Honkai Impact: The Dream Keeper

"Does it hurt?" Bronya stopped walking and suddenly looked at Long Qiao and asked.

"What?" Long Qiao also stopped and asked.

"Do your tattoos and scars hurt?" Bronya asked Long Qiao again.

“How long has it been… It seems that apart from Lu Ziyang, almost no one cared about my life or death before… It’s all in the past now, it doesn’t hurt anymore…” Long Qiao couldn’t help but feel a little moved as she listened to Bronya’s words.

"...How did sand suddenly get in my eye...?"

Long Qiao suddenly picked up Bronya gently and rested her head on Bronya's shoulder. Compared to Long Qiao, who was 1.88 meters tall, Bronya, who was 1.47 meters tall, looked like a little loli.

"Wow! Qiao Ge got an A! He got an A!" Zhang Qing, who was standing to the side, got excited when he saw Long Qiao's actions. He shook the hand of the speechless Mo Ye and kept pointing at Long Qiao and Bronya.

"Thank you..." Long Qiao suddenly whispered, pressing her cheek against Bronya's.

"...Quick...Quickly put Bronya down, and what are you thanking...thanking for?" Now it was Bronya's turn to be shy, her whole face turning red from Long Qiao's sudden attack.

"It's nothing... just... thank you for being in my life." Long Qiao said with a smile, looking at the shy Bronya.

"I...I understand, you can put Bronya down now..." Bronya said this but did not make any movement, and she said it in a low voice.

"Good~"

After teasing her, Long Qiao gently placed Bronya on the ground again. Looking at Bronya's current state, Long Qiao couldn't help but smile again.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Qiao Ge... he really knows how to flirt with girls. I wonder how many people will be interested in him..." Zhang Qing smacked his lips and said.

"There's nothing I can do, it's innate, you can't learn it," Long Qiao said with a smile as she walked over.

As the group walked and talked, the children, who had discovered the priest was missing, rushed over in a panic.

"Hey? Bronya, why is your face so red?" Seele asked as she rushed over.

"...It's nothing...it's probably from being cold...um," Bronya said guiltily.

"Oh, I see. Then Bronya, you should take care to keep warm."

"Okay, Seele."

Long Qiao couldn't help but laugh at the excuse Bronya had made up. Then, together they took the unconscious priest back to the orphanage. Long Qiao and Zhang Qing, exhausted from the day, collapsed onto the sofa and fell asleep. Late at night, Bronya came out to check on Long Qiao, only to find that he had fallen asleep on the coffee table instead of the sofa. Bronya smiled and took out a camera from the spatial necklace that Long Qiao had given her before, taking a black photo of Long Qiao. Afterward, she moved Long Qiao back to the sofa and covered him up again, as he always kicked off his blankets. Zhang Qing was only covered up as well.

The next morning, Bronya and Seele were woken up by Theresa's knocking. Long Qiao and Zhang Qing also rubbed their eyes and sat up unsteadily. Mo Ye was already awake.

"Ah~ why do I feel a bit sore all over? It's like I was beaten up in my sleep," Long Qiao said, rubbing her aching back.

"Maybe it's because you're a restless sleeper," Zhang Qing said after thinking for a moment.

"Bullshit! I don't move at all when I sleep," Long Qiao shouted.

"..."

Just then, Bronya, Seele, and Theresa walked over and happened to hear Long Qiao's voice. Bronya almost couldn't help but laugh when she heard it, after all, last night someone had fallen asleep on the coffee table instead of the sofa (yes, on the coffee table, lying on their side with their body on the table and their head hanging in the air).

"Bronya? What are you laughing at?" Long Qiao asked, puzzled.

"It's alright, let's go see Joachim." Bronya gave Long Qiao a meaningful look before leaving, and then went to Joachim's room.

“…No, something’s wrong.” Long Qiao said, and then followed.

Upon arriving at Joachim's room, he found it empty; Joachim had left without saying goodbye to anyone.

“He’s gone after all,” Theresa said.

"It's alright. He can run away for a while, but he can never run away forever," Long Qiao said nonchalantly.

“Oh, right, Qiao, you also have Xiaoqing, Moye, Bronya, and Seele. The priest has something to say to us,” Theresa said.

Zhang Qing, Mo Ye, and the other three who had just arrived exchanged glances before following Theresa to the deepest room in the orphanage.

The blond man lay on the bed, struggling to turn his body towards them, crimson marks spreading across his body as if to tear him apart.

"What's going on? Where's my Orphnoch healing ability? It shouldn't be like this."

"Host, this is because the world is automatically correcting itself. It cannot allow the priest to live, otherwise the plot cannot proceed."

"World correction? Tch... annoying stuff."

“Theresa, it seems my crucifix has fallen into the snow,” the priest said weakly.

“Father, you should rest first. I’ll go find it for you. Next week, no, tomorrow, I’ll take you to the town hospital. You’ll get better…” Theresa said anxiously.

