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

...Did you wake up at this time?

Since the puddle in my heart gradually turned into the vast lake it is today, the sound of water droplets falling echoes in my ears every day between the hazy and clear periods of consciousness, as if symbolizing the cycle of the day.

The girl stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, listening to the fading ticking sound. For some reason, in the instant she raised her hand to shield her eyes, she realized something more clearly than ever before…

I am already very, very far away from that ancient eastern town.

Yesterday, I miraculously met a nice roommate, glanced at the assigned class, gained some understanding of the cafeteria food, and gradually became familiar with the school's rules.

The girl seemed ready to embrace her new life.

But Fu Hua still felt closer to the time she spent in that city.

The girl seemed to still be waiting at that martial arts school on the street. She would still like to look at the delicate petals on the osmanthus tree as always, and only occasionally would she glance at her senior brothers who were sweating profusely in the distance. Her mind was filled only with the clouds in the sky and the bluestone slabs of the streets.

The mung bean porridge in the porcelain bowl, the candied hawthorns on bamboo skewers, the numerous billboards clustered on the mottled wall, the crisp clinking of loose change falling into the bus fare box...

Previously, these were all trivial things that Fu Hua took for granted, but overnight, all those things that she had taken for granted became so distant that they completely separated their lives.

It was like luggage left behind on a journey, or like ice melting and floating in a soda.

It seems untraceable yet so close at hand.

"Too early..." she murmured softly.

Everyone is still sleeping soundly at this time of day, so getting up to wash up would probably disturb them.

I'm still not getting up for my morning run.

She removed her slender hand from her eyes and unconsciously turned to the side, the ticking sound in her ears now gone.

But on this quiet morning, with only the air conditioning blowing in, my thoughts were still churning.

Is it really okay for my father to be alone at home?

Will he feel lonely if Su Qing'an and I aren't around?

There's also Baozi (steamed bun), and I always feel a little uneasy about having my father take care of it.

No matter what age, people always have many worries, just like the countless stars hidden in the sky even during the day.

Fu Hua counted the trivial yet undeniably real troubles, and finally came to one thing.

Master Su, you didn't reply to my message yesterday.

He usually wouldn't be sleeping at that time. Has something happened?

As the girl vaguely recalled the incident, she picked up her phone from beside her pillow, glanced at the unchanged screen, and stared blankly into her eyes.

I put on my headphones before bed yesterday, added him to my favorites list, and deliberately turned up the notification sound before going to sleep, but there was still no response.

Rubbing her ears, which were a little sore from the earphones, the girl took off the other earphone with some displeasure.

Su Qing'an, the death penalty is appropriate.

death penalty.

Just as Fu Hua was about to continue sleeping for a while, the microphone on her earphone vibrated and made a series of soft noises, instantly dispelling the girl's lingering sleepiness.

Fu Hua carefully picked up her phone, looked at the reply from the other party, and couldn't help but smile, a beautiful curve appearing on her lips.

Although the reason is still unknown, she seems to have stopped being angry.

Just as the girl was about to type a reply, her fingertips hovered over the screen and then stopped moving.

A strange meaning seemed to have appeared on her beautiful, smiling face.

but……

Let's not worry about it for now, but let's still ask Master Su to wait a while.

For some reason, the girl really wanted to see Su Qing'an show a helpless expression at this moment. Just imagining the boy's possible bewilderment made her feel a strange kind of joy.

Fu Hua tossed her phone aside, curled up in bed again, closed her eyes, and a faint smile still played on her lips.

At this moment, the girl was unaware that her emotions and behavior had undergone a subtle change without her realizing it.

Compared to when she first picked up Su Qing'an, she was practically a different person.

……

……

Eight o'clock in the morning.

Su Qing'an already knew the teaching materials given to her by the school principal by heart.

After roughly drafting a lesson plan using the computer in his study, he should have no problem with the course he needs to teach tomorrow.

The boy glanced at the email that hadn't appeared even after nearly three hours, a helpless smile appearing on his face.

Could it be that he saw it and got upset and isn't coming back?

Am I reaping what I sowed?

Su Qing'an stared at the blank chat bar on her phone, then couldn't resist pressing her fingertips lightly against her brow and rubbing for a while.

Although I no longer feel sleepy, a persistent, slight fatigue still lingers in my mind.

It was clearly only a temporary depletion of eight points of soul essence, yet the side effects lingered and persisted.

Judging from the base number, the amount consumed is at one-tenth of the total, and that alone is enough to put oneself into a long-term coma. This shows that even at critical moments, the use of more than eight points of soul essence is prohibited.

Eight o'clock is a vague number because Su Qing'an cannot guarantee that the number of times he consumed energy during his coma was actually eight. It is more likely that he recovered to a certain extent while sleeping.

