Honkai's Thousand Laws, Starting by Kidnapping Kiana

The homeroom teacher was truly skilled, the way he threw chalk was directly proportional to the number of wrinkles etched by time on his face. Su Jue looked up innocently, meeting the teacher's stern gaze.

He tried to find a hint of leniency in those cloudy eyes, but he failed. So, he could only stand up, straightening his body as much as possible, positioning his eyes to look down at his classmates at a 45-degree angle.

This made him look less like the only student being disciplined and more like a general surveying his soldiers.

In any case, he had to maintain his presence.

After successfully singling out Su Jue, the "troublemaker," the homeroom teacher nodded with satisfaction and continued writing on the blackboard, "Next, we'll discuss 'Postpartum Care for Sows'..."

With a unique perspective, Su Jue saw many scenes he wouldn't normally witness during class.

Near the wall, a student whose weight was rapidly approaching 180 pounds was secretly stuffing snacks into his mouth, while the student behind him could only drool with envy.

A boy by the window was gazing outside, contemplating the melancholic thoughts befitting his age—oh, it turned out he was watching female classmates heading to their sports class.

The student closest to the podium was brazenly playing on his phone on his desk. It seemed he had already mastered the advanced counter-reconnaissance tactic of "hiding in plain sight," and was destined for great things in the future.

Life's myriad forms were all here.

However, compared to real cuisine, these desserts were still too meager.

A smile played on his lips, Su Jue closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the world was plunged into darkness.

A black and white interlaced triple ring insignia slowly materialized, accompanied by a distant wolf's howl.

A new actor had arrived.

A wooden puppet swayed its body, and transparent threads began to entwine.

"Welcome to the Theater of Domination!"

A biting cold wind swept past his ears, like a maiden's cry. Su Jue's vision slowly cleared, and the rapidly approaching ground lunged at him without warning.

Bzzzz~

Transparent threads shot out rapidly, latching onto the protruding structures on the outer wall of the building.

The taut threads yanked his body, nearly tearing him in half.

Once his body was completely secured, Su Jue's heart was still pounding. He stared wide-eyed at the ground less than ten meters below him. If he had been a second slower, he probably would have become the first Herrscher to die from a fall.

It seemed the Herrscher of Domination was a high-risk profession. Su Jue felt fortunate that the previous three had not chosen such extreme methods to summon him.

"Who are you?" a hoarse maiden's voice, strained from prolonged crying, echoed in his mind. Su Jue ignored her, slowly using the threads of domination to pull himself back to safety from the high altitude. Finally, after climbing onto an air conditioning unit, he let out a sigh of relief.

Jumping off a building.

The simplest, most direct way to end it all. He looked up, nearly twenty stories high; the fall would have taken three to four seconds. It was likely within those few seconds that the host's resentment and fear had reached their breaking point, triggering the mark Su Jue had left.

"Why can't I move?" the maiden's voice came again. Su Jue frowned and decided to mute her.

Regardless, to gain control of the host body, he had to first understand why they had reached such an extreme.

A thousand kinds of sorrow, a thousand kinds of despair, a thousand kinds of madness, a thousand kinds of curses. They wanted to be destroyed, to be imprisoned, to be dominated.

This was the origin of the Herrscher of a Thousand.

But for Su Jue, if it followed this pattern, the result would only be a mob of undisciplined individuals. They all had their own demands and desires, and the only thing connecting them was the Herrscher of Domination's power.

To avoid repeating the mistakes from the game, Su Jue resolutely decided to monopolize the Authority of a Thousand. The price, of course, was that he would have to experience all the sorrow and despair of a thousand people.

Let's begin. Let me understand your demands, your desires.

The price is, you will be dominated by me.

Chapter 9: A Happy Home 1

"Alright, the monologue is over, time for the main event." Su Jue felt a slight awkwardness. He didn't particularly enjoy such chuunibyo speeches, but under the influence of the Honkai Will, every Herrscher inevitably picked up a habit of saying strange things.

Clinging to the air conditioning unit, Su Jue surveyed the surroundings from his elevated position. He noticed the area was sparsely populated, with few pedestrians on the road. Moreover, the host had chosen the back of a tall building, so anyone jumping from there likely wouldn't be discovered for a while.

It was clear this was a carefully chosen spot for her suicide.

Someone who had a momentary lapse in judgment wouldn't specifically choose where to end their life. The only possibility was that she had contemplated suicide countless times before.

This was only natural. The mark of Domination only reacted to those who had fallen into despair. If there were any other way, who wouldn't want to live?

