She had to do something.
Although Bronie couldn't come up with a point to refute Theresa for the moment, the urgent priority was first to rein in this rampaging white-haired shorty.
With Theresa's capacity for action, if she wasn't stopped now, she'd probably be able to charge straight up to Siegfried before three o'clock this afternoon, swat him flying with a single door panel, and demand to know just what fine thing he'd done.
Just imagining that scene made her scalp tingle.
Siegfried Kaslana.
Kevin's biological father, a fine man who'd been married to Cecilia for over twenty years.
In this world he had neither cheated nor fathered any illegitimate daughter — a perfectly clean, upright grown man.
Charged in upon and slapped across the face by a freakishly strong loli: Siegfried, dumbfounded, says I don't have an illegitimate daughter.
Theresa doesn't believe him and hits even harder.
Kevin gets his old man's distress call and rushes over.
Kevin sees Auntie Theresa beating up his own biological father.
Kevin asks why.
Then Theresa says your dad has an illegitimate daughter out in the world named Kiana.
Then Kevin goes to ask Kiana.
Then Kiana is dumbfounded.
Then Su Yu gets Kevin's call.
Then? Then everything's completely finished!!
Bronie's temple twitched a couple of times.
No good — she absolutely had to clamp this whole thing down.
She had, admittedly, been swayed a little by that analysis Theresa had just given.
Kiana's attitude toward the two of them really was a bit abnormal.
But between "a bit abnormal" and "Siegfried's illegitimate daughter" lay a gulf of a hundred and eight thousand li, with countless possibilities in between.
Before any ironclad proof was in hand, she couldn't let Theresa go make a scene.
By then the door panel would have been swung, the person beaten, and one blood-relation test would reveal there was no relationship at all.
The one left embarrassed wouldn't just be Theresa alone — the gossip tabloids of all Arc City would be laughing at this thing into the next century.
"Calm down for a sec first, Theresa." Bronie bit down on her straw, slurped up a big mouthful of ice water, and forcibly cut off the "One Hundred and Eight Methods of Scumbag Punishment" that Theresa was muttering under her breath.
"Think about it carefully — this thing has way too many holes. Kiana clearly knows Kevin, and she also knows all that messy business of your Kaslana family, yet she's completely unaware that Siegfried and Cecilia even exist. Do you think that's normal?"
Theresa froze for a moment, the motion of biting her straw coming to a halt.
"But today, at her place, when she heard those two names, Siegfried and Cecilia — what was her reaction?"
Bronie stared at Theresa.
"She blanked."
Theresa thought back on it.
Indeed, Kiana's reaction at the time hadn't been like "I know but I'm pretending not to know," but more like "I really don't know."
"Chances are this kid simply doesn't know her own origins."
Bronie leaned forward, crossing both hands on the tabletop to prop herself up, her gaze turning unusually serious.
"She may have been raised since childhood by that Master from the whatever Tai Xu Sword Sect. To her, parents are just a vague concept. She'd already let go of any fixation on her own origins, and now you suddenly pull a stunt like this, ripping the bloody truth open and laying it out right in front of her."
"If she found out she's a child who was abandoned by her biological father from a young age, how do you think she'd feel? That idiot already lacks common sense and is sensitive on top of it — are you trying to watch her completely break down?"
"Regardless of whether your conjecture is right or wrong, have you considered just how much harm it would do to Kiana?"
Theresa's face went a little pale.
The air conditioner in the milk-tea shop was still blowing.
The high schoolers at the next table had already left, replaced by a couple placing an order.
The cash register at the counter let out a "beep."
Theresa lowered her head; her face, which had been a bit hot-blooded and worked up, cooled down bit by bit.
"And there's Kevin, too," Bronie added another stab. "What would Kevin think after hearing about this? He's on good terms with Kiana — you suddenly tell him Kiana might be his dad's illegitimate daughter, what's he supposed to do, caught in the middle?"
