Su Yu opened his eyes.
A faint woody fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose.
It was a scent Su Yu knew well—the top-shelf aroma Eden always favored, laced with notes of expensive leather and amber.
He instinctively wiggled his fingers. The texture beneath them was real silk, so absurdly smooth it hardly seemed real.
The first thing to enter his vision was the tasseled chandelier on the ceiling, assembled from countless tiny fragments of crystal.
"Mmn…"
Su Yu mumbled and went to stretch, only to suddenly notice that the humidity in the air felt somehow off.
Something warm was pressed against his chest.
His gaze slowly came into focus.
And then.
Su Yu's heart, which had only just returned to a normal rhythm, nearly stopped dead on the spot because of the scene before his eyes.
An enormous, full, swell of white, straining the fitted dark maid's blouse until it looked ready to burst apart at the seams.
The distance was so close that the mature, uniquely feminine body heat wafted directly against the tip of his nose.
Su Yu could even make out, beneath that thin layer of fabric, the supple contour rising and falling with each breath, and the heart-stopping curve carved out by the crisp collar.
Before his brain could even reboot from this massive visual assault—
A gentle female voice, one that felt oddly terrifying in this particular moment, descended right against the tip of his nose.
"You're awake? Lord Su Yu, three minutes earlier than the medical equipment predicted."
His eyes traveled upward, past that snow-white shadow.
Into view came a head of neatly styled flaxen short hair, carrying an air of mature charm.
And a pair of eyes brimming with a tenderness and guilt so intense it made his scalp crawl.
Rita Rossweisse.
Schicksal's S-rank Valkyrie—the "Death Bringer of Ice" who, by all rights, should have been hacking him to pieces with a scythe back in that abandoned building.
And right now, she was half-kneeling at the edge of the bed, a steaming white towel in her hands, about to wipe down Su Yu's shoulder.
Those wine-red eyes no longer held their former murderous intent and madness. Instead, they carried a submissiveness and guilt that was almost excessive.
Su Yu froze completely.
Two seconds later.
Every hair on his body stood on end in an instant.
"Why are you here?"
He instinctively tried to shrink backward, but the moment his body moved, he realized the space beneath the covers felt terrifyingly empty.
A cold draft instantly slipped into the sheets.
Su Yu looked down, and his pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks.
He wasn't just naked.
He didn't have so much as a single thread that could be called a fig leaf left on him!
There, atop that snow-white silk bedsheet, he lay completely exposed, utterly bare, before this high-ranking operative of a "hostile faction."
One second.
Two seconds.
The entire room fell into a deathly silence.
Su Yu practically scrambled on all fours to yank over that heavy velvet blanket, clutching it desperately over his chest like a maiden fending off ravishment, his once-pale face flushing crimson all the way to the back of his ears.
The formerly harmonious atmosphere of medical recovery had, in an instant, transformed into the scene of a full-scale home invasion and attempted molestation.
It looked exactly like the aftermath of some sleazy predator's handiwork.
Rita maintained that half-kneeling posture.
Faced with Su Yu's grief-stricken, terror-stricken expression, Rita showed not the slightest hint of panic.
She set down the hot towel in her hand and, in the same motion, cupped that beautifully sculpted chin with one hand.
Those wine-red eyes, without the slightest reservation, swept once more across the outline of the abdominal muscles revealed where the corner of the blanket had slipped.
"Please do not worry, Lord Su Yu. As a proper attendant, caring for a master recovering from severe injury is simply part of my duty."
The corner of Rita's mouth curved into an elegant, understated arc.
She lowered her eyelids slightly, her gaze seeming to linger for a meaningful instant on a certain specific spot beneath the covers.
"Furthermore. I must admit, as a male specimen, you truly possess an impressively substantial endowment. Even in the most finely printed anatomy textbooks, one rarely encounters a sample quite so magnificent."
She leaned in a little closer, her tone carrying a scalp-crawling, sly, teasing wickedness.
