"Kiana!" Raiden Mei said with a sigh. "How many times have I told you not to be so careless? Be more careful." As she spoke, Raiden Mei wielded the Yamamoto Night Shadow Katana Li Xuan had given her, executing the techniques of Hokushin Itto-ryu. She flawlessly cut down the Honkai Zombies pouncing at her while nagging Kiana.
Hokushin Itto-ryu was a first-class swordsmanship style passed down through the Raiden family for generations. As a descendant of the Raiden clan, Mei had begun learning her family's ancestral swordsmanship from a young age and had even earned the rank of Menkyo Kaiden. This sword style, created for the purpose of killing, was now the perfect tool for Raiden Mei to slay Honkai Zombies.
"I-I know," Kiana Kaslana mumbled guiltily, still firing her two pistols with her Gun Kata to take down the Honkai Zombies. She shot a nasty glare at Li Xuan.
If he hadn't rushed me, I wouldn't have fallen, Kiana thought.
This was the third day since the Honkai yuri trio had met Li Xuan. For the past few days, Li Xuan, Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya Zaychik had been working together to find food and supplies, planning to escape this Honkai-infected city together.
The first few days had gone smoothly, and they had managed to retrieve a lot of supplies from abandoned shops and houses. But today, they had run into trouble. The reason was simple: the group had found a stash of well-preserved canned food in a small, remote shop, and Li Xuan had even discovered a map of Nagazora City. However, as they were leaving, Kiana was carrying a pile of cans. Urged on by Li Xuan, she rushed to retreat, but in her haste, the careless Kiana tripped on a piece of rubble.
The result was predictable. The cheerful 'clank, clank, clang' of the cans hitting the ground was, in this deathly silent city infected by Honkai energy, no less conspicuous than running naked through Times Square.
Drawn by the sound, Honkai Zombies surrounded them like stray cats drawn to the smell of fish. They waved their hands frantically, their mouths agape like hungry baby birds—except they ate people, not insects. Fortunately, no Honkai Beasts had appeared yet.
As people who had survived this long in Nagazora City, everyone had their own skills.
Li Xuan hadn't used the guns in his ring for the past few days. He had been strengthening the five-star emblem, Knight Never Dies by Bare Hands. With the emblem's terrifying boost to his unarmed damage and the shield from his Xuanyuan Festive Garb, he charged into the horde of Honkai Zombies like a wolf into a flock of sheep. They started trading blows—well, actually, thanks to his shield, he was single-handedly slaughtering them.
But the good times didn't last. As Li Xuan was sending Honkai Zombies flying with a single punch, a red-haired zombie suddenly appeared in the crowd. Li Xuan paid it no mind and threw another punch. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was too late.
"Boom!" The Honkai energy inside the red-haired female zombie became violently unstable upon contact with Li Xuan. And then... there was no 'and then.' Catalyzed by the Honkai energy, the zombie turned into a human bomb and exploded.
Although the explosion of the self-destructing girl zombie didn't harm Li Xuan, it still sent him flying, leaving him in a disheveled state. Several nearby Honkai Zombies were caught in the blast and sent tumbling to the ground like scattered dumplings, unable to get back up.
"Hmph, barbarians only know how to use their fists. Smart people use guns," Kiana mocked, seizing the opportunity. Seeing Li Xuan get thrown back in close combat, the girl, who seemed to clash with him at every turn, taunted him with her dual pistols.
"According to Bronya Zaychik's system calculations, Kiana's intelligence is not higher than Li Xuan's..." Bronya Zaychik, whose presence was often overlooked, chimed in with a timely jab while operating Project Bunny.
Then, in accordance with the universal law of 'no showing off for more than three seconds'...
"Kiana! Look out!" Mei suddenly shouted from the side.
"What's wrong?" Kiana asked, turning her head while still in a shooting stance.
A red-haired Honkai Zombie was leaping towards her. They were face-to-face, so close that Kiana could smell the rotten stench from the zombie's body. This is bad... Kiana thought in alarm. It was another self-destructing one, and she didn't have Li Xuan's shield.
Just as the self-destructing zombie was about to reach Kiana, it was suddenly hit by something and sent flying sideways. When it landed, there was a clear, bloody hole in its head.
Everyone looked in the direction the shot came from. Li Xuan was now holding a black, high-tech-looking hand cannon. The muzzle was crackling with white lightning.
Kiana's face suddenly stung with embarrassment.
"Everyone, to escape Nagazora City, this is the closest route." After dinner, everyone gathered to listen to a certain young man's analysis of the escape plan.
The young man pointed to the map he had swiped from the shop that morning, his expression serious.
It was a bridge leading out of Nagazora City.
(End of Chapter)