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

"envious!"

Do you want to learn?

"miss you!"

"Then think about it."

"..."

"Pfft..." Mei next to me couldn't help but laugh.

Keng Huo turned to Mei with a tearful expression. Under Keng Huo's gaze, Mei turned her head away somewhat embarrassedly: "This is a prototype of the Valkyrie's equipment. You can't use it even if I give it to you..."

“I know…” Keng Huo’s expression seemed to have lost all purpose in life, but he quickly perked up again. “But I think I just discovered a flaw in this prototype device!”

"Hey, tell me about it!" Kiana asked with great interest.

"First of all, can you move around while you're changing clothes?" Keng Huo asked, feigning profundity.

"Hmm... no... because moving rashly will cause the spatial coordinate anchor to become unstable, which may lead to accidents, such as explosions, being teleported with half of the armor... the armor being teleported into the body or something..." Kiana said, counting on her fingers.

"That terrifying? Really?"

"fake."

"hehe."

"Actually, it's just a forced restriction on movement," Kiana said playfully, sticking out her tongue. "When anchored in space, the body cannot move beyond a certain range, regardless of whether you want to move or not."

"So that means you're stuck in one place and can't move while changing clothes, right?" A glint of light flashed in Keng Huo's eyes. "Then that's it! My reasoning was flawless! The biggest weakness of this armor is indeed its slow materialization speed! It's vulnerable to attack during the changing process!"

Mei picked up the conversation with a hint of helplessness: "So far, that seems to be the case... but we don't have any other choice but to rely on our teammates for cover when switching armor... and the only armor we have the authority to use right now is the standard B-rank Valkyrie armor, so it's actually not very useful to us..."

"It's alright!" Keng Huo said, his left hand outstretched, palm facing up, while his right fist clenched and slammed into his left palm, as if a sudden inspiration had struck him. "But I just came up with a solution for you!"

"Really?! Tell me!" Kiana's eyes lit up.

"Come on, I'll show you a set of movements, and you can follow along." Keng Huo stood in front of the three of them, assuming a normal standing posture.

The three of them quickly followed suit and stood in the same position.

Keng Huo raised his left hand, his eyes following it as he raised it higher, while his right foot slightly lifted off the ground and tilted back.

The three followed suit.

Keng Huo spun around in that position.

The three followed suit.

Kiana whispered to Mei, "Why do I have this feeling that this set of movements looks familiar?"

Bronya replied, "Kiana will definitely find it familiar, because it's the magical girl transformation dance from 'Pan'."

"What?!" Kiana's eyes widened, and she stormed up to Keng Huo. "What do you mean by this?!"

Keng Huo replied matter-of-factly, "Isn't that obvious? Have you ever seen a magical girl get interrupted when she transforms? That set of movements comes with an invincible effect!"

Chapter 49 St. Freya... Commercial Street?

Kiana and the other two stared at Keng Huo for a long time, looking at him as if he were an idiot.

Just when Keng Huo thought the three of them were speechless because of his reasoning, he saw Kiana and Mei suddenly show gloating smiles on their faces.

Before Keng Huo could react, a golden chain had unknowingly wrapped around his feet. By the time Keng Huo realized what was happening, it was too late. The chain tightened suddenly and pulled him backward, causing Keng Huo to lose his balance and fall face down.

With a scream of agony and the sound of flesh being dragged on the ground, everyone saw with obvious familiarity that Keng Huo was bound by a golden chain and hung upside down from a tree.

"Headmaster! How could you tie me up without even asking what happened! I'm telling you, this is a completely unjust verdict!" Keng Huo was being swung around, baring his teeth and brandishing his claws. "I'm going to file a complaint against you! I'm going to report to the organization that the head of the Far East branch is abusing his power and mistreating his subordinates!"

"Shut up!" Theresa tightened her grip on the chains. "Wherever trouble breaks out, if you're there, the first thing we'll do is tie you up!"

"That's empiricism! That's unscientific! You should investigate first! Then gather evidence! And then..." Keng Huo swung back and forth in the tree like a monkey being beaten.

“Fine,” Theresa sneered. “Then let me ask you, why did the fire alarm in the auditorium suddenly go off?”

Keng Huo pretended to be looking at the scenery.

"Tell me!" Theresa gritted her teeth, the chains in her hands constantly loosening and tightening, swinging Keng Huo up and down on the tree as if to torture him. "Hmm? Aren't I taking evidence right now? I'm asking you, did you do it?!"

"No...no..." Keng Huo's voice faltered before he could finish speaking, "It really wasn't me..."

"Who is it? Tell me!" Theresa didn't believe Keng Huo's nonsense at all, and was even more convinced that it must have been this scoundrel who was behind it.

"It's...it's tobacco!" Keng Huo shouted.

"Smoke? Who's behind smoke?! Tell me now!" Theresa was almost completely bewildered. "No! You're the one who created the smoke, aren't you?!"

