Mei sat on the sofa.
Looking at the sky that had already darkened, worry in her eyes.
Since her father went out to buy ingredients until now, there was no sign of him coming home. Calling his phone showed no one answering.
Several simple dishes were set on the table.
After waiting at home for a long time without her father returning, she personally went to buy ingredients while also searching for her father. Unfortunately, after making a round of nearby food stores, she saw no trace of him.
Facts proved that when pushed to extremes, people could do anything. To take care of her father and driven by life's pressures, Mei had been forced to develop good cooking skills.
Although the taste was mediocre, at least it wouldn't send people to the hospital... probably.
Mei turned her head. The TV she'd turned on was broadcasting the evening news.
[Breaking News:]
[A pachinko parlor in Nagazora City's West District was robbed, causing major property damage.]
[The robber is suspected to be a woman with light purple hair. Police have issued a warrant for her arrest.]
[This criminal is suspected to possess heavy firepower and is extremely dangerous. If you have information, please inform the police immediately. Do not approach on your own.]
Mei watched the evening news on TV, which showed a pachinko parlor emitting rolling black smoke. The originally lavishly decorated building had now nearly become ruins.
But based on the nearby street scene, Mei recognized at a glance that this was one of the places her father frequently visited.
She suddenly stood up, her face showing some worry.
"Father... he couldn't have encountered danger, could he?"
The more she thought about it, the more possible it seemed. Worry rose in her heart.
Although her father had repeatedly assured her before going out that he wouldn't gamble or drink anymore, and Mei hoped he could reform and get the family's life back on track—
Emotionally, she hoped her father could truly turn over a new leaf this time and fulfill his promise.
But rationally, she found it hard to believe a person could undergo earth-shattering transformation without experiencing major upheaval.
The reason her father had fallen this low was due to the shock of her mother's death. For him to transform again, how much upheaval would he need to experience?
Mei fell silent. She already had a guess in her heart. Probably—no, her father had definitely gone gambling or drinking again.
Gradually, sadness and grievance rose in her heart. She felt her life was like the darkening sky outside—bleak and dim.
Mei stood up, placed the dishes from the table into an insulated container, changed clothes, and prepared to check nearby bars or the police station.
Just before leaving, she thought for a moment and retrieved pepper spray and a homemade stun gun from her room.
Although things seemed normal on the surface, from the news Mei could sense that Nagazora City's public security seemed to be getting worse. Going out at night required some preparation.
After everything was ready, Mei prepared to go out.
But just as she was about to grasp the door handle, she found the door opening from outside.
Their eyes met. Both were stunned.
"Mei?"
"Father?"
The person opening the door from outside was indeed her father Ryoma, but his current appearance differed greatly from when he left this morning.
His hair was meticulously groomed, his clothes neat, and the persistent alcohol smell was gone from his body.
His complexion was proper, no longer carrying that drained, haggard feeling.
Now carrying a briefcase, he looked like a successful businessman returning home after a successful business negotiation.
If she hadn't been looking at this face for over ten years, Mei would have thought this person was someone else entirely.
Mei secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
No matter what, it was good that her father could return safely.
"Things have come to this point, Father. Please eat first..."
Mei took the food she'd just placed in the insulated container back out, set it on the table, and invited Ryoma to eat.
The meal wasn't lavish and couldn't compare to professional restaurants outside, but it had an extra touch of homely warmth.
...
"I just learned to make these dishes. The taste might not be great yet."
Ryoma put his hands together and said with a smile, "Thank you for Mei's hard work all day. I'll dig in."
Then he picked up something resembling tempura and savored it carefully.
"How does it taste?" Mei also looked at Ryoma with some anticipation.
Ryoma's eyes lit up. After swallowing it in one bite, he gave Mei a thumbs up.
"Delicious!"
Seeing Ryoma's exaggerated praise like a food program, Mei's face showed some confusion.
She had self-awareness about her cooking skills. Although it wouldn't send people to the hospital anymore, calling it delicious was truly insulting to the ingredients.
So she also picked up a tempura and put it in her mouth.
Exaggerated saltiness and sourness exploded in her mouth. Mei felt her taste buds had been bombed. Her small face instantly turned bitter.
Watching Ryoma continue stuffing food into his mouth—
After swallowing, forcibly suppressing her churning stomach, Mei asked in confusion, "Father, is this... really delicious?"
Ryoma's expression remained unchanged.
"Delicious! This is food made by my daughter—the taste of home."
Mei's expression was complex, but warmth rose in her heart.
She knew this was probably her father comforting her, considering his daughter's pride.
But then she thought—how long had it been since she'd seen a father so considerate of his daughter?
Since her mother's death, his temperament had changed drastically. He seemed to have abandoned the entire world.
But now, Mei seemed to have an illusion—had that high-spirited father returned?
Watching her father continuously stuff the food from the table into his mouth, Mei felt helpless while guilt surged in her heart.
How could she let her father continue eating such unpalatable food?
