After finally sorting out the basic context of the situation, Kiana only felt a sense of absurdity.
Would someone really say "Do you know or do I know?" to the person themselves?
And why was Shu arguing with the other person, saying he wasn't that amazing? The other person's ID was clearly "Nothing Special," so why did they seem to be defending Shu?
Kiana felt like the two of them might have gotten their roles mixed up, but on second thought, it somehow felt reasonable. The consecutive reversals had fried her brain.
She couldn't understand it, but she was greatly shocked.
She returned to Mei's side with a blank expression. Mei gently placed a hand on Kiana's and whispered in her ear, "What happened?"
"Someone is cursing at Shu..." Kiana replied subconsciously.
Mei: "?"
"Is it... someone on [Spark]?" Mei thought for a moment and guessed the truth.
Sirin, who was about to fall asleep, opened her eyes. But since Schrödinger's head was still resting on hers, she could only maintain her current position for the time being.
"It is Spark... but... that's not right either..." Kiana scratched her head in frustration. "Someone is cursing at Shu, but Shu is also cursing at Shu, and that guy is helping Shu speak...
"It's so confusing..."
Kiana's mumbling confused both Mei and Bronya, who had sidled up to them at some point. The situation was truly bizarre.
It was Bronya, with her extensive experience in internet surfing, who reacted first.
"I think the situation is probably that Shu saw someone over-praising him, so he went up to reason with them, and then they started arguing..."
"Is that so?" Kiana rubbed her head. "If that's the case, then I can understand..."
Both Mei and Bronya looked at Kiana with strange expressions.
It was one thing to figure it out, but to understand it?
Neither of them felt they could. It was rare for the person themselves to argue about whether they were strong or not. It usually only happened in children's squabbles. But for the person to take the opposing side... that was truly rare.
After all, everyone likes to hear good things. There might be self-deprecation, and plenty of self-mockery, but no one would ever attack themselves like a hater.
"This is Shu's own business..." Bronya thought for a moment and decided not to disturb him. For this kind of online flame war, it was best to just help him curse at the other side a couple of times after it was over.
She absolutely couldn't get involved herself. Who knew who was right and who was wrong in this kind of situation? Even if Shu had the final say on the matter they were discussing...
"Well, let's eat first," Bronya said to the others. Kiana and Mei glanced worriedly at Shu but said nothing.
Sin's knocking and shouting to wake up could be heard continuously. Before long, people started trickling into the cafeteria.
Today's breakfast was steamed potatoes with cheese pasta... Shu looked up for a moment, then lowered his head again, swiped on his phone a few times, then put it down and picked up his fork.
The others, who had been secretly observing Shu, breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Shu hadn't completely lost his mind...
Then they saw Shu's exaggerated eating speed. The entire plate of cheese pasta was devoured in two smooth bites, followed by a whole potato being stuffed into his mouth.
Mei and Bronya were silent for a moment, then silently turned to look at Kiana. Kiana's plate was also empty, and she was also chewing on a steamed potato.
The two of them immediately understood. No wonder it felt familiar. It turned out they had seen this kind of eating style on Kiana countless times.
Exaggerated, yet it didn't affect others at all. No slurping sounds, no big movements, just ridiculously fast.
Still chewing, Shu had already gotten up and was heading out, staring at his phone.
Sin, sitting opposite Shu, her fork frozen in mid-air, the cheese-laden pasta dangling from it.
She was stunned for a long time before she turned to Bronya, who was sitting next to her, and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong with him? He's completely different from yesterday."
Bronya lowered her head, a little embarrassed. "Shu is just being too serious. It's nothing."
Bronya's explanation only confused Sin more, but she didn't dwell on it. Bronya, who had already joined the MOTH, wasn't even concerned, so why should she be?
"By the way, Sin, when the Bronya and the others were crossing the bridge, we saw a ship docked at the island. What is that?" Bronya asked after finishing her breakfast, a question she had had since yesterday.
Cocolia Island, where the orphanage was located, was in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. A large bridge spanning the entire Mediterranean connected the island to the mainland.
The bridge was wide enough for trains to pass, but there was no station on Cocolia Island for them to stop. So Shu and the others had actually found a car on the coast yesterday and driven over the bridge.
As they approached the island, Bronya had noticed the large, retro sailing ship docked by the shore. Its style, as if it had sailed straight out of a pirate movie, had made Bronya feel dazed for a moment.
"That ship, they say it's a warship from a nearby country. It's supposed to be quite famous, called... the Invincible Armada or something?" Sin thought for a moment, explaining the origin of the sailing ship.
Bronya immediately guessed which country's warship it was. After all, there were very few countries that would keep such an old antique in service in their military, and only one dared to call itself the 'Invincible Armada'.
"They were quite lucky. The other fleets that went out to sea with them were all paralyzed by the Honkai. Only this ship had fewer people on board, so the situation was brought under control."
"The survivors couldn't operate those big ships, so they became iron hulks on the sea. I didn't expect this old thing to still be able to pull its weight and bring back those dozen or so sailors."
Sin gave a dry laugh. "The ship's docking location is here. The people were taken by Mother Cocolia to the outer ring, and the ship was left here."
Bronya nodded. Sin had explained the concept of the outer ring yesterday. It was a circular defensive line that Cocolia had built on the Mediterranean coast by gathering all the surrounding survivors and military equipment.
When this defensive line was first established, everyone thought it was just a simple zombie crisis, so "isolation" was the first factor Cocolia considered when building it.
The Mediterranean Sea itself was a natural defensive line, an insurmountable barrier for those zombie-like creatures. So Cocolia had integrated all the remnants of the nearby warlords, established this defensive line, and prepared to move the non-combatant survivors to the islands in the Mediterranean.