The afternoon of August 2nd. On the top floor of Arc City Tower, sunlight streamed through the wide floor-to-ceiling windows, slicing bright lines across the office's solid-wood floor.
Lin Zhaoyu walked into the room clutching a thick stack of neatly organized files.
She gently set the topmost background-check report down on the desk.
The office was very quiet, save for the faint whisper of air drifting from the air-conditioning vents.
There was a fatigue beneath Lin Zhaoyu's eyes, worn in from days of overtime, but her expression was unusually strange—carrying even a trace of incomprehensible shock.
"The week-long recruitment fair is over."
Lin Zhaoyu's gaze fell on those name lists, then lifted to look up, her tone still lingering with a hint of disbelief.
"President Su, you told me before to go find Elysia, to have her invite that girl named Pardofelis out for a meal, and then just let her 'point a finger and pick her soldiers'—choosing people at random."
She paused, as if organizing her words.
"Honestly, when I first saw the batch of people she picked out, I felt like I wanted to die. They were all flagged as 'just-fired slackers from big studios,' or graduates with no reputation whatsoever."
A soft "pop" came from the corner.
Bronie had both legs propped up on a corner of the desk, chewing a piece of pink bubblegum. She spun the holographic tablet in her hand around once.
"No kidding. When I first got that list, I honestly thought your System had been hacked by some third-rate script kiddie."
Lin Zhaoyu flipped open that hefty background-check report, the pages rustling as they rubbed together.
"But then Bronie went and dug into these people's backgrounds. Those 'slackers' fired by the big studios? Turns out they got the boot because they refused to take the fall for their supervisors, or refused to plant backdoors in the core code. They were the ones who actually got things done."
"And those unknown graduates—some of them had independently developed wildly creative engine modules during university. They just kept getting cut in interviews because they were reclusive and bad at socializing."
Lin Zhaoyu drew a deep breath.
"At this point, all I have left for Miss Pardo's luck is sheer worship. This isn't recruiting at all—this is literally fishing treasures out of the trash cans of every major company and university."
At that, Lin Zhaoyu stopped her report. Toward that Pardofelis—who spent all day cradling a little cat and always looked like she wanted to swipe some small trinket—she now couldn't help but feel, from the bottom of her heart, a kind of worship for her lucky-koi constitution.
Bronie blew a big bubble and added, her words muffled.
"Also, these people's situation right now is a little... not quite normal. I pulled the studio's access logs and computer usage records from the past few days."
Bronie tapped the tablet a few times, and several data charts projected into midair.
"They seem to treat this place as some kind of... sanctuary, or maybe a holy land? Last night, that Engineer Zhang in charge of physics-engine optimization—I hacked into his computer at three in the morning to look for a file, and found he was still furiously banging out code."
"I messaged him on the internal line telling him to go to sleep, and he actually replied that he'd pour out his heart and soul for the one who recognizes his talent, sparing nothing—the Boss doesn't leave, so he doesn't leave."
"There's also that fresh-graduate art guy—he even asked Finance if they could withhold next month's salary in advance, because he wants to use it to upgrade the rendering server."
"Though, honestly, it's understandable," Bronie said. "A lot of them came to a studio endorsed by Eden with a just-give-it-a-shot mentality. They expected to get screened out, but got picked instead—the psychological effect of that kind of gap is terrifying."
After all, there are only two kinds of people in this world.
One kind: Eden's fans.
The other kind: Eden's obsessed fans.
Lin Zhaoyu rubbed the space between her brows.
"This morning I meant to go check on things in the lounge, and I found three people sleeping right there in sleeping bags, with half-eaten cups of instant noodles sitting on their keyboards. They said..." Lin Zhaoyu imitated the employee's tone.
"'The miHoYo that took us in is the one who recognized our worth. Even if the studio absconds with all the funds tomorrow, we'll still scrape the money together to keep it running.'"
"Then I told them that actually, it's not just Eden endorsing us—even the investor is Eden."
