“Hehehehe~ Tenshi, the greatest mechanic in New Eridu!”
“Is there any cheap and easy-to-use modification that can make me look unexpectedly dazzling, shining like a starlight knight in front of Boss Nicole, Anby, and Nekomata!?”
Inside a small house in an alley of Sixth Street hanging a simple sign that read “Unforgettable”, today’s guest was excitedly expressing his vision.
That was an intelligent construct, its entire black-and-gray body shimmering with metallic luster, its white hair spiking up like a Super Saiyan, wearing a red motorcycle jacket and black jeans.
But he completely lacked the temperament to match this handsome physique.
At least, not for now.
Amidst the scattered metal parts, Billy Kid found a foothold, clenching his hands tightly in front of his chest and wriggling around like a noodle, even bringing eerie blushes to the cheeks of his facial display.
And sitting on a small chair opposite Billy was a young girl.
The girl’s wine-red eyes were half-closed, looking as if she hadn’t fully woken up.
Her rounded little face was stained with a bit of engine oil and strange, faintly glowing patterns, and her pinkish-purple long hair was tied into twin tails with pearlescent purple highlights.
Tenshi stood up wearing little rabbit slippers, patting her slightly oversized shirt and shorts stained with traces of engine oil, her chest rising and falling with only a tiny arc.
She looked at Billy and spoke, her voice raspy and her tone very calm.
It likewise gave off the feeling of someone neither fully awake nor motivated.
But this didn’t prevent her very first sentence from completely contradicting her lazy, listless temperament:
“Do you want to act cool?”
“Huh?”
Billy was stunned for a moment, after which his posture became even more fidgety.
He lowered his head shyly, raised a hand to half-cover his face, and wrapped his legs together, striking a bashful pose reminiscent of holding a pipa to half-hide the face.
“Though, though it’s not wrong to put it that way.”
“However… isn’t it a bit too blunt? Hehehehe~”
Billy emitted a shy yet direct laugh.
Tenshi didn’t mind Billy’s dramatic performance; she raised her small hand, extended a rounded and straight finger, pointed at Billy, and slowly began:
“Act cool?”
“Act cool and I’ll make you fly.”
“Uh, Tenshi, isn’t this a bad idea?” Billy jumped a large step backward.
“We, we are good friends, right? Don’t make me fly just like that!”
“Mhm…”
Staring at the pile of materials knocked over by Billy’s big leap, Tenshi frowned.
Afterwards, she picked up a basketball-sized metal box, placed it on the table, and looked at Billy:
“Are you going to modify it or not?”
“Just tell me whether you’ll modify it or not?!”
“You stepped on my materials, so whether you modify it or not is no longer up to you.”
“You’re going to modify it whether you pay Dennies or not!”
“Huh?
This…
this isn’t right, is it?” Standing amidst the pile of parts accumulated on the floor, Billy said blankly: “Did you say it backward?
Are you really going to modify it for me no matter what?
Well, that, that’s rather embarrassing~”
“Lie down already.”
Tenshi took a few quick steps, wading through the parts on the ground, grabbed Billy’s arm, and dragged him to the machine tool.
Afterwards came a series of clanging hammering sounds.
Several hours later, working from morning till afternoon, Tenshi rested five or six times during the period and conveniently had lunch.
“Done.”
Tenshi wiped the sweat from her forehead, looked at Billy sitting up from the machine tool, and revealed a satisfied smile.
“Go act cool.”
“Remember to help me advertise.”
“No problem!” Billy jumped down from the machine tool with a Thomas flare, but when landing, he stepped on the box Tenshi used to stand on, sprained his foot, and tumbled headfirst onto the ground.
He stood up as quickly as a spring, wiped his facial display, struck a breezy posture, and lowered his voice:
“Ahem…”
“Generally speaking, once the scientist hidden behind the knight is exposed, it always brings a great deal of danger.”
“However, since you requested it… I will naturally do my utmost to protect your safety.”
After finishing his cool lines, Billy remained cool for no more than three seconds, as usual.
He rushed quickly toward the door, made a heart gesture toward Tenshi before leaving, and said in an almost lewd voice:
“Then I’ll go find Boss Nicole and Anby right away~ Love you~”
“Clang.”
The door was closed, and Billy left this place.
This was something that happened at the Unforgettable a few days ago.
And now, meager sunlight shone into the room through the gaps in the curtains, passing by the young girl sitting on the floor like time that never lingered.
“Ahem, cough cough cough——”
Tenshi coughed violently; afterwards, she raised her head and looked at her own hands.
Tenshi felt her vision blur slightly, and she could see faint, glowing cracks.
“Mhm… making friends did indeed alleviate the symptoms somewhat, but it doesn’t seem to stop the onset of the illness.”
entropy loss syndrome.
A phenomenon of chronic self-dissociation, a flaw of the Propagation path that shouldn’t appear in the world of Zenless Zone Zero.
Those who live in seclusion——will quietly depart.
Tenshi didn’t know why she was afflicted with entropy loss syndrome; perhaps it was because she had once been a lonely, wandering transmigrator.
