Kiana held the small notebook Su Chen had given her, on which was written Strategy Guide for the members of the Golden Grand Hotel. She put on a pair of eyeglass frames with no lenses.
With a slightly solemn air, she walked up to Mydei.
Mydei saw this scene and gently declined. "Actually, I'm just a cook. If you really want me to act, I…"
"Wait." Kiana flipped through the notes to the page on Mydei's strategy, then pulled out a slip of paper. "This is a donation receipt in your name to the children's welfare home—a total of one million. Consider it your advance salary."
Mydei: "…"
Kiana adjusted her glasses and moved to Castorice's side. Imitating Su Chen's tone, she said, "Mrs. Castorice, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your little sister…"
"Huh?" Castorice looked at Kiana with a face full of question marks. But Kiana, with her innocent expression, saying such nonsense did look somewhat ridiculous.
"Miss Kiana, I don't quite understand what you mean."
"Basically, your sister has already been picked up by Mihoyo and is on her way here."
"Oh—eh?!" Castorice was a little puzzled. "Why do you people know about my sister?"
"Then you'll have to ask Cipher about that."
With that, Kiana moved on as if completing a mission and stopped in front of Cipher. "Plenty of coins."
"Deal."
Finally, Aglaea. Kiana simply gave her a small smile. "Auntie Aglaea, you should know what I want to say, right?"
Aglaea gave a gentle laugh. "I know. Tell your boss—I'm still very grateful for everything he's done."
——
At the same time.
On the stage, Cyrene was already standing in front of Phainon. "Congratulations♪ You've become the new God of Cooking♪"
Phainon scratched his head in embarrassment. "I never thought that just knowing one dish—egg fried rice—would actually let me win the title of God of Cooking. But… how did you get here?"
"Me? It's kind of strange, actually. That day I went to the market like usual, heard about some lucky draw event, and thought I'd give it a try. Then I actually won a 99-year free pass to Mihoyo Interactive City. Pretty magical, right♪
So I just followed the Mihoyo staff here♪"
"Ah… this?" Phainon instantly understood what had happened. "What are your plans after this?"
"I want to go play in Interactive City. I heard there's a girl there as beautiful as me♪"
"Then I'll go with you. This time… I don't want to make you wait for me anymore."
"Great♪"
——
Meanwhile.
Su Chen walked over to the judges' table. After exchanging a glance with Ratio, Ratio left very straightforwardly.
Seeing this, Anaxa gave a cold snort. "I didn't expect such an erudite professor as Ratio to care so much about you. You've got some serious skills!"
"You're making me sound like a slave owner. I treat my employees very well."
"Then congratulations to Mihoyo—at least it has one sensible boss."
Su Chen paused, then got straight to the point. "Actually… have you ever considered joining Mihoyo and appearing in the web drama?"
"And if my answer is no?"
"Don't rush—I haven't even thrown the bait yet." As he spoke, Su Chen pulled a plush doll of the Earth Beast from behind him. "What do you think of this thing?"
The moment Anaxa saw the Earth Beast, his pupils involuntarily dilated.
In his mind, an image formed unbidden.
It was a grassy field. He ran toward the Earth Beast with a smile; the Earth Beast stood in place and blinked at him.
Under the setting sun, everything was so beautiful and harmonious.
"Let me see it." Anaxa carefully cradled the Earth Beast figure. "A perfect creature… how can such a perfect creature exist? Did you design this?"
"I designed it. And it will appear in Season 8 of the Honkai: Star Rail web drama. I even made rideable Earth Beast props—the kind people can actually sit on."
"Hahahaha…" Anaxa studied Su Chen carefully. "I didn't expect you to throw a straight hook. Fine—a straight hook it is. I'll bite."
——
After everything was settled.
Su Chen made a phone call to Nicole.
Not long after, Anby drove up in a large bus in front of everyone.
The door opened. Nicole rushed toward Su Chen. "Boss! Can we finally eat a big meal? I'm about to collapse."
"Don't rush—just wait a little longer and we'll eat right away."
"You've said that sentence countless times already! Do you know how we've been surviving these past few days?"
"I brought the chefs for you—look behind me." Su Chen turned and pointed at the group from the Golden Grand Hotel.
Nicole followed his finger and indeed saw many new faces.
"You're back in the people-eating business again?"
Su Chen gave a teasing smile. "Watch your mouth. Everyone, get on the bus."
Once on board, Su Chen realized most of the seats were already filled—the people who were supposed to be there had all arrived.
Silver Wolf watched the new faces appearing one after another and couldn't help clicking her tongue. "Where did you scam these ones from?"
But the next moment, when she saw Cyrene—
"Holy crap, did Elysia take APTX4869?"
"Her name is Cyrene, not Elysia."
Silver Wolf suddenly understood. "Ohhh, got it. Then Cyrene is in for a rough time."
"Who's the top and who's the bottom is still up for debate."
"What's next?" Silver Wolf pulled out her phone. "Interactive City is a total mess right now. You're planning to go back with just this many people?"
Su Chen didn't immediately answer Silver Wolf. Instead, he sat down next to Firefly. "So… where do you want to go for vacation?"
Firefly recalled the journey so far and replied gently, "It feels like I've already played through everything I could possibly want to in this lifetime. Also… while I was gone these past few days, how have you been?"
"Actually pretty good. Just… always felt like something was missing inside."
But Firefly clearly didn't catch the implication in Su Chen's words and continued asking, "But with the situation at Interactive City like this, what are you going to do?"
"Ever played a game?" Su Chen clenched his fists. "I'm going to speedrun it!"