The next morning, the sunlight was like spilled lemonade — sour-sweet and dazzling — splashing across the streets of Arc City.
Su Yu had barely stepped out the door with his briefcase before Kiana poked her head out of the bedroom.
Confirming her keeper had walked far enough away, she swiftly changed into that hoodie-and-cargo-pants combo built for action, slapped a ball cap on her head, and flashed a "yeah!" peace sign at herself in the mirror.
"Vigilante Kiana, moving out!"
It was a young girl's little adventure — and also a secret operation to save up for that absurdly expensive graphics card for Su Yu.
With a "click" of the security door's lock, Unit 302 fell completely silent.
All that remained was a single white cat with mismatched eyes, named Chongchong, crouched on the entryway mat, head tilted, staring at the firmly shut door.
Her tail thumped impatiently against the floor.
The emotion swirling in those odd-colored eyes, if one had to translate it into human language, was probably:
"These stupid two-legged beasts — why are they all running off lately? Is the cat food at home scalding-hot or something?"
She flicked her tail, whiskers twitching twice.
Forget it. The human world was too complicated. A little kitty just had to be in charge of being cute and sleeping — that was enough.
Waiting for the master to come home was the very destiny of being a pet — that's how the textbook put it.
But Chongchong clearly wasn't a cat who stuck to the textbook.
She padded back to the living room with elegant kitty steps, glanced up at the wall clock, and took a moment to register the gradually rising indoor temperature.
Ten o'clock on an early-summer morning, with sunlight streaming directly through the floor-to-ceiling window — for someone wearing a genuine fur coat, things were getting a bit warm.
And then, a shocking scene unfolded.
If Su Yu had been there, his jaw would probably have dislocated.
If Kiana had been there, she might have wondered if she was still half-asleep.
Chongchong lightly leapt onto the coffee table, dodged the Happy Water cans Su Yu had left scattered around, and walked precisely up to the air-conditioner remote.
She raised a pink, plump little paw pad.
Aimed.
"Beep."
The AC vents slowly opened, and cool air came pouring out.
Having accomplished all that, Chongchong gave a satisfied yawn, leapt onto the sofa, kneaded the belly of the giant Homu plushie twice with her paws, then curled up into a white fluffy ball and let out a contented purr.
This whole smooth, flowing routine — if someone had filmed it and uploaded it to the internet as a short video, it would absolutely be dismissed as AI-generated or special effects. It might even attract certain mysterious agencies who'd snatch the cat up for slice-and-dice research.
But then again, she wasn't an ordinary little cat to begin with — she was a kitty who had transcended low-level interests, possessing her own thoughts and contemplations.
Besides — in this household filled with "Quantum Entanglement," a cat who could turn on the AC didn't really seem all that unreasonable, did it?
Cut back to Su Yu's perspective.
The original plan had been to head straight for the Golden Courtyard, and use that meticulously polished piece — "Befall" — to bombard Eden's ears.
But on the way, he received a message from Eden.
[Eden: Su Yu, the weather's nice today. I'm browsing through a record shop on the commercial street. How about we meet up at the milk tea shop nearby? I've been wanting to try that super-popular [Cheesy Peach Peach] anyway.]
Su Yu stared at the message on his screen, and an image formed in his mind — that elegantly mannered Golden Diva, who always held a glass of red wine, now cradling a cup of pink milk tea and sipping at it with little slurps.
This kind of gap-moe... was actually pretty charming.
So he switched lines mid-route, heading straight for Arc City's busiest commercial street.
But when he arrived at the agreed-upon spot, what he saw wasn't Eden leisurely drinking milk tea — it was a wall of people.
Three layers deep on the inside, three more on the outside.
The entrance to that viral milk tea shop was packed solid with no room to breathe. Phone camera flashes were going off like a press conference, screams and chatter rising and falling in waves.
"It's Eden! It's really Eden!"
"Oh my god, Eden in the flesh! She's even prettier than on TV!"
Su Yu's heart sank with a thud.
Bad news.
This mega-star had probably underestimated her own national-level fame — or overestimated the disguising power of one hat.
Through a gap in the crowd, he could vaguely make out a streak of wine red.
Eden was squeezed into a corner. Although she was still struggling to maintain that elegant smile, a hint of panic had already begun to surface in those golden-crystal eyes of hers.
The wide-brimmed hat she'd originally used to conceal her identity was now lying forlornly on the ground several meters away, being trampled under countless feet.
The situation was critical.
At this rate, forget drinking milk tea — Eden was about to be devoured alive by this swarm of fanatical fans.
Su Yu took a deep breath and steadied his breathing.
Those three enhancement injections had brought him not only the soreness in his muscles, but also — at this very moment — the visceral sensation of a heart pumping powerfully and blood surging through his veins like mercury.
"Move aside! Excuse me!"
He didn't bother trying to reason — he just turned himself into a humanoid tank.
Shoulders driving forward, he plowed into the crowd.
The fan wall around him, which had been packed solid as an iron drum, was now being sliced apart in front of him like tofu.
Some tried to shove back in displeasure, only to find they were pushing against an iron plate — instead bouncing themselves backward in a stumble.