"It's not my fault, Principal!" Keng Huo said in a trembling voice. "Ever since my little cigarette child was born, I've taught it to behave itself and not cause trouble, and if it does, not to involve me. But it still went and triggered the fire alarm on its own! It has nothing to do with me! I didn't tell it to do that at all!"

"Headmistress! I'm innocent! It was all that Yan's doing! I'm a victim too! Look, I'm still all wet!" Keng Huo felt as if all the blood in his body had rushed to his head from Theresa's shaking, and he was immediately dizzy and talking nonsense.

“Hehe.” Theresa’s reply was concise and to the point.

Another chain wrapped around Keng Huo's body, binding him tightly like a silkworm. Theresa then skillfully wrapped the two chains around the "Oath of Judah" standing on the ground, binding Keng Huo to the huge cross. She then expertly tossed the cross behind her back, hoisted it onto her shoulder, and walked towards her office.

Keng Huo, bound to the cross, felt as if he were being treated like Jesus.

However, I have never seen any sect depict Jesus as being headfirst on a cross.

"Hmph! All you ever do is cause trouble!" Theresa stormed into her office, removed Keng Huo from the cross, grabbed one end of the two chains, and with a forceful jerk, Keng Huo was freed from the chains like a roll of toilet paper, tumbling to the ground with a thud.

"Tell me, what's the follow-up plan for that school renovation you mentioned before?" Theresa sat on her principal's seat, her hand unconsciously opening a drawer and taking out a comic book.

But after thinking about it, she put the comic back.

Keng Huo stood up, straightened his clothes very seriously, dusted himself off, and, with his eyes still swollen like mosquito coils, said to the globe beside him, "This is what I'm thinking... I think we need to apply for some funding..."

"Hey, I'm right here! Where are you looking!" Theresa slapped the table, trying to draw Keng Huo's attention.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Headmaster, I was a little dizzy from all the spinning and can't tell which way is which." Keng Huo turned around in surprise at the sound of the voice and said to the bookshelf next to the desk. He reached out to adjust his glasses, but instead stuck his finger up his nose.

"I'm here! I'm here!" Theresa slammed her hand on the table angrily. "Don't think I don't know you're faking it!"

"Where?" Keng Huo was completely bewildered, turning left and right a few times, seemingly still unable to find Theresa's direction. He tried several times, and finally, after sticking his finger into his nostril three times, he took off his glasses and wiped his finger with the hem of his clothes. "I'm facing you."

"Perfect attendance bonus for this month."

"Found it! Headmaster, you are like a light in the darkness, a campfire on the snowfield, so dazzling, so present, that I, who had lost my way, immediately followed your majestic aura and found your place. Is this the guidance of heaven?" Keng Huo quickly wiped his glasses, put them back on his nose, rushed to the desk, stood at attention like a standard-bearer on guard duty, and said righteously.

There was no sign that he was dazed, disoriented, and unable to tell which way was which just half a second ago.

Is there still a perfect attendance bonus for this month?

"..."

"Really? Really?"

"If you don't get to the point, this is all we'll get."

"Principal, it's like this! I've decided to apply to headquarters for construction funds!" Keng Huo stood ramrod straight, his hands pressed tightly against the seams of his trousers, chest out, head held high, eyes fixed ahead.

To be precise, it was directly above Theresa's head.

"Look at others when you speak!" Theresa slammed her hand on the table angrily, as if this was the only way she could express her emotions.

Upon hearing this, Keng Huo immediately looked down at the top of Theresa's head.

"Although you seem to have done as I said, why do I feel so uncomfortable..." Theresa said through gritted teeth, her eyes narrowed. "The amount, the purpose?"

"The amount is undetermined! A conservative estimate is over 20 million! The purpose is to build commercial facilities within the academy..." Keng Huo blurted out.

"Stop, stop, stop, commercial facilities?" Theresa looked at Keng Huo with suspicion, her heart pounding. "Could it be that you haven't recovered yet? It's okay, you can sit for a while, and we can talk when you're clear-headed."

“No, I’m perfectly sober.” Keng Huo casually dragged over a chair and sat down, completely disregarding the fact that the person in front of him was his superior. “The purpose of applying for this funding is to build commercial facilities on the outskirts of the academy, temporarily named St. Freya Commercial Street.”

“I’ve always known you have a mental illness, but I still thought it probably wouldn’t affect your work,” Theresa said sincerely. “But now that you’re so sick, I can give you a month’s leave to go to a mental hospital to properly recuperate your brain.”

"I'm not sick, I'm perfectly lucid," Keng Huo said, scratching his head with a hint of helplessness.

"You're sober and you still apply to build commercial facilities?!" Theresa expertly grabbed the book "On the Pyramid-like Distribution of Energy and a Detailed Explanation of the Potential Energy Conversion from Higher to Lower Ranks" from her desk, as if she were holding a paper brick. "Come on, stick your head out here and I'll give you a blessing, a personal blessing from the Pope's representative!"