“It’s alright, no need. Has Joachim… left?” the priest asked.

“Yes, he’s gone. He’s already left.” Long Qiao’s words broke the silence.

“Indeed,” Mo Ye said.

“Is that so… I understand how he feels. The person who made him an orphan… was me,” the priest said.

“That wasn’t the priest’s fault,” Theresa replied.

"Right and wrong cannot answer all the questions in this world. I always ask myself, was there another way to save his father at that time? But no matter what I think, on that day, I still chose to kill him."

“Perhaps I saw my past self in him… the self I wanted to end,” the priest said.

"Father..."

Theresa seemed to know what the priest was going to say; she wanted to say something, but then swallowed it back.

"Qiao-ge... I feel so depressed..." Zhang Qing whispered in Long Qiao's ear.

“Normal… In this world, all of this is normal…” Long Qiao said in a deep voice.

“I have also come into contact with taboos and tainted the power of evil, causing... no, killing many innocent people, but the saint stopped me and rescued me from that abyss.”

“We escaped the organization together and sealed the source of evil in a secret place, but we were both cursed, and she died two years later. On her deathbed, I asked her if she regretted making that choice.”

"And now, I will convey her answer to you. 'A person will experience three stages of growth in their life. The first is understanding right and wrong; the second is understanding that some things are not simply right or wrong; the third is, after understanding that some things are neither right nor wrong, still firmly doing what you believe in and taking responsibility for it.'"

The priest's eyes gleamed, his tone calm yet trembling slightly. Perhaps he was recalling something, something that time could not erase.

"System, is there really no way to save them?"

"No... because the world can self-correct."

"hateful……!"

“I buried her in a foreign land and established an orphanage here. I understand Joachim’s confusion, or rather, I was once just as confused… Therefore, I respect his choice.” The priest’s voice grew weaker and weaker…

“Father…” Theresa said, her voice trembling with tears.

"Ha... children, I can't go back. I've made too many mistakes. All I can do is take responsibility for my past."

"But... thankfully I still have you all. Thank you for allowing me to find happy and warm memories when I look back on the past."

“Father...you'll be alright…”

"Man is so insignificant in the face of death... Wait a minute! Didn't I become a god? When I leave this place, I'll secretly resurrect the priest and scare them to death, hahahahaha!"

"...Host, I've also forgotten that you're a god..."

“Joachim…did you hear that?” Bronya suddenly said.

crunch--

A young boy walked in; it was Joachim.

“…Joachim?” the priest said incredulously.

“…Father, you lost this cross last night, so I found it.” Joachim said, holding the cross.

"You said you would give it to me."

Joachim held the cross tightly, like a child guarding his precious treasure.

Long Qiao: Is there something seriously wrong with your narration? Isn't Joachim just a child? Are you spouting nonsense literature here?

Beside: This has broken down the dimensional barrier!

Long Qiao: What's it to you?

"I'm still very confused and don't know what to do in the future. But there's something I absolutely want to say—"

Upon hearing Joachim's words, Long Qiao also turned his head and glanced at him sideways.

“I am willing… I am willing to take this step, to take over this orphanage, to take over your responsibilities,” Joachim said.

"So please continue to be my family, and don't lead me down the wrong path...!" Joachim said, his voice trembling with suppressed sobs.

Then Joachim collapsed to the bedside, tears streaming down his face. Theresa said nothing, but simply hugged him gently.

“I believe in you, Joachim. I believe you will find your own way.”

The priest gripped the pendant tightly in his hand, and the light in his eyes seemed to grow even brighter.

“I have fought the good fight…I have finished the race…I have kept the faith you have believed in…”

"Well, it's my turn..." Long Qiao said in a voice only she could hear.

"Don't rush, Father...did I say you would die?"

Just then, the golden light in Long Qiao's eyes grew brighter and brighter, and the marks on the priest's body suddenly disappeared, with green light covering the priest's body surface.

"The power of God!" Long Qiao's expression turned serious. He reached out with his right hand and grabbed at the void in front of him. The priest's body miraculously recovered.

"! I... I'm not dead?" The priest, pulled back from the brink of death by Long Qiao, opened his eyes in shock.

This sudden scene shocked everyone.

"Hah...hah...as expected...the side effects are still quite severe..." Long Qiao said weakly after withdrawing her power, then leaned back and gasped for breath.

"Damn! I just remembered, Brother Qiao, you've become a god." Zhang Qing slapped his forehead and said in sudden realization.

“I forgot too,” Mo Ye said, a rare occurrence for him.

"Okay, I just remembered that too. Alright, let me get some rest."

Suddenly, a white light enveloped Long Qiao, Zhang Qing, Mo Ye, Bronya, and Seele. In the white light, Bronya returned to the corridor of the Sea of ​​Quanta.