In that instant, Su Yu's complexion went from ghostly white straight to the color of thoroughly cooked liver.
"…Shut up! I don't want that kind of praise even one bit!"
This feeling of having his organs appraised by an enemy he'd been locked in a life-or-death struggle with just moments ago—it made him want to die more than the backlash of the Genetic Lock ever had.
His mind was now filled with images of Sirin and Eden. If those ancestors of his ever saw Rita "critiquing" his body like this, this Golden Courtyard would probably be reduced to Arc City ruins by tomorrow.
However.
Before Su Yu's roar had even faded, that teasing, easygoing air around Rita instantly evaporated.
Under Su Yu's alarmed and uncertain gaze.
This S-rank Valkyrie, who symbolized the sharpest edge of the Immortal Blades.
Pressed both hands tight against her thighs and slammed her knees down hard onto the expensive Turkish carpet.
"Thud!"
It was the sound of knees colliding solidly with the ground.
Then, Rita's upright figure bent down humbly before Su Yu.
She pressed both hands firmly onto the empty patch of floor in front of Su Yu's toes, and her forehead pressed hard against the backs of her hands.
A dogeza.
It was a posture of atonement that abandoned all dignity and every route of retreat.
"I am truly… truly sorry, Lord Su Yu!"
Rita's voice had completely lost its usual effortless, magnetic quality.
With her forehead pressed against the floor, the voice that came out sounded muffled.
"Back in that abandoned building… because of my foolishness and arrogance, I nearly committed an irredeemable atrocity against you, my very savior."
"Lady Fu Hua has already revealed the truth to me. It was you—it was you who crossed the barrier between dimensions and pulled me, doomed to die, back from that hopeless place."
"And yet I…"
She knelt there, strands of her hair spilling onto the carpet.
Because her body tilted downward, her long, slender neck was fully exposed to Su Yu's gaze.
There.
A shock collar radiating a cold, silvery gleam was clamped snugly against Rita's fair, delicate skin.
The proud, perfect maid of Schicksal, wearing a shock collar.
What kind of doujinshi plot was this?
"I know that even if I atoned with my death this very moment, it could never wash away my sin."
Rita raised her head, those wine-red eyes brimming with a resolve that bordered on self-destruction.
"But in that world… I still have a mission I must complete. I must bring back my comrades of the Immortal Blades."
"So… until that is done, please allow me to go on living, however despicably."
She bowed her head deeply once more.
"As the price, no matter what you ask of me… I will have no complaints whatsoever."
Su Yu sat on the bed.
Because Rita's posture was so low right now.
From his angle, he could see straight down through her taut-stretched collar to the scenery within, trembling faintly with her ragged breathing.
This absolute submission, coming from an S-rank Valkyrie, should have been the most ultimate satisfaction of vanity.
Su Yu only felt a throbbing ache in his brain.
The script was jumping too fast; his train of thought couldn't quite keep up.
"Awake? If you're awake, stop lying there playing dead."
Fenghuang's voice exploded inside Su Yu's mind.
Su Yu let out an internal groan. "Squad Monitor? What's going on here? Did you guys beat this lady's brain out of whack? This one-eighty in attitude is giving me whiplash."
"This is the resolve she ought to have," Fenghuang replied indifferently. "I told you, didn't I? While you were unconscious, I took over Kiana's body and had a chat with her."
"I told her the whole story—how you used your own power to forcibly cross dimensions and pull her out of the Death Web' encirclement."
Su Yu very much wanted to explain that this probably had nothing to do with him, that it was Sys who did it—but he figured explaining would be pointless. The System's mocking quip hadn't been wrong: what it did was equivalent to what Su Yu did.
"Rita Rossweisse is someone who values equivalent exchange and the spirit of a contract."
"She realizes that you saved her life, and yet she nearly killed you."
Fenghuang paused for a moment.
"And this is her attitude of atonement—take the beating, then stand up straight."
Su Yu looked at Rita, kneeling on the floor in that prolonged prostration, even beginning to tremble on her own because he'd gone so long without speaking.
