Gap Moon Shadow!
This was the special combat technique attached to Famous Sword Moon Shadow, the weapon in Qin Mo's hand. Since it was placed in the equipment slot, Qin Mo could use it skillfully even though he did not know iaijutsu.
The sharp slash, carrying silver-white sword energy, cleaved the incoming Honkai Beast in two.
Qin Mo immediately moved away from where the Honkai Beast had died.
Watching the Honkai Energy disperse from the Honkai Beast's corpse and vanish into the air, Qin Mo forced himself to wait until it had completely dissipated before daring to approach. He did not want to get infected with Honkai Energy and suffer a setback just because he was impatient.
After checking himself and confirming that no Honkai Energy had contaminated him, Qin Mo breathed a sigh of relief, put away his weapon, and prepared to leave.
"Who are you?!"
A voice suddenly came from above him. A white figure descended from the sky, her white hair braided into two plaits, with azure eyes and a baseball bat in her hand. Those distinctive traits allowed Qin Mo to recognize her at once.
"Kiana!"
"Hm? How do you know who I am?"
Kiana had originally rushed over after sensing Honkai, then hearing faint gunshots. She had jumped onto the rooftops and hurried over by leaping from one building to another.
She had not expected to run into someone who knew her.
"Hm?! Have you forgotten? It's me, Qin Mo."
There was an illustration here. It can be viewed after updating the version.
First Meeting with Kiana
Qin Mo had made preparations long ago. He had considered many ways to build a good relationship with Kiana when they met, and after much thought, he chose to lie.
The Kiana before him, or rather K423, was a clone, though she did not know it herself. As for Siegfried, Kiana's father—the fool had lost his biological daughter, while K423 had lost her memories. He projected his longing for Kiana onto K423, gave K423 his daughter's name, and caused the current Kiana to believe she had merely lost her memories.
That left plenty of room to work with.
"Even though it's been ten years, I recognized you at a glance from that familiar white hair and those eyes."
Ten years... Kiana had only possessed memories for eight years.
Though he did not explain further, under Qin Mo's misleading words, Kiana subconsciously assumed that he was someone she had known before losing her memories.
But it was still not secure enough. There were still too many doubts.
So Qin Mo struck while the iron was hot. "Why are you here? Back then, you and Uncle Siegfried suddenly moved away without even saying goodbye. I thought I'd never see you again."
"After all, I only lived there for two years. Until I left, I never saw you return."
"By the way, where is Uncle Siegfried?"
His tone was like that of old friends reuniting, and his questions were tightly connected. Qin Mo had practiced all of this long ago. Even his expression showed no flaws, perfectly conveying the emotions of someone seeing a childhood companion again.
At the same time, he took advantage of Kiana's guilt to lead her into making the wrong judgment.
Just as Qin Mo had expected, Kiana was extremely flustered right now.
Ten years ago? I only have memories from eight years ago. Could he be a friend from before my amnesia?
And he knows Dad too. He should... really be an acquaintance, right?
"Ahaha, how could I forget? Qin Mo, right? Long time no see."
Hearing Kiana's thoroughly guilty voice, Qin Mo secretly laughed to himself, but he put on a suspicious expression. "You completely forgot about me, didn't you?!"
"H-How could that be? It's just been so long that I didn't react right away."
Kiana spoke guiltily. At this point, she was still completely incapable of hiding what she was thinking.
"Then do you remember saying that you'd become my bride once we grew up?"
"Eh..."
What was childhood me doing?!
"Of course I remember, but things children say... how could..."
"Alright, I'm sure of it now. You really did forget me!"
Qin Mo directly interrupted Kiana. With a deadpan look, he stared at her. "You never said that. Back then, you only came out to play for a little while each day before going back to learn Kaslana Gun-Kata from Uncle Siegfried. You said you wanted to become the strongest Valkyrie. How could you possibly say something like that?"
While constantly taking advantage of Kiana's guilt, Qin Mo was also quietly adding credibility to his own words.
