Honkai Impact 3rd: My Days as a Captain in Schicksal

Keng Huo remained silent, treating Theresa as if she didn't exist.

but……

While he was eating, Theresa kept chattering on and on.

Theresa kept nagging him as he ran away.

While he was secretly plotting his escape from Theresa, Theresa would jump out of the closet and chatter on and on...

He washed... oh, no, he didn't.

Those days almost drove Keng Huo to a mental breakdown. Eventually, Keng Huo gradually got used to the presence of the mentally challenged nun who always got lost. He would even check his dormitory first to see if the mentally challenged nun was secretly hiding in his closet, ready to spy on his escape plan.

Of course, Keng Huo never found Theresa. It wasn't until Keng Huo expressed his willingness to join St. Freya Academy that Theresa told him that after he discovered her once, she had moved to a hidden compartment in the ceiling. Keng Huo almost smashed the teacup in his hand in her face at that moment, and the trust he had painstakingly built was almost destroyed.

However, Keng Huo gradually noticed the differences between the Valkyries in St. Freya Academy and the Valkyries he had seen before.

The Valkyries of the Destiny Headquarters are always very quiet, and when carrying out missions, they only utter words related to the mission. Their expressions are also rarely changed, and whether the mission succeeds or fails, they always have an indomitable spirit.

Perhaps saying "going forward without hesitation" is not quite accurate; to describe it more precisely, "ready to die for one's cause" would be more precise.

They seemed to never value their own lives, let alone the lives of others.

Thinking of this, Keng Huo couldn't help but feel a surge of irritation. The Valkyries from headquarters gave people a very uncomfortable feeling, as if they were two completely different species. The Valkyries from headquarters were always cold and rigid, advocating efficiency, and gave people the feeling of being robots, without any sense of human vitality.

The Valkyries of St. Freya Academy are completely different. Rather than soldiers, they are more like high school girls. They like sweets, jokes, sports, and cute animals...

Keng Huo often saw Theresa being fed like a child. Although she always pretended to be angry, the joy in her eyes was undeniable.

Keng Huo told himself again and again that he stayed at St. Freya Academy to investigate Elisa's whereabouts, but deep down he knew that he was staying there for other reasons.

Because there is a sense here that has been forgotten for a long time.

This feeling is called home.

"But... that little nun managed to train those Valkyries to be like this..." Keng Huo narrowed his eyes, looking at the blinding sunlight outside the window, "She really had a tough time..."

"Thinking about it this way, Theresa is actually quite clever?" Keng Huo muttered to himself. "If that's really the case, then the style of this book suddenly turns into fantasy..."

Chapter Twenty-Five: Staying up all night for three days is nothing.

Since the end of the final exams, Keng Huo has been locking himself in his dormitory, busy with something that has puzzled everyone who knows him.

To be precise, it should be said that he was afraid, because ever since Keng Huo started teaching at St. Freya Academy, he has caused trouble almost every day. The occasional time he doesn't cause trouble is as rare as snow falling in summer. Moreover, Keng Huo used to go out for morning exercise every day without fail, but these past few days have been so abnormal. Not only has he not been exercising, but he hasn't even gone out for lunch.

The thought that Keng Huo, who was always causing trouble, had locked himself in his dormitory and no one knew what he was doing made everyone a little uneasy, fearing that Keng Huo was hiding in his dormitory and preparing something big.

Fortunately, this period coincided with the end of final exams, so everyone had nothing to do, and Keng Huo had no classes. In addition, the students were busy celebrating passing the Valkyrie exam, so it did not attract any extra attention.

This situation continued for three days.

"It's alright. The hardness is average, but the ductility and Honkai energy adaptability are beyond my expectations." Keng Huo clashed his fists, which were wearing white hard-shell boxing gloves, together, producing a metallic clanging sound.

Keng Huo tried swinging his fist, the sound of his white gauntlets cutting through the air particularly jarring in the empty room: "So the first item is complete... Next, I need to prepare the inscriptions... But which one should I do first? To deal with various situations, I need to prepare inscriptions of different types and uses. Many inscriptions have irreplaceable uses. To have the ability to protect myself in a short time, I should focus on one development path and prepare all the equipment for one combat style as quickly as possible. At least I need to have a decent fighting force before any unexpected events occur..."

"But... what should I do first? Increase speed? Increase attack power? Increase recovery or defense?" Keng Huo frantically grabbed his hair, turning his head into a messy bird's nest.

"Fine, since the first Honkai weapon is a gauntlet, then the first matching inscribed jade pendant will definitely have to be that..." Keng Huo scratched his head in frustration, pulling off a large clump of dandruff.

Dandruff?

Keng Huo stared blankly at the snowflakes on the ground, suddenly realizing that he hadn't taken a shower for three days in a row.

