Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

Shen Liang's face twitched slightly. This form of address was quite novel. The girl looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, yet it sounded like an elder addressing a junior.

But... it does seem to be true.

"Qiluo... Auntie?" Shen Liang asked tentatively.

"Ah, you know who I am!" Shi Yu Qi Luo was happy to hear this address, but then she quickly suppressed her voice and softly hummed in agreement.

Knew it.

Valkyries cannot be judged by their appearance. Just like his mother Maria, who looks to be in her early twenties at most, Cecilia also looks to be in her early twenties at most. This... Miss Shigure Kira, should actually be over thirty years old, but she looks only seventeen or eighteen.

She was actually her mother's student at Heidelberg University, and also her mother's first love... According to seniority and relationship, Shen Liang should probably call Shi Yu Qiluo... call her what?

Shen Liang's brain suddenly overloaded.

Although his yuri tendencies on the extraordinary side were ridiculously high, when this actually happened to him, Shen Liang deeply realized what it meant to think, "I'm still just a kid." It was the kind of mentality of "Wait online, it's urgent, my mom's girlfriend is coming to my house, how should I face her?"

As expected, a beautiful girl's wife is still a beautiful girl. The women of the Shaniat family all have incredibly high standards of beauty. Shen Liang could understand why his proud and arrogant mother had fallen for her at first sight just by glancing at Shi Yu Qi Luo's shy expression. But how should he communicate with her? Should he say, "Aunt Qi Luo, hello! My mother has been missing you all these years. When will you two reconcile?"

This is hilarious!

"Knowing you were coming, Qiluo... Qiluo also wanted to come and see what Maria's son is like." Shiyu Qiluo finally overcame her shyness and explained softly as she walked gently to Shen Liang. She bit her lip and hesitated for a moment before touching his face. Her slender fingers felt cool to the touch.

Then her eyes revealed a complex expression, whether it was sadness or envy.

“It’s wonderful that Maria’s son is so grown up. He doesn’t look like me at all.”

"???" Shen Liang was dumbfounded.

Chapter 40 Balenciaga Stockings

In the internet community on the supernatural side, Shen Liang's identity is that of the child born to Maria using gene-editing technology, but what the Shaniat family's statement didn't say was who Maria's father was.

Or rather, whose genes did Maria extract?

"Aunt Qiluo?" Shen Liang suppressed the urge to complain and endured her gentle caress, whispering, "What exactly do you want to say?"

"Whose child are you with Maria?" Shi Yu Qi Luo withdrew her hand and scrutinized him closely. The more she looked, the more intense the jealousy in her eyes became, and her voice gradually turned gloomy. "I have blue hair, and she has chestnut hair. It's unlikely that our child would have an Asian appearance. Besides, two women can only give birth to females, which is determined by chromosomes."

What exactly are you asking?! Shen Liang was on the verge of a breakdown. Didn't you break up with my mom a long time ago? Why are you arguing with me now?

“Ahem,” Rita coughed lightly, realizing the atmosphere was a bit off, and interjected, “Lady Kira, the Shaniat family has always been accustomed to using sperm banks, and the Shaniat family itself is incapable of producing male offspring. Mr. Pandora must have undergone genetic modification.”

“Genetic modification? No wonder you have a face even more beautiful than Shaniat’s daughters,” Shigure Kira whispered. “But this gene doesn’t come from me. You and I have nothing in common… I’m not your mother at all.”

Nonsense! Even Maria isn't my biological mother! What, you want to be my genetic source? Do you expect me to look like you? Both girls have X chromosomes; even with genetic technology, they couldn't have a son! I don't want to be the third daughter of the Shaniat family!

"They actually... didn't use my genes!" Shigure Kira bit her lip, finally unable to suppress the grief and indignation in her heart, and gritted her teeth, saying, "Traitor! Maria... you promised you would only love me? You promised we would do IVF for each other and each have a daughter? You promised... you would come and marry me!"

*Hiss*—Shen Liang gasped. No wonder it's her mother; even after a breakup, she still thinks about him. But Shen Liang couldn't imagine two beautiful girls embracing each other every day, whispering sweet nothings under the moonlit flowers, and even having such beautiful wishes about starting a family?

