On the main street, a gentle breeze blew slowly beneath the gloomy sky. A flyer was carried by the wind and plastered against a nearby window. Through the glass, the slogan on the flyer could be clearly read:
[Welcome to XX Bakery. We have fresh bread. Address: XX District, Nagazora City...]
Yes, this was Nagazora City, a bustling coastal metropolis. However, what echoed here now was no longer the lively breath of daily life, but the sound of wind akin to dead silence.
Suddenly, the sound of shoe soles grinding against sand and metal scraping the ground came from the street. A Deadwalker, clad in black leather and wielding a scythe, walked down the avenue.
At that moment, a soft landing sound came from behind the Deadwalker. Realizing there might be someone behind it, the Deadwalker instantly tightened its grip on the scythe and swung it violently backward.
Immediately, the Deadwalker saw a blonde girl with cat ears holding two chakrams standing behind it. The scythe swept horizontally toward her chest.
But just as the scythe was about to make contact, the girl's body rippled like the surface of water, and the blade passed directly through her torso.
Before the Deadwalker could process what had happened, the chakrams in the girl's hands had already slashed through its field of vision, severing the connection between its consciousness and its body.
"That was close, that was close." The girl released her grip, and the two chakrams vanished into thin air. She patted her chest, looking relieved. As she moved, the cat ears atop her head twitched a few times.
"I almost got disemboweled there."
Sunlight spilled from behind the girl, yet the shadow cast on the ground was eerily split in half. In the next moment, the missing waist section reconnected.
"The feeling of quantization really isn't good." The girl lowered her head, touched her waist which had just been lost and found, and sighed. "No wonder Seele is so terrified of this kind of skill."
"The sensation of losing part of your body but still feeling its existence is simply a nightmare."
[Are you alright, Irene-neesan?] A somewhat anxious voice suddenly rang out in Irene's mind.
"It doesn't matter, Pardo~" Irene listened to the voice in her head, a comforting smile on her face. "With your luck on my side, nothing will happen to me."
The voice echoing in Irene's mind, whom she called Pardo, was indeed the Flame-Chaser once known as [Reverie]—one of the final heroes of the Previous Era, Pardofelis.
Yes, Irene was a transmigrator, an unlucky soul who had followed the trend of dimensional travel, only to unfortunately drop right into the world of Honkai Impact 3rd.
This place was never friendly to anyone, but fortunately, Irene had obtained a cheat—an external hack that could help her.
Pardo's consciousness had moved into Irene's mind after that event. However, the story of this Pardofelis was slightly different from the one she knew.
[Hehe, as long as I can help Irene-neesan.] Pardo's voice echoed in Irene's head. [But isn't my power a bit too risky?]
[If needed, you can also borrow my power.] Another voice, somewhat gentle, also arose in Irene's mind. [Although it might be a bit of a burden for you.]
"If necessary, I will, Miss Kallen." Irene twisted her waist, confirming that everything which should be back was indeed back.
[Kallen-nee's power is indeed safer than mine.] The cat-girl suggested somewhat timidly. [But speaking of which, that was the last one, right?]
"Mm-hmm~" Irene nodded, scanning her surroundings. Her gaze finally locked onto an open windowsill. After a short run-up, she practically flew up the wall, parkour-style, and dove into the open window.
Upon entering the room, Irene was lucky enough to see two boxes of instant noodles piled in the corner, as well as a kettle sitting on a nearby table.
"Lucky~" Irene rubbed her hands together and walked over, pulling two packs of noodles from the box. She confirmed that Nagazora City hadn't reached the point of water and power outages yet.
So, if nothing else, at least she could eat this mouthful of steaming hot noodles right now.
As a college student who had just graduated in her past life, Irene skillfully boiled the water and prepared the noodles to soak, then sat on the sofa to wait.
At the same time, a transparent light screen suddenly appeared in front of Irene as she sat on the sofa.
[User: Irene]
[User Body Condition: Healthy [Random Quantumization]]
[User Honkai Resistance: Low [Excellent]]
[User Honkai Adaptability: Excellent [Excellent]]
[Note: This prompt appears only once. Values in brackets indicate body status during possession state.]
