Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 292 Tracking Lithost

Even though he was very unwilling, Qiong had no choice but to rely on brute force to win, whether in training at St. Freya or in several actual battles to eliminate Honkai Beasts. He had no skills and relied entirely on numerical superiority.

After all, if you can be rendered unable to get up with three blows or riddled with holes with a few shots, why bother thinking? And even if you think about it carefully, the optimal solution that Qiong comes to is often to avoid flanking maneuvers and sneak attacks, just rush in and fight...

In Anna Shaniat's words, this is called "recklessness"—Qiong, of course, would not admit it; it's called reason telling him that he should go for it.

In a sense, within a certain range, Qiong's combat power and intelligence in battle are inversely proportional... Therefore, when Litost, who is suspected of being able to manipulate shadows and use his internal energy to deflect a thousand pounds with four ounces, appears in front of Qiong and is likely to become his opponent in the Ten Arts War, Qiong feels a little troubled - losing the Ten Arts War is not a big deal, but how to solve the problems exposed?

Yes, he could simply concede defeat against Lithost and then go fight other easy opponents, or even give up the match and return to Earth without contacting Martian God until Kiana recovers. But is it really a good choice to pretend not to see the problem when it arises?

If we bypass Lithost today, what if we fight Fu Hua, Durandal, or Kevin tomorrow? Should we bypass them too?

Oh, how is it possible.

"Teacher, I heard you're friends with that Lithost?"

Therefore, Qiong made a decision: first, she would learn about Lithost and his abilities from those who knew him, and then develop a targeted tactic. Just after leaving the arena, Qiong stopped Baiji, who claimed to have a good relationship with Lithost, to inquire about him.

But Baiji's focus was clearly not on that.

"Master Bai Shu, why are you suddenly calling me teacher? I am not qualified to teach and nurture people, and I am not worthy of the title of teacher."

Qiong sighed and rubbed her forehead, letting it slip. "But can't take the responsibility? Please, you'll get your teaching and medical licenses later! If you don't know now, you can learn!"

"Ahem, I already told you to just call me Qiong. As for teacher, we have a sage who said that among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me. Besides, I believe you would definitely be a good teacher... Oh, that's not the point! The point is, tell me about Lithost quickly. What do you think my chances of winning against him are?"

Bai Ji shook his head.

“I don’t know. Although we are friends, I know far less about him than he knows about me—I have never seen the whole picture of him.”

Qiong's face showed a slight disappointment. No information? It seems we'll have to try other channels... How about asking Chenxue?

Just as Qiong was about to give up trying to get information from Bai Ji, Bai Ji suddenly changed the subject.

"However, I know he has a habit: during the Ten Arts War preliminary rounds, he always goes to the back alley at noon—at least he did this every day during the last Ten Arts War. If you want to know about him, you might want to try your luck there."

"Isn't that stalking?"

The little white snake on the dome raised an objection.

"If you ask me, Qiong, why don't you take my suggestion and I'll carve another one for you—"

When Kiana wanted to play the villainous Kyubey again, Sora decisively adopted the pigeon tactic.

"Alright, alright, we'll talk about this later, teacher. Thank you. It's almost noon... Songque, how do I get to the back alley of Langqiu?"

Rather than relying on Kiana as a crucial foreign aid, Qiong would rather try her luck in that so-called back alley.

Watching Qiong call away Song Que, who had just stuffed all the food in his hand to the ragged children by the roadside, Bai Ji looked at Qiong, then at Song Que, and then at the children.

"A teacher..."

Baiji muttered to himself.

He knew that Song Que was a con artist with a good heart; everything she did was part of her life, and she would even take care of beggar children when she had spare money.

In a sense, Song Que really is quite similar to Litost. If he remembered correctly, one of the reasons Litost went to Langqiu Back Alley was to distribute jade tokens to the orphans there. Children who received the jade tokens could go to the entrance of the Ten Arts War Arena, where someone would provide them with food and teach them to read and write, so that they would become good people in the future.

