"Hmph." Fu Li glanced at her, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from lifting. "Eat slowly. Don't choke."
"Okay!"
The facts proved that Fu Li really couldn't eat that much.
Unlike Kiana, who could only replenish her strength through eating, he could consume flowers, trees, the sky, the breeze, clouds, the sun, rainbows, the ocean, beaches, forests, pebbles, sand, the earth... With the Human Immortal Path, he could eat all of them to replenish his nutrients.
Before leaving, though, Kiana had put on Fu Li's pants under the kind persuasion of the waitress auntie, as usual yielding to softness rather than force.
After leaving the breakfast shop, the girl asked, "Are you going to school later?"
Fu Li was different from this poor student who skipped class at the drop of a hat. Even after transferring to the Far East, aside from getting into a fight with some delinquents for certain reasons at the beginning, he had generally remained an outstanding student in both academics and conduct.
"I am going, but not to attend classes." Fu Li answered, "I'm looking for someone."
"Who?"
"Raiden Mei."
The moment those words fell, Kiana came to a screeching halt.
After taking half a beat to react, she quickly caught up. "Why are you looking for Mei?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and her tone gradually became grumbly, like a big white cat whose ball of yarn had been snatched away.
This was clearly within Fu Li's expectations.
"Why?" With a practiced lie rolling off his tongue, he said, "There's a small bubble universe connected to Earth near the Whale Sea. I want to find two or three reliable teammates to explore it with. You and Raiden Mei are both companions I've selected."
To be fair, Kiana's dashing arrival last night had been a rare and completely unexpected development.
He had originally planned to quietly leave Changkong City after taking the incomplete Kikyo, minimizing any effect on the original course of fate.
The Trio could continue down their broad road while Fu Li crossed his own narrow bridge.
After all, who knew what these three overpowered freaks had experienced before his rebirth? After not seeing them for just a few days, each of them would leap from below his level to an absurd S-rank.
They were all survivors of the Third Honkai and had quite a good relationship with one another. Fu Li did not want his actions to delay them or steal their original opportunities.
Now, however, things were different.
Kiana, the most important member of The Trio, had already been affected by his actions.
Since that was the case, Fu Li might as well see it through. Before the Third Honkai occurred, he would directly send all three of them safely away, lest something happened to the girls and they truly perished in this chaotic Changkong City.
After that, if The Trio wanted to follow him, they could stay together. If they wanted to leave, he would send them to St. Freya.
There was no need to say more about the latter. If they followed him, Fu Li was confident that their growth would be no slower than before.
He was a second-playthrough player, after all, and he possessed the Ultimate Development Aura—the all-around boost of Heavenly Time Calamity Bestowal.
If he still couldn't carry them with that, then he might as well wash up and go to sleep.
Of course, he absolutely could not speak openly about the Third Honkai. Who knew what ridiculous stunt Kiana, that hot-blooded idiot, would pull otherwise?
So Fu Li casually made up a lie about going exploring. After all, there truly were many Previous Civilization ruins like that in this world.
If they asked later, he would just say that the Great Honkai had "happened" to break out in Changkong City during their expedition.
Back to Kiana—upon hearing the word "adventure," the lively, adorable big cat's eyes immediately lit up.
"Hmph hmph, choosing me and Mei as your right-hand women means you've got some taste after all!"
She raised her head and planted her hands on her hips, her nose practically pointing at the sky.
In the girl's mind, Mei, who had diligently studied the ancient swordsmanship Hokushin Itto-ryu, was outstanding even among C-ranks. It was understandable that Fu Li had chosen her.
"Yeah, yeah, sure." Fu Li brushed her off from inside the taxi, then turned to the driver. "Sir, Senba Academy."
"Sure thing!"
"Hey! Wait for me!"
Mei: What the Hell Is This?
In the Far East, municipal administrative divisions ranked below counties, the exact opposite of Shenzhou.
However, as an emerging international metropolis, Changkong City covered an area fully three times that of an ordinary county-level unit.
Coupled with the morning rush hour traffic, the taxi still took a full hour to reach Senba Academy, where Raiden Mei studied.
After paying and getting out, Fu Li took out his phone and handed it to Kiana. "You still remember Mei's number, right?"
"Of course!" The girl took it while patting her chest. "Come to think of it, my phone broke during the earlier fight."
"I'll reimburse you. We'll buy one while we're out later."
Fu Li glanced at the relatively strict campus security, then pulled Kiana around behind the teaching building.
After several Void Steps, they arrived on the rooftop. He released her hand. "Call Mei and tell her we're waiting on the rooftop."
"Alright, alright." Kiana unlocked the screen with her slender fingers and squinted at him. "You changed the wallpaper?"
Fu Li rarely felt embarrassed. His previous screensaver and wallpaper had both been photos of Kiana.
"Hurry up!" he said with a stern face.
"Hmph hmph."
The girl gave him a smug, triumphant glance, lowered her head, and tapped the contacts icon.
There were very few people in the contacts list. Including Kiana and Little Great-Aunt, there were only three in total, fully exposing someone's social relationships that left loved ones grieving and enemies rejoicing.
"You should at least save your teachers' and landlord's numbers." Even Kiana felt a little sorry for him.
Leaning against the rooftop wall and enjoying the breeze, Fu Li waved a hand. "I had them before."
He had deleted them after being reborn.
"Fine."
Seeing that he did not want to say more, Kiana let the matter drop and began entering Raiden Mei's number on the virtual keyboard.
After a while, she hung up and tossed the phone back.
"Mei said she'll be here soon."
"Oh."
