Hua's Efforts, Mei's Appearance

March 7th, morning.

Hundreds of meters below, in the quiet warehouse, Su Qing'an remained asleep in the medical pod.

[Soul Essence: 9.94 (78.31)]

The fact that the recovery rate remained in the single digits for more than ten days was incredibly slow. Just as he had initially thought, the near depletion of his Soul Essence led to extremely dire consequences.

If it weren't for the conflict with the laboratory caused by Seele, which led to the agreement with Himeko, such a long period of unconsciousness would have been enough for the boy to die directly without nutritional support.

Compared to the decline in the spiritual realm, the physical recovery was remarkable, with completely new bones, flesh, and organs having been replaced.

It took only half a month to reach this stage; the basic body shaping was happening even faster than Himeko had anticipated.

However, the boy's physical strength is far inferior to what it used to be. If he could previously break through the sound barrier and Heat Barrier under normal conditions simply by relying on the strength of his body and the Honkai Energy shield, he can no longer do so now.

Su Qing'an is not Fusion Warrior; genetically, he is just an ordinary human.

The combination of rigorous training in martial arts and the inherent quality correction from the Void Sword Qi allows the boy to far surpass ordinary people even without using Honkai Energy, enabling him to Temple-class Honkai Beast.

Even so, this special feature is worlds apart from that of Fusion Warrior.

Su Qing'an's body has now been repaired, but she is as weak as she was in the beginning; this is the essence of ordinariness.

In theory, this is similar to how an athlete who has suffered a major injury needs to undergo a painful training regimen to return to their former peak.

But now, after enduring countless hardships, the young man, having undergone his third restart, has finally developed something special.

The body's cellular instincts and muscle memory, originating from the soul, are consuming the nutrients continuously supplied within the medical pod in an effort to rebuild and restore the strength of the previous physical form.

The rate of consumption inside the medical pod was so astonishing that it completely exceeded Himeko's initial expectations.

However, she had prepared for the worst in advance, which resulted in reserves of up to three years' worth, enough to restore the body to its peak condition.

While the underground area continued its steady recovery, Fu Hua was also undergoing persistent training.

The girl's initial aversion to the use of Honkai Energy was a reflection of her naiveté, just like Su Qing'an's thoughts back then.

But it seems there is a cycle in the world. In the previous timeline, Fu Hua led Su Qing'an to a more mature path.

Her presence made the boy stop obsessing over this, and he learned the [Thousand Stars] technique that he still uses today, which greatly improved the limit of his normal combat power. From then on, Su Qing'an no longer needed to deliberately burn his life in ordinary battles.

Now, having restarted in the Previous Civilization timeline, Su Qing'an's existence has led Fu Hua to abandon her so-called aversion and hatred on the very first day she encountered the Honkai, and to wholeheartedly explore and use Honkai Energy, and to begin to elevate the cultivation of the Sword Heart Technique to all aspects of her life.

As for the [Thousand Stars] technique, which holds profound significance for both of them, Su Qing'an had already taught it to Fu Hua beforehand.

However, the version is different from his; it's the [Thousand Stars] that Fu Hua herself tailored for herself in the previous timeline, so she can learn it without much self-correction in some details.

Although Fu Hua's Honkai Energy adaptability is vastly different from Su Qing'an's, the difficulty of learning [Thousand Stars] did not rise to the point of being life-threatening.

However, Su Qing'an still instructed her that she should not cultivate unless she had the opportunity to use virtual devices with a level of realism that was infinitely close to 100% in the future.

And the training in the recruit camp... perfectly suited this opportunity.

This resulted in Fu Hua becoming the recruit who died the most in the virtual battlefield during those two weeks.

Even for the exceptionally talented Fu Hua, achieving [Thousand Stars] quickly would be an incredibly difficult task.

Su Qing'an mastered [Thousand Stars] at the cost of nearly a thousand deaths in the virtual world and several near-death experiences in reality.

Fu Hua's experience was much gentler compared to this, but it still shouldn't be a terrifying experience and agonizing pain that a 15-year-old girl should have to endure.

As if recovering from the suffocation of the deep sea, the crimson and pitch black in front of my eyes slowly fade away.

