Chapter 885: I Drew It

Heimu leaned against the metal armrest of the public seat, arms crossed over her chest, her dark‑purple eyes calmly watching Kesi Mo, neither stopping nor speaking.

Kesi Mo lowered her head, stared at the pile of scraps at her feet, and remained silent for a while.

Then she straightened up, tossed the last piece of torn paper from her hand into the pile, her arms hanging at her sides, spine upright.

The warm orange pattern on the visor finally dropped from its frantic flashing to a normal frequency, though a few shades dimmer than usual.

"Sorry."

Her voice came through electronic reverb, more muffled than usual.

"I acted on impulse."

Heimu gave her a glance.

This girl—no, this boy turned into a girl by the power of pleasure—just tore her own fan‑comic to pieces.

Given Kesi Mo's temperament, for her to lose control like this in front of three people, the comic's content must have brushed the limits of her shame.

Heimu pushed herself up from the armrest, walked to Kesi Mo, raised her right hand, and lightly tapped her shoulder plate.

"It's fine. If it's torn, it's torn. It's just paper, tearing it saves space."

She glanced down at the scrap pile, her mouth twitched slightly, "Although I didn't get a chance to look before you tore it all. Later, describe the content to me?"

Kesi Mo's shoulder stiffened sharply.

"... Allow me to refuse."

"Just kidding."

Heimu withdrew her hand from her shoulder, turned and faced the public seat again.

She pressed the brim of the Witch Hat down, covering the upward curve at the corner of her mouth.

Then she lifted her hand, lightly sweeping across her eyes.

A flash of light ignited deep within her dark‑purple eyes, a fleeting data stream surged in her pupils for a moment, then quickly contracted.

She had just used system permissions to swiftly scan the source data of these illustration books.

The books are physical, but their "creator" information is logged in the data layer of Past World Paradise, as part of item provenance.

And that scan already pulled the creator's name from the data's lower layer.

Her finger hovered in mid‑air.

Her gaze slowly shifted to the ice‑blue‑haired girl crouching beside the seat.

Ge Lei Xiu lowered her head, quietly watching the remaining illustration book in her hands.

She turned pages slowly, one by one, occasionally tilting her head, occasionally poking a character on the page with her fingertip, seeming to study composition and also to admire her own work.

Heimu's mouth twitched.

She uncrossed her fingers, folded her arms, looked down at Ge Lei Xiu, the Witch Hat's brim casting a suggestive shadow across her face.

"Ge Lei Xiu?"

The tone clearly sounded like calling her name for a question.

Ying keenly sensed the shift in Heimu's tone.

She turned her head, first glancing at Heimu's face, then following Heimu's gaze toward Ge Lei Xiu, a hint of confusion flashing in her gray‑purple eyes.

Kesi Mo also lifted her head from the scrap pile, the warm orange pattern on her visor flickering faintly, as if expressing a silent question mark.

"What's wrong?" Ying spoke first.

Heimu gave no reply. She simply crossed her arms, looking at Ge Lei Xiu with a "you tell me" expression.

Ge Lei Xiu felt the gaze settling above her head.

She slowly raised her head, ice‑blue eyes meeting Heimu's dark‑purple ones, staring for about two seconds.

Then she lowered her head again, continued flipping the book, turned two pages, raised her head, lowered it again—the whole scene resembled a kitten caught by its mother while up to mischief.

"Ge Lei Xiu!" Heimu called again.

"...", Ge Lei Xiu closed the book.

She cradled the book on her knees, her white‑silk‑wrapped calves together and slightly turned, the drawing board resting on the tile beside her.

She kept her head down, silent for a moment, then exhaled slowly.

"... I drew it."

Ying's ear tips twitched sharply at that instant.

The warm orange pattern on Kesi Mo's visor solidified, as if someone hit pause.

Her body stood perfectly still, even the energy cloak behind her ceased to flutter, turning her into an ice‑blue statue.

"Ah?"

The syllable that slipped from beneath Kesi Mo's helmet lost all electronic reverb, a raw, startled girl's voice.

Fortunately the armor enveloped her completely, the visor covering her face.

If she were still in her usual clothes, Ying would probably see a Kesi Mo whose neck was red up to the hair roots, and the entire Past World Paradise would gain a fresh gossip topic.

Heimu became Kesi Mo's mouth.

She shifted her weight to her left foot, tilted her head slightly right, and, as gently yet questioningly as possible, asked, "Ge Lei Xiu, why did you draw these?"

Ge Lei Xiu hugged the book to her chest, her fingers gently rubbing the cover edge.

She moved her lips, as if hesitating whether to speak, also as if forming words.

Her ice‑blue eyes drifted left, then right, finally settling on the book's cover in her arms.

"... It was Ailixiya sister who made me draw it."

Her voice remained calm and soft, tinged with the nervousness of being called on by a teacher.

"She said it was fun."

Ailixiya sister?

Heimu's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Ying stepped half a pace forward, a flash of complex emotion passed through the gray‑purple eyes, likely jumping back and forth between "So it's Ailixiya after all" and "Why is it Ailixiya again".

Kesi Mo finally emerged from the frozen state, but the propulsion wing plates emitted a wail as if its throat had been strangled.

"When did this happen?" Ying asked.

The voice remained calm, but the speech rate was half a beat faster than usual, clearly trying to digest the information.

Ge Lei Xiu tilted the head, ice‑blue hair strands slipping down from behind the ears.

She stared at the few unlit daylight tubes on the platform dome, as if earnestly recalling the timeline.

After a moment, she straightened the head and, in the usual unhurried rhythm, said, "In the lounge. While watching those interesting videos."

Heimu's body stiffened slightly.

Interesting videos.

A scene flashed through the mind: shortly after first contacting the Ying Jie, to liven the atmosphere, she had dropped a stack of bizarre prank video discs into the lounge of Past World Paradise.

The content was varied: some were synthetic edits, some were voice‑over parodies, some paired Ying Jie's daily clips with strange BGM.

At the time she simply thought, "Since Letu's atmosphere is too oppressive, let's add some fun," and after watching she forgot about it.

But obviously, someone didn't forget.

"That early?"

Heimu lowered the hand from the arm, and the voice, unusually, carried a hint of guilt.

"Hmm."