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

“It’s no big deal,” Keng Huo waved his hand. “It was just a minor scratch. I lay on the ground for half an hour. You have no idea how interesting that driver’s expression was. Let me show you…”

Kiana forcefully pushed the overly dramatic Keng Huo back onto the bed: "If it really was just a little bump, then why don't you get out of bed? Go get to work!"

"Oh dear, I suddenly feel weak and powerless, like I'm about to die..." Keng Huo slid down the headboard and huddled under the covers.

"Hmph, always trying to be tough..." Kiana hesitated for a moment, then took an apple from the fruit basket by Keng Huo's bedside and started peeling it.

"Speaking of which, where are Mei and Bronya?" Keng Huo wondered, thinking that the three of them were always inseparable, but today only Kiana came to see him, and he couldn't help but feel curious.

"They had a check-up today, and it's said that they've almost recovered. If the check-up shows no major problems, they can be discharged."

Keng Huo suddenly recalled what happened in the Endless Abyss.

"By the way, about that set of armor that suddenly appeared on you in the Endless Abyss, which looked like a nun's habit..." Keng Huo pondered, "I have some ideas about its origin."

"Hmm?" Kiana's ears perked up. Although she was usually carefree, she knew that something might have happened to her that she was unaware of.

“Your bloodline comes from two great families of Destiny: the Kaslana family, who are naturally resistant to Honkai energy, and the Shaniat family, who are naturally able to manipulate Honkai energy…” Keng Huo carefully chose his words to make them sound less abrupt. “I think it’s very likely that your nun-like armor comes from the power of your mother’s bloodline.”

"Wow! A bloodline limit?!" Kiana's eyes suddenly lit up, and she stopped what she was doing. "Wow, that's so cool!"

"Hmm...probably..." Noticing Kiana's childish behavior, Keng Huo couldn't help but smile. "The data collected at the time showed that after you put on that armor, Mei and Bronya's life indices, which were originally on the verge of death, not only stabilized but even slowly increased until their lifelines stabilized and no longer hovered on the edge."

“So I think… it’s because the bloodline of the Shaniat family in your body has awakened. You also told me that at the time you were thinking about protecting Mei… I think it might be because some reason triggered the awakening of your mother’s bloodline.”

“By the way,” Keng Huo suddenly remembered Kiana from the fragment of Yae Sakura’s memory, and the confusion in his heart urged him to ask for clarification, “When you left Changkong City, did you encounter any mutant creatures? Apart from Honkai Beasts… I mean the kind that you haven’t seen a second one since.”

"Why are you asking this?" Kiana tilted her head, pointing her index finger to her lips with some confusion. "I have indeed encountered... two cases."

"Two cases?" Keng Huo caught this crucial quantifier and secretly wondered if Kiana and the others had encountered not only Yae Sakura but also that pseudo-Herrscher named Yuno when they left Changkong City? Impossible. According to the timeline, Yuno becoming a pseudo-Herrscher happened after Kiana and the others left Changkong City…

"They're all very strange people. One has long yellow hair and sits on something that's incredibly large, made of metal... like a throne, and calls himself Princess Yaoye; another one is even stranger, accompanied by a super large fox with several tails... and that person seems to call himself Yae... Sakura? Wearing something that looks like a shrine maiden's outfit, and with long animal ears on his head, but it's impossible to tell what kind of beast's ears they are..." Kiana tried hard to recall what she had seen and heard along the way, slowly piecing together the answer that Keng Huo wanted.

"Yae Sakura... Ah! That's right! I remember now!" Kiana suddenly slapped her forehead as if waking up from a dream. "Kallen asked me to pass on a message to someone named Yae Sakura! If this Yae Sakura is the same Yae Sakura..."

After saying that, Kiana seemed to fall into self-pity, her expression suddenly turning dejected: "But...where can I find her again..."

Kiana's words contained so much information that even Keng Huo needed to sort them out from the beginning to understand: "Wait, who is Kallen?"

"Oh! That's it!" Kiana exclaimed, realizing she had never told Kallen about her. "On the eve of the Valkyrie Exam, Bronya and I were studying in the Schicksal Database when I accidentally entered a data space..."

Kiana carefully recounted to Keng Huo how she met Kallen in that data space, and what the program Kallen asked Kiana to convey to Yae Sakura before she disappeared.

"...That's truly...somewhat sad." Keng Huo slowly closed his eyes, recalling Karen's dying words, "...As she lay dying, she was thinking of other people's lives...I don't know whether to call such a person great or pitiful..."