"They immediately burst into tears, and said they wanted to cling to Director Su's leg, going on about, 'I'll make games for you for the rest of my life.'"
After hearing the two of them out, Su Yu nodded quite naturally.
Honestly, he wasn't really surprised by this outcome.
After all, Pardofelis's luck had already become a kind of underlying logic to how the world operated.
His seemingly absurd "point-a-finger-pick-your-soldiers" method was, in truth, an act of absolute trust in this ultimate lucky empress.
Now that he thought about it, solving a huge problem like recruitment with just a single meal—he could only say that he was still too evil, too much of a capitalist.
Just as Su Yu's conscience stirred uneasily, and he wondered whether he should get Pardofelis a few more novel little trinkets—
The System's prompt window popped up in his vision again.
[Ding! Side event detected: "The First Recruitment" has been completed.]
[System now settling...]
[Employee loyalty check complete. Current average loyalty of newly hired employees: S+ (Diehard).]
[Note: Congratulations! You've successfully collected a batch of fanatical workers who see you as the one who recognized their worth. Even if the studio declares bankruptcy tomorrow, they will most likely sell every pot and pan they own to scrape together the money to help you make a comeback.]
[System Snark: I have to say, Host, you really do live in a gravity-well of a world! Not only are the girls around you all this gravity-heavy, even your employees are thinking about 'making games for you for the rest of their lives'! Recommend you watch out for blue-haired characters (like Shigure Kira), or you might trigger the band-breakup hidden CG!]
Shigure Kira, huh? Band-breakup, huh? You're playing girls-band drama here now, huh?
[Bond Link Update: All studio-related "Tarot Cards of Destiny" progress increased. The launch-version Demo game assets for Honkai Impact 3rd have been fully packaged. R&D efficiency +400%. The current playable build can enter the underlying testing phase at any time.]
"Not bad."
Su Yu was very satisfied with this result. The playable DEMO was finished, which meant closed testing could begin at any moment.
"In that case, let's start with a small-scale test here in our own studio first."
The new round of game testing unfolded methodically under Su Yu's direction. He figured it was about time he logged into that livestream account he hadn't touched in over ten days—chatting with that crowd of green-eyed viewers who'd been dying for updates, and, along the way, giving out a few testing slots.
Meanwhile, in the exceptionally well-soundproofed lounge, the situation had taken a rather bizarre turn.
The air conditioning was blasting cold. Sirin sat cross-legged on that wide leather sofa, the blue-and-white Bella Doll cushioned on her knees.
She was bowing her head, staring dead-set at the screen in her hand, the expression on her face as grave as if she were studying some ultimate forbidden spell capable of destroying the world.
Theresa came ambling over holding two cups of juice—one bitter-melon juice, the other sweet-orange juice—swaying as she walked.
As an elder shouldering the heavy responsibility of "investigating this child's origins," she felt it necessary to make good use of break time to properly demonstrate an Auntie's care.
Although lately, because "Kiana" was always glued to Kiana's side, plus her own overload of appearances, her mission of "finding the decisive evidence of Siegfried's infidelity, and caring for her pitiful niece along the way" hadn't made much progress.
But today, the timing was just right.
"Kiana" was resting alone in the lounge, and Su Yu was tied up dealing with work, tangled up by Lin Zhaoyu and Bronie.
It was time for the brave secret agent Teriri to deploy and fiercely gather evidence on that scumbag Siegfried!!
Theresa set the juice on the coffee table and sat down right next to Sirin.
"Kiana~ What are you looking at so intently?"
Theresa leaned her head in close, her tone sweet enough to be cloying.
"Have you been eating well at the studio these past few days? Sleeping okay? If there's anything unpleasant, or if that Su Yu dares to bully you, you absolutely have to tell Auntie! No matter what trouble you run into, Auntie will help you!"
Sirin's gaze shifted away from the phone screen, and she slowly turned her head.
Looking at that face now less than thirty centimeters from her own, Sirin's eyebrows knit together uncontrollably, and a surge of intense irritation and revulsion churned up inside her.
