Hua walked out of the hall and into the snowy ground outside of the orphanage.
The children were making a racket inside, making her head spin a little. No one seemed to notice her either. That was understandable. She was probably the oldest child here, with no peers. Even if there were, she probably wouldn't have anything to talk about with them anyway.
She missed Carol a little. Even though she was also loud and rowdy, she didn't dislike Carol. She didn't know how Carol was doing at Fire Moth right now...
After letting her mind wander for a while, she found an even more secluded corner. After making sure that no one was watching, she assumed a starting stance, as her father had taught her in her memories.
Her fists and palms moved back and forth, and her steps advanced. There was no sound of air being torn, and certainly no invisible gusts of wind, like in the novels—this was just ordinary ancient martial arts boxing. It was good enough for self-defense, but...
Just relying on this alone, she would still be unable to catch up with the others...
Hua finished the cycle of movements she had memorized, a warmth gradually rising in her body.
She wiped the thin layer of sweat from her forehead, and began the next cycle.
Since she had left home and went to Shanghai City to study, she hadn't been practicing her boxing or going on morning runs for a long time.
But during the tumultuous past six months, Mikael would always pull her out to exercise early in the morning, and would even seriously ask her to teach him boxing techniques.
"Hua, don't underestimate your family's martial arts. Perhaps it has lost many of its powerful techniques during its long transmission, but your ancestors did use this to fight. Maybe they even used it to fight the Honkai. You can definitely use your talent to recover the lost techniques... No, I think you can definitely develop your own fighting style, based on these ancient martial arts techniques."
"Don't underestimate these techniques. Back then, Sakura forced me to… Uh, use special methods to stop her, just with her swordsmanship."
"Hoo..." After finishing the second cycle of movements, Hua let out a long breath. Mikael's words had undoubtedly inspired her and pointed her in the right direction.
So… "They're still not back yet. I'll do another cycle."
Just as she was thinking that, she suddenly saw a long black line appear on the distant snowfield.
The distance was a little too far, but Hua stood on tiptoes and looked. It seemed like it was a group of people?
The old man in the lead was hunched over, slowly walking through the snowfield with the help of a tree branch. He was wrapped in animal skins from head to toe, and his long, white hair and beard spread out like a lion's mane.
The people behind him were all dressed the same way. Hua even wondered if they were a group of savages.
When the old man in the lead saw the orphanage that was far from town, he let out a long howl, then turned around and raised his hand towards the people behind him.
The group erupted into cheers, and then those people formed a circle right there in broad daylight and started to do a strange dance.
Hua looked at that dance twice. Her face was getting paler and paler. Finally, she couldn't help but bend over and vomit--
The savage's contorted dance, wasn't it the same dance that those villagers had done before they died in the village on the snowy plain?!
What were they going to do?
Hua didn't know, but her own preconceived notions kept reminding her: those people were dangerous!
No!
For a remote orphanage with elderly people, people with disabilities, and children, such a large group of people itself was dangerous!
She quickly ran back to the orphanage. In the hall, the children had finished their ruckus and were listening to Aponia tell them a story that was neither easy nor funny.
As such, Hua's reckless entrance seemed somewhat out of place.
"Hua? What's made you so nervous?"
"There's... some... people..."
Hua opened her mouth, but she didn't know how to accurately express her inner thoughts.
There was nothing she could do. In a moment of inspiration, she grabbed Aponia's arm and tried to pull her outside.
Aponia was instinctively resistant, but Hua's strong physique that she had gained from practicing martial arts for years reversed their differences in age and size. After Aponia realized this, she obediently followed her outside.
No, she didn't even need to get outside.
Hua had only just rushed to the door when she heard the shouting coming from the snowfield outside—they had completely broken formation, thrown down the big bags they were carrying on their shoulders, and were cheering as they rushed towards the orphanage!
"This…"
Aponia's already pale face turned as white as snow. What should she do?
Should she try to communicate with them? But what if they weren't good people?
Run? But what if they were not malicious, and were simply cheering because they saw a place they could stop after a long journey?
Hua's mind was also blank, but somehow, she stood in front of Aponia and, mimicking Mikael, turned her head to the side and said to Aponia:
"Quickly take the children and leave from the back. Go find Mikael and the others. I'll stay here."
"Hua... but..."
"If they're not malicious, I'll tell them that the others have gone out to play, and they can eat any food they want in the orphanage. If they are malicious... I'll hold them back until Mikael returns."
"Hua! You should come with us!"
"No."
Hua had already started to walk towards the approaching crowd. "If no one stops them, how can a group of children possibly outrun a group of adults?"
"Hua!"
Aponia shouted, but Hua's pace was slow but firm--both in terms of time and space, there was no room for further discussion.
She had no other choice but to quickly organize the children, who still had no idea what was going on, to evacuate.
Hua stood alone in the snowfield. She closed her eyes slightly, stood with one foot in front of the other. She placed her right hand in a fist at her lower back, and then held her left hand up in a palm in front of her chest, the tip of her palm pointed straight at the onrushing crowd.
After a moment, she opened her eyes:
"Stop!"
She roared, but it seemed to have no effect.
Those people were shouting in a language she didn't understand as they rushed towards her.
"Calm down! Hua! Think carefully about what Mikael would do!"
Her legs were already shaking a little, but if Mikael was by her side, he would definitely tease her:
"Look, Hua! It's not every day that you see a scene of twenty people rushing towards you!"
He had the right to tease her like that because those people were just a problem that he could solve with a wave of his hand… In fact, they didn't even qualify to be called a problem.
But Hua was different. Just like she had thought countless times before: "I'm just an ordinary girl, not even a soldier. I don't have the genius of Vill-V and Mobius, I don't have Sakura's reliability, I don't have Elysia's charm and strength. I'm not even as good as Pardofelis, who is good at gathering information and bringing good luck."
She could hear her trembling and rapid breathing. She could hear her heart pounding faster. It was no different from the scenes in her countless nightmares--
Well, there was a difference. For example, she couldn't feel the warmth that that person had when he stood next to her.
"If it was Mikael, Kalpas, Kevin, or even Elysia, Mobius, Vill-V, or Sakura, any one of them could easily solve this possible problem. Even if Pardofelis was standing here, she would have countless tricks to slow these people down or to lead the children to safety through shortcuts."
"But the person standing here now is me, not any one of them. I'm standing here, and I can't hide behind Mikael or the others forever. If I do that, I'll never be able to catch up to him, or them!"
So, when those savages screamed and pulled rusty, bloodstained daggers from their clothing and charged at Hua, there was a slight surprise in her heart. It wasn't out of fear. It was more of a surprise that she didn't have the fear that she expected, the fear and retreat that she expected.
Just like Mikael had done countless times before, she had blocked others from harm. Even though what she was facing wasn't Honkai beasts, but malicious strangers.
And soon, even those thoughts were wiped away. Her mind became empty, like the surface of calm water.
All that she saw, and all that she thought of, were the boxing techniques that she had once forgotten, and that she had been practicing hard recently.
"I'm Hua, and I also have things that I can do!"