However, to be on the safe side, it's best to treat this number as a standard reference point.

Besides, the power emanating from Seele is also quite strange.

It didn't seem like Honkai energy, nor did it seem like his own soul essence; he could only vaguely sense the extraordinary nature of that power.

The most direct evidence for this is that it would take the entire essence of a normal human soul to erase this power.

This is enough to reveal the mystery behind it.

What exactly was the research Seele underwent? If we knew this, the true nature of this power would be revealed.

In the instant the barrier was completely burned away, Su Qing'an felt as if he had glimpsed an immense existence.

It didn't seem like a concrete, sentient being, but rather like gazing at a vast ocean with unknown concepts.

The only way to find out the answers is when Seele wakes up.

35. Su Qing'an is the older brother.

Su Qing'an looked at Xi'er, who was sitting upright opposite him, and didn't know how to start a conversation.

He glanced at the clock on the wall.

Eight o'clock in the morning.

At this moment, Seele was clumsily eating with chopsticks, staring intently at the green peppers on the stir-fried pork with green peppers, as if pondering whether or not she could eat them.

The girl recalled the taste of the seemingly vegetable-like dish when she ate green pepper beef yesterday. Thinking about it, she frowned, secretly removed the green pepper with her chopsticks, and then picked up a piece of shredded meat and put it in her mouth.

Su Qing'an observed the other person's subtle movements and awkwardly began to speak:

"...Children shouldn't be picky eaters, or they'll suffer from nutritional imbalances."

Although his words seemed a little unconvincing given the abundance of meat dishes on the table, Xi'er still hesitated for a moment over Su Qing'an's warning before choosing to continue eating meat.

After carefully chewing her food, she looked up at the boy's face, hesitated for a moment, and then asked the question that had been buried in her heart for a long time:

"You picked me up, are you going to take me in?"

When Seele asked that question, she had already weighed the options in her mind.

If given a choice, and assuming the person in front of me is a rare idiot, being adopted by him would undoubtedly be the best outcome.

Even though she knew that this would likely implicate the other party in contact with the research institute's forces and would almost inevitably lead to a lot of trouble or even danger, Seele still had no intention of leaving immediately.

Having experienced such a life, the little girl who was pulled back to a clear-headed world by Su Qing'an from a state of confusion was no longer as innocent as she once was.

Or rather, she is trying to remind herself that she can no longer be so innocent.

At the same time, Seele told herself that she didn't have to be as obedient as before; being a little willful and making herself happier would help her overcome the pain she had suffered in the past.

...The most obvious manifestation of this is that girls who would never be picky eaters because they find something unpalatable are now starting to refuse to eat foods they don't like.

For example, green peppers.

Her ability to execute these small details is, in a sense, surprisingly strong.

In short, from the girl's current perspective, staying by the other person's side is the best solution if we consider only rational thinking and personal interests.

Upon hearing this, Su Qing'an nodded in affirmation of her guess.

He had already made the necessary plans when he picked the other person up.

Handing Seele over to a local welfare institution or sending her directly to the police would be a direct route back to hell, and it's perfectly normal for a laboratory researching this mysterious power to have such authority.

Moreover, even if Seele is just an ordinary girl without any special characteristics, the treatment she receives without a registered residence is truly unsettling.

Therefore, adopting the other person yourself is the best option.

In fact, if Seele hadn't had enough Honkai energy to survive a Honkai outbreak, Su Qing'an might have handled the situation in a completely different way.

The boy understood his own personality deeply; once he spent time with this child, he would find it difficult to accept the child's inevitable death.

But now, Su Qing'an has already made it clear that she will continue to take on the responsibility of adoption even after the collapse occurs.

To be honest, it wasn't until Seele actually asked the question that he truly felt the reality of having another family member.

For Su Qing'an, who lacks this element, family ties are like an unbreakable bond.

Looking at Seele's face, which seemed puzzled and conflicted, he suddenly understood a bit of the feeling that Himeko Murata had when she looked at him before.

"Little one, don't meddle in adult matters."

Memories are always so cloying; in a fleeting moment of inattention, they can streak across the heart like a shooting star, revealing beautiful colors that may not have been shown at the time.

At that time, the red-haired woman rubbed his head and complained, spouting illogical nonsense. But before falling asleep, she gently whispered some trivial advice in the boy's ear, like an elder.

It was a strange yet inexplicably warm relationship, and it was precisely Himeko Murata's natural and unhurried attitude in stepping into his life that allowed Su Qing'an to quickly accept this destiny that had been passed down from his original self.

The conflicted expression on Seele's face suddenly vanished. As if she had figured something out, she asked frankly: