"We're here to buy ingredients."
Liu Bai spoke with mild surprise at seeing Yelan here. She was a core member of the Chamber normally branch managers were generic NPC faces.
Was this some special event trigger?
Even Kiana from the Honkai Impact side was standing right next to her.
Still, after so much surreal nonsense already, Liu Bai was only slightly startled.
"Oh? You're here to shop?" Yelan's smile brightened noticeably.
Bulk purchases usually meant serious money.
"Please follow me, both of you."
Yelan led Liu Bai and Guinaifen deeper into the Chamber, leaving Kiana at the door making faces.
What kind of customer service was this… she had no idea how to do it.
Once Yelan was gone, Kiana simply leaned lazily against the doorframe and started slacking off.
"Ahhh… what was Mom even thinking…"
She was a full-fledged B-rank Valkyrie, yet here she was stuck playing receptionist at the entrance.
There was no logic in this!
"…By the way, about that receptionist girl," Liu Bai asked Yelan as they walked down the ornate Chinese-style corridor. "She doesn't really seem like Chamber staff."
"Hm? You're quite observant."
Yelan turned her head, wearing a relaxed, carefree smile.
"I wouldn't call it observant," Liu Bai replied casually. "I just don't think a fully employed receptionist needs the boss personally training her hand-over-hand."
"Ah… that angle is honestly hard to argue with." Yelan stretched lazily, then quickly dropped her arms, remembering it might look improper in front of a customer.
Nice view, thanks for the treat.
That outfit really came with built-in bonuses…
Liu Bai mentally rated it.
This was the true spirit of modding…
He'd installed all those spicy mods why did he have to survive in the game world too?!
"But sorry I can't tell you more. Though you've seen a rather undignified side of our store, that child really is just a brand-new hire."
Yelan slipped back into professional mode.
Liu Bai withdrew his idle curiosity.
Right—so outsiders weren't getting the full story.
"Here's our ingredients section. What would you like?"
Yelan stopped and gestured invitingly to the side.
"Whoa… whoa whoa whoa!"
The blast of cold air and rows upon rows of dazzling ingredients made Guinaifen gasp.
"This is my first time in a place this huge amazing!"
"Little Guizi's never been to a big supermarket before?"
"Back on the… my home side had Chamber branches too, but I never had money to go inside. Though Miss Tingyun from Fireworks Chamber was always super kind."
"You already found a better comparison than the IPC, didn't you?" Liu Bai teased as he stepped into the chilled section, eyeing the goods. "By the way how's Miss Tingyun's neck doing these days?"
There were normal ingredients: shrimp, ham, mushrooms.
And then there were game-original ones: activated stellaron mushrooms, xianzhou algae—stuff you'd eat without thinking in-game, but in reality made you question whether it was even edible.
"Huh? Do you know—"
BOOM—!
Halfway through Guinaifen's question, a deafening explosion rocked the building from outside.
The entire Chamber shook violently.
"Boss! You okay?!" Guinaifen grabbed Liu Bai's arm to steady him. "What was that…?"
Even someone not from Earth could recognize the sound.
Explosion.
Then the piercing alarm wailed through the entire store.
"Damn it Honkai energy!" Yelan realized instantly. She flung off her draped coat without a second thought and sprinted back toward the entrance, completely ignoring Liu Bai and Guinaifen.
"Boss, what do we…" Guinaifen looked to him, eyes questioning.
No need to overthink they'd clearly been caught up in trouble.
Ha… troublesome.
Guinaifen thought she'd already adapted to constant chaos, yet sudden events like this still made her heart race.
"If it's bandits raiding the place, that's gonna be a problem…"
She muttered.
Her big brother had once run with interstellar raiders to feed the family—robbing the rich, sparing the innocent, classic righteous-outlaw stuff. Still, Guinaifen knew what most bandits were really like.
(And precisely because her brother only took money and never harmed anyone, their family had eventually been pardoned by the Xianzhou.)
"Not bandits."
Liu Bai steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.
Damn—his physical stats were still too low.
"It's…"
"What is it?"
A short-haired maid with bangs covering one eye appeared silently in the doorway, sickle in hand, smiling faintly as she stared straight at Liu Bai.
"Who—?"
Guinaifen drew her waist drumsticks, stepping protectively in front of Liu Bai and glaring at the maid.
Bandit?
The woman didn't look vicious but then again, her big brother hadn't looked vicious either.
Plenty of infamous Stellaron Hunters were beautiful too.
"…It's dangerous outside. Please stay here quietly and don't move."
With that, the sickle-wielding maid gave Liu Bai one last deep look, then turned and dashed toward the explosion site.
"Huh?"
Guinaifen, who had braced for bloodshed, froze in confusion.
"Not a bandit? Then… some kind of guard?"
"Hard to say."
Liu Bai's expression grew serious.
"And outside isn't bandits—it's Raven."
Raven… Kiana… and earlier Rita.
What a coincidence.
Three women, one drama.
And now Yelan too.
"Huh? Miss Raven?" Guinaifen jumped in surprise. "How does this connect to Miss Raven?"
"Forgot to tell you."
Liu Bai stayed calm.
"You know the Stellaron Hunters, right?"
"Who doesn't?!"
"World Serpent is basically a mini Stellaron Hunter group? Maybe even a little worse?"
"…A den of thieves?"
"Relax it's not that bad. A planet isn't as complicated as the cosmos no endless layers of schemes."
Panicking wouldn't help.
"Fine… den of thieves it is."
Liu Bai's composure quickly steadied Guinaifen.
Like she hadn't lived in a den of thieves before.
"So boss what's next? Run?"
"Let's run. I know the way."
In a high-freedom open world, any player who hadn't robbed a store wasn't a real player.
"But first let's buy some stuff."
"At a time like this?! Can't we just hit a regular market? And who are you even paying right now?!"
"Some things you can't get at a regular market."
Liu Bai glanced at the shelves every item had a QR code.
No discussion needed.
Sweep.
"I'm buying legitimately. Leave a line open makes it easier to meet again later."