Susanna

He looked at the faint red mark on his wrist, barely a centimeter long. It would have been impossible to notice without looking closely. His fingers brushed over it, and a hint of worry rose in his heart.

But what worried him even more was, "Where am I sleeping tonight?"

There was nowhere for him to stay at all!

Dragging his sack along, Li Ming could only look for some kind person to lend him a phone. Not many people in Shenzhou owned phones at this time. Even carrying a Little Smart was impressive, while flip phones were the envy of everyone. Most people had landlines installed at home, and after looking around, he found that few shops had them either.

There were still phone booths, though. Public phone booths could still be found everywhere at this time. It had to be said that, even after changing worlds, the development of civilization was more or less the same. Perhaps his old world had also been constrained by Honkai.

Steadying his thoughts, Li Ming quickly found a phone booth. He checked it first and was relieved to see that it took coins. If it had been a card-operated booth, he would have had to figure out how to take it apart.

He squatted down and felt around. There were usually coins that had fallen out after someone failed to insert them properly. Some people could not find them right away, decided to forget it, and inserted another one instead.

And that was exactly the kind of coin he was looking for. Still, complaints were complaints—the phone booth really was inconvenient. He held his breath and focused. His thoughts spread across the ground like a spiderweb, tiny arcs of electricity flickering over the pavement.

Then, a coin rolled right up to him.

"Heh, that's really useful! I love Su."

Su, in the Elysian Realm, suddenly felt uncomfortable all over.

Li Ming flicked the coin in his hand, casually tossed it into the phone booth, and flipped through the phone book until he found his home number. Honestly, when he left home, aside from a phone and money, Grandpa had packed everything from pots and bowls to ladles. Was Grandpa planning to have him sleep under an overpass and carve out an empire in Qinghe City?

Beep, beep, beep, beep...

He picked up the receiver. "Hello, Grandpa? Where does that Uncle Su you mentioned live?"

"Good grandson, you've already arrived? I put the address in your bag. Look through it carefully."

"It's in the bag, right? Okay, I'll look!"

"Oh, Ming, after you get to the big city, listen more to what your Uncle Su says. You can't go wrong listening to them. Don't worry, before you left, I already prayed to the immortals for you. You'll have a smooth journey."

"Okay, okay. I'm hanging up, then! Phone charges are expensive."

"Hey, take care of yourself. Be extra careful out there..."

The receiver dropped back onto the phone booth hook, and Li Ming let out a breath. He still could not completely accept his current identity. His memories clearly contained a grandfather like this, and he could feel the warmth coming from the other end of the line when they spoke, but he still found it hard to accept.

Still, when his own parents learned that he had died after being blown up by a phone while working away from home, would they be devastated? He could only hope that the original owner of this body had gone to his world instead. A world without Honkai, with both parents alive and well. That would be nice. Savings? Who cared about savings? Being alive was enough.

But a smooth journey? Thinking about how he had just blown up a Pseudo Black Hole, Li Ming felt that his luck might have been a little terrible today.

But the immortal Grandpa prayed to... could that have been Immortal Fu? Then I think I understand.

He rummaged through his huge sack and, after much effort, found his bag. Li Ming opened it and looked at the address inside. "Shanshui Villa, Yanshui District, Qinghe City."

He walked and stopped along the way, constantly asking for directions. By the time he found the place, it was almost midnight. There was no helping it—he had forgotten to ask where the money was. Rather than dig through the woven sack himself, he might as well take the Number 11 bus. Still, that was nothing to Li Ming. He was a college student commando, after all, and had the Elysian Realm's support. No problem.

The only issue was that the security guard stopped him at the entrance and would not let him in. If the guard had not called for Uncle Su to come out, Li Ming would not have known what to do.

Speaking of which, Li Ming wanted to complain again. He was coming all this way, yet Grandpa had not even called ahead to notify them. He had just told him to buy a ticket and fly over.

"Big brother, my name is Susanna. What's yours?"

"My name is Li Ming."

Looking at Susanna, who was probably not even three years old yet, Li Ming rubbed her little bun-shaped hair. A servant took his sack and carried it into his room.

"Xiaoming, just treat this place like your own home. Don't be scared, and don't overthink things. Your grandfather told me about it, so I understand. You must be having trouble adjusting after coming to this city. It's fine. Stay at Uncle's house for as long as you need. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask Susanna."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle!"

Uncle Su's enthusiasm made Li Ming somewhat unaccustomed to it, but he obediently thanked him anyway. He should accept other people's kindness, after all.

Susanna took his hand and led him upstairs to see his room, while Uncle Su sat in the living room drinking tea.

"Big Brother Li Ming, is it fun outside? Dad said I'm still too young, but once I start kindergarten, he'll let me go outside to play."

Looking at the tiny little Susanna, Li Ming felt emotional for a moment. This little girl would grow up to be graceful and beautiful someday.

He smiled and patted Susanna's head. "Haha, I just got here too. But I'll write about all the fun things outside in a diary for you, so you'll know where the fun places are."

"Okay, okay! Then let's pinky promise!"

And just like that, Li Ming, this evil man, had tricked another little girl.

Absolutely heartless. Absolutely heartless!

"Dinner's ready, Susanna! Bring Big Brother Li Ming downstairs to eat!"

"Okay!"

Li Ming followed Susanna downstairs with a thump-thump-thump.

There were not many people in the house. Li Ming did not see Susanna's mother, but she was probably out somewhere, or perhaps abroad. After all, Uncle Su had black hair, while Susanna's bright yellow hair was impossible to ignore.

