The next morning, eight o'clock.
Starfire Furnace's underground training base, main control room.
The first rays of morning light filtered down through the towering ventilation shaft, spilling a warm, pale gold across the control room full of metal instruments.
After a full night of deep repair in the high-tech medical pods, the control room's automatic door slid open with a hiss — and the two figures who walked in made Su Yu, cup of tea halfway to his lips, raise his eyebrows.
It was Sin Mal and Susannah Manatt.
Just last night, the two girls had been rolling through mud and gunsmoke, covered in blood, utterly wretched.
But now, after cellular remodeling in the medical pods, combined with the leap in vitality that came from opening their first-stage Genetic Locks —
the hidden bruises, old injuries, even the marks of sun exposure that three weeks of inhuman training had etched into their bodies had, miraculously, vanished without a trace.
Dressed now in crisp casual clothes, the two of them standing side by side made for a striking contrast.
Susannah's golden hair was smooth and glossy, her skin fair with a rosy glow; even in the simplest white T-shirt and jeans, she couldn't quite hide the pampered, naive elegance of a wealthy Middle Eastern young lady.
Sin Mal, walking beside her, was small in stature, but her brisk, agile stride made her look every bit the formidable, don't-mess-with-me type of bodyguard.
"Morning, Instructor! Morning, Supreme Commander!"
Susannah snapped to attention and threw up an energetic salute.
Sin Mal kept her hands stuffed in her pockets. Just outside the door, she'd already watched the full surveillance footage of last night's battle on a tablet.
She'd seen it clearly, of course — that final game-changing electromagnetic sniper shot that had shattered the Honkai Beast's energy cannon had truly come from the crybaby idiot standing right next to her.
Sin Mal stayed silent a long moment, her red eyes flicking toward Susannah with a complicated look, before she turned away awkwardly and gave a stiff grunt.
"N-not bad... that last shot. You didn't embarrass me, Susannah."
At this unprecedented praise, the little cowlick atop Susannah's head shot straight up with excitement.
She grinned, that goofy yet utterly sincere smile spreading across her face, then turned to stare at Su Yu, seated before the console, with eyes full of worship and gratitude.
"It's all thanks to the Supreme Commander!"
Susannah declared loudly, both fists clenched against her chest.
"Back in the pit yesterday, if the Supreme Commander hadn't suddenly appeared behind me and... pushed that long, thin thing deep into my body, I never could have held that rifle steady!"
"Pfft — cough, cough cough cough!"
The mouthful of premium Ceylon black tea Su Yu had just swallowed sprayed straight back out in a fine mist.
He clapped a hand over his mouth, coughing violently, eyes bulging.
Whoa there, sis — cut it out, or you'll get this account flagged!
But innocent Susannah had no idea how suggestive her words sounded, and she went right on vividly describing the sensation.
"It was really amazing! At first, when you pushed it into me, it really hurt — like my whole body was being torn apart."
"But then, gradually... after a while, my whole body started feeling warm all over, and this incredibly pleasant strength just kept surging up inside me..."
The air in the control room went eerily silent.
"Oh my~"
Standing off to the side, Rita Rossweisse set down her coffee cup, ever so gently.
Her wine-red eyes instantly brimmed with mischief and mockery.
Her gaze flicked back and forth between Su Yu, his face flushed red from choking, and Susannah, utterly guileless.
"My Lord Su Yu, you really are..."
Rita covered her lips with a black-lace-gloved hand and let out a meaningful little laugh.
"Private Susannah really is very adorable, and comes from a very wealthy family, it's true. But this sort of... special instruction you gave a female subordinate under cover of darkness, in a battlefield foxhole — under Schicksal regulations, that would count as workplace misconduct, you know?"
"The hell kind of misconduct! Rita, quit stirring the pot!"
Su Yu, having finally caught his breath, shot Rita an irritated glare before turning to Susannah.
"Girl, can you not leave out the subject and the modifiers when you talk? That was a gene-activation serum injection! What's this 'long thin thing pushed into my body' nonsense?! If your father heard that, he'd hire a whole company of mercenaries to gun me down before dawn!"
But Susannah's attention was clearly tuned to an entirely different wavelength from everyone else's.
She hadn't grasped Su Yu's meltdown at all. Instead she ran over to the glass window, admiring her own reflection with delight.
"This is great! I thought after a month of training at Starfire I'd be stuck looking tanned forever! I mean, I think wheat-colored skin is healthy too, but if I went home looking like a burnt piece of charcoal, Dad would nag me for ages!"
Watching her partner grinning like a fool at the window, Sin Mal pressed a hand to her forehead in anguish, sinking into deep self-doubt.
Is this girl seriously an idiot?
Did this idiot, who can't even string a sentence together properly, really save my life yesterday with one godlike sniper shot? Maybe this world really should just get destroyed after all.
Over in another corner of the control room, the sound of noisy chewing drifted from the sofa area.
Kiana Kaslana sat cross-legged on the sofa with zero regard for appearances, cradling an elaborately decorated strawberry mille-feuille cake, eating it with blissful smears of cream all over her face.