Perhaps during the process of transmigration, she had also hoped to travel in the company of others; after all, that was a long period of time where only her consciousness wandered in loneliness.
Tenshi was originally an ordinary college student with a somewhat withdrawn personality, usually liking to tinker with things.
Little did she expect that during a certain long period of staying up late to dismantle and assemble electrical appliances, due to lack of concentration and failing to cut off the power, she electrocuted herself until she collapsed and convulsed on the ground.
With a blink of her eyes, she transmigrated.
She came to the world of Zenless Zone Zero and became a cute girl.
At first, she didn’t notice anything wrong with this world.
Until she heard terms like “Hollow” and “Ethereals”, and heard that the city she lived in was called New Eridu.
Oh, so this was a post-apocalyptic world.
Of course, this wasn’t a big deal either; living was just living, anyway.
But living normally was also very difficult; she had contracted entropy loss syndrome.
Theoretically speaking, the process of chronic dissociation shouldn’t be this fast, but this symptom seemed to carry a built-in weakness debuff when placed on Tenshi, presumably because she was a bit unaccustomed to the local environment as a transmigrator.
This also confirmed another matter for Tenshi: this didn’t seem to be merely the world of Zenless Zone Zero.
Tenshi had been at her wit’s end regarding entropy loss syndrome earlier, so she simply continued doing what she loved, subsequently meeting a few friends her own age.
They were three young girls with idol dreams——Sunna, Aria, and Nangong Yu.
Because of her inexplicable weakness debuff from entropy loss syndrome, coupled with being too lazy to jump around, Tenshi didn’t become someone who stood on stage under the name of “Angels of Delusion” like her three good friends, but instead became their behind-the-scenes stage designer.
However, up until now, Tenshi didn’t have much work exclusively her own within the group.
Because the little angels were truly too poor and not all that famous, they had completely no opportunities to perform on stage.
This once made Tenshi feel sad, because some of her ideas with a strong sense of “shock” had simply no way to be expressed.
After making friends, the rate of deterioration of Tenshi’s condition slowed down, which allowed Tenshi to see a glimmer of hope.
But today, fifteen years after her transmigration, this glimmer of hope had gradually dissipated.
Delaying was of no use, moreover, Tenshi’s rate of deterioration was already unimaginably fast.
“Mhm…”
Tenshi moved her body, leaned against the table leg, and closed her eyes.
“Can I still live to be sixteen?”
She murmured to herself, but no one could give her an answer.
Tenshi felt a bit tired; in this life where living one day at a time was the norm, she decided to sleep whenever she wanted.
Just as Tenshi’s consciousness was blurry and she was half-asleep, the “humming” sound of something starting up and loading drilled into her brain.
Tenshi was extremely sensitive to such sounds; she suddenly raised her head and opened her eyes.
The next second, her eyes, which had long been half-closed and listless, widened slightly.
Something that did not belong to the Unforgettable surfaced before her.
That was a translucent virtual screen emanating a light blue halo.
It seemed to be presented in front of Tenshi, and it also seemed to be presented directly on her retina.
A line of subtitles appeared on that virtual screen——
[The fifteen-year period has arrived, welcome back the system!]
[This product is an emotion exchange system. With this cheat, you can collect emotional values from others and use them to exchange for various items in the mall!]
[Considering that the host’s body has entered the terminal stage of entropy loss syndrome, the basic points gift pack has been automatically exchanged for a fading life potion.]
“System? It seems heaven truly leaves no dead end. But what is a fading life potion? Have I become so muddle-headed that I’m starting to hallucinate? Next time Nangong and the others come to see me, will I only be able to lie in bed?”
Tenshi’s mind was running wild at this moment, until she felt a bit more comfortable and wanted to get up.
Her hand subconsciously retracted backward and knocked over a small glass bottle.
Tenshi’s movement paused for a moment; she slowly turned her head and looked at the small glass bottle.
“What is this?”
She reached out and felt around for the small bottle.
It was an oral liquid that looked like some kind of illegal health supplement, and the label attached to it bore the words “fading life potion”.
Tenshi lowered her head, narrowed her eyes, leaned in very close, and stared at the words on it.
When she saw the name of the medicine clearly, her hand trembled involuntarily, and her pair of wine-red eyes suddenly widened.
“This… is it real?”
Tenshi raised her head, glanced at the virtual screen again, and then lowered her head to look at the oral liquid in her hand.
The emotions in the depths of her eyes first changed from confusion to astonishment, followed immediately by shock and wild joy.
“I’m saved?!”
Tenshi was not an impulsive person, and her emotions were relatively restrained, but at this juncture concerning life and death, she couldn’t quite control the expression on her face.
Her rounded, cute face, which was accompanied by cracks at the cheeks, was currently flushed with excitement, and the corners of her mouth parted uncontrollably.
At this very moment, there was no need to think too much anymore.
Tenshi picked up the “fading life potion” and drank it down.
“If it’s not an hallucination, please let me see the effect.”
“If it is an hallucination, then at least let me experience a flash of lucidity, leaving something behind before I leave.”
The young girl felt uneasy in her heart and prayed softly.