"Kiana!" Raiden Mei sighed. "How many times have I told you? Don't be careless and be more careful!" Mei, wielding the Yamamoto Nightshadow Samurai Sword Li Xuan had given her, executed Hokushin Ittō-ryū sword techniques with flawless precision, effortlessly cutting down the Dead Soldiers lunging at her while scolding Kiana.
Hokushin Ittō-ryū, a top-tier sword technique passed down through generations of the Raiden Clan, was Mei's ancestral legacy. As a descendant of the Raiden Clan, she had begun learning the family's sword techniques from childhood and had even earned the prestigious Menkyo Kaiden certification. This sword technique, designed for killing, was now Mei's most effective weapon against the Dead Soldiers.
"I... I know, Mei," Kiana Kaslana mumbled guiltily, firing her dual pistols in a flurry of gun-fu to mow down the Dead Soldiers. Her eyes, however, glared fiercely at Li Xuan. "If he hadn't rushed me, I wouldn't have tripped!" she thought resentfully.
This was the third day since the Honkai Yuri Trio had met Li Xuan. Over the past few days, they had been working together to scavenge for food and supplies, planning to escape the Honkai-infected city together.
For the past few days, they had successfully scavenged supplies from abandoned shops and homes. But today, during their scavenging, they encountered an unexpected incident. The cause was simple: in a secluded little shop, they found a large supply of well-preserved canned food, and Li Xuan even discovered a map of Nagazora City. As they were retreating, Kiana, burdened with a mountain of canned goods, stumbled over a piece of broken stone in her haste to escape under Li Xuan's urging.
The outcome was inevitable. The canned goods crashed to the ground with a resounding "thump-clatter," a sound that echoed through the silent city, now dead from Honkai Energy contamination, as if someone had stripped naked and run through Times Square.
Drawn by the noise, the Dead Soldiers swarmed around them like feral cats drawn to the scent of fish. They flailed their arms wildly, their mouths gaping like hungry chicks, though they weren't after worms—they were after human flesh. Fortunately, no Honkai Beasts had yet appeared.
The survivors, who had managed to survive this long in Nagazora City, now resorted to every trick in the book.
Li Xuan hadn't used the gun in his Ring for days. He had been focusing on enhancing his Five-Star Emblem, "A Knight Does Not Die with Empty Hands." With the emblem's terrifying boost to his unarmed combat damage and the Divine Gear - Xuanyuan Ceremonial Suit's shield, he charged into the horde of Dead Soldiers like a wolf among sheep, engaging in a one-sided slaughter. Well, in truth, he was just abusing them, relying on his shield to take their attacks while he pummeled them to death.
The good times didn't last. As Li Xuan was punching Dead Soldiers one after another, a red-haired Dead Soldier suddenly appeared among them. Li Xuan, still not taking notice, threw another punch. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was too late.
*BOOM!* The Honkai Energy within the red-haired female Dead Soldier began to violently destabilize the moment Li Xuan touched her. Then, there was nothing left. The Dead Soldier, catalyzed by the Honkai Energy, transformed into a human bomb and detonated instantly.
Though the explosion of the self-detonating Dead Soldier didn't harm Li Xuan, it still sent him flying. He landed in a disheveled state, while several nearby Dead Soldiers were caught in the blast radius, tumbling through the air like dumplings before crashing to the ground, unable to rise.
"Heh heh~ Barbarians only know how to use their fists. Smart people use guns," Kiana sneered, twin pistols at the ready, as if she'd been waiting for just such an opportunity to mock Li Xuan's close-quarters combat failure.
"According to Bronya's System calculations, Kiana's intelligence is no higher than Li Xuan's..." Bronya, her presence barely noticeable, operated Heavy Bunny to deliver a timely counterattack.
Then, in accordance with the universal law of "show-off for no more than three seconds"...
"Kiana! Watch out!" Mei suddenly shouted from the side.
"What's wrong?" Kiana asked, still in her shooting stance, turning her head.
A red-haired Dead Soldier leaped towards her, face-to-face, close enough for Kiana to smell its putrid stench. *Pill...* Kiana's heart skipped a beat. It was a suicide bomber, and she didn't have Li Xuan's shield.
Just as the suicide bomber was about to pounce on Kiana, something struck it, sending it flying sideways. When it landed, a clear blood hole appeared in its head.
Everyone turned to look in the direction of the shot. Li Xuan was standing there, holding a black, high-tech-looking hand cannon. The muzzle was still crackling with white lightning.
Kiana suddenly felt a sharp pain in her face.
"Everyone, the closest escape route from Nagazora City is this way." After dinner, the group gathered to listen to a man's analysis of the escape route.
The man pointed at the map he had "borrowed" from a shop that morning, his face serious.
It was a route leading to a bridge outside Nagazora City.