Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 383 The Unbreakable Alliance of the Seven Arts...

"Ugh……"

In the dessert shop "Lamp," a woman with long, silver-white hair, dressed in "slightly" revealing clothing (referring to her exposed midriff and pants so short they were almost negligible), sat alone at the table closest to the window, gazing at the bright moonlight outside...

Okay, it's probably not moonlight but streetlights. In a highly urbanized area like St. Freya Academy, how could there be no light pollution near the academy?

"Ugh!"

But this didn't stop the woman from sighing again. Her sighs made her look very sad, her face full of sorrow and resentment... But all of this couldn't hide the eagerness in her eyes. Although her purple eyes were always looking out the window, she would occasionally glance at the table of the four people next to her. All of this was seen by Qiong—it wasn't that he was paying too much attention to Serim, but mainly because her extremely asymmetrical high and low boots were restless, giving the impression that they were going to drill through the floor. It was hard not to notice them...

By the way, when Qiong noticed the thing around her neck that she had been wearing for many years, she was quite speechless: How many years has it been? Is your neck okay?

"Ugh……"

Another sigh followed, a heavy one, so heavy that Xingqiong, Baijisongque, and the other three at the next table couldn't ignore it. Clearly, Serim had something to say, but seemed unwilling to speak first, wanting them to ask.

Although Qiong wanted to ask, "Serim, what's wrong with you? What do you want to say?", he didn't ask because he remembered Bai Ji's previous request—so what? Just because he didn't ask didn't mean others wouldn't.

Seeing the kind older sister who felt a sense of familiarity at first glance sighing (who might even be an acquaintance from the past?), how could Xing, a warm-hearted child, not care?

"Excuse me, sister, what's wrong? Are you sad because I forgot about you all?"

Serem Nutricia turned her head, her eyes showing a mixture of elegance and surprise, as if she hadn't expected a gray-haired girl to take the initiative to speak—in her mind, it should have been Baiji and Songque who asked the question and started the conversation.

But it's even better now! The stars are moving, so how far away can the sky be? Serim looked at the stars blinking, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, revealing a beautiful smile.

"That's part of the reason! Think about Little Star, what if it were Little Qiongqiong... cough cough, don't mind me! I meant your brother, if your brother forgot about you, you'd be very upset, right? Also, just call me Sister Se as before, I'm thinking about some things from the past~"

"Things from the past?"

Even though Bai Ji hinted repeatedly, Sora couldn't help but be drawn to Selim's attention.

"Ugh……"

Bai Ji also sighed.

"Master, why are you sighing?"

"nothing."

Bai Ji glanced at his three foolish disciples, a feeling he couldn't quite describe welling up inside him.

My disciple, I... no, it is I who have wronged you... but I cannot give up!

And Qiong, couldn't you act a little more convincingly? You should be surprised that Songque called me master! Shouldn't you be surprised?!

Or are you saying you don't want to act anymore?

Bai Ji's heart was in turmoil, but Serim no longer cared what Bai Ji was planning. Seeing that Xing and Qiong seemed interested, Serim smiled slightly and gently tapped Xing's forehead with her gloved hand.

"Back then, we did so many things together. We fought side-by-side under the same sky, for a common goal... cough cough!"

Serim coughed. As per her instructions, this signal meant that Baiji and Songque had to take Xing to "sever the connection with Mars," and then leave the amnesiac Qiong, who knew nothing, to be dealt with by the skillful herself and the relatively steady Deng—as long as Qiong wasn't physically destroyed.

"Cough cough!"

Serem coughed again, but Baiji and Songque remained unmoved.

"Cough cough!"

Serem coughed harder, glaring fiercely at the two of them, her eyes warning them not to ruin her and everyone else's good time. But the master and apprentice remained unmoved, pretending not to see her glare.

"Sister Se, are you sick? Maybe we shouldn't talk about the past for now?"

Seeing that Bai Ji was not cooperating, Serim was secretly annoyed. She forced herself to suppress the idea of ​​holding the double-chained sword to Bai Ji's neck and wrapping the chain blade around Song Que's head, and forced a gentle smile at Xing.

"It's nothing, the weather's been bad lately. My sister's always been weak, it's just a little cold... Baiji and Little Sparrow, didn't you say you wanted to find Xinglai for something?"

"In my opinion, that matter is important but not urgent."

"Ah, ah! We think Master is right!"

You two are really being so disrespectful! Do you really want to push him into that Earth woman's arms?!

Serem's face instantly turned very ugly, but she still tried her best to remain elegant.

"Songque, have you forgotten something?"

The sparrow shook its head.

"Good, very good! Good that you haven't forgotten! Go on! Back then, there was this guy who was really something. He would always grab a lance and rush to the front to protect everyone. If no one else was around, he would swing a baseball bat and charge into the most dangerous spot all by himself. Everyone was on tenterhooks for him, but when he came out, he was still in the mood to joke around. Isn't that a bit much? And then, some people were gone, some people left..."

Serim's voice, which was originally filled with gritted teeth, now carried a hint of melancholy, leaving Xing feeling somewhat bewildered.