The girl gasped for air, staring blankly at the transparent, fluorescent blue shell of the Virtual Pod. Beyond it lay vast expanses of white and emptiness, like the single stroke of pure white paint in an abstract painting, exuding nothingness and eeriness.

It hurts a lot.

The sensation of my entire body being completely expanded, burst, and crushed from a microscopic perspective lingered in my memory, pricking my nerves and tormenting my will, even after I left the virtual battlefield.

The visions of death continued to cast blood-red spots on the pupils, catalyzing the ever-closing distance between the virtual and the real.

The vivid image of the Honkai Beast's spear tearing through his abdomen, the excruciating pain of [Thousand Stars] being forcibly activated and burning flesh to ashes, the Honkai Energy ravaging his limbs and bones, and the disorientation of his mind being blank and his memories resurfacing—all these stirred up strange scenes in his brain.

She kept breathing rapidly and deeply, looking at this upside-down, distorted world, feeling as if she were about to vomit.

With each rise and fall of her chest, her soft and slender body convulsed involuntarily inside the chamber, as if every nerve in her body was spasming.

The Virtual Pod emitted a light red warning, and a warm liquid covered her entire body, forcibly putting her consciousness into a deep sleep with the medication, causing the tremors in her brain to stop and enter a passive rest.

A long time.

Consciousness returned.

The little girl's worried face came into view, and in a daze Fu Hua saw that her golden eyes were filled with sorrow. She wanted to speak, but was interrupted by the other girl's words.

"Hua, stop messing around in the virtual battlefield."

"The instructors all said that we need to develop the habit of prioritizing our own lives during virtual combat, so that we'll be more likely to survive in real battles."

"You're completely contradicting what she said, and as you've seen, this is the third time you've been forcibly rendered unconscious in the Virtual Pod."

"The instructor said that if this happens again this week, she will consider whether to temporarily suspend your access to the Virtual Pod."

The other girl in my field of vision nodded earnestly, her pale blue braids falling onto the shell of the Virtual Pod, swaying with her nod, which was rather cute.

She said softly:

"Hua, everything needs to be done at the right pace."

"Just like even though I'm not a great singer, I still believe I can become a qualified idol."

"In short, just take it slow. The goal is there; you just need to follow your own pace, and that's great."

Looking at Carole and Shiyu Qiluo, whose words were filled with unease and worry, Fu Hua gave a faint smile and softly agreed:

"I will apologize to the instructor."

"Qiluo, Carole, I'm so sorry to have worried you."

Fu Hua stepped out of the Virtual Pod and walked barefoot onto the white ground.

Her thin clothing revealed large expanses of her fair skin, and her slender figure could not be concealed beneath the close-fitting fabric, her even more delicate waist exuding a supple beauty.

As if because she had been soaking in the liquid, the girl's lead-gray hair was damp, and transparent water droplets dripped onto the ground.

Carole placed a towel over Fu Hua's head and began to dry her hair, Shiyu Qiluo handed Fu Hua another towel to wipe away the fine water droplets from her skin.

"Didn't the same thing still happen after we told you off last time?"

"Hua's promise doesn't count with me and Qiluo -chan anymore, her credibility is zero."

"Also, I've heard that the instructors next door don't share our philosophy. The Fifth Squad's recruit camp is clearly the most concerned about the lives of its soldiers."

"With such favorable conditions, why are you still pushing yourself to the limit? How can anyone feel at ease with you like this?"

She ruffled Fu Hua's hair with a towel, then continued in a more forceful tone:

"You absolutely cannot act recklessly on the battlefield, especially with that weird technique of yours, whatever it is, you mustn't use it in real life."

"This looks just like in the manga, an ultimate forbidden technique that kills you instantly. This kind of thing looks cool in anime and manga, but it's completely different in reality, okay?"

Carole's rambling chatter and Shiyu Qiluo's frequent nods warmed Fu Hua's heart even as she remained silent.

She silently expressed her gratitude while reciting the Sword Heart Technique, accumulating both the shadow of death and this warmth into nourishment for her Mind Lake.

[Thousand Stars] and the Clear Mirror Realm.

Soon...

Once all of these goals are achieved, you can get one step closer to that person.