He sighed.
"Get up first."
Su Yu tugged at the corner of the blanket with a slight headache, trying to make himself look a little less like a violated maiden of a respectable household.
"Lord Su Yu!"
Rita still didn't raise her head; her voice grew even more urgent instead.
"I know a request like this is shameless, but I still have a reason I must live on. My teammates… and Lady Raiden Mei, they're all still in Arc City, waiting for word from me."
"Until then, whatever work it may be—even if it means using me as the most lowly, disposable tool to clear obstacles for you."
"I will never utter a single word of complaint!"
"Enough with the 'anything at all' talk—I told you, stand up."
Su Yu tugged the blanket with some irritation, wrapping the exposed shoulder tightly again.
"Save that cloying 'I'll do anything' line for later. If someone else saw this, anyone who didn't know better would think I had some special sadistic fetish."
"But, my lord…"
Rita lifted her face, the guilt in her eyes practically condensing into something tangible.
"Get up! That's an order!" Su Yu put weight behind his tone.
Rita started slightly, and then her gaze lowered obediently.
"Yes. As you wish."
Just as Rita had braced against the floor and was about to rise, and Su Yu was preparing to hunt down where exactly his underwear had gone—
The heavy bedroom door of Eden's supposedly bespoke suite, carved with ornate hidden patterns.
Was suddenly shoved open.
"Ding-a-ling~"
A flurry of pink, cheerful petals, accompanied by a bright female voice like silver bells—one that made you feel pink bubbles filling the floor just by hearing it—instantly filled the entire room.
"Ta-da~ Su Yu! I heard you woke up, so I specially brought fruit and macarons over… eh?"
Pink strands of hair.
An energetic voice with an upturned lilt at the end.
Elysia held that door-pushing pose.
Those big pink eyes, normally always brimming with a gentle smile, in that very moment.
Because of the scene before her.
Widened to their absolute limit in an exaggerated arc.
She looked at Su Yu, wrapped in a blanket, one shoulder flushed red from fright, sitting in the corner of the bed.
Then her gaze shifted to the bedside.
To Rita, her clothing in disarray, her face flushed pink, even with a shock collar clamped around her neck softly flickering with purple light.
The fruit plate in Elysia's hands let out a crisp rattle.
"Ta-da~"
Those beautiful eyes of hers burst instantly with a light that could only be named "stumbled upon earth-shattering gossip."
She even playfully raised one fair finger, pressing it against those red lips parted slightly in surprise.
"Su Yu~ I really never would have guessed! You always act so prim and proper, dodging away even when I just want to play a little kissy-kiss with you…"
Elysia deliberately drew out her tone, her gaze lingering, unwilling to leave the collar around Rita's neck, the smile at the corner of her mouth already so thick it was practically overflowing.
"Turns out… your private tastes are actually this thrilling?"
At this moment, the hand Su Yu had clutching the blanket.
Was trembling violently.
He looked at Elysia's pupils, which had already begun to shimmer with a pink glow, and listened to the silence behind him from Rita, who showed absolutely no intention of offering any defense.
He knew.
He was finished.
This time, it wasn't just a case of jumping into the Yellow River and still not coming out clean.
This was practically burying his own "glorious image" in the Golden Courtyard with his own hands, straight into the deepest depths of the Pacific.
Elysia's shriek slammed out layer upon layer of echoes across the spacious bedroom.
Rita, who had still been maintaining the dogeza posture, sprang up in an instant as if a spring had been installed in her body.
On the flawless cheeks of this Schicksal maid, ever renowned for her elegance and composure, an utterly unnatural flush spread for the very first time.
Her hands and feet pressed somewhat stiffly against her sides, and she didn't even dare meet the eyes of that Miss Pink Elf in the doorway, whose gaze was practically shooting sparks.
"It's… it's not what you're seeing, Ellie."
Su Yu clutched that velvet blanket for dear life, wrapping himself into a tight cocoon with only his head poking out.
