"My, my? It seemed someone wasn't quite saying what they meant just now?"
That wasp-waisted woman sashayed over, so slender and soft that one had to wonder whether she had surgery to remove two ribs.
"Bullshit!!!"
Fu Li refused to admit it. He would defend his cool and aloof status to the death!
Then they saw Mei waddling out in a panda mascot costume with a plop-plop.
Kiana, who had been thinking about her all this time, immediately dragged out the final syllable. "Mei—! How could you wear that?!"
"Because I need to watch out for the smell."
Mei held the panda headpiece in her arms and weakly defended herself. "This outfit is thicker, so it should block some of the smell, right? And it's warm too. The wind in March is very cold, and it's convenient to move around in..."
"I think it's pretty good."
Fu Li gave a serious assessment while changing the subject. "At critical moments, you can put the headpiece on and confuse the enemy."
"Please!"
Kiana shoved him. "There's only one panda wandering around the whole street, and you call that confusing the enemy?"
"Maybe Chiyou was resurrected and came to conquer the Far East on her mount."
"This young lady is Chiyou!"
"So you're riding Mei, huh? Pun fines apply!"
While bickering with her, Fu Li placed a stack of Yukichi Fukuzawa on the clothing store's counter. The shop had closed for the day, which was why the girls had chosen to come inside earlier.
"You actually know how to pay!"
Kiana examined the scene strangely. He had clearly scammed Susanna out of so much equipment before.
Oh, no, it wasn't a scam. He had exchanged it for merits. The only tiny problem was that he hadn't gotten the girl's permission.
"One thing is one thing."
That was just how Fu Li was. He would not cheat an all-you-can-eat restaurant just because his appetite had suddenly grown, and after causing damage to someone's clothing store, he would pay compensation.
Because they were ordinary people.
Susanna was different. No matter how innocent, kind-hearted, and harmless she was, she had already stepped into the Honkai side.
Since she had entered this inhuman realm with resolve, Fu Li would never show mercy.
"Hey."
Kiana stared thoughtfully at Fu Li, her little mouth opening as though she wanted to say something.
"Woof woof woof!!!"
The dog patrol had arrived, late but not absent.
The three of them had stayed here for nearly twenty minutes. Fu Li had kept Breath Concealment active the entire time, or Kiana would not have spent so long feeling him up without realizing he was a real person.
The other two did not have that luxury. The dogs followed their scent and found them.
"Ahhh, so annoying!"
After being interrupted by the dog patrol, Kiana accidentally forgot what she had wanted to say.
"The world is so wonderful, yet you are so irritable. Bad, bad."
"Annoying! You weren't the one whose train of thought got interrupted!"
The girl snapped at Fu Li for his sarcastic remark. Anyone who had experienced the feeling of an oncoming sneeze being forcibly held back knew how awful it was.
Mei held a Galaxy Bat and dagger in each hand, taking up a dual-wielding stance. Hearing that, she comforted her, "Whatever it is, wait until the battle is over to say it."
"No, say it now."
The moment Fu Li finished speaking, five Shadow Blades flew back into the store, each skewering a mechanical dog.
"This should be an advance unit. For now, I haven't detected any coordinated combat units like Titan Mechs nearby."
That was not good news. Mechanical dogs without accompanying mechanical constructs were like tank forces without infantry support.
Either the enemy was too incompetent, as useless as Israeli heavenly soldiers.
Or the enemy was too rich to care how many got blown up.
Fu Li thought it was probably the latter. The enemy possessed ME Inc.; with the scale of such a multinational corporation, as long as resources were sufficient and the production lines started up, D-rank mechs could be produced endlessly.
Kiana did not consider matters as comprehensively as Fu Li. The silly girl, who had always been too lazy to think when teaming up, bumped his arm with her shoulder. "Got an idea?"
"Yes."
Fu Li did not disappoint her. He selected the most intact of the five mechanical dogs, then held out his hand. "Give me Soth's chip."
"Okay!"
Kiana instinctively reached into her pocket. After realizing what she was doing, she spread her legs and shoved her hand into her Fourth-Dimensional Skirt, rummaging around. Mei's eyelids twitched at the crude movement.
"Here it is."
Fu Li took the chip the girl had dug out and inserted it into the mechanical dog's hidden port.
A glimmer of red flashed through the dog's dimmed eyes.
After thinking for a moment, the white-haired ball suddenly raised both hands without warning. "Come back to life! My beloved dog!!!"
"Whine..."
The restarted dog stood up. After shaking its head and adapting for a moment, it pounced to its owner's feet and began circling around her.
