Fine hair swept loose and flowing — silkier than any conditioner ad deserved — and she launched herself like a cannonball. The gray-haired raccoon crashed into Caelus with a thud.
Spreading her smooth, fair legs to pin him down, Stelle used her absurdly overpowered physique to flatten Caelus beneath her, grinding his struggling wrists into the cushion.
"Kekeke~ Die already, little Caelus-cub — this pen of mine has been poisoned!"\
A wicked smirk curled at the corner of Stelle's mouth. She twirled the coffee pen between her fingers, dragged the tip across her pink tongue to load it with saliva the way a calligraphy brush drinks ink, and in three swift strokes dashed a lopsided little piglet onto Caelus's left cheek.
"Just you wait!"\
Ignoring the increasingly dire threats being muttered beneath her, Stelle studied her masterpiece — kindergarten-tier graffiti at its finest — and gave a satisfied nod.
"Mm~ Perfection."\
"Truly, only I could do this."\
"Ah Qi, Ah Qi! The right cheek is yours."\
She clamped the coffee pen between her teeth and lifted her chin in a commanding gesture, then shuffled forward and — leveraging her flexibility — draped her snow-soft legs over Caelus's pinned arm. Her skin was so tender it looked like you could squeeze droplets out of it. She swung her legs deliberately, taunting him.
"Coming~!"\
March 7th took the pen and sketched a wonky-necked turtle on Caelus's right cheek, and when she finished she was laughing so hard her eyes curved into little crescent moons.
"Done! Piglet on the left, turtle on the right — a perfect match."\
"Ugh~!"\
Stelle was busy ruffling Caelus's hair with both hands when she felt the graze of teeth against the soft inner skin of her thigh. Her entire body snapped taut like a drawn bowstring, and she sprang up in a flash.
"I think it should've been a puppy — this guy bites just like one…"\
She grabbed March 7th's small hand and bolted toward the living room dining table, gray hair and pink hair tumbling together behind them like playful clouds. As she ran, she stuck her tongue out at Caelus and pulled a face.
"Nyaaah~!"\
[Those three… they really do get along so well.]
The tall, full-figured beauty with silver-gray curls watched the three of them fooling around, a quiet feeling stirring in her heart.
The soul behind that observation was, of course, Little Duck.
[You can just join them, you know.]
Silver Wing nudged her along. She'd deliberately steered the body away just moments ago — sparing Little Duck from witnessing the cozy, flirtatious scene of Seele helping Haxxor Bunny "wipe" the ink from her face. Can't go shattering Bronya's sister-complex heart, after all.
Aren't you going to say thank you, Silver Wing-sis?
[Bronya… I think I'll pass.]
Little Duck glanced at Haxxor Bunny, whose childlike face had gone faintly pink — the look of someone who'd had a few sips of wine, soft and dazed.
Something about that "Bronya's" state and the atmosphere around her felt off to Little Duck. Had something happened while Silver Wing was away?
Beside Haxxor Bunny stood a navy-blue-haired girl in a white gauze dress, hands clasped behind her back, poised and demure as ever, her expression its usual gentle warmth. When she noticed Little Duck looking, she offered a soft smile.
Little Duck's face instantly lit up, and every thread of unease was tossed clean out of her mind.
She was just gliding forward in her composed, unhurried way toward Seele when Caelus came bounding out — hair messed up, puffed out like an agitated Corgi — with a lopsided piglet on his left cheek and a turtle on his right. Little Duck found herself suppressing a laugh.
"What happened?"\
Her voice was a blend of mature elegance and something faintly milk-soft — warm and just a touch cool, her stunning face breaking into a breathtaking smile.
Perhaps it was a case of absorbing the company you keep? Having co-existed with Silver Wing for so long, Little Duck had become a consummate actress in her role, and she'd picked up a shade or two of Silver Wing's scheming, amused-at-everything coloring.
"My dear lady," Caelus said, flashing a conspiratorial smile, delivering the line with textbook Japanese-soap-opera energy. "Surely you wouldn't want your fiancé going out in public looking like this and getting laughed at?"\
Little Duck had spent her adolescence running missions on the strength of her adorably cute loli face, and had developed a lethal silk-stocking finishing technique in the process. She knew exactly where that line came from.