"No... Principal... let me explain..." Keng Huo scratched his head, seemingly trying to find the right words.

"Putting aside the fact that your application for funding from headquarters on such a basis is impossible to get approved, the confidentiality agreement alone would not allow commercial facilities to be built around the Schicksal branch." Theresa glared at Keng Huo. "We cannot disclose any information related to the Honkai to the general public, have you forgotten?"

"If these commercial facilities are built on the outskirts of our academy, there's no guarantee that our training programs and the Hyperion won't be exposed. Don't you know what kind of impact that would have on the outside world?"

“I know, which is why what I’m about to say is more important,” Keng Huo said very seriously. “The staff in the commercial facilities being built will apply to be transferred from the Shaniat Foundation. As an external social organization that provides funding to Schicksal, a considerable number of the Shaniat Foundation’s employees have signed confidentiality agreements. These employees who have signed confidentiality agreements will do odd jobs for Schicksal’s peripheral research institutes, and sometimes they will be responsible for transporting some less important materials without knowing it. So if the staff in these commercial facilities are selected from these people, there is absolutely no problem.”

"Moreover, the commercial facilities are built on the outskirts of the academy, so they have no access to anything inside the academy. St. Freya Academy adopts a completely closed teaching system, and the Hyperion is equipped with its own optical concealment system, so there is no need to worry about leaks. Moreover, even if they want to explore the secrets inside the academy, they do not have the ability to break through our automatic defense fire control system."

Theresa seemed to be deep in thought, her right hand supporting her chin, her index finger gently tapping her lips.

After a long pause, she finally spoke: "Okay, you make a good point. So, the next question: what is the purpose of building commercial facilities?"

Keng Huo sighed and pointed to the newly recruited Valkyries who had followed the commotion and were still there outside the window: "I knew you veteran Valkyries would never realize this..."

“These children…they were different from you from the very beginning.”

"While you were receiving combat training at a very young age, they were experiencing cakes and birthday presents, and weekends were spent singing, shopping, or studying at home."

"Before you even understood the commercial system of today's society, they had already learned to use their parents' credit cards to buy clothes for themselves."

“They may train hard because of hatred, but no hatred lasts forever. Or rather, as time goes by, the hatred may not disappear, but they will remember the happy times they had when they lived as ordinary people. If they stay in this academy, which is like an iron barrel, for too long, they will go crazy.” Keng Huo walked to the window and looked down at the students who were still chattering. “Haven’t you noticed? Now even the smallest thing is enough to make them chatter happily for half a day. Whether it’s me getting beaten up or the soup in the cafeteria being too salty today, it will become the topic of conversation.”

“Do you know how terrible this is?” Keng Huo turned around. “They’ll go crazy if they’re locked up in a place isolated from the world for too long. They’re so bored now that they’re talking about everything that can be used as a topic of conversation. So what’s next? What if they’ve talked about everything that can be experienced in daily life?”

Theresa was silent for a long time before replying, "So do you think your method will work?"

“That’s right. The only way to turn a stagnant pool into a flowing one is to inject new water.” Keng Huo started rummaging through his clothes and finally took out a folder from his laptop bag at his feet. “I’ve already decided on the first batch of commercial facilities to be built. First, fast food restaurants, Western restaurants, Chinese restaurants, convenience stores, clothing stores, and cinemas—these are a must.”

"reason?"

"Human life is nothing more than four things: clothing, food, shelter, and transportation. We don't need to worry about shelter and transportation here, so as long as we improve their clothing and food conditions, we can greatly alleviate their psychological stress. Among the facilities I mentioned, the first is food and clothing. Convenience stores can meet some personal needs that cannot be met by daily rations, while movie theaters are a good place for everyone to gather and relax."

Keng Huo sat back down in his chair, raised his hand and rubbed his furrowed brows: "You know what? I once saw a few girls working together in a cooking class all night, just to make an ugly birthday cake to celebrate a friend's birthday... I happened to pass by that day, and they were very embarrassed when they saw me, as if some secret had been exposed."

Keng Huo sighed, his eyes gradually hardening with an indescribable look, a mixture of sadness and heaviness: "Celebrating a birthday! It's so normal! So reasonable! But they acted like thieves!"

"Because birthday cakes weren't included in our rations! They applied for flour, butter, eggs, and other essential cake-making supplies on their ration cards a month in advance, just so they could make a birthday cake for their friend a month later!"

Keng Huo sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead: "We have to do something before those kids go crazy."

“Yes, I must say this is a problem that none of us have ever considered before,” Theresa looked out the window, feeling that the academy was particularly unfamiliar at this moment. “The reasons are reasonable, the purpose is clear, and the plan can be considered to be in place. So now we only have one major problem.”