Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 400 Modernism and Atheism

Later that evening, the Hyperion was en route back.

"Himeko-neechan, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Having quickly regained his energy, Qiong naturally couldn't stay in his room. With nothing else to do, he decided to stroll around the ship, and as he wandered...

He was captured by Himeko.

Once caught on the bridge, Sora stared at Himeko, his voice almost trembling. His outstretched finger trembled slightly as he pointed to the documents in Anna's hands, which were almost as tall as herself, and the thick stack of to-do lists in her hands.

"All of these?"

Feeling guilty, Himeko turned her head to the side, put down the document, and tidied her hair.

"That's right, all of them, and according to Major Himeko, this is only the first part..."

Qiong was speechless.

Is this a normal workload? It's already more than all the previous workloads combined, isn't it?

"That major, well, maybe..."

At this moment, Anna chose to stand on Qiong's side; the workload was indeed excessive.

"Um……"

Himeko stepped closer, picked up one of the lists, and casually flipped through it.

"Hmm, this workload is indeed unusual for an ordinary captain or leader. But don't you have that pen, Sora? You should make good use of any tools you have~"

Himeko's gaze fell on Sora, carrying an undeniable expectation.

"Besides, these paperwork tasks are just to familiarize you with the operational details of various departments on the ship and hone your patience and attention to detail..."

Himeko patted the shoulder of a gray-haired man who looked utterly hopeless, the force neither too light nor too heavy.

"I believe that with your abilities and that pen, you'll have more than enough time to finish most of the work before returning to St. Freya... Good luck, I'm rooting for you. See you at dinner!"

After saying that, she waved gracefully and disappeared at the end of the passage.

Qiong sat in the chair, feeling as if the gravity system on the Hyperion had suddenly increased several times, rendering him unable to move. He looked down at the list, as if he could see countless words "overtime" flying before his eyes.

Now he was really regretting it. Why did he have to go out and wander around by himself? He could have gone to find Mei or Bronya to play games, or at least dragged Kiana, who was about to take a nap, along. It would have been better to have someone to share the good times and the bad!

As for the quill pen? Please, is that even his thing? He doesn't even know how to use it! Besides, his intuition tells him that he probably won't be able to use it anytime soon, given his need to deal with Leiera!

Oh, right, I need to see Uncle Yang when I get back. I should at least let him know.

"Let's cheer each other on, my poor captain."

Anna patted Qiong's arm sympathetically and handed her a data panel.

"Here, this is the database access key for the historical logs. And... the coffee machine is on the right side of the lounge. It's said that Lady Theresa recently ordered a new batch of coffee beans with particularly noticeable energizing effects."

Qiong took the cold data panel, took a deep breath, and tried to face the even colder reality.

"Senior, do you think it's too late for me to resign now?"

Regardless, Qiong finally resigned himself to his fate and picked up the quill pen. The pen was cold to the touch, but he still felt at a loss.

"Um... Qiong, can this pen really help you finish your paperwork quickly? Like magic, can it automatically finish writing with a wave of your hand?"

Qiong shook her head, then nodded.

"As far as I know, it seems to work? But I don't know how to do it..."

Qiong paused, trying hard to recall exactly what the girl named Xilian had said.

"Is it the veil or the blankets that unveil memories?"

Qiong frowned, struggling to piece together Xi Lian's words in his mind. He hesitated, placing the pen on the paper and concentrating on the first task on the list. However, the pen remained motionless, as if mocking his clumsiness.

"It seems it's not that simple."

Qiong sighed. Just as he was about to give up and finish the work manually, the pen suddenly started moving? The quill pen seemed to have a mind of its own, guiding Qiong's hand to write quickly on the paper, the handwriting neat and smooth. Before the two of them could react, a report was already completed.

Wow! It worked!

Qiong jumped up excitedly, and Anna also looked surprised and delighted.

"Wow, that's amazing! Let me check if it's written correctly! At this rate, these documents will be..."

Anna hadn't finished speaking when the quill pen suddenly stopped on the paper.

It drew a few crooked circles on the paper as if it were drunk, and then with a "thud," it fell straight into Qiong's palm.

"Uh, this is..."

Qiong carefully poked the pen, afraid of breaking her lifeline.

However, the quill pen did not respond.

"Maybe it needs charging? Is it using Honkai energy or electricity? Sora, did you bring a charger?"

Qiong didn't answer, after all, where would she get a charger for this thing!

"I'll try again!"

Qiong focused her mind again, trying to establish a connection with the pen.

"Lift the veil of memory, stir up ripples of the past!"

The pen tip flashed slightly, then slowly scribbled out a few numbers on the paper: 093.

Qiong and Anna looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Qiong, what does 093 mean? Do you know?"

Qiong shook her head honestly.

As if to answer Anna's question, the quill pen added tremblingly.

"093, EGO? What does that mean? Where did you buy this quill pen? Is it sentient?"

Anna asked Qiong in disbelief, but Qiong immediately denied the "spirit" part.

"Senior, let's talk about science! What era are we living in? You don't still believe in ghosts and gods, do you? Just so you know, I'm an atheist."

"Qiong, you'd better call yourself a modernist instead of an atheist."

Noticing a small problem with Qiong, Anna kindly reminded her.

What's the difference between the two?

"Yes, after all, we are a church organization by name..."

Anna awkwardly adjusted the beret on her head.