Ten seconds.
Like a sharp blade, Su Yu drilled clean through the sea of people and arrived at the eye of the storm.
Eden was helplessly shielding her chest when she suddenly felt a tight grip around her wrist.
Before she could even react, her entire body was already lifted into the air.
"Sorry, Sister Eden, pardon the rudeness."
Su Yu's voice sounded right by her ear.
The next second, the world went spinning.
It was a textbook princess carry.
"?"
Eden let out a small startled cry.
But the moment she got a clear look at the profile so close to her face, her originally tense body relaxed instantly.
She didn't struggle — instead, she obediently extended her arms, wrapped them around Su Yu's neck, and buried her face into his chest to avoid the blinding camera flashes all around.
"Hold on tight!"
Su Yu growled, and the muscles in his thighs erupted with explosive force.
He was carrying an adult, tall woman, yet it felt as if he were holding a ball of cotton.
Launch. Accelerate. Pivot.
Before the crowd could even react, he had already torn out of the encirclement and swept into the maze of side alleys nearby like a gust of wind.
"Wait?! Who was that guy?!"
"Unhand that goddess! Let me handle this!"
The fans behind them let out heart-rending wails, but in the face of Su Yu's speed — comparable to a sprint champion's — they could only choke on his exhaust.
Twist and turn after twist and turn.
Only when the commotion behind him had completely faded, leaving only the faint distant hum of traffic, did Su Yu finally come to a stop at the end of a dead-end alley.
This was an old fire-prevention alley, with towering brick walls on either side and a thin sliver of blue sky overhead.
It was so quiet that only the breathing of two people could be heard.
Su Yu leaned against the wall, his chest still rising and falling slightly.
That "snatch-the-person" operation just now was practically equivalent to running the hundred-meter dash in a subway station at morning rush hour.
But compared to the physical oxygen deprivation, what really made him feel blood-supply-deficient was the weight in his arms.
Eden was wearing an off-shoulder long dress today — a bold design, yet elegant.
The mad sprint had left her hair somewhat tousled. A few strands of wine-red hair clung to the lightly perspiring nape of her neck, trembling gently with her breath.
Even through the fabric, he could feel the astonishing heat radiating from her body.
Her waist was so slender it felt like one hand could span it, yet the beautiful curves of her body were neither too much nor too little — calibrated just right, carrying the distinctive grace and weight that belonged only to a mature woman.
That weight wasn't a burden — it was a kind of... solid, palpable, heart-accelerating presence.
The image was like a red rose blooming in a storm — a beauty that gripped the heart.
"Um... Su Yu?"
Eden's eyes carried a smile as she looked at the man who had suddenly frozen in front of her.
"I don't really mind... but how much longer do you plan to keep holding me?"
Su Yu reacted as if he'd been scalded, hastily setting her down.
But his movements were still gentle, afraid he might bump this superstar of incalculable value.
The moment her heels touched the ground, Eden swayed slightly, reaching out to brace herself against Su Yu's forearm.
Su Yu could feel that it was warm, soft, carrying some kind of pleasant perfume scent — probably the kind of expensive fragrance you could only catch a whiff of on the top floor of a duty-free shop.
He instinctively retreated half a step, his back pressing against the rough brick wall.
But his line of sight had nowhere to go.
Looking up: Eden's eyes, smiling-yet-not-smiling. Looking down... well, that was the most direct illustration of the so-called "golden ratio."
It wasn't just numerical perfection — it was visual violence in the physical sense.
So all he could do was stare at the thin strap on Eden's shoulder, as if some kind of cosmic truth were engraved upon it.
"Pfft."
Eden burst out laughing.
She lifted a hand, covering her lips with the back of it, shoulders trembling slightly.
"Sister Eden, you... what are you laughing at?" Su Yu scratched his nose somewhat awkwardly. "That was so dangerous just now — those fans go feral, they'll eat people alive."
Eden lowered her hand, those eyes curving into beautiful crescent moons.
She took a small step forward, shortening the distance between them.
That expensive perfume scent grew thicker, mingling with the faint warmth of her body, wrapping around Su Yu like a net.
"It's just... I find it rather novel."
She extended a finger, lightly tapping the air right at the tip of Su Yu's nose.
"In the past, whenever you came to the Golden Courtyard, whether facing little Ellie's enthusiastic offensive, or Mobius's intimidation, or even Pardo's coquettish charms... you always wore that same unruffled expression."
"Ellie was even complaining in the group chat — 'Is that guy Su Yu a block of wood? How does he show zero reaction to beautiful girls? Has my charm stopped working?'"
Eden imitated Elysia's tone with uncanny accuracy.
"Back then I also wondered: is this young-looking boy really like some ascetic monk, completely uninterested in such things?"
At this point, Eden paused.
Her gaze softened, carrying a kind of warmth like an older sister watching her little brother finally grow up — mixed with a hint of playfulness belonging to a mature woman.
Warm breath brushed against his earlobe, and Su Yu felt like his scalp was about to explode.
This was no Golden Diva — this was a Golden Elf, plain and simple!
