Honkai Impact: The Dream Keeper

"you wanna die!"

Long Qiao held the dark sword Moonlight in her right hand. The baleful aura emanating from the sword dyed the entire street dark red. Behind Long Qiao, a black claw formed from the baleful aura even appeared.

Long Qiao took a step and instantly appeared in front of Karen, grabbing her neck with his left hand and slamming her against the wall behind him. Karen was also hit by the huge force and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Tell me…why you killed her…otherwise you will die a horrible death…” Long Qiao’s hoarse voice sent chills down one’s spine.

Seeing Long Qiao's state, Karen had no choice but to take out a bag from her coat and hand it to Long Qiao. After Long Qiao glanced at it, he let go of Karen.

Karen handed him something resembling a file. Long Qiao opened it and found data on an experimental subject, numbered A-872. Long Qiao silently studied the data.

In 1992, Experiment A-872, all the experimental subjects that had previously had all the fused Honkai Beast "Vishnu" cells added to dissolved. I judged that the "Vishnu" cells were too powerful and that other elements needed to be added to balance them.

I tried adding the energy of the Corrosion Key to the experimental subject A-872, and the result was surprising. A-872 not only did not dissolve, but also exhibited strange properties. She could inject bacterial Honkai Beasts into the bodies of those she was sucking through her blood-sucking behavior.

Within 48 hours, those infected by the bacterial Honkai Beasts will also be transformed into half-human, half-Honkai Beast beings. Unfortunately, the infected will lose most of their senses and their memories will become blurred. They will also experience the same blood-sucking urge as A-872. However, in return, they will be able to share life with A-872.

The infected individuals' blood-sucking behavior can positively impact A-872's power, and conversely, as long as A-872 is not under fatal threat, these infected individuals can gain near-eternal life.

It suddenly occurred to me that these bacterial Honkai Beasts might also have an effect on the dead? If... if that were the case...

That's all for now.

“Cough cough… This… this is the true face of a ‘vampire’,” Kallen said.

"...Never mind..."

Long Qiao deactivated his transformation and stared intently at the other person with his dark golden pupils. His rationality told him that everything Kallen had shown him was real, but if that was the case... what should he do about the faint pain in his chest?

“She knows all of this,” Karen added.

"go on."

“I followed A-872 here, originally hoping to seek Himeko’s help. I never expected that she was also one of the infected. I told her everything about A-872. I can’t imagine what difficult choices she went through.”

"But... she ultimately chose to die as a human being."

Faced with the girl's words, Long Qiao smoked one cigarette after another, but... his inner emotions still prevented him from calming down for a long time... At this moment, Long Qiao also realized that Ji Zi's choice was what she wanted to convey last night on the rooftop...

“I’m leaving. A-872 is still in this city. Next, I need to settle things with her.”

"what your name?"

"My name is Karen, and I'm just... a hunter chasing after the shadows of the past."

After saying that, Karen left, and Long Qiao slowly sat down, leaning against the wall. He lowered his head and lit another cigarette. His silver bangs covered the boy's face, making it impossible to see any emotion.

“Master… what should I do next? I… ultimately can’t save them… I want to save them… but… I can’t…” Long Qiao leaned against the wall, gazing at the stars in the night sky, unable to calm her emotions for a long time.

The streetlights shone on Long Qiao's figure, but on the wall behind him, Long Qiao's shadow was nowhere to be seen. In its place stood a red and silver Faiz phantom behind Long Qiao, with red and orange shadows on either side of the Faiz phantom.

"Phew... Even so... I won't give up... I will save them... even if it costs me my life!"

Long Qiao stood up, tied her loose hair up with a rubber band, and left. At the same time, a figure appeared in the shadows, turned his head and looked at the departing Long Qiao, muttering to himself.

“Long Qiao, this is the real you. I, Mo Ye, have made the right choice in making friends.”

The figure casually snapped a picture of Long Qiao's back under the streetlight before leaving.

After returning to her residence, Long Qiao looked at the contact information that Karen had given her before leaving, and her mood became increasingly agitated. She crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it away, then lay down on the bed to rest.

"Having so much power, yet still unable to save them... What should we do? Is that really the only way?"

Long Qiao pondered and pondered until she fell asleep...

"Why...is this happening?"

When Long Qiao opened her eyes again, the familiar maid was smiling at her once more.

"Are you looking for death? Get away!" Long Qiao forced herself to sit up.

"Lord Long Qiao, did you rest well?"

“Good…good my ass! I’ve lost so much, every time I’m just a little bit short, just a little bit!! I hate…I hate myself for not being able to go any faster, even just a little bit…but…just a little bit short…even activating the Ascension Transformation was just…just a little bit short…” Long Qiao shouted excitedly, but then she calmed down and sat back down.

"Don't be too sad, Lord Longqiao. What's lost can be recovered," the girl said.

“…You’re right, what I’ve lost…I’m going to take it back with my own hands!” Long Qiao said, holding the Kabuto insect instrument and the Hypa worm.

“That’s right, as long as… as long as we can take it back again, thank you for reminding me… Rita Losweiser.” Long Qiao calmly uttered the girl’s full name.

"Have you remembered everything, sir? It seems the synchronization of consciousness mapping has finally been completed."

"This means... I only have one last chance to observe... I must bring Yuexia back, and even if I can't, I must... send her off with my own hands..."

Long Qiao finally remembered the game character she had missed when she played the game – Moonlit Embrace.

"Wait a minute, I've got the Moonlight... but I don't think I've progressed through the storyline yet! Ugh, if I'd known I'd be time-traveling, I would have grinded the storyline like crazy!!"

"Theresa, Himeko... Do I really have a way to save them? No... no... I can definitely save them this time!"

"This time I will take down the Tycoon Sword, the Gochard Driver, and the Dragon Knight Fantasy Book. This time there is only one King Sword."

“Your mission is to find out a future where Lady Karen won’t die—you haven’t forgotten that, have you?” Rita said.

"How could I forget? But there's just one thing I don't understand. I didn't faint when Himeko was bitten, so why did I wake up here?" Long Qiao said, scratching his head.

"Because the reset of the observation node does not depend on your death, my lord. After that, Lady Karen failed to suppress A-872 alone, so..."

"Alright, alright, that's enough. Anyway, it's just about preventing Karen's death... I'll take care of it."