Regarding the question of whether one thousand lives are enough to beat Honkai Impact 3rd.

He had already extracted the main Honkai energy, and what remained was more subtle Honkai energy dust entangled deep within the organs. Su Qing'an had the ability to forcibly extract it all, but he couldn't guarantee that any human could withstand the process.

Such pulling damage and the Honkai energy infection that can increase in an instant mean that the [Stigmata]'s ability has limited room for maneuver.

Therefore, he needs to regularly help Fu Xiuran remove the ever-growing Honkai energy in order to ensure that he will not be entangled and eroded to death by the subsequent energy. In the intervals between these intervals, the erosion of Honkai energy will still be omnipresent, shortening his lifespan.

But perhaps, just like Su Qing'an herself, the power of the [Holy Mark] is already gentle enough.

Assuming Su Qing'an already possessed this ability in Kanbaru Village, combined with Sato Yuno's powers, saving Kanbaru Shuichi might not have been an impossible task.

Without this ability, he could neither defeat Ji Xuanyuan nor save Ji Zi.

There was no way to allow Fu Hua to spend more time with her father in the future.

But... that's all.

Dreams end, and Su Qing'an couldn't save Fu Xiuran.

That inevitable Honkai eruption has already sealed the fate of humanity in this era.

How should he react to the expression on the girl's face at that moment?

How much suffering, separation, despair, and repeated defeat must she endure in this era before she can transform into that ethereal figure in the distant future?

Soon, Su Qing'an will understand.

No matter how hard he tries, many things are difficult to avoid that outcome.

But at least for now, things are still relatively gentle.

The boy glanced at the girl's current appearance.

Her father's strange words undoubtedly left her somewhat bewildered. Her fair, snow-white cheeks couldn't help but blush with a light pink hue. Her lips were slightly pursed, and the lipstick she used to moisturize now resembled fine rouge, highlighting its beautiful color.

Of course, the little girl's moist lips looked even more fragrant when she was eating soup dumplings earlier. However, due to her own personality and the gaze of the man next to her, Su Qing'an only glanced at her before earnestly continuing to help peel the apple.

However, the few kittens he finally slicing out with his sharp and precise knife skills went uneaten, leaving the boy with a slight sense of regret.

Leaving aside Fu Xiuran, who didn't even notice Su Qing'an's neatly arranged fruit plate, the girl beside him, though her expression was indifferent, seemed to have stars twinkling in her eyes as she occasionally glanced at the fruit plate.

For those who know her well, she is all too easy to understand.

But that was out of a fondness for exquisite appearances. Judging from her expression, she didn't end up eating one with a toothpick, which disappointed Su Qing'an, who was looking forward to Fu Hua eating it.

My mind was racing with all sorts of trivial things. I was already halfway home, and no one had spoken a word the whole time.

For Su Qing'an, this was her usual way of getting along with Fu Hua, but this way of getting along wouldn't be suitable for girls nowadays.

Clearly, for Fu Hua, who is still young and somewhat naive, remaining silent with her "friends" after such an awkward incident is a bad sign.

Just like before, it wasn't that no girls asked her to hang out; after all, good looks are easy to make someone popular in an all-girls school.

However, other people's topics and preferences are a series of unsolvable puzzles for Youhua, causing her to habitually remain silent and give dry answers, which makes the atmosphere somewhat stiff, and as a result, the experience of going out for fun is often diminished.

In the end, she chose to stop accepting invitations from others.

Because the girl felt that she easily made others unhappy, she thought it wouldn't be a big deal to continue being lonely. Forcing herself to make a change wasn't something that could be done overnight, so she strangely ended up in a state of being all alone.

This is essentially a form of escapism.

Whether it's pleasing the other person or changing yourself, it's a form of progress. A clean rejection, on the other hand, is a decision to sink into your comfort zone, even if that comfort zone isn't exactly comfortable. The fact that you're avoiding something won't change.

But now the girl has stepped out of her comfort zone. Whether this is due to her affection for the boy or a sign of growing maturity, we don't know, but the result is that she started talking to him in a very serious manner.

“Dad isn’t usually like this; something must be wrong with him today.”

Her tone was indifferent, her voice calm. Probably no one could imagine how many twists and turns it took for those words to finally escape her lips.

Su Qing'an responded earnestly, seemingly oblivious to the situation:

"It's alright, I was being presumptuous."

Meeting the parents the day after the first meeting, and in a manner resembling a hospital visit, is certainly not a normal pace.

Su Qing'an felt that she was also at fault. It was normal to be unwelcome when visiting someone you didn't know well, especially since she might have feelings for his daughter.

As for the reason why Fu Hua raised this issue, the two of them actually already knew, but for various reasons, they chose to keep it a secret.