However, the last Ten Arts War was three years ago, and he was still bedridden while transferring Xiao Ling's injuries...

To be honest, Bai Ji agreed with Litost's actions. In the area of ​​Langqiu alone, under the protection of the gods, there are so many homeless children who have to rely on the help of pine birds to survive. This has been the case since ancient times, but is this right?

It's not that what Song Que does is wrong, but her way of making money can easily and subtly influence the children she helps. Even if Song Que herself doesn't want them to, these children might follow in her footsteps of deception and fraud... That's still considered good; those children who aren't helped by people like Song Que will likely survive by stealing or being bought by wealthy people to be their slaves, their future equally bleak... Only Litost's method can change those children's fate. Teaching them to read and write not only gives them a means of livelihood but also plants seeds of hope for Langqiu's future...

In the past few years, he was bedridden and naturally didn't have the energy to manage this. Now, could he sponsor one or several orphanages in addition to the organization that sponsors lamps?

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The weather in the back alley was unusually bad; it was sunny outside, but here it was overcast.

"This place is chaotic. Would someone as important as Lithost really come here? By the way, where is Nian Gao?"

"She said she wanted to go back and give me a surprise first..."

The thought of Kiana's smiling face just now filled Qiong with inexplicable unease. He wasn't expecting any surprises, just that she wouldn't be frightened.

"Pine Sparrow, do you know what weaknesses Lithost has?"

When asked about the dome, the sparrow shrugged.

"We're not entirely sure either. Are you really going to come all this way to follow him? If you ask me, instead of wasting time like this, you should go back and get some good food and drink, and after you've had your fill..."

Qiong Qi laughed. Was this sparrow hungry? Or did she have an enemy here?

"You don't have any enemies living here, do you?"

Song Que nodded shyly.

"There really are. When you're out in the world, you're bound to offend some people! Besides, food is essential for life. You'll get hungry if you don't eat! How about this—okay, okay! We're already here, let Nian Gao get hungry a little longer, and we'll keep looking before we go."

Song Que walked cautiously, hiding behind Qiong and searching for people, but she couldn't find any.

"That's strange. Although this place isn't very popular, I remember there used to be a few old beggars sunbathing here, right?"

"Could it be because the Ten Arts War was held in Langqiu, and the local residents who were affecting the city's appearance were all relocated?"

"It shouldn't be that bad, right? Otherwise, how come we haven't heard about it..."

Just as the two were whispering to each other, a faint sound came from around the corner. Qiong and Songque immediately became alert and slowly approached the source of the sound. When they cautiously peeked out, they saw several shadowy figures?

"How is that possible? This place is so close to Amber Street, what is the Lamp Organization doing?"

Song Que frowned, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart: Although the back alley was not a good place, it was very close to the core of Langqiu. According to custom, the Lantern Organization would send people here to maintain basic order. Even if they couldn't control the gang fights, they wouldn't just let the Shadow Disaster go unchecked, would they?

The shadow monsters seemed to sense their presence. All the monsters simultaneously turned their heads sharply, staring blankly at the two of them, their large eyes gleaming with an eerie light. Then, they rushed over, intending to surround Qiong and Song Que in the center.

Qiong calmly pulled out his baseball bat. No matter how many shadow monsters came, he only needed one move.

"Rules—Sparrow, watch out!"

Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed past the corner of the wall, and Qiong immediately became alert and alerted Song Que. He quickly turned around and found that Litost had appeared behind him at some point.

With a wave of his hand, Lithost reduced all the shadow monsters to dust.

Qiong and Songque couldn't help but widen their eyes. This efficiency was even higher than Qiong's! Litost didn't even have a pre-cast animation.

However, neither Qiong nor Song Que had ever heard of a master who could resolve the Shadow Disaster with a wave of his hand!

"Isn't this the renowned Bai Shu master from Langqiu? I wonder what your purpose is in following me?"