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

Because he was bound facing the cross this time, he was able to face the same direction as Theresa, with his body pressed against the main body of the cross, his face protruding from the top, allowing him to use his chin to support the cross and conserve energy. Furthermore, his upper body below the arms was firmly fixed to the cross, increasing the contact area and reducing the feeling of pressure. Not to mention, Theresa hadn't bound his arms, so his hands were free to move, allowing him to use his personal data terminal to navigate for Theresa…

They even gave it a name: "Composite Reconnaissance Array Type II".

The only downside is...

"Forward, in front, square, fifty meters, meters, meters to the left, side..."

Fifty meters was nothing to Theresa in the blink of an eye. She nimbly changed direction with her short legs and turned left at the fork in the road.

"...There's dog poop under the lamppost, be careful..."

"..."

Thanks to the exceptional coordination between the two parties, their planned journey was extended by a full two hours.

Finally, Theresa, carrying the dizzy and disoriented Keng Huo, arrived at the middle of Changkong City and found the escape pod where Keng Huo had landed on the roof of a building.

Looking at the escape pod, with most of its body embedded in the floor, Theresa stared at Keng Huo, who had confidently assured her that her piloting skills were absolutely top-notch, with a skeptical gaze.

"...Let's not talk about how well you drive this thing...let's think about how to dig...pry...get it out of here first?" Theresa pointed at the escape pod. "Half of it is embedded in the building. Don't tell me the floating escape pod has a reversing function?"

After all, escape pods are designed to meet the highest standards of safety and speed of escape, so it is understandable that they do not have a reversing function.

Keng Huo deftly opened the escape pod's hatch and climbed into the cockpit: "It's alright. I'll cancel the silence mode, preheat the engine, and activate the jet levitation system first. Then you can gently push it out of the building..."

Theresa looked at the confident Keng Huo with suspicion, but considering that if she didn't take this, she would have to run out of the city on foot, she decided to trust this crazy person one more time.

Theresa easily pushed the two-person escape pod, and at the same time, the levitation device below the escape pod lit up, swaying slightly in the air before stabilizing itself.

"See! I told you there wouldn't be any problems!" Keng Huo gave Theresa a thumbs up. "Jump up now!"

Seeing that Keng Huo had actually stabilized the escape pod, Theresa felt a surge of confidence. She took two steps back and gave herself a short running start.

The moment Theresa jumped precisely into the escape pod, it almost tipped over due to the imbalance of weight. Keng Huo frantically tried his best to twist the rudder to correct it. During this time, Theresa hung on the crystal panel of the escape pod, yelling as if she wanted to devour Keng Huo.

"Tell me! Are you planning to murder me and then go back to be the headmaster?!"

"No! No! I'm not!" Keng Huo broke out in a cold sweat. They were dozens of meters in the air. If they fell, Theresa might be fine, but he, who had no strength left, was definitely going to die...

"Passengers, please fasten your seatbelts. The St. Freya Kindergarten school bus is departing. Next stop, Hyperion platform. Please keep an eye on your Judas and communicators. Eating or drinking on this train and assaulting the driver are prohibited..."

"Hey, hurry up!" Theresa, who was already fastened in her seat, stomped her feet impatiently.

"Let's go home!"

The escape pod's power section emitted a beautiful blue flame, like the aurora borealis, and sped off towards the outskirts of Changkong City.

Chapter 89 The Phone Call with Elisa

"So when can I talk to Elisa?" Lying on the hospital bed, Keng Huo looked weak, as if he was about to pass away, but his eyes seemed to shine with a final, desperate light. "Please... this is my last wish before I die..."

"It's too late, so go in peace. I'll take good care of your sister." Himeko sat by Keng Huo's hospital bed, peeling an apple. Her hands were very nimble, and the long apple peel slowly turned out from under her knife and hung into the trash can.

"Shouldn't this be the scene where Elisa walks in through the door with flowers in her hand and shouts 'Brother, I'm here!'?" Keng Huo stared intently at the apple in Himeko's hand. "What's with this look on your face, like you're just waiting for me to die so you can leave?"

"My role is to pretend to care about you first, then wait for you to die so I can divide your inheritance." Himeko finally finished peeling the apple, holding it up to admire its perfectly round, artistic shape.

Then he took a bite.

Keng Huo stared wide-eyed: "Are you trying it for me?"

"Crunch—"

"Hey, hey, stop for a second?"

