Shu stared at Kiana with a highly critical, accusatory glare for a long time, only to realize that Kiana looked infinitely more heartbroken and devastated than he did.
Instantly, his lingering irritation about being doxxed completely vanished.
Confused, he leaned in closer. The first thing he noticed was the plastic seal on Kiana's cup of milk tea, which had been brutally "headshot" by a thick plastic straw. Printed on the seal was a familiar, customized caricature.
It was an illustration of Kiana herself, but it was a design Shu had never seen before.
Huh? Is that a rare variant?
"Ughhh... noooo..."
Kiana sucked on her straw, letting out a series of pathetic, tearful whines.
Shu's guess was entirely correct, save for the fact that he thought the rare variant was a good thing.
Ever since discovering the milk tea counter, Kiana had been meticulously trying to collect every single character's caricature seal.
Just moments ago, she realized that she had not only "headshot" a rare variant, but the rare variant was her.
"I have to buy another cup..." Kiana wailed, her voice filled with utter despair. "Why can't I just pull the standard version?!"
Seventeen cups. In the half-month since she returned, Kiana had bought seventeen cups of milk tea, collecting seventeen entirely unique caricature seals. Yet, the most common, standard version remained maddeningly out of reach.
It was infuriating!
Such a first-world problem.
Bronya, who was also trying to collect the seals, rolled her eyes. She had less than half of Kiana's collection progress, yet her expenditure was double. She completely ignored the idiot's whining.
She had drunk so much milk tea over the past few days she was practically going through a growth spurt, and she still hadn't collected ten unique seals.
Carrying the sweet scent of milk tea, the group activated their [Mosquito Breath] devices and quietly dispersed, heading home.
Upon returning to Level -10, the chaotic noise of the upper levels faded, replaced by a relatively tranquil environment.
Although the population of Level -10 had increased significantly—with the recent additions of the Seven Swords of Mount Taixuan and Joachim—the vast underground space still felt incredibly sparse.
Shu honestly preferred it this way.
Even though his condition had vastly improved, he still felt a lingering sense of unease in heavily crowded areas.
He watched Seele and her friends head toward their dorms together. Natasha, who had finished her own classes, corralled Adam and Lyle, while Bianka and Azhar obediently followed Rita back to their quarters.
Shu turned and began walking the familiar path back to his own small villa.
He barely took a single step before someone grabbed the back of his collar, dragged him into the villa next door, and unceremoniously dumped him onto the familiar sofa in the familiar living room.
"Ughhh—there's no place like home~" Kiana stretched her arms out. Her body rapidly lost all bone density as she curled into a ball on the sofa.
Rice Cake practically strutted onto the sofa, rubbed his head against the back of Shu's hand, and then curled up on Shu's lap, mirroring Kiana's exact pose.
There were three white-haired fluffballs of varying sizes currently occupying the sofa, waiting for Mei to finish preparing dinner in the kitchen.
Wait, three?
Theresa, looking exactly like a retired old man, sat slumped in the corner of the sofa, clutching a mug filled with a thick, ominous green liquid.
It was genuinely hard to reconcile the image of the self-proclaimed "Number One Cutie in the World" with her current, apathetic posture. Even worse, the way Theresa held her mug of bitter melon juice made it look remarkably like she was holding a cigarette.
"The Principal is so tired..." Theresa sighed weakly, looking like an exhausted child who had suffered a lifetime of torment.
"Natasha is clearly the Principal of the Fire Moth school. Why am I the one doing all the administrative work?!" Theresa downed half her mug of bitter melon juice in one gulp and let out a muffled wail.
"The workload is wrong! The job description is completely wrong!"
Shu had just adjusted his posture on the sofa. Hearing Theresa's complaint, he couldn't help himself.
"Do you think... maybe it's Otto's fault?"
"It's too much! How could he dump all this grunt work on the world's number one cutie?!" Theresa snapped her head up, her face flushed with righteous indignation, not questioning Shu's attempt to shift the blame for a second.
She only had one question.
"But why?!"
Shu offered an awkward, dry chuckle.
At this point, he genuinely didn't have the heart to tell her that Otto's entire master plan involved dumping all his responsibilities onto her so he could retire early.
"Ugh, don't be mad, Auntie Theresa. Getting angry is bad for your health," Kiana mumbled incoherently from her curled-up position. "Besides, you're super amazing! You're going to inherit the Fire Moth someday! You can definitely handle it!"
"Uh... technically speaking, I'm pretty sure I'm the nominal leader of the Fire Moth?" Shu pointed at himself and muttered quietly.
"But Shu was deposed and usurped by Overseer Otto." Bronya, having finally retrieved her beloved game console, was curled up in another corner of the sofa. Even with her headphones on, it didn't stop her from flawlessly injecting herself into the conversation.
"Oh, right..." Shu finally remembered that particular detail.
Wait, was that an official, permanent dismissal? Did Otto never reinstate me after the fact?
Shu processed this information for exactly 0.1 seconds before calmly and happily accepting this development.
Well, you can't blame me for not helping him out then. You chose this path, Overseer Otto, Second Supreme Leader of the Fire Moth.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, my friend. Since you usurped the throne to bring me down, and didn't bother to reinstate me afterward, you can handle the paperwork.
What do you mean, "I only did it for you, otherwise I would never have done something like this?"
I already admitted the usurpation was my fault. But failing to reinstate me afterward? That's on you, buddy.
Feeling a tiny bit guilty, Shu rubbed his nose. He noticed the sounds coming from the kitchen had begun to die down.
Dinner was almost ready.
"I'll help you, Mei!" The Kiana-puddle instantly sprang to life, bouncing off the sofa and scurrying into the kitchen.
"Kiana, no sneaking bites," Mei warned as she walked out carrying two plates of food, passing Kiana in the doorway.
"I definitely won't!" Kiana promised with a bright smile before slipping inside.
Mei sighed and placed the plates on the dining table.
Seeing that dinner was served, Theresa tilted her head back, downed the rest of her bitter melon juice, and launched herself off the sofa. Her HOMU slippers slapped against the floor as she trotted off to wash her hands.
Shu stroked Rice Cake's back, gently lifted the cat, and placed him on the sofa. He turned and called out to Bronya.
"Time for dinner, Bronya."
"Mhm. Almost done," Bronya replied, her eyes glued to the screen of her console. Her fingers moved across the buttons so fast they were practically a blur.
Standing up, Shu leaned over to glance at the screen. After quickly estimating the remaining time and confirming she was moments away from clearing the stage, he followed Theresa to wash his hands.