The Threads of Fate... Do They Even Count as Threads? (Continued)

"That..."

"Mei, why is the only dish in front of me burnt?" Kiana asked, feeling very upset.

Why is it that out of this whole table of food, only the dish in front of me is burnt?

"Well, Kiana, you have to believe that this is just a coincidence, not exactly a coincidence. Well, when I was cooking this dish, well, Aro accidentally cut his finger, so I went to check on his finger and forgot to cook the dish, so it got burnt." Raiden Mei began to explain haltingly why only the dish in front of Kiana was burnt.

"..." Chen Luo sat at the very end of the long table, eating his meal with a blank expression.

Well, Raiden Mei, I originally thought that only the Herrscher of Knowledge, who lies through her teeth, would lie. I never expected that someone with thick eyebrows and big eyes like you would also learn to lie.

You were the one who suddenly pounced on me, okay? I told you the food was going to burn, the food was going to burn, but you just wouldn't listen.

And holding it for such a long time, no wonder the food got burnt.

You can't blame me for this? I really am...

And I was the one cooking at the time.

But whatever, since Mei has said so, then Chen Luo will take the blame.

"But why is this dish in front of me?" Kiana continued to ask.

"Kiana, that's a bit much. Think about it, this burnt dish is going to be served to someone eventually, isn't it? And it's not like you can only eat that dish; you can eat other dishes."

"And if it's not placed in front of you, who is it placed in front of?" Chen Luo said.

Chen Luo still harbored resentment towards Kiana for pushing him into the kitchen and kicking him when he was down.

"Hmph, you have the nerve to talk to me like that? It's all because you, you idiot, cut your hand and Mei had to worry about it, which is why the dish is burnt. You can't even do this right, it's shameful." Kiana looked at Chen Luo with disdain.

"If you're so good, why don't you do it yourself?" Chen Luo simply sneered at Kiana's feeble rebuttal.

Kiana is the kind of person who would eat dumplings, skin and filling together, right before they're even cooked. Asking her to cook?

Do you want Tianhuo Barbecue?

Anyway, Kiana really did do this in the event storyline, and it was quite Kiana- esque.

"You..."

"Kiana, you don't want Siegfried to be unable to come tonight, do you?" Before Kiana could retort, Chen Luo's words left Kiana speechless.

"Damn it!" Kiana cursed Chen Luo under her breath before obediently starting to eat the rice in her bowl.

Sunrise times, seasons, and days and nights differ between different worlds.

Chen Luo's main world time is at least one hour different from the Honkai Impact 3rd world time in the Far East of Honkai Impact 3rd. In other words, when the Honkai World time reaches 7 o'clock, Chen Luo should go to work.

"For various reasons, you'll be handling the guests alone for the next hour. Can you manage?" Chen Luo asked Raven behind the bar, sitting at one of the bar's customer seats.

"Don't talk to me like you're giving a child's instructions. I can handle this." Raven gave Chen Luo a somewhat displeased look.

"That's good. I'll also activate the bar's notification permissions. I'll receive notifications whenever a customer arrives at the bar. If a new customer or a customer you can't handle comes, don't panic. I'll come to the bar to help you." Chen Luo reminded him again.

"Okay, okay, go ahead, what could possibly happen so late at night?" Raven waved to Chen Luo.

"Look at what you're saying. Aren't some of the more secretive things done at night?" Chen Luo rolled his eyes at Raven.

"That makes some sense," Raven nodded.

As a mercenary, Raven naturally had some understanding of these things; some things were only suitable to be done at night.

This includes, but is not limited to, murder, robbery, theft, and surprise attacks.

"Sigh, Chen Luo, you can just leave, why are you looking at me like that?" Raven sighed deeply and said to Chen Luo.

Whether it was the Raven's imagination or not, Raven seemed to see reluctance in Chen Luo's eyes.

This reluctance to part gave the Raven a very strange feeling.

It's only an hour, is it really that big of a deal?

