Feeling the jolting of the car, and the fresh air rushing into his lungs before leaving again, Shu lay flat on the pickup truck's bed, looking blankly at the stars in the sky.
"Shu?" Kiana, who was breathing heavily, looked at Shu, who looked like he was already dead, "Are you okay?"
"Don't disturb me, I'm thinking…" Shu subconsciously replied, his eyes fixed on the sky.
"Oh…" Kiana nodded and sat cross-legged. "Ahh… I thought I was going to die. Hehe, it seems that my mission isn't over yet!"
Shu glanced at Kiana, who was looking relieved, and then supported himself, slowly sitting up.
You have the nerve to say that? If it weren't for your sudden acceleration, I would've believed your lies! Am I the only one who was really wandering on the verge of death?
Having escaped certain death, the group was all excited. Even after a moment of calm, Shu could still feel his heart thumping loudly.
The pickup truck drove steadily on the main road. Otto drove with one hand on the steering wheel, leaning against his seat leisurely. Shu saw the laziness in Otto's eyes through the reflection of the rearview mirror.
Then, Shu felt complicated emotions.
First: Why is everyone else is so miserable, yet you can still maintain your composure?
Second: You sure came at the right time!
Third: Otto is not dead! That's the best news… a genuinely good news.
"Otto…" Shu wanted to ask Otto all sorts of things. Did he really go to the train station? How did he end up here? What was up with those two Honkai Beasts?
And… what was the state of this world? Why was everyone he knew so different from what he remembered?
Shu subconsciously felt that Otto could give him all of the answers to his questions.
But with so many questions in his mind, Shu started to wonder how he should word them.
"You can just call me Otto, Mr. Shu." Otto looked up and smiled at the rearview mirror. "Oh, it seems that I need to start first. So Shu, what do you want to ask me?"
"Ahem." Shu coughed. He felt like he was being seen through again, but he had no choice but to grit his teeth and ask, "What have you guys experienced since yesterday morning?"
Maybe it was his imagination, but Shu felt that he saw a trace of disappointment in Otto's eyes. When he looked again, it was just the same elegant and approachable smile.
"Hmm, that's a long story. I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to explain your current situation so quickly. Let me think about how I should explain it briefly..." Otto pretended to think for a moment, and then said with a smile. "Well, we recorded the habits of those white monsters."
The others: "?"
Shu couldn't believe it: "Wait, you… you guys were observing the habits of the Honkai beasts?! That means that you guys were always near the Honkai Beasts?!"
"Of course. After all, it was the first time I've seen a living, breathing Honkai beast. How could I not be excited when such a treasure was in front of me?" Otto said with a smile, but Shu felt like Otto was looking straight at him through the rearview mirror.
"You are really…" Shu was speechless, all of his questions getting stuck.
"Grandpa, you big dummy!! Those monsters are so dangerous, why would you go investigate them!" Just when Shu didn't know what to say, Theresa shouted with a tearful voice.
"Do you know how worried I was? Do you even know…" I almost lost everything!
"Ah, I can testify that Theresa cried so hard." Shu silently raised his hand and added,
"I'm not sad for such an irresponsible guy!" Theresa crossed her arms and pouted like a child.
"I'm sorry, it was my fault, haha." Otto laughed without guilt, but Theresa was just pouting like a little bun.
The group exchanged glances and couldn't help but laugh.
"Ahhh! Stop laughing!" Theresa yelled and jumped towards Himeko, who was the closest. She bounced off of Himeko and looked more frustrated than ever.
The atmosphere of having survived another disaster finally faded away. Shu stopped smiling. "Otto, what habits did you observe?"
"The habits of those monsters?" Kallen smiled and thought. "Well... those monsters don't eat or go to the bathroom."
"What? The Honkai Beasts don't eat people?!" Kiana was shocked. "Then why do they chase us so hard?!"
"That's right!" Kallen was also confused by this question. "Why? How can this make sense…"
"Do they have a territory? But we've been in that area for almost a month, so why did they only appear just now?" Himeko started to wonder and joined the discussion.
"Compared to that, I have another question." Theresa suddenly interrupted their thoughts. She looked at Shu and Kiana in confusion. "Why... do you guys call those monsters Honkai Beasts?"
Kiana: "!!!"
The two didn't say anything at first. Kiana then quietly whispered into Shu's ear, "What do we do? I think we've been exposed!"
Shu: "…"
Shu rolled his eyes. You're thinking way too much… This is not a secret that we need to keep. There is no need to hide it. Shu even wanted to explain the concept of "Honkai" to everyone. He didn't even want to miss anything about Honkai Impact 3's main story…
Yeah, absolutely not because he wants to make himself the main character, no… You would have to be a madman to do that.
"Kiana, what is it?" Seeing Kiana acting hesitant, everyone felt that something was wrong. Even Otto, who was driving, was looking at them.
"Uh, well, that's…" Kiana's eyes darted around. The news she had heard from Shu was a bit heavy… Kiana didn't know if she should tell the others. What if Shu didn't want her to?
"I'll talk. It's better for everyone to know these things." And I'll have to think about how to explain where these things came from… Shu almost rolled his eyes again.
Otto's attention was instantly focused.
It seemed like he got what he wanted.