Chapter 19: The Watchful Father
"Hey, that's the right move."
Li Huan smiled, then said to Tom, "Untie her."
Tom looked at Li Huan, then at Kiana, hesitating as he glanced back at Li Huan.
He was worried that something might go wrong if they did this.
"It's fine, go ahead and untie her."
Li Huan stood up, patted Tom's head, and glanced at Kiana. "I trust that this young lady won't do anything to betray us."
Hearing this, Tom obediently untied the ropes on Kiana.
Once the ropes around her were removed, Kiana stood up from the floor and rubbed her body. She had been tied up for a while, and her limbs had gone numb.
Li Huan then handed Kiana the dual pistols that had been taken from her earlier. Looking at the guns, Kiana quickly snatched them back.
After handing them over, Li Huan remained calm, watching Kiana, seemingly unbothered by the fact that she had her weapons back.
A tense atmosphere developed between the two, as if a violent confrontation was imminent... But in the end, nothing happened.
Kiana simply put away her guns and asked, "What's your name?"
"Li Huan. And yours?"
"Kiana Kaslana."
As she spoke, Kiana extended her hand. "Looking forward to working together."
Li Huan smiled knowingly and shook her hand. "Likewise, looking forward to working together."
The moment they shook hands, Li Huan felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
If he could show any expression right now, it would definitely be one of sheer relief. "Phew, that scared the hell out of me!"
[You're lucky you dared to do that.]
The system's voice rang in Li Huan's head: [I thought she was going to shoot you as soon as you gave her the guns back.]
"Well, there was a bit of a gamble involved, but I believe she wouldn't kill me," Li Huan replied calmly in his mind. "After all, she's a good person."
[That line doesn't sound like something a 'good person' would say. You sound more like a manipulative jerk.]
"Cut me some slack, I had no other choice."
Li Huan sighed. "Anyway, I really do need Kiana's help right now."
Originally, Li Huan's plan was to increase his defense by learning an ancient martial arts technique, and then he and Tom would explore Thousand Feathers Academy to find a way out.
With increased resistance, at least he could ensure his own survival, and with Tom's help, the two of them could escape and live carefree lives.
But the problem was, this technique required a DVD player, which completely disrupted all his plans.
If he couldn't learn the technique, he would still be a weak, ordinary person, always at risk of dying in this place.
In this situation, although he trusted Tom's abilities, teaming up with Kiana couldn't hurt.
Kiana had been at this academy for an unknown amount of time, so she probably knew the place inside out.
Finding a DVD player shouldn't be too difficult, and since her combat abilities far exceeded Li Huan's, he'd feel more secure with her.
Plus, having a cute girl as a teammate wasn't a bad thing either. In some sense, that last reason might be the real motivation.
"Alright, so what should we do now?"
Kiana's voice snapped Li Huan out of his thoughts.
He coughed a few times, then asked, "Well, do you know where there's a computer?"
"Huh? Yeah, I know. What do you need it for?"
"Something really important. It can definitely help you, too."
"Alright, I'll take you there. But you'd better keep up."
And so, with their team now consisting of two people and a cat, they set off, with Kiana leading the way to a place where they could use the DVD.
As they were heading downstairs, Li Huan suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, this building seems eerily quiet. Do you know why that is?"
Kiana casually replied, "Oh, that. I just fought my way from the first floor to the roof and killed all the dead soldiers in the building."
"Wow, impressive..."
Meanwhile, in a tall building next to the sophomore teaching block, a one-armed man in a blue-gray trench coat was observing Li Huan and Kiana through a monocular. "Tch, what's Kiana up to?"
He put down the monocular, muttering in frustration, "She trusts strangers way too easily. I wonder where she gets that from..."
This man was Siegfried Kaslana, Kiana's father, who had been missing for over a year. Kiana probably had no idea that the father she had been searching for was actually watching over her from nearby the entire time.
Just moments ago, Siegfried had been watching Kiana's actions, observing nearly everything that happened in the home economics classroom.
When he saw Kiana get knocked out by Tom and then carried into the classroom by Li Huan and Tom, he had witnessed the whole thing.
If it weren't for certain reasons that prevented him from intervening, he might have already fought his way into the classroom.
But he also believed that with his daughter's abilities, dealing with just one person and a cat wouldn't be difficult.
However, after watching the closed door of the home economics classroom for a full hour with no movement, he began to feel something was off.
It shouldn't take this long, right? Could she be in danger?
Fortunately, just when he was about to lose his patience and intervene, the door opened, and his daughter came out.
Seeing her emerge, Siegfried finally felt some relief. But when he saw the man and the cat coming out with her, his brow furrowed once again.
Although he didn't know exactly what had happened, it seemed like they were planning to work with his daughter.
Through the monocular, Siegfried observed Li Huan and Tom, his expression growing serious. "To be at the center of a Honkai outbreak, bathed in high levels of Honkai energy, and still not turn into dead soldiers... Who are they? Anti-Entropy? Otto? Or... them?"
Countless suspicions echoed in his mind, but Siegfried temporarily pushed them aside.
"One thing's for sure: if they dare to harm Kiana... I guarantee they won't die an easy death..."
He muttered to himself as he stood up. Kiana and the others were leaving the area, so there was no reason for him to stay either.
However, just as Siegfried was about to continue observing Li Huan and the others through the monocular, Tom suddenly turned around, looking directly at him with curiosity.
Through the magnified lens, Tom's gaze was as sharp as a sniper's, sending a chill down Siegfried's spine.
He quickly lowered the monocular and rolled to the ground to hide.
Meanwhile, Tom tilted his head, looking in Siegfried's direction with a puzzled expression. Wasn't there just a disabled guy watching them?
"Tom, what are you standing there for? Did you see a bird or something?"
Hearing Li Huan call out to him, Tom shook his head and looked back again. But the spot was now empty.
Probably just a hallucination? Tom scratched his head with his paw, then turned and quickly caught up with Li Huan.
A few minutes later, after Tom and Li Huan had left the area, Siegfried finally dared to stand up. "What was that? That cat…"