Weird Honkai Impact: Chasing Husband Crematorium

Chapter 3: The Living Dead

Riku had a stern expression and stared calmly at the door of the broadcasting room.

"This is a ghost with human consciousness. It's mixed in with the crowd. There may be other reasons for gathering all the survivors in the house..."

"If that's the case, then this ghost is much less dangerous than I expected. After all, a ghost that can't actively kill people can't threaten me."

"The most urgent task right now is to find the ghost and confine it, and then rescue the people trapped in the room. Although I don't know what the ghost's purpose is, it's always right not to follow its ideas."

Thinking of this, Riku took a deep breath, raised his hand, and gently knocked on the door of the broadcasting room.

He didn't dare open the door.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The crisp knock on the door echoed in the quiet corridor.

A hoarse male voice came from the broadcasting room. The voice was very heavy and did not sound like a normal young person's voice.

Saint Freya's students should all be in their teens, and the oldest should be in their twenties. The lifespan of a Valkyrie is far shorter than that of a normal person. In their twenties, they have to face the problem of their body functions not being able to keep up, as well as the price of forced retirement.

Teacher Himeko is an example.

'There's something wrong with the person behind the door.'

Just by hearing the sound, Riku had already made his conclusion.

This is an intuition, a keen intuition that comes after experiencing a lot of strange things.

At least in this world, no one understands weirdness better than Riku.

"Squeak..." A friction sound was heard, and the door was opened. The small broadcasting room was crowded with students. They had messy hair, were skinny, and their tender faces were full of fatigue, their eyes dull.

The lights on the roof flickered dimly.

If a normal person stays in this kind of atmosphere for a long time, their mentality and psychology will undergo a great change.

There is not much food and drinking water, and there is only one teacher for seventeen students. With this kind of behavior, everyone else should be considered normal.

"Students, come in quickly, there's a ghost outside!"

The teacher urged in a rough voice, waving his hand to let Riku enter the broadcasting room.

The other students also showed expressions of fear on their faces, and some of them echoed the teacher's voice.

But Riku did not go in. He smiled slightly, pretending to be ignorant, and teased: "Teacher, you are so old, do you still believe that there are ghosts in this world? I am a staunch materialist and I don't believe that there are things in the world that cannot be explained by science."

The teasing was just to distract attention. Riku reached into the bag inside his clothes and took out a silver coin.

[A coin with some strange pattern: throw it, and the ghost will definitely pick it up.]

(TL: Where's that coin come from?.... DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT~)

Riku flicked his finger, and the coin flew into the crowd in the broadcasting room.

He was now roughly certain that there was something wrong with this teacher. The voice was the same as what he heard before the door was opened. Just now, he was the one who took the initiative to open the door and was eager to go in.

Of course, you shouldn't rely entirely on your intuition unless it's absolutely necessary.

So currently, there is a lack of substantial evidence, and Riku is now creating that decisive evidence.

He threw the coin into the crowd. Under normal circumstances, the teacher who opened the door would not pay attention to such behavior.

After all, it's just an insignificant coin and not worth much.

Even if a gold coin was lost, in this weird atmosphere, no one would care too much. It is not as valuable as a bottle of water.

A normal teacher would have talked to Riku at this time and would not care about so many things, let alone rush into the crowd and go to great lengths to look for the coin.

But at the moment when the coin fell to the ground, the teacher who opened the door had a dazed look in his eyes, lost focus, turned around stiffly like a machine, and walked slowly towards the crowd...

"Director?"

A student couldn't help but shout out, but he was unconscious and walked to where the coin was like a zombie, then bent down and picked it up.

When he picked up the coin, he came to his senses, "eh? I...what happened? Sorry, I just saw this coin and couldn't help but want to pick it up, so student outside, please come in, the broadcasting room is safe, we have been here for more than ten days and nothing happened."

In an instant, Riku put away his frivolous smile, and his eyes turned cold.

He placed his right hand on his waist, ready to pull out his gun and shoot this guy in the head at any time.

There is no sign of the coin being broken...

You can come in.

In fact, the best option is to stand outside the door and shoot this teacher... Oh no, shoot this unknown director. If he doesn't die from the shot, everyone will naturally know what's going on.

But judging from his reaction just now, this middle-aged man called Director didn't even realize that he was a ghost.

If it was a ghost in disguise, then Riku could not guarantee that he would hit it at this distance.

'And there must be a reason why the ghost locked so many people in the house but didn't kill them. I have to find a way to get these future Valkyries out.'

"Okay, I'll come in."

Riku decided to go in and deal with it later. The person who opened the door was not him, but a ghost. The other students were able to go in safely, so there was no reason for him to die.