The cold wind blew past Su Jue's body, and the air conditioning unit beneath his feet swayed uneasily, the triangular bracket creaking.

The threads continued to extend, lowering Su Jue slowly to the ground.

The floor-to-ceiling window downstairs was spotless. A girl's reflection emerged from it, meeting Su Jue's gaze.

A very ordinary girl, her eyebrows drooped heavily at the corners, and her slightly swollen eyes held no spark of life. There was a bruise on her arm, it was unclear if it was self-inflicted or from another cause.

She was dressed very conservatively, her black long-sleeved shirt covering almost her entire upper body, leaving only the bruise on her forearm visible. Loose sweatpants reached all the way to her ankles, showing no sign of her figure.

What was she running from?

Su Jue guessed she chose to end her life due to some perceived flaw, but when he found the student ID in her pocket, he realized it was likely not the case.

The girl was actually quite beautiful. Although the photo on the student ID had a youthful innocence, her delicate face was adorned with a hint of melancholy, making it clear at a glance that she was a natural beauty.

Student ID?

If he remembered correctly, today was a school day.

The sunlight was already nearing the west. Su Jue had his classes in the morning and afternoon. Looking at the sun here, the time difference between the two places was about an hour. This time of day was not when school ended, unless she hadn't gone to school in the first place.

That made sense. How could someone who wanted to commit suicide still think about going to school?

The most direct approach would be to ask the girl herself, but her emotions were clearly not right just now. If Su Jue hadn't cut off her communication, she might have forcefully tried to regain control of his body. Jumping from a height of seventy to eighty meters, with less than 10 meters to the ground, any loss of control would lead to tragedy.

After being muted, the girl's tense nerves slowly relaxed, and her consciousness gradually fell into a deep sleep. There was no longer anywhere to ask.

Ding—

A notification sound came from his pocket. Su Jue took out an old mobile phone, which looked like a model from several years ago. The screen had cracks and was covered with a transparent film.

"Bring back a bottle of vinegar after school."

There was no greeting, no signature, and the girl hadn't even saved the contact. There was only a phone number.

Was it her family?

But if it were family, how could they not even know their own child wasn't attending school?

After browsing through the messages on the phone, Su Jue was surprised to find a hidden text message.

"The payment for the draft has been transferred to your account. It's 5000 yuan. Keep up the good work, Xiao Lei. It's amazing to get such an excellent commission at your age."

Sender: [Editor]

After discovering this hidden message, Su Jue searched in the same way and quickly found messages that the girl had deliberately saved.

"Xiao Lei is so amazing..."

"Xiao Lei, your drawings are so good..."

Without exception, these messages were all from editors, encouraging the young girl.

Besides these, there were only meaningless messages like "Bring soy sauce" and "Bring salt" from the number above.

Fortunately, although the girl's phone model was a bit retro, it had a built-in map. There was a marked location of a home on the map, and Su Jue breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn't have to sleep out in the open.

Following the route marked on the map, Su Jue arrived at the entrance of a residential house. The door was tightly shut. He searched himself, but surprisingly, he couldn't find a key. Having no other choice, he had to knock on the door.

No one answered. He knocked again.

Creak, the door was opened. An old woman with a face full of wrinkles looked at him without saying a word.

Su Jue felt a bit awkward. It seemed he had found the wrong door.

He stood at the entrance, just about to say something, when the old woman's voice came from inside the house.

"What are you doing standing at the door? You useless thing."

Su Jue's expression froze for a moment. The awkwardness on his face gradually faded, and a dark emotion spread in his heart. It was the girl's instinctive resistance.

The house was not large, with two bedrooms and one living room. A bed was placed in the living room, with printed bedding hanging by the window, and there were some unknown stains on it.

After opening the door for Su Jue, the old woman ignored him and was washing dishes in the kitchen.

He didn't say much either and began observing the layout of the room.

There was a television in the living room. Under the coffee table were several cardboard boxes, and inside them was a pile of toys, but they were all covered in dust. It seemed they hadn't been taken out after being packed away.

There was a label on these boxes, written crookedly: "Xiao Bao's Toy Box."

Perhaps it wasn't that bad? Buying so many toys for a child, they couldn't possibly be treating him maliciously, right?

A painting hung on the wall. It was a child's simple drawing, with lines drawn haphazardly, displaying various abstract art.

Recalling the messages he received on his phone, Su Jue guessed that this might be a work from the original owner's childhood. After all, a single painting could fetch 5,000 yuan, so the quality shouldn't be bad.

