Targeting Not Shu... But Otto

Fire Moth ARC City Base.

The metal door to a room on basement level 6 opened, and Otto emerged from his laboratory, sporting heavy dark circles under his eyes.

"Mmm... Ah..." Stretching in the hallway, Otto listlessly clicked his tongue.

"Otto! / Grandpa!" Kallen's voice made Otto, who was already swaying as he walked, jolt upright. A cold sweat broke out on Otto's forehead as he turned to look at the two white-haired furballs stomping angrily towards him from the end of the corridor.

Although the two furballs were different sizes, their imposing aura was identical—fierce.

"Ahem... Theresa, Kallen... Good morning," Otto was forced back half a step by the overwhelming pressure.

"Grandpa, you didn't sleep again!" Theresa rushed up to Otto, puffing her cheeks out like a little steamed bun as she looked up at him.

If Otto didn't look so utterly haggard right now, she would definitely punch this bad grandpa who deceived children!

"Didn't we say the night before last that you'd sleep today?" Kallen, standing beside Theresa, was just as angry. "Where did the sleep go? What's with the dark circles under your eyes?"

"Ahem..." Otto coughed twice. "The experiment was just too fascinating. I couldn't help but stay up one more night."

"Even if your body's been enhanced, you can't abuse it like this!" Theresa couldn't hold back anymore, lightly punching Otto's thigh.

"Besides, Grandpa's body enhancement is the weakest one!"

"Exactly, exactly!" Kallen quickly nodded in agreement. "What if your body breaks down, Otto? You can't just let little Theresa take over everything for you, right?"

"Who's little?!"

A strained smile plastered itself onto Otto's face.

Even with a lifetime of cleverness, he found it hard to fend off such concerned questioning.

"Alright... It's my fault..." Otto raised his hands in surrender. "So, can you two let me go catch up on sleep? After all, you make it sound so serious, I'm afraid if I delay another second, I might just..."

Otto made a face at them, rolling his eyes and sticking out his tongue, successfully silencing them both.

"Okay... Then we'll settle this after Grandpa wakes up!" Theresa suppressed her anger.

Otto nodded, yawning as he turned back towards his rest area.

He and Kallen also had a small room on basement level 9. Theresa lived with Kiana and the others across from Shu.

But in reality, Kallen also stayed in Theresa's large villa.

Otto had already moved his rest area to basement level 6, just one room away from his laboratory.

This empty room served as a buffer Otto had left in case anything leaked from his lab.

In fact, he had stayed up for three nights straight working on a Honkai energy detector.

During these nearly 70 hours, he had experimented with almost a hundred mechanical structures before finally succeeding in creating one.

It was just that this Honkai energy detector's range seemed a bit too large.

Unless Otto brought out highly concentrated Honkai energy crystals, its needle constantly pointed north.

"Phew..." Watching Otto's retreating figure, Theresa let out a long sigh and complained, "Honestly... why doesn't anyone take care of their bodies?"

"Himeko started drinking as soon as her injuries healed, and Fu Hua's training is getting increasingly reckless..."

"Maybe it's because everyone wants to gain the strength to stand on their own as soon as possible..." Kallen lamented.

"But that's not how you train..."

"After all, Shu isn't at the base, so everyone's a bit nervous..." Kallen replied, her eyes vacant. "After all, the kind of enemy he faces... none of us can handle..."

"...?"

The corridor suddenly fell silent.

Kallen snapped back to reality, suddenly noticing Theresa frowning at her. Even Otto, who had reached his room door, had paused, looking back at her with slightly furrowed brows.

"Uh... What's wrong?" Kallen didn't know what she had said wrong.

"Kallen..." Otto spoke from afar, his tone filled with confusion and doubt.

"Shu... Who is that?"

...

"Shu! Wake up!!" Kiana's voice exploded in his dream, shattering the white fog within.

His hand, still under the covers, shot out, clamping over his ears even before his eyes opened.

Then, Shu opened his eyes, staring straight at Kiana, who was squatting by his bed, tugging at the corner of his quilt with both hands, poised to exert force.

He seemed to already know what Kiana was about to do...

"Get up!!" As Kiana shouted somewhat excitedly, Shu resignedly released his hands.

The quilt was yanked away, landing in Kiana's hands, revealing Shu dressed only in a shirt and pants.

Except for being barefoot and lacking the flashy coat, he was almost fully dressed.

"Tch..." Kiana's expression instantly turned gloomy. "Wearing so much even while sleeping... Shu, you're no fun."

"..." Should I apologize to you for that?

Sighing, Shu reached for the glasses on the table and put them on. "Instead of pulling Mei's covers, why did you come pull mine?"

"Ahem..." Mei's slightly embarrassed cough came from outside the door. Then, Shu saw two girls with messy hair appear.

Shu: "...So you pulled everyone's?"

Shu fixed Kiana with an interrogative gaze. Kiana hugged the quilt, tilting her nose up proudly.

Don't be proud of something like that! And why did you include me in your weird ritual!

Shu really wanted to retort, but his mouth just twitched slightly before he sighed and got out of bed.

"Is something wrong?" Kiana and the others arrived before his own alarm even went off; something must have happened.

"Shu, there's a thick fog outside, and the train's engine stalled for some unknown reason," Mei, having already tidied her hair, gave Kiana a gentle reprimand and started helping Bronya with hers.

"Foggy?" Shu frowned, turning to pull open the room's curtains.

Outside was a dense white fog where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Shu looked down from the window and couldn't even see the ground.

Not even two meters of visibility?

"Where are we now?" Shu turned back and asked. "Have you found the reason for the engine stalling?"

"Due to a sudden drop in temperature, the energy source in the engine room cracked. We need to wait two days for it to recover," Bronya answered, eyes narrowed as Mei fiddled with her hair.

"As for where we are now..." Mei finished tying the hair, and Bronya opened her eyes.

"Unknown, but we can be certain—we probably just crossed the Xuanlong River."