After spending a considerable amount of time in the simulation delving into biotechnology, Lunelle had finally, under the guidance of her soft-hearted, serpentine wife—who couldn't resist indulging her whims—managed to develop a targeted gene-modification serum in the simulation.
This serum was designed to effectively reduce excessive Honkai Energy concentrations at the genetic level, preventing patients from turning into zombies.
Although the clinical feedback from the simulation was quite promising, in reality, Lunelle couldn't be one hundred percent confident in its effectiveness without real-world testing.
The bigger issue was that, in the actual Honkai-infested world, Lunelle's identity was merely that of a Valkyrie student who had just enrolled at St. Freya Academy a month and a half ago.
Despite her formidable research skills, the resources at her disposal were painfully limited.
As the saying goes, 'even the cleverest housewife can't cook a meal without rice'—and that pretty much summed up her situation.
The most troublesome part was that Lunelle couldn't possibly explain how she'd transformed into a top-tier authority in biotechnology in just over a month.
For now, all she could do was sign up for elective courses related to bio-research and secretly work alone behind closed doors, like 'reinventing the wheel' in isolation.
Her plan was to start by leveraging her extensive theoretical knowledge to create some 'little gadgets' that wouldn't seem too earth-shattering.
Fortunately, Lunelle had foreseen that Instructor Himeko would be injured during the mission.
While she currently lacked the resources to produce something as advanced as a gene-repair serum, enhancing the existing Schicksal-made Honkai inhibitor serum with targeted improvements wasn't too difficult for her.
After all, after more than ten months of development in the simulation, Lunelle had become a top-tier 'tool' capable of assisting Dr. Mobius with the majority of her research tasks.
Even Mobius's former most efficient 'previous tool' had to marvel:
'I once thought Dr. Mobius was extraordinary enough, but I never imagined someone like Seele could exist—a figure even more prodigious than Dr. Mobius herself!'
Risking exposure of her unique abilities to Schicksal, Lunelle handed over the enhanced Honkai inhibitor serum she'd developed to Theresa, who appeared scatterbrained on the surface but was fiercely protective of her students.
Over the past two weeks, Lunelle had gradually revealed—or rather, performed—her extraordinary talent in biotechnology, so Theresa took her student's well-intentioned gift very seriously and immediately believed in the serum's enhanced effects.
Lunelle was almost left speechless, having prepared excuses to explain the serum's potency, only to find none were needed.
It had to be said that Theresa, an idealist who trusted those around her almost unconditionally, wasn't really cut out to be a leader.
If you believed everything people told you, anyone with ill intentions could easily take advantage.
They could sell Theresa off, and she'd probably still happily count the money for them!
But thankfully, the world of Honkai Impact 3rd was a two-dimensional one, and the main cast were mostly kind-hearted, lovely girls without malicious intent.
Even Otto, the only scheming mastermind capable of manipulating Theresa, happened to be a 'grandfather' who doted on his silly granddaughter.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this overly idyllic upbringing that Theresa had grown into the 'little adult' she was now—someone who, despite her age, remained naïve, immature, and often clung to innocent fantasies.
Still, since Theresa took it so seriously, it worked in Lunelle's favor.
After all, Lunelle couldn't bear to stand by helplessly every time someone she cared about got hurt.
After receiving news of the team's return, around the evening of the next day, Kiana's Valkyrie squad of four finally made it back home.
However, Lunelle noticed that Instructor Himeko wasn't among them; instead, they were accompanied by a heavily laden Fu Hua.
'Ah... Instructor Himeko really was badly injured, huh?'
Seeing this, Lunelle, who knew the story's progression, could guess why Himeko was absent.
"Kiana, Sister Mei, Bronya-oneechan—you're all back safe and sound?"
Even though she knew the truth, Lunelle had to put on the act of a clueless, adorable little thing.
So, upon opening the door and seeing everyone return safely, her initially slightly tense expression quickly melted into a small, pleasant surprise.
But no sooner had she spoken than a visibly dejected white-haired kitten, upon spotting Lunelle, seemed to burst with emotion and pounced on the adorable Seele right there in the doorway!
"Waaah... Seele! A living, breathing Seele! It's been so long since I've hugged a gentle, sweet Seele! Sniff sniff! Today, I'm gonna hug Seele until I'm satisfied! Hehehe, soft Seele, fragrant Seele, hehehehe."
"Huh?! K-Kiana! Wh-what are you...?!"
By the time Lunelle regained her senses, she found her sweet, soft self pinned to the floor in the doorway by Kiana, who was acting like a heat-crazed puppy—and in front of all her wives, no less!
At that moment, Lunelle was utterly stunned by Kiana's audacity.
Th-this isn't right, is it?
Aren't we still in a public space?
Even though Lunelle couldn't see it from a third-person perspective, just the keywords—doorway, pinned down, white hair—made her shudder.
Ugh!!!
Why did it suddenly feel like a scene straight out of that infamous 'Yosuga no Sora' moment?
And here Lunelle was, playing the role of the pinned-down Sora?!
No way!!!
I don't wanna be the Sora who gets pushed down!
If anything, I should be the Haruka who does the pushing!!!
"Eek!... Kiana... p-please don't do this."
"Hehehe, little Seele, a cutie like you was born to be devoured by me, hehehe!"
Sadly, no matter how much Lunelle struggled, she couldn't push away the heat-crazed, puppy-mode limited edition Kiana currently crushing her.
In the end, she could only be like a completely helpless little fish, utterly at the mercy of the cat.
Apart from pitifully whimpering and mewling with grievance, she couldn't muster any real resistance at all.
Hmm! Thinking of it that way, Lunelle, now pinned down by Kiana, really did achieve a certain kind of "I can't do anything!" accomplishment, didn't she?