"But what she asked me to do..." Kiana said, sounding a little downcast, "...how can I pass on her message..."

"Don't worry," Keng Huo smiled and comforted Kiana, seeing that she was a little down. "You have a long life ahead of you... and the same goes for Yae Sakura. As long as you gradually become stronger and are able to access more things, your chances of finding her will be much greater. Yae Sakura has waited for five hundred years, she won't be in a hurry for just a day or two."

Keng Huo ultimately did not tell Kiana about Yae Sakura's death.

No matter how faint that glimmer of hope may be, it's always better than despair.

"Of course, I'm pretty amazing~" Kiana seemed to be in a good mood, and continued peeling the apple with her hand that had just stopped.

It was only then that Keng Huo noticed that Kiana was wearing white gloves today, which clashed with her casual clothes and looked rather out of place.

"Why are you wearing gloves?" Keng Huo asked listlessly.

Kiana's expression clearly showed a hint of embarrassment, but she stubbornly asked, "How is it? Isn't it beautiful?"

Perhaps sensing the strong threat in Kiana's eyes, Keng Huo swallowed hard and said against his will, "Um...it's pretty...where did you buy it?"

“It comes with the school uniform,” Kiana said, peeling an apple with practiced ease. “But it seems like nobody wears it because they think it looks ugly…”

Keng Huo originally wanted to say that since it looked ugly, why did you wear it? But he wisely swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

"You were all in cahoots?" Keng Huo's eyes were fixed on the horribly peeled apple in Kiana's hand. "Knowing that I can only eat liquids right now, you all come to comfort me and peel an apple for me?"

Perhaps describing Kiana's actions as peeling an apple is not quite accurate; "chopping an apple" would be a more precise description.

While others peel apples by removing the skin, Kiana peels them by peeling the flesh along with the peel. After slicing the apple all the way through, its size shrinks by almost half. Keng Huo seriously doubts whether biting into this apple would directly bring out the core...

"Huh? Fu Hua told me this. She said that when visiting a sick person in Shenzhou, it's a custom to peel an apple for them personally..." Kiana was surprised. "You can't eat right now?"

"……yes……"

Kiana's expression became somewhat troubled: "So you see..."

She glanced at the thermos she had brought.

Keng Huo noticed Kiana's hesitation as if she wanted to say something but didn't, and also turned his gaze to the thermos.

Seeing that Keng Huo had noticed the thermos she had brought, Kiana's expression became even more troubled: "I even specially made you beef stew with potatoes and brought it over..."

Keng Huo recalled the braised beef (instant noodle) filling that hugged his face... and swallowed hard in fear, terrified that Kiana would open the thermos and find a large piece of whole beef and two unpeeled potatoes inside...

Kiana, oblivious to Keng Huo's expression, opened the thermos she had brought with a hint of regret: "Look, this is specially made by me... Since you can't eat it... sigh..."

Kiana's eyes gleamed with mischief: "Then I'll eat it for you."

"Wait! This isn't what we wrote in the script!" Keng Huo sighed, slapping the bed. "The way of the teacher has declined, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be..."

However, Kiana had already taken out a spoon, gently scooped up a spoonful of soup, and blew on it lightly.

His bewitching gaze was fixed on Kiana's glistening lips, as if he were staring at something...

Like a father's killer.

Perhaps sensing the murderous intent in Keng Huo's eyes, or perhaps Kiana herself softened, she smiled and handed the spoonful of cooled soup to Keng Huo. The thick, fragrant soup emitted an enticing aroma, seemingly tempting Keng Huo's fragile nerves.

"Well, even if you can't eat solid food, you can at least drink soup, right?"

A flame of hope ignited in Keng Huo's eyes. He swallowed hard, nodded frantically, and slowly opened his mouth to approach the spoon.

But Kiana took the spoon back and said threateningly, "...You can't say my soup tastes bad after you drink it! You're doing me a favor... basically, you can't say I made it badly!"

"Good, good, good!" Keng Huo's eyes could no longer see anything else. The taste emanating from that spoonful of soup felt extremely familiar to him, and he even wished he could snatch it from Kiana's hand and savor it carefully.

After receiving Keng Huo's approval, Kiana contentedly placed the spoonful of soup to his lips and fed it to him.

The moment the soup entered her mouth, Keng Huo's tears flowed uncontrollably.

It's not because too much cooking wine was added when making the soup that there's still a slight wine taste in it.

It wasn't because chili powder was inexplicably added to the soup, making it strangely spicy.