"Hurry up and leave, hurry up and leave." Raven impatiently shooed Chen Luo out of the bar.

How can Raven do business if Chen Luo keeps looking at Raven like that?

"Ugh~ My 50 Primogem." Looking at the gradually closing Bar Door and the fifty Primogem that had been deducted from his account, Chen Luo felt even more reluctant.

"Raven, Raven, can't you be a little better at cooking and bartending?" Chen Luo said, looking at the closed door with some distress.

The dishes and drinks prepared in Chen Luo's bar using the shortcut mode are all products optimized and upgraded based on Chen Luo's skill level.

In other words, the higher Chen Luo's cooking and bartending skills are, the greater the buff he will receive.

However, if Chen Luo leaves the bar, not only will Chen Luo lose this blessing, but the automatic production device in the bar will also lose Chen Luo's blessing.

Raven will now be in charge of the bar, selling drinks and food. The taste of the drinks and food will be upgraded based on Raven's cooking and bartending skills, Raven have always been rather poor...

If you don't want to ruin the bar's reputation, then you'll have to spend Primogem.

50 Primogem per hour

It allows the alcohol and food produced by the bar to maintain the Chen Luo level bonus status for up to one hour.

Wine costs 25 Primogem, food costs 25 Primogem.

If Chen Luo is not around all night, then it will cost 200 Primogem in 4 hours.

"50 Primogem an hour? Why don't you just rob someone?" Chen Luo muttered to himself as he sat on the rooftop, contemplating life.

Although Chen Luo appears to have done nothing, and in fact he really hasn't done anything, Chen Luo's not comfortable with losing his big order of 1800 Primogem.

The mere act of bringing Siegfried to Kiana's side involved five commissions with a total value of 1800 Primogem.

Siegfried, how come you are so valuable?

And if we include the task Raiden Mei posted in the kitchen...

[Father-in-law Rescue Operation]: Together with Raiden Mei, they personally rescued Raiden Ryoma.

Rewards: 800 Primogem + Advanced Random Reward (Raiden Mei Limited) + Raiden Mei Affection Level 30.

Difficulty: 3 stars

If nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to get 2600 Primogem tonight.

If you add in the bar's profits, you might be able to earn two 10-pulls in one night.

If Chen Luo could acquire these Primogem, he would possess over 17,000 Primogem, to be precise, 17,630 Primogem.

What an enormous number! It's enough... well, enough to buy only one S-rank Talent, no more.

If the discount is good enough, I might be able to buy two.

But Chen Luo now believes that his survival ability is already guaranteed, and what Chen Luo needs most now is the most direct combat power.

Let's take a look at what Chen Luo has on him.

The Herrscher of Domination, the Herrscher of Corrosion, and the Herrscher of Knowledge —none of the three S-rank Talent are suited for direct combat.

Mobius's resurrection talent is also not one of them.

It's rare to have a Snake Snake that's Man-made Collapse and looks impressive, but Chen Luo has temporarily sacrificed its strength for future development potential, so its current strength is somewhat worrying in a direct confrontation.

Fortunately, the Void Archive can now project the Insanely Modified Thermobaric Bomb, but Chen Luo's magic power is a big problem.

Chen Luo is now certain that he can be invincible against any Talent User below SS-rank Talent Holder, but that's all he can do.

If a real fight breaks out, we'll have to resort to bone-scraping surgery.

Therefore, Chen Luo can only pin his hopes on the 6-star item that is guaranteed to drop within 200 draws.

Therefore, Chen Luo is aiming for this goal and is accumulating Primogem.

This is at least the only opportunity Chen Luo knows of to obtain a 6-star item.

Well, of course, if nothing unexpected happens, Chen Luo will spend the Primogem when necessary.

For example, Chen Luo really wants to see Aponia right now.

Aponia, I can't live without you!

Chen Luo had long coveted Aponia's abilities.

