Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 197 Illusion

Let's go back to when the plan first started, when the captain was already preparing to infiltrate Kiana's consciousness space.

After putting on his helmet and lying on the hospital bed next to Kiana, the captain signaled to Tesla that he could begin.

Tesla didn't waste any words and started the device directly. After a series of dazzling scenes, the captain successfully arrived in Kiana's consciousness space.

This is Changkong City, a Changkong City that has not been eroded by the collapse.

Since the end of the Second Honkai Impact, no more Honkai events have occurred globally, suggesting that humanity has truly defeated the Honkai.

Gradually, Destiny and Anti-Entropy began to transform and develop towards the entertainment industry, while the fight against Honkai never stopped.

However, due to the lack of observation of any Honkai events over a long period of peace, the Valkyries of Schicksal gradually lost the will to fight against the Honkai. Therefore, Schicksal chose to develop the entertainment industry in order to maintain the organization's huge expenses.

As for the Valkyries, Destiny offered two options: one was to retire directly and receive a sufficient retirement allowance, thus completely leaving the Destiny organization.

Another aspect is the idolization of Valkyries. During peacetime, as an idol, daily training is of course still essential. However, compared to the previously tedious and demanding physical training, the additional dance and singing training is much easier.

Moreover, these training sessions also significantly reduce the time available for physical training, allowing some Valkyries who are weak in physical fitness to get a breather.

This is some basic information the captain obtained after invading the Destiny system after entering this illusion. Moreover, according to the Destiny Valkyrie's file, Cecilia does not seem to have sacrificed herself in the Second Honkai Impact. In other words, Kiana's family still exists in this world.

So how do we deal with Kiana's original identity as K423? If Cecilia were also alive, at least Otto would not dare to experiment on the real Kiana, Durandal, and Siegfried would have no reason to betray Fate.

Just as the captain was still pondering, a familiar silver glint flashed across his eye.

Following the silver figure, the captain saw a familiar one. Before he could go up and greet him, he saw another identical figure appear before him, along with Mei and Bronya.

"My sister is too slow!"

"I'm sorry, Rita needed to talk to me about something, so I was delayed. Please forgive me, Diana."

"I see," the captain instantly understood what was going on through their conversation.

It seems that the one named Diana is the Kiana I'm looking for, while the other one is most likely the real Kiana created by the Herrscher of Knowledge based on Kiana's inner desires.

(From now on, Diana refers to K-Chi of this world, and the Herrscher of Knowledge of this world is referred to by the abbreviation Herrscher of Knowledge.)

Just as the captain was thinking about how to naturally step forward and greet them, Kiana's voice appeared in his ears.

"Excuse me, sir, is something bothering you? I've noticed you've been standing here in a daze for quite a while."

The captain then realized that Diana and the others had come to his side without him noticing. Although Kiana said that she was standing there in a daze, the captain knew that it was actually because his gaze was too obvious that they had come up to ask him why after staring at him for a while.

However, this also saved him the trouble of knowing how to approach the captain and speak. After thinking about what he wanted to say, the captain spoke.

"Well, I'm a tourist who just arrived here. It's my first time in Changkong City, and I'm having trouble deciding where to go. Do any of you have any recommendations?"

"Oh, okay? Why don't you go to Houmu Amusement Park?" Diana said. "We're going anyway, how about we go together?"

"Is this really a good idea for Diana?" Mei asked worriedly. "If the headmaster finds out you're inviting a stranger to come along, you'll get scolded again."

"It's okay, it's okay. I don't know why, but I just feel like I can trust this guy. And as long as you don't tell her, my mom won't know."

"Mom?"

"Yes, Diana and Kiana's mother was the headmistress of St. Freya Academy."

"St. Freya Academy? You're students from that famous Valkyrie and Idol Training Academy?"

"Uh…"

Kiana scratched her cheek awkwardly. She knew that passersby would react this way when she mentioned the school she attended. She could already imagine what the captain was going to say next.

"I heard that it's full of female students, and most of the staff are also women?"