In any case, no one knew what had happened back then, and the real Kiana—Durandal—had also lost her memories.
Even if someone brought it up later, he could just say it had been childish talk.
After all, Siegfried could not possibly follow his daughter around every day and observe everything she said and did.
And Cecilia had been Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie. It was perfectly normal for Kiana to pursue the same career as her mother.
"Sorry, I really did forget."
Kiana finally realized that she had been played, but inwardly, she became even more certain that Qin Mo really knew her from before she lost her memories.
"But I didn't do it on purpose. I don't have any memories from before I was eight."
"How could that be?!"
Qin Mo thoughtfully acted out the shock of learning that an old friend had lost her memories. "So you and Uncle Siegfried moved to the Far East because of that... Well, a fresh start isn't bad either."
Kiana shook her head. "No, we used to live in Siberia. Later, that stinking old man disappeared, so I went everywhere looking for clues about him. I heard there were some leads in Chang Kong City recently, so I came here. Do you live here? Do you have any clues about that stinking old man?"
"Ah? Uncle Siegfried..."
Qin Mo shook his head. "I've been in Chang Kong City for nearly half a year, but I haven't seen him."
"But..." He looked toward the place where the Honkai Beast had vanished. "Recently, I suddenly discovered Honkai Beasts appearing here, so I came to deal with them."
"I think maybe something really has come to Chang Kong City. There had never been Honkai Beasts here before."
In reality, this was his first time dealing with a Honkai Beast, but that did not stop him from talking big. After all, he did not know whether Honkai Beasts had appeared here before, did he?
"I see. I only arrived in Chang Kong City today, and I immediately sensed a Honkai reaction. I thought they appeared here all the time."
"Then where are you planning to stay? Or are you just passing through and leaving soon?"
"A place to stay... I haven't decided yet. I found some clues earlier. That stinking old man seems to be connected to a school called Senba Academy, so I'm planning to see if I can enroll today."
Senba Academy had already missed enrollment season, but it was currently winter break, with only two or three days left until school resumed. With some methods, it would still be possible to enroll.
Qin Mo did not know how Kiana had originally enrolled, but since he was here...
"I know Senba Academy, but enrollment season has already passed. I can take you there, but you'll have to find your own way to get enrolled."
"As for a place to stay, someone near my home is renting out a room. You can go take a look."
"Okay, then thanks."
For the first time, Kiana felt how nice it was to have an acquaintance helping her.
Just as they said, rely on your parents at home and your friends outside. If she had to do it herself, just finding the way would take half a day.
Qin Mo did not introduce Kiana to Mei. First, that would be difficult to explain, and second, there was no need to introduce them yet.
As a regular at Senba Academy, Qin Mo only brought Kiana to the school gates. He wanted to avoid them refusing Kiana's enrollment because of his association with her. After all, as the only person who stayed by Raiden Mei's side, Qin Mo had plenty of people who disliked him. Some had gone to report him to teachers or the student council, but even the security guards specially hired by Raiden Mei's family had been unable to catch Qin Mo, so the students had even less chance.
Still, his "notorious reputation" had been remembered by them.
Qin Mo had no idea how Kiana did it, but she came out less than an hour after entering, already carrying a school uniform. There was no need to ask; she had obviously settled it.
"Come on. I'll take you to see the place you can stay."
Without asking any further questions, Qin Mo led Kiana toward his own residence.
"Mm!"
Holding the school uniform she had just received, Kiana nodded and followed Qin Mo's footsteps.
There was an illustration here. It can be viewed after updating the version.
Luck Absorption
Finding a place to live was not difficult. Qin Mo's home was in an apartment building, and Chang Kong City was not a particularly densely populated city, so there were quite a few vacant rentals on the same floor.
Although the apartments here were not large, Kiana had slept under bridges while wandering around, so that was not a problem.
However, after finding a suitable room, an unexpected issue arose when it came time to rent it.
"Sorry! Qin Mo, can you lend me some money?"