Perhaps she really should seriously study cooking...
While Mei propped one hand on the table, smiling and lost in thought, she didn't notice that 'Ryoma' across from her was also quietly observing her.
One tempura went down, bitter and explosively spicy flavors bursting in his mouth. This was already the who-knows-how-many-th flavor of tempura Lucius had tasted.
Making a dozen flavors from one dish—in a sense, Mei was truly a genius in cooking.
If not for his body having reached A-rank Valkyrie strength, he'd probably already be in the hospital ICU, his consciousness greeting his great-great-grandmother at death's door.
Yes, the current Ryoma was Lucius in disguise.
Since Ryoma temporarily couldn't be helped, he could only personally take control to establish ME Corp.
As for the real Ryoma, he was now picking bananas at a plantation in Africa.
Looking at the considerable amount of food still left on the table, Lucius's heart trembled.
But no matter how hard it was to swallow, he still ate it with an unchanged expression, even praising Mei's cooking.
As for why...
[Check-in 'Daily Life - Raiden Mei's Dinner', obtained Crystals x10]
This reward wasn't much—could only be considered a fraction of previous check-ins.
But the key was, this kind of daily check-in could be repeated!
That is to say, just by eating Mei's cooking every day, he could harvest 30 crystals daily. Every day!
Lucius felt this dummy system had definitely borrowed from game systems. Wasn't this a variation of the stamina reward from Raiden Mei's daily missions?
But regardless, even just for the sake of harvesting thirty crystals every day, he had to be a praise-giver.
After all, if he bluntly told Mei her cooking was terrible and discouraged her to the point she decided never to touch cooking again in this life, wouldn't his daily free rewards be gone?
After dinner, after Mei finished cleaning up the remnants and prepared to return to her room to read, Lucius stopped her, preparing to have a talk.
Sitting across from Mei, the Ryoma that Lucius had transformed into looked full of guilt.
"Mei, I've thought all day and finally realized how inhuman my previous actions were."
"As a father, as an adult, I actually need my own daughter to support me. Your mother's spirit in heaven must be so disappointed."
"Father, please don't say that. You... you..." Mei wanted to offer comfort, but with her emotional intelligence, she really couldn't think of reasons to excuse her father.
"Mei, I know you want to comfort me, but there's no need." Lucius's face showed sincerity. "Admitting past failures isn't shameful. What's shameful is taking pride in past failures. I don't want to be that kind of person anymore."
"Father?"
"I've decided to build a foundation for you, to make you the happiest child in the world."
"Father, what are you saying?" Mei was confused, increasingly feeling her father's strangeness.
"I've decided to start a business."
"..."
Mei felt her father had drunk too much again.
"...Perhaps not, Father."
She couldn't be blamed for doubting. Someone who the day before was still drinking, gambling, and wasting away suddenly saying they wanted to start a business—
If it were anyone else, she'd definitely think they were crazy. But this person was her father, so she could only be more tactful.
"We can still eat now. If we fail after struggling, we'll truly have no way to survive."
Hearing the distrust in Mei's tone, Lucius smiled slightly.
He placed the briefcase he'd brought from outside on the table.
"These are patents I had before. As long as we monetize them, we can definitely establish a foundation in the Far East."
Mei did know her father had some reputation in the scientific community before, mainly in physics and engineering. Having some patents was normal.
But to use them to start a business... Although she didn't want to dampen her father's enthusiasm, Mei wanted to say that was truly wishful thinking.
However, Lucius had already opened the briefcase. Inside were stacks of documents.
"So Father spent the whole day printing these things. I thought..."
"You went gambling again." Of course, Mei didn't say this sentence aloud.
With curiosity, Mei took a stack of documents from the briefcase and began flipping through them.
Soon, her eyes became serious.
As a true genius, her knowledge reserves allowed her to easily understand what was written.
This was a set of design blueprints for autonomous mecha, including various supporting technologies, some of which were even considerably ahead of the current world.
This greatly surprised Mei.
Lucius smiled.
He had directly bought these things from the shop for one hundred crystals—technology from Fire Moth ten years in the future.
In the years to come, as Honkai disasters pressed closer step by step, humanity would be forced into a blood-vomiting marathon against Honkai. Plus with Honkai energy as an almost omnipotent power source, technology would leap forward every moment.
Although this world's technology would gradually lean toward biology later, and mecha technology wouldn't develop as well as biological technology in the same period—
Compared to current technology, there was still enormous progress.
At least, it was definitely enough to support the scale of an enterprise.
However, gradually Mei looked at Lucius, her eyes full of doubt.
"Father, is this really your technology?"
Although her father had some achievements in research, as his daughter, Mei clearly knew his capabilities.
Ryoma might possibly research these technologies, but Ryoma researching these technologies was also impossible.
Facing Mei's suspicion, Lucius maintained his composure and said righteously:
"Of course it's my technology."
"I swear in your mother's name."
"If it's fake, may your father forever pick bananas in Africa!"
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