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

The feeling was perhaps like the tsunami that surged within me when I first saw Su Qing'an.

It was so turbulent and yet so bewildering and helpless.

Su Qing'an opened his eyes. He noticed the girl's blank pupils and said with some worry:

"What's wrong? Are you tired from practicing the Sword Heart Technique?"

Fu Hua regained her senses and handed over the book she was holding:

"Master Su, would you like to see this?"

The boy smiled as he took the book, putting aside his worries, and said:

"it is good."

...

...

The Honkai outbreak is still a very, very long way off.

19. Unregistered resident.

As Su Qing'an watched the girl occasionally stealthily glance over, he slowly turned the pages of the book with his fingertips, his dark eyes reflecting the characters that were distinctly different from those of previous civilizations.

The young man easily grasped its meaning, for the writing systems of previous civilizations originated from this era.

Although it has undergone several changes over the years and has become a seemingly completely different version, the underlying principles have not changed much, so he has been able to read it without any difficulty in the past few days.

Su Qing'an actually doesn't like fairy tales.

But while reading Moonlight Prison, he suddenly recalled the Andersen fairy tales book in his old room, only this one was much thicker than the thin book in his hand.

When Su Qing'an first saw Fu Hua looking at the sea alone, her first thought was that her slender figure resembled the Little Mermaid from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.

She seemed poised to vanish into the vast ocean at any moment, turning into bubbles.

From then on, even if you search every nook and cranny of the world, you will never find a trace of her again.

Therefore, Su Qing'an rarely gave her the opportunity to see the sea alone after that.

Because only when sitting beside her does that sense of transparency gradually become ethereal and intangible.

Su Qing'an dislikes fairy tales. Even when using metaphors, he would compare things with examples from fairy tales, as if even in fairy tales full of fantasy and beauty, he could only glimpse the profound darkness and reality.

Even as the girl eagerly handed him the fairy tale, Su Qing'an could only finish reading it and then smile faintly, saying, "The story is beautiful, and I like the ending very much," in response to the swaying expectation in her blue eyes.

Even after glimpsing the brilliance that shone upon hearing those words, the boy could only offer this level of reflection.

After experiencing so many failures, he had long since come to terms with reality. The huge gap between fairy tales and reality forced Su Qing'an to remind himself of the cruel reality that collapse was inevitable.

He disliked the cruelty but was confident he could endure it.

But what about Fu Hua?

Su Qing'an chatted with her casually, his eyes growing increasingly dark and gloomy.

Indeed, she lived through this era to the next civilization.

During that time, she transformed from a naive and immature girl into a qualified warrior, and in the years that followed, she gradually grew into the Crimson Kite Immortal, who was tasked with spreading a civilization.

It was through all the hardships that she became the resolute and decisive Fu Hua she would become later.

Painful experiences could not break her spirit, sorrow could not destroy her will, and what she lost could not make her completely give up on herself.

Therefore, Su Qing'an theoretically doesn't need to worry that she will be unable to endure this pain.

But this is the simplest outcome-based perspective.

His intention was to make Fu Hua's future path less winding and difficult, but without these things, no one could guarantee that things wouldn't go astray in the future...

She needs to be tempered.

But... it'll be fine in a little while.

he thinks.

Since she will have to face those hardships sooner or later, it won't make a difference if she has a few more months of peace to temper herself.

The premature emergence of the Taixu Sword Qi itself has inevitably altered Fu Hua's trajectory.

Su Qing'an didn't know in the long run what direction this change would take, but at least for immediate security reasons, it wasn't a bad thing to give Fu Hua more self-protection capabilities.

……

……

One week later, at night.

Looking at the various dishes on the table, which looked and smelled delicious, Fu Xiuran secretly felt that this was a worthwhile deal. Although his little darling was about to be kidnapped, it was almost an inevitable thing that he could not stop.

In that case, replacing her with Su Qing'an, who can do laundry, cook, and act as a bodyguard, would be a timely way to minimize the damage.

Fu Xiuran finds it difficult to use a strong approach to explicitly forbid girls from liking certain people, which stems from his doting and respectful attitude.

Of course, this is only possible if the other party has been personally judged and screened by him.

Essentially, this is no different from the so-called democracy in the family. Your parents and you each have one vote. In this seemingly three-way balance of power, you are always the only one left in a dilemma at crucial moments, while the other party always retains the right to veto.

The man glanced at the boy sitting upright opposite him and could tell that this was not shyness or restraint.

Su Qing'an is no longer at the stage where she would show such an attitude.

The boy looked more like a wild beast that was safely bound in its cage, hiding its fangs and ferocious side.