Clearly, little Susanna's mother was not from Shenzhou. As for where she had gone, Li Ming did not feel it was appropriate to ask. He had only just arrived, so it was better not to bring up such matters yet.

But wasn't Susanna from the Middle East squad?

Hmm... just because her family owned mines did not mean the mine owner had to be in the country. Or perhaps the one with mines was her mother. Thinking about it that way, it made sense again.

After dinner, Susanna watched television. Though calling it a television drama would not be quite right—it was more like a live-action special effects show. Yes, it was Destiny Valkyries fighting Honkai. This episode seemed to be the story of Cecilia fighting Sirin three times.

What, you're asking how I could tell? How could I possibly mistake my mother-in-law for a pufferfish?

All he could say was that Lord Bishop really knew how to have fun!

He did not dare say anything, and he did not dare ask. Watching was enough. It was made for children, after all. The fact that they had not brought Miss Kira out to sing was already merciful enough.

"Xiaoming, do you have any plans? Your grandfather hoped that I would arrange work for you, but I know you're already a college student, and your grades are good too. You still have potential to continue your studies. I would personally recommend that you keep studying, but Uncle still wants to hear your thoughts."

Su Qizhe looked at him. He thought highly of this young man. He was willing to learn and capable of learning. With proper training, he definitely would not turn out badly. Whether Li Ming assisted him or was cultivated into one of his core people, either would be a good choice.

Li Ming thought about it. He was penniless right now, but further study was also a good choice. The scientific progress in Honkai Impact was absurd—things like Cocolia's Great Father and Dr. Tesla's Peacekeeper.

His mind was full of mechs. Come on, mechs were insanely cool!

After thinking it over, Li Ming still felt that continuing his studies would be better. "Uncle Su, I think I still have plenty of room to improve academically. But my family circumstances aren't good right now, so I need to solve my living expenses."

"It's good that you think that way. As for everything else, Uncle Su will arrange it for you."

Seeing that Li Ming was motivated and had considered matters thoroughly, Su Qizhe could not help nodding. This young man really had potential.

Seeing Su Qizhe wave a hand and prepare to solve all his problems, Li Ming hurriedly stopped him. "Uncle Su, I already have a way to solve my financial problems. It's fine. I've already contacted a friend."

"You don't know the place or the people here. What friends could you possibly know? Don't worry about it. Uncle isn't an outsider. Helping you make arrangements isn't a big deal," Su Qizhe said, assuming that he was embarrassed.

Li Ming could only take out the business card Raiden Ryoma had given him and hand it to Su Qizhe. "Uncle Su, the person on this card said he wanted me to work for him. The monthly salary is 150,000!"

He appropriately showed a bit of childishness so that no one would suspect him. After all, he was telling the truth.

Su Qizhe's gaze sharpened. He turned the business card over and over in his hand before finally focusing on the gilded ME Company logo.

"Raiden Ryoma, president of ME Company? Xiaoming, you really are fortunate. Gold will shine wherever it is! Then Uncle Su won't interfere. But Uncle Su will still arrange your path for further study. When the time comes, prepare to resign early. Uncle Su will have a talk with President Ryoma."

After saying that, Su Qizhe took the phone and went alone into another room. Li Ming did not know what they talked about, but he knew that he probably could not escape becoming a security guard.

Still, Li Ming was not worried about that. What he cared about more was what he had just obtained. Moon God's Protection no longer needed to be enhanced, but he had no stigmata or armor. Once he got them, he would need to enhance them all over again, so he could save up everything he had just obtained.

Yep, he was an old hoarder.

Another day of being short on materials.

That night, lying in bed, Li Ming closed his eyes and felt his brain working at high speed. A blue interface appeared in his mind, accompanied by the music of the bridge.

He looked at his stamina. It had become 24. He guessed he gained one stamina potion per hour. Perhaps he would have more time after leveling up, but he was only level 15 right now. With no story stages to farm, leveling up was painfully slow.

There was no helping it. He should go to the Elysian Realm and accept commissions.

Actually, there were only three stamina potions a day in the Elysian Realm, but accepting commission missions was different. Once he accepted one, fifteen stamina potions would vanish instantly. The remaining stamina would let him stay in the Elysian Realm for around four days, but Li Ming still needed to find Su to deal with the Honkai corruption. There probably would not be enough time.

But Li Ming could not be bothered to worry about that. He would look at the commissions first.

Find Canned Food. Pardofelis's favorability increased by 10. Obtain the signet Valuable, Shiny: killing monsters granted extra shiny silver coins. Lower-ranked monsters gave five, while higher-ranked monsters gave 100.

Looking at this mission, Li Ming did not immediately set off. He had no guide, after all. Since entering the Elysian Realm, he had rarely run into Pardo and did not know what she had been busy with. Whenever he did see Pardo, he had never seen Canned Food with her.

But he clearly remembered that the description for the Elysian Realm carry item Hundred Flavors Empty Joy mentioned that Pardo loved cats very much. Yet ever since undergoing the MANTIS surgery, she had never again been welcomed by any cat. Canned Food was merely a small comfort she had found for herself.

And in the original Elysian Realm storyline, Canned Food had also been a cat that appeared after she uploaded her memories into the Elysian Realm. There was no telling whether the Elysian Realm in Li Ming's mind was synchronized with that one.

After thinking for a long time, Li Ming decided not to use his stamina hastily. He still needed to learn more. Lying on the bed, the mark on his wrist glowed faintly red, but Li Ming did not pay it much attention. After all, unless he remained in contact with Honkai Energy for a long time, his symptoms would not worsen.

If it really came down to it, Li Ming would just agree to Raiden Ryoma's offer. It was not a big deal. At least it was not Honkai disease.