Kiana's Awakening!

After dealing with the Honkai beast tide, Ye Li brought Kiana back into the fighter jet's cockpit and gave her some basic treatment.

"A blessing in disguise—luckily the wound isn't deep. Otherwise, Kiana, this operation of ours would've been over before it started."

Ye Li's words made Kiana a bit embarrassed.

Because before the operation even began, Ye Li had reminded her to come up with a tactic first and think things through.

But Kiana's single-track mind had ignored his advice, leading to this mess.

Even so, Ye Li hadn't shown any dissatisfaction with her. Instead, he patiently helped bandage her wound.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that, in Kiana's eyes, Ye Li cared about her more than her deadbeat dad who'd been missing for years.

If Ye Li hadn't made it clear that his feelings for her were just friendly, Kiana might've thought he had a crush on her.

At that thought, Kiana's face flushed slightly, and she muttered, "Sorry about that, I just now..."

Before Kiana could finish, the fighter's communication device suddenly crackled to life.

"Ye Li, what's the situation? Have you linked up with Kiana?"

"Reporting, Major Himeko. I've rendezvoused with Kiana, and we're about to head for the Moonlight Throne."

"Copy that. Proceed as planned. Prepare for landing!"

After cutting the comms, Ye Li, who was piloting the fighter, turned his head to look at Kiana and asked, "Kiana, what were you about to say?"

Kiana shook her head at that. "Nothing, I was just... just too happy that I'm about to see Mei soon!"

Well, a Kiana is a Kiana—once that keyword was triggered, she went full orange-and-purple vibes.

After a flight, Ye Li and Kiana landed safely on the deck of the massive battleship called the Moonlight Throne.

Kiana immediately sent a message to Himeko, the operation's commander, to report in.

"Himeko, Ye Li and I are on the deck. Everything's smooth!"

"How many times do I have to correct you? It's not 'Himeko,' it's 'Major Himeko'..."

Seeming to realize that Kiana wasn't alone on the other end of the comms, Himeko, who was about to blow up, quickly changed her tone.

"Ahem... Here's the new order. This battleship will self-destruct in about thirty minutes. We must secure its control unit and prevent it from destroying Canghai City!"

Kiana & Ye Li: "Understood!"

"Oh, and your teammates have already reached their designated positions. They should be contacting you soon..."

"Mei! You mean Mei, right? I'm going to meet up with Mei soon, aren't I?"

Seeming to sense the citrusy scent wafting from the comms, Himeko let out a helpless sigh.

"Kiana, calm down. We're still on a mission. Don't have your head full of 'Mei, Mei' all the time.

According to reports from other squads, they've spotted several Emperor-class Honkai Beasts near the battleship. This is unusual. Be careful."

"Heh, Himeko, don't underestimate me~" Kiana said smugly. "I... Ye Li and I just took down a Honkai Emperor together~"

Seeming surprised that Kiana had defeated a Honkai Emperor, Himeko on the other end of the comms was momentarily speechless.

Then she snapped out of it and turned to ask Ye Li, "Ye Li, did you just..."

"Major Himeko, it was thanks to Kiana that we were able to complete the Honkai Emperor's subjugation."

Kiana never expected Ye Li to credit her with most of the work for taking down the Honkai Emperor.

After all, aside from that one Neko Charm kick at the start, she'd basically been on the sidelines observing.

And Ye Li's gesture of giving Kiana the credit naturally won him plenty of favor from netizens in the real world—especially the female ones.

"Ye Li, you... ah..." Before Himeko could finish, a new voice came through the comms.

"Kiana, this is Mei. I've safely reached the target area."

"Mei!" The moment she heard Mei's voice, Kiana jumped up. "Great! I'm coming over to you now!"

The girl's enthusiasm left Mei on the other end a bit flustered.

"Huh? Wait, Kiana, we should follow the operation plan..."

"Oh, come on! We're the perfect duo! Together, we'll... we'll 'get half the results with twice the effort'!"

Listening to Kiana's Bug Talk over the comms, Mei said helplessly, "You mean 'get twice the results with half the effort.'"

"Oh, whatever the word is! The plan says 'adapt flexibly to the situation' anyway! Mei, just wait for me!"

With that, Kiana dashed off without looking back toward Mei's location, leaving Himeko's frustrated shouts echoing in the air.

"That Kiana!" With things as they were, Himeko had no choice but to let it go and turned to Ye Li. "Then I'll leave the other side to you. Thanks for the hard work, Ye Li."

Ye Li nodded at that. "Major Himeko, don't mention it. It's my duty."

"Ye Li, there's no one else here. You can call me Himeko like before. 'Major' sounds a bit too formal."

Himeko's slightly hesitant voice came through the comms. "And back in that Shenzhou mission, if it weren't for you, I'd probably have..."

"Himeko, we're comrades who've been through life and death together. No need to be so polite with me." Ye Li said with a smile. "Besides, you're the one who kept drilling into Kiana and the others that 'titles must be used during missions.'"

"You're great in every way, so why did you have to be born with a mouth?"

Himeko, who had been teased, flushed slightly and irritably cut off the communication.

However, after hanging up, her rosy cheeks slowly grew complicated. "Just comrades...?"

Real World—

"So after all that watching, Ye Li's the real protagonist? How else do you explain every character showing up having some vague relationship with him?"

"I'm done! Ye Li gets way too much screentime. I thought this was about cute girls bonding, but it's turning into a harem? Dropping it, dropping it!"

"Did the guy above even watch the video seriously? Just because one male character appears among a group of females, it's automatically a harem? And Ye Li already said his feelings for Kiana and Himeko are friendship, right?"

"Exactly. And even if they did get together, so what? They're a perfect match—who are you monsters to oppose them?"

"From my years of experience in the anime world, characters like Ye Li, who are more than friends but less than lovers, usually don't end well. Maybe the writer will kill him off to help the protagonist grow."

"No way! I finally found the male wife of my life—don't write him off!"

"You little punk.jpg. That's your male wife? He's clearly mine!!!"

Just as the netizens were bickering, the video suddenly cut to Kiana's side.

Dual pistols in hand, Kiana fended off the Honkai soldiers charging at her while sprinting nonstop toward Mei, shouting loudly:

"Aaaah! I can't stand another minute! It's been 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 38 seconds since I last saw Mei!

Annoying Honkai soldiers and Honkai Beasts—don't block my way to Mei!!!"

Kiana's nonsensical words instantly shifted the tone of the arguing netizens.

"Kiana is so fun! She even counts her longing down to the second!"

"The Kiana x Mei faction says the market's looking great! Everyone buy in high!"

"See? The scent of oranges is the most wonderful smell in the world!"

"Only Kiana can unconsciously influence everyone with every move she makes."

Even the real Kiana, watching the video from in front of the screen, felt a stir inside:

"Wow! The me in the video is so cool... Okay! I've decided—from now on, I'll count my longing for Mei down to the second too!"