It was this stumpy little wintermelon.
On the snowfields of the Second Eruption, it had been this exact hypocritical face, brimming with so-called "pity."
She still remembered clearly: when she had tried to grind this creature underfoot and take her as a servant, the other had pulled out that broken cross called the "Oath of Judah," and the Zeroth-rated power that erupted from it had nearly sent her straight to oblivion.
If not for the Gem of Serenity holding on for dear life back then, she wouldn't have been left with even a speck of dust.
That capsized experience was like a thorn, jabbed fiercely into Sirin's pride.
And now, this enemy who had once wanted her dead was actually speaking to her in this coddling, baby-talk tone!
If this weren't the real world, if it weren't for the "absolutely no causing trouble" contract she'd made with that stupid human Su Yu, Sirin swore she would have smashed the cup in her hand right into that idiot's dumb face the very first second.
Sirin drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the golden tyranny surging beneath her eyes.
She said nothing, merely turning her gaze back to the screen in her hand.
Seeing her "niece" ignore her, Theresa assumed the little girl was just being shy.
She didn't mind, and taking the opening, leaned her head in even closer, wanting to see what exactly this child was watching so intently.
In the very instant Theresa saw clearly what was on the screen—
"Clatter."
The juice cup she had just picked up, ready to take a sip, slipped straight out of her hand and crashed onto the carpet.
There was no game footage on the screen, nor any anime episode.
On it played a raw, direct bout of two-person "wrestling."
That utterly unconcealed imagery, accompanied by deliberately muffled, lowered sounds, slammed directly into Theresa's retinas.
The most fatal part was that Sirin's expression while watching this kind of video was, incredibly, dead serious!
That gaze, rigorous to the extreme, was just like a top-tier scientist observing cell division under a microscope!
A deafening "buzz" went off in Theresa's head.
"K-K-K-Kiana——!"
She sprang up from the sofa, both hands flailing wildly through the air as if she'd been electrocuted. Her entire face flushed crimson at an exaggerated speed, that blush even spreading all the way up to her pair of ears.
"Wh-what are you watching?!" Theresa stammered. "I-I know you're a girl in the prime of adolescence, and you're surely going to have a teeny bit of curiosity about these things..."
"B-but! But watching this so brazenly right in front of Auntie—no matter how you slice it, that's going way too far, isn't it?!"
Watching this panicking, about-to-self-detonate white-haired shorty in front of her, Sirin's lovely brow arched ever so slightly.
That flustered look, not knowing where to put her hands or feet, instantly reminded her of Su Yu's reaction that night when she'd had him crushed beneath her foot.
Oh?
A flicker of dawning realization crossed Sirin's eyes.
So this was what that guy Su Yu meant by all those so-called "taming techniques"?
It seemed this sort of thing worked not only on that man, but equally well on this stumpy wintermelon who had once nearly killed her.
A twisted delight spread through the bottom of Sirin's heart.
With perfect composure, she pressed the phone's lock button and casually tossed it onto the coffee table.
Sirin's golden eyes narrowed slightly.
She suddenly leaned forward, pressing toward Theresa, not stopping until the tips of their noses were nearly touching.
"What you said just now..." Sirin lowered her voice, the languor and danger belonging to the Herrscher of the Void released without the slightest reservation, "was that you'd help me with anything, right?"
Pressed back by that overwhelming aura, Theresa instinctively retreated half a step and swallowed hard. "Y-yes..."
"Good."
Sirin extended a finger and poked Theresa in the chest, her tone cold and direct.
"Then tell me your insights on this subject."
In Sirin's warped logic, any woman who could weasel her way into Su Yu's studio was surely like that rich lady named Eden—having performed some utterly unspeakable "submission ritual" on Su Yu.
Since this stumpy wintermelon was already this old and still dared to call herself "Auntie," her "technique" and "experience" in this area must surely be far richer than her own.
In that moment, the air all around seemed to freeze completely.
Theresa stood there dumbly.
What was going on?