"Woof!"
"Haha! Soth!"
Kiana happily picked it up and rubbed its head.
"Awooo!"
Soth stuck out its tongue and affectionately licked her cheeks, its wagging tail nearly reaching helicopter speed.
Mei poked Fu Li, who was watching the scene alongside her, with a finger. She brought her thin lips close to his ear and whispered, "Jealous?"
"Not jealous."
The boy wore a disgusted expression. "Its drool is all over her face. That's gross."
Compared to dogs, he really did prefer cats.
Preferably white Persian cats. Ones with gold-and-blue heterochromatic eyes would be the best!
"Uh..."
Mei felt that Fu Li's perspective was incredibly skewed. He had turned a touching scene straight out of Hachiko into something that made her break out in a cold sweat.
Her eyes turned, and she continued to play matchmaker. "You're jealous because Soth is close to Kiana?"
"To be jealous, I'd have to have romantic feelings for that grasshopper."
Fu Li plopped the panda headpiece onto Mei's head and stepped forward. "Save the bonding for later. I have something for Soth to do."
"Huh?"
"Woof?"
One person and one dog turned their heads at the same time with astonishing synchronization.
Then Soth looked toward Kiana, seeming to seek its owner's permission.
"Listen to him, Soth."
The girl was decisive. "Just treat A Li as another one of your owners."
"Awoo?"
The dog tilted its head, then answered, "Woof!"
It eagerly ran toward Fu Li, tilted its body, and exposed its belly.
At the same time, in its intelligence core, it changed his identity from a suspicious high-threat unit to Kiana's male spouse-owner.
Fu Li rubbed its fluffy belly and said with satisfaction, "Good dog!"
"Awoo!"
"Enough licking. Remember what I told you."
He wiped the saliva off his face with his sleeve. "When those people arrive later, you do this, then that..."
"Woof!"
This time, he was not disgusted.
Mei held her forehead. She finally understood: Fu Li was not disgusted by dirt at all. He simply did not like dogs that refused to listen to him.
Look at him now. After discovering that the dog was obedient and well-behaved, he was rubbing it with pure delight.
"Rounding Up, Fu Li Is Going to Become Ryoma's Son-in-Law!"
Not long after the first batch of ill-fated mechanical dogs found the clothing store, ME Inc.'s mechanical army surrounded the place completely.
More than a dozen Anti-Entropy employees in heavy exoskeleton armor followed behind them. They exchanged glances with a touch of humor and found that, sure enough, none of them wanted to lead the charge.
"Then... should we just have the mechs blast it?"
"Sounds good! To apprehend such vile criminals, necessary sacrifices are unavoidable. I'm sure the shop owner will understand our good intentions!"
The first person to speak glanced at the bulging pockets on either side of the other man's clothes, stuffed full of ill-gotten gains. He curled his lips and gave a hand signal.
Having received their orders, three Titans, six spider-type light mechs, eight Storm drones, and thirteen automated mechs did not hesitate. They aimed at the clothing store and prepared to fire.
The building collapsed, rubble flew everywhere, and the familiar scene repeated itself before the employees' eyes.
Well, it should have.
"AWOOO!!!"
In the instant before the mechanical forces opened fire, a loud bark came from inside the store.
A valiant husky strode out with its head held high and chest puffed out. It leaped into the air, landed atop a Titan more than ten meters high, looked down at the crowd, then shook its head with an extremely human-like smile.
"Stop!"
The lead employee waved to halt the mechs' firing order, raised his head, and asked the mechanical dog, "They aren't here?"
"Awoo!"
Soth nodded its enormous head.
"Woof!"
Another mechanical dog accompanying the team expressed its dissatisfaction. The scent it had detected was clearly here.
Baka!
Soth leaped down from above and slapped it aside with one paw.
"Whine?"
This sudden turn of events directly stunned the remaining two mechanical dogs. They watched blankly as their leader was flattened with one slap. When they turned to look at Soth again, their gazes had changed.
ME Inc.'s employees were stunned as well. Why were these dogs suddenly fighting among themselves?
Soth ignored that. It barked urgently at the crowd twice, then turned and sprinted toward another street.
No time to explain! Get in!
The mechanical dogs whose original leader had been taken down instinctively started running after their new leader.
The employees looked at one another.
"Move! Follow it!"
They raised their weapons and followed along with the mechs.
For a time, the street returned to its former tranquility.
A moment later, a little white head poked out from the store. "Whoa! They actually all ran away!"
Before you continue