"Why is it so dark at home?"
Raiden Mei saw from afar that the villa where they lived was pitch black, with no lights on at all, and even the curtains seemed to be drawn.
"I... I don't know, maybe..."
Kiana said, looking left and right, with a guilty expression like a thief.
"Idiot Kiana, the teachers went to a meeting today."
Bronya tapped Kiana on the head with the Honkai toy in her hand, interrupting Kiana's solo performance.
"Ah, right, right, I forgot."
Kiana nodded quickly, feigning sudden realization, then swiftly turned to Mei.
"Alright, let's go back quickly, Mei, I'm starving, I want to eat fried chicken wings."
She said, pushing Mei forward.
"Kiana, don't push me, I know, I know."
Although Mei felt Kiana was acting strange today, she didn't think much of it, as Kiana was strange every day.
Fu Hua, who was following behind, silently pushed up her glasses and followed.
"Seriously, Kiana, didn't you eat enough lunch today? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Mei took out the key, twisting the doorknob, and asked curiously.
"After all, Kiana can't do anything but eat."
Bronya's timely retort interrupted Kiana, drawing her attention to herself.
"Ahaha…" Seeing the two people start bickering again, Mei chuckled twice, opened the door, and walked into the dark villa.
As soon as she pressed the switch next to the doorframe, at the moment the room lit up, the sound of three party poppers exploded simultaneously, and colorful paper strips rained down on Mei.
"Happy Birthday, Mei!"
Takatsuki stepped forward, took the backpack from Mei's hand, and placed it aside, while Himeko took a birthday hat and placed it on Mei's head. Theresa ran behind her, pushing the still-stunned Mei forward to the head seat.
"Everyone…"
Mei herself had forgotten her birthday, and she hadn't expected such a surprise: "Thank you, everyone."
Looking at the table laden with dishes, it was clear that this birthday banquet had been prepared long ago.
"Happy Birthday, Mei."
Kiana hugged Mei with a grin, then was pulled away by Bronya.
"Happy Birthday, Mei."
"Thank you, Kiana, thank you, Bronya."
Fu Hua also walked over. Although there was no change in her expression or tone, she still offered her blessings.
"Thank you, Class Monitor."
Mei sat down in the chair, looking at the table full of dishes, all of which she had never seen before.
"Who made all these?"
Himeko then said with a smile, "Takatsuki prepared all these. And he was the one who reminded everyone about your birthday. You see how lazy he usually is, but I didn't expect him to be quite good at cooking."
At this moment, Takatsuki also pushed a small cart with a large cake over: "I don't know how to cook many dishes, just some common Shenzhou home-style dishes. Everyone, please try them."
If it were Takatsuki's own skill, it would naturally be very ordinary, but he had a cheat!
The character pool could not only draw other actual powerhouses; after all, only A-rank had supernatural energy, while B-rank below that were exceptionally skilled in a certain technique, and C-rank were completely ordinary people.
Takatsuki selected a B-rank chef character card from it to make this table of dishes and the cake in his hand.
"Alright, come blow out the candles."
Seventeen candles were placed on the cake and lit one by one: "Happy seventeenth birthday, Mei."
"Thank you, Takatsuki…"
"Thank you for always being by my side…"
The latter half of the sentence was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, not attracting anyone's attention.
A group of people, amidst laughter and joy, celebrated Raiden Mei's first birthday banquet since she and her father left.
Theresa also seemed to be less hostile towards Takatsuki recently.
For example, when they were in the hot spring, she no longer chased Takatsuki back to his room, but Takatsuki had nothing much to do either. The mission hadn't refreshed, and he didn't dare to go to the World Bubble for fear of Bronya detecting fluctuations.
He could only sit in front of the TV playing games. The newly installed sliding door perfectly isolated the laughter from the hot spring. Takatsuki also took advantage of them being in the hot spring to have the Shadowkhan Soldiers clean up the dining table, and then he started playing games.
"Let Bronya teach you how to play."
Takatsuki hadn't played this game much and was clearly bad at it. Then Bronya came, and Takatsuki was thoroughly beaten.
"Are you sure you're here to teach me and not to abuse me?"
Takatsuki's skill was so poor that he would lose even against the computer, so he naturally couldn't beat the famous Project Bunny 19C.
"Bronya is teaching you the essence of the game."
Bronya snorted, then whispered, "I'll come find you tonight."
And then Bronya really came that night…
"If there's something, couldn't you just say it during the day? Is it necessary to do it late at night?"
After letting Bronya in, Takatsuki saw Bronya take out two purple crystals from the Honkai she always carried with her.
"Here, Honkai Energy crystals."
"These? What are they for?"
Takatsuki took the purple crystals Bronya handed him and scratched his head.
"Bronya can absorb crystals through her body to recharge Project Bunny 19C, so Bronya thinks you should be able to as well."
Absorb crystals?
Takatsuki squeezed the crystals in his hand. Very hard!
How do you absorb these?
Just as he was wondering, he suddenly received a prompt.
Detecting external unowned energy, absorb?
There wasn't even an option. Takatsuki had just thought 'yes' when he saw the Honkai Energy crystals in his hand turn his arm purple as if fading, then quickly disappear.
And Takatsuki also saw his instance charging jump to 370% after absorbing two crystals.
Can this stuff overflow!?
Instance charging complete, can continue charging, or can be started directly. Instance charging directly affects instance strength.
"Bronya, do you have any more crystals?"
Takatsuki glanced at her, then asked.
"Not enough?"
"Not enough."
Bronya nodded: "There's one more. I'll go get it. Wait a moment."
As soon as Bronya jumped off the chair, Takatsuki spoke up: "Wait, Bronya. When you go get it, remember to change into comfortable clothes. After it's charged, we'll depart tonight."
"Bronya understands."
While Bronya was changing, Takatsuki secretly knocked on Kiana and Mei's doors. After hearing about the second trip, neither of them refused. They changed into suitable clothes and came to Takatsuki's room.
Then Bronya saw that there were suddenly three people in the room.
"Wait, Takatsuki, are you planning to bring this little squirt along?"
Kiana immediately asked when she saw Bronya.
"Yes, and the travel expenses for this trip are generously sponsored by Bronya."
Bronya glanced at the others and said nothing, instead handing the Honkai Energy crystal in her hand to Takatsuki. After absorbing the crystal, Takatsuki's charge reached 503%.
503 is a good number, enough for a hundred pulls.
After glancing at the number, Takatsuki said, "Everyone get ready, it's starting."
He pressed the instance button, and the system prompt arrived as expected.
Instance system activated. In ten seconds, others within a three-meter radius centered on the host will be teleported as teammates. If the number of people within three meters exceeds four, the four closest to the host will be teleported. Please prepare.
"Teleporting in ten seconds, range three meters."
"9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"