Qin Mo froze as he looked at Kiana standing before him with her hands pressed together. "What happened? You came to rent a place without any money?"
That did not seem right. If Kiana had no money, she definitely would have shown it.
"No... My card got frozen for some reason."
Kiana pulled out a black card and spoke dejectedly.
Although Siegfried had disappeared and left Kiana on her own, he had still left her some assets. After all, every Kaslana had an enormous appetite. If Kiana wandered around alone, she might starve to death at any moment.
Siegfried and Cecilia had both earned high salaries at Schicksal. Over several years, that had accumulated into a fortune that could not be ignored.
Frozen...
Looking at the black card, Qin Mo thought of something. He remembered seeing people mention online long ago that Kiana could not find her father because Siegfried had been indulging in the gentle comforts of St. Freya. Someone had replied that Siegfried had actually been following Kiana all along and protecting her from the shadows, simply refusing to meet her. That was why Kiana could never find him.
And Kiana's bank card had been frozen right after she completed her enrollment.
Qin Mo did not need to think to know that Kiana must have spent money to force her way into Senba Academy.
Once Siegfried learned that Kiana had enrolled, he froze her card to ensure that she did not have enough funds to continue wandering.
Qin Mo had always wondered why Kiana, despite wandering everywhere, had enrolled at Senba Academy and begun attending school.
Perhaps that was the truth. It was not that she did not want to leave, but that she had no money to leave at the time. By the time she had saved enough, the Great Eruption had already begun.
Siegfried had truly gone to great lengths to let Kiana experience a campus life.
In the end, Qin Mo did not refuse Kiana's request for help. Otherwise, she would have to spend this period sleeping rough again.
"Thanks, Qin Mo. I'll treat you to dinner."
"Do you have money...?"
Kiana then remembered that she was completely broke and gave an embarrassed little laugh.
"Here, use this for now. Figure out a way to earn money yourself. I have something to do."
Qin Mo took more than a dozen ten-thousand-denomination bills from his pocket and handed them to Kiana.
"Ah, how could I accept this..."
True friendship showed itself in adversity. Although Kiana did not remember Qin Mo, she felt that he was someone worth knowing. When something happened, he truly stepped up.
"Alright, just take it. If you really want to thank me, help me with something tomorrow."
"Help? What kind of help?"
Qin Mo did not answer. He waved his hand. "You'll find out tomorrow. It's just a small favor. I need to go."
He really did need to go. A new mission had refreshed today, and Qin Mo had told Mei that he had something to do in the morning. Although he had made many preparations for Honkai Beasts, who knew whether something unexpected might happen?
After hurriedly saying goodbye to Kiana, Qin Mo went downstairs to buy a bouquet of baby's breath from a flower shop, then headed to Mei's home.
He knocked on Mei's door again. When Mei opened it, Qin Mo handed her the bouquet in his hand.
"Please go out with me."
"Come in quickly. Dinner will be ready soon."
Qin Mo no longer needed to force flowers into Mei's hands. Mei naturally accepted the bouquet, then placed it in a vase that had long been prepared after entering the room.
Qin Mo also changed into the slippers that had long been prepared for him in the entryway and walked inside.
This had been going on for a month. Throughout winter break, Qin Mo came every day to perform the same routine. As though they shared an unspoken understanding, Mei never gave Qin Mo a direct response to his confession, and Qin Mo never demanded one from her.
Qin Mo had nearly forgotten that this was the world of Honkai, and had even hoped things could continue like this forever.
Until Kiana's arrival reminded him that the main story was about to begin.
He did not remember exactly when the Third Honkai Eruption would happen, but Kiana's arrival meant it was not far off. He needed to prepare as quickly as possible. Fortunately, after completing tomorrow's mission, he would have saved enough for a ten-pull. After one hundred pulls in the item pool, he would definitely obtain an S-rank item.
After having dinner with Mei, chatting, and watching television for a while, Qin Mo left Mei's home.
After returning home, he did not go looking for Kiana. Instead, he began studying his system at home.
Before you continue