LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 1: The Boy Who Killed a Cat
Broadcast: "E-015 is under attack by Honkai beasts. All survivors in this area, please evacuate immediately to the central shelter and await rescue by the combat units. If you spot any Honkai beasts, please report their location via your mobile phone. We will dispatch forces to eliminate them as soon as possible."
Broadcast: "Repeating, all survivors, please evacuate immediately! Staying in this area puts you at high risk of further attacks! Injured residents, please try to find a safe place to hide. If you spot any Honkai beasts, lower your voice and breathing to avoid attracting their attention."
Deep, dark clouds lingered in the dim sky, silently listening to the echoing broadcast. The ruins of collapsed high-rises were sprawled across the earth, licked by the flames of burning cars. The evening breeze, mixed with the cries and wails of disaster victims, swept through the area ravaged by Honkai beasts and reached the boy's ears.
"Mew..."
A faint meow reached his ears, making the boy, who was hurrying to escape, pause for a moment and instinctively stop.
The sharp broadcast continued to echo in the air. The boy gritted his teeth and walked towards the nearby ruins.
The pet store sign had long been twisted and deformed in the collapsed building, with only the occasional flickering sparks still emitting a buzzing sound. Pushing aside the rubble on the steel frame, a small cat with jet-black fur but pure white paws appeared before Ren's eyes.
"Mew..."
The cat's meow was weak, its two hind legs completely crushed by the steel pipe of the billboard. It had been buried under the collapsed building at the last moment before escaping the pet store. Its fur was stained with blood, and its white whiskers were still covered with some blood foam.
Its internal organs were ruptured.
Ren reached out and gently stroked the cat's head, his eyes filled with a complex emotion.
As if sensing the human touch, the small black cat struggled to lift its head, meowing hoarsely and painfully. Its dark eyes had become hazy, filled with a desire to survive.
"Good night."
Click—
The painful cries were silenced. The black cat, with paws as white as snow, closed its eyes, falling asleep alongside the ruined earth.
Ren retracted his blood-stained fingers, placing his coat over the cat's corpse. In the midst of the disaster, there was nothing he could do but end its suffering.
He didn't know if it was right or wrong, but no matter what, he had taken a life.
ROAR!
Just as Ren killed the small cat, the Honkai beast that had been chasing him finally found him. With a roar, the Honkai beast, over ten meters tall, smashed the ruins of the road and charged toward him.
The flying rubble easily tore through the billboards on the ground. Ren didn't have time to hesitate and immediately started running.
Unfortunately, his physical abilities were not great; no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't outpace the sprinting Honkai beast.
BOOM!
A car that was still burning was sent flying, exploding mid-air. Ren stumbled, falling to the ground.
The burning car flew over his head, the scorching flames licking his back. But this fall actually helped him narrowly avoid the worst of the impact. However, the bag on his back was torn, and a few medical reports mixed with a large amount of loose change scattered from his backpack onto the ground.
Gritting his teeth, Ren quickly got up from the ground and gathered the scattered medical reports and the few large bills of cash.
At the same time, a massive shadow entered his line of sight.
A flash of gold flickered in his eyes, but it disappeared the next second.
The towering Honkai beast raised its paw, slamming it down fiercely towards Ren's location.
"Nekocharm!"
A spear pierced the air, slamming into the Honkai beast's paw just as it was about to strike, causing the ten-meter-tall beast to stagger backward, collapsing several ruined walls.
The moonlight tore through the clouds, casting a pure silver glow upon the white-haired girl. She leapt from a high building, following the flying spear, and landed a powerful kick on the Honkai beast's head.
"Danger!"
Compared to the ten-meter-tall Honkai beast, the girl's petite figure was like a螳螂 (mántáng, praying mantis) trying to stop a chariot. Ren struggled to get up, his eyes wide, about to witness the girl being crushed into pieces by the Honkai beast.
Thud—!
A muffled sound resonated. Contrary to what he expected, the girl's flying kick landed squarely on the Honkai beast's head. No blood splattered, and the girl did not fly backward.
The Honkai beast staggered backward as if struck by a powerful kinetic weapon. Its scarlet eyes bulged, seemingly having its brains smashed by that one kick.
"Die!"
