The rain in the night had stopped at some point.
Su Yu lay on his floor bed with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling for a long time.
Beside him came the steady sound of Kiana's breathing.
She was asleep—truly asleep. That state of taut, deathly tension had finally relaxed. She was curled up in the quilt, resembling a small animal that had finally found a safe corner.
Chongchong was nestled by her feet, its tail draped over her ankle.
Su Yu turned his head, borrowing the faint glimmer of light leaking through the gap in the curtains to look at the sleeping figure on the bed.
...What should be done now?
He asked himself in his heart.
The System pop-ups had been quiet all night; perhaps it had finally learned to read the room. But Su Yu knew that thing would jump out sooner or later.
Bind a High-Quality Valkyrie.
If he wasn't guessing wrong, Kiana was that "High-Quality Valkyrie."
But the question was—what then?
After binding, what mission would the System give him? Make him take Kiana to fight monsters and level up? This world didn't even have Honkai energy; where would he find monsters to fight?
Su Yu rubbed his temples.
He recalled the messy prompts the System had initially popped up—"Life of Literary Plagiarism," "Roaring Success," "Walk to the Peak of Life."
Literary Plagiarism.
This term made him pause.
He was a transmigrator. His brain contained the memories of his past life, including the entire plot, characters, and settings of the game Honkai Impact 3rd.
If...
If he turned these things into a game?
A game with Kiana as the prototype.
Telling her story, her battles, her losses, her growth.
Letting the people of this world "know" her.
Letting countless players "see" her.
Su Yu didn't know what use this would have. But he vaguely felt that this might be the only way out.
Kiana was "non-existent" in this world. No one could see her; no one could touch her. Only he—for some unknown reason—had become her sole "Reality Anchor."
If he could make more people "cognize" her...
Would it change anything?
He didn't have the answer. But at least, it was a direction.
Su Yu closed his eyes, roughly drafting a plan in his mind.
Tomorrow—no, this morning.
First, clarify things with Kiana.
Then, find a way to solve that damned one-meter restriction.
As for the rest, he would take it one step at a time.
The Next Day.
Kiana opened her eyes.
An unfamiliar ceiling.
She subconsciously reached for the gun on her body, but her hand touched something warm and fuzzy instead.
It was Chongchong.
At some point, it had crawled into Kiana's blanket.
"...So, it wasn't a dream."
She watched as Chongchong began to stretch its body. Its small paws opened up like blooming flowers, and that pair of odd-colored eyes, matching Kiana's own, looked over.
Four eyes met.
"Meow."
A happy trill.
Kiana carefully extended her hand, but Chongchong proactively rubbed its small head against her.
The furry, warm little head brushed against Kiana's palm, feeling a bit ticklish.
This diluted much of Kiana's vigilance.
"Awake?"
A male voice came from behind, and Kiana's body tensed instinctively.
Looking back, Su Yu seemed to have just woken up as well. His hair was a bit messy, but his eyes were clear.
The series of events from last night replayed in Kiana's mind.
She opened her mouth.
"I know you have a lot of doubts," Su Yu said. "Let's eat breakfast first."
Kiana wanted to refuse.
However...
Growl...
Her stomach traitorously sold her out.
The sound was particularly distinct in the quiet morning.
"..."
Kiana's somewhat pale face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
She bit her lip. She felt a desperate urge to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it immediately.
"Milk and bread, is that okay?"
Su Yu didn't say anything else, simply changing the subject calmly.
Kiana didn't reply.
"I'm going to move," Su Yu said.
"Ah..."
Su Yu took a few steps. As the distance between him and Kiana exceeded one meter, that familiar suffocating sensation surged into Kiana's heart again.
Only then did Kiana realize that the 100cm, "malice-filled" distance was not a dream either.
She hurriedly followed.
Su Yu went to the bathroom to wash up properly.
But due to that one-meter distance, Kiana stood right at the bathroom door, her eyes locked onto him with unceasing vigilance.
Su Yu felt like he was being targeted by some large feline predator, as if the moment he made a move, she would pounce and pin him down.
The pressure was immense.
After all, that was Kiana, a genuine Valkyrie.
But it didn't matter. Su Yu was very confident in himself. If she punched him 100 times, aside from letting out a noise on the first punch, he wouldn't make a sound for the remaining 99.
The awkward situation soon repeated itself.
This time, it was Su Yu's turn to relieve himself.