Is it really true that technology changes lives? Three years ago, Shen Liang was just an ordinary, healthy, and clueless teenager who never even considered the possibility of same-sex reproduction. What kind of technological gap is this? You, Destiny, should apologize to all the scientists in the world who are still struggling with cloning technology!

"Ha, just like always, all that talk. All those vows of eternal love made at school were just lies! He just wanted my body..."

"Although I also feel that what Mother did to you might have been very excessive, making you worry about it for so long..."

"It's resentment! Who cares about your mother!"

“Okay, I’ll hold a grudge.” Shen Liang scratched his head. “But you two are both girls, so it’s not like either of you is after the other’s body, right? Because common opinion is that when men and women have sex, women are the ones who give and men are the ones who get the advantage. But if two women fall in love, Aunt Qiluo, forgive me for being blunt, but I don’t quite understand why my mother is the one who gets the advantage and you are the one who suffers.”

Shigure Kira, who was sobbing, paused slightly and gave him a complicated look. Rita and Raiden Mei also had similarly complicated expressions—should they ask such a logical question at a time like this? Why do men always try to reason with girls when they're venting their emotions?

"Never mind." Shi Yu Qi Luo suddenly stopped crying, glanced at Shen Liang again, and sighed softly, "You're right. So much time has passed, Maria has let it go, it's just Qi Luo who can't let go."

Shen Liang was conflicted. Maria definitely still had some feelings for Shi Yu Qi Luo, but his presence clearly left Maria speechless. After all, no one would believe that their wife, who had given birth to another man's son, would still be thinking of them.

Although the two of them seem to be each other's wives.

"My mom still... cares a lot about Aunt Qiluo." Shen Liang tried her best to salvage Maria's reputation.

"Enough, stop talking, you..." Shi Yu Qi Luo leaned down, looked directly into his eyes, and then smiled, "You are a good child. I shouldn't take my resentment towards your mother out on you. Look closely, although you don't resemble me at all, you are indeed worthy of being the son of 'Witch Maria'. You are as beautiful as her, as powerful as her, and as young as her, yet you already possess a murderous aura."

Shen Liang thought to herself, "Then you'd better not look at it too closely."

“The women in the Shaniat family are always single mothers. I imagine it must have been tough for Pandora to be born into a family where she was always busy with work and rarely had time for her family,” Shigure Kira said to herself. “Speaking of which… since you are her son, it’s not too much to call me stepmother, is it?”

"Aunt Qiluo, you're too close..." Shen Liang felt her expression gradually change and she was getting closer and closer, so he could only lean back and shrink into the sofa.

"Why are you so afraid of Kira? Isn't Kira pretty? Or is she not as gentle as your mother? In what way am I inferior to Maria?" Shigure Kira lowered her head even further, while Rita next to her held her forehead, speechless.

The love story between Shigure Kira and Maria is a complete mess, known even to the shrewd Valkyrie. Rita was initially worried that Shigure Kira would come along because of her scent and cause some unpleasantness with Shen Liang, and now it seems that all her precautions were in vain; the abandoned woman harbors immense resentment.

Just as Shen Liang was cornered by Shi Yu Qiluo, the girl with long, sky-blue hair suddenly leaned in and pushed him down, pressing her entire body against him, then abruptly lowered her head. Shen Liang's eyes widened, only to see his mother's girlfriend smiling wickedly as she embraced him.

"Wait!" Raiden Mei hadn't even reacted to this sudden turn of events before she jumped up in fright.

"Lady Kira!" Rita's voice was also trembling with panic. What the hell is going on? Kira Shigure, have you gone mad? You're even going after Maria's son? So, you've been abandoned by Maria, so you're targeting her son? How vicious of you! How can you live with that innocent, beautiful face of yours!

Just as Shen Liang was about to resist the strange older sister's lewd behavior, he suddenly paused and let Shi Yu Qi Luo kiss his forehead.

"Be careful of all the Valkyries at headquarters, Pandora, all of them." This was a secret telepathic message from an A-rank Valkyrie.

