The Entanglement of Hua

This is thirty minutes after Su Qing'an left the underground shelter.

Perhaps only after that person truly left did Fu Hua truly begin to face this cruel reality.

Su Qing'an didn't need to do anything; just knowing that he was by her side was enough to make Fu Hua feel at ease.

After this sense of security was taken away, true emotions once again surged out through this gap.

So... I'm actually this afraid.

In a daze, she clenched her slender fingers into a fist, but she still couldn't stop trembling.

So that's how sad I am...

Heart ache, a surge of sorrow welling up in my chest.

The girl felt a powerlessness spreading through her limbs, recalled past scenes, and understood the profound pain of her current situation.

I feel a bit resentful; why did it turn out this way?

Even though she understood that tragedies in reality often don't need a logical reason, Fu Hua still couldn't help but find it absurd and ridiculous.

She felt as if she were stepping on a ball of cotton that was constantly sinking, a soft and endless trap that seized her will, crushing her whole being in that tense abyss from which there was no return.

It was as if all her emotions had drifted away from her body along with her restless senses, and as a result, she would never get a correct answer.

February 9th.

The girl muttered the date in a daze.

"February 9th."

This is her birthday.

And less than two weeks after my birthday, the world has already turned upside down.

The wishes I made were wantonly trampled on until I had nothing left.

But the stars that night were so bright, and the candlelight illuminated everyone's smiling faces; everything felt so warm.

At that time, she thought that perhaps wishes don't necessarily have to be fulfilled.

As long as life can continue as it is now, that's already very good.

In the blink of an eye, Fu Hua blew out the candle, and the stars and the candlelight fell and vanished together.

The girl's world suddenly went dark. She looked at the large amount of dust gathering like clouds in the sky and found that the stars were indeed gone.

It felt like I was having a very, very long dream, but the dream was so long that it seemed bizarre and fantastical.

Fu Hua looked at Seele, who was clinging to her.

She closed her eyes, her youthful face showing no panic or unease, but simply waiting quietly.

The little girl seemed far more mature than me in this respect; she showed no fear or sadness from beginning to end, as if she were already used to it.

What kind of life did Seele lead before?

This unsolved mystery was a forbidden zone, so she never intended to inquire about it.

But at least Fu Hua understood one thing: those must have been very tough days.

Carole and Shiyu Qiluo stopped talking.

They silently observed every corner of the shelter, their eyes filled with complex emotions.

Unlike her, who only had her father to worry about.

For the two of them, the precious things they might lose in this calamity far outweigh the losses they incurred.

Their previous experience of being chased by monsters also led to a change in their mindset. Compared to themselves, who had always been under each other's wings, the two of them were probably more able to understand the meaning of the word "calamity".

The terror of life and death was like a baptism, and it was precisely this kind of stimulation that allowed the two of them to endure the torment of waiting slowly and having wild thoughts.

Fu Hua suddenly realized that even if Master Su believed he was capable of protecting others,

But of these four people, the one who is most vulnerable psychologically is himself.

She moved her lips, wanting to say something to ease the tension, just like Carole had done in the car—not touching on the present or the past, just making some harmless jokes.

But the words stuck in her throat; she couldn't do it.

The girl is still clumsy with words.

She hugged her knees, buried her head in her legs, and ultimately couldn't bring herself to speak.

The cracked illusion revealed a scene as cold and sharp as a knife, as if mocking Fu Hua's naivety and inexperience.

These qualities that Su Qing'an cherished were precisely the things that this world could not allow to exist.

He couldn't bear to witness the girl removing these things.

But I had to let go and try to let her face some things on her own.

Even without the Satou Yunona incident, Su Qing'an would have found a reason to stay away from Fu Hua for a while.

The Void Sword Qi is a powerful weapon that Fu Hua can use for self-defense, but the special nature of the sword heart makes this weapon both tough and fragile.

If the opponent's will is not strong enough, it would not be surprising if Fu Hua's sword heart shattered at any time due to some accident in this cruel era.

And there is another reason that is also related to it.

