First Meeting

The chilling sword energy tore through her mangled body, and as the cool winter wind slowly dissipated, all the evidence that she had once lived was scattered in this remote corner.

The black and gray particles reflected in the boy's eyes fell in distinct rustling sounds, like a silent rain.

After a long while, the rain stopped.

Su Qing'an gazed at the distant white tower, her expression gloomy.

The deceased was 17 years old.

She was wearing a third-grade school uniform, suggesting she might be a student from the same school.

The girl's skirt, like a tattered Paper Kite, was covered with colorful checks that seemed to meander into a labyrinth from which there was no way out, silently telling the story of her fate.

On the ground lay a thin garment and a silver pendant, suggesting that before becoming Zombie, the girl was a child who braved the cold and was striving to make the most of her youth.

But now she has left not even a trace, and the [Ashes] are so fine and faint that they will soon disappear without a trace.

Essentially, these [Ashes] are all Honkai Energy. Before the girl's body was annihilated by the sword energy, it was already a false, empty shell with a dead soul.

The boy stood there in silence for a while, but in the end he picked up these relics that still had value to the living.

A silver pendant, and a student ID card placed in the front pocket.

The remaining odds and ends were scattered in various corners of the bamboo forest, but they were no longer worth picking up.

Before Su Qing'an met the other party, the Zombie's clothes had become somewhat tattered; otherwise, with his control over the sword energy, it would not have damaged anything other than the body.

Recalling the sudden surge of Honkai Energy within his senses, he could roughly guess what had happened.

Since the Honkai had not fully erupted, even though the girl lacked Honkai Energy literacy, the concentration of Honkai Energy she was infected with was still insufficient to instantly turn her into Zombie without suffering.

Perhaps it was an hour, maybe three hours, or even yesterday at dusk, the girl was already enduring the pain of being slowly eroded by Honkai Energy.

This is an inconspicuous corner of the academy, a quiet bamboo path between the infirmary and the cafeteria.

She had alone experienced the transformation from human to monster here. The marks on the ground, varying in depth and not stained with bright red, seemed particularly glaring at this moment.

It can be seen that the girl struggled and grappled before she completely turned into a demon.

Whether it was her extraordinary willpower, a slight understanding of Honkai Energy, or simply that the concentration of Honkai Energy was too low, this child had never harmed a single student in such a densely populated academy.

She died silently, as if this bamboo grove was the burial ground she had chosen long ago.

Su Qing'an looked silently at the name on the student ID.

[Third-year student: Shen Duxin.]

If I had discovered it a little earlier, perhaps I could have used the [Stigmata] to allow her to continue living peacefully until the Honkai outbreak.

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs".

The boy stuffed the pendant and his student ID into his pocket. The pendant looked somewhat familiar, but he had no time to ponder these insignificant details.

Su Qing'an buried the dust-stained clothes on the ground deep in the bamboo forest by herself.

That's all he can do.

Besides, it would be best to give these items to her family at some point.

After standing there for a while, the boy turned and left without looking back.

You have to get used to it.

Su Qing'an told herself this in her heart: if she could be moved by such a small tragedy, then living in such Honkai world would undoubtedly cause her to suffer even greater and more immense sorrow.

Even though his current willpower is so strong that it is clearly different from his original self, the softness that remains in Su Qing'an's nature will not disappear.

Shen Duxin.

Just like all the people who had passed by her before, Su Qing'an remembered the girl's name.

In the afternoon.

The boy silently stepped into the classroom, carrying his lesson plan and books.

The spacious interior felt incredibly empty, with the tiered chairs and easels appearing remarkably tidy at first glance.

Unlike ordinary classrooms, the decor here has an old-fashioned artistic feel, a style quite different from the virtual technology and small projectors mounted on students' desks in other classrooms.

Su Qing'an placed the books he was carrying on the podium. He glanced nostalgically at the blackboard behind him, only to be surprised to find that there was still a supply of chalk.

These are all considered ancient relics in Previous Civilization. In fact, the material of chalk is also completely different now; it can only be said that it has inherited the name and appearance.

Su Qing'an folded up her sleeves, revealing a section of her arm.

He then picked up a piece of chalk from the box, examined it for a moment, and a smile appeared on his lips.

"I probably never imagined I would pick this up from this position."

The boy glanced at the hanging clock; there were still five minutes before class officially started.

Just as I had expected, very few people came to class.

The significance of art has not been lost due to technological advancements, but this academy has more than one teacher who teaches this subject.

Because many course instructors are part-time, the lack of a fixed staff means that even for a wide variety of courses, there may be more than one instructor for the same subject.

The detailed class schedule can be found on the academy's official website, which includes specific course information, teacher names, past experience, and the class and time of the course.

Incidentally, this official website also has a voting system for teachers.

The higher the ranking, the greater the exposure.

As a result, the courses taught by these top-ranked teachers are almost always full.

Su Qing'an's situation is rather unique, so his resume is completely blank.

The only information provided is the individual's name and age, along with a photograph.

Under such circumstances, the boy didn't have much expectation that anyone would come to class.

You only need to stay for a short while.

If there's no one there by then, that would be great; he could leave work early and still get the same salary.

Although the young man thought that Seele wouldn't do anything fancy while alone at home, considering the child's mental state, leaving work early to take her out for a stroll was a good option.

As Su Qing'an thought this, she gently closed the window that wasn't fully shut.

Even though the cold wind had been blowing inside, just one minute later, the room temperature was already comfortable enough to take off one's coat.

The intelligent system automatically adjusts the heating to a suitable level based on the outside temperature after detecting someone entering the classroom. These details demonstrate that the civilian technology of this Previous Civilization was already quite advanced.

This is the fundamental reason why the outbreak of Honkai was so terrifying and intense.

