"The front windshield is completely shattered, the hood is deformed, and because of the emergency braking, the left side of the car was scraped by the guardrail and needs reshaping."
The young man, one hand gripping Miss Kiana's shoulder, smiled as he stated the initial damage to the car.
"Ah Li, what are you talking about? I don't quite understand?"
Looking at the white paper filled with Arabic numerals, Kiana, in a rare display, put on a fawning smile.
The founding emperor of the Song Dynasty in Shenzhou was called a hero even when he was just starting out in the army, but he was destitute, often without a single penny to his name.
One time, Zhao Kuangyin was out alone. The weather was unbearably hot, and he saw a watermelon patch owned by an old man.
Zhao Kuangyin schemed to get a free meal. He ate first, then asked the price, and then said the price was too high, a rip-off, and refused to pay, thus eating many watermelons.
After eating, he asked, "How much?"
The old man extended one finger: "One penny."
It was impossible to find less money than one penny in the world, but Zhao Kuangyin didn't even have that single penny. He was as dumbfounded as Theresa.
This story later evolved into a common saying: "A single penny can stump a hero."
A single penny stumped Zhao Kuangyin, and Miss Kiana, as poor as Zhao Kuangyin in his youth, had just smashed a Honda car.
Poverty saps ambition. Miss Kiana could only play dumb now, try to get chummy, and see if she could muddle her way through by acting cute.
"Just tallying up Mr. Driver's losses, that's all."
The young man,捏着账单 (niēzhe zhàngdān - clutching the bill), sized up the girl, who was actually quite cute, and said mercilessly.
Miss Kiana's gaze drifted slightly, looking at her surroundings.
Although she didn't know what exactly happened yesterday, judging from Mei's attitude towards the guy called Mr. Li, their relationship should be pretty good.
Since their relationship was good, Miss Mei's safety was basically not an issue.
She should also find a chance to slip away.
Otherwise, she'd probably have to go work in a black coal mine to pay off her debt.
"I think the daughter of the knightly Kaslana family wouldn't do something like absconding to escape punishment, right?"
Before Miss Kiana could clearly survey the nearby routes, a light, airy voice sounded beside her ear.
Miss Kiana's face stiffened.
She hadn't paid attention earlier, but now she remembered that the guy in front of her had stated her full name in one go.
Now it seemed this guy not only knew her full name but even knew the significance of her surname.
Is this guy's relationship with Mei that good?
The heart of the girl, who had only told Raiden Mei her full name and the meaning of her surname, tightened with panic.
Kiana felt that her situation was very bad in various senses.
For a moment, she even had the illusion that her surname wasn't Kaslana but Apocalypse.
"Mr. Li, please don't make things difficult for Kiana."
Miss Mei looked at his expression, which clearly showed he was looking for some fun, and sighed.
Although they hadn't spent much time together, one could even say it was very short, Raiden Mei was already quite familiar with Li Zihan.
After all, people with prominent personalities always leave a deep impression, whether good or bad.
"I'm not making things difficult for her, you know."
Li Zihan shrugged and said.
"This isn't the future Beacon Country, where you can go out on the streets, do some manual labor, and add a few luxury items to a not-so-wealthy family."
"If you smash a car, you have to pay the price."
Miss Kiana's face grew even stiffer. At the time, she had completely regarded Li Zihan as a kidnapper, so of course, she smashed things however she pleased.
Now the result was out: she had attacked a friendly.
Smashing the car was thrilling at the moment, but it led to a funeral pyre afterward.
"Mei, can you lend me some money?"
Miss Kiana, who could truly be said to be desperately poor, wore a mournful face and looked towards Miss Rich Girl.
Looking at the smashed car window in front of her, Raiden Mei began to ponder how much savings she had left in her personal account.
Kiana, working part-time while searching for her father, definitely had no money. She could only help cover the cost for now.
Raiden Ryoma's assets were frozen, but Raiden Mei had her own personal account.
Perhaps the money she could access now wasn't as much as in the past, but she could still afford to repair a car.
Thinking this, Raiden Mei, under Kiana's gaze which was like a saint looking at Jesus, nodded and reached into her pocket.
And then—
Miss Mei froze. She fumbled around on her body for a long time but couldn't find her wallet.
Seemingly noticing Raiden Mei's odd behavior, Li Zihan spoke.
"Mei, you don't need to step in. Kiana caused this problem, so it should be handled by her relatives."
Hearing these words, Kiana's expression dimmed somewhat.
She lowered her head, like a cat grabbed by the scruff of its neck, her entire demeanor becoming a bit dejected.
She had been searching for Siegfried for over a year now and still hadn't found a trace of him.
If she couldn't find him, no matter how capable he was, he couldn't help!
"Um, Kiana came to the Far East to find her father."
Raiden Mei looked at Kiana's slightly dejected expression, then looked at Li Zihan, tactfully reminding him that Siegfried had been missing for a long time.
"Siegfried is indeed hard to find."
The young man, who had decided to contact Welt through both the Anti-Entropy conservatives and Theresa, smiled and said.
"However, Kiana's relatives aren't limited to just Siegfried. If you can't find Siegfried, you can always look for Theresa the Silly."
"Theresa the Silly, who's that?!"
Kiana, who had never heard the name Theresa the Silly, was stunned.
That name sounds so stupid, yazi.
"Theresa Apocalypse, head of the Apocalypse family—one of Schicksal's Three Great Families, Director of Schicksal's Far East Branch, and also your mother's good ji-friend."
The young man, not yet planning to reveal the whole truth, said with a smile.
"If it's her, she'll definitely be happy to pay the bill for you."
Apocalypse.
Kiana, who had once heard Siegfried mention the surname Apocalypse, chewed on this name repeatedly, her expression towards Li Zihan changing.
This guy opposite her didn't seem to have gotten her information from Mei. After all, she didn't know any Theresa the Silly.
He knew too much, so much that it was a bit unsettling.
Sharing a similar expression were Raiden Mei and Bronya, who hadn't spoken a word and had just been fiddling with her computer, already prepared to hack the surveillance of an entire area.
Their interpersonal relationships seemed transparent before that guy, with no privacy to speak of.
"Do you need me to help you contact Theresa the Silly?"
The young man, who himself couldn't contact Theresa directly, but could obtain clues to contact both the Anti-Entropy conservatives and Theresa through Raiden Ryoma once he was rescued, said.
"Then, I'll have to trouble you."
The girl, who genuinely wanted to see her relatives, nodded solemnly.