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

Keng Huo touched his heart, feeling the pain had subsided. He quickly estimated, "Based on experience, there should be at least a few hours of pain-free period after this, enough to finish the cleanup... I really need to get some rest when I get back..."

As he spoke, he took off his helmet and, with trembling hands, took out three bottles of medicine from inside his protective suit and from his uniform pocket, placing them one by one on the table.

He looked around nervously, and finding no one paying attention to him, he hurriedly picked up a bottle, unscrewed the cap, poured out a handful of pills, and was about to put them in his mouth. But he stopped abruptly halfway through, as if he had just come to his senses. He carefully counted the number of pills in his hand, poured them all back into the bottle, and then unscrewed the cap of a second bottle, poured out two pills, and swallowed them.

When he opened the third bottle of medicine, he seemed to make a mistake. His hand was trembling slightly. Perhaps the heavy protective gloves hindered his dexterity. This time, he couldn't even hold the bottle properly and dropped it on the ground.

Keng Huo nervously squatted down, only to find that no pills rolled out. He couldn't help but pick up the bottle and peer inside.

"Finished eating..." Keng Huo muttered to himself as he put away the medicine bottle, glancing around furtively as he did so, as if afraid someone would notice his current state. "I'll get another bottle tomorrow..."

Everyone in the research lab stared intently at the three ominously shaped teleportation pods, as if facing a formidable enemy.

Suddenly, the airtight rectangular cabin slowly opened, and a group of medical personnel who were already wearing anti-Honkai energy radiation suits rushed forward. They hurriedly lifted Mei, who was lying unconscious in the teleportation cabin, onto a stretcher, fastened her life support breathing mask, and carried the stretcher towards the ambulance as if they had rehearsed it.

Bronya followed closely behind, also falling into a coma, and was quickly carried away by the rescue center staff.

The last one was Kiana. The moment the hatch opened, she seemed to want to reach out and grab the edge of the cabin to stand up, but she was too weak and could only lie down on the stretcher with the help of others.

The moment Keng Huo appeared before her, her eyes seemed to light up. She struggled to get up and say something, but the breathing mask only allowed her to make muffled sounds. Keng Huo expressionlessly gave her a gentle push on the shoulder, pushing her back onto the stretcher: "Mei and Bronya are in the ambulance. Mei's vital signs have stabilized, but Bronya still needs treatment... However, the initial tests don't show any major problems."

Keng Huo took a deep breath: "You saved them."

"Now, go to the medical center and lie down properly to cooperate with the examination."

Kiana seemed relieved, a look of relief appearing in her eyes. She stared blankly at the ceiling, as if she were about to fall asleep.

"Go to the medical center quickly, I'll go with you."

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Keng Huo watched Kiana, who was fidgeting restlessly on the hospital bed, through the glass window. He sighed softly, then turned to the medical staff in white coats beside him and asked, "What are the test results for the other two?"

The medical staff flipped through the folder in their hands, replying with a puzzled look, "The extent of their injuries is completely disproportionate to the damage to their armor. Raiden Mei has signs of internal bleeding in her stomach and intestines, and there are some fragments of internal organs and bones remaining in her body, but there are no signs of damage to her internal organs or bones; Bronya's injuries are more serious, but not life-threatening. Her internal organs are intact, but there is still a lot of muscle tissue and bone damage. After emergency treatment, her condition has stabilized... Surgery has been arranged for both of them to remove the fragments of internal organs and bones. Judging from their physical strength, recovery is only a matter of time..."

"As for Kiana, based on the initial scan results, there are absolutely no signs of injury..."

"Is that so..." A very obvious confusion flashed in Keng Huo's eyes. "Let them stay in the hospital for observation. Give them a full set of physical examinations, and make sure there are no blind spots."

"clear."

Keng Huo stood there silently for a moment before, as if summoning his courage, pushing open the door and entering Kiana's hospital room. Kiana's eyes lit up when she saw Keng Huo, and she hurriedly asked, "Where are Mei and Bronya?"

“They are not in any danger, in fact, their condition is much better than we expected. They just need some rest to recover,” Keng Huo said softly, pressing Kiana back onto the bed. “You should lie down and not run around until the full test results are available.”

"But I feel perfectly fine," Kiana muttered somewhat discontentedly, "I'm just a little tired..."

"You should rest first. You've been fighting at high intensity for almost 24 hours. You need to rest properly. If you feel unwell, report it to the medical staff immediately." Keng Huo sighed, avoiding Kiana's gaze.