"You... you're right." Theresa rubbed her somewhat stiff cheeks, her voice carrying a deep dread of what might have been. "Before there's any solid evidence, going straight to confront Siegfried — an old fox like him couldn't possibly admit to it anyway. I was too impulsive; I nearly did a bad thing out of good intentions."
Bronie heaved a long breath of relief inside.
She'd finally managed to rein in this rampaging little white donkey.
Following along with Theresa's words, Bronie cast out her own bait.
"Since Su Yu is Kiana's Eldest Senior Brother, then he must know something. I'll have a private talk with him later."
"And besides, didn't you say it yourself? Compared to going after Siegfried's responsibility right now, as her Auntie, doing everything you can to make it up to Kiana is the most correct choice, isn't it?"
Theresa's ears perked up, and she immediately nodded frantically like a pestle pounding garlic.
"Perfect timing."
Bronie leaned back against her chair and pillowed both hands behind her head.
"BOSS's studio has just been set up, and it's in dire need of hands. And Kiana is the core figure of that studio — the whole project revolves around her."
"You could totally use your fame as the magical girl teriri to set up a collaboration with BOSS and join the studio in a perfectly legitimate, aboveboard way."
"That way, not only can you join the studio openly and stick by Kiana's side every day to protect her, you can also make use of the studio's resources to secretly gather more information related to her origins. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"
"Ten thousand times better than charging up to Siegfried's face to slap him, right?"
Theresa smacked her own forehead, her palm and forehead colliding with a crisp sound.
"You're right, Bronie!"
Her eyes lit up again, as if she'd found a guiding beacon in the vast, boundless night.
"Now that the matter's already happened, even if I march up with a door panel and have a falling-out with Siegfried, it won't change the fact that for over a decade he failed to fulfill his duty as a father and caused harm to little Kiana!"
Though she absolutely had no intention of giving up on exposing the true face of that scumbag Siegfried, before that, she first had to carry out her duty as an Auntie.
She would use all her resources, wealth, and love to make up for that child's decade-plus of missing family warmth.
She would let little Kiana know that there was still someone in this world loving her without reservation!
Bronie looked at Theresa's little face, its fighting spirit reignited, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
The premise of "that scumbag Siegfried" — Theresa hadn't let go of it one bit.
She'd merely switched from "charge up and beat him" mode to "go undercover first, then beat him" mode.
But at least, for now, nothing was going to go wrong.
"By the way, Bronie."
Theresa suddenly lowered her voice, glancing left and right like a thief.
"This matter — you'd best not tell Kevin either. If that blockhead found out, he'd definitely make things even more complicated. I don't want a third person knowing this secret before the truth is uncovered."
Bronie rolled her eyes, thinking that the person most capable of complicating things in all of Arc City was sitting right across from her.
But she still nodded with great solemnity: "Don't worry, I can tell what's urgent and what's not. My mouth is tighter than a safe."
"No time to lose!"
Theresa grabbed the milk tea off the table and downed the remaining half cup in one go.
She casually wiped a smear of leftover pearl residue from the corner of her mouth, dug a pair of oversized sunglasses out of her bag, and put them on.
"You said just now that Su Yu is inspecting the new studio at Arc City Tower today, right? Send me the address — I'm heading over right now to interview with him!"
"Go on," Bronie said, waving a hand at her. "Happy interviewing."
Theresa pushed open the glass door of the milk-tea shop in a whirlwind, stood at the roadside frantically waving her arms, and flagged down a taxi with its vacancy light lit.
She climbed into the back seat, rolled down the window, flashed Bronie a "leave it to me" thumbs-up, and roared off into the distance amid the engine's rumble.
Although Bronie had no idea what this brain-overthinking genius was gesturing about in her head this time, she figured that, for the sake of not rolling her eyes too many times, she'd better not think about it.
Bronie sat where she was without moving, glanced at that old-style window-unit air conditioner still blowing cold air, and let out a sigh.
