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

If the beam of light erupts, causing the interception plan to fail miserably, then such an outcome would be unavoidable.

Su Qing'an already understood the extent to which the Third Honkai Impact would overwhelm humanity.

But simply knowing this only makes one feel more pain.

The next 27 days passed peacefully and uneventfully, and the daily life at the academy remained calm.

He did nothing, and he couldn't do anything.

Swordsmanship remained unwavering, but the lake of the heart swayed restlessly day and night.

Whenever this moment arrives, the crimson feathers would inexplicably break free from Fu Hua's consciousness and gently land on the lake of his heart, swaying with the waves.

It seemed to understand the mountain of guilt and sorrow piled up in the boy's heart, and the soft feathers brushed against his soul and consciousness, offering a few bits of comfort.

Occasionally, Su Qing'an would wonder if Yu Duchen's spirituality was too abundant.

This feather is essentially just a part of the Divine Key; the most crucial Herrscher core is not even present within it. Even using the reason that what exists inside is actually the Herrscher's consciousness is difficult to justify.

In the end, the boy could only attribute it to the changes that Yu Duchen underwent after the reboot, changes that were difficult to understand in principle.

Given that it is currently linked to the only soul that he cannot control, Su Qing'an had some guesses.

Perhaps, as the essence of the soul continues to rise and ascend to even more distant realms, Yu Duchen will undergo some incredible transformation.

The special nature of this feather could only be truly confirmed by Su Qing'an after the appearance of the Herrscher of Consciousness in this worldline.

Regardless of whether it will play any role in the future, it will remain a priceless treasure in the boy's heart.

As it silently rolled and played happily in her hair, Su Qing'an couldn't help but reveal a gentle smile.

Actually, he also thought that Yu Duchen was kind of cute.

……

……

The setting sun casts its rays upon the layers of soft snow piled up on the marble, refracting them into graceful arcs of light.

Su Qing'an's day as a teacher has come to an end.

He stepped out of the classroom bathed in the afterglow, the feathers on his shoulders drooping listlessly at the tips, looking utterly listless.

The boy said, somewhat speechless:

"Stop pretending. During class, Hua and I were less than a hundred meters apart."

"The classical Chinese class is right next door, so the Honkai energy can be transferred to you without being completely depleted."

Upon hearing this, the crimson feather froze for a moment, then shamelessly chose to play dumb.

It rolled over and landed in the pocket of the young man's shirt, looking at first glance like a vintage quill pen half-placed inside.

Su Qing'an pointed to the feather with her finger and asked:

"Do you hate Hua? She should be your master."

Yu Duchen shook the end of his tail, indicating a double negative.

He roughly understood what the other person meant.

He doesn't dislike Fu Hua, but he doesn't consider her his master either.

Su Qing'an found it somewhat amusing.

...Isn't that just being clingy?

Feather noticed the boy's raised lips and then retreated into the sea of ​​consciousness, no longer appearing in the outside world.

The boy paused for a moment, then couldn't help but sigh.

Even a single feather can be a bit hard to understand.

The road home wasn't far, but on both sides of the clean and tidy road, snowmen of different styles had been stacked up as if by prior arrangement.

The girl squatted by the roadside, trying her best to sculpt a more complete shape for one of the poorly made snowmen.

She wore a brown-red beanie, with purple hair cascading down her back behind her ears. Her oversized black coat and long skirt were the same color, and her matching thermal tights and black Doc Martens created a subtle cool tone.

A thin, light gray cashmere sweater could be seen under the open coat, and a red scarf wrapped twice around her neck was almost touching the ground as she squatted down.

Sato Yuno's casual and simple outfit exudes a heartwarming beauty, like a fruit tart nestled among frosting.

In the sub-zero temperatures, her fair skin appeared even more translucent, with only her fingertips, which touched the snowdrifts, turning slightly red from the cold.

Under Su Qing'an's watchful gaze, Sato Yuno took out the strawberries she had brought from the cafeteria at noon from her pocket.

She glanced longingly at the two pink fruits, hesitated for a moment, and quietly took a bite of each before savoring the sweet taste of the flesh and contentedly placing them on the plump snowball.

The purpose was probably to use them as the snowman's eyes.

The girl swayed the snowman carefully for a while, then picked up two dead branches from the bushes and stuck them on either side of the snowman.

