Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 308 Outsourcing of Lighting

"what……"

sleepy.

Song Que rubbed her sleepy eyes, planning to get out of bed to relieve herself and then go back to sleep: she wanted to get some more sleep, as someone had an appointment with her this morning!

"...Insect, don't...come on!"

But as she passed by the door of Qiong's room, she inadvertently heard a noise. Specifically, she suddenly heard a very rhythmic "scream" coming from inside the door.

Song Que instantly became more alert; the sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet dawn. Years of wandering, experience in the martial world, and her friendship with Qiong told her it was best to take a look and be on guard: what if it was Lithost leading a shadowy figure in a night raid?

The sparrow pricked up its ears, followed the sound to the door, and cautiously pushed it open to peek through the crack. There, a humanoid white snake was forcefully pressing Sora's face against its magnificent frontal armor. Judging from its burning eyes, Sora's faint murmurs had no effect on it whatsoever; perhaps it even found it "interesting"?

"Honey, you may say no, but aren't you really thinking the same thing?"

Kiana gently kissed Sora's forehead. The dual operation of dream and reality gave her a kind of joy that Bronya had mentioned in raising a pet game—it would be even better if Sora could be a little more "honest" in reality.

The sparrow covered its mouth, and just as it was about to leave, Kiana's voice came from inside the door.

"Oh, it's a sparrow. What are you looking at?"

No matter how much her strength or attention was diverted, Kiana was still the true Herrscher of the End. She naturally noticed that the door had been pushed open a crack, and the sparrow behind it.

"I've been discovered," the sparrow thought.

I don't know why the wind picked up inside. The door, which was only slightly ajar, was blown open.

"We...didn't see anything!"

"Oh, really?"

Looking at the sparrow that she was trying to deceive herself by covering her eyes but which was still slightly open, Kiana smiled and tightened her grip. She pressed the dome down hard on her front armor and let out a soft groan—she was now operating on two fronts, one in the dream and one out of the dream, and couldn't stop.

"You, you all..."

Song Que stood at the door, stammering slightly. She didn't understand why Kiana had to be so direct; wouldn't it have been better to just let her leave?

What's more, they continued in front of her, didn't they treat her like an outsider?

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to! I just heard a noise..."

Before Matsuko could finish her explanation, Kiana, who had finalized the plan, waved to her.

"Songque, since you're already here, why don't we all come together..."

"How can this be!"

Before Kiana could finish her highly suggestive yet shameless words, she shook her head vigorously.

Could it be that the snakes that cultivated themselves into spirits on the third planet have such primitive moral values?!

"No, no, we're not compatible, really not compatible! You guys continue, just pretend we were never here, we know nothing!"

Thinking it was a misunderstanding caused by cultural and value differences, the flustered Pine Sparrow didn't notice any suspicious marks on the bed (who would pay attention to that at this point?). In her eyes, the two had just engaged in a half-hearted little game led by Kiana.

Kiana's smile softened even more when she received a negative answer from the sparrow.

"Do you really have absolutely no desire for Sora... or any hope for the future?"

Songque:......

Given the situation, Kiana's gentle voice and the way the two were lying on the bed, it was difficult for Matsuko to give a "yes" answer.

"How...how could I possibly think that? We treat him like a brother and you like a sister, we have absolutely no improper thoughts! It's impossible now, and it will never be possible in the future! We won't tell anyone! We don't know anything about it!"

Matsuko practically ran for her life, slamming the door shut behind her as she rushed back to her room and locked it. Watching Matsuko flee, Kiana sat up in bed, her smile widening. Once she was sure Matsuko was gone, Kiana refocused her attention on Sora.

"Honey, I got rid of Ms. Maria for you! Now Ms. Maria will be out of the picture when we get back, right?"

However, you should still lock the door after entering, or even weld it shut: locking the door after entering is called anti-theft awareness.

---------------

Qiong felt that Song Que was acting a little strange today.

She seemed particularly listless since morning? And when he kindly inquired, Song Que just gave him perfunctory answers, avoiding his gaze and not daring to look him in the eye, which puzzled Qiong.

But despite his confusion, Qiong didn't have time to worry about that today. He was more concerned with writing his exploration log, or more accurately, writing down the valuable parts of his dream.

Qiong turned to the blank page of the pioneering log, and after reading it for a few seconds, a bitter look appeared on his face.

I can't forget it, I can't forget it at all.

