While Shu's logic was struggling to engage, the gears of the outside world were turning and meshing with astonishing efficiency under the witness of time.
Otto displayed his almost artistic ability for overall coordination, making people suddenly realize that this guy wasn't just a number one Kallen fan loitering among other fans.
He was a true Apocalypse.
The teams led by core members such as Theresa, Bianca, Rita, Fu Hua, and Li Sushang had already completed the transfer and preliminary resettlement of the vast majority of Sapphire City residents who were willing to cooperate with the migration.
Tens of millions of people flooded into the newly planned new districts around ARC City like a tide, and under precise guidance, they transformed into orderly streams, seeping into the new communities, workshops, and farmlands.
On this scroll of alternating ruins and rebirth, a block of "order" was rapidly covering the former "wasteland."
Otto's methods, as always, combined foresight, an iron fist, and an imperceptible soft guidance, preventing this unprecedented great migration from turning into the expected turmoil. Instead, it presented a miracle of almost cold efficiency.
In fact, compared to scientific research and those schemes, this kind of macro-coordination was actually what Otto was best at.
His plans were too precise, so it was easy for a small "accident" to lead to a complete failure.
His scientific research level was actually not that good either. The emergence of those achievements now also relied on others.
What Otto had always been good at was "integration."
Brand new materials, suitable theories, fleeting conditions, those difficult-to-achieve prerequisites.
Any ability to seize a fleeting opportunity was an extraordinary personal ability.
But these things seemed to be "a matter of course" in front of Otto.
As long as the prerequisites were met, the results would come out naturally... he was like this, without any earth-shattering wisdom, just never letting go of any opportunity.
In sync with this external torrent, the interior of the Fire Moth base was also undergoing a silent metabolism.
Most of the non-staff members and their families who had been temporarily living in the base's living area for various reasons also moved out to the more spacious and more ordinary-society-like outer residential areas with the tide of migration.
The "everyday life" atmosphere in the base's living area inevitably faded a little with this migration.
But the framework of the living area was deliberately and completely preserved and given a new positioning.
According to the blueprint formulated by Otto, the vacant shops on this street in the basement of the base would be systematically "released."
They would become the official trading points for the "urban exploration teams" or "resource recovery groups" that would soon spring up like mushrooms after rain, for selling the "spoils of war" they brought back from the ruins of the old Sapphire City and even wider and more dangerous areas.
From precision instrument parts that could still operate, to books and artworks stained with dust, to even various strange objects of unknown use.
This was an adventurer's market!
So Otto was really playing the management of the Fire Moth as an RPG game!
But the base had indeed shed its skin as a purely military fortress and was now evolving into a composite super-city core that integrated military, scientific research, production, residence, and internal trade.
And against this backdrop of change, Yae Sakura was one of the few personnel still allowed to stay in the base's internal living area.
This privilege was clearly pointed at her sister, Yae Rin's increasingly stable health condition.
Rin's complexion became rosier day by day, and her weak body was recovering its vitality at a visible speed under the base's advanced medical environment and stable nutritional supply.
In Yae Sakura's eyes, this was undoubtedly a gift from the Fire Moth, the most precious gift given to her and her sister.
Therefore, she cherished her job at "Hmoe Random Play" even more.
This was not only a position that provided generous contribution points, allowing her to realistically improve her and her sister's lives, but also a link connecting her to this "kindness."
So she worked even harder, not only quickly mastering all the procedures, but even starting to proactively learn simple product maintenance and display techniques.
In her simple understanding, working hard at this job was perhaps the best way to repay this kindness of being taken in and treated.
As for the various "abnormalities" of the shop itself, the mystery of the shopkeeper sisters, and the overly enthusiastic "fans" that occasionally flooded in, she classified them as the internal culture of the benefactor's organization.
She didn't understand, but she expressed respect and cooperation.
And the only obsession in her heart became clearer.
She wanted to hold on to this privilege, guard Rin's recovery, and be ready at all times to contribute her strength for the "repayment" that might be needed.
Yeah, she was getting pumped!
Shu, who was secretly nurturing Rin's body from a distance every day and came to the shop at seven in the morning as usual, fell into deep thought as he watched Yae Sakura, who could suddenly get fired up just by mopping the floor.
Mmm...
So doing good deeds really could get you a fox's repayment?
Shu calmly took a sip of his coffee, then silently dripped two drops of concentrated nutrient solution for flavor enhancement into the other [Shu]'s coffee cup.
People often say that every day is hard, but you have to grit your teeth and get through it.
And when you finally wade through that muddy patch and look back, you often feel a sense of "so that's all it was" and relief.
Time always has a peculiar magic, able to settle the present stormy waves into insignificant ripples in memory.
Shu, or rather, the two Shus.
In countless "todays," they could be called "miraculous" practitioners of this "hard days still have to be lived" philosophy.
They survived the Honkai, survived the loop, and even survived a life-and-death battle with their own mirror image, and have survived to this day.
However, when looking back at the past seven days, Shu did not feel that "so that's all it was" kind of emotion in his heart.
Quite the opposite.
Until this moment, they still couldn't clearly say how they had "gotten through" these seven days.
On the one hand, the daily operations of the shop had strangely gotten on the right track.
With Yae Sakura's meticulous assistance and the fervent management of the [Kiana Energy Station] fan club, which was comparable to a professional marketing team, "Hmoe Random Play" was doing quite well.
Not only did it not experience the market norm of a first-day explosion followed by a subsequent crash, but it even became a little famous within the base for its "limited edition exquisite figures" and "origin of Kiana's exclusive merchandise."
This situation was especially thanks to Mei's "joining declaration" that day. Although a formal ceremony had not been held, the news spread like wildfire, attracting even more curious or adoring gazes.
The Shus were forced to use their abilities more frequently to "produce" goods to cope with the massive orders.
And as the process became more proficient, the performance seemed to become more natural.
But every time he used his marvelous little ability to knead a Homu doll, or to replicate a disc that shouldn't exist, Shu could still feel the absurdity in his heart stacking up.