[Talent: Lovable: Cute girls always have certain privileges. No matter when, you will be popular. When interacting with others, it will be easier to gain their favor.]
[Personal Talent: Logic of Continuation: If there is a choice in the future, the lifeline will not break. Even a severed spool can be reconnected, granting a brand-new destiny.]
[Held Cards: [Reverie] Pardofelis · Quantum Beast [Possessed]
Kallen Kaslana · Nun of Atonement [Unpossessed]]
This was Irene's cheat. According to the system's introduction, it allowed her to be possessed by various Valkyries. However, the Valkyries here were slightly different. In layman's terms, they were from "If-lines."
An If-line meant the character might have made a different choice from the past, changing their future ending. It could be defeat, it could be giving up, or it could be never stepping onto the story path they were supposed to take from the very beginning.
The Valkyrie cards drawn from the system were randomly selected possible endings from the vast Imaginary Tree.
This was the source of the card power Irene used. However, for Irene, the cards drawn by the system would not result in the Valkyrie's defeat or other tragic paths; instead, they became a continuation.
That is, a state of surviving in any possible way after transcending the death one was originally supposed to accept—crossing over Destined Death.
Whether it was Kallen or Pardo, it was the same: another form displayed after transcending their originally destined death for various reasons.
Irene casually glanced at her personal data, looking at her Honkai Resistance and Honkai Adaptability, and sighed. These two values were the first hurdle of entering the Honkai world.
People with poor Honkai Resistance would truly die just like that here. And she happened to be the type with relatively poor resistance.
If it were just that, it would be fine. There were plenty of people with poor Honkai Resistance in this world. Irene could survive by simply walking around areas where Honkai energy occurred.
Of course, if she were unlucky enough to enter any environment with Honkai, she would likely be eroded into flying ash without any pain.
Just like the vast majority of people in this city. But her Honkai Adaptability happened to be excellent, which meant she attracted Honkai energy very easily.
When that happened, merely avoiding it might not solve the problem. And once entangled by Honkai energy, she might not necessarily turn into ash—dying wouldn't be that easy.
However, this situation could be improved. Irene shifted her attention to the next section of the system.
[Novice Mission · Adaptation]
[Use various methods to kill ten Deadwalkers (10/10)]
[Reward: Honkai Resistance Enhancer x1]
[Current Status: [Completed]]
As Irene confirmed the mission completion, a small syringe immediately appeared in her hand.
Irene watched the purple liquid sloshing slightly inside the syringe. "A syringe? I thought it would be a potion or something. How do I inject this?"
As soon as Irene's complaint fell, a transparent light screen unfolded before her.
[Item: Honkai Resistance Enhancer]
[Type: Potion / One-time Consumable]
[Effect: After injection is complete, the injector's Honkai Resistance will be strengthened. The lower the original Honkai Resistance, the higher the magnitude of strengthening.]
[Usage Method: Intramuscular injection. If you don't dare to do it, you can also consume it orally. The effect will take slightly longer to kick in, but it will not affect the outcome.]
[Evaluation: What kind of evaluation does the host need? Isn't the effect written in the name? Just use it and be done with it.]
[Note: This item must be used by the main body. It cannot be used in a possessed state, otherwise the medicinal effect cannot act on the main body.]
[Note: Detailed data for items produced within the system can be viewed through the system (this prompt will appear only once).]
Irene's gaze swept over the usage method, and the corner of her mouth twitched. This usage method was mocking her, wasn't it? It was definitely mocking her. Forget it, as long as she knew how to use it. But...
"Do I have to cancel the possession state?"
[Irene-neesan, can you withstand the Honkai energy around here?] Pardo's voice rose in Irene's mind, her tone filled with deep concern.
The surrounding environment was no simple matter. According to what Irene-neesan said, this was a Honkai environment left behind after the eruption of a Herrscher. With Irene-neesan's poor Honkai Resistance, every second spent here was a test of her life.
Kallen also nodded in Irene's mind: [That's right, the surrounding Honkai energy isn't simple. Should we use my power first to create a safe space?]