Last night, Auntie Theresa had gone specially to the most popular dessert shop in Arc City, waited in line for a full two hours, and bought it just to press into her hands.
"Mmm... so good!"
Kiana swallowed a big bite of cake, eyes narrowing with satisfaction, then couldn't resist grumbling.
"Su Yu, how come one Auntie can be so different from another?"
She poked at the leftover strawberry with her fork.
"If a cake this hard to get existed back in my own world, that unreliable Auntie Theresa of mine would've hidden in the principal's office and scarfed the whole thing down herself without a second thought. No way she'd go stand in line just to buy it for me."
"Now I kind of want to badmouth my original Auntie behind her back. This world's Theresa is way too gullible... no, wait, I mean way too good to me!" Kiana sniffled a little, visibly touched, as she said it.
Su Yu pulled out a tissue, wiped up the tea stain on the desk, and smiled as he spelled out the truth.
"That's just your Auntie's guilty conscience at work. She thought Otto and I were mistreating you before, and now that the truth's come out, she feels like she wronged a couple of good people — she's been racked with guilt ever since."
"Since she wants to make it up to you this way, you might as well accept her kindness. Otherwise, knowing your Auntie's personality, she won't be able to eat or sleep properly."
Kiana shot Su Yu an irritated look and hugged the little cake to her chest like a cat guarding its food.
"Tch, you have the nerve to say that? I don't even know whose bright idea it was to write me in as old Ancestor Kevin's little sister — and on top of that, this world's Siegfried's illegitimate daughter! Wasn't that whole mess your doing?"
Su Yu leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, looking Kiana up and down with a teasing edge to his voice.
"Oh? Looks to me like you've been suffering happily these past few days."
"Sure, the whole cover story's a little ridiculous, but Uncle Siegfried and your Auntie have been sending premium snacks over here every few days. You haven't exactly been going hungry, have you?"
Su Yu deliberately drew out his words.
"Classmate Kiana, your face looks a lot rounder lately. Careful, or you'll gain so much weight your Valkyrie armor won't even fit anymore."
The remark seemed to strike some raw nerve in the girl.
"That's ridiculous!"
Kiana bristled instantly, like a cat with its tail stepped on, springing up off the sofa and planting her hands on her hips to loudly defend her honor.
"I carry the noble blood of House Kaslana! The Kaslana digestive system is invincible! We convert every calorie straight into combat power! A Kaslana... never gains weight!!!"
The control room instantly filled with cheerful energy.
The corner of Sin Mal's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Help me.
There's more than one idiot like Susannah in this place?!
Once Kiana had settled down, Su Yu put away his teasing expression and turned serious.
He turned his gaze back to Susannah and Sin Mal, standing in the middle of the room.
"All right. Let's talk business."
Su Yu's long fingers tapped lightly on the desktop.
"Yesterday's final exam, you two both performed outstandingly. Opening your Genetic Locks especially puts you on a starting line far beyond ordinary people."
"I've already discussed this with Instructor Rita. I'd like to formally invite the two of you — once your five days of leave are over — to be assigned directly into the elite spearhead squad under Instructor Rita's personal command: the Immortal Blades."
Su Yu's gaze was deep and steady.
"That will be your true stage in the fight against the apocalypse. Are you willing?"
At the words "Immortal Blades," Susannah nodded eagerly, over and over, brimming with excitement.
"Yes! A hundred times yes!"
But beside her, Sin Mal fell silent.
She lowered her head, toe tracing idle patterns on the floor, a flicker of gloom passing through her eyes that most people would never have noticed.
"...Go back?" Sin Mal gave a self-mocking laugh. "To the orphanage?"
She had people she cared about, of course.
But...
"Since you've already told us that in five months this world will most likely be finished —"
Sin Mal looked up, a clear-eyed lucidity in her gaze.
"— then what's the point of going back at all? If I'm bound to die on some battlefield, if I'm bound to never see it through with them to the end... then I might as well never have seen them again in the first place."
"That way, in the end, there's no extra grief to carry."
That mix of clarity and pessimism made the mood in the control room sink slightly.
"That won't do!"
Right then, Susannah suddenly grabbed Sin Mal's wrist.
"If you don't want to go back to the orphanage, then for these five days — Senior Sin Mal, come home with me and see!"
Susannah's eyes sparkled, full of anticipation.
"Huh?!"
Sin Mal jerked as if electrocuted, trying to yank her hand back, only to find that Susannah's Genetic-Lock-enhanced grip was shockingly strong. She couldn't budge it an inch.
"Why the hell would I go to your house! Have you lost your mind?!"
"Because I want to formally introduce you to my dad!"
Susannah declared this loudly, utterly self-righteous.
"I want to tell Dad that not only did I survive this training camp where people actually die, I also made a good friend who looks out for me!"
"You absolute idiot!" Sin Mal's cheeks flushed bright red instantly. "What good friend?! Who wants to go meet your parents?! I'm not playing house with you! Let go of me, you weakling!"
Watching the two of them bicker and squabble across the control room, Rita, who had been standing off to the side this whole time, felt a faint touch of nostalgia surface in her wine-red eyes.