"Sigh..." Keng Huo sighed, a wave of exhaustion washing over him. When he was captured, the Destiny headquarters confiscated all his anti-Honkai weapons, leaving him penniless. Any random reserve Valkyrie could easily defeat him. He was no longer the fighter he once was, who could escape for three years while being hunted by several A-rank Valkyrie squads.

Keng Huo was not actually a graduate of the Naval Commander Academy, which was specifically established by Schicksal to train battlefield commanders. He was a fugitive that Theresa saw while reviewing classified documents.

He is the last Honkai Hunter on the continent of Shenzhou, and the crime that Schicksal is hunting for is attacking four research institutes under the Middle East branch of Schicksal, stealing valuable research data, destroying several precious instruments, and attacking several Valkyries and researchers during the infiltration.

Keng Huo did not object to these accusations; in fact, he did indeed do so.

Everything was for the purpose of finding Elisa's whereabouts.

Elisa was taken away by the Valkyrie of Destiny.

"It's still too weak. To get back to its original strength, it will take a lot of materials and time. Do I have that much time?" Keng Huo took off his boxing gloves, casually threw them on the table, took off the clothes he had worn for three days and threw them into the washing machine, preparing to take a shower.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Who is it?" Keng Huo put his clothes back on, somewhat annoyed, and walked to the door with his messy hair, opening it.

"Mei? Is something the matter?" Keng Huo wasn't surprised to see Mei at the door; what surprised him was that Kiana hadn't come along.

You know, these two people have always been inseparable, like conjoined twins.

"Teacher Keng?" Mei's expression was one of surprise, probably because she was shocked by the disheveled and mysterious man in front of her.

Mei looked closely for a while before realizing that the person in front of her was indeed Keng Huo. She found it very strange, because Keng Huo was always the kind of person who liked to dress neatly and cleanly. She and Kiana had visited Keng Huo's dormitory before, and they had never seen him like this before...

Dirty and messy.

"Teacher... are you alright?" Mei asked cautiously. "You don't seem to be in very good spirits."

"It's okay... It's just three nights in a row, it's nothing," Keng Huo replied with panda eyes. "But I'm finally done for now, I'm going to take a shower and go to sleep... Can you just briefly tell me what's going on?"

Keng Huo was extremely tired. He had been working without sleep for three days straight, and had to wholeheartedly guide Honkai energy to shape the materials that Kiana had stolen for him. This had almost exhausted all his energy. At this moment, he was like a dying man, and he might fall asleep at any moment.

"Um..." Mei's expression seemed a little troubled, "I did have something to do... but since Professor Keng is so tired..."

Mei was very hesitant. On the one hand, this matter was indeed very important, but on the other hand, the person she was asking for help didn't seem to be in good condition. She was caught in a dilemma.

"Tell me first, and if there's time, I'll help you after I wake up. If it's urgent, then I can only apologize..." Keng Huo felt like he was about to collapse, and his upper and lower eyelids were closing uncontrollably.

Anyone who has stayed up all night knows that when you stay up all night, your brain will be very excited for a period of time, just like during the day, and you won't feel sleepy at all. But as soon as you finish what you're doing, or reach a certain point, you will suddenly start to feel sleepy involuntarily, your consciousness will become blurred from time to time, and your eyelids will start to droop frequently. At this time, you will not be able to think about anything, and your judgment of time will also become inaccurate. Often, ten minutes will pass in the blink of an eye.

"Actually... it's not particularly urgent... no, it is rather urgent, but it doesn't have to be done right now..." Mei's words were somewhat unclear, "Actually... I feel that Kiana has some problems..."

"Hmm?" Keng Huo regained his senses slightly. "What's the problem?"

“I’ve felt like she’s been distracted these past few days, like she’s always thinking about something, like she’s hiding something from me. I’ve asked her, but she won’t tell me…” A worried look appeared on Mei’s face. “I suspect she’s under too much pressure, but I don’t know what to do…”

"Oh... pre-exam anxiety. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now..." Keng Huo's eyes were already swollen with sweat; he could clearly feel that he couldn't hold on any longer. Without thinking of politeness, he used his last bit of strength to try and close the door, but his effort was so weak that the latch didn't even click shut.

With his last bit of strength, Keng Huo swayed and staggered to the side of the sofa before collapsing straight down.

Mei gently pushed open the half-closed door in front of her and cautiously glanced inside the room. She found Keng Huo lying on the sofa, dazed and talking nonsense.

"Back in my day, I was among A-rank Valkyries..."

"Seven times in, seven times out..."

"I'll blow you to heaven in a spiral..."

Mei patted her head, feeling a bit of a headache: "Seriously... why is everyone acting so strange these past few days..."

"And how come Teacher Keng is still bragging even when he's asleep..."

Mei sighed and tried to help Keng Huo up and put him on the bed, but found that Keng Huo was now a dead body and couldn't be lifted up at all.

