Wiping the mud from her face, Airi complained unhappily.
Although she knew Chang Yuan had done that for her own good, couldn't he have wiped it a little better? She had almost eaten dirt.
"Hey, it couldn't be helped. It was an emergency, and there was no time to react."
Chang Yuan shrugged helplessly.
If he could have, he would have liked to wipe it properly too, but there hadn't been enough time.
"Hmph, fine. I'll forgive you this once."
After taking out a small mirror and making sure her face was clean, Airi nodded in satisfaction and put it away.
Seeing this, Chang Yuan picked up the gold chain he had tossed into an inconspicuous corner.
He estimated that it weighed at least two hundred grams. It was the least valuable of the three-piece set.
Still, for him and Airi, it already counted as a huge fortune—enough to last until Airi turned eighteen as they traveled.
"Hehehe, I'll take this as compensation for their disrespect toward me."
Of course, Chang Yuan could not sell it in Twilight Street.
That would be no different from courting death.
Here, every piece of property had a clearly marked owner. The moment he tried to sell it, he would probably be surrounded within minutes.
Neither he nor Airi had the ability to stand up to bullets right now. But once Airi fully accepted Honkai Energy's baptism, perhaps they would.
"Um, Chang Yuan, wouldn't this make us accomplices?"
Watching Chang Yuan grin, Airi asked with some concern.
Chang Yuan waved it off indifferently.
"It's fine. They won't suspect us. After all, we don't know Velvie either."
"Um, fine. You have the final say. But if anything goes wrong, I'll be the first to turn you in."
"Huh? Since when were you so heartless, Airi?"
"Mm-hmm~?"
Naturally, Chang Yuan knew Airi was joking with him.
Leaving aside their relationship, her personality alone meant she was not that kind of person.
"All right, we need to be careful from here on out. Airi, put on your mask and hat, or someone might recognize you."
"Yes, yes. Sigh, being cute and pretty is such a hassle too, isn't it~?"
Though she said that, Airi did not find it troublesome in the slightest.
She took out the pink mask and sun hat she had prepared in advance from her backpack and put them on.
They could not hide everything, but they were enough to reduce eighty percent of the trouble.
"Ready! Now, it's time to travel. Come on, Guide Airi is at your service~?"
"Then I'll leave the directions to Guide Airi."
"Mm-hmm~? You can always trust Airi~?"
Midnight...
"As expected of the most chaotic Twilight Street. You don't even need an ID to stay at a proper hotel."
While traveling, this was Chang Yuan's first time staying at a proper hotel with Airi.
After all, proper hotels in the places they had been before all required identification.
But Chang Yuan was a transmigrator, and Airi was a god's daughter sent by the stars and moon. Naturally, neither of them had any identification.
Celia had once planned to get Airi one, but she was too young, and Airi had wanted to travel, so the matter had ultimately been dropped.
"Hehehe, the bed here is pretty comfortable."
Already lying on the other side of the large double bed, Airi said this as she rolled around.
A bed this soft simply did not exist in those shady inns.
"All right, draw a boundary line. Don't roll over to my side tonight."
"Hmph hmph, I'm more worried about you rolling over here, Uncle Chang Yuan~?"
"Cough, cough! I'm only four years older than you. How do I look like an uncle?"
Being called that by Airi for the first time, Chang Yuan nearly choked on his own saliva.
He immediately glared fiercely at Airi.
"Hehe~? Then I'll go take a bath first. Don't peek, okay~? We're not children anymore~?"
After deliberately reminding him, Airi took her clothes and headed into the bathroom.
While he was waiting, someone suddenly knocked on their door.
Seeing that it was already one in the morning, Chang Yuan immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Who would come knocking at this hour?
He looked through the peephole.
What entered his sight was a familiar face—the man who had asked him for Velvie's location earlier that day.
Three burly men stood behind him.
That alone was enough for Chang Yuan to tell that they had come with ill intent.
He hurried over to the bathroom door.
Knock, knock, knock—!
"Hey, Chang Yuan, what are you doing? Don't tell me you really want to come in?"
Opening the door a crack, Airi revealed a pair of eyes and asked. The teasing in her gaze was completely undisguised.
"Get ready. Stop bathing. Those people from earlier are outside, and they don't look friendly. We need to run."
"Eh, eh, eh... What? Couldn't they wait until I was done bathing? How annoying."
Hearing this, Airi understood the urgency and quickly put back on the clothes she had only just taken off.
At the same time, the front door was violently kicked open.
"Bastard! I've been knocking for so damn long, and you still wouldn't open the door? Don't tell me you're really in league with that con artist."
"Damn it. Get ready to fight."
Once they forced their way inside, Chang Yuan chose to strike first.
The moment they met, he used Inch Punch: Cloud Mist.
The attack was unexpectedly effective, knocking one of the burly men unconscious on the spot.
Seeing his underling get hit, another burly man immediately flew into a rage and pulled out a telescopic baton from his waist.
In this room, a baton was the most suitable weapon for fighting.
But after Hua's training, Chang Yuan's close-combat ability was not weak in the slightest.
In three minutes, Chang Yuan had knocked them all down without leaving a single mark on himself.
"They're over here! Hurry!"
"Not good. Airi, break the window and run!"
Hearing reinforcements coming, Chang Yuan feared they might have handguns. He immediately grabbed both of their bags and rushed to the window.
Airi had only just come out of the bathroom then. It could not be helped—girls' clothes were complicated to put on.
But the moment she came out, she scooped Chang Yuan up in a princess carry.
"???"
Just as Chang Yuan was completely dumbfounded, Airi kicked the window open and jumped out.
Fortunately, they were only on the second floor.
After receiving a small amount of Honkai Energy's baptism, Airi's physical abilities had long surpassed Chang Yuan's by quite a bit.
As for Chang Yuan, he was instead glad that he had not received any enhancements.
Because that proved he had not yet been corrupted by Honkai.
"Hmph hmph~? Hold on tight around my neck. Don't let go, or don't blame me if you land on your butt later~?"
After landing, Airi fled immediately without the slightest hesitation.
Those people could only watch from the window as a flash of pink carried someone away.
Before you continue