Are you referring to her, or Qiong?

"However, those who left are actually doing quite well."

Serim's gaze gently fell on Sora's face. Even the most oblivious person would have noticed something was amiss after such an incident, so Sora immediately shifted his gaze and became interested in the strawberry cake that had been served in front of him. He immediately forked a small piece and put it in his mouth to taste it... Wow, so sour!

This isn't strawberry jam, it's ketchup!

"Have we... really been through a lot in the past?"

Xing's voice carried uncertainty, but her natural trust made her inclined to believe Serim's words.

"Of course, when have I ever lied to Little Star?"

A gentle, nostalgic ripple spread across Serim's purple eyes. She took Xing's hand lightly, but her gaze swept undisguisedly toward Qiong.

"Even as time goes by, I will never forget! Especially the wonderful times I spent with your brother..."

Serim paused at just the right moment, her gaze fixed intently on Sora.

"Qiong, can't you really feel anything from what I'm saying? When you see me, when you hear my sighs, when you hear what I'm telling you—is your heart truly unmoved? Have you really forgotten the wonderful times we spent together?"

What does "the wonderful time we spent together" mean?

Qiong, with a strange expression, wanted to refute it directly, since the full text should be "Beautiful times always come to an end, it's time to say goodbye!"

Serem's words are completely taken out of context. Is she trying to force him to bring up his earlier statement that he would rather choose the pine bird than her?

Qiong glanced at Baiji, who was also suffering from stomach pain and embarrassed, and was grinding her teeth and biting her fork with her toes on the ground. In the end, he remained silent. Fine, he wanted to see what kind of trouble this Serim was up to.

But unlike him and Bai Ji, Xing Xian couldn't stand it anymore.

Because of the way this woman, Sister Se, spoke, she felt like she was her sister-in-law...

Serim did not answer directly. Instead, she gave Sora a smile that was a mixture of nostalgia, sadness, and an indescribable allure, and her soft voice gently enveloped Sora's ears.

"Those battlefields we fought together, the blood and tears we shed, do you really... remember nothing at all? Or do you remember? Are you just deliberately avoiding that... 'secret' that belonged to just the two of us?"

The word "secret" was spoken very lightly by Serim, yet it struck everyone's hearts with tremendous force.

Xing looked at the smiling Serim, then at her brother whose face was almost crumbling, and suddenly felt a splitting headache—could it be that her brother was actually a hidden scumbag?

"Brother! What secret do you and Sister Se have?"

"Would you believe me if I said there were no secrets?"

Unlike Xing's distress and Qiong's speechlessness, Selim was quite happy: "Hmm, very good! The initial operation went smoothly! It's just a pity that the stories the others came up with are useless now..."

I'm sorry, everyone.

……

In the shadows, out of sight, a dog watched helplessly as the women did what they did.

After listening to Serem's fabricated story, Donigor couldn't help but recall the "results" of their previous joint discussion.

Long before Raiden Mei and Sora got together, or even earlier, based on Sora's "amnesia," the members of the Seven Arts each fabricated their own stories to get closer to Sora.

In Serim's story, they were comrades-in-arms in the mercenary organization "Seven Arts," fighting side by side. They developed feelings for each other after a life-or-death crisis during a mission. However, after a battle, Sora said she wanted to retire and live a normal life, choosing to travel the world. She even promised to marry him in Europe after her travels. But she disappeared on her way to the Far East and reappeared with amnesia...

Donegal's assessment of this was... "Isn't this obviously a scam?"

However, after hearing the pine bird's version and helping the lamp write the story, it couldn't bring itself to say it.

Because Song Que's story is even more outlandish, it also includes a fabricated childhood sweetheart before she lost her memory. Basically, both Xing Qiong and Qiong were orphans, taken in by her master, Bai Ji. From a young age, she harbored feelings for his gentle senior sister, promising to marry her when they grew up. Her senior sister agreed, but waited far too long, only to receive news of Qiong's disappearance… because Qiong had lost her mind. Her master said it was better for her to forget her painful past, so she never revealed it, and that's how it ended.

To this, Donegal can only say one thing: it's riddled with flaws, far too many flaws! You call this "deception"? You should step down and hand over the reins to a more capable person!

As for the lamp? She's not good at making things up, so her story was co-written with Serapem and Donigol, who considers it the "boldest and craziest" of all—don't ask, it's because of its and little Serapem's powerful assistance.

The story is about two Valkyries, Akari and Sora, both born in 2025 Earth. They develop feelings for each other after teaming up for missions together since 2020. However, Sora, due to a misunderstanding (such as Akari having a boyfriend and preparing to marry him), believes Akari has betrayed him and wants to break off their friendship. In a fit of anger, he impulsively marries the super-rich woman, Serim. By the time he realizes it was a misunderstanding, they've already been married for two years! Unfortunately, after the truth comes out, Serim's controlling nature intensifies, and Sora, in another fit of anger, cheats on Akari with Akari. Then, they are unexpectedly caught in the act by Maria, his teacher who has liked him since school, and the four of them end up together in a confusing mess…

Finally, the truth couldn't be hidden forever. While being chased by three people armed with chain-blade submachine guns and cannons, Qiong was unexpectedly assassinated by Da Yun Chuang Fei, who was sent by Anti-Entropy to kill him, and died.