She knew it, but Kiana could also sense that the captain didn't have that disgusting desire; instead, he was full of curiosity.

To be honest, the captain is quite curious about why there are almost no male staff members in this fantasy world, since the real St. Freya Academy doesn't have that many female staff members.

However, Kiana clearly didn't want to explain too much. To put it simply, it was because there were idol training projects, and she deliberately reduced the number of male employees to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

Seeing this, the captain decided to stop while he was ahead and didn't press the matter further. Diana, as if remembering something, asked the captain.

"Oh right, I haven't asked your name yet, sir."

"My name... yes, call me Jian... don't call me Xuanyuan Xin."

"Xuanyuan Xin, yes, I'll remember that! My name is Diana Kaslana, nice to meet you!"

"Same surname Kiana Kaslana."

"Thunder and Lightning Meiyi."

"Bronya Zajcek."

"Yes, I've remembered them all."

After a brief self-introduction (just padding, not really), everyone arrived at the station, and after waiting for a while, they arrived at Houmu Paradise.

After buying tickets and entering Houmu Paradise, the captain keenly noticed that this Houmu Paradise was somewhat different from the real one.

Perhaps because the Diana in this world never actually went to Houmu Paradise, there are still some flaws in the details.

Perhaps he could make a move in this direction, so in the following period of time, the captain shamelessly invited the others to play with him.

The captain was surprised that others would agree. Could it be because Diana secretly wanted to go to the Houmu Park with him?

To be honest, the captain still doesn't understand why Diana has such a high level of affection for him. He hasn't done anything particularly to increase her affection, and he hasn't spent much time with Diana, so logically his affection shouldn't have increased much.

This leaves only one possibility: that Diana had a very high initial level of affection for him, which is what the captain couldn't understand.

Why would Diana have such a high initial level of affection for someone she had only recently met? Keep in mind that it was more than the level of a close friend; with a little more effort, she could have easily won her over.

However, the captain didn't want to resort to any substitutes, and since he couldn't possibly take Diana of this world with him when he left, he hadn't made a move on Diana. Most importantly, if he were to actually try to win her over, he would be letting down his Kiana.

Therefore, the captain abandoned the most efficient method to awaken Diana and instead opted to use suggestion to make her realize that something was wrong on her own.

However, this method is too inefficient, and whenever the captain is about to succeed when only he and Diana are left, the others always appear at just the right moment.

After being stopped multiple times, the captain realized that he could not speed through this illusion. As the sun set, the captain bid farewell to Diana and the others at dusk.

After realizing he couldn't awaken Diana alone, the captain turned his attention to Fu Hua. Since their consciousnesses shared this space due to the Feather Dust, could it be inferred that Fu Hua was also inside this illusion?

To figure this out, the captain will need to investigate, but it's unlikely to be Changkong City. From what I recall, Fu Hua attended a school in Tianqiong City during her student days in the previous civilization.

If we extrapolate based on her age at the time, Fu Hua would most likely be of college age. However, these are just the captain's speculations, and we still need to investigate within Sky City to see if it's true.

Without hesitation, the captain booked a ticket to Sky City. By the time they arrived, it was already late at night. Considering that Fu Hua was unlikely to respawn at that hour, the captain booked a nearby hotel for the night.

As for where the captain got the money to buy ship tickets and book hotels, it can only be said that a kind of wild monster called "hooligans" will randomly spawn in the alleys of Changkong City. Defeating them will earn you a considerable amount of money. This is also recorded in the urban legends of Changkong City.

The captain obtained initial funding in this way, and then used his hacking skills to obtain a legitimate identity, which enabled him to successfully arrive in Sky City.

Over the next few days, the captain visited various universities and nearby parks, finally confirming the university Fu Hua was attending.

Golden Academy—that's the university Fu Hua attends. Coincidentally, the school's principal is none other than Eden. The captain has also confirmed Eden's appearance; he is indeed identical to the Eden of the previous civilization. Moreover, before becoming the academy's principal, this Eden was also a world-class pop star.