Telepathic communication is a basic combat skill possessed by all Valkyries. It's said that Shigure Kira is a Valkyrie with supernatural abilities, and even her power is related to vocal rhythms; her mastery of "voice" surpasses even that of S-rank Valkyries. Even with Rita beside her, it was difficult to detect the concealed Honkai energy fluctuations emanating from her.

Shen Liang maintained his panicked expression, trying his best to suppress his heartbeat, which was about to accelerate instantly. He knew very well that his heartbeat could be easily detected in front of an S-rank Valkyrie.

Then Shigure Kira released him, calmly stood up, and casually glanced at the angry Raiden Mei and the twitching Rita, saying, "It was just a kiss on the forehead, look how anxious you are. Don't worry, Kira won't fight you for Pandora. It's just an elder's affection for a junior."

"Miss Kira, please don't make jokes like that again!" Raiden Mei's expression was gloomy. "Maria is Maria, and Pandora is Pandora. Please don't vent your negative emotions on Pandora without restraint!"

"Kira seems to really like Pandora, how can you call that a negative feeling?" Shigure Kira pouted. "Alright, I'm an adult, I won't play with you kids anymore, I'm leaving now, have a good time. Oh, by the way, Mei-san, to make up for the emotional damage from flirting with Pandora in front of you, Kira's paying for the bar today, bye~"

Shiyu Qiluo whistled, then staggered out the door, leaning against the wall.

Shen Liang calmed his shock. He couldn't ignore Shi Yu Qi Luo's information, but he couldn't completely trust it right now. He also couldn't be sure what Shi Yu Qi Luo's purpose was, and besides, the scope of the "Beware of all Valkyries" was too broad, making it impossible to know where to begin.

Therefore, it's more normal to keep things as they are and not reveal any flaws.

Then Shen Liang discovered that Raiden Mei, because of Shigure Kira's last words, had broken the wine glass while maintaining a blank expression, and was using her fingers to cover the broken surface to pretend that she didn't care.

"Lady Qiluo is really too playful." Rita decided to start a conversation to avoid an awkward situation.

However, there was nothing awkward about it. Only a few Valkyries who were closely monitoring Pandora noticed what had just happened. In fact, most of the girls were quite drunk and had joined in the fun with the intoxicated Sirin. They were currently playing a game of shooting UFOs. Sirin used her spatial abilities to make the UFOs appear randomly anywhere in the room, and then the other Valkyries shot them with real guns.

Fortunately, although Sirin was quite drunk, she still maintained basic rationality and was able to manipulate the spatial rift to devour the bullets to prevent the ceiling from being riddled with holes. Otherwise, Miss Mei would not be able to sit here peacefully right now.

“Although it’s not good to talk about people behind their backs, Miss Kira really doesn’t act like an elder at all.” Raiden Mei gently straightened her legs and sat close to Shen Liang. “But Miss Kira is indeed very well-maintained. Even though she’s already in her thirties, she looks about the same age as Mei.”

"Lady Kira is also a legend of eternal youth in headquarters. Most Valkyries look like they are in their twenties, but Lady Kira always looks like she is seventeen or eighteen, which is enviable," Rita said with a smile. "But it is precisely because her appearance has remained at the level of her student days that her mindset has also become much less mature."

"Is the reason she maintains her youthful appearance because she still harbors the possibility of being with Miss Maria?" Raiden Mei suddenly realized that her legs, encased in black stockings, had unknowingly touched Shen Liang's calves. They were cool and refreshing. For some reason, she felt a little shy and secretly glanced at Shen Liang, only to find that he didn't seem to care at all.

She felt both relieved and a little dissatisfied, and quietly lifted her tense little leg to gently rub against the boy. Shen Liang turned his head and glanced at her for no apparent reason. Miss Mei blushed instantly to the tip of her nose and quickly continued, "Perhaps Miss Qiluo subconsciously felt that as long as the appearance didn't change, that feeling would remain constant at that moment? As if nothing had changed?"

"Is this like trying to find a lost sword by marking the boat?" Shen Liang sighed.

