"I'll just drink some water in a bit... let's skip the lipstick."
Hua hesitated. She usually went without makeup and rarely used anything that highlighted feminine charm.
Vill-V blinked her lively eyes. "Come on, otherwise that granny will mistake you for a boy again."
Looking into Vill-V's earnest gaze, Hua finally nodded with a hint of shyness.
"Alright."
She did feel a small sense of anticipation, wanting to try a different version of herself.
But who would have guessed that Vill-V only wanted to slip Hua a little "interesting medicine"?
"That's more like it. Come here."
Just as Vill-V was halfway through, a dry, aged voice suddenly cut in.
"You youngsters really get along well."
There was a faint eeriness in that voice, making Vill-V pause mid-application.
Turning around, she saw Granny Tao smiling kindly.
As if the earlier sinister tone had only been her imagination.
Clearly, Granny Tao still hadn't figured out Hua's gender and assumed they were a young couple playing around.
"Ah, such a good-looking lad with lipstick. You'll be even more pleasing to the eye—like a young maiden. Out there, plenty of people will be your fans."
The old woman had lived through the fandom era, even though it had long since faded away.
Hearing the teasing, Hua's face flushed even deeper.
Vill-V, on the other hand, proudly slung an arm over Hua's shoulder. "Of course! I'm Hua's number one dedicated fan!"
Among the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, most of the beautiful girls were basically Vill-V's solo favorites—including Vill-V herself.
"Calling it 'idol' is a bit much..."
A shy smile appeared on Hua's face.
If anything, Vill-V was the one she admired.
She had the beauty of a top idol, near-omnipotent talent, and had constantly encouraged her, helping her walk out of the shadows of the Third Honkai Eruption.
If her personality could combine Id's gentleness, Conductor's composure, Magician's passion, and Expert's rational insight, then Vill-V would be the perfect idol.
How could she possibly deserve to be admired by her?
"Hehe, an idol? That's good, that's good. Back in my day, I also wanted to debut as an idol star."
Click. Granny Tao unlocked the door with a key and turned back. "You've worked hard. Come, come, have a cup of tea."
The atmosphere inside the door felt a little off.
What was that sense of oppression... and faint eeriness?
But before Hua could ask, Vill-V had already kicked off her shoes in a flash and hopped into the room in her black stockings.
"Yay, tea time at three!"
Hua removed her shoes and neatly placed them alongside Vill-V's in the shoe cabinet. "Sorry to trouble you."
She casually closed the door behind her, shutting out the dust outside.
Inside was like a small sanctuary. There were no blaring advertisements assaulting the ears, at least not as noisy as outside.
The corridor outside the apartment had been filthy and foul-smelling, filled with flies and dust, yet Granny Tao's home was clean and tidy, with incense burning.
It almost made Hua feel like what she had sensed earlier was just an illusion.
Maybe she simply wasn't used to the smell of incense.
Her father's dojo also used incense to calm the mind.
But something felt off. Mixed within Granny Tao's incense was a faint stench.
"This incense isn't just to drive away mosquitoes and bad smells. I also light it for my late husband. You don't mind, do you?"
Granny Tao slowly walked into the kitchen.
"I'll make you some tea. Just wait a moment."
While she was preparing it, Hua looked out the window.
She could see advertisements from various "companies" flashing across electronic billboards between buildings. Beneath them scrolled data showing Barcelona's rising consumption and increasing happiness index.
"Is this really the state of survival for the people in this city?"
Overall, the economic data could be summed up in four words: everything is improving...
A stark contrast to reality.
Perhaps these were the numbers being reported, making the European Council believe Barcelona was thriving.
It was hard to tell whether the real world was absurd, or if the world of data was the absurd one.
Even Honkai energy thresholds felt more real than this.
At least, the higher the Honkai energy level in a region, the worse the situation was—something directly observable.
"People here can't even afford food, yet prices keep rising. Where did these numbers come from?"
"What's causing ordinary people's lives and voices to drift further and further away from us?"
"Is it the Honkai?"
The suffering of the residents here was even worse than what Hua had seen in reports.
More miserable than the poverty-alleviation programs she had once seen on television.
Those programs had always been full of contradictions—children who supposedly couldn't afford school somehow had expensive pianos; people who couldn't afford treatment somehow drove luxury cars.
In the news, life always looked prosperous and stable. But here, there was no water, no electricity, no gas. People ate stale rice, drank filthy water, and struggled just to survive.
Water had to be fetched from rivers miles away.
Hua had once thought that her life training in the mountains with her father was already a form of hardship.
But the people here endured a hardship beyond hardship—so bitter it was unbearable.
At least in the mountains, there had been sufficient food.
Here, most people were sallow and emaciated, their eyes lifeless, clearly plagued by illness.
Worst of all, a Honkai Eruption was happening in this city.
Ordinary hardships could barely be endured, but the Honkai was not something normal people could deal with.
Granny Tao's husband, son, and daughter-in-law had all been killed years ago by suddenly appearing zombies, leaving her alone. She could only rely on her sewing skills to earn a meager living from neighbors.
...
Somewhere out of sight of Vill-V and Hua, Granny Tao seemed to accidentally cut her finger. Crimson blood dripped into the goji berry tea, deepening its already rich color.
Moments later, she brought the tea out.
"Come, children, drink up."
"In a city like this, goji berries must be a luxury. You shouldn't have gone to the trouble."
As Hua spoke, she lifted the cup and moved to drink—but the liquid vanished the moment it reached her lips.
Turning to look at Vill-V, who was playing with the lipstick and giggling, Hua immediately understood.
That lipstick was actually one of Magician's props.
Seeing that Vill-V clearly didn't want her to drink the tea, Hua simply set the cup down.
Each time the tea neared her lips, it disappeared, so Granny Tao—who kept glancing over—didn't notice that Hua hadn't actually drunk any.
Holding a freshly washed old bowl, Granny Tao walked over. Before she could ask why the young man looked troubled, a commotion suddenly erupted downstairs.
At first, they thought it was another gang smashing things—but it didn't seem to be.
"Old Hans has turned! Quick, grab your weapons!"