"It's fine — Bro… ahem — I don't mind at all."\
Little Duck offered a faint smile and told the truth.
The one crack in her Silver Wing performance was the first-person pronoun — if she wasn't careful, she'd slip right back into being Bronya.
Caelus had apparently reached the absolute limits of grief and helplessness. His expression gradually went flat and blank. He draped both arms around the silver-haired beauty's swanlike neck.
"Then just let me die — a social death, the kind so complete no one remembers you, not even you stopped trying to help me. There's really no point to any of this…"\
"..."\
Little Duck was truly at her wit's end with this guy who could slip into character anywhere, anytime.
She glanced over at Haxxor Bunny, currently deep in animated conversation with Seele, and was struck by a sudden pang — my little sister is being stolen. She needed to get over there fast. She couldn't let this drama queen latch on.
[Other-me?]
Little Duck reached out on the mental channel to Silver Wing.
Have her come out, take back the body, and wipe the ink off Caelus's face.
[You can do it yourself… mm~ just use your tongue, that's all. You've done that sort of thing plenty of times, you've kissed him plenty of times, I don't even mind — what are you so worried about?]
Silver Wing's breezy, offhand tone dropped Little Duck into silence.
Silver Wing wasn't wrong. And Little Duck had long since gotten used to Silver Wing's habit of speaking to her — and to "herself" — with zero filter, all cards on the table. But it still felt weird…
Ugh.
Fine. Silver Wing was right. Better get it over with quickly and then go deal with Haxxor Bunny.
Silver hair cascaded like satin. A quiet, wordless sigh slipped through her heart. The silver-haired beauty rose onto her tiptoes, her snow-white neck arching into an elegant bow.
Her delicate pink tongue swept lightly over the ink mark on Caelus's left cheek. Her lashes fluttered like the wings of a startled butterfly. A captivating flush bloomed across her fair face as the tip of her tongue curled away the coffee ink, leaving behind a faint, sweet trace.
"There. That should do."\
"Mm-hm~"\
Caelus bent down and pressed a light kiss to those vivid red lips. Fruity coffee mingled with the faint powdery-milk sweetness that was uniquely Bronya's. He smacked his lips thoughtfully:
"The flavor of this coffee-pen ink is actually pretty good — want another taste?"\
"..."\
[Can't you just do it yourself?]
Little Duck grumbled through the mental channel. Playing Silver Wing in front of Caelus was, without question, the most exhausting assignment she had.
[That was fine just now, but not anymore~ Something's come up over here, I'm heading off~ Bye!]
Silver Wing bid Little Duck farewell with a bright, impish smile, activated reverse auto-battle mode, and deployed!
[Hey, wait—!]
Sadly, Little Duck's protest had absolutely no effect. She could only brace herself with weary resignation and think: what would Silver Wing do in a situation like this…
Bronya lowered her gaze. In her pink irises swirled seven parts teasing and three parts shy:
"Sure~!"\
She let the last syllable trail off in a soft, lilting curve. Her fingertips — pale as white porcelain — touched the trace of warmth Caelus had left on her cheek. Her fingerpads grazed over his skin, leaving behind the ghost of a tickle, then her finger slid down along his jaw and gave his chin a light tap.
Caelus had apparently mistakenly believed Bronya was about to kiss him again. When his eyes lit up and he began to lean in, the silver-haired beauty's lips curled into the leisurely, teasing arc of a gracious big sister, and her snow-jade legs crossed and pivoted in an elegant spin.
The wing-shaped capelet swept up with the turn and then settled, like a swan spreading its wings.
"I'll be waiting for you to bring me more~"\
The hands Caelus still had around her neck were freed by the momentum of her turn — light as a butterfly brushing a petal — and without looking back, she walked toward Seele.
Catching in her peripheral vision the sight of the thoroughly outmaneuvered Caelus standing "frozen" in place, Little Duck couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Mimicking Silver Wing's style to tease her own husband — it gave Little Duck a strange, particular thrill.
Caelus had no idea that the one who'd wiped his face wasn't Silver Wing at all, but someone else entirely.