Her pure, unsullied, ill-fated sweet niece... had actually leaned in front of her and, with a straight face, sought advice on that kind of experience?!
For a "magical girl" whose true age was a mystery, but who had been single since the womb and had barely even held a man's hand, this question was honestly ten thousand times more over-her-head than tanking a Honkai-energy fission bomb head-on!
Theresa's face was red enough to drip water. She sat stiffly on the sofa, fingers digging desperately into the seams of the fabric couch.
The air in the lounge was like a wad of cotton being heated, making even breathing feel scalding.
Insights? What insights? She recognized both of those words separately—so why, combined together, did they become completely unrecognizable?!
Theresa forced her gaze away from the screen still emitting those strange sounds and stared straight at the dessert plate on the coffee table.
"Ahem, Kiana!" Her voice trembled terribly, as if she were being electrocuted. "S-so, learning about this kind of knowledge... what are you planning to do with it?"
"Do I have to answer?" Sirin toyed with the phone in her hand, watching Theresa look about ready to pass out, and tilted her head with a hint of puzzlement.
She didn't find this to be such an unspeakable question.
In that so-called "study material," though the movements of the two people tangled together were a bit ridiculous, watching the submission and pain displayed by the weaker party on the screen, she instinctively felt this was a high-level method of subjugation.
And since it was a method, then naturally one had to consult someone with experience.
"O-of course you do!" Theresa's voice shot up sharply, only to immediately drop guiltily low again as she glanced around like a thief. "You're a girl—suddenly watching this kind of... asking this kind of question—it's really weird!"
Sirin didn't respond, only regarding her with a look that said "you're such a troublesome person."
Looking into those eyes, so clear they held not a single impure trace of lust, Theresa's brain began spinning frantically.
Wait a moment.
Siegfried was an unreliable bastard—that was universally acknowledged fact, especially since there was a female coworker of his who often spread the gossip that Siegfried had been a scumbag in his youth. (Who it was need hardly be said.)
She had speculated before that Kiana was Siegfried's illegitimate daughter, cast out into the world.
He'd dumped this child very early into a place like the Tai Xu Sword Sect, in the Deep Mountains and Old Forests, to train in bitter austerity. This child had barely eaten fried chicken more than a handful of times—her common sense about life was absolutely zero!
In other words, this child had been stuck since childhood with a bunch of wooden blockheads who knew nothing but martial arts. Her common sense about everyday life might be catastrophically lacking!
The more Theresa thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, and the scales in her heart instantly tipped toward pity.
That Eldest Senior Brother Su Yu, though he took care of her meticulously day-to-day, was, after all, a grown man.
He couldn't very well pull an adolescent girl in front of him and, with a straight face, give her a lecture on physiology and health, could he?
What's more, looking at how blockheaded Su Yu was, he was probably only half-baked at this himself.
Maybe he was even the type who, in a relationship, needed the girl to make the first move—only realizing he'd "lost his purity" after being frontally assaulted by a woman. A total dolt.
So Kiana, this child, was just a blank sheet of paper who understood nothing!
She was using this clumsy, even somewhat horrifying method to explore the common sense of this world!
In that instant, the logic formed a perfect closed loop.
The moment she thought of this child, lacking common sense, having no choice but to pitifully dig up all these messy videos and puzzle over them on her own, Theresa's heart softened.
Within the span of a few short seconds, the look in Theresa's eyes as she gazed at Sirin transformed from terror, to sympathy, and finally to a tragic, ready-to-face-death solemnity.
It was the tragic solemnity of "If I don't descend into hell, who will?"
Even though she herself was a womb-born singleton who had lived who-knew-how-many years without ever holding a boy's hand, for the sake of her poor niece's proper values, today she would give this lesson her all, even if it meant throwing away her old dignity!
Theresa drew in a deep, huge breath, her posture as if she were about to hoist a Greatsword weighing dozens of tons.
She leaned in beside Sirin, the flush not yet faded from her face, but a resolve of heroic self-sacrifice shining beneath her eyes.
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