The scene outside was quite lively, with groups of students filing in, each carrying their own books, their faces beaming with smiles that were either sunny or shy.

This is a beautiful age, and the world they see is bright and cheerful.

But no one knew that even in this ivory tower, a shadow was slowly spreading, silently devouring a young girl in the prime of her life, and continuing to brandish its indelible claws.

The end of a life is never an easy topic. The girl's remains were like a broken and crushed white lily, with only a faint fragrance remaining to prove her past.

The boy pondered for a moment, then subconsciously took out the cold pendant from his pocket and opened it.

It doesn't contain a photograph, but rather a passage of text engraved in characters from a country with a less common language.

After reviewing his extensive knowledge and making relevant judgments, Su Qing'an determined that the characters on the screen were somewhat similar to Latin script.

After briefly taking a picture with his phone to look it up, he finally understood the specific meaning expressed by the characters above.

[Time may pass, but decay may only affect the skin. But abandoning passion will surely lead to the decay of the soul.]

The boy suddenly realized why the pendant looked familiar.

On the afternoon of her first day at the company, Su Qing'an deliberately browsed the academy's forum and official website, and inadvertently saw the list of third-year students who had been recommended to several prestigious universities.

The boy naturally wouldn't bother to remember all the names, but he knew that the pendant was a gift given to these outstanding students by the academy.

... This girl must be very hardworking.

He recalled the old and worn-out style of the thin coat, the few coins lying at his feet, and the cheap cell phone that, though broken, still revealed its low price.

The boy's gaze was slightly cold; it was as if he had come to understand the meaning of tragedy once again.

The weight of tragedy can never be summed up in a single sentence; the hope and dreams it contains are like stars that have dimmed and fallen silently.

Countless brilliance and radiance were extinguished at the moment of tragedy, and Su Qing'an found it difficult to describe the feeling of imagining these things about to happen all over the world, repeated countless times.

He hadn't understood things deeply enough when he was in Changkong City, but when the disaster struck, the boy gained a profound understanding while trying to forget these tragedies that seemed unrelated to him.

Later.

Only now did Su Qing'an realize that she had never truly escaped.

Those things were laid bare before my eyes, bloody and raw, repeatedly telling the cruel truth.

Why did Su Qing'an tell Fu Hua atop that Ferris wheel that his reasons for fighting were no longer pure?

Because, unlike the initial desperate escape, many other factors gradually filled in the reasons for the battle during the escape.

The more you carry, the more painful it will inevitably become.

The boy silently put the pendant into his pocket, thinking he'd find out more about it when he had time.

Even if there are countless tragedies in the world and one is powerless to change them, if one can find some solace for oneself and the deceased, then it is not a wasted effort.

Su Qing'an glanced at the time displayed on the clock and had already decided to finish her class and leave work early.

"Not many people will come today," he murmured, but he didn't feel disappointed.

Because the boy had vaguely sensed a fact.

Becoming a teacher, a profession that inevitably involves interacting with people, might be a mistake.

When he looks at the scene filled with black ash and ruins, the empathy that wells up in his heart will only be more overwhelming.

But Su Qing'an didn't regret it. If she refused to start anything because of the possibility of negative consequences, it would just be a simple act of escapism.

And now, the only thing I can't choose is to run away.

Let's wait another fifteen minutes, then we'll leave.

After making this decision, Su Qing'an decided to sit behind the podium and review the lesson plan for a while.

"Thump, thump, thump."

A soft, rhythmic, polite knock interrupted the boy's plans.

"Come in," he said.

Oh, someone really did come. Looks like I'll have to go back later to spend time with little Seele.

Thinking this, Su Qing'an turned her head back.

The girl stood shyly outside the half-open door, and only after receiving permission did she obediently enter the classroom.

After entering, she first looked around the room curiously, then her gaze settled on the boy's stunned face, and she said softly:

"Um, are you Teacher Su?"

Before Su Qing'an could continue to hesitate and answer, the girl pulled off her red scarf, revealing her face and fair neck, which had been mostly covered.

Her emerald green eyes carefully examined the teacher's beautiful face, and she couldn't help but wrinkle her delicate nose, which was a little red from the cold.

Although she had already confirmed most of the information when she saw it on the official website, the fact that Hua's boyfriend was a teacher at the academy still made her completely certain of the answer only after meeting Su Qing'an in person.

No wonder you were so unwilling to talk about it; was it because of this taboo relationship?

A lively smile appeared on the girl's face.

"Although I had already seen the teacher's face in the photos on the official website, I was still surprised to find him to be so young in person."

The dappled shadows of evergreen leaves fell on the huge French windows, and sunlight poured into the spotless room like water, casting the two people's shadows of varying lengths.

Her words were so distant yet so close, that the boy momentarily thought he had fallen into a self-created illusion during Zen Meditation.

It's fake.

But it's true.

Su Qing'an remained silent, gazing at the girl's face and silently reciting her name in his heart.

A myriad of emotions welled up in his chest, and the young man found it difficult to articulate such a vivid feeling.

Fifty-five thousand years later, he met her.

For Su Qing'an, it was a source of comfort.

It's more of a form of torture.

Because you see, as long as this person has a place in your heart.

How could you possibly want to see her born in such a hopeless and dark era?

[It's been a while, not long, Satou Yunona.]

Su Qing'an regained his composure, and under the girl's questioning gaze, he whispered:

"You must be Sato-kun. Please take a seat."

Class is about to start.

Satou Yunona, carrying a bucket of miscellaneous drawing tools, sat obediently in the front seat of the classroom.

The boy turned around and wrote his name on the blackboard for the only student. Standing behind the podium, he introduced himself again to the familiar girl:

"Nice to meet you, my name is Su Qing'an."