Sent.
The infirmary fell silent for a few seconds.
Su Yu could feel Kevin's stare drilling into the back of his head—
the kind of stare used to confirm whether someone's brain had also gotten damaged in the fall.
Then the phone vibrated.
[Kevin: ?]
Just a single question mark.
A huge, confused question mark.
Kevin probably felt like he was the one going insane.
Su Yu cleared his throat, braced himself, and kept typing.
[Su Yu: Like… a device that can temporarily stop the cat from moving at critical moments.][Su Yu: Remote-controlled shock collar, or a sedative injector, something like that. That cat's feral—if it gets stressed, people can die.]
Kevin stared at the screen and sank into a long silence.
About half a minute later, a new message popped up.
[Kevin: Su Yu.][Kevin: That cat you saved.][Kevin: Is it… normal? I mean—does it belong to the "four feet on the ground" category of lifeforms?][Kevin: That's a tiger, isn't it?]
Su Yu couldn't hold it in—he burst out laughing, immediately yanking on the cut at the corner of his mouth and baring his teeth in pain.
He looked up and saw Kevin's usually expressionless face wearing a complicated mix of:
I don't understand,I'm deeply shaken,and you're playing some wild games, aren't you?
"Later," Su Yu waved weakly, guilty as sin, then added another line.
[Su Yu: Special breed. Seriously… a cat that fell from the sky. If I don't keep it under control, my place might get demolished.]
Kevin stared at the phrase "a cat that fell from the sky" for a full three seconds.
He lifted his head, glanced at the white-haired girl talking quietly with Mei not far away, then looked down at Su Yu's leg—wrapped like a rice dumpling.
Fine.
If he couldn't get answers, he wouldn't force it.
After all these years, he knew Su Yu too well:
If Su Yu didn't want to talk, you could put a knife to his throat and still wouldn't pry it out.
But if Su Yu did ask for help—
then he truly needed it.
Kevin pocketed his phone and walked over to Mei.
"Mei."
Mei was in the middle of calmly explaining the latest popular arithmetic drills—
mostly Mei talking, Kiana listening.
Hearing him, Mei stepped over with a puzzled look.
"What is it? Something wrong with Su Yu's injuries?"
"No, injuries are fine. It's a… strange request. Come here."
They moved to the corner of the infirmary. Kevin lowered his voice.
"Su Yu wants a favor."
"What favor?"
"He says…" Kevin hesitated, because the next words were genuinely absurd. "He wants you to make a cat anti-scratch artifact."
Mei blinked. For a split second she thought she'd misheard.
"What artifact?"
"Something… that can make a living thing lose mobility at key moments," Kevin forced out. "Like… a shock collar."
Mei went silent.
As the top scientist here, her brain moved faster than Kevin's—
and in far more creative directions.
Her gaze slid past Kevin and landed precisely on Su Yu, sitting in his chair with his head down pretending to be dead.
Then it drifted to the white-haired girl who'd been glued to Su Yu's side.
"He has a cat now?"
"No idea."
"What kind of cat needs a shock collar? A tiger?"
"I asked the same thing," Kevin's expression turned subtle. "He said it's a cat that fell from the sky."
Another silence.
Mei raised a hand and rubbed her temples.
The information density here was… a lot.
Her intuition told her Su Yu was hiding something he couldn't say out loud.
That girl named Kiana. The inexplicable injuries. And this outrageous request—
"Fine." Mei sighed and put her professional voice back on. "This request sounds like it contains a certain… cough… niche preference, but I can build it."
"I'll need parameters—target weight and tolerance."
"And what do you mean by 'lose mobility'? Brief dizziness? Muscle relaxation? Complete paralysis? Any cardiac history?"
Kevin froze. "You're not going to ask why?"
Mei glanced at him. "If I ask, will either of you tell the truth?"
"...Probably not."
"Then there you go." Mei shrugged. "You two have been like this since college—partners in crime. But if Su Yu asked, it's not a joke. It's a genuine need."
She turned to look at Su Yu.
Su Yu happened to lift his head right then. Seeing Mei's sharp, knowing eyes, he made a guilty little please gesture—smiling so hard it bordered on begging.
Mei let out a tired sigh and nodded.
What was this?
Conspirator's chemistry?
Kevin's expression grew complicated.
"Mei… sometimes I really think you're too nice to that guy."
"Likewise." Mei arched a brow. "Who was chatting with him nonstop on the phone and acting as his messenger just now?"
Kevin opened his mouth—
and discovered he had absolutely nothing to say.
Not far away, Kiana watched quietly.
She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could see the atmosphere.
That feeling—where no explanations were needed, and help came anyway.
The woman named Mei didn't look at her with suspicion—only concern.
The man named Kevin looked cold, but he'd been smoothing over problems for Su Yu the entire time.
Su Yu flashed a hand sign, then grinned like everything was easy.
So this was what friends were like.
No need to justify yourself. No need to prove anything.
You speak—and they're there.
Kiana unconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes.
In her old world, she'd had friends like that too.
Mei. Bronya. Himeko. Theresa…
She thought she'd never have that again.
But now, in this unfamiliar world, this ordinary man named Su Yu seemed to be handing those things back to her, piece by piece.
"Hey, what're you standing there spaced out for?" Su Yu's voice cut in from beside her. "Cosplaying a statue?"
The familiar sound snapped her out of it.
She turned and realized Su Yu had already gotten to his feet—one hand braced on Kevin's shoulder for support—grinning at her with that shameless smile, bright enough to forget he'd nearly died tonight.
"Let's go. We're heading home."
His tone was casual, like nothing had happened.
"We still haven't eaten. I said you can order whatever you want tonight—I'm paying. Don't you dare try to save me money. This is compensation for emotional damages."
Kiana stared at his infuriating grin—
the face that still twitched with pain but insisted on acting cool anyway.
Her nose stung.
But she was Kiana Kaslana.
Tsundere was factory default.
She turned her head away with a huff, voice muffled but soft.
"…Who wants your late-night snack."
She walked over anyway—then naturally hooked his other arm over her shoulder and let him lean on her.
"Fine. I'll eat. Like I'm scared of you."
....
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