There was a voyeuristic, faintly transgressive pleasure in hiding behind the curtain like this.
Caelus stood "frozen" for a few seconds, then gave a casual shrug — using nonchalance to mask any disappointment — though Little Duck didn't see the pleased, satisfied curve that pulled at the corner of his mouth the moment he turned away.
Oh my, oh my!
You think I'm on the first level — but I'm actually on the fifth.
From Little Duck's perspective: she'd been learning to act from Silver Wing, using her hard-won performance skills and the cover of Silver Wing's identity to play Caelus like a fiddle — a gracious big sister toying with a hapless little brother.
But in reality?
The little brother had been cooperating the entire time. The acting skills were ones he'd cultivated in her. The identity itself was one he'd given her. Even the idol she'd been reaching toward — the mature, elegant, composed and free Silver Wing, the Ultimate Evolution of the growing-duck Digital Memosprite — was a persona he'd performed for her to admire.
You think you're teasing me?
Actually, I'm raising you.
And Little Duck remained completely unaware of this throughout, never noticing a single anomaly — and was, in fact, thoroughly self-satisfied and proud of herself.
Mm. This is the kind of entertainment worthy of a mature, sophisticated, Masked Fool who has transcended base amusements.
Caelus tucked both hands in his pockets, eyes creased in a cheerful smile as he watched Stelle and March 7th playing with the Universal Synthesizer. Welt, Himeko, and Dan Heng had all gathered around the remarkable machine.
Stelle had seized the opportunity of the Synthesizer session to dump every last drop of Himeko's coffee into it as crafting material. It was precisely because they'd all seen this coming that March 7th, Old Yang, and Dan Heng had cooperated with Stelle's scheme wholeheartedly.
Nobody wanted the coffee in their own cup to be the one left behind!
After several attempts, it was confirmed: Himeko's coffee did not register as a "consumable" item in the Universal Synthesizer. It shared a table with roadside pebbles and the black garbage bag Stelle had tossed in.
What followed were syntheses of various trinkets: a color-changing LED lamp, a back-scratcher, an inflatable plastic hammer, and other such toys.
Each came with its own assortment of positive and negative effects.
The color-changing lamp, for instance: red light made you angrier; green light gave you the spirit of forgiveness — unfortunately, the effect existed in principle but was far too weak in practice.
Essentially useless.
The back-scratcher made the itchier the more you scratched.
The inflatable plastic hammer caused a concussive effect on impact with someone's head — same weakness as the lamp: effect strength far too low.
All in all, exactly as advertised: these things were toys, and toys alone.
It was a Synthesizer built for Little Gray-Hair, after all.
Once the excitement wore off, the young people who'd pulled an all-nighter saving Luofu retreated to their rooms to sleep. By the time they woke, it was already afternoon.
Himeko had already returned to the Express to keep the empty-nest Pom-Pom company — waiting should never become a regret~
Caelus was in the middle of weighing whether to start Asta's quest today or just play games and push it to tomorrow, when his phone buzzed.
"Miracle Worker! What are you doing?! Stop farming jungle! Get over here and save me!"\
Stelle was hollering at the top of her lungs, mashing her phone with one hand and booting the Caelus-beside-her with her bare feet.
"Who told you to use taunt? Four-on-one, can't save you. Just die."\
The correct play was to use the time of a four-on-one to grab objective resources.
But when Caelus saw who was messaging him, he pulled up split-screen chat — and then, ding-ding-dang-dang, a rapid-fire string of messages came tumbling in.
Caelus went completely still. When he read the contents, even his game character stopped moving.
[Risking Life With Tiles: Old Caelus, I'm thinking of resigning from the Divination Commission to go all-in on promoting our Celestial Jade and Dou Dizhu tournaments.]
[Risking Life With Tiles: Looking back, my whole life has been nothing but wasted years — but now I've had a change of heart! I must look forward! I must strive! I must struggle!]
[Risking Life With Tiles: I can see the road of destiny opening its arms to me!]
"Did Qingque's account get hacked?"\
The screen had gone gray. Stelle, who had been on the verge of picking a one-versus-one fight with her own Miracle Worker, craned her neck over to look at Caelus's phone and blinked.
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