Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 276 Do you know more about baseball bats than I do?

At the beckoning of the muscular man who called himself Iron Head, five cannon fodder surrounded him.

Seeing those people rushing over, Qiong silently shook his head and raised his Flame Spear: They're just cannon fodder, aren't they just here to get themselves killed?

"Are you sure you want to fight me?"

The five cannon fodder soldiers had just rushed close when they were forced to shrink back by the high temperature emanating from the fire spear.

"Brother Ironhead, is it really necessary to..."

"You're scared of illusions? A little magic trick and ventriloquism scare you like this? Get to work, or you'll be starving next month!"

Urged on by Tie Tou, the five of them gritted their teeth and threw punches at Qiong.

"No way, why risk your life for a salary of a few thousand yuan a month? Aren't you afraid of getting burned to death?"

Qiong's lips twitched slightly. Faced with ten fists, he chose to strike first.

He raised the gun with one hand and thrust it forward. A burst of intense heat pierced the trousers of one of the men.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!"

The man whose pants were set ablaze screamed as he fell to the ground and began to writhe in agony.

"Stop rolling around! Take your pants off first!"

"You bastard! You hurt my brother, didn't you?!"

Seeing that Qiong was actually putting his Flame Spear aside to fight and still caring about his underlings, Tie Tou roared and clenched his fists as he charged toward Qiong's left side—the sight of his neck veins bulging and his eyes bulging was terrifying.

"Sora, watch out!"

"Okay!"

Iron Head delivered a powerful, pungent punch, the size of a clay pot, carrying a stench of sweat and aiming straight for Qiong's face. Qiong could certainly retaliate in self-defense, but not wanting to kill him with a single shot, he could only raise his left arm to block.

"Ouch!"

Logically speaking, with the physical impact and the size advantage, plus the element of surprise, Qiong should at least have been knocked back by Iron Head's attack, or at the very least, the snake on his head should have... But Qiong and the snake didn't budge an inch.

"Dude, you're really bad."

"You're so arrogant, kid—"

"Take this Iron Mountain Lean!"

Iron Head's numb fist felt like it had hit an iron plate. He wanted to say a few more harsh words, but unexpectedly, Qiong suddenly released the scalding hot weapon and instead bent her elbow upwards, delivering a precise elbow strike to his chest, followed by a sweeping leg kick.

"Dude, you need to practice cooking more!"

The seemingly light elbow strike made Iron Head hear a cracking sound in his ribs. He staggered back and was attacked in the lower body, falling backward and crashing heavily onto the dirt beside the path.

The sound of the sweeping leg kick moving the stones and the rustling sound of hitting the tree, mixed with his and his pants catching fire and the screams of the cannon fodder, frightened Song Que, who thought he was a hero saving a damsel in distress, so much so that he dared not make a sound.

After all, putting aside the question of how such a hero could emerge from these deep mountains and forests to help the weak and punish the strong, the methods used were a bit too... Although Qiong seemed to be here to help Song Que, Song Que's survival philosophy made her crouch down and defend herself, preferably moving away little by little—although she had a teleportation talisman in her pocket that she had obtained at a high price from the Master of Weaponry, she would rather not use it if she could avoid it!

"This guy's no pushover either. Could he be double-crossing us? I'll talk to him next time we meet... A wise man doesn't fight a losing battle, let's get out of here!"

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

Just as Song Que was about to sneak away, "Nian Gao" called her back (though she was reluctant, who would lead the way if Song Que ran away?). She stiffened and slowly raised her head to look behind Qiong—where were Tie Tou and his underlings who had just caused her trouble? Those guys were much faster than her snail-like movement speed, and they had helped Tie Tou run far away along the path.

Facing the "rice cake" on the dome, Song Que's face was full of ingratiating smiles.

"Um... this hero, and the talking serpent god. My legs are a little numb, so I wanted to stretch them out... hehe."

Unfortunately, even the pine bird itself didn't believe this. Would a normal person squat while walking? The man and the snake simply watched the pine bird's performance quietly.

Knowing it couldn't hide any longer, the sparrow immediately stood up, bowed, and tried to take the initiative.

"Hero, I can't thank you enough! If you ever need my help on Amber Street, just shout 'Song Que!' I have some influence there, from fortune telling and feng shui to exorcising calamities and impurities—I can do it all! Come to me and I'll give you a 20% discount—no, a 50% discount!"

Sora & Kiana: ...

Qiong and Kiana both felt that Song Que was being a bit too stingy. Couldn't he just give it to them for free? They had just helped Song Que out of a life-or-death crisis!

"But not today."

Why?

After Nian Gao asked the question, Qiong suddenly realized something.

"Nian Gao, can you understand what she's saying?"

"Why can't I understand?"

"Isn't this Martian language?!"