"Hmm... now that you mention it, I am a little sleepy..." Kiana yawned. "Can I go check on Mei first?"

Keng Huo shook his head: "They're in surgery, removing fragments of internal organs..."

Before Keng Huo could finish speaking, Kiana suddenly sat up: "Didn't you say they weren't in any danger?!"

Keng Huo choked for a moment, realizing he had spoken out of turn. After organizing his thoughts, he replied, "Although it is indeed difficult to understand, their internal organs were not damaged at all, there were only some fragments of internal organs inside their bodies... So I want to ask, what exactly happened at that time?"

"Weren't you watching us through Dandelion's surveillance footage the whole time?" Kiana asked suspiciously, as if she had caught a loophole in Keng Huo's words.

Keng Huo sighed, rubbing his temples with a headache, trying to relieve his fatigue: "But my eyes aren't X-rays... how can I see what's inside their bodies... besides, surveillance footage can't cover everything, so can you tell me everything you know? Everything."

Kiana's face showed a thoughtful expression: "At that time... after hearing the emergency alarm, I immediately moved towards the two of them... and then I discovered [The Gaze of the Abyss]..."

"【The Gaze of the Abyss】chosen me as its template, creating the Shadow Valkyrie. I think Mei probably didn't distinguish between me and her immediately, which is why she was ambushed and severely injured... and Bronya probably did the same..."

"Then I fought with that Shadow Valkyrie... Anyway, I couldn't beat her at first, but I beat her later..." Kiana turned her face away somewhat guiltily, seemingly embarrassed that she had been suppressed at the beginning.

"And then? How did you defeat it?" Keng Huo seemed to have vaguely grasped the key point.

"I activated the [Valkyrie Burst] module, and then it activated the same burst state... I couldn't beat it..." Kiana pouted, "It slammed me into the ruins, and I felt like my whole body was falling apart..."

"Then I hugged it to stop it from getting close to Mei and Bronya, but it knocked me down again, and at that moment I thought I was going to die..."

"And then?" Keng Huo listened intently, leaning slightly forward.

Kiana's eyes suddenly lit up, and she clenched her weak little fists and waved them as if recounting some exciting scene: "Then I wanted to protect Mei and the others, and suddenly a power surged through my body! And then I defeated it! Do you think I have a Black Flame Dragon sealed inside me or something, and it gives me power when I'm in danger..."

Keng Huo delivered a light but firm chop to Kiana's head: "I think you should be lying in a mental hospital, not here..."

Kiana covered her head in dissatisfaction: "But that's how it was back then..."

Seeing Kiana clutching her head, Keng Huo reached out and rubbed the spot he had just hit: "Alright... You rest here for now. I'll go see Mei and Bronya after their surgeries and then report back to you."

"I can be discharged now!" Kiana said, swatting away Keng Huo's hand with obvious displeasure.

"You should get some rest first..." Keng Huo stood up and walked towards the door.

As he reached the door, Keng Huo seemed to remember something, turned back and looked at Kiana with a complicated expression. He seemed to want to say something, but he opened his mouth and didn't say anything. He just stammered out, "Then you should rest well."

"Huh?" Kiana seemed to realize something, but couldn't quite grasp it for a moment.

Although it was only a glance, she could still see endless guilt in Keng Huo's eyes.

But what is he feeling guilty about?

While Kiana was still dazed, a nurse of similar age pushed a small cart in.

"Kiana, it's time to take your medicine."

Kiana shrank back in fear, her eyes quickly scanning the medicines on the table. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found there were no needles.

"Where's Teacher Keng?" Perhaps influenced by these students, the medical staff also got used to calling Keng Huo "Teacher Keng".

"Let's go," Kiana said listlessly, "They said they'd come to see us after Mei and Bronya's surgeries..."

"Hmm... After all, Professor Keng is very busy. Although I don't know what he's been busy with lately, it's said that he went through a lot of trouble to get this new medical center approved..."

"Is he really that good?" Kiana pouted. "He's clearly just a jerk..."

"Oh right, Teacher Keng is gone, so what should we do with the medicine he asked for..." The seemingly confused nurse suddenly remembered something, picked up a bottle of medicine from the cart and was about to run out, but when she glanced at Kiana, who still needed her to supervise her taking the medicine, she was caught in a dilemma.

"Medicine?" Kiana's head was filled with a big question mark. "Is he sick?"

"No, really?" The nurse seemed startled as well. "I haven't seen him much lately, but he seemed quite energetic just now..."

