"Where's big sis Acheron gone?" Kiana sat alone on the doorstep of her shop.
She glanced at her watch. "Gods, it's been 1 hour and 5 minutes since I last saw her! A whole 65 minutes, 3,900 seconds! Oh no!"
No matter how much Kiana fretted, Acheron still didn't show up.
Her kitchen utensils were already polished to a shine.
It all started with curiosity, wanting to one-up Stelle, which led her to stumble into Interastral City.
A miscalculation, a total miscalculation!
Kiana shook her head, her eyes full of regret!
Who could've guessed Stelle had such a capable brother who looked exactly like the clan leader?
In the end, she signed an employee contract and became an actress!
Sigh!
Though everything here was fun, and everyone was kind to her,
it was just…
No deadbeat dad, no gentle yet badass mom, no short-legged great-aunt.
No Mei!
Being alone made her feel lonely.
Her only comfort was that Aunt Himeko was here.
Kiana slapped her cheeks—she couldn't just sit around.
She stepped out to check the street, where, for some reason, a massive brawl had broken out, with plenty of security officers arriving.
"Huh? Why's an ambulance here? Isn't that Sparkle being carried out?"
Kiana didn't know what happened and had no interest in finding out. She looked back at her shop,
named by Boss Su Chen—Valkyrie's Table!
It sounded nice, but the chef was missing.
Just then,
"Kiana, need any help?"
Kiana froze, her pupils shrinking instinctively. That voice was too familiar!
"Mei, Mei!"
Sure enough, as she turned, there stood Raiden Mei.
"Mei, my Mei! I missed you so much! How'd you get here, Mei?!?"
Mei patted Kiana's head. "Because I missed you too, so I came to find you."
"Wahhh…" Kiana's tears flowed uncontrollably. "Mei…"
"Don't cry, Kiana. It's been so long, and I see you've lost some weight."
"Yeah… I only ate 20 buns this morning. I'm starving, front sticking to back!"
"Then how about I fry you 40 chicken drumsticks?"
…
Meanwhile,
Su Chen lowered his binoculars. "She's finally here. Now we can start filming."
"Why all the sneaking around?" Welt Yang adjusted his glasses. "Wouldn't being upfront be better?"
"Don't sweat the details."
"So you're saying you cooked up this whole feast just for this moment?"
"Exactly. The entire Best Shop Election was to get Kiana to open her shop successfully. Naturally, it'd draw Mei over."
"And the lottery ticket was part of your plan too?"
"No, she's genuinely that lucky!" Su Chen silently recalled his past life's tragedy of 400 pulls for Firefly with a 1+0 outcome—so pitiful!
"By the way, for Honkai Impact 3rd stuff, keep a closer eye on it. As for Luocha, just don't kill him. Also, I'm planning a new Honkai Impact 3rd game with a ranked scoring system—stay tuned." Su Chen packed up his things, ready to leave.
"Where're you headed?"
"The Midsummer Firefly Pact officially begins."
— —
Elsewhere,
"Ah! This place is bursting with youthful energy! My daughter Kiana, where are you? Where are you?"
The short-legged white-haired woman twitched her mouth. "Siegfried! Are you here to find your daughter or to ogle at JKs?"
"JKs? Where are there JKs?" Siegfried's eyes darted around, dazzled. "Look, that girl's dancing and setting fires at the same time—so uncivilized!"
"Hey, aren't you going to look for Kiana first?"
"Whoa!" Siegfried's expression turned serious. "Look at that blonde girl. What if she sets a house on fire? If I don't step into hell, who will? Finding my daughter can wait!"
"You're going too far! What did Cecilia ever see in you?!?" Theresa was about to say more when her body froze, as if spotting her father's killer!
A blond, blue-eyed man was carrying a stretcher with a barely conscious Sparkle on it.
"Tch!" Theresa pulled a chainsaw from behind her waist. "Hiding here, huh? Better take him out to avoid future trouble."
She yanked the chainsaw's cord.
Vroom, vroom, vroom…
The chainsaw roared to life, aimed straight at Luocha's vitals.
Just then,
"Hold it!"
Fu Xuan arrived with Qingque in tow, stepping in front of Theresa.
"Large-scale destructive weapons are prohibited in Interastral City!"
Theresa paused, locking eyes with Fu Xuan, then glancing up at the top of her head.
The next moment, she laughed—a sudden, uncontrollable laugh!
"Hahahahaha! Hahaha! Haha!"
"Kiana wasn't lying—Interastral City really has someone this short!"
"Pfft…" Qingque clamped her mouth shut, struggling to hold in her laughter.
Fu Xuan tilted her head, radiating killing intent. "Qingque, have you finished your report?"
"Uh… I finished it!"
"Then rewrite it. I don't like this version."
"Huh?" Qingque pleaded. "Lady Fu, please, don't do this!"
"Go!"
"Yes…"
As Qingque left, Fu Xuan faced Theresa. "I can't pretend I didn't hear that. Dare to take my challenge?"
"Challenge? What challenge?"
"Take off your shoes, and we'll see who's taller."
"Bring it!" "Bring it!" "Bring it!"
…
On the ambulance,
Bailu climbed aboard. "Dr. Luo, that was a close one."
"What happened?" Luocha checked Sparkle's injuries. "Sparkle's in bad shape—she needs the ICU."
Bailu threw up her hands. "No way! Himeko's coffee shop opened today, and the ICU's full. Even Dr. Su's swamped. He didn't expect Interastral City to be more exhausting than a hospital."
"Sigh, what a mess. Anyway, what happened outside?"
"Some white-haired loli with a chainsaw was coming for you, but Fu Xuan stopped her. Now they're about to throw down."
Luocha wiped the sweat from his brow. "Phew, that was close… Fu Xuan's a security officer—you can trust her skills."
"True. First time I've seen someone as short as Fu Xuan holding their own."
"Ah~" Sparkle sprang up, playing dead no more. "Oh my, oh my~ This is just too much fun~"