Luming: This Is What Life Is Like~

Today, the Luming's Courtyard is also beautiful, with a gentle breeze and bright sunshine.

The Guotie were enjoying the petting and feeding from the children, while their father, Brother Jie, grumbled beside them, "Hey, you little rascals, watch yourselves! This bear is filthy. Remember to wash your hands properly before you touch it! And wash them again after you're done!"

Cosmo stood melanchol under the cherry blossom tree that Luming had just bought and planted last month, his right hand resting on the trunk, looking like a handsome man who had suffered a setback in his love life.

Griseo and Jilin brought over their easels and palettes and started painting wildly nearby.

"Griseo, aren't you done yet? My arm is a little sore..."

"Please wait a moment, the female lead who's pinned to the tree isn't finished drawing yet..."

???

In the room, Kane was video chatting with Julia:

"Tell me, where have you and that Luming gone recently? What did you do? Who did you meet? Did anything happen between you two?!"

"Julia, I already said we're just friends... I just went to fight some monsters with Luming recently."

"Would it really cost you days of being out of contact just to deal with some minor monsters?!"

"(I was Kidnapping by the World Serpent those few days... but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise... don't overthink it!)"

Kane is panicking because Luming Lady has unknowingly maxed out his progress in the strategy.

In a vast forest somewhere—

A young girl in the prime of her life was digging a hole with a shovel, one stroke at a time. Once the hole was big enough, she put down her tools, carefully placed the sapling that was at her feet into the hole, and then filled the hole to secure the sapling.

After planting a tree, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a break. Looking at her classmates doing the same thing, she complained helplessly, "Although I'm very willing to do this voluntary work of planting trees to improve the ecological environment, we are Valkyrie, why do we have to do this kind of task?!"

"Stop complaining! We're not combat-type Valkyrie. Planting trees is better than staying in the St. Freya Academy all day, right? Besides, the headmistress specially invited the famous idol Luming Lady, to cheer us on." Her friend's eyes lit up as she looked at the Idol Lady sitting under the shade of a tree feeding an apple to a blonde loli. "Plant 10 trees and you can get an autograph, 20 trees for a photo, 50 trees for a live performance, 100 trees for a costumed performance by Luming ... This isn't just voluntary labor; it's practically a perk the headmistress gave us!"

Seeing her friend had gone into a frenzy, the Valkyrie could only sigh silently and continue planting trees, muttering, "Just an autograph, just an autograph..."

PS: Chen Xilumeng is extremely popular on Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.

Shi'an sat on Luming's lap, watching the barren area that had once been nothing but tree stumps being filled with greenery again. She hummed a tune happily. Luming patted her head contentedly and said triumphantly, "See? I didn't lie to you, did I?"

"Mmm! So, does the promise of an endless supply of apples still stand?" Shi'an looked up, her two bright, ruby-like eyes gazing at her with a pitiful expression.

Don't look at me with such cute eyes... I'm about to bleed from cuteness!

"Let's wait until the apple trees are planted. It's winter now, and apples can only be grown in greenhouses. Or should I take you to the Southern Hemisphere?"

"Huh?"

The Idol Lady, who had been exploiting her classmates to be her free labor, leisurely hummed a song. Although she had almost died from exhaustion while creating a body for Shi'an, as long as Xingchen and the others were happy, that was all that mattered. For the older sister, if her younger sister remained in that inhuman, ghostly state, even if she said she didn't care, she would still feel terrible inside, right? Just like when she and her younger sister used to quarrel...

"..." Luming closed her eyes and buried her face in Shi An's ponytail. The little girl noticed that her mood had suddenly become depressed and stuffed the apple she was about to eat into her hand.

It's so nice to have a little sister! I'm quite envious of Bronya, and Stardust and the others... I don't know if it's just my imagination, but apart from Cang Qiong, it seems like I really do raise Stardust and the others like daughters... Don't get the wrong idea! I'm so young, I don't even have kids yet!!!

Luming, or rather Xing, was very frustrated. He originally thought that he had performed so poorly in front of Shi An, and that it would be a favor if this girl didn't hit him with a hammer when they met again. But it turned out that she seemed to have accidentally triggered Cecilia's power and had a transformation that was bound to happen sooner or later. Unfortunately, it happened during the process of creating a body for Shi An, and she unconsciously hugged Shi An...