Sure enough, after Riku came into the broadcasting room, the tragic scene of people falling to the ground was not repeated as last time, but the director quickly closed the door.

The entire broadcasting room suddenly became dark.

The director walked up to Riku and said patiently:

"Student, what's your name? I've never met you before. By the way, if you need to go to the bathroom, there is a separate bathroom in the broadcasting room, but it's best to store it... After all, you know that there is little food and water."

"There are ghosts wandering around in the school, and many people are dead outside! Only the broadcasting room is safe!"

"Ah... When will the rescue from headquarters arrive..."

The director kept talking, and there didn't seem to be much problem with his words. He had both the generalization ability of a leader and the complaints of an ordinary person. He didn't look like a ghost at all.

But Riku, who had a keen sense of smell, smelled the stench of the corpse from the person in front of him.

But it was perfectly masked by the strong smell of nine-turn large intestine. If you hadn't been dealing with corpses for a long time, you wouldn't have been able to smell it at all.

Judging from the intensity of the corpse odor, the person in front of him has been dead for about ten days.

Riku replied calmly: "Before I answer, can you tell me your identity information? It is a basic courtesy to state your identity before asking others."

The director was curious about Riku's indifference but didn't pay much attention to it.

Still patiently speaking, "It is like this, I am the Director of Studies of this school, Ikeli Shawei."

Riku walked up to Ikeli and held out his hand: "Give me back the coin first."

Ikeli was stunned for a moment, then smiled apologetically: "Haha, sorry, I forgot, this is your private property and I shouldn't have taken it away. But in this situation, we can't buy anything even if we have money, and food is already in short supply. If the headquarters doesn't come to support us, I'm afraid all of us will die here."

After saying that, Ikeli returned the coin to Riku.

Riku turned around and faced the students huddled in the corner. Their face was scorched and pale, and their eyes were bloodshot.

"You think so too? You think he is the director of studies?" Riku asked.

"Um..."

"Um..."

"Um..."

Without exception, more than a dozen students said "Hmm."

Ikeli felt a little unhappy at this moment, and he didn't know why he suddenly felt uncomfortable.

From when he was outside the door just now to now when he entered the door, this young man did not take him seriously at all.

Even if it's a test, there has to be a limit, right?

'I have already introduced myself, but he is still holding back and showing no respect for his elders. In this situation, we should trust each other!'

Thinking of this, Ikeli felt a little rushed, walked up to Riku, and asked: "Student, are you doubting my identity? Can I make up an identity? All the students here know that there is no possibility of fraud. Isn't it normal for a school to have a director of studies?"

Riku glanced at the dean and said slowly, "It's normal for a school to have a dean, but where is this place? The Far East Branch, Saint Freya Academy, is a place dedicated to training Valkyries."

"There is no need for a director of studies here. There are only three roles: teacher, dean, and student. So where does the role of director of studies come from?"

After Riku finished speaking, all the students couldn't help but look at Ikeli.

Ikeli himself was a little confused.

Yes, this is Saint Freya Academy, where Valkyries are trained...

Why is there a director of studies?

"Wait, there must be some misunderstanding here! My students all know it!" Ikeli turned around and wanted to explain.

When he turned around, all the students began to move away from him.

"You don't think I'm a ghost, do you? If I were a ghost, I would have killed you all long ago! We've been together for so many days and no one has died. Do you still want to doubt me? Isn't the person who should be suspected the most this person who suddenly entered the academy?"

"You know, the headquarters also sent support before, but they all died at the hands of the ghosts wandering around the school. Why was this person able to see us safely?"

Ikeli was very anxious and tried hard to prove that there was nothing wrong with him.

But the more anxious you are, the more problems you will encounter.

But the students didn't buy it. They gradually realized that their cognition and memory were wrong. How could Saint Freya have a director of studies?

Saint Freya has only three identities: student, teacher, and dean, and this is engraved in every student's mind.

It was just that some strange phenomenon caused their cognition and memory to have illusions, making them think that there was another director of studies.

Therefore, when Riku pointed this out, all the students suddenly realized and woke up completely.

Ikeli roared loudly, and when he saw that his explanation was ineffective, he turned around and wanted to point the finger at Riku.

"And you, you are..."

Before Ikeli could finish his words, a silver-gray pistol was pressed against his forehead.

Riku placed his index finger between his lips and made a gesture of silence.

"Shh, be quiet, I know you're anxious, but don't be anxious yet."

(TL: Hey there! If you're enjoying this fanfic and want to get early access to more chapters or explore some of my other works, feel free to swing by my Patreon. You'll find plenty of advanced updates and maybe even some exclusive content waiting for you~ 

link: patreon.com/Elysia_Husband)