"Aiyaya, Ellie understands, Ellie understands it all~ Young people and their special hobbies, right?"
Far from backing out, Elysia actually took a step forward.
Though her mouth claimed embarrassment, those sparkling eyes of hers swept back and forth over the two of them, and she even exaggeratedly covered her mouth.
"But, in broad daylight, and you didn't even lock the door—isn't that just a little too bold?"
"This is a misunderstanding!" Su Yu drew a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Rita was just… apologizing for her mistake."
Hearing this, Rita, standing at the bedside, flashed a hint of resolve through those wine-red eyes.
To completely dispel Su Yu's misgivings, and to express to this new master her absolute, undivided loyalty.
Without any hesitation, her slender fingers hooked directly onto the collar of her dark undergarment.
"Rrrip—"
The fabric was yanked forcibly down several inches.
The shock collar, forged by Tesla's own hands and gleaming with cold metallic light, was exposed to the air without the slightest concealment.
Tiny purple arcs of electricity crept extremely slowly within the collar's interior—a high-voltage restraint device capable of instantly rendering a Honkai Beast unconscious.
"This is Lady Kiana's order. Until Lord Su Yu renders his final judgment, I must prove my sincerity in this manner."
Elysia's smile stiffened for half a second.
Her gaze fell upon that collar, and she blinked.
"Whoa."
Her tone shifted from gossip to some subtle, complex emotion mixing curiosity with astonishment.
"Kiana's handiwork? This is way too… the relationship between you people is honestly a little too—"
She didn't finish the second half of the sentence.
But it was obvious that inside Miss Pink Elf's mind, a scene rated not-suitable-for-children had already begun to play out.
Seizing this gap, Su Yu wrapped himself even tighter in the silk blanket, leaving only a single head exposed.
"Rita. Rita."
He spoke up, his voice carrying the particular weariness and helplessness of a man who'd just survived a brush with death.
"You and Ellie go out first. Let me be alone for a while."
He paused, then added another line.
"Most importantly, let me put some clothes on first."
Rita lowered her eyelids.
"As you command."
She picked up the copper basin and towel from the nightstand, her movements so gentle that not a single drop rippled from the water's surface.
As she passed by Elysia, she gave a slight bow, then silently withdrew from the room.
The door closed softly behind her.
Elysia looked at the shut door, then turned her head to glance at Su Yu, wrapped up like a silkworm cocoon.
She opened her mouth, as if she still wanted to say something.
"Don't ask," Su Yu cut off her words preemptively. "Once I've got my clothes on, I'll explain everything that needs explaining."
Elysia shrugged, that "I understand everything" expression settling back onto her face.
"Fine, fine. Then I'll go let Kiana know first—tell her you're awake."
She turned to head out the door, then glanced back halfway, giving Su Yu a wink.
"But Su Yu, there's one thing I have to remind you of~"
"Kiana's been keeping watch at your bedside these past few days, cried her eyes swollen. If she finds out that the first thing you did upon waking was to let another woman wipe down your body…"
She drew her index finger across the front of her neck.
"You know what I mean."
As the door closed.
Su Yu finally had some time alone.
He first pulled on a pair of shorts, then leaned back against the headboard, closed his eyes, and turned his attention inward, into his own body.
A brief perception.
That searing pain from before, which had felt like it was tearing his very soul apart, had completely faded.
In its place was a brimming, terrifying vitality.
After stepping into the "second-stage Genetic Lock," the sensation was completely different.
If the first stage merely sped up his reaction speed, then the second stage had brought his control over every muscle and every bone in his body to a state of exquisite precision.
He could even feel the rhythm of his heart pumping blood, and the power surging and flowing through his blood vessels.
[Genetic Lock Tier: Stage Two (Stable)]
[Combat Assessment: Capable of suppressing a B-rank equipped Valkyrie; evenly matched with an A-rank at full power]
There was something even more important still to come.
Su Yu summoned the community Bond panel in his mind.