It wasn't because he added too much salt that he could almost feel undissolved salt grains in the soup...

But...

That was something he hadn't tasted in who knows how long...

That person's cooking always manages to surprise everyone, making those who taste it exclaim "Holy crap!" involuntarily...

The taste of my younger sister.

"Holy crap..." Keng Huo burst into tears.

Seeing Keng Huo's reaction, Kiana's expression became somewhat unnatural: "...Don't you like it?"

Kiana's momentum faltered before she could even speak, her heart filled with unease. She knew that the recipe she found in the Destiny database seemed strange, with excessive amounts of ingredients. However, she had spent the entire morning making this dish, and there was no time to redo it. Therefore, she brought over the pot of potato and beef stew as a last resort.

Kiana's unease was slowly turning into regret. Her bewildered expression told her that the soup didn't taste very good, and the recipe did indeed seem rather unreliable...

Because no recipe will list the ingredient quantities as follows: "Cooking wine removes the fishy smell, so add as much as you like; salt enhances all flavors, so sprinkle in as much as you like, it doesn't matter if you add too much, it's just right for being salty and goes well with rice, besides, potatoes don't absorb flavor easily, adding more salt helps them taste better; depending on the diner's preference, you can consider adding chili powder to enhance the spiciness, after all, some people like it, and since you're adding it, add plenty, so spicy that the diner wonders if they've ever eaten dishes without any seasoning before, so that they can feel the chef's deep care and good intentions in hoping that the diner will eat more and grow healthily..."

Keng Huo raised his left hand to shield his eyes, trying to hide his tears. His voice trembled as he said, "It's so good... the taste of home..."

However, Kiana interpreted those words differently.

Kiana reluctantly withdrew the spoon, feeling helpless and unsure whether to continue feeding him or close the thermos.

"Could I have another spoonful?" Keng Huo asked her in a tone of sincerity that Kiana had never heard before.

"Oh..." Kiana's heart seemed to be slightly ignited, and she happily deceived herself, thinking that perhaps Keng Huo really did think this tasted good?

Kiana carefully scooped out another spoonful of soup, meticulously skimmed off the oil, removed the star anise, gently blew on it, and then offered it to Keng Huo's lips.

Kiana suddenly realized just how intimate her actions were with the other person.

Ever since I carried Keng Huo, who had collapsed on the roadside, to a bench to rest, I've felt a constant itch in my heart. I don't know what to do when I see Keng Huo again. After all, we were so intimate back then, and it doesn't seem right to pretend nothing happened. But should I try to be nice to Keng Huo? What kind of strange logic is that...?

Kiana hesitated, unsure of her words and actions in front of Keng Huo, but she didn't know why.

Thinking of this, Kiana's face felt a little hot, and she hesitated for a moment before pulling her hand holding the soup spoon back slightly.

Keng Huo subconsciously raised his hand to protect the spoonful of soup, but inadvertently touched Kiana's gloved hand.

"Take off your gloves and let me see them," Keng Huo blurted out unconsciously.

Kiana's expression instantly turned very unnatural.

"Take it off and let me see it." Keng Huo didn't even realize that he was using a commanding tone.

Kiana tightened her grip on the soup spoon.

"You have a band-aid on your hand?" Keng Huo asked, puzzled.

"Eat it yourself!" Kiana suddenly shoved the spoon into the soup bowl, turned her face away, and said in an icy tone.

Kiana felt as if the chair was a red-hot branding iron; she suddenly stood up and walked towards the door.

"Hey, wait a minute..." It's unclear whether Kiana heard the clamorous plea, but she left the ward without turning her head, almost running all the way.

Realizing he couldn't catch up with Kiana, Keng Huo fell silent. He quietly took the thermos Kiana had left on the bedside table, picked up the long-handled soup spoon, and repeatedly scooped up potato and beef chunks from the soup, observing them.

The potato chunks were almost all the same size, and the dark soy sauce color soaked into the potatoes and beef, displaying its appetizing color.

Keng Huo picked up a piece of beef with his chopsticks and looked at it in front of him.

It's stewed until very tender; just looking at it makes you feel its melt-in-your-mouth softness. But the cooking time is just right; the meat isn't overcooked and doesn't easily lose its shape when picked up with chopsticks.

This is a dish made with great care.

Keng Huo held the warm thermos in his arms, scooping up soup spoonful by spoonful until he was covered in sweat. Sweat and tears mixed together and dripped into the thick soup.

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I clearly... I followed the recipe exactly... When I cooked for my dad before, he never said my cooking was bad!

Kiana thought angrily.