Mei sat on the couch.
Outside, night had already fallen. Worry lingered in her eyes.
Ever since her father left to buy groceries, he had not come home. No matter how many times she called, the phone went unanswered.
A few simple dishes were laid out on the table.
They were made with ingredients she had gone out to buy herself after waiting too long at home. She had also taken the chance to look for her father, but even after circling the nearby food shops, she had not seen him anywhere.
Reality proved, once again, that when people are pushed far enough, they can do anything.
To take care of her father and survive day to day, Mei had been forced to develop decent cooking skills.
The taste was average, but at least it would not send someone to the hospital… probably.
She turned her head toward the television. The evening news was playing.
Breaking news.
A pachinko parlor in the western district of Nagazora City has been robbed, resulting in severe property damage.
The suspect is believed to be a woman with light purple hair. Police have issued a wanted notice.
The suspect may be armed with heavy weaponry and is extremely dangerous. If you have any information, please contact the police immediately. Do not approach on your own.
On the screen, thick smoke billowed from a pachinko parlor. The once-flashy building had been reduced to near ruins.
From the surrounding streets, Mei recognized it instantly.
It was one of the places her father used to frequent.
She shot to her feet, unease spreading across her face.
"Dad… he did not run into trouble, did he?"
The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
Her father had sworn repeatedly before leaving that he would never drink or gamble again. Mei wanted to believe he could turn over a new leaf and bring their lives back on track.
Emotionally, she hoped he truly meant it.
Rationally, she knew how hard it was for someone to change without experiencing something truly devastating.
Her father had fallen this far because of her mother's death. If he were to change again, what kind of shock would it take?
Mei fell silent.
Deep down, she already knew the answer.
He had gone gambling again. Or drinking. Definitely.
Sadness and grievance welled up in her chest. Her life felt just like the darkening sky outside, bleak and heavy.
She stood up, placed the dishes into a thermal container, changed clothes, and prepared to check nearby izakayas or the police station.
Before leaving, she paused, then returned to her room to grab pepper spray and a homemade stun gun she had tinkered with in her spare time.
Nagazora City's public safety had been getting worse lately, at least judging from the news. Going out at night without preparation was not wise.
Everything ready, Mei reached for the door.
At that moment, it opened from the outside.
They froze, staring at each other.
"Mei?"
"Dad?"
The person standing there was indeed her father, Ryoma. But he looked completely different from the man who had left that morning.
His hair was neatly styled. His clothes were clean and orderly. The lingering stench of alcohol was gone.
His expression was composed, no trace of that hollow, drained look.
He carried a briefcase, looking like a successful professional returning home after a business deal.
If she had not known that face for over a decade, Mei might have thought he was someone else entirely.
She quietly let out a breath.
No matter what, he was safe.
"Since you are back, Dad… let's eat first."
She took the food back out of the thermal container, set it on the table, and invited him to sit.
The meal was simple, nothing like a restaurant's, but it carried the warmth of home.
…
"These are dishes I just learned. They might not taste great," Mei said.
Ryoma pressed his palms together and smiled. "Thank you for all your hard work today, Mei. Let's eat."
He picked up something that looked like tempura and took a careful bite.
"Well?" Mei asked, a little expectant.
Ryoma's eyes lit up. He swallowed and gave her a thumbs-up.
"Delicious!"
Seeing him praise it like a food show host made Mei frown in confusion.
She knew her own cooking. It would not hospitalize anyone anymore, but calling it delicious felt like an insult to the ingredients.
She picked up a piece of tempura herself and took a bite.
An overwhelming blast of salt and sourness exploded on her tongue. Her taste buds felt like they had been hit by a grenade. Her face instantly scrunched up.
She looked at her father, who was still eating without pause.
Swallowing hard and fighting down her stomach's revolt, she asked, "Dad… is this really good?"
Ryoma did not change expression.
"It is. You made it. It tastes like home."
Her expression grew complicated, but warmth spread in her chest.
She knew he was comforting her, protecting her pride.
But then another thought surfaced.
How long had it been since she last saw a father who cared about her feelings like this?
After her mother's death, he had seemed to abandon the world entirely.
And now… was she imagining things, or had that confident, spirited father returned?
Watching him steadily clear the table, Mei felt both helpless and guilty.
How could she let her father keep eating food this hard to swallow?