From this, we can infer that this is most likely a character created based on Fu Hua's companions. Since this illusionary world already has Eden, are there other heroes in existence?

So, the captain, having already come this far, began investigating, and the investigation did yield results. There was a luxury villa online called Golden Courtyard that was advertising for tenants, and this Golden Courtyard was an asset of Eden Group.

The captain of the renter also learned the names through the renter list, and as he guessed, they were all familiar names.

After confirming this information, the captain understood the next plan: first, to infiltrate the Golden Academy and awaken Fu Hua, which could be done by finding a job posting for the Golden Academy online.

He then sought an opportunity to contact Fu Hua through a job fair, ultimately aiming to awaken her and collaborate with her to revive Diana.

A week later, the captain appeared at the recruitment event at the Golden Academy.

The captain was surprised to find that Eden would be conducting the final interview himself, which made him feel quite flattered. Eden noticed that the captain was a little nervous and comforted him.

"Don't be nervous, my friend. Here, it's just Eden, the interviewer. You just need to act as usual."

"Good, good."

Although the captain's words still carried a hint of nervousness, he had calmed down considerably, so Eden picked up the captain's resume and began asking questions.

"Mr. Xuanyuan Xin, is that right? May I ask why you chose our school? After all, your resume says you are a veteran. With that status, you shouldn't have to worry about finding a job."

"It's simple, because your school offers a high enough salary." At this moment, the captain also showed the temperament that a soldier should have. "There was no other way, because I was still very young back then and had just been discharged from the army. I always thought about doing something big, but I ended up getting ripped off and left with a mountain of debt. Now, only your school's salary can satisfy me."

Eden pondered for a moment, clearly agreeing with the captain's statement. After all, young soldiers who are out of touch with society after serving in the military are easily deceived, and every year quite a few veterans are swindled out of their entire discharge pay.

She then asked, "So what made you choose to retire? According to your resume, you've served in the military for seven or eight years and are a seasoned veteran. It should have been easy for you to stay on."

"Well..." The captain hesitated to speak, "Actually, there was some unexpected trouble at home that caused me to owe a lot of money, so I had no choice but to leave the military. Even if I used all my discharge pay to pay off the debts, it wouldn't be enough. So I thought I would use the money to start a big business, but I never expected to be so badly beaten by society. I lost almost all the money I invested."

“I see, I understand the situation. But I have a question. Why did you choose a cleaner instead of other professions, such as a security guard or a physical education teacher? You know, I don’t value teachers’ governance here; what matters most is a person’s skills and character.”

"You yourself said that although you don't value teachers in governance, you still need them eventually, so I didn't initially consider applying for a teaching position. As for security, I've looked into the members of your school's security department. They are all retired top mercenaries, and I've run into quite a few of them. I think it's better not to go there to avoid unnecessary conflicts."

"I understand, but I still hope you can change jobs. After all, a cleaning job is too much of a waste of your talents."

Having said that, the captain understood that if he didn't agree, the other party would lose face, so he finally agreed.

Thus, the captain successfully infiltrated the Golden Academy as a physical education teacher, and breathed a sigh of relief after leaving the conference room.

After all, half of his resume was a lie, so it was impossible not to be nervous when he met Eden, a top-tier star captain. Fortunately, everything went relatively smoothly.

In order to make what he said in the interview more authentic, he spent a lot of money to build good relationships with the security department of the Golden Academy. Even if Eden went to the security department to check, he would most likely get the same answer.

After all, mercenaries are a bunch of money-grubbing types. Even though they've retired, Eden is offering high enough prices, so who would refuse an opportunity to earn some extra cash? Especially when the price isn't low.

What the captain didn't expect was that Eden would make him a physical education teacher. Originally, he had only planned to be a cleaner to create more opportunities to run into Fu Hua.

But this is good too, as being assigned to Fu Hua's class will give me more opportunities to interact with her.

The next day, the captain's expression froze when he learned which class he was in charge of.