Sato Yuno stood in front of the snowman, which was half her height. She looked around for a while at the snowman, which looked a bit clumsy and adorable because of its size, and a hint of pride inadvertently appeared on her face.

Su Qing'an stared at this scene, speechless.

Sato Yuno was meant to be this kind of girl.

She has a touch of mischievousness and a mature demeanor with a hint of cuteness.

She will continue to enjoy black coffee and charcoal pudding, have an inexplicable obsession with the fortunes represented by zodiac signs and colors, occasionally worry about her weight and grades, and possess a clear courage for what she believes to be right.

If he could, the boy would want her to be happy more than anyone else.

From the initial collapse of Changkong City to the subsequent pseudo-Herrscher incident, Su Qing'an never chose to give up.

Later on, he worked hard for both the Kyoto Yuzen and the so-called fireworks festival.

What is the reason?

Because of the agreement.

It was as if the tragedy of his parents had placed a morbid shackle on the boy's soul.

If it's a promise, it can't be broken. Even if it's a one-sided promise in one's heart, Su Qing'an will risk death to do her best to fulfill it.

This is a concept that he himself considers biased and distorted.

However, his feeling that Sato Yuno was very important to him was undeniably genuine, which is why he unconsciously stopped and a faint smile appeared on his face.

In order not to disturb her, Su Qing'an activated [Hidden] the moment he saw her.

Sato Yuno greeted the girl who was running towards her from afar, her eyes shining.

As she spoke, she wrapped the red scarf around her neck again, breathing on her bright red fingertips to warm them, looking charmingly naive.

The girl pointed at the snowman and said earnestly:

"Carol! Look, look, mine is better than yours, right? I came over as soon as get out of class was over to polish this snowman."

Carol slowed her pace, strolling leisurely to her side. Glancing at the oddly shaped snowman while cautiously rubbing her calf muscles to prevent them from getting too bulky, she muttered:

"Yuno, why would you be so extravagant as to use strawberries for your eyes?"

"And this level is a complete insult to your opponent. At least make a snowman's waist. Right now, it looks like a snowball."

Sato Yuno pointed defiantly to the much more refined-looking snowman next to her and said:

“What right does Carol have to call me extravagant? I ate half of the strawberry properly before using it as eyes, but you just used a brand new, unused button as the snowman’s eyes.”

The little girl added, quite confidently, halfway through her sentence:

"What a complete waste!"

Carol responded somewhat guiltily:

"Buttons can be removed and reused later, but you can't keep eating your strawberries after you've picked them, Yuno."

Although that's what she said, she knew she was probably too lazy to take the button back, which is why her words lacked a sense of self-righteousness.

So she quickly added insult to injury:

"And you still haven't explained why your snowman turned out like this."

Because I'm lazy.

Sato Yuno tried hard to hide the real answer that immediately popped into her mind, and answered righteously:

"Unexpected things can happen at any time. I clearly made two snowballs yesterday, but today there's only one left."

"Originally, I wanted to build another snowball to restore it to its original perfect form, but I think snowmen also need diversity. Look at this school, it's full of snowmen with normal body shapes, so I built a chubby one to try to follow nature."

Carol was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then helplessly pinched the smooth cheek with her cold fingers, ignoring the other person's protest.

She said:

"Yuno, you can only use words like that to fool Xiaohua. Only someone as serious as her would believe such fallacies and heresies."

Sato Yuno rubbed her suddenly cold face and said in a muffled voice:

"That's why I like Xiaohua the most, Carol isn't so good."

Carol squatted on the ground, drawing circles with a dry twig. She looked at another perfect snowman, so meticulously crafted that it seemed almost excessive.

"It looks like we lost. Xiaohua's pile was definitely better."

She raised her head and said with a smile:

"Is Yuno going to just admit defeat, or is she going to resort to cheating and unreasonable arguments?"

Sato Yuno's response was perfectly reasonable:

"I'm not that kind of tasteless person, so Carol and I will split the bill and buy three milk teas."

Carol said quietly:

"You're saying some really tasteless things right now."

But she quickly stopped dwelling on that point and instead said:

"Why hasn't Xiaohua arrived yet?"

Sato Yuno pointed to Fu Hua, who was standing in the distance but strangely motionless, and said in a puzzled tone:

"She's there, but I don't know why she hasn't come over yet."

……