Chapter 613 should at least show some sense of crisis!
"Dr. Tesla, please don't panic."
Kiana☆ walked to the control panel, gently patted Tesla's tense shoulder, and spoke with a reassuring tone:
“Teacher Yang will be fine—I already met Teacher Yang in another universe.”
She paused for a moment, then slowly recounted the story of Welt in the Honkai Impact universe.
"Himeko?"
Upon hearing this, Tesla's reddened eyes suddenly lit up, and he turned around excitedly, opening his mouth as if to shout something, his fingertips unconsciously clenching the hem of his clothes.
But the words, once on the tip of his tongue, ultimately turned into a heavy sigh, and the impatience in his eyes was gradually replaced by complex emotions:
"So that's how it is... That idiot is still feeling guilty about what happened back then."
She raised her hand to rub her sore eyes, her tone softening, filled with undisguised concern:
"Sigh~ I don't ask for anything else, I just hope he can come back safely."
With Walter's matter settled, the tense atmosphere in the laboratory finally eased as if a great weight had been lifted.
Tesla rubbed his aching neck, and just as his fingertips touched the edge of the console, his nose was suddenly enveloped by an alluring fragrance.
It wasn't the smell of instant noodles, but the genuine aroma of meat mixed with the sweetness of caramel, which immediately brightened her eyes.
"It smells so good! Who's cooking?"
In the past few days, in order to find Walter, she had stayed up several nights chewing on dry instant noodles, and her mouth had long since lost its taste of birds. Now, smelling the aroma of proper food, her stomach immediately rumbled.
Before she finished speaking, she had already stood up abruptly, her red twin ponytails leaving a blur as she rushed out first.
Kiana☆ followed closely behind, but her heart skipped a beat, and she had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, at the kitchen door, Fu Ming was holding a white porcelain plate with cola chicken wings that looked so delicious that it made one's mouth water.
With a bit of brown sauce on the tip of his nose, he saw Tesla and Kiana☆ coming this way, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but widen, his eyes shining with undisguised anticipation.
Fu Ming handed the plate forward, his eyes full of anticipation as if presenting a treasure:
"Kiana☆, and Dr. Tesla, come and taste my new creation!"
"Wait! Dr. Tesla! You can't eat that!!!"
Kiana's heart tightened, and she quickly reached out to stop them, but for some reason she was a beat too slow and could only watch helplessly as the chicken wing was put into the other person's mouth.
The outer skin is crispy and chewy, and the moment you bite into it, the tender and juicy meat, coated in a sweet and salty sauce, melts on your tongue.
Tesla's eyes lit up, and a genuine look of enjoyment appeared on his face. He mumbled a praise:
"You're pretty good at cooking! The food looks and smells delicious!"
Kiana☆ watched Tesla chewing with relish, her face a picture of utter disbelief, question marks practically leaping from her lips. Her gaze darted back and forth between Tesla and Fu Ming, an expression of utter disbelief on her face.
'Great! Kiana didn't recognize me! My power finally worked on Kiana!'
Fu Ming smiled innocently and handed the plate to Kiana☆ again:
"Kiana☆, would you like some?"
Tesla finished the last bite, licked his fingertips with a hint of satisfaction, and turned to look at Kiana with a puzzled expression.
"Why did you stop me just now? What could possibly happen from eating a chicken wing? Could he possibly poison it?"
Kiana opened her mouth, looking at the tempting plate of cola chicken wings, and then at the unharmed Dr. Tesla, and for a moment she didn't know how to explain.
At this moment, Fu Hua came out of the kitchen carrying a cup of hot tea. Her gaze fell on "Fu Ming" in front of her, and her brows furrowed slightly.
"Xiao Shi, what are you doing blocking the doorway?"
Fu Hua's voice was calm and even, yet it was like a pebble thrown into a still lake, instantly freezing the atmosphere at the kitchen doorway.
"???"
Tesla's chewing motion on the chicken wing suddenly stopped in mid-air, sauce still on the corner of his mouth. He looked around at "Fu Ming" in front of him with a blank expression, his eyes full of confusion about "what's going on";
Kiana's eyes widened, her pupils contracted slightly, and disbelief almost spilled from her face.
The exposed "Fu Ming" froze on the spot, the smile on his lips slowly disappearing, and the brown sauce on the tip of his nose also looked somewhat comical.
The next second, the "Fu Ming" in Tesla and Kiana's eyes really turned into Xiao Shi, with sauce still on his face and his hands still in the posture of holding a plate.
"Oh dear, you old fogey, you really don't give me any face! You actually called me out on the spot!"
Xiao Shi pouted, her tone tinged with resentment, but she still put the plate aside, wiped her face, and ended up making the sauce even more smeared.
Kiana☆ fell into deep self-doubt. She frowned, raised her hand to press her temples, and spoke with confusion and bewilderment, even muttering in disbelief:
"How could this be... I didn't recognize you at all? Your powers shouldn't be effective against me, so how did you manage to alter my perception?!"
"Hmph, that all comes down to the fact that the abilities of Herrschers are limited. And I... I'm not going to be a Herrscher anymore! Kiana☆!"
The Lawbringer of Knowledge slowly raised his hand, a bright yet arrogant smile spreading across his lips:
"Power, home, ideals."
When I inherited the name of the Herald of Knowledge...
But why should I play the shadow of the end...?
This is my own strength, my own destiny, my own ideal—this is the real me!
"what?"
Kiana☆ stared wide-eyed, her face saying, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Xiao Shi cleared his throat, quickly abandoning his previous arrogant demeanor, straightened his back with a serious expression, and put his hands behind his back:
"In short—I was previously bound by the End, but after receiving a little help from someone during my last trip to the Honkai Impact Universe, I have finally broken free of my shackles and can continue to grow stronger along my own path."
"One day I will become powerful enough to completely alter your consciousness, making you forget that A-Ming intends to exist, and then I will possess A-Ming exclusively!"
Kiana☆ rolled her eyes and drawled out her complaint:
"You're really awesome~" The last syllable of the sentence was undisguisedly teasing, and the speaker even raised their hand to clap twice as a symbolic gesture.
"What kind of sarcastic attitude is that!" Xiao Shi jumped up as if her hair had stood on end, hands on her hips, glaring at Kiana☆, her cheeks puffed up with anger: "I'm going to modify your consciousness and make you forget A-Ming, and this is your reaction?"
"Otherwise what?" Kiana raised an eyebrow, deliberately putting on a perfunctory look: "Do you expect me to applaud you, cheer you on, and give you a little red flower?"
"We should at least show some sense of crisis!"
Seeing that Kiana☆ was still being dismissive, Xiao Shi was so angry that he stomped his feet, and invisible steam was almost rising from his forehead:
"Once I really alter your consciousness, you'll only be able to watch from the sidelines as Ah Ming and I do * (something) and stroll through the market together!"
Tesla, quietly munching on a chicken wing, exclaimed in shock, "Huh?" Are young people these days so unrestrained?
"Oh, how scary!"
Kiana☆ clutched her chest, feigning trembling, but her eyes were full of laughter:
"Should I cry and beg you now to have mercy on me and not take Ah Ming away from me, and that you raise our unborn child?"
"...It's not impossible."
Xiao Shi paused suddenly, his gaze unconsciously drifting towards Kiana☆'s stomach, clearly intrigued by the suggestion.
Just then, Fu Ming walked in and was taken aback by the noisy scene at the kitchen doorway:
"What are you talking about?"
Xiao Shi and Kiana☆ stopped arguing at the same time and looked at him in unison.