As a result, Shian said that at that time she felt a warmth from her mother that she had never felt before.

Mother-in-law, you're more of a hindrance than a help... Could it be because of you that Brother Jie is complaining that I'm becoming more and more like a mother hen?!

P. S.: Calling Cecilia "mother-in-law" is just a matter of habit. Fortunately, there won't be any opportunity to call Sigfried and his wife "father-in-law" or "mother-in-law" in this story; he and the Kiana are just siblings at most. As for whether that certain lily-like Kiana might have ulterior motives towards his sister... guess?

Hehe~

In short, I'm looking forward to the later plot where the father-in-law mistakes Luming Lady for his wife and is then killed by the furious Kiana. Just thinking about it makes me want to have fun!

P. S.: Kiana won't be the only one watching from the sidelines~ Let's pray my father-in-law doesn't get beaten to death. As compensation, my mother-in-law will eventually let him take her home.

This Silly Loli's motto is: Cause trouble! Cause trouble! Cause trouble! I'll say it three times because it's important: As long as I live, I'll cause trouble!

A small wormhole appeared above the basket full of apples next to the two of them. A small hand, as smooth as white jade, reached out from inside, groped around for a while, and successfully found the location of the apples. Just as it was about to take a few back, Luming, who had received a report from Shi An, looked up and quickly grabbed Xing Chen's hand.

"Get out here right now, or you're not going home for dinner!"

"LaLa! No! Haiyi told me to get it!" Stardust Baby frantically expanded the wormhole radius to teleport herself here, and also pulled a certain jellyfish over along the way.

Haiyi:???

"Sister Chen, you betrayed me! You were the one who suggested it first!"

"Nonsense! You're clearly the main culprit!"

Seeing the Starfruit Spirit and jellyfish spirit about to fight, Luming pressed her temples a few times, only to feel a headache coming on.

Fine, I'll take care of you five, I'm adopting you all! Where's the last Little Firebird? Come out quickly so I can complete my Pokédex!

Luming pulled the two, who were acting like drama queens, apart and gave each of them a flick on the forehead. "Alright, alright, stop arguing! Here, want some apples? You each have to plant 10 apple trees! Otherwise, don't come home!"

"I'm going right now!!! ×2"

The Valkyrie, who was watching the drama unfold, said, "Who are those girls? They seem to be very close to Luming."

Valkyrie #2, the bystander. "I don't know, maybe Luming's friend."

Note: Luming opened the filter of consciousness, Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross.

Hiding behind a large rock, Cang Qiong witnessed everything and felt a burning sensation on his face. Couldn't these silly little sisters act a bit more like immortal beings? At least be a little more mature! To be lectured like this by a human who's barely twenty years old—it's too embarrassing...

Embarrassment aside, business still needed to be dealt with. Cang Qiong raised her hand, and pure wind elements condensed into a bow and arrow in her hand, pointing at the white-haired woman who was also observing in the shadows like her. "Please state your purpose, unknown... lady?"

Cang Qiong could tell that the other party was not human. Compared to superhumans like Luming, the other party was closer to beings like himself who only had a human appearance.

"Don't be so tense, I mean you or her no harm." Mystelyn waved her hand, signaling her to put down her weapon. "That girl has something to do with me, well, she's... my niece's childhood sweetheart?"

Cang Qiong:???

Although she could more or less see that Luming was destined for many romantic encounters, weren't her interpersonal relationships a bit too chaotic? Did she attract both men and women? This entertainment circle is truly messy.

"As for why she acted the same way I did back then..." Mystelyn paused for 0.1 seconds, then gave an innocent look. "Would you believe me if I said it was just a coincidence?"

What do you think?

The two mature women were locked in a fierce battle, and the atmosphere gradually turned cold. But just then, Mystelyn suddenly sensed something, smiled faintly at Cang Qiong, and then disappeared from Cang Qiong sight.

"Instant teleportation? No, it's more like leaving this world directly." Cang Qiong frowned. "Although I had some understanding of the calamity called [Honkai] in the previous eras of this world, is my understanding still too shallow? It doesn't matter, time is not a problem for us, and we have no right to interfere with [Honkai]. We just need to wait for Minus to awaken in one [cycle] after another, and then defeat him..."

(What timeline do you think the Five-Dimensional Sisters are in?)

