Where's the Promised Third Honkai?!!

"How could that be?"

With that tease, the little bit of melancholy in Fu Li's heart vanished into thin air.

He muttered, "By the way, Prometheus, when you update this time, you absolutely, absolutely have to remember to add the recording function. Even though you've cleared yourself of the disgraceful title of system basement through the exchange/lottery function, not even being able to display the host's abilities is seriously pathetic. Of course, it'd be even better if you could add some sort of appraisal ability, like scanning something and learning its properties; and there's the shop too. The lottery alone is way too random. Saving up and buying things directly would be more reliable... Prometheus? Prometheus?"

After talking to himself for quite some time, the boy froze before belatedly realizing:

After teasing him, the chatty AI—the only one who knew he was a reincarnator—had already fallen asleep.

Once he confirmed that, Fu Li stood there blankly for a while, his gaze gradually calming.

So calm that it was almost lifeless.

A brand-new day! Time to start working...

After tying his tie and changing into a suit, Muye dragged himself before the mirror, adjusted his glasses at the well-dressed beast reflected there, put on his shoes, and stepped out of his room.

He had slept well, because that damned landlady had not gone around pounding on other people's doors early that morning.

Sleeping in ruins the morning; waking early ruins the whole day.

Muye did not know what it was like for others, but to him, that extra half hour of sleep before getting up was extremely important.

The discomfort of being forcibly dragged out of bed was practically like some kind of withdrawal symptom, enough to leave Muye absent-minded all day.

Thankfully, things like that would not happen again in the future.

Last night, the sublandlord who had rented out the third floor had brought beer and barbecue again, chatting away with the tenants.

According to him, Fu Li from Room BK202 would be moving out in a few days.

Once he moved out and the landlady's younger brother moved in, she naturally would have no reason to go around smashing doors early in the morning.

"Tch!"

Remembering that, Muye clicked his tongue unhappily.

Of course, he was not outraged on Fu Li's behalf over the unfair treatment he had suffered. He was annoyed at that anorexic little brother who got to be neighbors with a Nordic beauty.

Who had not fantasized about developing a beautiful, heartrending romance with a white-haired beauty who had fallen from the sky?

Of course, fantasies were fantasies. In reality, he still had to keep his head down and act timid.

He could not spend every day like Fu Li, calling someone his fiancée and shamelessly throwing himself at her, could he? Muye could not bring himself to lose that much face, and it was not like it would work anyway.

Still, speaking of Fu Li, that kid had finally come to his senses. He knew to take a look in the mirror and see what kind of person he was.

Pestering someone endlessly had no future! Women were far more hard-hearted than men could ever be. If they did not like you, then they really did not like you!

Muye, who had plenty of experience in that regard, sneered as he reached the first floor. Then he caught sight of Fu Li standing blankly in the courtyard and abruptly froze.

Hadn't he packed up and left? Why was he still here?

The target of his earlier inner insults appeared right before him, and even Muye felt his face grow faintly hot.

Fortunately, his years of struggling in society allowed him to easily suppress that embarrassed shame, while schadenfreude swiftly took the upper hand.

Perhaps even Muye himself had not realized that Fu Li—the kind of person who had traveled alone to a foreign land merely for a girl, who had continued attending classes and working part-time despite being harassed by his landlord—was someone he envied.

Despicable people always liked destroying beautiful things. They liked witnessing the hysterical ugliness of others after they failed.

And now, one such person stood before him.

He should go "comfort" him.

Muye unconsciously smiled.

He strode forward and patted Fu Li on the shoulder.

"Fu Li, I heard you—"

The reincarnator who had just said farewell to Prometheus turned his head and calmly swept his gaze over him.

There was no implication in that look. It was merely a calm glance.

Almost expressionless.

But precisely because there was not the slightest ripple in those eyes, it was the quietest and most striking look of all.

That glance filled Muye with terror and unease, as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.

Yet almost immediately, as if realizing who stood before him, Fu Li switched back to a clean, slightly shy smile.

He raised a hand in a harmless greeting. "Oh, it's Mr. Muye. Heading to work early again today?"

Unfortunately, he was a step too late.

"You! Don't come any closer! Murder! Murder!"

The man who had fallen to the ground frantically kicked his legs as he backed away. The dampness gradually spreading between his legs made Fu Li, who stood closest to him, frown.

The apartment tenants were the ones truly unlucky. They had thought they could finally sleep peacefully today without anyone smashing doors, but they were still woken by the wailing cries.

Everyone opened their windows and leaned out to see what was happening. The quiet morning instantly became bustling with commotion.

However, the excitement did not last long before returning to silence beneath the landlady's shrill roar.

Still wearing a face mask, she stomped over while cursing. She first shot two looks at Fu Li, who was practically saying, Bro, is this really necessary? You're not embarrassed, but I am!, then grabbed Muye by the collar and dragged him away.

"Goodbye."

Fu Li waved at their retreating backs, then turned and returned to his room on the second floor through the staircase on the other side.

Fu Li checked the time and found that it was only a little past eight in the morning.

He took off his clothes, draped them over himself, lay down on the floor, closed his eyes, and fell soundly asleep.

While he rested and recuperated, Room BK201, separated from him by only a wall, was anything but peaceful.

The white-haired bundle sitting cross-legged on the bed narrowed her eyes and rumbled like a big cat that had spotted a mouse.

"Suspicious..."

Kiana was in a terrible mood right now. It was not just because some author surnamed Fu had stingily updated only 2k yesterday, but also because of what she had seen through the window that morning.