She pulled out her phone and opened the encrypted communication channel.
The call connected.
"BOSS."
She rested the back of her head against the chair, both eyes fixed on the ceiling, her voice limp and listless, like a salted fish that had been baking in the desert sun for three days.
"You really do have to give me a raise."
"Working triple-agent like this, I'm about to deflate."
The central air conditioning on the top floor of Arc City Tower ran soundlessly, holding the noon heat of July firmly outside the panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows.
As an office space left behind after a certain internet conglomerate's branch had pulled out, the hardware facilities here could be called extravagant.
Rows of Herman Miller ergonomic chairs stood quietly before the workstations, and several enormous whiteboards still had the plastic protective film in their corners not yet peeled off.
Apart from that motion-capture room — spacious enough to gallop a horse in — which still needed professional equipment added, the place was practically move-in ready, bags in hand.
Su Yu leaned against the edge of the broad office desk, holding a freshly printed stack of purchase lists in his hand.
"You don't need to separately purchase the motion-capture equipment; the set Vill-V provided is already enough. But you'll need to add at least three more rendering servers — your current setup can't run the holographic engine."
She lifted her eyes to glance at Su Yu sitting across from her.
"There's also the audio workstation. Eden says that if you want to record the game's original soundtrack, she can provide studio time at the recording booth, but you'll have to equip the mixing gear yourself. For this item I've listed two options for you — one is leasing, the other is an outright buyout."
Fuxi flipped the tablet around so the screen faced toward Su Yu.
"Leasing is twenty-three thousand a month; the buyout is a one-time four hundred eighty thousand. Considering the project cycle is at least a year and a half, I recommend the buyout."
Her fingertip tapped at the numbers on the screen.
"Of course, if Mr. Su feels the budget is tight, I can discuss it with Eden and add another sum from the investment funds — though, well, additional investment means the profit-sharing ratio would have to be renegotiated."
Fuxi's lenses flashed with a glint of light.
"As your future big sister-in-law, I can give you a two-percent discount."
Griseo sat by the window, an A3 sheet of drawing paper spread out before her, holding in her hand that box of 36-color water-soluble colored pencils Su Yu had bought for her on the way.
She was focused on sketching something on the paper, occasionally looking up at the skyline outside the window, then lowering her head to keep drawing.
A strawberry milkshake sat by her right hand, half a pearl still clinging to the straw.
Su Yu was just about to open his mouth to say something when the phone in his pocket suddenly let out a burst of high-frequency vibration.
He pulled out his phone; a rabbit icon was flashing on the screen.
"Sorry." Su Yu gave the phone a little shake toward Fuxi. "I need to take a call."
Fuxi pushed up her glasses and made a "go ahead" gesture.
"Go on. I'll just go take a look at what Griseo is drawing. That portrait she drew for Eden last time — Eden had it framed and hung up in the living room."
Fuxi stood up and, carrying her black coffee, walked off in Griseo's direction.
Griseo heard the footsteps, raised her head, and looked at Fuxi with her two pale-purple eyes.
"Sister Fuxi, your color is a little brighter today than last time."
"Oh? What color?"
"Inside the very deep blue, there's a tiny bit more orange." Griseo tilted her head. "It's a happy color."
The corner of Fuxi's mouth moved, curving upward ever so faintly before returning to its original state.
"Probably because today's reconciliation of accounts went very smoothly."
Su Yu turned and crossed the long corridor, pushing open the glass door of a small soundproof meeting room.
The instant the door closed, the white noise of the entire floor was completely shut out.
He swiped the answer key and pressed the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"BOSS."
Bronie's voice came through the receiver, carrying a sense of fatigue that had been wrung dry.
"You really do have to give me a raise. Working triple-agent like this, I'm about to deflate."
Su Yu walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the stream of traffic shuttling like ants below his feet.
"What happened?"