Then... should I carry him on my back? Or hug him? But just thinking about how intimate these two actions were, Mei couldn't help but feel her cheeks burning.

Never mind, let's just turn him over.

Mei gently turned Keng Huo over and placed his head on the sofa armrest. Then she went to the bedroom, grabbed a blanket, and covered Keng Huo with it.

Just as Mei was admiring her masterpiece with satisfaction, she suddenly noticed the pair of boxing gloves reflecting a crystalline white light on the coffee table, and she couldn't help but pick them up out of curiosity.

"These are... boxing gloves?" A bunch of question marks popped into Mei's mind. "Could it be that Teacher Keng has been playing with these all this time without going out?"

By the time Keng Huo regained consciousness, it was already evening.

Keng Huo shook his head, feeling that although he couldn't say he was full of energy, he was at least no longer in a state where he might fall asleep at any moment.

"Staying up all night is really exhausting, I need to cut back..." Keng Huo yawned, checked the time, and realized it was already eight o'clock. "Going to bed at this time is too early... If I'm going to start making the badges, this amount of time is simply not enough... Besides, I need to rest for a couple of days..."

Keng Huo scratched his head in annoyance, and seeing the dandruff falling down his scalp, decided to take a shower first.

"Oh right, what did Mei talk to me about earlier..." Keng Huo muttered while applying shampoo to his hair, "I think it was something about Kiana..."

Kiana?

Suddenly, a scene flashed through Keng Huo's mind: the scene he saw when he was communicating with Archbishop Otto in the virtual space on behalf of St. Freya Academy.

At that time, he was going to discuss the supply allocation to St. Freya Academy with Otto, but for some reason, there was always a screen in front of Otto playing a video. Keng Huo didn't pay much attention to it at first, just assuming that Otto was watching a movie or some kind of surveillance footage, but suddenly Otto's expression changed.

Keng Huo clearly saw Kiana and Bronya in the surveillance footage, and the background was actually a medieval-style building complex.

Before Keng Huo could react, Otto said with a solemn expression, "Excuse me," and then disappeared from Keng Huo's sight.

Then Keng Huo saw Otto appear in the scene. He gently caught Bronya, who had slipped and fallen from the flagpole while being attacked by Honkai Beasts, and said something. Although Keng Huo could not hear the sound in the surveillance video, it did not prevent him from deducing some things.

Judging from the rapid taps Otto made with his outstretched left hand on the screen, it seems that Otto unlocked some kind of permission.

Then Keng Huo saw Kiana suddenly enveloped by a data stream. When the data stream dissipated, Kiana was wearing a pure white suit of armor. Keng Huo could not guess the strength of the armor, but he could tell from the six light wings on its back created by the strong magnetic field binding that the armor was probably not that simple.

Anyone with a brain can understand this: military equipment doesn't have decorations. If it does, it's either for ceremonial use or it's so powerful that it needs decorations to distinguish it from ordinary items.

Keng Huo speculated that this suit of armor belonged to the latter category.

Kiana's performance on screen also directly confirms this point.

Keng Huo could clearly see the change in Kiana's strength before and after putting on this armor. If the normal Kiana had a combat power of about 0.4 Welts, then the Kiana wearing this armor had at least three Welts in terms of physical exertion alone.

Don't ask me what a Walter is. It's a universally used unit of measurement for combat power, authorized by the will of the universe, and an unspeakable secret.

This is only an increase in physical attributes; as an armored anti-Honkai weapon, its combat attachments and combat support plugins are the real highlights.

As Keng Huo watched Kiana take to the sky, after a brief moment of charging up, countless dazzling laser beams burst forth from the six-petaled wings of light behind her, instantly pinning all the Honkai Beasts in the entire town to the ground like spears falling from the sky.

one strike.

At that moment, Keng Huo doubted that he was even fully awake.

Judging from the glowing screen next to Otto, Kiana was in a data space, meaning that the armor was likely a virtual creation.

However, in the data space, there is an unsurpassed principle that must be followed: rational self-consistency.

Self-consistency means conforming to the operating rules of this data space. In other words, Otto could not have instantly created a set of armor and transmitted it to Kiana. Instead, he used the armor data that was already backed up in the database to simulate and form this set of armor. Otherwise, he could have simply waved his hand to summon 100,000 meteors to kill the Honkai Beasts without damaging the streets in the slightest.

However, Otto, as the person with the highest authority, could have directly chosen to stop the operation of that data space or directly delete the Honkai Beast's data, but he chose to let Kiana do it instead, which is very puzzling.

But Keng Huo didn't have time to think about that, because Otto had already returned to him, smiling and saying, "Excuse me, two kittens have wandered into my backyard... It's a bit dangerous there..."

“If they die there, someone will cry.” Otto smiled.