An Unlikely Encounter

On a helicopter, the pilot was talking with the young girl sitting in the back seat.

The girl had medium-length pink hair, tied back neatly with a hair tie. Her bright blue eyes observed the ruins below the helicopter.

Her face was delicate, and her light gray combat suit contrasted with her fair skin. She had a slender and elegant figure, with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"Why do you have Dr. Mobius's badge? Elysia... teammate."

"Dr. Mobius gave it to me herself, of course! Do you think I stole it?" Elysia replied with a smile.

"I'm more willing to believe you stole it than the former," the pilot said expressionlessly. "No one at Flame-Moth gets along well with Dr. Mobius, let alone a new recruit like you."

"Hmm... maybe it's because I'm cute? The Doctor likes my type?" Elysia's eyes darted around playfully.

"..."

The pilot remained noncommittal.

He was about to say something else, but Elysia suddenly stopped him.

"Stop! Go to that rooftop!"

Hearing this, he immediately began searching for the rooftop Elysia was referring to.

He soon found it. On a rooftop, a Mantis was chasing a girl in a white dress.

The girl seemed to be running out of energy, unable to outrun the Mantis.

"Hurry!"

Elysia was anxious and urged the pilot to move forward. She herself prepared to lower a ladder to descend onto the rooftop.

About ten seconds later, Elysia successfully landed.

Drawing her bow, nocking an arrow, and releasing it – all in one fluid motion, she shot the Mantis dead in front of Lin Li.

The latter, still shaken, watched the scene. The hem of her white dress was stained with the Mantis's blood, turning a deep crimson.

Gulp.

Lin Li swallowed, looking at the pink-haired girl who had helped her with eyes full of gratitude.

"Thank you for saving me..."

"Oh, no need to thank me. Get up quickly and come with me, it's not safe here."

Elysia stepped forward, grabbed Lin Li's wrist, and pulled her up.

So soft, such delicate skin. Feels really nice.

Elysia glanced back at the helicopter that had brought her, but it had already flown away!

At the same time, a voice came from her communicator.

"Elysia, I need to support the front line. Please evacuate the civilians and ensure the safety of the survivors."

"...Sigh." Elysia sighed, looked at Lin Li, and said:

"Alright, it looks like we'll have to act together."

"Uh... can you tell me what's happening? Is it the end of the world?" Lin Li asked.

"Pfft... the end of the world. Hmm, it's quite similar. In short, this is a disaster called Honkai. It might be a bit complicated to explain, let's get out of here first." After speaking, Elysia pulled Lin Li and walked into the rooftop door.

"Okay..." Lin Li didn't seem disappointed.

Even though she didn't know what was happening, she decided to take things one step at a time.

The two walked through the tall building for a while. Along the way, they encountered many monsters similar to Mantis, but Elysia dealt with them easily.

From that moment on, Lin Li looked at Elysia with a newfound sense of admiration and worship, and of course, a touch of envy.

"You don't have to look at me like that. Don't think I'm this amazing just because of how I am now. I've been training for a long time, I'm just a little bit stronger than ordinary people," Elysia said with a smile, sensing the intense gaze from behind her.

"But I feel like you could kill several of me with one punch," Lin Li said sincerely.

"Uh... what kind of description is that? It's a bit exaggerated," Elysia shook her head, then suddenly leaned closer to Lin Li, observing her carefully.

"What's your name? You're so pretty, your name must be beautiful too, right?"

"Lin Li."

As if unaccustomed to Elysia suddenly getting so close, Lin Li took a step back.

Just now, she could clearly see the slight flutter of the girl's eyelashes and her bright blue eyes, which looked rather cunning.

"It really is a beautiful name," Elysia praised. "My name is Elysia, remember that, okay?"

"Okay."

Lin Li nodded, committing the name to memory.

So there are people with the surname Ai in this world. I guess that's to be expected in a world I've transmigrated to.

"Um, can you please let go of my hand now?" Lin Li felt her wrist being gripped tighter and tighter, and couldn't help but say.

"No way. If you get into danger, how can I pull you to safety immediately?" Elysia refused.

She's finally met such a cute girl! I have to spend more time with her. Otherwise, after today, who knows when I'll meet her again.

There was actually another way: invite Lin Li to join Flame-Moth as a soldier. But judging by Lin Li's performance against the Mantis just now... that would probably be pretty difficult, right?

After a while, they cleared all the monsters in the tall building.

To be precise, Elysia cleared them all by herself. Lin Li's role was... to just ensure her own safety.

Strangely, Lin Li was the only living person in this building?

Elysia began to look at the somewhat frail girl in front of her with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Uh, why are you looking at me like that? You're not going to kill me to silence me, are you..."

Lin Li trembled at the look in her eyes, already preparing to step away.

This Elysia was so powerful; if she had to fight her, she probably wouldn't last a few seconds.

"Kill you to silence you? Why would you think that?" Elysia tilted her head at the question. "I was wondering where we should go now."