"Kachi kachi——"

"Wait! You've already tasted four bites for me! That's enough!"

"Have you forgotten that the medical staff said you can't eat right now?" Himeko swallowed the bulging apple in her mouth, glancing sideways at Keng Huo. "If you want to have a massive stomach hemorrhage right now, you can try this. You'll probably bleed to death before you even see Elisa..."

"I...I thought..." Keng Huo stared dejectedly at the apple in Himeko's hand, which was now reduced to a core. "A hero returning from serious injury should at least receive some special treatment, right..."

"Haven't you already received the special treatment?" Himeko pointed to the nutrient solution hanging to the side. "It's rich in various vitamins, proteins, glucose, and all the trace elements the human body needs daily. The nutrition is outrageously comprehensive, and there are multiple flavors to choose from, such as grape, apple, and cantaloupe. What more could you possibly want?"

"I feel like I've heard that line somewhere before..." Keng Huo rolled his eyes, smacking his lips listlessly with the IV tubing in his mouth. "But I want to eat meat... drinking this stuff... makes my stomach feel empty..."

"You need to be more careful..." Himeko stretched out her slender, jade-like finger and gently tapped Keng Huo's forehead. "There's been so much piling up lately... Don't give me a story about a school teacher dying from overwork at this crucial moment."

“Yes…” Keng Huo stared blankly at the ceiling.

Kiana's mysterious nun-like armor that appeared in the Endless Abyss.

Analysis of the Honkai Armed Imaginary Materialization Device.

The construction of St. Freya Commercial Street.

And they even brought that stubble-faced researcher to St. Freya Academy...

Oh, right... there are two other things that happened:

Figure out the origin of the stigmata that suddenly appeared on Theresa's back... and the origin of the mark on the back of his own hand.

"So Ai-chan, you have to help me! I never expected that Keng Huo to be so cunning! It's all his fault! He lied to me first!"

"stare--"

"It's really...it wasn't my fault!! He looked so scary back then! His eyes were bloodshot, and his eyeballs were practically bulging out of their sockets!"

"stare--"

"No...no, it wasn't him who scared me...I thought he really knew something...that's why I said that..." Theresa's voice grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible, like a mosquito's buzz.

Amidst a cluster of medical testing machines, Theresa, dressed in a hospital gown, sat listlessly on the body scanner, her lips pursed and head drooping, like a schoolchild admitting a mistake to a teacher: "Ai-chan... he said he wants to see you... can you help me think of a way..."

"stare--"

"Waaah—" Theresa was so anxious she was about to cry. Ever since Keng Huo arrived at the Hyperion, he had been pestering her to go through the back door so he could meet Alice. But knowing that Alice was no longer human, where was Theresa supposed to find a living Alice for him?

"Sigh..." The projection in front of Theresa turned its head slightly and let out a heavy sigh, "Why does Ai-chan always have to run into such terrible teammates..."

"Waaah..."

"It's the same in video games...and in real life...even my brother is a simple-minded idiot..."

"I believe Elisa will definitely have a way!"

"Fortunately, Theresa didn't tell her brother the truth, otherwise we probably wouldn't have been able to cover it up this time..." Ai-chan's 3D projection put one hand to her forehead, looking helpless. "Okay, I'll make some arrangements first, call me in two hours."

The image of Ai-chan projected on Theresa's personal data terminal gradually faded into the air.

Theresa, as if she had won some great victory, smugly flashed a V-sign at the empty testing room, which happened to meet the gaze of Himeko, who had just pushed the door open and entered.

The atmosphere seemed to freeze slightly.

Himeko silently took out a selfie stick and placed it on the bed where Theresa was sitting. She then slowly backed away, facing Theresa, and gently closed the door.

"Wait a minute! Why didn't you knock before coming in?! I didn't forget my camera to take a selfie! Wait, no! I wasn't taking a selfie!! Himeko, come back here!!"

……

"So the result is... this stigma on your back... is a natural stigma?" Himeko's fingers gently brushed across Theresa's back, where there was a pattern composed of three pale pink magatama-shaped objects, resembling a tattoo.

"Hmm... the analysis results are as follows: it is indeed different from the Stigmata of the Shaniat and Kaslana families... it's a new variety that has never appeared before. The Science Department's analysis of the patterns on my back shows that, like the two existing Stigmata, the patterns are filled with circuits that manipulate Honkai energy, allowing it to store and utilize large amounts of Honkai energy; and its strength far exceeds that of a perfectly crafted Valkyrie, with some core circuits even approaching the level of a Herrscher core..."

