Hearing Luo Shu's words, Utaha, who was clinging to his right arm and forcefully pinching him, chuckled:
"This is punishment!"
"A punishment for the terrible boyfriend who let his drunk girlfriend lie on the sofa all night without even giving her a blanket."
"You should be grateful I chose this method of revenge instead of something worse, Luo Shu."
'You're clearly just jealous...'
Luo Shu gave Utaha a deadpan look before turning to Kisara:
"Then why are you pinching me, too, Kisara?"
At this, Kisara's gaze immediately wavered, and she muttered softly:
"If she gets to pinch you and I don't, wouldn't I be at a disadvantage?"
'Good grief, I can only say good grief... You can't be at a disadvantage, so I have to be, is that it?'
Luo Shu was utterly speechless. He quickly pulled his arm free from Kisara and Utaha, shaking his hands as he said:
"Honestly, I thought I could have my arms around both of you, but instead, you're both just messing with me."
Kisara stuck out her tongue slightly in response, while Utaha remained completely unfazed, as if nothing had happened.
Just then, the elevator reached the underground level, and Luo Shu stepped out first.
Utaha and Kisara exchanged a glance before quickly following.
Walking down the white corridor, Luo Shu glanced up at the security camera before lowering his head and continuing forward. As he walked, he asked the two trailing slightly behind him:
"Kisara, your task later is to retrieve the Adjustment Drugs for the Ghouls. As for you, Utaha, you've been here before, right?"
"When testing my genes, Inoue brought me here."
Utaha tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and added after a moment's thought:
"The lab notified me yesterday that I could come in for the Adjustment."
"That fast?"
Luo Shu had assumed the Adjuster Drug would take a few more days to prepare, so he was surprised by the efficiency.
"Apparently, they wanted to free up research time in advance to study new specimens."
Utaha glanced at Luo Shu as she said this:
"Probably waiting for whatever you brought back from the Abyss, right?"
"That guy Verde... Did he calculate this precisely?"
This made Luo Shu suspect that Verde had deliberately finished the work early to focus on studying whatever Luo Shu had obtained from the Abyss Warring States.
Before Luo Shu had even set off for the Abyss, he had no idea what he would encounter—yet Verde was already preparing to research it.
'This dedication to research... Is he some workaholic chosen by fate?'
Muttering to himself, Luo Shu arrived at the previous research lab, pressed his hand against the fingerprint scanner, and entered after the door unlocked.
"You're earlier than I expected."
"I was going to ask you to bring me a bucket of coffee, but it seems that's not happening now."
"You just forgot to mention it, didn't you?!"
"Starting with this guy right away? Seriously..."
Luo Shu didn't even know how to react to Verde's choices anymore.
Jumping straight into studying Naraku, a yokai hybrid—was Verde the type who enjoyed tackling the toughest challenges first?
Realising something, Luo Shu suddenly turned and called out to Utaha and Kisara:
"Better not look at the screen, you'll feel sick... Oh dear, seems I said that too late."
Luo Shu watched as Utaha covered her mouth, looking nauseous, and couldn't help but show a helpless expression.
As for Kisara, she seemed naturally unfazed by such imagery.
Then again, she was a demon after all – her mental resilience was clearly different from humans'.
Meanwhile, Verde tapped the equipment a few times before remarking:
"Hoho, this creature's body is like a hybrid of every species on Earth, mixed with an enormous amount of yokai factors."
Pushing up his glasses with a smirk, Verde added:
"But precisely because it's too mixed, its research value is actually quite low. Direct study would be extremely cost-ineffective."
"Hmm? Mass-producing yokai soldiers? That could be an interesting research topic."
Luo Shu crossed his arms and subtly took a step back from Verde before asking:
"So? You called me here first thing in the morning for this?"
"Since it's your spoils of war, I thought I should notify you before conducting research."
Verde adjusted his glasses calmly:
"The yokai soldiers produced will be provided to your and Tachibana's departments first. Of course, combat performance reports must be submitted to me."
Luo Shu glanced at Verde: "This guy considers me his enemy, for what it's worth."
'Well, I did take Kikyo away from him. Naraku, who had a crush on Kikyo, would be strange not to hate me. Calling us enemies isn't far off.'
As Luo Shu thought this, Verde suddenly looked enlightened:
"I see. I'll postpone destructive research then, prioritising endurance studies first."
'That's just torture, isn't it?'
Luo Shu suddenly felt Verde's words could probably justify opening a new interrogation department.
Sighing at the thought, Luo Shu asked:
"Handle the yokai as you see fit. What about the thing I asked for?"
"Already prepared."
Verde pressed a few buttons on his chair, causing the armrests to unfold and reveal a stack of documents and an ID card:
Verde narrowed his eyes as he casually handed over the documents:
"Though I'm curious why you need this, everything's ready as requested."
Taking the documents, Luo Shu smiled:
"Thanks for this."
His eyes fell on the medical certificate with his photo.
[Name: Luo Shu. Age: 28. Graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine...]