"To think Yae Sakura was inside this?..." The gentle breeze before nightfall lifted Theresa's long white hair. Theresa gently tucked away the flying snow-white strands, her gaze fixed on the dazed Li Xuan's hands.
"..." Li Xuan didn't immediately answer Theresa's rhetorical question. He stared somewhat blankly at the blood-red, magatama-shaped jade stone in his hand...
The Blood Jade in his hand, like 'Danying', was an item taken from the Golden Silk Nanmu box. As for its origin... Li Xuan didn't ask and didn't plan to ask Yae Sakura... After all, everyone has their secrets, why must everything be revealed?
Just like Yaoye-hime, who by coincidence hosted her soul in her two glass hair ornaments, Yae Sakura had hosted her soul in this magatama-shaped Blood Jade...
'Don't worry, I will definitely resurrect you... Sakura.' Li Xuan thought to himself, looking at the blood-red magatama in his hand, his right hand gripping the warm Blood Jade tightly.
"By the way, student Li Xuan..." Theresa put on the hood of her nun's habit again, the chains of 'Judah's Oath' slung over her shoulders as she slowly walked beside Li Xuan...
"I'll give you the ten thousand Honkai energy crystals when I get back..." Theresa said, seemingly nonchalantly, as she gazed at the sunset clouds on the horizon.
"But... I hope you don't do anything dangerous..."
"Mhm, thank you then, Principal..." Li Xuan smiled and with a flick of his hand, made the Blood Jade in his palm disappear... He had stored the Blood Jade in the much safer ring. As for the dangerous things Theresa mentioned... he more or less understood what she meant.
"Also... try to use your 'Judah's Oath' as little as possible at the academy..." Theresa said seriously. "After all, if too many students see it, it'll be a bit hard to explain."
"Mhm, okay." Li Xuan nodded. He was quite grateful for Theresa's reminder. After all, if the ability to create weapons was casually exposed, who knew if someone would want to dissect Li Xuan for research?
"There's one more thing I need to tell you..." Theresa pondered for a moment before speaking again. "As one of the rare male transfer students at St. Freya High School... I hope you will do your absolute best in the upcoming mid-term exams..."
"Mhm..." Li Xuan responded. He understood that Theresa's meaning was that she hoped he could get a good grade to prove himself.
"Before long... St. Freya High School's Infinite Abyss will be opening." Theresa patted Li Xuan's shoulder encouragingly and said, "The prize for first place is quite substantial..."
"Prize?..." Li Xuan looked at Theresa with a blank expression. He honestly hadn't heard of this Abyss or any prize.
"Mhm... you'll know when the time comes." Theresa covered her mouth with a mischievous smile, deliberately keeping him in suspense. "I think you might be able to fight for a good ranking..."
"??" Li Xuan was completely bewildered.
....................................…
"..." A petite figure sat by the spaceship on the grounds of Senba Academy, looking troubled. With her arms crossed, she looked helplessly at the iron-clad spaceship before her, which she couldn't dismantle at all.
"Sigh~" She let out a human-like sigh, her eyes glanced disappointedly at the wrench and other tools she had thrown to the side. These were the tools she had just tried to use for dismantling... but they were completely useless; she couldn't take apart the aircraft before her at all.
"..." The petite figure sat in a daze for a while, then suddenly took out a dried fish from the large bundle on her back... Seemingly having taken out the wrong thing, the petite figure frowned, fiercely threw the dried fish in her hand into her mouth and chewed, then reached into her bundle again and took out... a book.
Under the sun... the book's cover read—"Fundamentals and Principles of Machinery"...
"..." The petite figure looked seriously at this repair manual. Although she didn't fully recognize the words in the book, she felt that reading this at this time was the right thing to do!
"Hm?!" Suddenly, the petite figure's ears twitched slightly, causing her to raise her head and look towards the wall not far away. She had clearly heard someone coming.
The next moment, in her line of sight, a golden cross was suddenly thrown high from outside the wall. The golden cross traced a perfect parabola in mid-air, its iron base hitting the ground with a dull thud, standing firmly on the field.
"!" The petite figure, quickly coming to her senses, was startled. She then hugged her large bundle and ran to hide in the gap between the spaceship and the grass.
Outside the walls of Senba Academy... Theresa and Li Xuan were also preparing to climb over the wall again. As for why they didn't use the main gate... it was because it was too much trouble... Because of the appearance of the pseudo-Fourth Herrscher, a bunch of Honkai Zombies were still gathered at the gate, wandering around like ghosts...
".Principal Theresa, you are truly strong."
"As an S-Rank Valkyrie, this is a small matter!~"
"Are all Valkyries monsters?"
Li Xuan was a bit dazed as he once again watched Theresa, despite being only 1.45 meters tall, casually throw the 152-kilogram 'Judah's Oath' over the wall.
"Alright... let's go in." Theresa clapped her hands, and with a leap, she jumped and flipped over the wall. Her movements were fluid, as if she was very skilled.
"..." Speechless, Li Xuan followed and jumped in as well.
"Student Li Xuan, what's for dinner tonight?"
"I don't know..."
The two continued their meaningless conversation as they walked quickly towards the silver transport ship parked on the field.
"Pssh!" After Theresa took out a remote and pressed a button, a dull sound of air pressure was heard from the silver transport ship as it slowly opened.
"Let's go, let's go... We can finally go home. I want to eat Mei's dinner made with love!" Theresa smiled like a child and bounced into the spaceship.
"Isn't Mei's dinner made with love for Kiana?" Li Xuan retorted as he slowly walked into the spaceship.
"?!" Li Xuan suddenly looked down at his feet. Why did he just have a feeling that something furry had brushed past his pant leg?!
"What's wrong?" Theresa turned around and asked Li Xuan, who was standing at the cabin door in a daze.
"Mhm... No, it's nothing..." Li Xuan shook his head and said. It was probably just his imagination. How could there be any 'living' things in this godforsaken place...
So, as Li Xuan slowly walked towards Theresa, he didn't notice a few barely visible brown hairs stuck to his pant leg...
(End of chapter)