—Welcome to the main character of this chapter—

"It's all over! It's all over! It's all over!!!"

It was another bright morning. The blonde girl hurriedly took off her bear pajamas, quickly dressed, and rushed out the door.

Oh my god! The alarm clock I bought online a few days ago broke right after I used it! I spent so much of my allowance on it! I'm definitely going to give that rip-off shop a five-star review someday! Wait, the most important thing now is that being late for training in the morning is fine, but yesterday when we dismissed the team, Captain Matira said she was coming to inspect us this morning! I'm doomed!!!

Unsurprisingly, she was given a severe scolding by the "kind and amiable" Captain Matira, who seemed to be very disappointed in her.

"You are the talents I handpicked from the pool of Reserve Valkyrie. Can't you even endure this little bit of hardship? If you don't work hard now, how will you face those Honkai Beasts and Honkai zombie Squads on the battlefield in the future?! Look at the Fire Moth Squad of the Far East Branch. Their monthly performance is equivalent to our annual output! Learn from their desperate and hardworking attitude and fighting spirit!"

The Phosphorus Sand Squad members' inner monologue. "We don't have a vice-captain with cheat codes. How about you do us the trouble and hunt down a high-level Honkai Beast for us? We don't need Judgment Class, Emperor Class will be enough."

Just kidding, who in the entire Schicksal doesn't know the famous Fire-Chasing Squad?

Captain Kiana is the daughter of Siegfried, the former Kaslana Patriarch Schicksal betrayed Sigfried, and Cecilia, the former Schicksal Saintess. The daughter of Double S-Rank beings will definitely be an S-class in the future!

Raiden Mei is the daughter of a key member of the former rival organization Anti-Entropy, and also Suitable Candidate to Gem of Conquest. How did this young lady get kidnapped and brought to St. Freya? Was she really not sent by Anti-Entropy as a spy?

Bronya used to be an assassin, supposedly a legendary figure in the assassin world known as the "Ural's Silver Wolf." Seriously?! How did she even get into St. Freya's?! Doesn't she care about the safety of her classmates?!

As for Wendy, needless to say, she was one of the most promising Valkyrie to reach S-class back then. When she lost her Valkyrie status due to her Gem of Desire, countless people felt sorry for her. In the end, she lost the Gem of Desire attack and returned to the battlefield.

Fortunately, the glorious deeds of this cheater have been mentioned many times in this book, so I won't go into detail here.

Leaving aside the other new members whose backgrounds are unclear, this lineup alone is luxurious enough: 3 SSRs plus a continuously evolving UR. This lineup is too unfair, isn't it?

Furthermore, Kiana and Wendy have a relationship with the headmistress Theresa, and many people who tried to poach them have failed. As for those who wanted to take advantage of them... well, that's the illegitimate child of the Lord Bishop's granddaughter. Do you dare to touch him?

PS: Although he is nominally an adopted son, based on the appearance of his Silly Mom and Sachi, everyone in the Schicksal tacitly agrees that Sachi is the child that Theresa secretly gave birth to after being taken advantage of by some bastard.

His Lord Bishop didn't have any objection to this kind of public opinion. Anyway, he knew that his granddaughter and great-granddaughter were innocent. He just had to be wary of that vixen who was hiding somewhere... Rita, it's up to you!

Susanna was lost in thought when Matira, seeing that she dared to daydream while she was giving a lecture, became even angrier and punished her by making her clean the floors outside the base that day.

Little did she know that this punishment would cause her to lose this promising subordinate once again, given the shift in the timeline.

Xiongxiong felt wronged. What a bad day! First, her alarm clock broke, then she got scolded by the captain, and then she was punished by having to mop the floor. She'll eat more tonight to vent her anger.

Despite her resentment, Susanna still had to obey her superiors' orders. Lost in thought, she mopped the floor, her cute little face contorted in frustration. The captain had said that if she was late again, he'd call her parents in for a talk. Seriously, this wasn't a teacher calling parents for a meeting; was it really necessary? But if she were called in, she might very well be taken back by her parents to inherit their family business!

"Waaah, I don't want to be a jewelry merchant! What's so great about it besides money?" Susanna, oblivious to her good fortune, secretly wiped away a tear. "Besides, being a merchant means attending all sorts of banquets and social events. I don't want to perform so many talents! Putting aside the embarrassment, it's exhausting!"

