Honkai: You're telling me this difficulty is from Honkai Impact 3?!

Kiana ignored Shu's questioning gaze and dove into the aisles.

Seeing her eagerness, Shu decided not to press the matter, quietly opening the chicken drumstick package and starting to eat at a leisurely pace.

The store was full of instant food; the most complicated things being instant hot pot and instant noodles.

These barely qualified as cooking and naturally didn't trigger Kiana's particular... passive skill.

Outside, the sky had darkened. Kiana, patting her satisfied belly and belching contentedly, hummed a little tune as she went upstairs. Shu closed the door to the back room and lay down on the sofa.

There was no electricity in the small store, and Shu didn't want to fumble around in the dark for candles or other light sources. He'd drawn the curtains, making the room pitch black.

Despite knowing that getting some rest was the sensible thing to do, Shu, for the first time in his life, found himself unable to sleep.

Insomnia wasn't surprising after everything that had happened, but Shu had always been a sound sleeper. Insomnia was a novel experience for him.

When people calm down, they can always reflect on the past. But no matter how hard he racked his brain, Shu couldn't figure out why Kiana didn't know about Schicksal.

Even the protagonist wasn't following the script. This meant that Shu's prophetic knowledge as a transmigrator was practically useless.

What did he have left to rely on to survive in this Honkai-infested world?

A cheat ability? He'd been here for a whole day, and his golden finger hadn't even twitched!

Could it be that his cheat only activated after he achieved great things? That'd be way too late! It was questionable whether he could even survive the tutorial stage!

A faint, hoarse roar echoed in the distance. Shu grimaced and rolled over.

I wonder if the Honkai energy erosion and resistance settings still apply?

No matter how much the script deviated, Shu was currently in an absolute god-tier starting position. Even if this Honkai world treated its protagonists terribly, at least the ending was a happy one.

Shu didn't want to painstakingly integrate himself into the protagonist group only to be taken out by some measly Honkai energy erosion.

But whether he had Honkai resistance was something he couldn't determine right now. He could only console himself with the fact that he was still alive and kicking after being in close proximity to those walking Honkai energy carriers, the Dead-ites, so he probably had some resistance.

The problem remained, though. Shu didn't know how his current script was supposed to unfold. He couldn't make any plans, only take things one step at a time.

"..." Shu blinked in the darkness, then suddenly chuckled. "Forget it. If I can't plan, then I won't even think about it! Time to sleep!"

He forcefully turned over, facing the back of the sofa, and closed his eyes.

…

"BOOM!!"

A deafening explosion jolted Shu awake. He cracked open his eyelids, propped himself up on his elbows, and looked blearily towards the source of the sound.

The room was still dim. Shu rubbed his eyes, slowly got up from the sofa, tossed the jacket he'd been using as a blanket onto the cushions, and walked over to the curtains, pulling them open.

The gentle sunlight transformed into sharp swords, stabbing straight into Shu's eyes. He promptly shut them tight, momentarily blinded.

"Aaargh—!"

With an involuntary cry, Shu clutched his eyes and collapsed onto the floor, writhing in pain.

"My eyes! My eyes!!"

The door burst open. Kiana stood there, spatula in hand like a gleaming sword, a pot lid in the other like a sturdy shield.

However, the soot covering her face and the black, unidentifiable substance clinging to the pot lid told the story of a fierce "battle" she'd just endured.

Shu froze at the sound of the door opening. Shielding his eyes from the sunlight with his hand, he looked up from the floor at the wary Kiana.

"What happened?! Did zombies get in?!" Kiana scanned her surroundings, alert. Shu quickly wiped away the tears and stood up, feigning composure.

"Cough, nothing. Just startled by that loud noise. Do you know what that explosion was?"

Shu quickly changed the subject, then noticed Kiana's soot-covered, disheveled appearance. "You..."

Kiana quickly hid the pot lid and spatula behind her back, her eyes darting nervously around the room. "Ahem, what explosion? I didn't hear anything... Um, do you want breakfast? Is un-toasted bread okay?"

Shu paused, then blurted out, "...Did you just blow up the kitchen?"

"Haha... no way! I was just toasting some bread and frying some bacon. How could I possibly blow up the kitchen?"

You totally just blew up the kitchen!!

Shu's face fell. So, he'd triggered the Kaslana passive skill after all.

He swallowed his reprimand, then realized a serious problem. He rushed back to the window, peered outside, and his expression turned grim.

The explosion had attracted the attention of all the zombies and Dead-ites in the vicinity, and they were rapidly converging on the store.

"We seem to be surrounded. We can't stay here much longer." After assessing the number of zombies, Shu turned back to Kiana, his voice grave.

But Kiana seemed unconcerned by the news. Worried she hadn't heard him clearly, he repeated himself.

"Yeah." Kiana rubbed the soot off her face, nodding nonchalantly. "I know. So?"

"Aren't you scared?" Shu gestured towards the window.

Kiana shook her head. "I wasn't planning on staying here forever anyway... Wait, don't tell me you were planning to..."

A look of guilt and helplessness spread across her face. Shu sighed, rubbing his temples, but a flicker of hope suddenly ignited within him.

"Can you fight these zombies? How many can you take on?"

Kiana paused, then said, "Why would I fight them? Can't we just avoid them?"

Shu: "..."

"Hey, why don't you come with me! I'll help you find an even bigger convenience store, how about that?" Kiana's eyes lit up as she had a brilliant idea, spreading her arms wide to demonstrate the scale.

Shu: "... Sigh, fine. But I don't need another convenience store. I actually think I'll be safer with you. You're not the type to hog all the food, are you?"

"Huh?"