The State of Still Water is a realm that Fu Hua directly entered thanks to her natural talent. Theoretically, even the realm above it, the Realm of Dustlessness, is just a thin veil for her.

Or to put it bluntly, after these months of accumulation, she had long since broken through to the State of Dustless.

But his naiveté became the biggest obstacle to his breakthrough.

Can one truly develop the necessary willpower and awareness without experiencing pain and despair?

Su Qing'an knew the answer perfectly well.

But this was clearly something he deliberately didn't want Fu Hua to experience.

He was troubled and saddened by it, yet he couldn't do nothing.

So the boy chose to do the same half-baked approach as always.

You can do it.

This statement reflects Su Qing'an's trust in Fu Hua, his expectations for Fu Hua, and also the pressure he exerts on Fu Hua.

Whether the 15-year-old girl can successfully meet Su Qing'an's equally high expectations is something no one can know in advance.

Even for him personally, the extent to which this action will benefit Fu Hua is still an unknown quantity.

Su Qing'an was really reluctant to part with him.

So he meticulously wiped out all the Honkai Beast in the vicinity.

Under these circumstances, if Honkai Beast appear nearby and successfully discover the shelter, it can only mean that Fu Hua will have to face these things sooner or later.

Whether due to reality or unforeseen circumstances, it's impossible to follow the other person indefinitely.

Given this, allowing the girl to grow up becomes an unavoidable choice.

Given that most of the Honkai Energy is currently concentrated in the academy, the resulting Honkai Beast will at most be a few Charge-class and a few scattered Chariot-class.

Such a place, which minimizes risk yet creates a sense of crisis and challenges, is perhaps only possible now.

Even if they bring her into the Moth to Fire later, the events they encounter will only be more brutal than this.

The girl couldn't understand how much hesitation and inner turmoil Su Qing'an was going through.

She simply believed that the other person genuinely believed she could do it, so even in this state, Fu Hua continued to silently recite Su Qing'an's words.

You can do it.

"I can do it," she whispered to herself.

The girl closed her eyes, immersing her entire consciousness into the sword's heart.

The arrangement of the Honkai Energy between heaven and earth became so clear that it was visible to the finest detail. An invisible information network entered the brain, informing it of every movement around it.

We mustn't wallow in autumn sorrow.

She must keep her promise to Master Su and protect everyone.

Therefore, even the Qi that Fu Hua despises must be used as a tool.

This marks the tenth minute that Himeko has been out of contact with the outside world.

Just as the signal disruptions felt in the helicopter foreshadowed, after landing and piercing the shield of the Temple-class Honkai Beast with the blade, and with my feet naturally touching the ground, the team interaction frequency in my headset was no longer functioning properly.

The strange realm covered by the leaked power is slowly returning to its deathly stillness, which prevents the Honkai Energy sensors inside the armor from malfunctioning.

But Himeko wasn't surprised.

The Honkai Energy sensor inside the armor is designed with two sophisticated structures in mind, as is the communicator.

Not knowing the specifics, she naturally didn't believe that the Honkai Energy sensor would necessarily and inevitably malfunction.

Himeko frowned slightly after initially determining the nearby Honkai Energy threshold.

Compared to the average data for global Honkai outbreaks, the threshold measured in this region appears to be slightly lower.

But perhaps that's the truly bizarre part.

The woman's brows relaxed, and her Amber eyes were obscured by the thin goggles that naturally extended from her armor.

From Himeko's perspective, one can clearly see the entire map of Canghai City being loaded, along with locations where the corresponding Honkai Energy range is fluctuating.

She drew her greatsword, glanced at the massive wreckage on the ground gradually dissolving into Honkai Energy particles, and felt a headache coming on.

Honkai Energy itself does not obey the basic law of conservation of energy, and Honkai Beast are monsters that are different from any other species.

After they die, most of their body matter quickly degrades back into minute amounts of Honkai Energy that are invisible to the naked eye.

This phenomenon means that killing Honkai Beast is actually not very effective.

The already nearly inexhaustible Honkai Energy, coupled with the fact that Honkai Beast transform into Honkai Energy and return to the world after death, further contributes to this energy.

