Honkai Impact: The Dream Keeper

(PS: Before we begin this chapter, I'd like to mention that I collaborated with the author kumo on a slice-of-life story called "Honkai Impact: The Dream Keeper Returns." It's the story of Long Qiao and others from a parallel world, a very beautiful world. If you're interested, you can check it out on the author kumo's page. Only the first chapter has been released so far.)

"Ouch... the side effects really hurt like hell!" Long Qiao groaned as she lay on Qing Mo's back.

“These side effects are indeed something that others can hardly experience. After all, we don’t want to experience muscle spasms and soreness all over our bodies,” Qingmo said, lifting Long Qiao up a little.

"Wow! Ah!! Don't move!!" Long Qiao shouted, her face instantly turning red.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I just felt a little uncomfortable, hehe!"

"!!!ah!!!"

"Damn it! I'm going to be killed by you before I'm even killed by Orphnoch! Ouch... By the way, how's your search for clues going?" Long Qiao said tremblingly, enduring the pain.

“Bronya just examined Gray Serpent’s body and found that Gray Serpent was killed with a single blow, and some bio-components used for authentication, such as an electronic prosthetic eye, were taken away with it…” Bronya said.

"Hahaha, damn it! It feels like we made a wasted trip!" Long Qiao said, grinning.

"Possibly, but not necessarily..."

"The murderer left behind some of Gray Snake's things. Hahahaha, the murderer is such a big idiot," Men Mo said with a laugh.

"This...this murderer is really incompetent, he didn't even know how to cover up the crime," Long Qiao said, embarrassed.

“And just now, Bronya infiltrated the Grey Serpent’s base to retrieve backup intelligence,” Yunshan said.

"Did you find it?"

"We've found her, but she's a cyborg. We're currently following her trail, and finding Kiana depends on her," Zhang Qing said.

"Oh... Well... then let's go find her... I'm going to sleep for a while... I'm so tired..." Long Qiao closed her eyes and fell asleep after saying that.

"Hmm... Go to sleep."

…………

“I’m sorry, but for the sake of our friend, we have to ask you to come with us… Wait… Isn’t this a child?” Theresa asked in surprise.

“I don’t have time to answer children’s questions. Let your parents ask them. The payment will be the usual standard,” the modified person said.

"Pfft—hahahahaha, the headmistress is being called a child!" Menmo pointed at Theresa and laughed loudly.

"Menmo! ?? ?"

"Ahem...Alright Theresa, we don't have time anymore, let me speak." Long Qiao opened her eyes and forced herself to get off Qing Mo, speaking to the cyborg.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Gray Serpent has met with misfortune. We are business partners who were going to do business with him. Please don’t worry, we are here to protect you,” Long Qiao said softly, kneeling down.

"Protection? You just dismantled all the mechs protecting me... Hmm, I do really need protection now," the cyborg said.

"Cough cough... Those mechs are too trash. Since we can beat your mechs, it means others can too. But they can't beat us, so it's better for us to protect you instead." Long Qiao said, using her PUA skills.

"You have a point."

"And also, in order to find the whereabouts of our friend, we would like to ask you..."

"Wait, I already said that you have to pay to ask questions," the humanoid machine said.

"Cash or card? Electronic payment is more convenient," the humanoid robot said, pulling out a POS machine.

"This... alright... then let's use this to pay for now." After saying that, Long Qiao took out the Faiz blade from the spatial necklace given to her by Long Qiao in the future and held it to the neck of the humanoid machine.

"Long Qiao, you...you truly live up to your reputation as a gang leader," Men Mo said, giving a thumbs up.

"Thank you for the compliment. Alright, lead the way." Long Qiao said to the humanoid machine.

“By the way, Mei and Yunshan, you two stay here for now. I have a task for you,” Theresa said.

"Yes!" x2

After Long Qiao and the others left, Mei and Yunshan Shunmao were in a dark place when they saw a figure appear.

“Theresa was right after all…there really was someone following us,” Mei said.

"Huh? Their trail just disappeared here?" Rita said blankly.

"Hey!" Mei swung her knife at Rita, but Rita deflected it.

"Huh? A sneak attack? Miss Mei, that's not exactly honorable."

"Who the hell cares about you!" Yunshan transformed into a sword rider, brandishing his blade, and charged out again, knocking Rita back several steps with a single move.

“I’m curious, how did you know… I would come here?” Rita asked.

“Do you think we’d tell you?” Yunshan said.

“There are no signs of intrusion at the Gray Serpent’s stronghold. It seems we arrived first. The culprit clearly removed the bio-component used for authentication from him… Why are we still holding back?” Mei replied.

"Uh... never mind."

“There are only two possibilities: one, the murderer thought she had cut off all the clues and left with peace of mind; two, perhaps the murderer did not have the ability to crack Gray Snake's equipment to find information, and she preferred to wait for the rabbit to come to her..." Mei explained.

"That biochip we found... you left it there on purpose, didn't you? To make it easier for us to find intelligence."

“…Hehe, what a brilliant deduction.” Rita clapped her hands and said.

"Where is Lady Theresa? Why aren't they coming to your aid?" Rita asked.

"The two of us are enough here!" Yunshan said smugly, pointing to himself with his thumb.

“You’ve been corrupted by Long Qiao.”

"..."

"Has Lady Theresa found what she wants, and that's why she's keeping you here to buy time?" Rita asked.

"Delaying time? Hmph, Miss Rita, aren't you being a bit too confident?" Mei said.

"There's no point in talking any more, come on!"

The three immediately engaged in battle. During the battle, Yunshan transformed into Night Rider and summoned a contracted beast to assist him, but he was still repeatedly defeated by Rita's superior combat experience.

"That crazy woman! Only Third Brother can match her combat experience!"

"I originally thought you were only able to hold on until now because you conquered the gems, but I didn't expect that you would still be so strong after losing the gems. It's really impressive," Rita said in surprise.

“Now I understand why His Excellency the Bishop cares so much about the Far East Branch… Every time you’re at your wit’s end, you always manage to take an unexpected step.”

“In the past, I always hid under the shell of a Herrscher, afraid of yet dependent on this power, until I watched Long Qiao leave in the battle against Chi You, and now I have lost Kiana. Only then did I realize how weak I really am... so weak that I can only rely on Long Qiao and the others to protect me, so weak that I cannot stay by Long Qiao's side…” Mei said after recalling Long Qiao's words from the future.

“And now, I no longer need to hide… I will protect Kiana!” Mei shouted.

"Well said!" Yunshan shouted.

Just as the two were about to engage Rita again, Theresa told them not to linger. Yunshan then used his clone card to fight Rita, while the real two had already hidden themselves. However, neither of them noticed that a locator had been installed on Mei's leg ring—