In the early morning, Li Xuan sat at the dining table in the living room, smelling the aroma of food wafting from the kitchen. Ever since Mei and the others went missing, the task of cooking had fallen to the maid, Liv. Although Li Xuan could cook—after all, as a poor otaku with little pocket money, he would have starved if he couldn't—the taste was just average.
"Tada~" Liv placed a plate full of food gently in front of Yae Sakura, a somewhat strange smile on her face.
"Eat up, Miss Yae Sakura~" In Li Xuan's eyes, Liv's smile seemed off... Could Liv have intentionally made the food taste bad?
"Nom... Mmm!!" Yae Sakura picked up her fork, took a piece of the cake on the plate, and put it into her cherry-like mouth. Her eyes immediately lit up... The silver fork moved like a phantom, continuously cutting and lifting pieces of cake into her mouth.
'Alright... I was overthinking it...' Watching Yae Sakura's slightly hearty way of eating, Li Xuan couldn't help but feel his own mouth watering. It looked delicious....
"Liv, where's my breakfast?" Li Xuan lifted his head and looked at his maid expectantly.
"Hmph!" Liv turned her head, crossed her arms, and puffed out her fair cheeks like a bun.
"......" Li Xuan looked at Liv, who was clearly angry, with a sense of helplessness. He knew why Liv was acting this way towards him.... 'But it was just an accident...' Li Xuan slumped onto the table like a salted fish, watching Yae Sakura continuously stuff her cheeks full of food... But when his gaze shifted to Sakura's pink lips, his heart stirred again.
'Idiot Master...' Liv thought silently. Ever since she had witnessed Li Xuan kiss Yae Sakura... even though she knew it was just an accident, she felt a sense of sadness in her heart...
'Eat, eat... and get fat!' Liv thought with mixed feelings as she watched the pink-haired girl at the table gobbling down the calorie-rich cake.
"Here!" The plate hit the wooden table with a crisp sound. As a maid, how could Liv really not prepare breakfast for her own master...
"Hehe~ Thanks, Liv..." Li Xuan quickly lifted his head and said to the pouting Liv. Although Liv was his Gun-musume, he never truly saw her as a servant but as a real family member with flesh and blood.
"......" Li Xuan happily looked at his bowl... The joyful expression on his face instantly froze...
'What is this?!' Li Xuan was completely stunned as he looked at the few mysteriously colored pills on his plate... Unlike Yae Sakura's sumptuous cake breakfast... his plate was full of colorful pills, emitting a slight, strange smell. The word 'vitamins' was printed on them...
"Master, eat slowly. I'm going to wash the dishes..." Liv stood up and quickly ran to the kitchen.
"...Sigh~" Li Xuan covered his forehead helplessly. Fortunately, he still had plenty of rations in his ring....
"Li Xuan-kun, what are these?" Yae Sakura, having finished her own breakfast, moved closer to Li Xuan and curiously looked at the colorful pills on his plate.
"Uh... this..." Li Xuan thought for a moment. "In a way, it can be considered food..."
"Oh!~... Gulp!" Hearing Li Xuan's affirmative answer, Yae Sakura quickly picked up a pill from his plate and tossed it into her mouth.
"Wait!" Li Xuan tried to stop her, but it was too late.
"Pfft!!"
.......................
After a rather eventful breakfast, Li Xuan went out again to hunt Honkai Beasts. Having already spent crystals on a ten-pull wish, Li Xuan finally decided to gather all the Honkai Crystals needed for the Familiar Egg at once and hatch it.
Actually, he had been subconsciously resisting hatching the Familiar Egg... because he was a little afraid, afraid that things would not be the same....
"......Let's go." After a moment of silence, Li Xuan said, as if to encourage himself, and took a heavy step forward. "Thump!" The ground let out a dull thud, and a few small cracks appeared on the concrete. Li Xuan's figure transformed into a strong gust of wind and leaped into the air. With the help of 'Jao Shingan', he continuously jumped and moved along the edges of buildings, disappearing into the dense cluster of buildings in the distance.
"Phew!~" Li Xuan stood on a low-rise building and took a deep breath. He had already reached a location very close to the city center, but to his great surprise, the Honkai Zombies that used to be so densely packed on the streets—enough to drive someone with trypophobia mad—seemed to have vanished.
"What's going on?" Li Xuan gently leaped down from the building, his feet landing lightly, stirring up a thick layer of dust on the ground.
"...Where are the Honkai Zombies?" Li Xuan looked around, but the street was dead silent, without a single soul in sight.
"Is this... an anime figure shop?!" As Li Xuan scanned his surroundings, he didn't find any Honkai Zombies, but instead, he recognized the sign of the small shop in front of him.
As an otaku with not much pocket money, expensive things like figures were out of Li Xuan's reach. Though he could afford them, it would hurt.
"Wow!~" Li Xuan pressed his face against the somewhat dusty transparent display window of the shop and looked at the figures displayed inside... Unfortunately, none of them were characters from anime in his original world... But there were still many cute female anime character figures.
Moe is justice!...
As Li Xuan was engrossed in looking at the various figures inside the shop, including a life-sized Homu figure...
"......" A figure appeared behind the defenseless Li Xuan. She raised the scythe in her hand, which was emitting a dark red mist, and swung it viciously at Li Xuan's back!
(End of Chapter)