Even with power far beyond the mundane, he still possesses the patience and affability to carefully haggle with the vegetable vendors on the roadside, and the calculations and thoughts he reveals when buying discounted items at the supermarket seem quite ordinary.

The boy's conflicted expression as he hesitated between half-price pork and 50% off beef was particularly vivid and relatable.

His habit of obediently wearing an apron when cooking still makes Fu Xiuran feel that Su Qing'an is sometimes no different from a child of this age.

If I had to say something, it would be that he was overly polite and mature.

Even though Su Qing'an seemed clueless about many things at the beginning, she naturally integrated into this world so quickly that her superficial ignorance almost vanished in an instant.

When Su Qing'an talks to people, his few words always make the other person feel that he is listening attentively. As a result, his taciturn nature is no longer a flaw, but occasionally becomes a likable trait.

He also learned the local dialect of this small city, which the boy used very well when buying groceries.

Later on, Su Qing'an no longer needed to haggle; he only needed to use his facial recognition to get the vegetable vendors to sell to him at low prices with a friendly smile.

This surpasses Fu Xiuran's bargaining skills—that person is completely bad at bargaining—only Fu Hua can use his connections in the familiar vegetable market area to rival Su Qing'an.

But the upright back and the natural, ever-flowing energy that formed his stance made Fu Xiuran suddenly realize the abnormality of the person in front of him in the midst of a harmonious and ordinary life.

But he has not yet asked the boy why he came to this city. There seems to be an unspoken understanding between the two, neither of them intending to change the status quo.

Even when the group went out together to the supermarket or shopping mall to buy daily necessities and clothes for Su Qing'an, they looked like an ordinary family of three, with a harmonious and natural demeanor.

Fu Xiuran still vividly remembers the sales assistant's words when he tried on clothes: "Your son is so handsome."

Although he understood that it was a misunderstanding, the way Su Qing'an addressed Fu Hua still felt strange in various ways, given the unusual nature of their relationship.

While Fu Hua finished eating and sat on the sofa watching TV, the two of them continued to eat slowly and deliberately at the table.

Fu Xiuran leisurely finished his third bowl of rice, glanced at the other person, and whispered:

"How long do you plan to stay here? You don't seem like someone who just likes to freeload."

This was the undeniable truth in the man's eyes. Based on his understanding of Su Qing'an over this period of time, there must have been a reason for such behavior from him.

Su Qing'an expanded the scope of [Hidden], and after blocking the possibility of Fu Hua overhearing their conversation, he responded without looking up:

“During this time, I killed three assassins, the kind of monsters you encountered before.”

Fu Xiuran was stunned. He had lived in this city for more than ten years and had only encountered it once, while Su Qingan had encountered it three times in a short period of time. This not only showed that the other party's perception ability was extremely exaggerated, but also showed that the frequency of monster appearances was gradually increasing.

He also understood the implication: Su Qing'an's reason for staying at his home was to better protect Fu Hua's safety.

He said softly and helplessly:

"Death squad? That's a very apt description."

Where did this monster come from?

Although Fu Xiuran's words seemed like a question, he actually had some guesses about it.

Su Qing'an was silent for a moment, then said:

Do you really want to know?

Fu Xiuran simply shook his head at this, but then he immediately replied:

"I was going to find out sooner or later, no matter what."

The boy whispered:

"Yes, you'll find out sooner or later."

He repeated Fu Xiuran's words, then deliberately changed the subject and continued:

"I will stay here temporarily before Fu Hua goes to Canghai City."

Fu Xiuran smiled and said:

"What, you're still thinking of going to Canghai City with Xiaohua?"

“Unlike small places like this, the civilian technology in Canghai City is far more advanced than here. Without the corresponding identity document, you are an unregistered person, and you don’t even have the right to use the most basic mobile devices there.”

People without identification cannot use the common mobile phones or computers available in major cities. Fingerprint and iris scan records are linked to identification, and the right to use the device requires initial registration with identification.

Some high-end devices may even automatically alert the system if they scan a user and find that the user does not match any of the records in the database.

At that time, nearby guard robots and surrounding mobile devices will receive information about unregistered individuals. The former is to assist in the arrest, while the latter is to prevent uninformed people from participating.

In short, it's extremely difficult to make any progress.

Fu Xiuran shook his head and said:

“I understand your desire to protect Xiaohua, but it’s very difficult to survive in a city like that without attracting attention.”

"I don't know where you used to live, but you were lucky to adapt to city life in this remote corner."

Su Qing'an remained silent.

The other party is right, based on my recent understanding of Canghai City.