Behind him came a "click" sound—that was the sound of armor buckles being undone.
The White Knight armor, which had accompanied her during her long wanderings in St. Freya and was now tattered beyond repair, was stripped away, landing on the ground with a heavy, dull thud.
The coldness gave Kiana a layer of goosebumps all over her body.
But even more bone-chilling than the cold was the pain of the wound being exposed to the air.
Trembling, she picked up the cotton swab soaked in iodine.
Her clothes were stuck to her flesh and blood. As she peeled them open, Kiana trembled all over from the pain, and cold sweat instantly came down.
But she bit the back of her hand hard, not letting herself make a single sound of pain.
Su Yu stood with his back to her, yet his hearing became abnormally sharp at this moment.
He heard the suppressed breathing, the subtle sound of the cotton swab rubbing against skin, and could even smell the faint scent of blood and iodine diffusing in the air.
He sighed, the thought of dragging the mastermind behind the system out for a beating growing even stronger in his mind.
Forcing a girl to this extent, this damn system really has twisted tastes.
After some unknown amount of time, the movement behind him changed.
It was the sound of fabric rubbing.
It was the clothes Fu Hua had left behind.
Kiana clumsily put on that obviously oversized white shirt.
She buttoned it all the way to the top button; a faint scent, like a mix of ink and old tea, drifted from the collar.
It was the scent belonging to the "Class Monitor."
This familiar scent caused Kiana's movements to stagnate for a moment, and her eyes felt sore, but she quickly sniffed hard, forcing that weak emotion back down.
She put on the black sweatpants; the legs were a bit too long, so she could only roll them up two turns.
The Valkyrie, originally full of sci-fi feel and murderous aura, now actually appeared a bit thin and frail wrapped in that oversized casual wear.
"I... I'm done."
A hoarse voice came from behind him.
Su Yu felt as if he had been granted a pardon, and his taut nerves finally relaxed.
He slowly turned around.
The Kiana before him was wearing Fu Hua's old clothes, the sleeves so long they covered the back of her hands, exposing only a little bit of her fingertips.
Her originally messy long hair was casually gathered behind her head. That pale small face still held lingering vigilance, but because of the embarrassment of just treating the wound and changing clothes, there was a trace of extremely faint color on her cheeks.
She no longer looked like a ghost that would shatter at any moment; she had slightly... a bit more of a "human" vitality.
Su Yu's gaze stayed on her for a second, then politely moved away, landing on the pile of bloody armor.
"How is the wound handling?" he asked naturally, as if the awkward "one-meter imprisonment" just now hadn't existed, "Can you still walk?"
Kiana pursed her lips, nodded, then seemed to remember something, turned her head away, her voice muffled:
"Tha...."
Although the voice was as soft as a mosquito humming, Su Yu still heard it clearly.
Just then, the door to the break room was knocked.
"Senior Su Yu? Are you still inside?" Fu Hua's voice came from outside the door, "The rain seems to have slowed down a bit; if it's not convenient, I can..."
Hearing that voice, Kiana's body, which had just relaxed a little, instantly tensed up like a bowstring again, and she subconsciously shrank behind Su Yu.
"Um... Senior Su Yu."
The door opened.
Fu Hua's gaze passed over Su Yu's shoulder and landed somewhat worriedly on Kiana, who was hiding behind him and only exposing half her head.
Although she had changed into dry clothes, the girl's pale face and eyes full of wariness like a startled small beast didn't look like she was okay in any way.
"She looks like she's badly hurt, and her mental state is very unstable... do you really not need to call the police? Or an ambulance?"
Fu Hua's voice was suppressed very low, evidently afraid of stimulating that strange girl.
"If it's domestic violence or some dispute, police intervention would be safer..."
Hearing the word "police," Kiana's breathing became rapid, and she almost shrank entirely into Su Yu's shadow.
For the current her, any official organization meant the "claws" of Schicksal, meaning endless pursuit and that cold laboratory.
Su Yu imperceptibly moved half a step back, using his back to comfortingly block Kiana.
"No need, Fu Hua. Calling the police... will only make things more troublesome."
He sighed.
"You know too, some people have special circumstances... like lost ID documents, or being an 'unregistered' person. If the police come, not only will they not be able to help, I estimate we'll all be drinking tea at the station tonight."
Fu Hua froze for a moment, then showed a look of realization.
In the prosperous St. Freya High School, there indeed existed many people walking in the gray areas.
Although she was a good student who abided by the law, she was by no means a nerd who didn't know how to be flexible.
She took a deep look at Su Yu; a trace of inquiry flashed in those gray-blue eyes, but eventually returned to calm.
"I understand."
Fu Hua nodded and asked no further questions.
Out of trust for this senior who often came to visit and had an easygoing personality, she chose not to interfere excessively.
"Since you say so, Senior, then I won't meddle."
She walked out.
Su Yu turned back to look at Kiana behind him.
Kiana, however, somewhat stiffly and resistively moved her gaze away.
The rain outside hit the shed, and only the sound of rain remained in the break room.
"I'm Su Yu." Su Yu was the first to break the atmosphere, "Hello."
"...Kiana," she said, her eyes still holding vigilance.
Su Yu noticed her body was tense, as if ready to run away at any moment.
"I'm not a bad person," he said, "Well, bad people won't say they're bad people either."