Upon hearing Qiong's question, "Nian Gao" fell silent, but Qiong didn't delve into it further—perhaps this divine beast, the stupid snake, was actually a stupid snake fluent in the language of the solar system?

At first, Song Que was a little panicked, but now she seemed to have calmed down.

"Because, we've already calculated it! Today is a good day for sleeping in, not for divination, so it's not a good day to go out! We need to hurry back, I'll be going now! The green hills remain, the clear waters flow on, hero, see you next time—"

"Wait! You can't leave!"

"Yes, you can't leave!"

Song Que paused, her smile freezing on her face. Was she going to demand money to repay her life-saving debt? And if she couldn't pay, she'd have to write an IOU? She might as well just kill her...

Or to put it more bluntly, is this man actually the kind of powerful man who does whatever he wants, and upon seeing her today, he suddenly became lustful, coveting the beauty of this poor little sparrow? Or perhaps, the snake wanted to eat human flesh? But thought the meat of those guys from Iron Head was too poor, and instead set its sights on her tender and juicy flesh?

I don't want any of them!

Thinking of this, Song Que immediately gripped the talisman in her pocket: she had to protect both her wallet's innocence and her life!

But what if she's overthinking it?

Song Que turned around, chuckled dryly, and asked, "Hero, Lord Divine Serpent, is there anything else?"

"Pine Sparrow, we've gotten lost in the mountains and are heading towards a populated area. Could you show us the way?"

So it was just to lead the way? Song Que felt a huge weight lifted from her heart. Then she thought that Tie Tou and his gang shouldn't have gone far, so taking Qiong along meant she had a free bodyguard, right?

The sparrow no longer kept its distance from the sky and became more enthusiastic.

"No problem! Leave it to us! You two don't know, we're the living map of this whole area... Um, may I ask your names?"

"rice cake!"

"At home, I'm called Qiong; when I go out, I'm called Dan—never mind, I'll call myself Baishu when I go out. But if you'd like, you can call me Galaxy Baseball Man, that's fine too."

"But you spend more time playing with the fire gun than the baseball bat."

"Do you, a snake, know more about baseball bats than I do?"

"I……"

"Nian Gao" opened its mouth but didn't say anything more.

Of course she understood! How could she not understand?

Qiong glanced silently at the wilted "rice cake" coiled on her head.

"Don't call her Rice Cake, call her Longevity instead."

"Don't give this little—this great one—any random name!"

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"So, you two drifted here from beyond the world?"

"more or less."

"Genuine, guaranteed!"

There was nothing to be wary of regarding the fact that Song Que, or rather, Teacher Maria, and "Nian Gao" both believed that they were not Martians.

"But when you wanted to go home, you were stopped by some god from a second planet? That's incredible! If you two really are from the blue star, then doesn't that mean..."

"What, you still don't believe me? I can prove it to you!"

Qiong didn't say anything. He didn't agree with "Nian Gao" continuing to bombard Song Que's worldview with information. He wanted to give Song Que some time to digest it.

"Yay! We're going to be rich! Master Songque, the first pioneer on Luo Xing to discover extraterrestrial visitors!"

Qiong: ?

Watching the pine sparrow lost in its reverie, Qiong's head throbbed more and more (probably from the chirping of the rice cake and the pine sparrow together). He had tried asking the pine sparrow about the Ten Signs of Calamity and the Seven Techniques of Shadow Control, but...

The sparrow appeared completely unaware.

In addition, the low gravity environment on Mars worried him: the muscular man Qiong from before seemed to be "osteoporotic muscle man under low gravity," which was why he was so fragile. The pine tree in front of him was also a Martian human who had adapted to the gravity of Mars, which was less than 40% of that on Earth—but he should…

Qiong turned her gaze to "Mochi," and said, "Aren't you a divine beast? Do something useful!"

"Rice cake, can you change my gravity?"

"Sure, but what do you want to do?"

"Nian Gao" was a little confused. Why would she do something like that? She could easily create a limited-range, ultra-miniature Eden Star like Welt, but that would consume extremely limited Honkai energy. She didn't know if Mars could replenish it, or how much...

Upon hearing that "rice cake" could make it possible, Qiong's face lit up with joy.

"Gao Gao, you don't want me to lose my nails, develop osteoporosis, and suffer muscle atrophy in this low-gravity Martian environment, do you?"

"No way! Aren't you supposed to be made of iron? You're the guy who's fine even after space travel, and now you're saying you're afraid of low gravity?"

"Nian Gao" just took it as a joke. Kiana had been on the moon for so long, and the moon's gravity was only one-sixth that of Earth, far less than that of Mars. Yet, she didn't suffer from any nail loss or osteoporosis.

If I had to say, I've gained a few pounds...

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Hehe, Helia is mine... but why is the Vengeful Ghost Armor a biological attribute? Is it a tribute to the Queen?