Logically speaking, dreams are things that people quickly forget after waking up. Even if they do remember, after waking up, they will probably only have a vague impression of "I remember having a dream". Unless it is a particularly profound dream, it will definitely be forgotten over time.

But his dream last night was unusually vivid, from the train's layout, everyone's conversations, even the inappropriate diary entries, and finally, how Kiana and Mei made him into a sandwich...

What was that last part? Was he really that sexually frustrated?

"Qiong, what are you writing?"

Kiana, with her hair disheveled, had her hands behind her back and leaned forward. The scent of her hair wafted into his nostrils, not to mention that her face was almost pressed against Sora's!

"The pioneering creed, and... Kiana, it's too close!"

Qiong shifted to the side, trying to avoid Kiana's face, which was too close—he didn't have the courage to face one of the heroines of his erotic dream right now.

Kiana, however, wouldn't give up. She grinned and moved even closer, her damned front armor pressing against his back. Any boy would be tempted.

"Let me see, maybe I can give you some advice?"

"There's absolutely no need for that!"

Qiong got up and moved to another spot, closing the notebook—what a joke! How could she possibly let this idiot Na see it? Just the fact that she had previously written in it that her cooking contained poison, if that were seen, she would be in deep trouble!

"It's no use showing it to you, and I already said it's only half-finished. What's there to see? It's just some daily records and the drug test results for Atjeta..."

I didn't see any luck or masculine charm, but the side effects of this dream memory stimulation were ridiculously strong. It would be even better if he could forget the erotic part of the dream.

No, that's not right. The sparrow couldn't look directly at itself. Could it be because...? Should it ask Ajeta for another bottle?

Just then, Song Que passed by with a cup of water, and Qiong immediately called out to her.

"Pine Sparrow, do you notice any changes in me?"

"Huh...no?"

Upon hearing the call and seeing Qiong and Kiana smiling, Matsuko's eyes instantly became evasive, and he quickened his pace, almost spilling the water.

Seeing the sparrow's reaction, Kiana laughed even harder and deliberately raised her voice.

"Pine Sparrow, aren't you coming to join us?"

"No, no, we have things to do! You two have a good time together!"

Qiong looked at the retreating figure of the pine sparrow as it fled in panic, her face full of doubt.

This doesn't seem like she ran away shyly because of his handsomeness; it's more like she saw something terrifying...

"What's wrong with Song Que today? He's acting so strangely."

"Who knows?"

Qiong turned to look at Kiana, who was covering her mouth and chuckling.

"What are you laughing at?"

"It's nothing, I just thought of something happy."

Qiong: ?

Qiong was even more confused. Kiana didn't intend to explain, but Qiong didn't care. He simply moved to another place to continue writing his pioneering log. He wanted to write everything down before the dream was forgotten!

I won't write about my madness in March and my final erotic dream; let's just pretend they never happened.

---------------

In a sense, Song Que's "I have something to do" was not just an excuse; she really did have something to do.

Pine Sparrow hurried to the dark alley of Amber Street, where her "old friend" was to meet her.

"Hey, buddy, you're here?"

"Hey, you actually dared to call us here?"

The man who was supposed to meet him put the clock in his pocket and greeted him with a forced smile.

"Pine Sparrow, Grandma! We were forced by circumstances to do this! If we hadn't stopped you, we wouldn't have had anything to eat in a few days!"

In a sense, some members of the Lamp organization had a long-standing relationship with Pine Sparrow. After all, Pine Sparrow, a notorious con artist on Amber Street, had been taking on jobs in both the legitimate and underworld circles for quite some time. She would do almost anything to make money, and naturally, she had also taken on jobs to help Lamp or even deal with her. Over time, they became acquainted.

"Last time you were implicated, didn't we not do anything to you? Didn't we treat you well and provide you with good food and drink?"

"That was Young Master Bai's apology; you didn't offer anything in return."

"Oh dear, look at my memory!"

The man slapped his forehead and quickly stuffed a bill into Song Que's hand.

Things are different now. Song Que not only has Qiong, a promising player who was sent to Ruimu by Litost, by his side, but he can also talk to their big spender, Bai Ji. They must maintain good relations with him.

Glancing at the amount on the bill in his hand, Song Que suppressed a laugh and quietly put it away.

"Alright, alright, I'm not the kind of person who holds a grudge. Let's just let this go! But let's keep to our distance in the future. I've finally figured it out. Peaceful days are good..."