Maybe she really should take cooking more seriously…
As Mei leaned on the table, smiling softly while lost in thought, she did not notice that the "Ryoma" across from her was quietly observing her as well.
Another piece of tempura went down. Bitter, spicy, and strange flavors detonated in his mouth.
This had to be the tenth kind of tempura flavor he had endured already.
Making a single dish taste like a dozen different things was, in its own way, a kind of talent.
If his body were not already at the level of an A-rank Valkyrie, he would probably be in the ICU right now, greeting his great-grandmother at the gates of the afterlife.
Yes. The Ryoma sitting there was Li Mu in disguise.
Since the real Ryoma was beyond saving, Li Mu had decided to personally take over and build ME Corp himself.
As for the real Ryoma, he was currently picking bananas on a plantation in Africa.
Looking at the amount of food still left, Li Mu felt his heart tremble.
But no matter how hard it was to swallow, he ate it all with a straight face, even praising Mei's cooking.
Why?
Daily check-in: Raiden Mei's dinner. Reward: Crystals x10.
The reward was small, barely a fraction of previous ones.
But the key point was this.
Daily check-ins could be repeated.
Which meant that just by eating Mei's cooking every day, he could earn thirty Crystals a day. Every single day.
Li Mu was convinced the system had borrowed this straight from game mechanics. Was this not just a reskinned daily stamina reward from Raiden Mei?
Either way, even for thirty Crystals a day, he was more than happy to be a professional hype man.
If he told Mei the truth and crushed her confidence so badly that she swore off cooking forever, his free daily income would vanish.
After dinner, Mei cleaned up and prepared to return to her room to read. Li Mu stopped her, wanting to talk.
Sitting across from her, Li Mu's version of Ryoma wore a face full of guilt.
"Mei, I've thought about it all day. I finally realized how inhuman I've been."
"As a father, as an adult, I let my daughter support me. Your mother would be terribly disappointed if she saw this."
"Dad, please do not say that. You… you…" Mei tried to comfort him, but her low emotional intelligence left her unable to find the right words.
"Mei, I know you want to comfort me, but there's no need," Li Mu said sincerely. "Admitting past failure is not shameful. Taking pride in it is. I do not want to be that kind of person anymore."
"Dad?"
"I've decided to build a foundation for you, so you can become the happiest child in the world."
"Dad, what are you talking about?" Mei asked, growing more confused.
"I've decided to start a business."
"… "
Mei felt like her father had drunk too much again.
"… maybe not, Dad."
She could not be blamed for doubting him. A man who had been drinking, gambling, and wasting away just yesterday suddenly talking about entrepreneurship sounded insane.
If it were anyone else, she would have thought they had lost their mind. Since it was her father, she tried to be gentle.
"We can still eat right now. If this fails, we will not survive."
Hearing the distrust in her tone, Li Mu smiled slightly.
He placed the briefcase on the table.
"These are my patents. Once monetized, they will be enough to establish ourselves in the Far East."
Mei knew her father had some reputation in the scientific community, mainly in physics and engineering. Having patents was not strange.
But using them to start a company…
She did not want to crush his enthusiasm, but it sounded unrealistic.
Then Li Mu opened the briefcase.
Inside were stacks of documents.
"So that is what you were doing all day… I thought you had gone—"
Gambling again.
She did not say it out loud.
Curious, Mei picked up a stack and began reading.
Very quickly, her expression turned serious.
As a genuine prodigy, she could understand the contents easily.
They were designs for autonomous mechs, complete with supporting technologies. Some of it was far ahead of the current state of the world.
Mei was stunned.
Li Mu smiled.
He had bought these with one hundred Crystals from the shop. Technology from MOTH ten years in the future.
As Honkai disasters grew more severe, humanity would be forced into a brutal marathon against extinction. With Honkai energy as an almost omnipotent power source, technology would advance at breakneck speed.
Later on, science would lean more toward biology, and mech development would lag behind.
But compared to the present day, this was still a massive leap forward.
Enough to support an entire company.
Gradually, though, Mei looked up at him, suspicion filling her eyes.
"Dad… is this really your technology?"
She knew her father's limits better than anyone.
He might be capable of researching this.
But he also might not.
Li Mu did not even blink.
"Of course it is."
"I swear on your mother's name."
"If I am lying, then let your father pick bananas in Africa forever."
…
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