"Let me put it this way, in our hometown of Norway, the modern Valkyrie refers to a Valkyrie who works for Schicksal but never prays. That's fine, but atheism... well, we usually mean Anti-Entropy. Be careful with your wording, or you might be mistaken for a spy!"

Qiong: ...

How should I put it? I've gained even more useless knowledge.

However, rather than analyzing 093 and EGO and continuing to listen to Anna's useless spy identification tips, Qiong would rather try to activate the quill pen and make it work again.

Unfortunately, no matter how Qiong tried to manipulate the quill pen, it remained unresponsive.

Is it broken?

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Let me try again! Uncover the secrets of the past..."

This time, the quill pen reacted. However, instead of writing on the paper, it suddenly burst forth with a soft yet bright pink light. The light flowed from the entire pen, spreading through the slightly chilly air of the bridge.

The light gathered and stretched in front of Qiong and Anna, eventually outlining the petite figure of a young girl.

The girl had short pink hair and bright, sparkling eyes. She looked around curiously, and finally her gaze fell on Qiong, where she smiled sweetly.

"You, you, you! You are..."

Qiong looked at Xi Lian who suddenly appeared in front of her, her hand trembled, and she almost dropped the quill pen on the table.

"Qiong, what kind of quill pen is that?"

Anna found it hard to understand why a quill pen could project the image of a girl, and she couldn't understand why Sora would buy a pen with a built-in projector—and Sora seemed even more surprised than she was.

Xi Lian tilted her head slightly, seemingly somewhat confused by the situation before her.

"so……"

Anna's gaze shifted back and forth between Qiong and Xilian.

"What exactly is this...?"

"Mimi!"

Amidst their astonished gazes, the girl ran to Qiong's side and, ignoring Qiong herself and Anna's protests, took her arm.

"How could you..."

Qiong tried to break free from Xilian's grasp, but Xilian held on even tighter.

"Mmm~"

Xi Lian chuckled and increased the force, leaving Anna dumbfounded. After a moment, she realized something was wrong—regardless of whether it was a spirit or something else, she needed to separate herself from Qiong first!

Completely clueless, Anna only knew one thing: Qiong wanted to break free of her restraints, so she had to help her!

But Anna soon realized that she couldn't touch the little girl, while Sora seemed to be able to feel something...

----------

Unlike her "good brother" Qiong, who was working hard, Kiana Kaslana was curled up in bed without any regard for her image, covered with a blanket with a Houmu pattern, her long white hair spread out everywhere, fast asleep.

A slight smile played on her lips, as if she were having a sweet dream—perhaps of Mei's delicious cooking, or maybe of dominating the game with Bronya. Her regular breathing was exceptionally clear in the quiet room…in any case, it stood in stark contrast to the raging storm in the mind of a certain gray-haired youth on the bridge.

She rolled over, smacked her lips, and mumbled something indistinctly.

"Fried chicken...don't run away..."

In her dream, golden, crispy, and steaming fried chicken seemed to have grown legs and was running happily across a field made of fries and hamburgers. Kiana herself transformed into a nimble white cat, chasing after it relentlessly, her mouth practically watering.

Just before she grabbed the fried chicken, a pink puppy suddenly appeared not far ahead. It stretched out its paw and cut off the chicken leg, rendering the fried chicken unable to rise again.

The wary Qi Maomao initially thought it was an enemy trying to steal her food, but the pink puppy waved to her, flew up and bowed to her, then flew away without looking back to a large tree in the distance—under that tree, a raccoon was fast asleep, holding a baseball bat.

Qi Maomao watched the pink puppy fly towards the raccoon, her mind filled with questions. Suddenly, a large dark cloud drifted over the tree where the raccoon was, and a bolt of lightning struck the tree squarely...

After that, Kiana couldn't understand what was going on. Another white cat that looked exactly like her suddenly appeared, grabbed the raccoon's tail, and forcibly dragged it away, appearing right in front of her.

Can you understand this?

Wow, the other white cat's voice sounds just like hers!

Seeing Qi Maomao's reaction, the other white cat slapped itself with its paw.

Sigh, sometimes I really envy my past self when I knew nothing...

"You are me from the future? What are you talking about?"

Time is limited, so let's keep it brief! The future doesn't matter; the most important thing is that it's your own choice.

Kiana suddenly realizes that the white cat has turned into...herself?

It's a version of myself that's even bigger than myself!

In that person's words...

Kiana suddenly pointed at her, revealing a serious expression.

When you have the opportunity to make a choice, don't let yourself regret it, don't be like me! Sigh...

"What... Ah!"

Kiana woke up with a start, sat up abruptly, and slammed her head against the bedside table.

"It hurts!"

Kiana covered her head, looking around sleepily—she was still on the Hyperion, and it wasn't even dinnertime yet.

Hmm...why is it so noisy outside?

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Four hundred chapters!

I must admit one thing: on the day I started writing the book, I never imagined I would reach four hundred chapters...

Even more unexpectedly, after writing 400 chapters and 1.2 million words, I still haven't reached where the dream began...

By the way, I feel that Mimi's body and Xilian's consciousness are not fun—so for now, I've switched them up, hehe.

Finally, can anyone give me some advice on currency wars? I usually use Wolf Hunt + Pursuit now, but I just can't seem to beat the advancement (it takes almost half an hour to get a C grade, it's infuriating!).