Once, long ago, in the world that had been hers, the Immortal Blades squad led by Lady Durandal had been just as noisy — just as vivid and full of life.
Rita walked gracefully over to stand before the two of them.
"Private Susannah," Rita said suddenly.
"Here!" Susannah instinctively let go and snapped to attention on the spot.
"As Chief Instructor, I'm now issuing you a special assignment for your leave."
Rita looked at Susannah, the corner of her mouth curving into a gentle smile.
"For the next five days starting today, you are Private Sin Mal's temporary commanding officer. I require you to bring her home with you, without fail, and make sure she experiences a true welcome as an honored guest. Understood?"
Sin Mal's eyes went wide as she stared at Rita in disbelief.
"Instructor, you — you're abusing your authority!"
"Yes ma'am! Mission guaranteed complete!!"
Susannah didn't give Sin Mal any chance to argue.
She snapped off a crisp salute, then threw an arm around Sin Mal's shoulders and hauled her toward the exit like dragging a struggling ragdoll cat.
Just before the door, Susannah suddenly turned back and flashed Su Yu a playful OK sign.
"Oh, right, Supreme Commander! I just remembered — there's a giant sapphire in the safe in my room, and it matches your eye color perfectly! I'll bring it back for you as a thank-you gift once my leave's over!"
"Let go! You idiot, Susannah! I'm not going! Not going!!!"
Sin Mal's furious shouts faded gradually into the distance as the control room's automatic door slid shut once more.
Rita stood where she was and gave a light clap.
She turned her head, fixing Su Yu with a faintly meaningful gaze.
"First Lady Theresa comes bearing a hundred-billion-yuan betrothal gift, and now Miss Susannah, heiress to a Middle Eastern gem fortune, offers priceless jewels as a token of affection..."
Rita bowed slightly at the waist, her tone thirty percent teasing, seventy percent outright mockery.
"My Lord Su Yu, you really are... quite the ladies' man."
Su Yu's expression darkened with exasperation. He rolled his eyes irritably, too drained even to fire back a retort.
Once the noisy crowd had dispersed, quiet settled over the control room once more.
Kiana brushed the cake crumbs off her hands, rose from the sofa, and stretched a long, luxurious stretch.
"Well, since the recruits are all off on leave," Kiana said, walking up to Su Yu's desk and planting both hands on it, "what should we do with these five free days?"
Su Yu had just opened his mouth, ready to lay out the mech mass-production and Valkyrie armor development plan he'd been plotting in his head for a while now.
But in that exact instant —
"BOOM—!"
Deep in Su Yu's mind, the shameless System he'd been endlessly cursing at suddenly erupted like ten thousand thunderclaps, bursting into an unprecedented blaze of golden light!
His entire field of vision was instantly blanketed by a dazzling stream of data.
[Ding! Time node reached!]
[Main Quest, Final Stage: "Honkai Impact 3rd: If You Don't Play, You're No Skyborn" — Settlement Channel now open!]
In this moment, the System's electronic voice shed every trace of its usual snark and shtick, turning solemn, as if announcing the dawn of a new era.
[Scanning global network data...]
[Assessing Cognition and belief levels of global netizens and players regarding the Honkai Impact 3rd worldview...]
[Cognition threshold has surpassed 90 percent! Worldview foundation successfully anchored!]
[Retrieving Host operation logs...]
[Calculating the extreme emotional fluctuations harvested from tens of millions of players worldwide — including core narrative figures such as Theresa and Elysia — through a series of ruthless gut-punch storytelling stunts, including "The Fall of Hyperion" and Himeko's Death in "Final Lesson"...]
Su Yu held his breath, both fists clenching tight without him meaning to.
He had waited for this moment far too long.
He'd shouldered curses across the entire internet — "scumbag developer," "cancer of humanity" — braved the risk of getting razor blades mailed to him and being hunted down across provincial lines, even made the people closest to him cry, all for this final settlement!
Golden numbers danced wildly across his vision, finally coalescing into a dazzling rating badge.
[Final judgment result generated!]
[Quest Rating: SSS-rank — A Perfect Harvest Beyond All Limits!]
[Congratulations, Host! Through a feast of tears and heartbreak that swept the entire globe, you have successfully secured the ultimate currency and world-correction power needed to stand toe-to-toe against the coming apocalyptic catastrophe!]
[Reward settlement in progress...]
[Massive amount of Emotion Points credited!]
[World Tech Tree restriction partially lifted!]
A low, resonant hum.
With one final long tone, the golden light before Su Yu's eyes dispersed like scattering petals, revealing a massive virtual panel radiating both sci-fi splendor and sacred majesty.
It was his final trump card in the fight against the Honkai.
[Ding! Valkyrie Cultivation System — officially activated!]
[Host, please review your currently bound Valkyrie targets immediately, and begin your path to salvation through cultivation!]
Su Yu gazed at the brand-new system panel flickering with a blue glow before him, hope reflected in his eyes.
He took a deep breath and, without hesitation, sank his consciousness into it, tapping open the icon that represented the Valkyrie Array.
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