"Kallen, once I lift the restriction on your Binding ability, I won't be able to control it. I might turn into amber then."
Irene looked at the potion in her hand. "Besides, if I can't even pass this level, there's no point in thinking about continuing the possession in the end."
Although the Possession Card had no usage restrictions and hadn't exceeded certain limits, as long as her body and will were sufficient to support it, and as long as the Possession Card was willing to lend her power...
She could continue to survive in their image forever. But that wasn't the situation Irene wanted to see. She couldn't let herself be a burden.
And Honkai Resistance was the first hurdle. If she couldn't even pass this first hurdle, what ability would she have to participate in future events?
Thinking this, Irene reached her hand toward her chest. Immediately, her chest emitted a light that gradually spread to her entire body. Within the radiance, the cat ears on Irene's head slowly disappeared.
When the light dissipated, Irene was already holding a card in her hand. Her silver-white hair fell loose, framing ice-blue pupils, but her gaze did not fall on the card in her hand.
Instead, it landed on the hand currently holding the card. At this moment, Irene's hand was somewhat indistinct, emitting specks of blue light.
This was the side effect of using the Possession Card; some traits of the card would also appear on her body. For example, the quantization that was identical to Pardo's right now.
Irene withdrew her gaze. This phenomenon would fade quickly. At least, before she used Pardo's ability to reach a certain limit, it wouldn't stay on her body permanently.
[[Reverie] Pardofelis · Quantum Beast]
[Type: Possession Card · Logic of Continuation]
[Abilities:
Super Luck: Simply put, it is extraordinary luck. A type of luck even stronger than strong luck. Perhaps invisibly, it will bring a chance of survival in desperate situations.
Sneaky Cat: Unparalleled theft and stealth skills. Even the top martial artists may not be able to discover your tracks, and you can even steal the opponent's weapon without them noticing anything.
Quantum Beast: An ability obtained after the body was destroyed and fell into the Sea of Quanta. The body will suddenly fall into a quantized state at any time and any part, with an indefinite duration.
Parts in the quantized state will not be harmed by attacks in reality that do not target the quantum level.
Note: If the heart or brain and other parts undergo quantization while most of the body remains in the physical plane, and the quantized body cannot return, it will very likely lead to death.]
[Evaluation: A hero of mortals. Even without the talent for saving the world, she was willing to win opportunities for future generations with her death. But luck grabbed the last straw for her, and the severed lifeline eventually found continuation.]
On the card art, Pardofelis was floating in an ocean filled with bubbles. But with the passage of time, or perhaps the shift of light and shadow, every part of Pardofelis's body seemed to be disappearing and reappearing.
"Quantum Beast, huh." Irene sighed looking at the indistinct cat-girl before her eyes. "Can this really count as transcending Destined Death?"
Perhaps Pardo did fall into the Sea of Quanta and kept her life, but due to quantization, Pardo could die again at any time. Did this really count as transcending death?
[I think it counts~]
[After all, I was prepared to die at that time. I didn't expect to fall into the Sea of Quanta.] Pardo had already learned her originally intended ending from Irene earlier.
So she knew it even better. Even if there was some danger of quantization, she had survived. This point was absolutely not false.
[So even if it just made death come a little slower, I still survived. And who knows, maybe I can even sunbathe in other places.]
"...Is that so? Indeed, you definitely have many different suns to bathe in at that place." Irene put away the card in her hand. At this moment, Irene also noticed that her fingertips were starting to turn somewhat white. Her formidable Honkai Adaptability made it very easy for her to attract Honkai energy.
However, her extremely low Honkai Resistance could not resist the Honkai energy she attracted.
Irene examined the syringe in her hand. She pressed the button at the top, exposing the needle that popped out, and then injected all the liquid inside into her body.
"Hmm, I don't feel anything." Irene pulled out the syringe. Just as she was wondering why she didn't feel anything, Irene fell straight backward. Starting from her fingertips, purple lines began to spread little by little.
[Irene-neesan? Irene-neesan? Irene-neesan?!]
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