Su Qing'an naturally felt there was nothing to say. Getting so close to marriage after only knowing each other for a day was too immature. This was not something he would do. He had never even considered this path before coming here.

Even the possibility of falling in love was extinguished in the soil before it even sprouted, in order to prevent the impending collapse.

When the boy first saw Fu Hua, he was simply happy. The future was too uncertain, and most of his thoughts were focused on the twists and turns ahead.

Fu Hua is very simple-minded; her reason for not talking about it is naturally shyness.

Su Qing'an thought for a moment and asked a question that had been on his mind for a long time:

"Hua, when are you going back to school? It's holiday time now, right?"

Su Qing'an certainly couldn't ask directly when the girl would go to study in Canghai City; he didn't want to explain the source of this information.

Because the other party simply won't believe it.

The girl felt a little worried upon hearing this, and she replied:

"Yes, it's the holidays now. There'll probably be another month before I go to study in Canghai City."

Su Qing'an thought for a moment and asked:

Is Canghai City far from here?

Fu Hua nodded, then counted on her fingers and said:

"It takes several hours to fly there, so it must be quite far."

"Where will Su Qing'an stay then?"

Upon hearing this, he did not directly answer the question:

"Who knows?"

"Perhaps at a major intersection? Or on a park bench?"

Anyway, Su Qing'an would never say directly that she would go to Canghai City with him now. The purpose was too obvious, and it was not easy to say it directly.

Fu Hua took a liking to the boy's joke and objected:

"With Master Su's skills, supporting himself in a month will be no problem at all."

Su Qing'an didn't mind the girl's slip of the tongue, since she knew that even if she did, the girl wouldn't obediently change her address anyway.

He inwardly admitted that the other party was right. Even without using illegal means and without an ID card, he was capable of obtaining enough money to support himself through legitimate means.

Su Qing'an's super-fast learning ability and one of the world's top personal combat skills have made it unnecessary for him to worry about these things.

But of course he couldn't honestly admit it here.

In that case, wouldn't there be almost no legitimate reason for staying at the other person's house?

Su Qing'an began to spout nonsense with a straight face:

"I don't have a legal ID card. To this world, I'm basically an undocumented person, which makes it difficult for me to make money."

"At least they won't stay at the Hua family's house; it's perfectly normal for them to stay on a park bench for a few days."

The girl was captivated by the boy's earnest—and deceptive—words, completely unaware that he only wanted to look straight ahead.

She hesitated and said:

"Then... Su Qing'an can continue to stay at my house."

The girl thought for a moment and then added guiltily.

"If Dad hadn't been discharged from the hospital."

Upon hearing this, Su Qing'an sighed softly:

"Hua Zhen is a kind child."

This is the truth; in some ways, the other party is quite gullible right now.

Even he, who was not good at lying to her, could easily fool her.

However, this outcome caused an overwhelming sense of guilt, leading him to let out such a sigh.

The little girl frowned and muttered in dissatisfaction:

“Master Su is only 17 years old himself, and he bullies people just because he is two years older than me.”

Su Qing'an glanced at the other person.

There was a hint of resentment in her blue eyes. She turned her face slightly away, like a cat that hadn't eaten dried fish for three days and was gradually approaching a dangerous state of bristling fur.

Very cute.

Su Qing'an's first reaction to this was, "So Hua still cares about age."

It's strangely interesting.

The boy reached out and patted her head, which was a head shorter than his, smoothing her soft gray hair. Ignoring her instantly reddened earlobes, he chuckled and said:

"Is this bullying? This is what bullying is all about."

“There’s nothing wrong with being called a child, Hua.”

"Perhaps a long, long time from now, you will wish to live in this year forever, even if you will always be the child I mentioned."

The girl silently removed the boy's hand that had been messing up her hair, but her clear eyes held more of a strange joy than embarrassment or annoyance. She whispered:

“Taking advantage of his height and size, he touched my head. Su Qing’an, who is usually reasonable, is very bad.”

"He's a bad person."

The sunlight was perfect at that moment, piercing through countless clouds and the branches of roadside trees, tirelessly shining on their naturally parallel shadows, warm to the point of being cloying.

……

……

Fu Xiuran stared silently at the fruit plate on the table.

Several adorable cats create a lazy and comforting scene; some are licking their paws, some are lazing around and sleeping, and some are raising their little heads with a haughty air...

These elements combined create a scene that is pleasing to the eye.

This knife skill, this technique, this creativity—it's hard to imagine that it came from the hands of that quiet, refined young man, especially in such a short time and with such a carefree attitude.

It now seems that Su Qing'an's claim that practicing martial arts was a hobby was not nonsense. This is a judgment he made after calmly analyzing the situation after the other party left.