After the funeral, the "Broken" lamp awakened power surpassing that of an S-class Valkyrie! It embarked on a path of revenge against Anti-Entropy in North America, and after destroying all of Anti-Entropy's bases, chose to commit suicide at Sora's grave...

But she received divine help, which allowed her to travel back fifteen years to a time before she even knew Sora! Having gained some memories of the future, she resolved never to let tragedy repeat itself this time, and decided to change history, going to Changkong City to save Sora, who didn't yet know her, during the Third Great Collapse in 2014…

At the time, Serapem and Donigor had a heated discussion about "how to explain the future," to which Donigor said, "If we just put the blame on the fact that the Third Great Collapse was changed so that the whole future changed, then everything will be fine."

However, Serim's preemptive move had already cut off the other two's room for further maneuver.

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"Wait! This isn't what we agreed on!"

Belatedly realizing what was happening, the sparrow leaped up from beside Bai Ji, its trembling hand pointing at Serim.

"Serem, you promised! How could you..."

The atmosphere at the table froze instantly, and even Bai Ji, who had been silently observing, stopped eating with her fork.

Serem gracefully picked up her glass and took a small sip.

Nonsense! You don't do as I say, and you expect me to show you any mercy? You're being heartless, and you blame me for being unjust?

"You clearly promised..."

Song Que's voice gradually faded away under the surprised gazes of Xing Qiong and the other person.

Xing's gaze darted back and forth between Serim and Song Que, her mind racing. The situation before her was beyond her comprehension—it seemed that more than one woman had an unclear and ambiguous past with her brother?

"You promised us..."

"Wait, what are you talking about? Can someone explain this to me? What's going on?"

Qiong, who had been silent all along, could no longer hold back. His "philosophical" thinking told him that he had to do something now, or he would definitely be in trouble.

"Since you broke the agreement, don't blame us for being impolite!"

The sparrow turned towards the sky, its gaze softening and becoming sorrowful.

“Qiong, do you remember that tree we planted at school? You said that when that tree could cover half of Phaethon, you would…”

Ding Ding Ding!

Song Que's words were interrupted by a sudden cell phone alarm. Deng had somehow appeared in the hallway from the kitchen, holding up a cell phone with an alarm clock icon on the screen.

"I apologize for interrupting your tea party."

The sound of the lamp was calm yet carried an undeniable power.

"However, fifteen minutes have passed, time is up."

"Sister Deng, what time is it...?"

The sparrow wanted to ask "what time?", but her voice grew increasingly strained—she realized the world was starting to spin. Baiji had already collapsed silently, and Serim couldn't even hold her cup properly, it fell to the ground…

"Master..."

Song Que managed to gasp in surprise, trying to steady herself, but she failed.

Five seconds later, filled with resentment, Pine Sparrow collapsed onto the lamp, who was filled with guilt, and was placed next to Serim by the lamp.

Donegal covered his face with his wings in despair in the shadows—it was all over, everything was in chaos.

It should have known that when these women get together, no plan can possibly be carried out smoothly.

Their unbreakable alliance is rife with infighting... no wonder they didn't invite little Sera to come along!

The smile on Serim's face finally disappeared, and she stared listlessly at the light that she dared not look directly at.

"It seems there are people who are even less disciplined than us..."

"I'm sorry, but I had no other choice."

The lamp calmly put away her phone, ignoring Serim's almost tangible accusatory gaze. She walked to the counter, skillfully opened a hidden compartment, pulled out a classic Japanese maid outfit, and then dragged out a pair of white stockings from a corner of the compartment. She drew the curtains halfway to let the streetlights in, preparing to change on the spot—since everyone was already down, it didn't matter if no one saw, right?

"that……"

Upon hearing the voice, a chill ran down Miss Saffre's spine as she prepared to change her clothes. She stiffly turned her neck and looked in astonishment at Xing, the only two who remained conscious but were dumbfounded, and Qiong, who was covering her face with her hands.

As for Donegal... dogs don't count as people.

"How come you weren't affected by Bai Ji's special sleeping potion—"

Star & Dome: ...

Looking at the scene before her, Xing suddenly realized that her and her brother's "amnesia" might not be a misfortune, but a blessing in disguise.

That's actually true, because Serem set the tone:

The more devoted he is, the more he wants to see her with women on both sides.

The less romantic someone is, the more I want to see him tossing and turning in bed.

The more she resists him, the more she wants to see him take the initiative to make love to her.

The more human-machine hybrid he seems, the more I want to see him transform into a beast...

A vicious mix of conquering and destructive desires forms the driving force behind the Seven Arts (at least for Serim).

But what if an accident causes their plans to fail?

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I noticed that "Under Heaven" has been updated these past couple of days, and since something else came up, so...

Long live understanding.