Shu still left. After leaving behind a cryptic "I understand," Shu gently removed Kiana's hands from his leg, then walked out of the room without looking back. He went downstairs, to the door, and left without a word.
Next door, a group of heads crowded around the window, buzzing.
"He's gone?" Sin Mal raised an eyebrow. From Shu's hastily departing back alone, she could tell that he had clearly suffered a considerable blow.
It seemed the Kaslana hadn't been effective.
"He's gone," Fréllei gave a definite answer. "From the looks of it, Mr. Shu is probably going to find someone."
"Heh, I'll bet a hundred contribution points that he's going to find that Overseer Otto," Sin Mal said with a grin, her shark-like teeth showing, completely ignoring the worried expressions on everyone else's faces.
Everyone was worried about how to explain this matter, only Sin Mal wanted to see blood flow like a river.
"We should think about how to explain this to Shu clearly!" Sirin said with a very flustered expression. She could already feel a hint of killing intent from Shu!
"Do we have to explain?" Sin Mal shrugged, her smile exceptionally wicked. "I think it's fine just like this."
"Miss Sin means... that none of us can explain this matter better than the Overseer," Fréllei sighed and decided to "translate" for Sin Mal.
Sirin looked at Sin Mal in disbelief. She felt that Sin Mal definitely didn't mean that. But when she saw that Sin Mal didn't react, Sirin was so surprised that she leaned back a little.
Sin Mal really did think so.
She liked to join in the fun and seemed to be someone who enjoyed stirring up trouble. But in essence, Sin Mal's pursuit of a peaceful life surpassed that of most people. This matter had already gone a bit beyond expectations, and it was definitely not okay to let it continue to develop.
Rumors stop with the wise. Indeed, no one was more suitable to explain the whole story than Otto.
As for why a large group of people weren't accompanying Shu to go and question Otto?
This kind of thing... it shouldn't be known by so many people. If Shu found out that so many people already knew about what had made him break down, he would most likely skip the "uncovering the truth" stage and directly enter a state of giving up.
This was also the reason why Mei hadn't let everyone go out with Kiana.
This matter was very important, but for Shu, it could be completely cast aside, or even directly accepted.
Rumors? Reputation? Or how life would be from now on?
These were no longer within Shu's consideration. Mei was very clear about what was in Shu's mind right now. She understood the pressure Shu was facing and the pressure he was assuming.
Under such heavy pressure, it was already a surprise that Shu could still find the time and energy to go and find Otto with such "killing intent."
At least he still cared about some things, at least about himself, right?
Mei was not worried about whether Otto would mess this up. Even they could see Shu's problem. Otto could definitely see it too, and he might have even made arrangements in places they didn't know about.
For example, the "Kevin" who had only appeared in the past two days... just the fact that they and Shu had not received any notice of how to deal with him was enough to show that this was all within Otto's design.
Wait... the number of times she had seen Shu recently was indeed a bit strange...
So Shu already knew about "Kevin's" appearance and was doing something about it?
"Why can't 'Kevin' be Shu in disguise?" Bronya said, her words instantly enlightening Mei.
"This..." Mei hesitated for a long time. After urgently coordinating all the information in her mind, she suddenly spoke with a dawning realization. "It seems... it's not impossible?"
"But, why?"
The only doubt about Bronya's seemingly casual suggestion was this. Why would Shu and Otto create this new identity of "Kevin"?
What effect would this have on the current situation, or on Shu?
Perhaps it was to let the name "Kevin" share some of the pressure with Shu, and to prevent everyone from putting all their expectations on Shu alone?
But Shu's power was [Hope]. What he needed were those eager expectations to support him and make him stronger. And with Shu's desire to take on all the danger himself, could he really agree to a reason that was almost equivalent to weakening himself?
Shu would definitely not agree, so the appearance of "Kevin" must have been for other reasons.
"Bronya, do you have any thoughts?" Mei thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a reason for Shu to accept the appearance of "Kevin." She could only turn to Bronya, who had just given her a flash of inspiration.
Bronya looked up and at Mei with her classic three-no face, speechless.
She had really just said that casually. Her starting point was not some conspiracy, but simply thinking that "only Shu can play 'Kevin'," so she had said it.
Now that Mei was formally asking her, she had to quickly replicate Mei's thinking process in her mind to keep up with the circuit of Mei's question.
After about half a moment of reaction time, Bronya straightened her expression. "I think Shu might have been threatened."
There was a moment of silence. Bronya looked up at Mei in confusion and repeated her speculation. "Shu was probably threatened."
"Ahem..." Mei coughed lightly. "Bronya, don't have a stereotypical impression of Overseer Otto..."
At least the Otto they had with them so far had been a good person who had been working hard for humanity.
But Fréllei shook her head. "No, I think Miss Bronya's stereotype is directed at Lord Shu."
"Huh?" Mei was a little surprised. Fréllei, on the other hand, only continued after seeing a hint of approval in Bronya's eyes.
"Miss Mei is just being gentle out of her own kindness. Her concern for her teammates has overshadowed her criticism of them. This makes Miss Mei always subconsciously ignore some of the minor shortcomings of the people around her.
"Just as Miss Mei thought, Lord Shu would not accept the possibility of weakening himself. This means that Lord Shu would also not accept actions that would allow him to slack off, such as 'resting' or slowing down.
"I think... Miss Mei has probably experienced this already, right?" Fréllei looked into Mei's eyes and accurately caught the momentary dimness in them.
Shu refused to rest, and his attitude was very firm. They had indeed already known about this.