Fortunately, men had an advantage: they could aim and fire. So this time, the door could be closed tight.
Even so, the sound of the water stream produced by the "firing" was extremely clear. Su Yu had never thought this sound could be so loud...
He could distinctly feel the chill behind his back increase by a few degrees.
Su Yu pulled open the door and saw Kiana biting her lip, glaring death at him.
After a long while.
"I also..."
She didn't continue, but Su Yu understood.
Thus, on this morning that should have been a calm daily routine, Su Yu relived his high school days.
Today, he was reciting the second half of the Chu Shi Biao.
Su Yu had never felt a few minutes pass so slowly.
As the sound of flushing water came...
Everything finally ended.
The sound of Kiana opening the door rang out. Su Yu didn't look back.
He walked toward the kitchen. Kiana behind him paused for a moment, then followed closely.
A wordless awkwardness permeated between the two.
During the subsequent breakfast preparation, Kiana had to follow behind Su Yu like a tail.
She had to constantly ensure she didn't leave the one-meter range, so her gaze was basically locked onto Su Yu.
It was simply torture.
Su Yu heated the milk, watching the boiling water gradually roll in the pot.
Kiana watched him from the side.
Footsteps came from outside the main door.
Su Yu could clearly feel Kiana's body tense up.
"It's a neighbor."
The footsteps quickly faded away, accompanied by the heavy sound of a door closing.
Only then did he feel Kiana's body relax slightly.
But the look she gave Su Yu remained wary, filled with suspicion and distrust.
Bubble, bubble—
The water boiled.
Su Yu quickly tossed in the prepared frozen dumplings.
"We can eat in a moment," he said.
Kiana didn't reply.
A few minutes later.
Su Yu and Kiana sat face-to-face at the dining table. The distance was just right, not exceeding one meter.
"Eat." Su Yu pushed the milk over. "We'll talk after we eat."
Kiana held the cup, the heat making her eyelashes tremble slightly.
She took a sip. The warm liquid slid into her stomach, soothing her taut nerves just a little.
Then she picked up her chopsticks, picked up a frozen dumpling, and took a bite.
She was truly too hungry.
The gaze that had been locked on him finally shifted away, allowing Su Yu to breathe a sigh of relief.
It was even more oppressive than last night.
After all, Kiana's body and mind had been at their limit then.
But after resting for a night—although she still had dark circles under her eyes—her condition was obviously much better than yesterday. This meant she had more energy to think about problems.
Like where this was.
Who Su Yu was.
After breakfast ended.
"Here... where is this?"
Kiana looked at Su Yu and asked the question.
Su Yu was silent for two seconds, deciding not to beat around the bush.
"Arc City."
Kiana's hand shook, and the milk in the cup rippled.
"Arc City? But..." She raised her head, her gaze sweeping over the peaceful street outside the window and the high-rise buildings in the distance that hadn't been touched by the flames of war. "It doesn't look like it."
"Correct. Although the name is the same, this is in another dimension."
Su Yu looked into her eyes, trying to make his voice sound steady.
"There is no Honkai energy here, no Schicksal, no Anti-Entropy—this is a peaceful parallel world."
Kiana was stunned.
A peaceful world? No Honkai?
Kiana was a bit dazed for a moment; she didn't quite understand the meaning of Su Yu's words.
A peaceful world without Honkai.
But... how was that possible?
Immediately after, a more massive question—one that caused Kiana even greater panic—surged into her heart.
This was a parallel world.
Then how could she go back?
"Then I... how do I go back?"
She asked urgently, leaning forward.
"I have a reason I must go back! I still have... I still have unfinished business!"
Kiana stared dead at Su Yu before her, trying to find something in his facial expression.
Su Yu avoided her gaze, his sight landing on a shallow wood grain on the tabletop.
He knew the truth was incredibly cruel.
But he had to say it.
"You probably can't go back."
The air seemed to solidify.
"...What do you mean?"
"It's too far," Su Yu said softly.
"How far?" Kiana pressed, her voice carrying a trembling sob. "As long as I'm alive, no matter how far, I can—"
"Fifty thousand years."
These three words were like a heavy hammer, smashing ruthlessly into Kiana's heart.
Su Yu raised his head, looking at the girl whose face had instantly turned deathly pale.
"If calculated by time span, it's about that far."
"If calculated by dimensional barriers... that is a distance not even light can cross."
The cup in Kiana's hand slipped onto the table with a clang.
