I Became Robin?! (Honkai Star Rail)

"I'll rest for a bit... just close my eyes for a moment..." Robin was utterly exhausted. She yawned, then slumped onto the table, murmuring, "Wake me up in half an hour..."

She didn't know how much time had passed. When Robin woke up, she rubbed her eyes. The hotpot restaurant was exactly as she remembered it: the few tables and chairs were occupied by women and children, while the remaining people huddled together on the cold floor. Only a handful occasionally wandered toward the restrooms.

Across from her, Cheng Hui was repeatedly nodding off, looking as sleepy as a student struggling to stay awake during a boring lecture.

Seeing this, Robin couldn't help but smile wryly. If she was this exhausted, Cheng Hui, her travel companion, must be equally drained. Robin stood up and gently nudged her shoulder. "Just rest your head on the table," she said. "Don't force yourself to stay awake."

Robin glanced outside. It was still pitch black, the only light coming from the lamps in the shops. Without a view of the sky, she had no sense of how much time had passed.

She checked her phone. The battery was at five percent, about to die. The time read 5:23 AM.

"It's already the second day?!"

After a brief moment of surprise, she sighed in resignation.

Completely at a loss, she could only pray that the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations outside would act quickly, break through this veil, and rescue them.

Lost in thought, Robin carefully made her way toward the hotpot restaurant's built-in restroom, avoiding stepping on the people resting on the floor. Just as she reached the door, a panicked young man burst out and rushed straight toward her.

"I-Investigator! I was just about to look for you!" The youth, who appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old and still wearing his blue school uniform, stammered in a flustered voice. "My friend and I went to the restroom together. We were chatting casually when he suddenly fell silent. I opened his stall and found only his clothes on the floor!"

Hearing this, Robin swiftly entered the restroom. It was a typical small, unisex facility found in dining establishments, cramped and containing a sink, a squat toilet with a door, and a mop.

The door to the squat toilet stood ajar, revealing a striking blue school uniform.

The student who had followed Robin in stammered, "Wh-what should we do? Is he already..."

"Sigh," Robin sighed. "I'm sorry..."

What else could she possibly say?

The male student lowered his head in despair, his body trembling slightly with fear. Seeing this, Robin reached out and patted his head, adopting a confident expression as she reassured him, "Don't worry. I'll definitely find that monster and take it down!"

Of course, whether she could actually pull that off was another matter. But right now, comforting him was all that mattered. She couldn't exactly admit she was terrified herself, could she?

After the student left, Robin couldn't help but ponder. Another death. Maybe there were more last night than just this one.

As she mulled over this, her thoughts inexplicably drifted to a balding middle-aged man. That guy... he's probably dead by now.

After all, even those who stayed in groups had met their end. How much more dangerous would it be to be alone?

But to be certain of his fate, Robin knew she had to check on him. If he was still alive and no one else cared, the bald man would likely starve to death.

Among everyone, only Robin knew about the man trapped at the edge of the veil. This meant she had two options: ask someone else to deliver food to him, or go herself.

After some deliberation, Robin decided to go herself. She left the hotpot restaurant, grabbed a random loaf of bread from a bakery, and hurried toward the veil's edge. It was as if quickening her pace—to minimize the time spent there—could somehow reduce the danger of the trip.

Even before Robin arrived, the bald man, idly leaning against the second-floor window, spotted her. Waving frantically, he called out, "I'm starving! Got anything to eat?"

Seeing him alive, Robin couldn't help but sigh in relief. Since the man was on the second floor, she had to throw the bread up to him. It took several tries, and the loaf ended up squashed and mangled, but the bald man didn't care. Food was food.

"So, what's the situation here?" the bald man mumbled through a mouthful of food. "I haven't seen any activity on your side for ages. I thought some terrifying monster might be rampaging through the streets."

Trapped inside, the bald man was completely unaware of what had transpired outside.

Robin was about to offer a casual explanation when she froze mid-sentence. A critical realization had struck her—a possibility she hadn't considered before.

Perhaps the culprit behind the recent attacks wasn't an invisible monster at all.

Her tone shifted abruptly. "Thank you!" she called out before hurrying away, leaving the bald man utterly bewildered.

"Huh?"

Robin returned to the clothing store. Surveying the clothes scattered across the floor, she took a deep breath and resolutely stepped inside. She headed straight for the more secluded corners, like the fitting rooms.

Opening one of the fitting rooms, she clearly saw a set of clothes strewn on the floor, with shoes tucked beneath them. It was unmistakably one of the two victims from the clothing store.

This further solidified Robin's suspicions.

Whether it was the bakery owner, the incident at the clothing store, or the restroom in the hotpot restaurant, all the evidence pointed to the 'enemy' behind the veil preferring to attack lone individuals.

Conversely, the crowds gathered in the hotpot restaurant's main hall and the supermarket had remained safe so far.

Either the 'enemy' was a monster with a limitation that only allowed it to attack solitary creatures—an unlikely scenario, as it would then be illogical why the bald man and Robin herself hadn't been targeted.

Or... the 'enemy' was a human, currently blending into the crowd. With everyone clustered together, it would be difficult for them to strike, leaving them with no choice but to seek out isolated targets.

The reason this person hadn't attacked the bald man was simply because they were unaware of his existence.