Therefore, even if recalling these painful memories in the middle of the night causes intense phantom pain, the girl will never give up.

Within half a month, the aftermath of the Third Honkai Outbreak had completely entered the stage of humanity cleaning up the mess.

During this period, Himeko's actions in concealing the fact that Su Qing'an was alive prevented the officials, who were already indifferent to him, from discovering this fact.

However, the Sea of Quantum experimental group, which was the first to discover Su Qing'an's existence, was different.

The existence of Seele Fulei is of great importance to the establishment of the entire experimental group. Given this premise, the fact that the experimental subjects could not be brought back due to Su Qing'an's existence has made Doctor Muen very concerned about this.

After the Third Honkai Outbreak, while worrying about the world order and the future of all living beings, the old man continued to focus his attention on Canghai City.

After communicating with his superiors, he successfully obtained the biological data that Himeko observed during the battle between Su Qing'an and the Third Herrscher. Combined with the data provided by Xing Chen, Doctor Muen reached the same conclusion as Himeko.

At that time, someone was indeed fighting the Third Herrscher, which is why the Honkai Fission Bomb's killing of the Herrscher seemed so smooth.

This person is Su Qing'an.

Since Himeko had a dispute with the higher-ups about the launch of the Honkai Fission Bomb at that time, it suggests that the two may have had prior contact.

Considering Himeko's refusal to hand over Seele Fulei, a precious experimental subject, Muen began to doubt whether Su Qing'an was truly dead.

This suspicion is quite logical, because the outside world's opinion of Himeko is consistent: she has a broad perspective and a rigorous work style. Yet, such a person did something that is completely contrary to the interests of the Moth to Fire and the current trend of human civilization.

This is something that makes it hard for the elderly not to think about.

However, some things cannot withstand scrutiny, and upon closer examination, Muen could only conclude that Su Qing'an was not dead.

Because, apart from that, the old man couldn't imagine any reason why Himeko would do such a thing.

As the captain of the Moth to Fire, she is definitely not the kind of person who acts recklessly because of pure, overflowing love.

Therefore, based on the previous information, as long as Muen is willing to believe that someone can actually survive in that mass of Honkai Energy Fission Bomb.

That would allow us to overcome all logical dead ends and arrive at the conclusion that Su Qing'an is not dead.

But once you know that the boy can fight the Herrscher head-on, whether you believe it or not becomes irrelevant.

Since Su Qing'an has already transcended common sense, it would be meaningless to try to understand his limits using common sense at this point.

Even if Su Qing'an doesn't die, he will definitely be in a very bad state of serious injury.

The reason is that if the Honkai Fission Bomb can kill Herrscher, there's no reason it would have no effect on Su Qing'an. At the same time, he hasn't made a fuss about being betrayed by High Command.

Even so, Muen had no intention of telling the authorities about it.

The reason is simple: based solely on speculation without any evidence, doing so would only potentially create real enmity with Su Qing'an and serve no other purpose.

Even if the authorities believe it, what if Himeko is determined to protect Su Qing'an, who is in a critical condition?

Given the delicate relationship between the Moth to Fire and the official authorities, it's really difficult to do anything about these things that can't be brought to the forefront.

Even if they could find the boy's current location where he is recuperating, it would be uncertain how many troops the authorities should send to kill him, or even whether they should choose to eliminate him in advance.

Therefore, Muen's desire to take Seele Fulei away has greatly diminished. Provoking a Herrscher- level individual who is destined to return could further affect the progress of the experiment.

Right now, he cares more about the government's talent recruitment program than these other things.

The loss of even a small part of those people on the list is a loss for the entire world.

Unfortunately, under such an unreasonable Honkai outbreak, without sufficient Honkai Energy to withstand the environment, even the most outstanding elites will immediately face death just like ordinary people.

Some of the people on these lists have official records, and their chances of survival are determined through intelligent calculations to avoid wasting already insufficient manpower searching for a corpse.

Based on a massive database, the fact that men rarely possess the Honkai Energy literacy to confront the realities of the Honkai Energy environment led to an implicit bias in the inclusion of women in the list.

Doctor Muen's experimental group thus welcomed a genius who had previously published papers on quantum mechanics.

Mei.