?'"

"Consider problems from her psychology, her position, and her habitual way of thinking."

"That's what it means to be a King of Understanding!"

"Just saying 'No one understands better than I do' isn't enough to be a King of Understanding."

The System delivered the final blow: "Whether it's dancing transformation exercises or cross-dressing, the commonality is that there's a first time, and then there are countless times."

"If you want to understand the Bed King, my suggestion is not to start with the transformation exercises, but to COSplay the Bed King first."

"COSplay can shorten the distance between you and the character, allowing you to understand the character better."

"I can offer some help with this."

"Oh~ You make so much sense that I can't even refute you." Li Pu felt persuaded. Why did this System's words make so much sense?

Then, then... then there must be something wrong!

My System is definitely not this kind!

"Didn't you say you couldn't interfere with reality?" Li Pu thought he had found a loophole in the System's words. "COSplaying a character."

"How can you help me with that?!"

"I can provide you with the most outstanding COSer to guide you, as well as the best costume designer, makeup artist, hairstylist, and photographer," the System replied. "While I can't interfere with reality, I can offer you some informational assistance."

"If you're willing, I can provide you with some connections."

"As for money, you shouldn't be poor right now, should you?"

It was so thoughtful, offering a complete package from beginner to expert. Especially arranging everything so clearly before the bonus even arrived.

This...

"You're truly insane!" Li Pu uttered this before exiting the System.

As expected, it was mostly as he had predicted. Perhaps this System really couldn't interfere with reality. It couldn't force him to watch himself get embarrassed through those laid-back missions with no time limits or failure penalties.

But this System was definitely up to no good.

That meme from his past life, "Why don't you cross-dress? Cross-dressing can solve everything," might actually come true for him now.

"Damn it~" Li Pu stood up, adjusted his pants, and went to the kitchen to make himself some instant noodles.

Let's splurge today!

A bowl of instant noodles, boiled, with the luxury of using natural gas, one piece of ham, and two fried eggs. If this were at a train station or somewhere similar, it would surely draw fifty to sixty onlookers.

It's just a shame there aren't fifty to sixty people here, nor is this a train station.

A steaming bowl of boiled instant noodles doesn't require any special skills and is quick to make. He brought it to the table, turned on the TV, and ate.

"This feels so good."

He ate it all, noodles and soup, before finally feeling like he had come back to life.

He had been poor for too long. The initial funds given by the System weren't a lot, but they weren't too little either. The biggest problem before was that he had no job. Without a job, there was no income, and without income, that little bit of money was simply not enough.

Drinking cold water, eating steamed buns, and eating preserved vegetables, he had persevered. For the first time, instant noodles with ham and eggs tasted so delicious.

"Hmm, there doesn't seem to be any special news lately..."

Li Pu idly flipped through the channels. The news was being broadcast at this time. The format and delivery were essentially the same as in his past life.

After watching for a while, Li Pu put down the remote.

He opened a can of "otaku happy water" and took a big gulp. The sour and sweet taste, along with the splashing, and the restless bubbles brought a strong sense of exhilaration.

The sufficient sugar also relaxed his mind and gave him a sense of false satisfaction.

But soon, this false satisfaction turned into emptiness and unease.

False satisfaction, in the end, was still false satisfaction.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, he had just emerged from a life of not knowing where his next meal would come from. After satisfying his basic food and accommodation needs, safety needs became Li Pu's next pursuit.

The seemingly laid-back System was not actually well-intentioned.

Traditionally, this kind of system would have dug a huge pit waiting for the user to fall into it themselves. But compared to this pit, which was hard to see and difficult to predict, things represented by St. Freya were a truly visible threat to Li Pu!

The Collapse!

The natural disaster of this world! Although no records of the Collapse had been found in public information for the time being, the existence of St. Freya Academy, Mei, Kiana, Theresa, and Otto all indicated that this world was definitely related to the Collapse in some way.

Perhaps the Collapse existed, and the government was simply hiding the true information from the general public.

How to survive in this world, which might be full of various dangers, was truly a top priority.

Li Pu turned off the TV. Kiana coming to his door meant that whether he liked it or not, he had been drawn into a huge vortex and couldn't escape.

And how to establish himself in this vortex would really depend on this system, which might be digging a pit for him.

He stood up and walked to the full-length mirror. In this life, his body didn't have particularly well-built muscles.

He didn't have the sharp, masculine, tough-guy face of his previous life.

Nor did he have the bronze skin honed by wind and sun.

Instead, he had a handsome face that was slightly feminine and carried a hint of coldness. His slender, yet perfectly proportioned and more androgynous figure, a body that wasn't overly thin, and fair, tender skin.

He looked pretty much like the "little fresh meat" often talked about in his previous life.

If he really cross-dressed...

He might even reach the level of Xuan Mo Bao Bao.

He really had that kind of charming, gender-bending, captivating aura.

"Cross-dressing..." Li Pu looked at his current self in the mirror and said self-deprecatingly, "This cross-dressing can solve all problems."

"Has it really come true for me?!"