Fu Hua Compatibility +10%
"Your dad... really had some ideas," Liu Bai remarked.
In truth, their relationship was merely one of mutual assistance. Hua teaching him fist techniques was far more exhausting than him teaching her knowledge...
Looking at it that way, if they ignored the form of address, perhaps Hua was more like the teacher.
Clang—!
"Oh? Was the door not locked?"
Hua's father looked toward the martial arts hall's front door, which had suddenly made a noise.
"I'll go take a look. Hua, keep eating."
There would be more tonight.
Hua's First Battle
"Say, Hua, didn't you feel like something was off about the atmosphere around us?"
Liu Bai looked solemnly toward the courtyard outside. He did not take the chance to tease Hua, who was too shy to have any appetite.
Ever since a moment ago, Liu Bai had felt the atmosphere around them growing heavy.
"...Huh?"
Liu Bai's serious tone immediately brought Hua back to her senses.
"The atmosphere... now that Teacher Liu mentioned it..."
Hua touched her chest. Sure enough, she vaguely felt something unsettling.
"Dad! Wait!"
Without Liu Bai's reminder, Hua instinctively called out to stop her father, who was about to open the door.
"What is it, Hua?" Hua's father, who had been preparing to open the door and see what was going on, looked at his suddenly tense daughter in confusion.
Bang—!
In the instant Hua's father froze, the martial arts hall's iron door suddenly let out another dull boom, as though the entire door had been struck by a massive hammer.
No, not a hammer.
Under the dim night sky, the slender fist imprint on the iron door was painfully conspicuous.
One punch... had dented the iron door? With just a little more force, it could probably have punched straight through the solid iron door of their martial arts hall.
No, he could also leave a fist imprint on an iron door, but such a slender imprint...
It looked about the same size as his daughter's hand.
...In other words, the person who had thrown that punch was a little girl around the same age as his daughter?
What kind of joke was this?
His thoughts raced, and Hua's father staggered several steps back.
"Dad! What happened?"
The impact that had nearly punched through the iron door was enough to make anyone's heart skip a beat. Naturally, Hua had heard it too. She immediately rushed to her father's side in just a few strides.
"...Something's wrong," Hua's father muttered.
If the person outside throwing punches was really around the same age as his daughter, had she started practicing martial arts in the womb?
"This is damn strange."
"Just as I thought. It's a Death Soldier—a type of Honkai monster."
As Hua's father spat under his breath, Liu Bai had already seen the monster outside from the air.
Pale skin, crimson eyes—if she put on a black, gold-trimmed miniskirt and held a scythe, she would look exactly like a Death Soldier from the game.
This was Liu Bai's first time seeing a Death Soldier in reality. During the Manhattan incident, he had only seen a few Honkai Beasts.
The Death Soldier below was the lowest-level ordinary Death Soldier. She had no scythe, and her behavior was basically that of a zombie. She was the sort of minor fodder that did not even qualify to appear in the game.
The guard Death Soldiers most commonly seen in the game—the ones dressed in black and gold, showing off two long pale legs while swinging scythes—were actually elite versions among ordinary Death Soldiers.
However, although the low-level Death Soldier at the door behaved much like a zombie, her pale, seemingly frail body possessed attack power and defense far beyond that of a zombie.
Otherwise, she would not have been enough to send Hua's father, a martial arts master, to the hospital.
Though Hua's father disparaged martial arts every day, Liu Bai did not dare underestimate him in the slightest.
After all, the future Fu Hua had already proven with her fists that her family's Cunxin Fist was no mere flashy routine.
"Hua, go out the back door and call the police. I'll hold off the thing outside."
"Dad, this..."
"Call the police, but you need to stay here." Liu Bai descended from the air. "Your father can defeat that Death Soldier outside on his own, but he won't come out of it unscathed... If he gets unlucky, he might even die here."
"Got it!"
Hua immediately took out her phone and dialed the police.
"...What reason should I give them?"
"This..."
"Zombie attack."
Liu Bai gave Hua a perfectly valid reason to report it.
"Hello! We're under attack by zombies! The location is..."
Boom—!
The second punch landed, leaving another fist imprint on the martial arts hall's heavy iron door. Worse still, the lock had been smashed apart.
Creak...
The warped iron door was pushed open mercilessly. Hua and her father's hearts both seemed to stop for half a second at the sound.
The enemy that had blasted open the martial arts hall's door with two consecutive punches finally revealed her true form.
A girl with white hair and pale skin, crimson eyes devoid of all reason, with only bloodthirst shining within them.