“Rita feels a little sad when she says this,” Rita said, joining the conversation and naturally sitting down to Shen Liang’s right. Before Shen Liang knew it, two familiar Valkyries had taken their places on either side of him, pushing the others who had been crowding the sofa to the side.

However, Shen Liang didn't notice the angry looks from the other girls. Compared to them, Mei and Rita were trustworthy people, allowing him to find a sense of security in this bar full of little she-wolves with green eyes that were eager to eat meat.

"But then again, putting aside Miss Kira for now, Miss Alvito has really gone to great lengths." Raiden Mei glanced at Rita, her mood slightly gloomy. She had hoped that by dissuading the others, she could sit on the sofa with Ryoko, not exactly a private chat for two, but enough to talk about things she hadn't been able to say for the past few months, like Kiana. But this clueless maid always seemed to appear out of nowhere just when she was ready, turning their two-person chat into a three-person one!

This ghost is relentless! This is outrageous!

So she casually teased Rita, "I wonder what kind of man-slaying techniques the Undying Blade group usually talks about?"

The maid blinked. "Oh? What does Mei-san mean?"

“Miss Alvitt doesn’t usually dress up, but tonight she’s wearing pigtails, Balenciaga gradient stockings, Valentino 10cm heels, and even the wine she’s holding is on the rocks,” Raiden Mei said casually. “She’s really skilled. Even those Japanese yakuza girls who have been in nightclubs for many years can’t do this.”

The maid was taken aback.

She knew that Raiden Mei was being sarcastic because she was unhappy, but she didn't really understand what Raiden Mei was being sarcastic about for the time being.

It's not that she doesn't understand. Although being a maid requires learning a great deal of obscure knowledge—from cooking and making tea, housework, and bodyguarding to strapping knives to pantyhose and throwing missiles under her skirt—she's proficient in everything, including how to serve her master, Rita learned from books, even if she'll likely never use it. But she's still just an ordinary maid. No matter how much she learns, there's a limit. No matter how much she studies, it's unlikely she'll ever master the secret techniques for attracting men passed down among Asian women.

Shen Liang couldn't help but chuckle, and Raiden Mei couldn't help but laugh at the maid's confused expression. After all, Rita, who was always elegant, graceful, and capable in every way, rarely showed such a bewildered look.

It's even kind of cute in a contrasting way.

Rita gently shook Shen Liang's arm and said softly with a hint of helplessness, "Mr. Pandora, Ms. Mei, please stop teasing Rita. Can you explain this to Rita?"

Chapter 41 So Rita is the catfish in that school of fish.

Shen Liang and Raiden Mei exchanged a glance. Sure enough, only Asians understood the strange trends and vanity of other Asians. The methods for attracting men popular in the internet age are often the same, but the advantage of being the same is that they hit the mark with most people.

"Take twin tails and single tails for example. To the uninformed, they're just two cute hairstyles. But Miss Alvitt clearly has some ulterior motives, so she must have learned the unspoken rules of hooking up with rich guys online," Raiden Mei said calmly. "For the boys she wants to seduce, it means 'expecting the other party to take control'."

"Control?" Rita didn't understand at first.

"Does it need to be explained too clearly?" Raiden Mei chuckled.

“Rita, think about it carefully. Doesn’t grabbing pigtails look similar to a man riding a horse?” Shen Liang whispered in the maid’s ear. “So it actually means ‘you can choose her as you please.’ That’s all I can say. It would be impolite to say any more.”

Rita remained silent on the sofa for a while, then her face finally flushed slightly. She hadn't taken notes on these points of knowledge from Asia.

"As for Balenciaga stockings and Valentino high heels, these are common dating accessories in Chinese internet communities," Raiden Mei said. "And as for drinks on the rocks..."

She couldn't help but chuckle softly.

“Asians and Europeans have different habits. We usually drink hot or warm water. By specifically emphasizing ‘with ice,’ we mean ‘it’s okay to eat ice today,’” Shen Liang said seriously. “Miss Rita surely understands what this means.”

Rita understood perfectly well that all women in the world were the same, and she gave Shen Liang a charmingly disdainful look.