"Then just leave the medicine with me. He'll be coming to find me soon anyway, and I can just give it to him then, right?"

"Hmm..." The medical staff seemed to hesitate for a moment, "But you mustn't take this medicine carelessly, okay? It's a central nervous system stimulant; if you take it, you won't be able to sleep..."

"Why would I be so bored as to eat... nerve-related... something-or-other... something-or-other drug?" Kiana thought she misheard. "That scoundrel wants nerve-related drugs? What does he want to do with them?"

"Who knows? After all, he's Teacher Keng," the medical staff shrugged. Everyone in the academy was used to Keng Huo's strange behavior, and some were even too lazy to care. "Who can know what he's thinking? He recently applied for cold medicine and painkillers, saying that the medicines he had in the dormitory had expired... Maybe he used them to experiment on the animals? Last time I asked him, he said he was going to develop a panacea..."

Chapter 72 I'm only human

Kiana still felt very uneasy. Keng Huo's gaze before he left bothered her, as if something was urging her to go find him and ask him for an explanation.

Seeing that no one was around, she quietly slipped off the bed, put on the slippers on the floor, opened the door to the ward, and mysteriously peeked out, looking around.

"Nobody here, perfect!" Kiana tiptoed through the empty corridor. "I've never been here before... Where are the stairs again..."

"Kiana?" A voice suddenly rang out from behind her, startling Kiana.

"No, no, I never thought of sneaking away!" Kiana shouted with her eyes closed.

"...Next time you lie, please don't reveal what you're thinking, okay...?"

"Hehehe..." Kiana scratched her head a little embarrassedly, "But I have something very important to do, and you see, I'm just really exhausted, I'm not injured at all..."

The other person seemed to have a headache, adjusted their glasses, and pointed in the direction behind Kiana: "The stairs are over there... the back door is down there. Everyone's busy organizing the spoils of this Abyss expedition and uploading data backups, so there shouldn't be anyone around right now..."

"Ah, I understand!! Thank you!" Kiana rushed over like an arrow before the other person could finish speaking.

The moment Kiana's hand touched the stair railing, she seemed to suddenly wake up and stood still, turning around abruptly to see only an empty, deserted corridor, with no sign of the person who had just given her directions.

"Wait... who was that person just now?" Kiana pointed to her lips, somewhat confused. "I think I should know them... but I can't remember who they are?"

Meanwhile, Keng Huo was communicating with someone in his dormitory.

"Kano Hana, have you finished compiling the data for this battle?"

"Ahhh, I...I...I..." The girl on the other end of the communicator seemed startled and stammered, "This..."

"Isn't it finished yet?"

"I'm waiting here at the hospital for Mei's surgery to finish..." The other person seemed a little annoyed that they had forgotten such an important thing, "Everyone is very worried about them..."

"There's still a long time before the surgery is over. Go and finish organizing the data and send it to me... Remember, don't upload it to headquarters yet, understand?"

"Understood!" came the very crisp reply from the other end.

"Then what did I just say?"

"Ah... that..."

Keng Huo sighed. He felt that this seemingly quiet girl was a bit of a scatterbrain. How could such a student be judged to have research talent?

"Go and compile the video recordings and data from this Abyss Operation, and send them to me. Don't do anything else, OK?"

"Okay, okay!" Kanno Hana whispered, repeating Keng Huo's words, "Don't do anything... um... don't do anything..."

Keng Huo felt incredibly overwhelmed. He took a deep breath and felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him. He instinctively reached for his medicine, but then suddenly remembered that he had already taken it…

"I forgot to bring my medicine back..." Keng Huo shook his head, got up, pushed open the door, thought for a moment, and walked towards the hospital. "I wonder if that idiot Kiana will listen to me and get some rest..."

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Kiana, like a stealthy agent, ran towards Keng Huo's dormitory in her conspicuous hospital gown.

Perhaps because it was the early hours of the morning, or perhaps because everyone was busy tallying up the spoils of this Abyss Operation and organizing the data, St. Freya Academy seemed deserted. Kiana, dressed only in a hospital gown, even felt a chill despite her constitution.

"Huh?" Kiana's sharp eyes spotted something ahead and she nervously darted into the flower bushes, completely unaware of how conspicuous her white hair was against the lush green grass.

But after waiting and waiting, Kiana still couldn't hear the other person pass by. This made her a little impatient. She quietly peeked out to see where the other person had gone, but there was no one around. It was as if the figure she had just seen was an illusion.