The Bond card representing Sirin was, at this moment, radiating a dazzling dark-golden glow.
Its level had come to rest at that jaw-dropping "Rank 8."
And in the special armament column, aside from the original [Star of Eden], there was now an additional icon depicting a shattered, void-like pattern.
[Partial Spatial Authority of the Herrscher of the Void (Loaded)].
A single thought, and the air above his palm underwent an extremely subtle distortion.
That distortion was almost invisible to the naked eye, but he could clearly perceive it—about three centimeters above his palm, the structure of space had been gently "pinched" by his will.
Though it was only the barest fraction of a fraction, this was indeed the Authority of the Herrscher of the Void.
Su Yu drew a deep breath and abruptly opened his eyes.
Though he'd nearly taken a stroll past the gates of hell, and had even suffered a brutal, merciless beating.
This round of breaking down and then rebuilding had not only solved the most lethal problem of the Herrscher corruption on Kiana's side, and boosted his own strength—more importantly, it had also granted him partial Spatial Authority.
Su Yu knew that the Genetic Lock power system was a very mystical thing. On its own it seemed unremarkable, but if it could be combined with other power systems, it could achieve a result where 1+1>2.
At the same tier, with the same mastered skills, differences in various abilities could magnify the gap in combat strength to a terrifying degree.
In terms of perception and control, he had the"Tai Xu Sword Qi"that Fenghuang had passed down to him, and once he cultivated this ultimate art to the realm of divine essence, he would gain yet another supremely terrifying killing move—the"Eminence of Taixuan".
And on the fundamental level of the physical body, the boost provided by the second-stage Genetic Lock was enough for him to exercise one-hundred-percent control over every muscle, every fiber within his body.
Even if he suffered a grave injury without fully dying, he could rapidly recover in a short span of time.
As for armaments, that[White Dwarf], with sixty-seven percent of Pseudo-Soulsteel's strength, could cleave through a Honkai Beast's silicon-based defenses.
Add to that the gravity-controlling Star of Eden, plus the partial Authority of the Herrscher of the Void—
Though Su Yu had never confronted an Emperor-class Honkai Beast head-on, at the very least he absolutely already possessed the strength to challenge one.
Su Yu leaned back against the headboard and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
In just three short months, growing from an ordinary person into an existence that could rival an A-rank Valkyrie—this speed truly was astonishing.
Yet he knew full well that in the Honkai world, an A-rank Valkyrie's strength didn't even earn a seat at the table—it wasn't even certain whether it qualified as a shim to prop up a table leg.
Two injections that had made him wish for death, being slaughtered 1,024 times in his consciousness space, and that life-or-death battle in the abandoned building that had wrung his spirit and body to their absolute limits.
Even Su Yu felt a wave of exhaustion.
In these short three months, far, far too many things had happened—it could be said to have been more tense and thrilling than the whole of his past twenty-two years of life combined.
"Whew—" His rest period ended here.
Su Yu quickly readjusted his state. Compared to the past, what mattered more now was the present—and the future.
Just then, the bedroom door once again let out a tremendous crash.
"Bang!"
The door panel smashed against the wall, letting out a teeth-grinding wail.
Before Su Yu could even make out who had come.
A white afterimage, like a cannonball fresh from the barrel, cleared several meters of distance and slammed hard into Su Yu's chest.
"Uwahh—!"
Even with a second-stage Genetic Lock body, being rammed so solidly, Su Yu couldn't help but let out a muffled grunt.
"You big idiot!!!"
Kiana hugged him fiercely.
Her arms were like iron hoops, squeezing Su Yu until he could barely breathe.
That white ahoge that always stood up cockily was now limp, pressed against Su Yu's chin.
She buried her face in the crook of his neck, her voice terribly hoarse, tears streaming down like beads from a snapped string, instantly soaking the corner of Su Yu's blanket.
"You promised… you promised you wouldn't push yourself…"
Kiana cried while rubbing her head against Su Yu's face.