Among the apartment residents, Kiana was unquestionably one of the most well-liked.

Even an ordinary office worker like Muye, who could be found anywhere, had learned that Fu Li was leaving. Naturally, she could as well.

When she first heard the news, Kiana froze. Her feelings were as complicated as Lu Tixia after he punched Zhen Guanxi—salty, sour, and spicy, all splashing out at once.

People were like that. Most of the time, what was frightening was not affection, but habit.

For example, you might have a crazed suitor. You were certain you did not like them and perhaps even looked down on them, but one day, when you heard they were getting married, you might instead feel awful.

Kiana did not look down on Fu Li, but she admitted that over the four months since last year, she had become accustomed to having someone always following beside her.

When she suddenly heard that he was leaving, she really did feel a little reluctant to see him go.

Fortunately, Kiana was a good girl. She would not hold back someone else's future over such a small reluctance.

She quickly sorted out her feelings and considered whether she should give Fu Li a gift before he left.

But less than a second later, the girl abandoned that idea.

He had finally recognized reality and was preparing to return home. What if giving him a gift rekindled those dead feelings?

The Honkai side and the real-world side belonged to different worlds. They should never have become entangled in the first place.

Rather than dragging things out and hesitating, it was better to cut things off cleanly in one stroke!

Yet just now, Kiana had changed her mind.

No, saying she had changed her mind was misleading. More accurately, she had discovered a problem.

Muye's crying had woken Kiana Cat, who had not been sleeping well to begin with. With a head full of ahoge, she groggily woke up and, like the tenants in the other rooms, looked outside through the window.

Thump!

Fu Li smiled brightly and harmlessly, and Kiana's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Do not misunderstand. This was not some melodramatic love at first sight, nor was it her heart fluttering at the sight of a sunny boy who had changed his appearance—well, maybe there was a tiny bit of that, but it was not important!

When someone who had killed greeted others, they would unconsciously look at their shoulders, because every movement began from the shoulders. When meeting someone, they would immediately assess that person's threat level—whether they might regard them as prey and kill them. Their eyes would instinctively narrow, and a vicious glint would flash through them.

Someone who had killed looked at others as though they were prey.

That was exactly how Fu Li had looked at Muye, and it was why Kiana's heart had skipped a beat.

Even though it had appeared for only a brief instant before being completely concealed, the girl dared to say with certainty that it was the gaze of a killer.

During her four years of wandering, she had seen similar looks in far too many people.

But none had ever been more vicious than Fu Li just now!

"What exactly happened to him?"

Kiana frowned in thought.

According to her memory, the last time she had seen Fu Li was when he had come to confess to her as usual two nights ago.

Then, yesterday morning, she had set out to hunt a Honkai Beast. After returning, she had slept soundly at home. In the evening, she had gone out looking for food and learned from a neighbor that he was moving away. She had spent the whole night overthinking and barely slept at all.

It had not even been a full twenty-four hours! Could twenty-four hours really change someone that much?

Or else—

"Could A Li have been possessed by some wandering ghost from who knows where?!!"

Having read countless Shenzhou webnovels, Miss Kiana subtly arrived at an incorrect answer that was remarkably close to the truth.

March 26, 2014, 4:50 P.M.—

It was dusk, with the sun setting in the west.

The soft afterglow of the sunset spilled in through the half-open window, adding a faint haze to the empty room.

Fu Li, lying on the floor, opened his eyes and gazed at the familiar yet unfamiliar quantum superposition-state ceiling.

"Prometheus? Prom? Little Treasure?"

He called out tentatively, but as expected, received no response.

He pushed himself up, organized the items in his backpack, placed the combat supplies where he could quickly reach them, then picked up his baseball bat and walked out the door.

In the corridor, Fu Li turned back and gave the place a long look. He had lived here for several months, after all. Thinking that it would soon fall victim to the Third Honkai, he—

Well, he did not really feel reluctant at all.

Out with the old, in with the new.

The boy tightened his backpack straps, turned around, and headed downstairs.

"Hey!"

A familiar, delicate shout rang out behind him.

Fu Li turned and looked toward the slender figure who had called him.

Her azure eyes were clear as freshly washed skies, like a pure fragment plucked from a cloudless heavens; her smooth skin was rosy and fair, brimming with the playful, lively energy of youth.

The white shirt displayed the girl's lovely figure to its fullest. Her long legs beneath her shorts were wrapped in black stockings, making her shape all the more alluring.

"With that hairstyle, you're probably the only one who can pull it off, Kiana Kaslana."

His gaze swept over the pristine white hair braided into twin plaits. Fu Li lifted his eyes to that delicate, lovely face. "What is it? Need something?"

Just as expected!

Kiana's heart tightened.

Even when facing someone familiar like her, Fu Li's eyes first landed on her shoulders—her hairstyle—and only then moved to her face.

That instinct, embedded into his DNA, was not something an ordinary person living in a peaceful world could possess! Something must have happened during those twenty-four hours while she was gone to make him become like this!

If that was the case...

Kiana had not joined St. Freya yet. After wandering for four years, her intelligence and reflexes were closer to those from her Void Drifter days.

Her eyes shifted. Rather than rashly alerting him, she placed one hand on her hip, steadied her tone, and said, "It's only been one day since we met, so how did you become such a smooth talker?"

"I'm only telling the truth." Fu Li did not deny it. "So what exactly did you stop me for?"

"I wanted to ask what you planned to do after leaving."

"My plans? Of course, I'm going back home."