Milk spilled out, dripping down the edge of the table onto the floor.
But she had no reaction.
Couldn't go back?
Fifty thousand years?
Then everything she had done so far.
All the struggles, all the pain, all the persistence... and the chance Teacher Himeko had traded her life for...
Did it all become a joke?
If she couldn't return, if she couldn't atone.
Then what was the meaning of her lingering on in this world that was so peaceful it was blinding?
No. No. No, no, no—!!!
"You're lying! You must be a liar sent by that guy Otto! You want to awaken the Second Herrscher in my body again, don't you?!"
Kiana's angry gaze shot straight at Su Yu. Her eyes were red, her hoarse voice filled with resentment.
"And that so-called 100cm, is that also part of your plan?! To stop me from escaping, to—"
Although she had no Honkai energy in her body, she could subdue the man before her anytime she wanted, and then force Otto's subsequent plans out of his mouth—
"I am not lying to you."
But Su Yu's eyes were as calm as water.
The oppression coming from Kiana made the surrounding air sink a few degrees.
That was an aura beyond the cognition of ordinary people, an aura one could only possess after fighting life-and-death battles with Honkai Beasts in that supernatural world.
As the person involved, as Su Yu who was less than 100cm away from Kiana.
He knew it better than anyone.
Yet his face did not show a single trace of panic.
Kiana looked at Su Yu in front of her; his black eyes seemed to reflect her currently violent appearance.
Her voice came to an abrupt halt, as if the throat of fate had been choked, unable to make another sound.
Kiana was not an idiot.
Although many people said she was an idiot.
But at this moment, a thought rose in her heart that made even her feel absurd, even terrified.
This man named Su Yu.
Was not lying.
"How is this possible... how is this possible..."
Kiana slumped back against the chair. Her whole body seemed to be drained of strength in this instant, going soft.
A world fifty thousand years away, a world completely without Honkai, a completely different dimension from her original world...
She didn't understand the meaning of some of those words, but she knew one thing very clearly—
She could not go back.
After realizing this point.
That voice.
That shrill, malicious voice filled with endless mockery seemed to ring out in the depths of her mind.
"Poor Kiana, having lost everything, trapped in a strange world."
It was the voice of the Herrscher of the Void.
Sirin.
"Where did you think you could escape to? Escape to fifty thousand years ago? Escape to a world without Honkai?"
"But you cannot escape."
"Because you are Honkai itself."
"Wherever you go, destruction follows."
"Look, look, Kiana! Doesn't this man's eyes feel familiar to you?"
"Knowing clearly that you are a Herrscher, knowing you are the root of disaster, yet still willing to extend a hand to you..."
"He is exactly the same as that foolish red-haired woman."
"Sooner or later, this man who saved you will also die because of you."
"Just like Murata Himeko."
Kiana stood up abruptly, screaming hysterically.
"Shut up!!!"
Extreme pain and chaos destroyed her reason like magma.
She subconsciously threw a punch, wanting to smash the voice in her brain, wanting to smash this despairing reality before her eyes.
Boom!
A loud noise.
Su Yu didn't even see her movement clearly before the solid wood dining table in front of him exploded in an instant.
Wood chips flew. The glass cup containing milk was shattered into powder, and a shard swept past Su Yu's cheek, leaving a thin trail of blood.
The living room fell into a deathly silence.
Only the wreckage of the table was still making faint cracking sounds.
Su Yu sat stiffly on the sofa, his heart beating wildly.
If that punch just now had been slightly off, smashing into him...
Kiana gasped for breath, blood dripping from her fist where wood splinters had pierced the skin.
After her consciousness regained clarity, the pain from the wound made her lift her head.
She looked blankly at the mess before her, then looked at the blood trail on Su Yu's face.
"Ah... ah..."
Kiana couldn't help but stumble.
Monster.
Kiana Kaslana.
You really are a monster that only brings harm.
Even the only person in this world who extended a hand to her was injured because of her.
As expected, as expected, someone like me—
A massive sense of self-loathing drowned her like a tide.
Even in this peaceful world, she was a bomb that could lose control at any moment.
"...I'm sorry."
She took a step back.
"I shouldn't be here... I shouldn't be alive..."
She turned abruptly, rushing toward the entryway.
As long as I die, it will be fine. As long as I disappear, so many people won't have to face misfortune.
"Kiana!"
Ignoring the wound on his face, Su Yu immediately jumped up and chased after her.