It's a completely illogical cycle.

Fortunately, this cycle is explored from a macroscopic, long-term perspective. In reality, at least in the short term, Honkai Beast killed will not immediately and quickly give birth to new Honkai Beast.

This also means that short-term cleanup efforts still have some meaningful benefits.

However, if this continues, the area of land where humans can live in peace will be greatly reduced.

Even now, it is completely impossible to return to the original social order in a short period of time.

Currently, heading towards the Honkai Energy fluctuations indicated by the armor seems to be Himeko's only compass.

Given the limited mobility of human feet, finding a means of transportation is clearly more convenient.

Himeko had this concern before landing, so she chose a location within the military district of Canghai City.

The hordes of zombies swarming in from all sides let out inhuman howls, and their original faces and expressions quickly became rotten and stiff.

The way it moved forward and the look of utter defeat in its eyes both conveyed a strange and ferocious feeling.

Faced with this scene, the woman's eyes revealed pity.

Although we had a general idea of what would happen here after losing contact, the sheer scale of the annihilation was still hard to accept.

She swung her heavy greatsword and sighed softly:

Rest in peace.

Himeko's armor possesses the basic function of absorbing external Honkai Energy and converting it into driving force to amplify the warrior's all aspects. Under the Sangvis Ferri's offensive, all the weakest zombies in these Honkai events died.

This level of output doesn't even require her own physical strength. The armor is connected to a portion of the body's neurons, and after long-term training, the warrior's pure instinct is enough to drive the armor to move the body into combat without delay.

Himeko only activates this function when facing opponents who require the least effort and the most terrifying enemies.

Before the troops arrived in Canghai City, she had to find out the rest of the information, so she had to carefully manage her physical exertion.

It seems that due to the scarcity of women within the military region, aside from some Honkai Beast, the number of Zombie can be described as negligible.

The zombies created by hundreds of soldiers are the least threatening monsters.

Even though I really want to help these comrades stop maintaining this ugly attitude and give them a way out.

But there are priorities.

After testing several military energy vehicles and finding them all in a state of complete malfunction and becoming scrap metal, Himeko successfully located an old gasoline-powered armored vehicle in the army warehouse with the last Sequence Number and drove it into the military tunnel without hesitation.

The academy where Su Qing'an works almost completely overlaps with the peak area of Honkai Energy fluctuation.

This really unsettled Himeko.

Whether it's a mere coincidence or something else entirely, this phenomenon speaks volumes.

That means there's one more factor supporting her previous judgment.

If Su Qing'an is truly the agent of the Honkai, then the academy is indeed the cradle of the Third Herrscher, and things have already started to develop in the worst possible direction.

Even if this guess is completely wrong.

Su Qing'an has no connection with the Honkai Consciousness; he is simply incredibly mysterious and ridiculously powerful. Yet, the current situation is still unexpectedly dire.

This means that a powerful warrior fighting against the Honkai is likely facing a Herrscher directly.

A sacrifice, perhaps caused by a series of coincidences, may have already occurred without Himeko's knowledge.

This is certainly not a good thing.

From an official and moral standpoint, humanity has lost the possibility of knowing the secret of Su Qing'an's incredible strength without the use of armor.

Even considering the scarcity of high-end combat power that could be recruited, this is undoubtedly a huge loss.

As for personal matters, the woman always found the young man pleasing to the eye.

Perhaps it was because he was good-looking and very polite, or perhaps it was just a matter of first impressions.

In short, for various reasons.

Su Qing'an encountered Herrscher and died in battle.

Su Qing'an has colluded with the Herrscher; he is a confirmed traitor.

Neither of these outcomes is what Himeko wants to see.

The former would inevitably evoke feelings of regret and a sense of loss in her.

The latter only exacerbates the current situation, making humanity even more overwhelmed.

The authorities should now have received confirmation that they are completely out of contact, and the priority rescue policy for elites should change accordingly.

The light at the end of the tunnel is just around the corner; let's hope there are no more unexpected events.

As she thought about all this, she floored the accelerator and sped toward her intended destination.