But then, who could blame her? The Kaslana family's innate superhuman strength, passed down through generations, was just that absurdly overpowering.
Just as Kiana was about to do something even more unthinkable to Lunelle in front of everyone...
"Divine Fist... Sky-Shatter!"
A clear, cool, yet resolute voice suddenly rang out.
Class Monitor Fu Hua, having just set down her luggage, had stepped forward without hesitation and delivered a swift, powerful chop right to the back of Kiana's neck!
The force of that strike was so immense that the gust of wind it stirred up alone made Lunelle feel as if she were being buffeted by a strong gale, nearly blinding her.
Kiana: "Gah! X﹏X!!!"
After receiving such a heavy, justice-dealing blow to the back of her neck, Kiana—who had nearly committed an unforgivable sin in front of everyone—was instantly knocked unconscious.
Though Kiana was physically subdued and forced to stop her actions, a closer look revealed that her restless 'paws' had already slipped beneath Lunelle's clothes, tracing the infinitely lovely curve of her waist!
If Class Monitor Fu Hua hadn't intervened in time, those unruly 'paws' might very well have wandered somewhere quite indescribable.
"Wah... thank you, big sister, for helping me. May I ask what your name is?"
Seeing the frisky Kiana knocked out cold by Immortal Fu Hua's powerful 'strike,' Lunelle—who had nearly been forced to star in a live adaptation of a certain 'Yosuga no Sora' scene in front of all her dear ones—couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
Then, slipping back into Seele's role, Lunelle put on a well-behaved face and politely asked the name of the Immortal Fu Hua she already knew quite well.
"My name is Fu Hua. I am currently serving at Schicksal's Far East Branch as an A-rank Valkyrie and the class monitor of the Valkyrie Combat Class."
"You must be Lunelle, the student Principal Theresa has been praising so often lately, right? Nice to meet you. Please take care of me."
In response to Lunelle's polite inquiry, Fu Hua, the class monitor, adjusted her glasses and gave a very proper self-introduction.
Although Fu Hua was aware that this should be her first meeting with the adorable little Lunelle, when she caught the unusually sweet and delightful scent coming from Lunelle, she couldn't shake off a vague sense of familiarity.
But having long since burned away most of her memories, Fu Hua naturally had no way to use her remaining fragmented recollections to recall why Lunelle's scent felt so strangely familiar to her.
Fortunately, Fu Hua was, after all, an ancient piece of wood who had lived for tens of thousands of years.
Controlling her facial muscles perfectly was second nature to her, thanks to her professional training.
So Lunelle didn't sense anything amiss from Class Monitor Fu Hua.
"Mhm! Hello, Class Monitor Fu Hua... but... Mei-nee, Bronya-oneechan? Why didn't Himeko-sensei come back with everyone?"
Smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress caused by Kiana's forceful clinging, Lunelle's lovely sea-blue eyes showed a hint of confusion at Himeko's absence.
After all, since Theresa hadn't informed Lunelle about Himeko's condition, Lunelle naturally had no way of knowing in advance about Himeko's serious injury and hospitalization.
"Seele! Himeko-sensei, she... she suddenly had some urgent business to take care of, so she asked us to come back first..."
Faced with Lunelle's pure, innocent gaze, the gentle Mei found it somewhat hard to bring herself to explain Himeko's real situation directly.
But before Mei could finish her prepared 'white lie,' Bronya, who had been silent for a long while, suddenly spoke up, cutting off Mei's attempt to deceive Seele.
"Mei-neesama, shouldn't we be honest with Seele about some things?"
"Mei-neesama, you know very well how Himeko-sensei is doing. Even if we can hide it from Seele for a while, we can't hide it forever, can we?"
"And Mei-neesama, your expression right now is really, really terrible… If you really want to fool Seele with a white lie, please adjust your own mindset first before even considering it."
Reminded by Bronya's words, Mei's forced composure instantly crumbled.
She seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon, and the sorrow she had been trying so hard to bury deep within her heart surfaced uncontrollably on her face.
"Bronya-oneechan... is... is something wrong with Himeko-sensei?"
"Mhm. Although we successfully located the mission target during this operation, Major Himeko was accidentally controlled by the consciousness within the Divine Key when she came into contact with it."
"But just after we managed to temporarily subdue the rampaging Major Himeko, we were suddenly ambushed by Anti-Entropy forces..."
With a serious, duck-like pout on her face, Bronya quickly outlined the general events of their journey to the Chiyou Ruins to Seele, who appeared to know nothing.
Most of what Little Duck described matched the original course of events Lunelle was aware of:
Himeko was controlled after finding the Divine Key, the team was soon attacked by Anti-Entropy, and then, before the conflict fully erupted, they were swallowed by the suddenly awakened ancient Honkai Beast, Chiyou.
Then, the Valkyrie squad temporarily joined forces with the internal Anti-Entropy forces, and with the coordinated support from the Hyperion from the outside, they successfully resolved the crisis.
However, after listening to Bronya's account, Lunelle found it odd that while Bronya mentioned Anti-Entropy forces, she never once brought up anything related to Cocolia or Sin Mal in front of her.
Even when Lunelle timidly asked about who they had encountered from Anti-Entropy, Mei, who instinctively wanted to answer Lunelle's question, was abruptly stopped by Bronya.
Bronya's tone turned serious as she said, "It's better if Seele doesn't know about the dangerous matters concerning Anti-Entropy," using that as an excuse to cut Mei off.
Although Lunelle couldn't see Bronya's exact emotional state at that moment, she couldn't help but feel that Bronya was deliberately trying to prevent her from getting to know or come into contact with other members of Anti-Entropy.
This probably... wasn't just her imagination, right?
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.