"But didn't you arrive by helicopter?" Lin Li asked.

"Yeah, but... the pilot probably thought I arrived in a rather unconventional way, so they just dropped me off here to rescue survivors." Elysia sighed, a hint of sadness in her expression.

Seeing Elysia's demeanor, Lin Li wanted to comfort her, but as a shut-in who had never even held a boy's hand, comforting someone... seemed a bit difficult.

Even though the other person was a girl, she looked a little older than her.

After holding back for a long time, Lin Li finally managed to say:

"Don't be sad."

"I'm not sad, thank you for your concern, Little Li?" Elysia smiled happily.

It was like a flower blooming in spring, warm and bright, momentarily dazzling Lin Li.

"Actually, I did arrive in a rather unconventional way. That's my little secret, don't tell anyone, okay?"

"..."

Then why were you sad just now, making me think about how to comfort you?

Lin Li rolled her eyes, thinking to herself.

The two left the tall building and stepped onto the city streets.

The sky was filled with dust and smoke, and monsters of various shapes and sizes, colored white and pink, roamed the streets.

"Where did those people go? I remember seeing a lot of people running around up there."

"They should have evacuated on their own. After all, they received notification from Flame-Moth at the very beginning of the disaster."

Elysia casually shot down a monster and walked forward, speaking without looking back.

"Flame-Moth? What's that?"

"It's where I'm from, sort of like... an army, specializing in dealing with Honkai." Elysia thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Actually, I only joined Flame-Moth a few days ago, so I don't really know much about it either."

"..."

Lin Li was still being pulled along by Elysia.

The desolation of the streets perfectly mirrored the ruins around them. Just looking at it filled one with a sense of despair.

This must have been a prosperous city once, but now there was nothing left.

What exactly was Honkai? It was so powerful that it could summon monsters she had never even seen before...

Lin Li once again marveled at how different things were in this other world.

"So what should we do now? Weren't you going to evacuate people?"

"The people have already been evacuated. We're going to hunt down a powerful individual now." Elysia pointed at the sky, at the golden figure Lin Li had seen earlier.

"That's a Herrscher. That's the name Flame-Moth gave her, meaning... someone very powerful, or something like that?"

"Uh, she certainly looks powerful. Is she a bad person?" Lin Li asked curiously.

"I don't know if she's a bad person, but she's the culprit behind this city's current state. That's all I need to know."

As Elysia spoke, her eyes narrowed slightly, and she pulled Lin Li behind her. The two hid in an alley that hadn't completely turned into ruins.

A few seconds later, a wormhole suddenly appeared where the two had been standing. The next moment, the golden figure from the sky was hovering over the street, surveying its surroundings.

"Shh..."

Elysia gently covered Lin Li's mouth, preventing her from making any sound.

She had almost not noticed that the Herrscher had seen them. Fortunately, she reacted quickly, or it would have been over.

"Mmph..."

As it turned out, having your mouth covered was really uncomfortable, but she could feel that Elysia wasn't joking. The tension radiating from the other person was proof enough.

Perhaps she was even more nervous than Lin Li was right now.

The Herrscher lingered there for a few dozen seconds. After confirming there were no living beings within her sight, she returned to the sky.

She flew off towards another location, where a large group of modern armed troops awaited her.

Elysia finally released Lin Li's mouth.

"Actually, you…"

"Shhh…"

Elysia placed her index finger on Lin Li's lips, signaling her to stop talking.

After waiting for a while longer and confirming that the Herrscher had completely left, Elysia's expression returned to normal.

"Actually, you could have just covered my mouth for a bit and then let go. I know how to do things without making a sound."

"Mm… Sorry about that, I'll be more careful next time~" Elysia gave a sheepish smile.

But in her heart, she was thinking: Lin Li's lips are so soft. If I pinch them, will they swell up?

"And there's a next time?"

"…"

Elysia pulled her out of the alley.

"Uh, so are we going to fight that guy now? She's flying in the sky, how can that possibly be doable?"

"But that's the mission of us Flame-Moths."

"But I'm just an ordinary person. How about… you take me to a safe place first?" Lin Li asked tentatively.

Although she felt it was unlikely, because from Elysia's demeanor, it was clear she was dead set on going after that Herrscher, and didn't seem particularly concerned about her own safety.

Besides, she was just a weakling with low stats in everything and no weapons, wouldn't going to fight anyone be a suicide mission?

"Hmm… Alright, but I actually don't know of any safe places around here. How about you, Little Li, just follow me for now? When I go to fight, you can find a safe place to wait for me, okay?" Elysia turned back, looking a bit troubled.

"Okay…"

"Can you stop calling me Little Li? It sounds… a bit strange to me."

"You'll get used to it if I keep calling you that. Or, you could call me Eli? I'd be very happy if a cute girl called me that~" Elysia said with a smile.

"…Never mind, call me whatever you want." Lin Li relented.

Does this person's thinking operate differently from normal people?