With that earth-shattering call, Shu's hand, which was undoing his braids, froze.
He showed no surprise, no confusion, nor did he look helpless. He just stopped almost all his movements and turned to look at Bianka with extreme calmness. It looked as if he was about to nod at Bianka's call and pop out an "mm."
But Kiana knew that Shu was scared. He was really scared.
Most people's stress response was physical. In the face of a sudden stimulus, they would often resist randomly. Shu used to be like that too.
But later, after experiencing more things, simply erupting in the face of stimulus had become a lower form of response. In those environments where one action could affect the whole situation, this kind of hopeless struggle would only drag one deeper into the mud.
So now, when faced with this kind of stimulus, Shu would fall into a state of "forced calm," trying to use his brain to quickly deduce a way out for himself in the complex information.
Also known as a brain freeze.
After a full second, under the gaze of Bianka and Kiana, Shu's completely still hand began to make stiff and disorderly subconscious movements. At the same time, a helpless smile appeared on Shu's face.
Although in Kiana's opinion, that helpless smile was more or less forced.
"Truth or dare?" Shu took a deep breath on his own initiative and tried to remove himself from the role of the "one being teased." He transformed into a "guide" to maintain his "clear-headed bystander" position.
"Even if you have a good relationship, it's not good to make this kind of joke..."
"It's not," but the two of them shook their heads in unison, making Shu's eyes widen.
It's not truth or dare?!
Then the problem was very serious...
The second forced calm kicked in. After ruling out an easy-to-accept answer, one abstract and absurd option after another began to pop up in Shu's brainstorm.
Bullying? Deception? Impossible. Kiana would never do such a thing. The worst thing she could think of doing was to secretly eat the food Mei had prepared for her in advance.
She wouldn't even touch anyone else's share! She would only eat her own, so that when everyone else was eating, she could only come to him with an empty bowl to get a second helping.
Hmm... in exchange for washing the dishes.
Shu just realized that it had been a long time since he had done such a menial task as washing dishes. Kiana had basically done it all for him.
Wait, I'm getting sidetracked.
Excluding those malicious possibilities, Bianka's outburst from zero frames was probably due to some misunderstanding... or some popular trend that he was unaware of?
The first thing Shu thought of was his ridiculously high status in Fire Moth. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was like a walking sun, with people raising their hands and weeping wherever he went.
Who knew if someone was spreading the story that he was the reborn parent of everyone in the crowd again.
It was absurd, but Shu had always believed that reality would be more absurd than one's imagination.
It couldn't be that Bianka was really his daughter or something, right?! He was a vir... no, he was a workaholic who had been working diligently ever since he had transmigrated. How could he have a child? How could he possibly have a child?
Not to mention a child this big!
Impossible, absolutely impossible! This world could not possibly be this absurd!
A form that was clearly freshly printed was handed to Shu. Shu was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses from his brainstorm and looked at the most prominent line of large characters on the form.
[Paternity Test Report]
These five words seemed to have some kind of magic. The moment they captured Shu's gaze, they pulled his vision downwards, pressing his head down and forcing him to read the entire form.
[Test Subject: Bianka Ataegina Kaslana
Test Subject: Shu
Test Result: Genetic affinity of 54.8%
Confirmed parent-child relationship.]
The smooth white paper suddenly wrinkled. It was caused by the sudden force of Shu's hand gripping the form. And the third forced calm was triggered, pouring a final bucket of cold water into Shu's already chaotic mind.
"Heh..." Shu let out a dry laugh. He thought he was amazing for being able to laugh.
"Kiana, Bianka, you must have been scammed," Shu no longer cared about his title. He was racking his brains to find a reasonable explanation for the form in his hand.
"There used to be a scam like this, telling you that you were a long-lost real young lady, or that you were related to some big shot, and even forging a fake test report. Then they would tell you that if you wanted to acknowledge your relatives, you just had to give him a sum of money, and you would have endless wealth and glory in the future..."
After speaking, Shu nodded first, showing an exaggerated expression of understanding. "Hmm, it must be like that. Thank goodness you came to me directly, Kiana... you weren't scammed, were you?"
Kiana's body suddenly stiffened. Shu's sharp, eagle-like gaze instantly shot over, completely recording the moment Kiana reacted in his brain.
It was a reaction to the word "scam"!! Shu even went so far as to feel the emotion that Kiana was feeding back.
It was shame, embarrassment!
Kiana had definitely been scammed!
I told you so!!
How could this world be this absurd! Bianka was his child? It didn't add up in terms of time or logic! Which History Fictionologists released this history?!
I, Shu, the leader of Fire Moth, the captain of the First Exploration Team... the man who is about to be re-elected as the captain of the First Exploration Team!
Will not allow this evil wind of constitute history to prevail in Fire Moth! To put an end to this, I will start with that golden-haired Raksha priest who is doing experiments on the sixth underground level!
"Hahaha, it's okay," Shu's heart finally settled back into his chest. He put the "fake" report aside and smiled reassuringly at the guilty Kiana. "Who hasn't been scammed before? Sometimes, suffering a little loss is a good thing. At least you'll have a sense of déjà vu next time, right?
"By the way, how much did you lose? It shouldn't be much, right? Maybe there's still time to get it back."
Kiana blushed with embarrassment, twisting the ends of her hair with her fingers. After a long while, she finally stammered out a number.
"Uh... that... just... six... sixty contribution points..."
"Sixty?" Shu said with a helpless laugh. "That's good, sixty is not a big number... do you remember when?"
"Ten points once, and another time... fifty points..." Kiana's face was completely hidden. And on the other side, Bianka could see that Kiana's face was completely flushed. "The time... was... yesterday morning..."
Shu stopped laughing.