Bronie let out a heavy sigh on the other end.
Then she poured out, in full detail, that absurd long-lost-relative drama, along with Theresa's logically tight, watertight "illegitimate daughter" reasoning back at the milk-tea shop.
The meeting room fell silent for a full ten seconds.
Su Yu's shoulders began to shake uncontrollably, his Adam's apple rolling up and down a couple of times, and in the end he still couldn't hold it back.
"You're laughing?!"
Bronie gnashed her teeth on the other end of the line, the background carrying the crunch of a plastic straw being bitten flat.
"Do you have any idea that Theresa just now nearly grabbed that two-meter-tall door panel and went to smash the windows of Siegfried's house? Do you know how much effort it took me to plug up that rampaging flight of fancy of hers?"
Su Yu rubbed the slightly sore corners of his mouth and straightened up.
Mocking Theresa's overactive imagination behind her back really was a bit unethical.
But treating Kiana as a stray illegitimate daughter Siegfried had fathered out in the world — a script for this kind of prime-time tearjerker melodrama — how on earth did it manage to be logically self-consistent in this world?
"Fine, I've heard you out."
"So, BOSS."
Bronie's tone changed, no longer that joking, wisecracking rhythm.
"What exactly is the deal with Kiana?"
"This question is rather complicated."
"I know it's complicated, but being a triple agent isn't easy! On Kiana's side I have to hide things from you, on your side I have to hide things from Kiana, and on Theresa's side I have to make up stories — if you don't give me at least some insight, how am I supposed to be your downline with any peace of mind?"
"Some of it you might find inconceivable."
"BOSS." Bronie's voice carried a trace of impatience. "Kiana can dismantle a Gundam with her bare hands — could there possibly be anything more absurd than that?"
Su Yu fell silent.
The sunlight struck his face through the glass, a little glaring.
In his mind, he knocked on that tightly shut door.
"Squad Monitor, what do you think?"
"The fewer people who know her true identity, the better." Fenghuang's voice was as calm as a pool of dead water, without the slightest ripple. "Every revelation of the truth could trigger an unforeseeable chain reaction."
Su Yu didn't refute it.
He looked at his own reflection in the glass.
"But the me of right now can't help her."
Fenghuang's apparition lowered her eyelids, a faint, hard-to-detect sense of powerlessness flickering across that cold, aloof face.
"My strength is all but spent. All I can do is impart the Heart Essence chapter to you in the consciousness space and help you smooth over your mental trauma. In the real world, there's nothing I can do."
"So, you need to find a truly reliable ally in reality — reliable enough that you can tell them about Kiana's past."
Su Yu drew his gaze back from outside the window.
The System panel flickered in the corner of his vision, and the community list popped up automatically.
Bronie's card hovered there, the moon emblem glowing faintly against the deep-blue background.
Rank 2.
Not the highest, but not low either.
He thought of the things Bronie had done over this stretch of time.
Helping Kiana plan mission routes, providing intelligence support, secretly safeguarding Kiana's safety without Kiana knowing.
When he'd asked her to conceal the truth, she hadn't asked a single extra question.
And today, when Theresa was about to go on a rampage, she'd clamped the whole thing down again.
That gray rabbit — her mouth said she only cared about money, but the loyalty and devotion in her bones were exactly the same as the Bronya of that other world.
"Bronie."
Su Yu spoke, his voice pressed very low.
"She comes from another world, a world completely different from this one, and in that world there are many things beyond your imagination."
"Kiana went through a great many things, lost a great many people, and in the end, for some reason, came over to this side."
From the other end of the line came an extremely faint "pop."
It was the sound of bubble gum bursting.
"A parallel universe? Or some kind of quantum-dimension transmigration?" Bronie's voice didn't carry much surprise; if anything, it held a calm of dust settling into place.
"You're not surprised at all?" Su Yu raised an eyebrow.
"Surprised? Honestly, for a split second just now, that thought did flash through my mind."