Su Yu paused, pointing to the panel only he could see.
"But you should have felt it too; if you exceed one meter from me, you will slowly disappear."
Kiana's body stiffened.
She knew the man in front of her was speaking the truth.
"What are you going to do to me? Hand me over to Otto? Or...."
The girl's voice was hoarse, carrying a trace of hatred.
"Sorry, I really can't be associated with that kind of fierce person who wants to charge at trees at every turn."
"What do you mean?"
"It means—I don't know any Otto."
Kiana didn't believe it; although she didn't say it, Su Yu understood it from her eyes.
"You can choose not to believe me." Su Yu said, "Let's go, go back."
"Go back... back where?"
"My home."
"Why?"
"..."
Su Yu looked at the Kiana in front of him, who was like a hedgehog, and there was a trace of helplessness at the corner of his mouth.
"I'm hungry, I want to go back and eat instant noodles."
"..."
Kiana didn't move.
Su Yu realized that the Kiana at this point in time had the heaviest defenses.
It could be said that she didn't trust anyone at all; wanting to pry open her defenses wasn't an easy thing.
Then let's use some heavy ammunition.
"Mei would be sad to see you like this."
"Wha—"
After this name was spoken, Kiana's pupils constricted.
"Who exactly are you?"
Su Yu didn't answer, just turned around.
"Come back with me, and I'll tell you."
He didn't continue to waste his breath, but walked towards the outside of the break room.
Su Yu never considered himself a savior; the Kiana at this point in time was just that difficult to communicate with.
At this moment, countless thoughts had probably flashed through her mind.
"Wait.... wait."
Kiana's voice made his footsteps pause.
She was pointing at the Valkyrie armor on the ground.
"Clothes...."
Su Yu understood, shouting towards the outside: "Fu Hua, help me get a large plastic bag."
Not long after.
Su Yu carried the bag containing White Knight, followed by Kiana.
Due to the one-meter distance limit, the two stood very close together.
Kiana just buried her face in the hoodie hood, lowered her head, and didn't look at Fu Hua.
Fu Hua pointed to the landline on the counter.
"I'm on the night shift tonight, I'll be here until 7 o'clock tomorrow morning. If... if there really is any emergency that can't be handled, or if the wound gets worse and you need medicine, you can come find me at any time."
After saying that, she took a box of heated milk from the shelf and stuffed it into Su Yu's hand.
"Take this, warm up your body."
"Thanks, Fu Hua, I'll treat you to a Xanzhou Houttuynia Family Bucket someday."
"...Let's skip that."
Su Yu pushed the glass door of the convenience store, and the wet cold air mixed with raindrops hit his face again.
The rain had lessened a bit compared to before, but the sky was still as gloomy as an overturned ink bottle.
Su Yu opened that large black umbrella.
Because of that damn "one-meter limit," the two had to huddle tightly together.
Kiana lowered her head, her hand grabbing the fabric of clothes at Su Yu's lower back, like an autistic child being forcibly dragged out.
She mechanically took steps; her legs wrapped in the oversized pant legs were a bit stumbling, but she never dared to fall half a step behind Su Yu.
After walking a certain distance, the warm lights of the convenience store had already been isolated behind the curtain of rain.
Kiana suddenly stopped and looked back.
Across the misty rain curtain, one could still see the figure with the ponytail busy behind the counter, seemingly cleaning the floor that had just been wetted.
"...Still that goody-two-shoes personality."
Kiana withdrew her gaze, her voice so low it was almost swallowed by the sound of rain, carrying a self-deprecating sneer.
"Caring for strangers, giving milk to strangers... heh, you're really good at pretending."
She lowered her head, looking at the shirt belonging to "Fu Hua" on her body, a trace of complex pain and hatred flashing in her eyes.
"I just wonder… behind that friendly face, is there hidden calculation? Is she executing some 'surveillance mission' again?"
Su Yu's hand holding the umbrella handle paused slightly.
He turned his head to look at the girl full of spikes beside him.
The rain wet her bangs, and in those eyes that were once as clear as the blue sky, only deep distrust in this world remained now.
In that heavy story, Kiana was betrayed by the entire world.
The Class Monitor she trusted most was a watcher, the Teacher she respected most died to save her, and she herself was treated as a Herrscher container to destroy the world...
After experiencing such tragic betrayal and loss, expecting her to let down her guard because of a bottle of hot milk and a few words of concern would be writing a third-rate story.
For the current Kiana, suspicion is the instinct for survival.
All kindness in her eyes looks like a sugar coating wrapping poison.
Su Yu didn't retort, didn't explain that "the Fu Hua of this world is really a good person," and didn't feed her any chicken soup about "there is true love in the world."
He just silently tilted the umbrella a bit towards Kiana's side, blocking the drifting rain silk.
Then, as if he hadn't heard her complaints, he opened his mouth in a flat tone: "Let's go. I'll make you some noodles when we get home; you can't survive on cold rice balls alone."
"… I never said I wanted to eat."
"Okay okay, it's me who's hungry, you accompany me to eat, alright?"
Kiana bit her lip and didn't speak anymore.
But the hand grabbing the corner of his clothes didn't let go.
In that cold rainy night, the man who had to stay within one meter became the only solid thing she could cling to.
Even if she didn't trust him, even if she suspected the whole world.
But at least... the umbrella in his hand could really block the rain.