Nuwa, who had followed in behind Kiana, was still carrying a bag of apples bought from the supermarket. Now she too stood by the doorway, her eyes rimmed red, constantly wiping at her tears with the back of her hand.
Elysia stood behind her, and seeing this scene, those beautiful eyes of hers misted over as well.
Feeling the warm, damp sensation against his chest, along with the girl's shoulders still trembling violently.
The little joy Su Yu had just felt from acquiring power was, in an instant, utterly melted by a soft, tender emotion.
He slowly lifted his arm and gently placed it on Kiana's back, stroking down her somewhat disheveled white hair, over and over.
"Kiana… I'm back."
His voice was very soft.
"You still dare say you're back… Do you even know how many days you were unconscious…"
"How many days?"
"Five days! Five whole days!"
"What's today's date?"
"August twelfth."
Su Yu did a quick mental estimate of the timeline. His battle with Rita had happened on August seventh, and the System had said he'd enter a three-day slumber after injecting the drug.
But he figured that battle had truly pushed him to his limits, which was why it had taken two extra days of recovery.
Kiana lifted her head from the crook of his neck, those azure-blue eyes swollen red like two peaches. The tip of her nose was red too, and tear tracks that hadn't yet dried hung on her cheeks.
She thumped Su Yu's chest with her fist.
It wasn't hard, but Su Yu still cooperatively let out a "Sss."
"If you ever dare do this again, I'll… I'll…"
She thought for a long while but couldn't come up with a punishment threatening enough.
"I'll throw away all your instant noodles!"
Su Yu looked at that face of hers, both fierce and aggrieved, and the sour, warm current in his chest nearly burst through his eyes.
He held it back.
He reached out and, with his thumb, wiped the tear tracks from her cheek.
"Alright. I won't dare."
Kiana said nothing, only burying her head even deeper, both hands gripping tight against Su Yu's back, as if confirming whether this person's warmth was truly real.
Elysia coughed.
Her emotions could always switch back to that full-of-energy frequency at moments like this.
"Aiya, Su Yu, you really scared us to death."
Elysia stepped forward and poked Su Yu's arm with her finger.
"You were walking down the road perfectly fine—how did you go and get hit by one of those out-of-control dump trucks? And hit so badly too!"
She exaggeratedly mimed a gesture.
"You have no idea—when Kevin heard the news, the bowl of instant noodles in his hands was so shocked it fell straight to the floor, and he didn't even get to drink the broth! Do you know what instant noodles mean to Kevin?"
A dump truck?
Su Yu blanked for a moment.
He instinctively glanced at Kiana, still nestled in his arms.
Kiana lifted her head slightly, tears still hanging in her eyes.
Seizing the instant Elysia turned her head, she quickly winked at Su Yu, then gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head.
Su Yu understood at once.
Elysia and Nuwa were still ordinary people at present.
Matters concerning World Serpent, Schicksal, and the clash of gods that had erupted in that ruined abandoned building were far too cruel and far too dangerous for them.
This was a "benevolent lie" that Anti-Entropy had uniformly fabricated to protect them.
"Ah… right, that dump truck." Su Yu scratched the back of his head, revealing an awkward yet flawless bitter smile. "It was too sudden. The driver had probably been drinking bootleg liquor—I didn't even have time to dodge."
"Honestly." Elysia's face was full of reproach. "Good thing Kiana was here. These past few days, she never left your side for a single step—barely even ate a proper meal. You'd better thank her properly."
"Oh, right, and that Miss Rita too—she also never left your side. Seriously, Su Yu, where do you keep charming these gorgeous girls away from?"
Facing Elysia's interrogation, Su Yu coughed twice. "That one—I'll tell you later."
Elysia looked at Su Yu. Though Miss Pink Elf was brimming with questions, in the end she didn't push and pry to the bottom of it.
"—But honestly, that latest medical technology of Mobius's, is it really that amazing? How does your body feel right now?"
To completely dispel these girls' worries, and to prove that he really had fully recovered.
He flung open that heavy velvet blanket in one motion.
