Of course, the main reason was that she happened to be at that awkward in-between age.
Because of this, when facing elders, or older sister types, mother figures—especially girlfriends who act like older sisters or mothers—she tended to become lazy and let her guard down easily.
But when dealing with girls who were naturally younger or more childish, she would instead become gentle and kind, turning into the caring one.
Any sense of restraint?
Well, not really.
If I had to put it into words…
The only one who could always tolerate Kiana's willful little moods was the system.
Time and again, it was the system that experienced the most and endured the most in this regard.
She always bore it all without complaint, never saying a word.
Time passed quickly, and before long, about a month had gone by.
The sky screen videos still hadn't made an appearance.
But the audience in the real world could understand.
After all, compiling a video that covered all of the young lady's romantic partners up to that point naturally required a lot of experiences.
It involved interviews, investigations, and gathering evidence.
Good things take time, as they say.
Everyone was eagerly waiting.
As for the various countries sending women to Fire Moth, that had gradually begun to die down.
Because they didn't dare to go too far with it.
The Far East had already started bringing people back, one after another.
But some had obtained local residency, changed their nationality outright, and weren't coming back—which was to be expected, really.
Along the coasts of Shenzhou, production and the economy were slowly recovering.
Sapphire City had also taken this opportunity to reorganize and revitalize itself, emerging with a brand-new look.
Following the establishment of Mobius's laboratory, the Fire Moth headquarters officially began construction and fully relocated to Sapphire City.
At the same time, embassies from various countries, external departments of different organizations, and even some important institutions had also started their own relocation plans.
Regarding this, Kiana really couldn't help but feel exasperated.
'Do they not know you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket? If a Honkai Eruption hits this place, no one will be able to escape.'
But it was no use!
After all, the Miss Herrscher of Finality was here.
It's always safer to have the Finality backing you up.
Besides, even if a Honkai outbreak did happen in Sapphire City, the young lady would surely be able to predict it in advance, just like during the Third Honkai Eruption, and issue a warning ahead of time.
Right?
They firmly believed it.
What's more, with all these departments gathered here, there might be conflicts, but it also made work more efficient.
At the very least, if a meeting needed to be called, one announcement would make it a global conference.
No joke.
With how things were going, it probably wouldn't be long before Sapphire City became a state within a state.
Maybe it already was?
In any case, Sapphire City was the most conspicuous attention-seeker in the whole world.
Though no one knew what was so great about it that the young lady cared so much about this place.
But wherever the young lady chose to live was fine—wherever she was, that place was practically Paradise.
Wasn't that already a global consensus?
Mobius was bustling about, leading a team of researchers in fervently studying the MANTIS technology.
Mei was also delving deeper into the Stigma technology, refining it bit by bit, attempting to create a prototype.
How long had it even been?!
A year?
Kiana was starting to wonder if the accelerator was working a bit too well.
But she had checked carefully, and there were no issues. So it was fine.
It was still being built brick by brick—it's just that while normally it would be at one times speed, what you were seeing now was more like four times speed, or even eight times speed…
It felt like every action was there… just happening really fast.
Then she turned to look at Vill-V.
Holy crap.
The first Divine Key was already finished.
She was just about to take a break and tinker with the second Divine Key.
Speaking of which, the third Divine Key seemed to be off the table for now…
Because the Third Herrscher was still locked up.
She had already become obedient, conceded defeat—just a little stubborn, a bit tsundere.
You couldn't exactly have a heart-to-heart with her under these circumstances, right?
That wouldn't do.
"I was thinking, since all the Herrschers are theoretically your projections, and the Herrscher Cores are fragments of your authority, couldn't you just hand-craft a Herrscher Core for me?"
"..."
Chef Vill-V was in the middle of cooking.
After being busy for so long, she finally decided to treat herself.
Better to seize the moment than wait for the perfect time.
Elysia had gone off to interrogate the Third Herrscher again.
Kiana had come over to take a look at the first Divine Key.
And now, she got to mooch a meal.
"What you said makes sense… maybe I could give it a try."
Kiana had hand-crafted pseudo-Herrscher Cores before.
She hadn't tried making a real Herrscher Core yet.
But even pseudo-Herrscher Cores were something Vill-V would gladly take.
After all, even if they couldn't make Divine Keys, a secondary version would still be amazing.
While it might not be possible to equip the entire Fire Moth team with pseudo-Divine Keys, at the very least, the elite members could look forward to it in the future.
Kiana didn't refuse, either.
Crafting pseudo-Herrscher Cores was nothing much for her now. Right then and there, she made seventeen or eighteen of them and tossed them to Vill-V.
Watching Expert Vill-V take over the account, grinning from ear to ear.
But the next moment, Chef Vill-V came back online, seeming a bit pouty, unable to hold back some complaints.
If the account switching took too long and the food burned, no one would get to eat.
Dammit! That really wouldn't do…
"So, uh, did you ask Mobius? When will the MANTIS surgery be ready?"
At the very least, she hoped for personalities to coexist, to both perceive the outside world and hold conversations within the same body.
Otherwise, with all this back and forth, things could easily go wrong.
"No idea~ Why not go ask Snakey yourself?"
Kiana looked at Chef Vill-V.
Her two-toned hair, her delicate little face.
Her incredibly good figure, adorned with a cute apron.
She was the very picture of a charming, beautiful chef.
Had to admit, this side of Vill-V was really rare.
Usually, she had more of a tech-girl vibe, steampunk or industrial style—though that was also quite appealing. But now, she seemed more refined and less chaotic, which made her even more captivating.
Kiana leaned in slightly and wrapped her arms around Chef Vill-V from behind.
"?"
Chef Vill-V's body stiffened.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"I just want to hug you… is that not allowed?"
Kiana adopted a coquettish tone, almost like she was throwing a little tantrum. "Look, I gave you all those pseudo-Herrscher Cores in one go, and later, I'll even try to supply you with actual Herrscher Cores."
"I'm your supplier daddy, you know."
"..."
"Don't you think you should show a little appreciation?"
"..."
As she spoke,
her soft, full chest pressed gently against Vill-V's back, like two plump, snow-white pillows.
Her small hands circled around Chef Vill-V's slender waist.
That waist seemed to have astonishing flexibility—it felt wonderful to the touch, with perfect elasticity.
It was truly something she couldn't help but adore.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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