Inside the small courtyard.
Baiheng hadn't fully recovered from the shock brought by Cipher's "teleportation."
Just as the tossed golden coin reached its apex and began to fall, a figure with an afterimage seemed to "tumble" out of the coin, staggering a step before appearing in the courtyard, raising a hand just in time to catch the descending coin.
It was Cipher.
But her appearance at the moment was somewhat disheveled.
A layer of fine white frost had formed on her originally silver hair and fluffy cat ears. Her breath came out in white mist, her body was trembling slightly, and her lips were turning purple.
"Ow! Cold, cold, cold, cold—! It's so cold!"
Cipher stomped her feet, hugging her arms, her golden cat eyes filled with lingering fear. "What the heck was that! I almost turned into a frozen cat jerky!"
Baiheng watched, dumbfounded and completely bewildered. "Cipher? Did you... fall into an ice hole?"
Xianzhou Luofu is spring-like all year round; where did such intense cold air come from?
Before Cipher could answer—
"Tap, tap."
Unrushed footsteps came from the open courtyard entrance.
Baiheng shivered violently, alarm bells ringing frantically in her mind!
She abruptly turned her head and saw the figure who had kept her on edge for the past two days, standing quietly just inside the courtyard gate, holding her Erhu.
The morning light outlined her tall and solitary silhouette. The black eye mask seemed capable of penetrating all disguises, accurately locking onto the people in the courtyard—especially the shivering cat-eared girl still covered in unthawed white frost.
Jingliu's gaze, like ice and sword, first quickly swept across the entire courtyard, confirming the System's presence, and then firmly fixed on Cipher.
That look was full of scrutiny.
Cipher, upon feeling that icy gaze, also stopped complaining about the cold, raised her head, and her blue cat eyes met Jingliu's.
"Ah! It's you?!"
The voice was clear and exceptionally distinct in the suddenly quiet courtyard.
Baiheng's heart sank with a thump, realizing things were not good.
Jingliu had indeed come to investigate, and judging by the look of things, Cipher's sudden freezing was likely related to her!
Now with Cipher's reaction... Jingliu heard Cipher's exclamation, and her voice was calm and unwavering, yet carried an undeniable interrogation:
"You know me?"
The air inside the small courtyard seemed to solidify completely at that moment.
The lazy afternoon sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling window, casting dappled light and shadow onto the polished tabletop.
The air was filled with the rich aroma of ground coffee beans and pastries. Soothing jazz played in the background, and a few scattered customers conversed in low voices. Everything seemed calm and ordinary.
Except for the low pressure emanating from the table in the corner by the window.
Raven was wearing dark casual clothes suitable for movement, hooded, with most of her face hidden in shadow.
In front of her sat a cup of black coffee, long since cold and only sipped once. Her hands were folded on the table, fingers unconsciously tapping the surface, betraying the impatience her owner was desperately trying to suppress.
Her gaze was locked firmly onto'Star' across from her.
Stelle sat upright, her golden eyes beneath her gray hair lacking highlights, calmly staring at a nonexistent spot outside the window. In front of her was a cup of... instant noodles.
A deluxe version, complete with two sausages and a marinated egg.
She had been eating slowly for nearly an hour, and was close to finishing the soup.
"How much longer... do we have to wait?"
Raven finally spoke again, her voice kept low, but every word sounded squeezed out from between her teeth, carrying clear displeasure.
Stelle finished the last sip of noodle soup, put down her fork, wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin, and then turned to look at Raven, her tone flat and emotionless: "A little while."
Raven took a deep breath, feeling the veins throbbing on her forehead.
She leaned back into the chair, raised a hand to rub her throbbing temples, her voice filled with exhaustion and helplessness: "'A little while'? Sister, your 'little while' has already lasted three hours! We've waited from noon until afternoon! My time might not be billed by the second, but it shouldn't be wasted like this, okay?"
Stelle didn't respond, merely pushing the empty instant noodle cup aside and resuming her trademark silent gaze into the void, as if she were in standby mode.
Watching her impervious demeanor, a profound sense of powerlessness washed over Raven.
She couldn't help but recall the recent "Li Sushang Kidnapping Operation."
That move, the "Simulated End"... even now, thinking about it made her scalp tingle and left her with lingering fear.
That wasn't a normal fight at all. Afterward, she had hinted, probed, and even asked directly several times, but Stelle either remained silent or vaguely said, "Don't ask too much," never providing an explanation Raven could understand.
(Just what kind of deity is this? Star in honkai: star rail is a bit spacey, but not this... this silent, right? And I never heard she was an ultimate instant noodle enthusiast!)
Raven complained wildly in her mind.
She could only attribute all of this to the "differences in world counterparts"—after all, if the entire Elysian Realm could be moved to a strange place, having an 'Stelle' with a vastly different personality wasn't entirely unacceptable, was it?
For this new mission, Stelle had only said "there's another participant," and then brought her to this cafe to wait.
Three hours of waiting, without even seeing a shadow of the person.
(I'm quitting!)
Raven thought viciously to herself, starting to calculate what excuse would sound most natural for her to slip away.
World Serpent's salary wasn't high enough for her to tolerate this meaningless sitting around and dealing with a riddle-speaker who was also an instant noodle fanatic.
Just as she made up her mind, ready to stand up, say "I'm going to the restroom," and then climb out the window and leave—
"Tap, tap, tap..."
A set of unhurried, uniquely rhythmic footsteps approached clearly from far away, heading straight for their corner.
Raven subconsciously looked in the direction of the sound.
Then, her movements, along with her thoughts, froze.
Stepping into the light of the cafe was a slender, graceful girl.
She wore a strangely designed black and red dress, the style blending a sense of classical elegance with modern sharpness, the hem of the skirt resembling a blooming night flower.
Her short hair was a rare gradient color, deep red at the roots, gradually transitioning towards the tips.
Most striking was her face—so delicate it was almost ethereal, with fair skin and lips colored a seductive red.
And those eyes... scarlet pupils, like solidified blood amber.
A smile played on her lips. In her hand, she toyed with a closed black long umbrella with sharp ribs, the tip occasionally tapping the ground, making a crisp "thud, thud" sound.
She walked directly toward Raven and Stelle's table, her steps light and steady, as if she had known they were there all along.
Raven's breathing stopped for a moment.
She widened her eyes, her pupils contracting due to extreme shock.
Long Night Moon?!
No! Impossible!
Wasn't this person in the Amphoreus storyline? How could she... how could she appear here?! Appear in the world of Honkai Impact 3rd?!
Raven felt the steel nerves and worldview honed over years of mercenary life groan under the strain at this moment.
Information overload; her mind went blank.
Long Night Moon walked up to the table, first nodding slightly toward Stelle. A hint of understanding flashed in her scarlet eyes, and her voice was soft, carrying a strange rhythm: "Hello."
That counted as a greeting.
Stelle also nodded back, not speaking, but clearly knowing her.
Next, Long Night Moon turned her gaze toward the dumbfounded Raven.
The smile on her face deepened slightly, and she proactively extended her fair, slender hand—the one not holding the umbrella:
"Hello, Miss Raven, is that right?" Her voice was gentle and polite.
Raven reacted purely by reflex. While her brain was still offline, her body instinctively reached out and shook hands lightly with the other party.
The moment their palms met—very briefly, less than a second—Raven felt a certain slick sensation, like cold silk brushing across the surface of her skin, or a faint current running through her fingertips, quickly vanishing.
Immediately afterward, her head buzzed, as if someone had quickly erased the edges of her memory with an eraser, leaving a fraction of a second of blankness and disorientation.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"