"Hold on, this is going to sting a little at first," Otto said gently, looking at the gray-haired, azure-eyed girl before him.
Fu Hua was lying face down on the bed, her face buried in a pillow, her hands gripping the bedsheets tightly.
She didn't speak, only offering a slight nod.
Seeing that she was mentally prepared, Otto didn't hesitate. He placed his left hand on her smooth, rounded shoulder and raised his right.
Snip, snip.
The scissors in his right hand cut through Fu Hua's clothes. Otto carefully peeled the blood-soaked fragments of fabric away from her back.
Inevitably, the cloth scraped against her wounds.
A searing pain shot through Fu Hua's nerves. She squeezed her eyes shut, her pale back arching slightly as beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Her long, slender legs tensed, and her delicate toes, as pale and pink as freshly peeled lychee flesh, curled into the bedsheets.
But Otto didn't stop.
After cutting away and removing the clothes from her back, he casually placed the scissors on a table and looked at the girl who had been standing by and watching.
"Antiseptic."
At Otto's word, the girl with the healthy, wheat-colored skin fumbled with the first-aid kit she was holding and handed him what he needed.
"Disinfecting it will probably hurt more," Otto warned Fu Hua.
The shockwave from the Honkai Beast's roar had sent her flying. She hadn't just rolled on the ground; her back had slammed hard into a wall, causing severe injuries.
Otto was now treating them.
But as he prepared to apply the medicine, he noticed that her clothes had fused to her wounds with dried blood. If he had tried to pull her shirt off directly, the Celestial would have experienced a pain akin to being skinned alive.
So, he had asked for scissors to cut the clothes away first.
Looking at Fu Hua's bloodied back, Otto's brow furrowed.
"Mm," Fu Hua managed a small sound of acknowledgment.
The next moment, however, an excruciating pain erupted from her back.
She clenched her jaw, her hands gripping the sheets so hard they nearly tore.
Seeing her like this, Otto couldn't help but smile internally.
So even you, the great Celestial, have moments like this.
In the real world, if she suffered an injury like this, he wouldn't even have a chance to disinfect and bandage it. Her wounds would probably heal on their own before he could do anything.
I wonder if my own body's regenerative ability can compare to a MANTIS's?
Otto's mind wandered, but his hands moved quickly. He disinfected and applied the medicine with expert speed. When he was done, he placed his left hand in front of Fu Hua, helping her sit up so he could wrap her torso in bandages.
While wrapping the gauze, however, Otto loosened the bandages around her chest just a little.
It was probably a lost cause, but one had to hold out hope.
Otto smiled to himself and gently helped Fu Hua lie back down.
"All done. You should get some rest. I'll stay here with you."
He patted Fu Hua's head. She closed her eyes wearily, her left hand tightening its grip on his right.
In this unfamiliar city, Otto was the only person she knew.
Coupled with the fact that he had just saved her life, the young girl had developed a sense of reliance on the man.
Otto didn't pull his hand away. With his free hand, he passed the scissors and remaining bandages to the girl who was still standing nearby.
"I'm Otto. This one's Hua. And you are, my cute little miss?" he asked, his voice low so as not to disturb Fu Hua.
Hearing his friendly question, the girl replied, slightly flustered.
"I-I'm Carol! I go to the same school as Hua."
Carol had recognized the school uniform on Fu Hua.
"Thank you so much for today." Hearing the name Carol, Otto suppressed the urge to ask if her mother's name was Lewis. "But where are your parents?"
They were currently in Carol's home in Sapphire. Despite Fu Hua's injuries, Otto hadn't taken her to a hospital.
Hospitals had too many ways to kill a person.
In the original history, only Deadwalkers should have attacked Carol, but this time, a Chariot-class Honkai Beast had been present.
This was clearly the work of the Herrscher of Corruption.
She wanted to kill Fu Hua.
Otto surmised that if Fu Hua died in the illusion, the real Fu Hua would die as well, allowing the Herrscher to take over her body.
But is Fu Hua's worn-out body even worth taking? Otto wondered. Wouldn't possessing the Pseudo-Herrscher Yae Sakura's body be a much better deal? Besides, my own body is out there too.
"My mom and dad aren't home. My mom's in the military, so she's often away for work. It's usually just me here," Carol said with a cheerful smile after placing the first-aid kit in a conspicuous spot under a table.
She wasn't worried about these two harming her; they were her saviors, after all.
"I should be the one thanking you! If it weren't for you two, I would have been a goner."
"Those monsters were so scary! I really thought I was going to die."
Just thinking about the terrifying beast made Carol's legs feel a little weak.
Even though she was the daughter of a soldier, she was still a flower raised in a greenhouse, completely unaccustomed to such things.
At this point in time, the existence of the Honkai was not yet known to the general public.
"But you two are amazing! Was that martial arts and magic?" Carol asked, her eyes sparkling.
A girl who could kick away a humanoid monster and a man who could control fire—this duo was incredibly fascinating to her.
Otto was a little confused. What's this about us being siblings?
Then he understood. Fu Hua must have called him "Big Brother Otto" earlier, leading Carol to the wrong conclusion.
Even though their hair colors were completely different.
Otto shook his head.
"Hua and I are not siblings," he said. Carol looked puzzled. Not siblings? Then why call him 'big brother'? Was he a childhood neighbor?
Otto didn't elaborate. Instead, he simply raised an eyebrow, giving Carol a look that was meant to be understood, not explained.
What's with that suggestive look?
Oh?
Oh!
Carol's mouth formed a small 'o'.
The mind of a girl at her most imaginative age immediately grasped the situation.
So he was that kind of "big brother"!
So, Hua is into older men.
Carol wasn't blind; she could tell that Otto looked a bit older than her and Fu Hua.
What she could never have imagined was that the age difference between the two was actually a hundredfold.
Fifty-thousand-plus years old versus five-hundred-plus years old.
Otto was the real cradle-robber here.
Seeing that the girl seemed to have followed his misleading cue, Otto turned his head to look at the sleeping Fu Hua and gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
Seeing this intimate gesture, Carol became even more convinced of her conclusion.
Anyone can see that Otto and Fu Hua are a couple!