It wasn't until he righted the overturned photo frame on the table and saw the picture of a family of five that he realized his perception might have been mistaken.

The little boy in the photo was smiling brightly. His father, mother, and grandmother were all gathered around him. On the other side, the girl only showed half of her body, and her face was covered with a large patch of black ink drawn with a black marker.

Where it wasn't covered, Su Jue frowned at the ugly scribbles written crookedly by the child.

So, the painting on the wall just now, the toys in the box...

"What are you standing there for? Those are Xiao Bao's toys, don't touch them." The old woman finished washing the dishes and looked at Su Jue, who was staring blankly in the living room, somewhat annoyed. "Go wash your brother's clothes."

Chapter 10: A Happy Family 2

Su Jue's brow furrowed even tighter. Was this old woman a bit too biased towards men? Su Jue looked at the room's layout again.

The old woman slept in the living room, and the parents slept in the second bedroom. The most spacious master bedroom, however, was reserved for the family's only son.

As for the girl?

Su Jue pulled open the curtains on the balcony and saw the small room partitioned off by the curtains. He finally understood where she must sleep.

The balcony was separated from Xiao Bao's bedroom by only a curtain. Every time she entered or exited, she had to go through his bedroom. The bathroom was on the other side of the living room. This layout would give any designer a stroke.

"Didn't you hear me? I told you to wash clothes. How will you take care of your brother if you're so lazy?" The noisy voice echoed in his ears. The smell of not having bathed for a long time wafted into Su Jue's nostrils with the old woman's scolding.

He suddenly turned his head, his eyes radiating undisguised coldness. The old woman's face stiffened. Just as she was about to curse loudly, there was a knock on the door.

"Grandma, open the door!" A boy's voice called out. The old woman's displeased expression changed as if she had a new face, and she put on a kind smile.

As soon as she opened the door, the thin, small boy rushed in from outside, almost knocking the old woman to the ground. However, she didn't seem to mind, her wrinkled old face beaming.

Outside the door stood a middle-aged woman carrying a schoolbag. She rubbed the soles of her shoes against the wall of the public corridor, constantly complaining, "Schools these days really make them carry so much. If my Xiao Bao carries such a heavy bag, how will he grow tall?"

After complaining, she had mostly wiped the dust off her feet. She looked up and found Su Jue leaning against the wall.

"The good-for-nothing is back so early today..." she muttered under her breath. She went back to the living room and put the boy's schoolbag on his desk before reacting. She looked at Su Jue suspiciously, "Wait, that's not right... you guys should get out of school later than Xiao Bao. You're back so early today, did you skip class?"

Her face gradually tensed, her brows furrowed, and her eyes flashed with a sharp, blade-like glint. It seemed as if she would strike if Su Jue uttered a single "yes."

"Yes." Su Jue's expression was calm, as if he were deliberately defying her. The corners of his mouth even curled into a dismissive smile.

"You little brat, your wings have grown strong!" Seeing her usually timid daughter now looking her straight in the eye, the woman was furious and raised her right hand to slap her.

But her action was only half-completed when her son's voice came from the bedroom, "Mom, come quickly, look at the painting I drew today."

The muscles in her face trembled slightly. The woman's expression shifted, hesitating between disciplining her daughter and accompanying her son. For a moment, she froze in place.

The old lady beside them glared fiercely at Su Jue, still holding a grudge from the way Su Jue had looked at her earlier. She wished the woman would hurry up and strike, but upon hearing Xiao Bao's voice, she quickly changed her expression and walked into the house.

"Xiao Bao, let Grandma see your painting."

Unfortunately, Xiao Bao was merciless. "No, you're too old, you definitely won't understand."

"Mom, what are you doing? Come quickly."

Perhaps it was her son's call, or perhaps her raised arm was getting sore. The woman glanced at Su Jue and entered the bedroom.

Letting out a slight sigh, Su Jue looked at them with some annoyance. Living in such a family was truly terrible. However, since his mother, grandmother, and brother had all appeared, his father, the pillar of the family, should also show up.

He waited for several hours.

Although there were many people in the house, he felt completely excluded. No one paid him any attention, except for occasional requests to do chores. But Su Jue wouldn't passively accept their arrangements like the original owner.

He was waiting, waiting to find the final straw that had driven the original owner to despair and suicide.

The sky gradually darkened, and the smell of cooking wafted from the surrounding houses. Su Jue's stomach rumbled. The original owner hadn't eaten all day and looked quite listless.

Xiao Bao, who had been playing with his new game console since returning from school, walked to the living room muttering, "Grandma, I'm hungry!"