Fu Li took the phone and slipped it into his pocket. After thinking for a moment, he reached beneath Kiana's skirt again.
Naturally, the girl would not let him get away with it. She leaped backward and retreated a distance, asking warily, "What are you doing?"
"Getting something," Fu Li answered as though it were only natural.
The Fourth-Dimensional Skirt could only function when it was with Kiana, so naturally all their luggage and such had been placed there.
To make things convenient during the earlier ride, Fu Li had casually stuffed Little March in there.
Naturally, he needed to take it back now.
"Oh."
Seeing that was the case, Kiana reluctantly walked over.
She lifted her skirt, her face full of disgust. "Then hurry up."
Raiden Mei walked alone through the corridor leading to the rooftop. A wooden sword was strapped to her back, its hilt positioned very far forward, clearly ready to be drawn at any moment.
Ever since November 16th last year, when her father, Raiden Ryoma, had been arrested by the police for fraudulently obtaining 3.4 billion US Dollars under the pretense of developing ultrahigh-frequency electromagnetic field confinement technology, she had always dressed like this.
ME Inc. was the abbreviation of Massive Electric, a world-renowned multinational electronics manufacturer. It was also the Raiden family's business.
Of course, that was only in the past.
Now that the former president had been convicted and Raiden Ryoma was imprisoned, ME Inc. had been taken over by a foreigner calling herself Cocolia, the CEO newly appointed by the shareholders.
Mei did not know the details. ME Inc. no longer had anything to do with her.
What brought her trouble was the present.
Before the status of ME Inc.'s young lady had collapsed, countless people had said, "If I could marry Raiden Mei, I'd be willing to drive luxury cars and live in mansions!"
However, after that status crumbled, the classmates who had once admired and fawned over her instantly changed faces. All manner of ridicule and filthy rumors emerged one after another, as though anyone who did not step on Raiden Mei would be violating some urban legend rule.
Some even tried to lay their hands on her. Fortunately, Mei was no ordinary girl. With one person and one sword, she easily beat those people and the off-campus delinquents they had gathered into a miserable rout, though it also left her last bit of savings completely drained in compensation.
Fortunately, after that incident, her "classmates" also understood that Mei, who was proficient in Hokushin Itto-ryu, was not someone to provoke.
Other than treating her like air and isolating her, they no longer did anything excessive openly.
Mei wanted to say that was for the best and that she was happy to have some peace and quiet, but she could not deceive herself.
She was so lonely. She was not used to eating alone.
She did not understand what she had done wrong, nor did she believe that her father, who had always upheld his principles, was a con artist.
However, the evidence provided by the police was right there. The families of those who had been deceived repeatedly barged into the school, came before her, and screamed curses, accusing Raiden Ryoma of ruining their families and driving them into destitution.
They were all forcing Raiden Mei to accept this reality, and Mei had gradually accepted it as well.
If it had been another girl facing such circumstances, she would probably have given up on herself and fallen into depravity.
A girl like Mei could actually live well anywhere, as long as she was willing to lower her head.
Because Mei was extraordinarily, extraordinarily beautiful.
Her deep purple hair flowed over her shoulders like silk, while her delicate, fair skin resembled freshly fallen snow.
Her features were elegant and flawless, her lotus-like legs full and slender, and an immaculate aura like an orchid blooming in an empty valley flowed around her. She possessed a cold, untouchable beauty, as if crafted by heaven itself.
Beautiful girls possessed privilege in this world.
When that beautiful girl could split an armored vehicle in two with a single sword strike, that privilege expanded to unimaginable heights.
Mei could have left Senba Academy, left Changkong City, this place of sorrow, and started over in another city, beginning a brand-new life.
But she had not, because during these brief yet endlessly long three months, there had been something to illuminate her life.
Or rather... one and a half people?
Looking at the faint light leaking through the crack of the rooftop door, the girl's features gradually softened.
The feelings between boys and girls in high school were like beating a cowhide drum. One side held the drumstick and vented their emotions, while the other hid inside the drum, covering their ears and secretly rejoicing.
Yet Fu Li and Kiana, this pair of oddballs, were completely different.
Neither of them hid their feelings for the other in the slightest, nor did they worry whether the person inside the drum might be beaten to death by their excessive force.
It was just that Fu Li's feelings were for Kiana, while Kiana's were for Mei.
Fu Li's obsession had begun in childhood. The girl named Kiana was his one and only moonlight.
As for Kiana, the moment she saw Mei's MEI face, her Kaslana genes started acting up.
Fu Li had mocked her for falling for looks at first sight.
Mei's sexual orientation was normal. She liked boys and had fantasized about having a sweet romance with a boy she liked.
For now, she did not see Kiana as anything more than a friend.
She thought Kiana was the same. The girl simply had not encountered a boy her age whom she found appealing before—though the old Fu Li could barely count as one—and who could also suppress her in battle—the old Fu Li clearly did not qualify.
Once she met such a boy, she would soon return to normal.
However, no matter what, the light named Kiana had shone into her heart, along with a sliver of Fu Li, who was always by her side.
Wasn't that strange?
Mei herself found it strange too.
They made the girl understand why her father had once stroked her head and said with a complicated expression that the deeper one entered society, the more one wanted a true friend.
Thus, even though she did not know why the boy and girl wanted to see her, Mei had still decisively skipped class and rushed toward the rooftop at full speed.
Friends were fate. They had to be cherished forever, treasured with all one's heart.
Thinking that, Mei gripped the door handle and used some force to twist open the locked fire door.
"Kiana? Fu Li? You...?"
She stepped forward and reservedly called the names of her friends.
Before you continue