The bright red [WARNING: DISTANCE LIMIT!] on the light screen was flashing madly, the countdown jumping like a death warrant.
Kiana's speed was fast, but Su Yu erupted with a reaction speed unprecedented for him.
He grabbed Kiana's arm right before the entryway, inertia slamming both of them heavily against the shoe cabinet.
"Let go!" Kiana struggled desperately. That monstrous strength belonging to a Valkyrie made Su Yu feel like his bones were about to break. "Let me go! Let me disappear!"
"Are you crazy? You'll lose your life if you go more than a meter away!" Su Yu gripped her wrist tightly, his entire person practically hanging onto her, trying to use his body weight to drag her back. "Do you want to die?!"
"What's wrong with dying?!"
Kiana turned her head. Those mismatched eyes were full of broken tears, desperate enough to startle the heart.
"Why are you stopping me? Since you know who I am, you should know what I've done!"
"I killed so many people... I am a Herrscher! I am a disaster!"
"What qualification does someone like me have to live on? Do you want to become like those people too?! Do you want to die too?!"
Su Yu gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. He staggered from being shaken by her, hitting the wall hard, grimacing in pain, but he still didn't let go.
"I want to know why too!"
He roared. This shout seemed to make Kiana's body freeze for a moment.
"Maybe because my brain is flooded! Maybe because I'm a dumbass! Yes, I'm just a dumbass!"
"But what do you want me to do? Do you want me to watch helplessly as a living person turns into air and disappears in front of me?!"
"Do you want me to leave you in the lurch?!"
"Fuck—!!"
The living room was a mess; the shoe cabinet was overturned, the vase shattered.
Chongchong, who had been hiding under the sofa, let out a scared "Meow-u" and darted into the bedroom.
Su Yu felt his strength was running out.
Although the current Kiana was weak, that was relative to a Herrscher.
For an ordinary person like him, her strength was impossible to contend with.
Because of his string of words, Kiana's struggling stopped.
"Ha... ha..."
Both could hear the heavy panting coming from the other. Su Yu's hands were still tightly wrapping around Kiana's waist, his entire chest almost pressed against her back.
If he didn't do this, he couldn't stop Kiana at all.
The masculine scent coming from behind, and that pervasive heat, seemed to transmit through the fabric.
In distant memories, only the embrace of the man named Father was this warm and broad...
But, but—
Everything had lost its meaning.
A self who couldn't go back, a self who couldn't do anything, a self who couldn't even complete her atonement—in this world, there was simply no place for her.
"Enough..."
Kiana's voice was frighteningly hoarse.
"Don't... worry about me anymore..."
Su Yu could clearly feel Kiana's body seeming to be drained of all strength. She went almost completely soft like a pile of mud, only able to lean desperately against him.
"Just let me... go die..."
The light in the girl's eyes grew dimmer and dimmer, seemingly about to vanish.
But just then.
—Bang!!!
A loud noise, even louder than the table smashing just now.
The main door was kicked open from the outside.
"Su Yu! You wanna die?!!!"
A violent female voice, accompanied by the heavy smell of alcohol, rushed in.
"Demolishing the house early in the morning?! Can you consider my situation when arguing with your girlfriend?!"
A woman stood at the door.
A red silk nightgown was tied loosely, revealing large patches of fair skin.
A head of fiery red long hair was as messy as a chicken coop, and she was still carrying half a bottle of whiskey in her hand.
She had obviously just been woken up from some kind of hangover state, her face written full of "This old lady is very unhappy, and the consequences will be severe."
Himeko.
Su Yu's landlord, living opposite him. An older single woman working as a teacher at a university.
She had probably gone to some singles mixer party and pulled an all-nighter again last night.
"Don't you know I've been asleep for less than two hours?!"
Himeko scratched her messy hair, narrowing those golden eyes filled with drunkenness, and glared viciously at the two people wrestling in the living room.
"Believe it or not, I'll raise your rent—"
Su Yu was just about to open his mouth to explain, but he felt Kiana in his arms move.
Kiana raised her head.
She stared blankly at the woman at the door.
That red long hair.
That expression, which although carried drunkenness and morning grumpiness, was still somewhat domineering and hearty.
Even if the temperament was completely different, even if the attire was worlds apart.
But that face...
That was the face carved into the depths of her soul, the face that would make her cry out in pain in every midnight dream.
"Teacher... Himeko?"
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