He put away the small blackboard outside the shop, then flipped the sign that read "Open" to the other side.
Su Qing'an walked into the shop carrying a large bag of food.
It could be said that he had opened this café purely for fun. In his memories, his counterpart in this world had also run the shop in an extremely laid-back and carefree manner, with business basically operating at a loss.
Rather than a café, it was more like a house he had bought with a very large living room and professional coffee equipment.
This was probably thanks to the substantial savings his parents had left him, allowing him to act so recklessly.
Compared to the savings his parents had left him in this world, the property they had left him in his previous world was as tiny as loose change.
This made him even more doubtful about whether his parents' supposed profession as archaeologists had been genuine.
Could archaeologists actually make that much money?
He had originally wanted to cook for Kiana for once, but after glancing at the ingredients in the refrigerator, he realized that, no matter what they were, he didn't seem to have the habit of cooking for himself. Even though his cooking skills were quite good, that didn't stop him from being a takeout enthusiast.
After taking into consideration the time cooking would take and the fact that it was already mealtime, Su Qing'an decided it would be more convenient to buy food outside. Although that reduced much of the joy of feeding her, Kiana had most likely just arrived in Changkong City. Judging by the time it would take to get here from the nearest airport, she might not even have eaten breakfast properly, so buying food directly was the better choice.
Following the principle of convenience, he went to KFC and bought two Hōm-themed family buckets, along with two pizzas from the shop next door.
Yes, he had bought two of everything. Mei had once complained that all their food expenses went toward Kiana, so, after estimating Kiana's appetite, he had deliberately bought extra. Based on his own appetite, half a family bucket or half a pizza would have been his limit.
If even that wasn't enough...
Hmm, if I cook in the future, would it be more convenient to buy two more rice cookers?
He had originally wanted to buy Kiana a new phone and replace her SIM card while he was at it. Kiana, who had wandered around Europe for years, probably hadn't realized the differences in communications between regions. A new phone and SIM card would make getting around much more convenient.
But that would be too abrupt. In Kiana's eyes, the two of them had only just met.
Unprovoked kindness that was too intense could sometimes make people feel pressured.
His overly thorough cleaning of the room and the unusually generous pay had both been justified openly with various excuses and explanations.
With Kiana's idiot's intuition, she should have sensed it, right? To her, his kindness had come out of nowhere and seemed rather strange.
So, in order not to break this tacit understanding, Su Qing'an kept the matter to himself and decided to bring it up later.
"Knock, knock. Kiana, lunch is ready." After placing the two large bags of food on the table, Su Qing'an walked to Kiana's door, knocked, and called out.
Immediately afterward, he heard a rustling sound from inside. Not long later, the door opened a tiny crack. "Food?" The girl poked her head out and lifted it slightly, her voice tinged with surprise.
Her pretty face carried a lovely flush. Judging from her damp white hair and the steam still rising around her, she had probably just finished bathing.
"Yes. I bought hamburgers, fried chicken, pizza, and other fried foods. I don't know if you dislike them. We'll eat healthier tonight."
She's pretty cute. Su Qing'an kept his eyes straight ahead as he looked at the girl's thick, long eyelashes and moist pink lips, yet his heart remained as still as an ancient well.
"Fried chicken! Hamburgers! Hmph, I'm not some spoiled little miss, you know. I can reluctantly accept all of this." Kiana, who had not considered calories or health at all, lit up instantly before speaking in an affectedly haughty tone.
She looked just like a cat seeing a teaser toy. After giving you a cold, disdainful look, she would... pounce on the teaser without the slightest hesitation.
You really do like fried food, huh? Though, fundamentally, you just like eating meat.
After some time passed, Su Qing'an looked at the food covering most of the now-empty table and silently calculated Kiana's appetite: three cups of cola that came with the family buckets, three hamburgers, five pairs of spicy wings, six pieces of original fried chicken, four pairs of New Orleans grilled wings, and, well, the two twelve-inch pizzas that could now only be proven to have existed by their discarded packaging.
After glancing at Kiana's slender waist and flat stomach beneath her white shirt, Su Qing'an understood that her terrifying stamina and strength truly followed the law of conservation of energy. At the same time, he also understood Mei's troubles.
Hmm. A single meal had cost around eight thousand yen. With expenses like this, not to mention the daily repair, maintenance, and replenishment of equipment used to fight the Honkai, travel expenses, and so on, it was easy to understand that the savings Siegfried had left behind were probably not small.
Conservatively estimating, he figured that converted into RMB, they should amount to at least ten million.
As for how much was currently left in Kiana's bank account, we could only treat that as a mystery.
Thinking about it now, the words "meals included" were probably what attracted Kiana most about the pay.
"So delicious! (｡ò∀ó｡) Mmm, Boss, what's for dinner? Is it all meat?" After swallowing the last chicken leg, Kiana had completely abandoned the aloof persona of the cold foreign silver-haired beauty she had seemed to be when they first met.
"Dinner will be Shenzhou cuisine, but I like meat too, so I'll make a few more meat dishes." While calculating how many ingredients he would need to buy to fill the girl in front of him, Su Qing'an answered with a smile.
This is nice. This false peace and warm daily life could last at most another four months.
He had already taken the first step: he was confident that he would not be transformed into a Zombie by Honkai Energy. Next, he had to train his combat abilities until he could at least survive an encounter with the lowest-level Honkai Beast.
During this period, Kiana should relax and enjoy herself. After wandering alone for so many years, Kiana would once again face battles between life and death four months from now. This was all he could do for her.
The girl named Kiana Kaslana had a tortuous, winding fate. After she fought through one life-or-death crisis after another and learned her true identity, no one could empathize with the suffering and despair she would face in her heart.
But Su Qing'an understood one thing: the person he cared about was not the virtual character from the game, nor was it the name Kiana Kaslana.
His friend was simply the warm and gentle girl who truly existed before him, the one who looked a little silly.
This had nothing to do with her name or her identity.
I have to become stronger. The boy murmured softly in his heart.
Otherwise, he would be unable to do anything or change anything.
He would not even be able to protect anything.
Looking at the white-haired girl drinking cola, Su Qing'an recalled the helplessness he had felt during his two deaths. In this ordinary, peaceful moment, he made up his mind.
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