While Hua Yi was lost in idle thoughts about whether he should start exercising properly to strengthen his body and nourish his health, time slipped away. Morning classes ended, followed by a brief lunch break, and then the afternoon session began.
During class with his beautiful homeroom teacher, Hua Yi received a notice: the school intended to give him the only annual internship spot at ME Corp.
ME Corp was a world-renowned giant. As long as one didn't make major mistakes and performed normally during the weekend shifts, this internship was practically a guarantee of future employment. Naturally, it was incredibly precious.
However, as the only male student in this year's cohort, Tachikawa Academy looked after Hua Yi well. They assigned him the spot without much trial, and the female students raised no objections when they heard the news.
Long ago, due to a contagious disease known as the Honkai, the male population began to dwindle rapidly. First, male newborns died for various reasons; then children and the elderly, whose constitutions were barely better than infants'; and finally, even robust adults.
From one in ten to one in a hundred, and now to a staggering one in a thousand, the surviving males became a rarity. They were looked after and given preferential treatment in all walks of life.
Simultaneously, because a vast number of women could not find male partners, they began looking toward their own gender, some out of necessity and others with delight. With the help of technologies like IVF, humanity cleverly bypassed the issue of procreation, though it meant that yuri vibes were becoming increasingly prevalent.
Of course, none of that mattered to Hua Yi anymore. The moment he received the notice, his idle fantasies vanished. His gaze remained fixed blankly on the invitation for the internship, specifically on the abbreviation of ME Corp printed there ME.
Nagazora and ME Corp. These two terms, combined, finally triggered a flood of memories.
Once upon a time, Hua Yi had also been a "wise janitor who can do aerial splits."
Right now, Hua Yi had no time to reminisce about the beautiful Valkyries whose affection he had painstakingly raised on his bridge. He wanted to know only one thing.
The so-called disease was the Honkai. And the Third Honkai Impact the disaster that would turn the vast city of Nagazora into a dead zone how long until it appeared?
Even though he had spent countless hours on the game, even though he knew every Valkyrie's combat style by heart and felt he understood the plot well enough, Hua Yi still couldn't pinpoint the exact time the Third Honkai Impact occurred in his memory. For a player, such a specific number was rarely worth memorizing.
Just as the other students in the class were cheering for his internship at ME Corp, and just as Hua Yi was agonizing over the Sword of Damocles that could fall at any moment, a few faint words suddenly flickered before his eyes.
"Friendship Supply unlocked. First 10-pull is free."
In the game, what could one actually get from the Friendship Supply? At best, character fragments, and usually for the weaker characters at that. An old veteran like Hua Yi had practically forgotten it existed; even when he accumulated enough Friendship Points, he was often too lazy to pull.
But at this moment, these few words and the crate behind them were the most beautiful sight in the world to Hua Yi.
In the world of Honkai, those without power were nothing but background characters. Hua Yi didn't believe he could survive the coming disaster based on his male status alone. On the contrary, to some extent, the Honkai held a greater malice toward males otherwise, there wouldn't be so few of them in this world.
Having confirmed that others couldn't see the prompts, Hua Yi didn't touch the "10-pull" button. Heaven knew how the items would manifest. For now, he could only wait for school to end, planning to investigate further once he returned to his dormitory.
He was even worried that his Golden Finger might be a one-off. He didn't dare click the close button in the top right corner of the virtual interface, fearing it might never reappear.
Over the next hour or so, Hua Yi's vision was a dizzying mix of the real world and the Friendship Supply interface. He forced himself to endure it. If he asked for leave now, he didn't think he'd just be allowed to go home early;
he suspected his overly concerned homeroom teacher would personally escort him to the hospital. That would waste even more time than just waiting for school to end. He could only remain calm and wait.
During that wait, he reached a conclusion: his Golden Finger wasn't sentient. Otherwise, there would have been some other prompt during all that time. This meant he had to figure things out on his own.
Much like how the Friendship Supply hadn't appeared immediately upon his transmigration, but only after he secured the ME Corp internship and realized this was the world of Honkai, Hua Yi still wasn't sure what the trigger conditions were.
Hua Yi's dormitory was located off-campus. Almost the instant the final bell rang, he stood up. He politely but firmly declined the invitations from several girls to have dinner and hurried back to his room.
The walk to school usually took him over ten minutes, but he made the return trip in only eight. Had he not wanted to avoid drawing attention or concern, he might have sprinted.
The emotional turbulence he felt before this Friendship Supply pull was far greater than anything he'd felt while spending money on gacha in his previous life.
After all, one was just a game entertainment, in the end. This, however, was a matter of survival. Now that he was in the world of Honkai, how could he be content with being a mere ordinary person, defenseless against the Honkai?
Should he flee Nagazora before the Third Honkai Impact and find some remote corner to live out his life relying on his rarity as a male? If there were absolutely no chance of gaining power,
he might have been forced into that choice. But now, with the appearance of the Friendship Supply this tiny sliver of hope Hua Yi no longer wanted to slink away in defeat.
When the Honkai descended, where in this world could one truly find a sanctuary? Rather than running, Hua Yi wanted to try and face it.
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