Su Yu finished watching the video and then glanced at the comment section.
The comment section had already exploded.
[Brother Su, you traitor!]
[Brother Su, didn't you say you wanted to be Miss Pink Elf's dog? How did you secretly become someone else's dog?!]
[I'm broken, I'm really broken/crushed]
[The group leader took the lead in getting a partner; the Single Dog Alliance is disbanded on the spot]
[Brother Su! How will you repay what you owe me here!!]
Someone even wrote a short essay specifically for the occasion:
["He once said he would fight side by side with us to resist loneliness together. He once roasted those couples showing off their love with us in the late-night livestream room. We thought he was our comrade, our brother-in-arms, the only light in the darkness. But we never expected—he would be the first to defect! Su Yu! Are you worthy of those bullet comments we spammed together all those years!"]
The corners of Su Yu's mouth twitched.
What is all this nonsense.
His phone vibrated. The culprit had sent a congratulatory telegram.
[Miss Pink Elf]: Su Yu-chan~ Did you see it~? Wasn't it a pleasant surprise?
[Miss Pink Elf]: You gained so many followers overnight! No need to thank me, just treating Miss Pink Elf to a meal will do~ ♪
[Miss Pink Elf]: Remember to bring that "mysterious girlfriend" along, you absolutely must come!
Su Yu massaged his throbbing temples, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, unable to type a single word for a long time.
Explain? How could he explain?
Say "That's not a girlfriend, that's a Valkyrie from a parallel world, and we are currently engaging in the great harmony of life across dimensions"?
Just as he was thinking about how to explain this matter—
The System panel popped up.
[Ding~ Detected an increase in the Presence Index of the Host's linked character "Kiana Kaslana"!]
[Current Activity Range: 1 meter → 1.2 meters]
[Congratulations to the Host! Keep up the good work!]
Su Yu froze for a moment.
He carefully examined that number.
1.2 meters.
Although it had only increased by a meager 20 centimeters, it was like the first crack chiseled into an iron wall.
He turned his head to look at Kiana, who was still deep in sleep.
She was curled up in the blanket, her long white hair scattered over the pillow, her breathing steady and gentle.
Su Yu reached out his hand and waved it in front of her.
The distance was probably... one meter and ten centimeters?
Kiana showed no signs of becoming transparent.
It really had expanded.
"Kiana."
Su Yu gently nudged her shoulder.
"Mmm..."
Kiana groggily opened her eyes, those heterochromatic pupils still carrying the haze of just waking up.
"What's wrong..."
"I have good news," Su Yu said. "Your range of activity has expanded."
"...What?"
Kiana woke up completely and sat up abruptly.
"Expanded? Expanded to how much?"
"1.2 meters."
"...Just 20 centimeters?"
"Don't think it's too little," Su Yu said. "This is the first time there's been a change, and I know the reason why."
He handed his phone to her; the screen was still paused on Elysia's video page.
"That sentence you said last night... went viral."
Kiana took the phone.
A few minutes later, her face turned red from the base of her neck to the tips of her ears, looking as if she were about to catch fire.
"This... what kind of analysis is this!"
She shoved the phone back to Su Yu, her voice filled with both shame and annoyance.
"I just said a single sentence about wanting to use the bathroom... Why would it be interpreted like that! What 'Hiding a Beauty in a Golden House', what 'treasure'... Do these humans have holes in their brains!"
"Netizens are like that." Su Yu shrugged. "Gossip is the driving force of human evolution. To them, the truth isn't important; having fun is what matters."
"That... can it be deleted?"
Kiana lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously twisting the corner of the blanket.
"It can't be deleted, and there's no need to delete it."
Su Yu pointed to the panel that only he could see.
"The System shows that precisely because of this livestream accident, because the whole internet is discussing 'the mysterious girl by Su Yu's side', your 'presence' in this world has strengthened."
"Those bullet comments, reviews, and speculations are all anchors fixing your existence."
Kiana was stunned.
"Just because of... that one sentence?"
"Correct." Su Yu nodded. "Cognition is existence. Although they don't know you are Kiana Kaslana, in their minds, 'that girl' truly exists, and that is enough."
Kiana lowered her head, seeming to digest this information.
Su Yu's brain began to turn.
Since one sentence could have such a huge effect...
What if he let Kiana "deliberately" appear a few times during livestreams?
Voice, shadow, or even a blurry silhouette in the background—all could trigger audience speculation and discussion.
The more discussion, the stronger the cognition, and the larger Kiana's range of activity could become...
[Ding~ Detected that the Host is attempting to exploit a BUG!]
[Warning: There is a hard threshold for presence gained through "livestream gossip news"!]
[Current path threshold cap: 1.5 meters]
[In other words, even if the Host turns the livestream room into a relationship mediation program, Kiana's range of activity will max out at only 1.5 meters. To truly gain freedom, you must complete the Main Mission—produce "Honkai Impact 3rd"!]
The System's pop-up window ruthlessly snuffed out Su Yu's little flame of opportunism.
Fine.
1.5 meters is 1.5 meters.
At least it can solve privacy issues regarding bathing and using the toilet; that's already a huge improvement.
But in the long run, he still had to make the game.
Su Yu took a deep breath, retracting his earlier joking demeanor, and his expression became serious.
"Kiana."
Kiana raised her head, and seeing Su Yu's manner, she subconsciously straightened her back.
"About that Main Mission... which is the matter of making the game."
"There are some things I must make clear to you."
Su Yu weighed his words carefully, trying to make his tone sound less like an interrogation.
"The game I want to make is a story about you."
"It is everything that the 'Kiana' of that world experienced."
"Only by producing those stories, allowing thousands upon thousands of people to play, to experience, and to be moved, can you obtain true freedom."
"I know." Kiana nodded.
"But the problem is..." Su Yu looked into her eyes. "The System cannot generate a script out of thin air; it needs material. The most authentic material."
"That means, you need to tell me, with your own mouth, those things that happened to you."
The air in the room seemed to solidify for an instant.
Su Yu did not continue speaking.
He knew how cruel this request was.
Every single word was a blade dipped in blood.
To ask her to tear open those scabbing wounds one by one and display them to others...
"If you aren't ready yet, or don't want to say it, we can do something else first, like..."
"It doesn't matter."
Kiana interrupted him.
She lowered her head, her palm gently stroking the white cat on her lap. Her fingertips trembled slightly, but her voice was unusually calm.
"If this is the only way... if doing this can stop me from being a ghost who can only hide behind you..."
She raised her head. In those heterochromatic eyes, something was shattering, and then reassembling.
It was a kind of resolve to look straight into the abyss even after experiencing the darkest moments.
"I will say it."
"All of it."
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