The dead of night, all quiet.
Su Yu leaned back against the sofa, savoring the warm weight resting on his thigh.
Kiana's even breathing was clearly audible in the silent living room, like a cat that had sheathed all its claws, sleeping peacefully and utterly defenseless.
He reached out and gently brushed aside a few strands of white hair stuck to her cheek, the softness against his fingertips delicate and fine.
Just then, that lingering, ghost-like red light screen once again barbarically popped up across Su Yu's retina, complete with garish flashing effects, like the cheap advertisement of some third-rate browser game.
[Ding! Host detected to have successfully completed the high-risk daily mission: Father-in-Law's Death Stare (Faux)!]
[Mission Rating: S (Your final-moment self-sacrificing bomb-defusal performance—exaggerated yet sincere, awkward yet heroic—successfully moved the old man-in-law to tears, a textbook-grade case of PUA.)]
Su Yu's eye twitched.
This trash System—even its ratings were this asking-for-a-beating.
[Since the core associated figure of this mission is Himeko, a brand-new Community Tarot Card has now been unlocked——]
A card depicting a woman clad in priestess robes and holding a scroll slowly rotated in the center of the light screen.
[II. The High Priestess (The Priestess)]——Murata Himeko
[Position: Host's Landlady / Off-the-Books Life Advisor / Hidden Drinking Buddy]
[Bond Level: Rank 5 (Ambiguous Object of Observation)]
[Studio Bonuses:]
[Crimson Lotus's Blessing: Entire studio's social ability +30%; when negotiating with people from education or academia, success rate is additionally increased by 50%.]
[The Wine God's Revelry: When Himeko is present, the joy level of team gatherings increases by 200%, and you can obtain limited-edition fine liquors not circulated on the market at an extremely low price.]
[System Note: She represents wisdom, secrets, and intuition. Although she usually looks like a useless wastrel of a teacher who can do nothing but drink, in crucial moments her bloodline-derived elite-class instincts, along with her powerful empathy as a people's teacher, will become an aid you never expected. Also, the way she looks at you is already quite impure~]
"Rank 5?" Su Yu silently grumbled inwardly. "This bond level is climbing faster than a rocket. Hero-saves-the-beauty plus throwing myself in front of a gun—this Buff stack is way too ridiculous."
[No duh—her dad almost got turned into fireworks by kidnappers, and you risked your life to bring him back. If under those circumstances the bond level still started from 1 and ground up slowly, then wouldn't my Community System be a little too inhumane?]
Guess you still have a conscience.
Before Su Yu could even digest Himeko's card, a new pop-up had already crowded in.
[Ding! Host detected to have successfully reversed the initial negative impression of the key figure Murata Ryusuke, and established a trust relationship under absolute force-based intimidation!]
[Comprehensive Rating: S+ — You didn't just save his life, you also incidentally ground his laughable sense of class superiority into dust, making him fully realize who exactly sits atop this household's food chain—well done, live-in son-in-law!]
Su Yu: "..."
[S+ grade rating rewards have been issued:]
[Reward One: A massive sum of Shenzhou Coins (already deposited into the studio account; please use it for the studio's daily operations).]
[Reward Two: Black-tech blueprint—Hephaestus Forge (controllable nuclear fusion miniaturized energy synthesis technology).]
Looking at that string of bank card balance, Su Yu's heart stirred not a ripple—he even wanted to laugh. So let me ask you, is this money for me to use? Let me ask you that.
But the moment his gaze fell on the second reward, the relaxed expression on his face instantly froze.
Controllable nuclear fusion? And miniaturized at that?
"System, did you send the wrong reward? What am I supposed to do with this thing? Use it as an infinite-range power bank for my little e-bike?"
As if sensing Su Yu's confusion, the text on the System's light screen suddenly shifted into a bolded, enlarged, lecturing-while-exasperated tone of one who hates iron for not becoming steel.
[Host, can't you put that brain of yours—simpler than a Paramecium's neural circuit—to use and think for a moment?!]
[Holding this thing in your hands is, of course, utterly useless! But what if you hand it in? Hand it over to Dr. Mei? Hand it over to the higher-ups?]
[You think this whole affair is over just like that? Dr. Mei suppressed it for you, Lewis covered for you, and Kiana's identity is temporarily unexposed. But have you ever thought about it—what about the future?]
[Kiana has to survive in this world. A white-haired girl who catches bullets bare-handed—how long do you think she can keep a low profile? Her power will be exposed sooner or later, and when that time comes, you must have enough bargaining chips in hand to protect her.]
[This energy technology is your trump card. You don't have to use it, but you must have it.]
[Whom to hand it to, when to hand it, how to hand it—these are all an art. But as long as this card is in your hands, you'll never be empty-handed at any negotiating table.]
Su Yu lowered his head and glanced at Kiana lying on his lap.
Her mouth was slightly open, her breathing even, completely unaware that a priceless energy-technology blueprint was floating right above her head.
"Never thought making a game would require not just understanding games, understanding business, understanding hacking—now I have to understand goddamn international politics and energy strategy too... I'm just a salted fish who wants to lie flat."