"...A zombie?"
Hua's father recalled the description his daughter had just blurted out.
"It really is fitting. I never thought I'd encounter something like this at my age—Hua, run! I'll stop it. We can't let this thing harm the neighbors."
"I can help too!"
Hua took the same fighting stance as her father.
Her father might die—Liu Bai's earlier warning lingered in Hua's ears.
Even with the condition of "if he gets unlucky," could Hua dare to gamble on it?
The answer was no.
She only had one father.
"Teacher Liu..."
Hua called softly to Liu Bai.
"The lowest-level Death Soldier in front of you is created when ordinary people are infected by Honkai and lose their minds. Her combat power is extremely weak; even as cannon fodder, she would be considered a waste of space—but that is only in comparison to other Honkai monsters."
Liu Bai spoke into Hua's ear, telling her about Death Soldiers.
"Compared to ordinary people, these monsters are incredibly strong, highly durable, and not slow either. Even light firearms like ordinary handguns can barely hurt them. And most deadly of all is a substance called Honkai Energy in their bodies—you can think of it as an extremely potent poison."
Liu Bai paused, allowing Hua to absorb the information.
"Although women are far more adaptable to this poison—or rather, more resistant to it—than men, it is still not something they can endure easily. In other words, in this battle, if either of you gets injured, it will be a complete defeat."
"Dad, be careful of the poison in her body. Don't get hurt no matter what."
Hua immediately relayed the information to her father.
"Oh, like the zombie virus in movies? I get it."
"..."
So her father watched zombie movies...
Roar—!
The Death Soldier let out a bloodthirsty roar completely at odds with her cute appearance, then sprang forward, lunging straight at the less imposing Hua.
However, perhaps because the Death Soldier had moved too hastily, her body lost balance for an instant during the leap, slowing her overall movement by a beat.
"Sorry, but this battle is three against one..."
That one beat Liu Bai had slowed through his interference was just enough for Hua to recover from the panic caused by the murderous intent.
In her vision, the Death Soldier drew closer and closer. At this distance, Hua's father would not be able to rescue her in time.
A flying lunge... which move should she use?
In an instant, countless possibilities flashed through Hua's mind.
This was Hua's first time facing a battle of life and death.
Choose correctly, and live. Choose wrong, and die.
"...Retreat to advance, Cloud Mist." At the moment she made her choice, Hua seemed to gain a new understanding of her martial arts.
Three steps away, she retreated four.
As though by coincidence, the lunging Death Soldier landed right by Hua's feet. At that moment, Hua boldly took advantage of the momentum to restrain the Death Soldier's hands.
Inch Punch: Cloud Mist!
Inch force erupted. In that instant, Hua forcibly threw the Death Soldier, whose build was about the same as hers, into the air.
Himiko
"Beautiful!"
Hua's father, who had been sweating for Hua, immediately brightened as he watched the Death Soldier get thrown into the air by Inch Punch.
He refused to believe that a mere zombie could step on her own foot in midair and use it to change direction.
Inch Punch: Rock Shatter!
Fueled by rage over his daughter being attacked, Hua's father fiercely raised his knee, driving it into the Death Soldier's back and launching her upward again. The next moment, he clasped his hands together and brought them down without holding back, smashing them directly into the Death Soldier's chest.
Bang—!
Crack—!
In an instant, a dull impact like striking stone and a sharp crack like breaking bones rang out one after another.
"She's not dead yet."
Hua's father truly deserved to be the ordinary person from the original story who had been attacked by a "zombie" and still ended up in the hospital. The Death Soldier's body had been twisted by that blow, and even spiderweb-like cracks had appeared across her pale, sickly skin.
But... she was not dead yet.
Seeing Hua's father about to follow up, Liu Bai ignored the risk of arousing suspicion and directly reached out, pulling Hua's father back with force.
...What stable footing. Even though Liu Bai's ability to interfere with reality now exceeded that of an ordinary person, he had nearly failed to pull Hua's father away.
The instant Hua's father retreated, claws tinged with crimson light swept past his forehead, taking several strands of hair with them.
Hua's father's knee strike and punch had dealt considerable damage to the Death Soldier, but they had also given her support, allowing her to counterattack.
"...Heaven truly protected me."
Looking at the strands of hair drifting down before him, Hua's father broke out in a cold sweat.
Just now... it seemed as though someone had pulled him from behind?
But Hua was the only other person here. With a formidable enemy before him, Hua's father had no time to think about it and could only attribute it to heaven's protection.
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