St. Freya's Number One Tank

Kiana stared intently at Sheng Jiu on her lap, muttering to herself, He's actually quite handsome when he's quiet! She gently played with Sheng Jiu's hair, surprised to find so many strands of white mixed in with the black. What does this guy do all day to get so worn out? Kiana wondered as she reached out to pull out a few noticeable white hairs.

Just then, the cabin shook slightly again, waking Sheng Jiu from his sleep. He slowly opened his eyes and met Kiana's gaze, which was fixed directly on him. They stared at each other, neither blinking, and a blush began to spread across Sheng Jiu's face at a visible rate.

Sheng Jiu panicked and tried to sit up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to!" Kiana pushed his head down with her hand. "Lie back down."

"Oh." Sheng Jiu looked at Kiana guiltily. "Let me explain, I was just really tired..."

"Alright, I'm not angry, but this is a one-time thing, don't let it happen again!" Kiana continued to mess with Sheng Jiu's hair.

"Does it hurt?"

"No... Hey, hey, hey, don't press there!" Kiana lightly poked Sheng Jiu's wound, causing him to wince in pain.

"Hmph, you say it doesn't hurt, but I wasn't even using much force just now."

"...It can't be helped." Sheng Jiu chuckled sheepishly, letting Kiana do as she pleased with his hair.

"Why didn't you retreat when you were fighting that Honkai Beast? Weren't you afraid of dying?" Kiana asked indignantly, looking down at Sheng Jiu on her lap.

Sheng Jiu gazed at the cabin ceiling and said with a wry smile, "Afraid of dying? Of course I'm afraid of dying... But I'm even more afraid of watching you all die and crying alone. You're my only companions, I can't lose you."

"...Smooth talker." Kiana snorted. "From now on, don't do that again, okay?"

"That depends on the situation... Ouch, stop poking, it really hurts!"

"I said, you're not allowed to do that again, understand?"

"Okay, okay, I promise, I won't dare to do it again." Hearing this, Kiana was satisfied and began to rub Sheng Jiu's head, just as Sheng Jiu usually did to hers. "I forgive you!"

The gunboat soon returned to St. Freya along with the Hyperion. As soon as the gunboat landed, Sheng Jiu was lifted onto a stretcher by several people in white coats.

"What are you doing?! No! Help!" Sheng Jiu struggled to break free from the white coats, but his weak body made it difficult for him to even walk independently. In the end, he was forcibly carried onto the stretcher.

Yae Sakura looked at Sheng Jiu on the stretcher, and chided him as she knelt down to gently pat his head. "Be good! You're this badly injured and still so mischievous."

"I don't want to, Yae Sakura, please save me! You don't understand, they must want to cut me open to see if my body has been... Mmph!"

A hand immediately covered Sheng Jiu's mouth. Theresa stood by the stretcher, saying impatiently, "Sometimes I really wonder if you're human. A normal person with such serious injuries would have no strength left to speak! Do you think Schicksal is a concentration camp, where they'll dissect you like a specimen? They're just going to give you comprehensive treatment, calm down."

Everyone watched Sheng Jiu being carried away. As they looked at the receding stretcher, Theresa sighed softly and turned to the leading Fu Hua. "Thank you for your hard work, Fu Hua. Is everyone else alright?"

"As you can see, Teacher Theresa, besides Sheng Jiu's rather severe superficial wounds, a few students who were on the battlefield for the first time had some minor psychological issues, but they've adjusted now."

"Phew, that's good. I just came back from an emergency meeting at Headquarters, and Sheng Jiu was already beaten up like this. What did you encounter?"

"Frontline Commander Vena said she will explain the situation to you personally later."

Outside the hospital bed, Himeko asked Sheng Jiu's attending physician with disbelief, "Two weeks? Let me confirm, you're saying that guy, despite looking so badly injured, only needs to be bedridden for two weeks?"

"Yes, Major Himeko, I am very sure of what I'm saying." The military doctor in charge of his treatment handed Himeko a tablet. "Please look here. This is an X-ray scan of the patient. Look at his back."

"Logically speaking, being slammed into a hard concrete wall by a ferocious Herrscher of Honkai, even if he didn't die, he should be permanently paralyzed. But he doesn't even have a single broken rib! Only the third left lower rib and the second right upper rib have severe fractures. To be blunt, this is simply a medical miracle!"

"And look here, these two largest wounds on his back. Normally, if a Honkai Beast leaves wounds on a person, that person would turn into a zombie within three hours. Valkyries with higher Honkai Energy compatibility would turn into Dead Souls."

"But it's already been five hours since the patient was brought to me, and I haven't even detected any Honkai Energy leakage within him!"

Himeko stared blankly at Sheng Jiu's medical chart. All the indicators were within controllable limits.

The military doctor wiped the sweat from his brow and continued, "After multiple full-body examinations, we found that he only has multiple minor fractures and numerous superficial wounds on his body, with no other fatal injuries."

"To be perfectly honest, this patient's recovery ability is the strongest I've ever seen in my many years as a doctor. Based on my experience, two weeks should be enough for him to recover to a normal state!"

Himeko nodded and walked into the ward. Sheng Jiu lay on the hospital bed with both hands in casts. "You're here?"

"You really gave me a scare, kid." Himeko pulled over a chair and sat down. "When I heard you were covered in blood, I almost thought you were dead. I even prepared a wreath for you." As she spoke, Himeko produced a white wreath from behind her.

"What the hell! Teacher Himeko, that's too much! I'm St. Freya's Number One Tank, do you think I'd go down that easily?" Sheng Jiu looked speechlessly at the small wreath.

"By the way, did the doctor say how long I need to stay here? Three months or half a year?"

"Two weeks."

"Teacher, that's not funny."

Himeko shook the report in her hand and said with a smile, "It really is two weeks."

"How m-much?!" Sheng Jiu tried to sit up but gasped in pain due to the wounds on his back. "Look at me, with all these casts, you're telling me only half a month?!"