Song Que recalled Bai Ji's appearance when he talked to her that day. She never expected that this young master Bai Ji really wanted to start a school, and even asked her to gather the beggars from Amber Street and arrange for them to attend the school, and even asked her to take care of those children—following Qiong around wasn't a good idea, as Qiong would eventually leave with Nian Gao. In addition, after careful calculation, Song Que did feel that it was not bad: although she might not earn a lot, it was still much better than her wandering the streets, swindling and cheating, and going hungry.

To be honest, she even once thought about pulling off one last big heist, robbing the Lithost family out of everything, donating the proceeds to the still-under-design orphanage in Baiji, and then retiring from her life of crime...

As it turned out, Litost had nothing at home, so she had no choice but to retire from the business early.

"You're really quitting?"

The man found it hard to believe that Song Que, who was so greedy and even pocketed change when helping others buy things during their collaboration, would give up this channel for making money.

Even if she managed to hook up with a powerful figure, given her personality, she shouldn't be like this, right?

Song Que waved her right hand, which wasn't bound by bandages: This puzzled the man greatly. Bai Ji's compensation was food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, so why was Song Que still wearing these clothes?

Do you not believe things can last, so you reminisce about past hardships to appreciate present happiness?

"I'm not kidding you this time. You see, it's always better to have a more stable life. We were forced into this before by circumstances, but now that we have the chance, of course we should quit!"

"What if there's a big order?"

A big order? A huge deal? For the people in this organization to consider it a big order, it absolutely must be…

The pine bird was somewhat tempted.

"tell me the story?"

The man shook his head.

"We cannot disclose what we are going to do at the moment."

Why not just say they stole from the gods? Wouldn't that scare people to death? Otherwise, they would have just taken the easy way out themselves; why bother outsourcing it?

"When will it be done? How long will it take? Our friend said he'll take us to visit Ramu!"

If the itinerary conflicted or was too dangerous, Song Que felt it was better to just quit: Go to Ramu! The eternal night city of Ramu, isn't that better than risking your life for a pittance and having to split the profits with the man in front of you?

"Actually, the mission is in Ruimu..."

You're telling me, isn't the Tower of Gods a Ruimu?

"Going to Ruimu on business? No wonder they came to us..."

Song Que felt he had discovered the truth. After all, the Lamp Organization wielded considerable influence in Langqiu, but in Ruimu...

A lamp? What's that?

"Tell me, who is the employer? At least we know who we're supposed to be working for, right?"

The man shook his head again.

Could Bai Ji possibly reveal that? The fact that he outsourced the task to the people around Young Master Bai was enough to make him question their reliability. How could he possibly tell them on his own initiative?

"They won't say anything about this or that, they just keep saying it's a big deal in Ruimu?"

Song Que was a little angry. She felt like she had been tricked, and this deal might be a trap.

"We've known each other for a long time, so why are you being so secretive and not letting me know anything? You can't tell me what you want others to do, you can't disclose the timeframe, and you can't even tell me who the employer is, you just tell me it's in Ruimu, aren't you deliberately lying to me?"

The man grew anxious and leaned close to the sparrow, speaking softly.

"Hey! Keep your voice down. This was originally an internal organization mission. If it weren't for our relationship, why would you get this benefit? Let's not talk about anything else! Song Que, come closer to my ear. After the job is done, the employer will... offer this price!"

After hearing this, Song Que's eyes lit up; there were even more zeros on the back of that ticket!

This amount of money could buy her life... Pshaw! It could even ensure she'd have enough to eat and drink for the rest of her life!

"real or fake?!"

Why would I lie to you? I'm not you! Just tell me if you're going to do it or not.

"Let's do it! We absolutely have to do it! After we finish, we'll retire and take care of the kids!"

"A child? You have a child?"

"Oh dear, those kids on Amber Street..."

Song Que had never heard of such a large number before. On a whim, she patted her chest and agreed: "This money could build several orphanages, right?"

"So, what exactly do we need to do? We've already agreed, so can you tell us now?"

"Go to that tower in Ramu... and retrieve an item."

"Huh, what do you need to do?"

Song Que picked at her ears; she felt like she was hallucinating.

"Go to the Rim Tower to retrieve something—you won't regret it, will you?"

"No way, what's gotten into you guys? You actually want to climb the Rimu Tower and steal something from the gods?!"