But since I've never met Aponia and never shaken her hand, I can't call her a friend, so I can't enjoy the discount.

As for the ability to purchase Aponia through the Fire Moth...

Items purchased through faction purchases are not eligible for any discounts.

What kind of sucker would buy things through faction?

"..." Chen Luo suddenly thought of the limited edition Destiny communicator he bought for Fu Hua during the Schicksal.

That means it was purchased through a faction.

Ah, so it was me who was the sucker.

Chen Luo decided to look for Aponia tomorrow and shake her hand, since Chen Luo still had one day left on his 10% discount.

If Chen Luo can shake hands with someone within a day and a half, he can buy items at a 10% discount.

I hope it's 50% off.

Ah, but then again, will my future self really be able to reduce Aponia's favorability to half?

Although theoretically, Remilia Scarlett, the young lady of Gensokyo, has a wider range of applications for her Destiny Ability, Chen Luo feels that Aponia's ability is more suitable for him.

After all, the words "threads of fate" appeared quite often in Aponia's mouth.

The threads of fate, shouldn't they also be considered "threads"?

Chen Luo recalled his talent as a puppeteer.

"Hmm, what are you doing sitting here?" A figure slowly climbed onto the roof.

After dinner, seeing Raiden Mei cheering up and the others who were sharing Raiden Mei joy, Chen Luo silently left this place that didn't belong to him and climbed onto the roof.

"Kiana, what brings you here?" Chen Luo asked.

"Ahem, don't call me by that name, at least not now." The person who came was startled by Chen Luo's words and coughed twice.

"What are you afraid of? You are Kiana Kaslana. How long do you plan to keep this secret hidden? Even Rita could easily find out about this secret. Do you think it would be really hard to detect if someone is determined?" Chen Luo asked Durandal.

"Everyone was looking for you after dinner, so I came out to look for you. I didn't expect to find you sitting on the roof," Durandal said, changing the subject.

"Don't worry about me. I only came up here because I was afraid they'd make me do the dishes," Chen Luo waved his hand.

"Your problem is the important one now."

"..." Durandal fell silent.

The reason for Durandal's silence is unknown; it's unclear whether it was because Chen Luo brought up something Durandal had been unwilling to face immediately, or because of Chen Luo's comment about disappearing because he didn't want to do the dishes.

Overall, both aspects are quite outrageous.

"Chen Luo, when you gave me those two choices, did you really give me a choice?" Durandal asked, barely suppressing the urge to make Chen Luo go down and wash the dishes.

"Hmm, what makes you say that?"

Before anyone knew it, a piece of fine wood appeared in Chen Luo's hand. While responding to Durandal, Chen Luo began to cut the wood with the extended silk thread in his hand.

"When you told me the truth, you gave me two choices: one was a safer but complicated method, and the other was a more dangerous but quick method."

"Then what?"

"I don't regret choosing the first method, because it taught me a lot. But I also discovered that even if I chose the first method and knew the truth, I would still have to face the second method. Knowing the truth but having no memory of it is a very difficult thing to accept."

"In the end, I still need that master of consciousness to help me recall those memories, which I don't know if they still remain in my mind. If I really want to face Siegfried... Mr. Siegfried."

Durandal tried, but ultimately felt somewhat uncomfortable calling the other person "Dad" when they were complete strangers.

"Annoying? That's to be expected, but don't worry, I'll take care of your troubles. Relax, I'll handle everything," Chen Luo said confidently.

"...Thank you." Durandal looked at Chen Luo with a complicated expression.

"You're welcome, this is for you." Chen Luo handed the wood carving he had spent a minute carving with silk threads to Durandal beside him.

"This is..."

"A family photo! Look, these four people are Siegfried, Cecilia, you as a child, and Qi... K423," Chen Luo said, pointing to the wood carving.

"That's not what I'm asking about. Of course I know that's what I'm asking about." Durandal pointed to the fifth person on the family portrait wooden carving with a dark expression.