"I might end up as a tool for arranged marriages. I want to marry the person I love..." Susanna, who had read too many novels, was lost in thought. But her parents must be very open-minded, otherwise they wouldn't have agreed to let their daughter become Valkyrie with an extremely high risk factor, right? Although they had always wanted her to return to her old profession.

Perhaps they thought their daughter couldn't handle hardship and wanted her to give up at the beginning, but Susanna rose to the challenge and proved her parents wrong?

Okay, neither outcome matters now, because—

As Susanna dragged her things along, she suddenly noticed a flyer on the floor with an unclear meaning. Curious, she picked it up and read its contents aloud, word by word:

Do you want to become S-Rank Valkyrie?

Do you want to be the center of attention?

Do you want to meet the idols you've always dreamed of meeting?

Welcome to our professional Valkyrie Training Class!

Susanna tilted her head and blinked her confused little eyes. Who put this thing in here that looks like one of those small advertisements you see on the street? This is the Schicksal Branch, after all. Even the outer area isn't a place just anyone can enter. Should we go and take a look? Anyway, the training fee isn't expensive. Even if it's a scam, we can just report it after we get out. It just so happens that the Lord Bishop is currently investigating corruption.

——Divider——

After interacting with her overly enthusiastic classmates, Luming dragged her tired body back home. Rita had already prepared a bath of just the right temperature and a full range of services for her, except that her usual smile was a little scary.

Forget it, I'm used to it. Come on, come on, I've been exhausted lately.

Rita first rinsed her body with warm water, then skillfully began to care for her flowing long hair, and then...

(Please forgive my lack of knowledge about Silly Loli; the specific bathing and massage process is omitted here.)

Rita's technique was excellent; the areas she massaged felt thoroughly relaxed. As Luming enjoyed the professional service from the Super High School Level professional maid, she couldn't help but let out a comfortable moan, thinking to herself how wonderful it was to have a maid serving her.

"Hmph, as expected of a popular idol, even the sounds made in pleasure are like a beautiful prelude. Are you satisfied with Rita's service?" Rita raised her head and teased her, then continued to concentrate on her service.

"Very satisfied, Rita. I would be even more at ease if you were a little more normal in some ways," Luming Lady muttered wistfully, then closed her eyes to continue enjoying this experience that only the upper class could have.

"By the way, the task you asked Rita to do has been completed. An investigation revealed that Natasha Siola continued to take on mercenary work privately after leaving World Serpent, and her whereabouts were difficult to track during the time she lived with you in Changkong City. It's possible..."

"I understand." Luming interrupted her, then asked, "How is Great-Grandpa doing?"

"His Lord Bishop hasn't made any major moves lately. If I had to say, he's sewn something for you and Lady Theresa again..."

"Stop, stop, stop! There's no need to report this kind of thing!" Luming interrupted Rita's report again, exhausted. "Is there any valuable information? What about the matter concerning Dr. Maki I asked you to investigate?"

"Oh, about that—" Rita finally became serious, "Although I personally led the team to capture him and bring him back to Schicksal, I had no idea what happened afterward. The Lord Bishop valued him highly, and there is a strong possibility that he secretly kept him to continue serving Schicksal."

"I see," Luming sighed. It seems that the "God-Slaying Spear" won't be so easy to obtain. If they had it, it would provide an extra layer of protection for these ticking Time Bomb in the Fire-Chasing Squad.

"But speaking of which, your body is surprisingly clean." Rita changed the subject, savoring the beauty of this body, which seemed like a perfect work of art crafted by the gods themselves. "Since becoming like this, your needs in certain areas seem to have disappeared, your digestive ability is stronger than before, and most importantly..."

Rita glanced at the pinkish bathwater, then at Luming, who was sweating profusely. "There's a Shenzhou idiom, 'naturally alluring,' which perfectly describes you."

"I'm a boy!!!" The girl tried to hide a fact that was no longer so important.

——Love Gate——

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, Susanna arrived at the location indicated on the flyer. She found several other girls with similar flyers, but they didn't seem to be Valkyrie. Just as she was wondering, a fragrant and unique scent entered her ears, and then she lost consciousness.

Before losing consciousness, Susanna's last thought was, "Oh no, how could Valkyrie encounter something like this? What if it's Kidnapping for ransom? After the captain and the others rescue me, can I just go home and sell my jewels?"