“In the past few thousand years, the Destiny Organization has only found these two Stigmata…” Himeko stroked her chin, “and now another one has suddenly appeared… How did you obtain it?”

“I don’t know…” Theresa shook her head. “My consciousness was very hazy at the time. I didn’t even know where I was. I just vaguely remember a pink-haired girl kissing me, and then I felt something flowing into my body…”

Seeing Himeko's increasingly strange expression, Theresa suddenly tensed up, blushing and shouting with her eyes closed, "Don't misunderstand! I have no interest in that kind of thing!!"

Himeko looked at Theresa thoughtfully, seemingly not paying attention to what Theresa said. Her mind was completely focused on Theresa's words: "You mean... your Stigmata were transferred to you by someone else? Could it be that Stigmata... can be transferred?"

“We can’t rule out that possibility, but we don’t have data on the process of Stigmata transfer at the moment, so it’s just speculation…” Theresa sighed. “Unless we find another natural Stigmata that also happens to have transferred, allowing us to observe its transfer process in its entirety and thus simulate the method of Stigmata transfer…”

"So in the end, there's still no other way..." Himeko sighed, "But we don't really need this kind of technology..."

"No, we need it!" Theresa's eyes suddenly lit up with an unusual light. "Himeko...you need this!"

"Me?" Himeko hesitated, pointing to herself. "What would I need this for?"

Theresa hesitated for a moment, seemingly organizing her thoughts: "Himeko... you were already past the age limit when you underwent the Valkyrie transformation. Valkyrie transformations inherently shorten a Valkyrie's lifespan. If we could master this technology, transferring my Stigmata to you might..."

Himeko's gaze seemed to falter for a moment, then suddenly, a glimmer of hope shone in her eyes: "You mean... you're going to transfer this Stigmata to me?"

“Perhaps this can solve your health problem?” Theresa looked at Himeko with a serious expression. “Himeko… how much of your lifespan do you have left?”

Himeko hesitated for a moment, but still spoke out the information she had been unwilling to think about: "...maybe a year, maybe tomorrow."

"Then we must get our hands on this technology!"

……

"So we're going to see Elisa now?!" Keng Huo was overjoyed, showing no signs of having just undergone surgery. "Am I not dressed well? I'll go back to my dorm and change..."

Theresa glanced at Keng Huo's hospital gown, then looked away: "I don't think changing your clothes will save your goofy personality..."

"No time! We have to go see her!" Keng Huo seemed not to hear Theresa's words, and rolled off the ground. "I feel like I'm full of power!"

“Uh… well…” Theresa found it difficult to say what she was about to say, “Elisa is very busy with work… she can’t leave headquarters to come here, so you can only communicate remotely…”

"It's alright! Let me see her!" Keng Huo surprisingly didn't hesitate. "But first, bring me my clothes!"

"Huh?" Theresa was a little confused. "Which outfit? Didn't I already say that changing your clothes won't save you from your goofy personality...?"

"But I can't go to see her wearing a hospital gown! Just wear the tracksuit I wore when I came back!" Keng Huo waved his hand confidently, as if he were commanding a thousand troops.

But there was one more thing he didn't say.

What if Elisa sees herself wearing a hospital gown and worries about her health?

"You mean your tattered tracksuit..." Theresa muttered, running to the wardrobe in the ward and taking out the tracksuit that Keng Huo had been wearing since he was brought to the ward. "To be honest, I think you'd be better off wearing your hospital gown. What if Elisa sees you in these ragged clothes and suspects our academy of mistreating its staff..."

Keng Huo deftly slipped his gym clothes over his hospital gown, carefully tucking in any protruding corners to ensure no one could tell from the outside: "Don't worry! I'll tell her I just went up the mountain to fight a bear!"

"Huh?" Theresa's eyes widened in disbelief.

"It's okay, she's used to it..."

"So you used to go up the mountain and fight bears all the time?!" Theresa muttered to herself, placing the communicator on the table. "Elisa's very busy... so the call shouldn't last too long... she might even be communicating with you from her studio..."

"It's okay, it's okay, don't be so wishy-washy!" Keng Huo urged Theresa impatiently.

Theresa pouted as she scrolled through her contacts, finding the virtual communication link that Elisa had previously implanted in her communicator. She prayed that Elisa wouldn't mess things up.