[No duh! Or did you think I, your foster father, opened a Community System for you so you could play house?!]
[The relationships between people, the bonds, the trust—the power they can produce in crucial moments far exceeds your imagination! And in modern society, this kind of power is usually called—'background'!]
[I, your foster father, will remind you once more—while making your game, grind every bond level in the community you can. Every single person, every layer of relationship, will all become an aid for Kiana in the future! Understood?]
"An aid? What aid?" Su Yu instinctively pressed in his mind.
However, the System's light screen flickered a few times, left behind an asking-for-a-beating icon reading "This System has entered sleep mode, please do not disturb," and then fell utterly silent.
Cutting the line right at the crucial part—this System was, as ever, like the Riddler taking up residence in Gotham.
He brought up the System interface, encrypted that technical blueprint named "Hephaestus Forge" with the highest-level permissions, and then tossed it into the deepest recess of the System backpack.
Hopefully there would never come a day when it had to be used.
"Bzzt——"
His phone vibrated on the sofa cushion, interrupting his thoughts.
The phone buzzed once.
Su Yu picked it up. On the screen was Himeko's avatar.
[Himeko: Su Yu, you still awake?]
He typed one-handed.
[Su Yu: Yeah.]
[Himeko: About today's events... really, thank you. Thank you, and thank Kiana too.]
[Himeko: Dad only got a minor injury; the doctor said there's nothing serious. I've already taken him back to the hotel to rest.]
[Himeko: I don't know how to thank you. If it weren't for you...]
The message stopped there for a few seconds, then another line popped out.
[Himeko: Anyway, thank you.]
Su Yu looked at the screen, able to imagine the expression on Himeko's face as she typed these words.
This big sister who was always all smiles had probably cried more than once tonight.
[Su Yu: Don't mention it, we're neighbors. As long as Uncle Ryusuke is okay, that's what matters. You should get some rest early too.]
[Su Yu: If there's anything you want to ask, we'll talk tomorrow.]
After sending that, he set the phone back down on the coffee table.
The screen dimmed, and Himeko's avatar vanished into the lock screen.
Kiana stirred on his lap, muttered a few muddled words of dream-talk too faint to make out. Her fingers loosened, then once again gripped Su Yu's two fingers tight.
Outside the window, the night over Arc City had already sunk very deep.
In the distance, the siren of an ambulance came drifting from the far end of the street, then gradually faded away.
The next morning, the sunlight was just right.
In Su Yu's tiny rented apartment, the security door was knocked upon once more.
The visitors were Himeko, along with Murata Ryusuke trailing behind her, carrying two enormous gift boxes emblazoned with top luxury-brand logos.
Utterly unlike yesterday—when he'd practically looked down on everyone through his nostrils, radiating a "you're all garbage" aura of an elite authority—today's Ryusuke had a face piled high with a warmth that bordered on obsequiousness.
That smile was so fervent that Su Yu, who had just opened the door, instinctively took half a step back, wondering whether he'd opened the door the wrong way.
"Little Su! I'm not interrupting your work, am I?"
The moment Ryusuke stepped in, he proactively switched into the spare slippers by the door that were obviously several sizes too small.
He solemnly placed the gift boxes in his hands onto the coffee table, his posture less like he was giving a gift and more like he was making an offering to a deity.
Kiana, sitting on the sofa playing games, heard the commotion and lifted her head. When she saw Ryusuke's face beaming bright as a blooming chrysanthemum, she nearly lost her grip on the game controller.
She stared dumbstruck at this old man who seemed like a completely different person from yesterday, her mouth slightly agape, momentarily forgetting the Boss fight she was in the middle of.
On the screen, the character she controlled—now unmanned—got swept away by the Boss in a single combo string, her health bar instantly emptied.
The vivid red words "Game Over" and Kiana's dazed expression at that moment formed an amusing contrast.
This... is this still the same stinky, arrogant uncle who, at the slightest disagreement yesterday, wanted to glare people to death through his nostrils? Did somebody body-swap into him?!
Ryusuke paid no mind whatsoever to Kiana's shock. He walked straight up to the front of the sofa and bowed to Kiana. The depth of that bow was as standard as a textbook demonstration of business etiquette.
"Miss Kiana!" Ryusuke's voice was resonant and sincere. "About yesterday, I had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai! I was a foolish old man! Thanks to you and Su Yu, these old bones of mine can stand here in one whole piece. This life-saving grace—I, Murata Ryusuke, will never forget it to my dying day!"
Kiana was startled by this sudden grand gesture and instinctively shrank back behind Su Yu.
She hugged her arms and looked at Ryusuke with the eyes one would use to look at a lunatic, not knowing how to react.
Su Yu reached out and steadied Ryusuke's arm, a perfectly measured smile hanging on his face.
"Uncle, you're far too courteous. In a situation like yesterday's, anyone in my place would not have stood idly by. It was simply my duty—please don't take it to heart."