Underneath, he wore only a simple pair of black boxer briefs.
Before the three girls could even react to what he was about to do.
Su Yu suddenly pressed both hands down on the bed, his entire body flipping through the air in a crisp arc, landing steadily on the carpet beside the bed.
"Thump!"
As his feet hit the ground, he even conspicuously showed off those freshly-reforged abdominal muscles, their lines as sharp and distinct as if carved by knife and chisel.
"Do you even need to ask?"
Su Yu patted his own chest and shouted loudly.
"I've never felt so wonderful in my life!"
That carefree, thoughtless grin, paired with his current highly impactful getup, made the air in the room stall for one second.
Then.
"Kyaa—!"
"Su Yu, you big pervert!"
Nuwa covered her eyes, but the gaps between her fingers were spread extremely wide.
Elysia went even further, flushing red as she grabbed the clothes prepared for Su Yu and hurled them straight at his face.
"Barely awake and already being a pervert in front of three lovely maidens! Hurry up and put your clothes on!"
Seeing him act like such a fool, Kiana couldn't help but burst out laughing too.
All that fear, worry, and grievance pent up over these four days deflated clean away in that single laugh, like a balloon that had been popped.
She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and cursed, "Idiot."
Watching the girls laugh through their tears, even starting to roughhouse, Su Yu couldn't help but laugh out loud as well, feeling a burden lift from his chest.
This was the everyday life he was risking his very life to protect.
"Hurry and get dressed! Lady Eden will be here any minute. If she sees you looking like this, she'll stuff you right back into the life-support pod!"
Su Yu hopped down off the bed, his bare feet stepping onto the soft carpet.
"Okay, okay, okay, I'm dressing, dressing, dressing—you all head out first, give me two minutes."
He shooed the three girls toward the door.
As Kiana reached the doorway, she glanced back once, traces of moisture still lingering in her eyes, but the corners of her mouth already turned upward.
"Two minutes. One second more and I'm kicking the door in."
"I know, I know, my dear junior sister."
The door closed.
Su Yu turned around and picked up that set of clean clothes.
As he pulled on his T-shirt, he glanced sideways at the bedroom door out of the corner of his eye.
The door hadn't fully closed.
Through that gap, roughly two centimeters wide, he saw a figure in the corridor.
Rita stood in the corner of the hallway.
She wore a standard black-and-white maid's uniform.
The apron was tied meticulously, the lace trim of the cuffs arranged perfectly flat.
Her head was bowed very low.
Her hands were folded over the apron in front of her, all ten fingers gripped tightly together.
She simply stood there like that.
Like a true servant, awaiting her master's summons.
Su Yu's hand paused at the hem of his T-shirt.
He looked at that bowed figure, at the collar glowing blue behind her neck.
A few days ago, this woman had been chasing him all over the abandoned building with an ice scythe.
Now, she wore a maid's uniform, standing in the corridor, awaiting his disposal.
Su Yu withdrew his gaze and smoothed down the hem of his T-shirt.
He walked to the window and pulled back one corner of the curtain.
It was evening in the Golden Courtyard, the setting sun dyeing the whole sky orange-red.
In the distance, the glass curtain walls of the high-rises reflected the last of the afterglow, like mirror after mirror set ablaze.
He could even see a little blue-haired girl at an easel, who seemed to sense Su Yu's gaze and turned around.
Griseo looked at the figure in the window, the little painter's eyes lighting up. She hopped down from her chair, stood on her tiptoes, and waved at him vigorously.
Su Yu waved back at her.
Everything was so ordinary.
So ordinary that one could almost forget how, just five days ago, in some abandoned building in this city, there had been a death-battle fierce enough to rewrite the fates of two worlds.
Su Yu let the curtain fall.
He understood perfectly well that this warmth was merely the intermission.
Su Yu pulled open the bedroom door and came face-to-face with Kiana's eyes, which read plainly, "You're three seconds over."
He smiled.
"Let's go. Let's go see everyone."
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