Their Past

After the meal, Soldier 11 returned to the Defense Force base, completely satisfied, while Anby and Cui Ji pushed open the video store's door with trembling hands.

After being ravaged by the "absurdly spicy" food, both of their health bars were nearly empty. Their lips in particular were swollen red, like sausages from a braised-meat shop.

Inside, Wise was sitting behind the counter, browsing Inter-Knot. When he heard the wind chimes and looked up, he immediately sucked in a cold breath.

"Good grief! Anby, Cui Ji, your lips could truly be described as 'vermilion lips, with every glance and brow steeped in boundless charm'!"

Cui Ji: "..."

Anby and Wise had a closer relationship, so she naturally understood how much gloating was hidden in that teasing remark. She expressionlessly fell silent for a second, then used the last bit of strength she had left to draw her knife and hurl it at Wise.

"Whoosh—"

The blade grazed past Wise's ear and sank into the wall behind him.

!!!

Wise instantly froze. He slowly turned to glance at the knife, swallowed, and very sensibly raised both hands.

"I'm sorry! Anby!"

"Hmph!" Anby snorted coldly. Then, supporting each other, she and Cui Ji headed upstairs to the third floor.

Wise cautiously sidestepped around the knife and came out from behind the counter. In a sincere tone, he called out, "Would you two like some water? We have ice water in the shop!"

When Wise carried two glasses of water into the art studio on the third floor, the first person he saw was Belle. She was curled up on Griseo's newly purchased sofa, reading a manga.

Wise found this very strange. Recently, Belle had become utterly obsessed with girls' comics. He had even begun to wonder whether his little sister had