Golden light erupted from the girl's right eye, and a pale purple energy gathered, forming a spear that she grasped. She then plunged it into the Honkai beast's head, piercing through its eye socket.
Struggles, roars.
A miserable cry echoed from the Honkai beast's body, but no one cared about its death.
The white-haired girl jumped off the Honkai beast, her toes lightly touching the ground, accompanied by the sound of her shoes hitting the concrete. Behind her, the massive Honkai beast slowly fell, the dust cloud billowing out, yet unable to catch up to the girl's pace.
She walked towards Ren, and, noticing his dazed expression, she instinctively pulled at the bangs on her forehead, covering her golden right eye. But her hair wasn't enough to completely conceal it, so she pulled up the hood of her somewhat dirty white hoodie, covering most of her face.
"Th...thank you." His voice trembling, Ren seemed to still be immersed in the scene of the girl easily killing the Honkai beast. It was not until the girl was almost in front of him that he came back to his senses. He quickly squatted down, picking up the loose change that he had not had time to collect.
The change was scattered, and in this day and age where online transactions were common, loose bills were less frequently seen.
"Ten yuan, fifty yuan..." Ren carefully counted his change, but soon his expression became anxious. "No, no..."
"Are you short?" The girl in front of him hadn't spoken until Ren counted the money again, and then she spoke.
"Yeah, I'm short 100, I remember I put it in the innermost part of the bag." His voice trembled as he counted the change again and again.
The girl paused, then squatted down, gently touched the sole of her foot, and pulled out a crumpled 100-yuan bill. "Oh, it looks like I stepped on it. Sorry."
His anxious expression turned to surprise, and Ren stared wide-eyed as he took the bill from the girl's hand. He looked at the girl, whose delicate face was now lit up with a small smile.
"Thank you!"
Carefully placing the loose change into his inner pocket, Ren wiped the dust from his face, finally finding the time to take a closer look at the girl.
His eyes met a pair of blue eyes, like a lake reflecting the sky, though her left eye was hidden by her hair. The girl wore a hood, but her long, white hair, like silk clouds, still flowed down to her waist. Tight-fitting clothes covered her fair skin, and even the hoodie she wore only partially concealed her perfect figure.
However, Ren's attention wasn't on the girl's appearance. He noticed the dried bloodstains on her white hair, and her coat was dusty, as if it hadn't been washed in a long time. Also, the girl kept one arm partially hidden, and it seemed…
He wrinkled his nose, sniffing lightly.
"..." The girl's cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment. Since waking up, she had been wandering for over a month. While she tried to stay clean as much as possible, she couldn't avoid sweating during her battles against Honkai beasts. So, she hadn't had a proper bath in quite a while. Perhaps he had smelled something strange, which was rather embarrassing for her to admit.
Ren frowned slightly and looked at the girl with concern. "Are you injured?"
He noticed a faint smell of blood coming from the arm the girl was hiding. Upon closer inspection, small bloodstains were visible on her clothes.
"It must have been from just now." Ren realized that the battle wasn't as simple as he had initially thought. He reached out and grasped the girl's wrist, seeing the bright red bloodstains revealed beneath her sleeve. Immediately, he turned and pulled out a roll of bandages from the inside of his torn backpack. Unfortunately, the alcohol had spilled during his escape earlier, so Ren could only carefully wrap the bandages around the girl's arm. His movements were skilled, as if he was accustomed to bandaging wounds.
The girl, Kiana, blinked, watching the boy who was focused on bandaging her arm. She didn't tell him that the wound was caused by Honkai energy corrosion from using her Herrscher powers; bandaging it was pointless.
As expected, even with the bandages, the blood continued to seep out, staining the white bandages red.
Carefully removing the soiled bandages, Ren tried bandaging her arm again. But even after using all the bandages, the bleeding wouldn't stop. He looked perplexed, as if encountering this situation for the first time, but quickly regained his composure and took the girl's hand.
"It's okay, I have a first-aid kit at home. It's very effective; it will definitely stop the bleeding." Ren's eyes were earnest. Even though he didn't know who the girl was, she was injured while saving him, so he couldn't just ignore it.
Kiana instinctively wanted to pull her hand back, but a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over her. She pressed her hand against her forehead, gasping for air.
Sirin's consciousness was encroaching again.
"Sirin..."