Bronie shifted to a different posture on her end, the chair giving a slight scraping sound.
"She can dismantle a Gundam-grade security door with her bare hands — could there be anything more absurd than that? Besides..."
Bronie paused.
"BOSS, I'm a hacker. My job is to collect data and then assemble the puzzle, and there are way too many BUGs on this person Kiana."
"What BUGs?"
"The look in her eyes the first time we met. That look wasn't the look you give a stranger — it was the look you give a friend lost for many years. I felt something was off back then, but I didn't think in this direction."
Bronie took a sip of iced Americano.
"And then there's her way of fighting."
"The system of those moves is too complete — so complete it doesn't look like something learned at any dojo or military institution in this world."
"It's more like something honed on a real battlefield, between life and death."
"On top of that, there's her knowledge gap. She doesn't recognize phone brands, doesn't know lots of celebrities, and is even utterly clueless about some internet memes."
"Yet she's absurdly sharp about knowledge in certain specific fields. This kind of gap doesn't look like it came from cultivating deep in the mountains — it looks more like she came over from a completely different system of civilization."
Bronie stopped for a moment.
"So when you say she's a transmigrator, I'm just fitting the last piece onto all the fragments I had before."
The bubble gum got chewed a couple of times.
"Now I finally get it."
Bronie's voice grew a touch softer.
"The first time she saw me, she acted so familiar; the first time she saw Theresa, she acted so familiar too."
"My guess is, maybe it's because in her own world, there's a Bronya and there's a Theresa — they were Kiana's friends, Kiana's family."
"Correct."
Su Yu silently marveled to himself.
A hacker's logical puzzle-assembling ability really was no joke.
He'd merely omitted the parts about Herrschers and Honkai energy, and Bronie had filled in the remaining blanks completely on her own.
"But honestly, this thing's gotten hard to handle now, BOSS."
Bronie sighed, her tone turning somewhat heavy.
"Compared to where she came from, I'm more worried about that idiot's current condition."
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it." Bronie's voice slowed down. "She came to this place from another world. And then in this world she saw people who look exactly like the friends and family she knew. The same face, the same voice, but not the same person."
"When she saw me, what was going through her head? Bronie, or Bronya? When she saw Theresa, what was she thinking then?"
"Every time she sees a familiar face, she has to make a cut inside her heart. To tell herself this person is not the person you knew. How do you think that feels for her?"
Su Yu was slightly taken aback.
He'd originally assumed that, after learning the truth, Bronie's first reaction would be to feel displeased.
After all, no one likes being someone else's "stand-in," especially in this kind of relationship colored with transference.
He hadn't expected that this little rabbit's first reaction would actually be concern for Kiana's situation.
"You don't mind?" Su Yu voiced the doubt in his heart.
"Mind what? That she's treated me as a substitute?"
Bronie's tone shifted.
Pulling herself out of that heaviness from a moment ago, she returned to the channel of that tough-talking, soft-hearted gray-furred Hack Bunny.
"Sure, at first glance — maybe, probably — she did take me for the Bronya in her memories."
The corner of her mouth curved.
"But everything she did for me afterward, every single thing, was directed at this person, Bronie."
"When she helped me plan mission routes, she wasn't talking to Bronya."
"When she put the big HOMEI plushie on the sofa and let me play with it however I liked, she wasn't fawning over Bronya. Every time she came back from a mission and messaged me to report she was safe, the name she typed was Bronie, not Bronya."
She took a sip of iced Americano, the ice cubes clinking against the cup in tiny, fragmented sounds.
"This idiot, you know, is far more clear-headed than you imagine. She can tell exactly who I am."
Bronie set the cup back down on the tabletop, her finger rubbing at the beads of condensation on the cup's wall.
"So you can quit fretting over her on that account. Rather than worrying about her treating me as a stand-in, you'd do better to worry more about whether she'll have anything to eat when she gets home tonight."
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