Ryusuke straightened up with the motion, warmly patting the back of Su Yu's hand, his gaze exactly like a father-in-law looking at his son-in-law, the more he looked the more satisfied he grew.
"Good! Well said!" Ryusuke praised, full of vigor. "Calm in the face of danger, both brave and resourceful, and not even arrogant about your merit! Little Su, you young man—you're really something!"
Then his tone shifted, and he finally voiced the true purpose of this visit.
"That... yesterday time was too rushed, and I didn't get the chance to take a proper look around."
"Today I came specially because I wanted to visit that studio of yours. Young people, after all—liking games is perfectly normal! When I was young, I used to secretly go to the arcade and play Street Fighter too! Hahaha!"
Ryusuke gave a couple of dry chuckles, trying to use this approach to close the distance with the young people.
In reality, his head was already full of considerations about how, after touring the studio, he could—in his capacity as father-in-law—give it a hefty injection of capital... ahem, that is, a hefty investment into Su Yu's studio.
This money was, in any case, sooner or later going to his own daughter and son-in-law; the only difference was giving it early or late.
Before Su Yu could even respond, Himeko, who had been standing at the door without saying a word, finally couldn't hold back.
She raised a hand to cover her face and let out a sigh of utter weariness with life.
"Don't even get me started, Su Yu."
Himeko waved her hand weakly, as if explaining some embarrassing hereditary family disease.
"My old man's just like this. If he looks down on someone, then even if you smashed a Nobel Prize trophy into his face, in his eyes you'd still be a useless good-for-nothing. But once someone catches his fancy..."
Himeko rolled a great big eye-roll.
"...no matter what flaws you have, in his eyes they all get called 'not bothered by trifles,' 'distinctive personality,' 'the mark of great talent.'"
"Ahem!" Having his cover blown by his daughter to his face, Ryusuke's old cheeks flushed red, and he coughed heavily twice, trying to salvage his dignity as an elder.
He put on a stern face and began lecturing his own daughter: "Daughter, now this is where you're in the wrong! I think Little Su is just fine!"
"He's so young, all on his own, leaving his hometown to strive in Arc City; for the dream in his heart, building from scratch, bravely starting a business!"
"What is this? This is called pioneering spirit! This is called fearing no hardship! This is called the very model of today's outstanding young entrepreneur!"
The more Ryusuke spoke, the more worked up he got, as though Su Yu weren't making a game but rather building lithography machines.
A string of lofty, rainbow-colored flattery gushed out of his mouth, leaving Himeko beside him shaking her head over and over, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
"Dad, I actually prefer the unruly, untamed look you had yesterday."
Himeko's words made Murata Ryusuke cough twice somewhat awkwardly.
"Let bygones be bygones. I'm quite fond of a certain saying—when the sun rises, leave all of yesterday behind."
"Dad, I thought you were just messing around. You actually surf the internet now?"
Himeko grumbled wildly in her heart.
When did this old fogey secretly sign up for some success-guru's training course? This set of lines is way too cliché! He definitely wasn't like this back when he chewed people out at board meetings!
Kiana, too, never expected that the old man she'd only just rescued from the gangsters yesterday would today come pestering relentlessly to visit the studio.
Her little face instantly fell, that expression exactly like a cat being forcibly dragged out of its warm bed to clock in for work.
She quickly whipped out her phone, tapped a few times on the screen, and sent Kevin an emergency alert: [That old man's here again! Level-one combat alert!]
After sending the message, Kiana lifted her head, facing Su Yu with a tone full of righteously indignant grievance.
"I'm hungry." She rubbed her flat little belly and protested, "I haven't even had my beef-rice yet."
"Right, right, right! Look at this brain of mine!" Upon hearing this, Ryusuke nodded and bowed at once, his attitude even more attentive than a restaurant waiter. "Man is iron, food is steel! No rush, no rush—let's go have lunch first! We'll go after we eat!"
Saying this, he seemed to recall that yesterday's incident had also happened after eating, and the smile on his face stiffened for a moment.
But the next second, as his gaze swept across Su Yu's calm face and Kiana's pair of impatient heterochromatic eyes—
Ryusuke's spine instantly straightened again.
What am I afraid of? Afraid of jack squat!
Ryusuke thought to himself with sky-soaring bravado.
This "junior martial sister" had caught bullets bare-handed last night, weaving through the hail of gunfire with movements as fluid as if she were taking a stroll.
And his prospective son-in-law had sneaked into the gang's lair all by himself and dismantled a motion-sensor bomb.
At the mere thought that he possessed two such trump cards rivaling nuclear weapons, Ryusuke felt as if the very ground of all of Arc City had shrunk three feet beneath his feet.
What gangs, what political rivals, what business competitors?
All of them were nothing but paper tigers!
Come at me one and I'll beat one, come at me two and I'll beat the pair!
This is the confidence my son-in-law has brought me!
Murata Ryusuke had lived the better part of a lifetime, and for the first time he experienced the exhilarating feeling of basking in his daughter's glory, of a fox borrowing the tiger's might.
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