And one of those murder-without-a-trace, maxed-level-grandmaster accounts at that!
"That's... that's professionalism!" Su Yu was still trying to talk tough, attempting to defend the last shred of dignity he had as a reincarnator. "Game developers have to keep our hearts still and our hands steady..."
"Oh really?"
Eden chuckled softly.
She raised a hand, her pale palm pressing gently against the top of Su Yu's head.
The motion was light, gentle — like soothing a startled large cat.
"But now I know."
Her fingers slipped through Su Yu's somewhat messy black hair, fingertips lightly pressing his scalp.
"So Su Yu — you can make this kind of... expression too. A perfectly normal boy's expression."
Eden looked at him, the smile in her eyes like melting honey.
"You get shy, you panic, your heart speeds up." Her hand slid down with his hair, stopping by Su Yu's cheek — not touching, just lightly tracing the contour. "Now I'm reassured. Ellie doesn't have to keep agonizing over whether to switch to a different style to [conquer] you."
Su Yu let out a helpless sigh, completely abandoning resistance.
In front of this woman, trying to play it cool was like brandishing a saber in front of Lord Guan.
"Sister Eden, aren't you treating me a little too much like family?"
He groaned weakly.
"Just now — head-petting, getting this close... I feel like if any of your fanatical fans saw this, tomorrow they'd be fishing my corpse out of the Arc City moat."
"What's there to be afraid of?"
Eden withdrew her hand and stepped back, restoring that elegant, composed stance.
She straightened the hem of her dress, but her eyes still carried a streak of dominance.
"You snatched me — a living person — away right in front of that whole crowd. And only now are you worried about fans?"
She looked at Su Yu, her gaze turning a little playful, her eyes sweeping from his shoulder down his arm, finally settling on the slight contour of his pecs.
"Speaking of which—"
Eden rubbed her chin, like she was appraising a piece of art.
"It's been a while since I last saw you... Su Yu, you seem to have... gotten quite a bit stronger?"
She thought back to the feeling of being scooped up just now.
Steady.
Very steady.
That hardness of arm muscle, that explosive power — it wasn't at all what you'd expect from a gaming shut-in who sat in front of a computer cranking out code every day.
"Carrying a grown person like me, and still able to run that fast — without even being out of breath."
Eden narrowed her eyes.
"Looks like... you secretly went off and did some special training? For—"
Her gaze swept around Su Yu's body, finally returning to his eyes.
"—For the sake of better protecting the girls around you?"
Su Yu's heart skipped a beat.
That was the effect of the enhancement injections the System had given him.
But of course he couldn't just say "I have a cheat."
So all he could do was awkwardly clear his throat a couple of times and shift his gaze to a stray cat rummaging through a trash can at the mouth of the alley.
"Ahem... well, motion capture work, you know how it is."
Su Yu's eyes wandered as he started making things up on the fly.
"How can I get away with poor stamina? Lately I've also been doing morning training with everyone at the Inch Heart Dojo. Senior Brother Ma Feima's training volume... you know what it's like."
"Oh really?"
Eden drew the syllables out, clearly not buying it.
Su Yu coughed twice and hurriedly changed the subject.
"Anyway... Sister Eden, you weren't too scared just now, were you?"
Although that princess carry hundred-meter dash just now had indeed been very cool, for an artist accustomed to elegance and composure, this kind of experience was probably about on par with a roller coaster.
"Scared? Heh heh..."
Eden didn't press the matter further. After all, Su Yu was that kind of person — things he didn't want to say, even putting a knife to his neck wouldn't help.
She lightly smoothed down the wisps of hair by her ear, eyes flowing, lips curving into a playful arc.
"On the contrary... it's been a long time since I felt my heart beating so vividly. This kind of fugitive thrill — even the most expensive red wine couldn't give me that experience."
She paused, her gaze making a circuit of Su Yu's body before finally landing on the slightly loose-fitting black windbreaker he was wearing.
"But if we just walk out like this, I'm afraid we'll be re-staging that life-or-death race before we even reach our destination."
Eden blinked, extending a hand and lightly tapping Su Yu's chest with her fingertip.
"Su Yu, how about you lend me your jacket? Let's... switch up the look?"
Five minutes later.
Su Yu looked at the suddenly-style-shifted "tomboy" in front of him and sank into deep thought.
His black windbreaker, worn on Eden, produced an extremely textbook "boyfriend-style" effect.
The oversized sleeves covered half her hands, leaving only her slender, pale fingertips exposed.
The hem reached the middle of her thighs, which actually made those legs look even longer and straighter by contrast.
She'd casually pinned her long hair up and tucked it into the hood, then pulled out a pair of black-framed plain-lens glasses from her bag and settled them on the bridge of her nose.
In an instant, that radiant-as-the-sun mega-star aura was reined in by more than half — replaced by a kind of... "artsy girl-next-door" vibe.
"How is it? Can you still recognize me?"
Eden did a little spin, apparently quite pleased with her ensemble.
"Recognize, no..." Su Yu commented honestly. "But it feels even more dangerous. If the paparazzi snap us, tomorrow's headline will absolutely be 'Mega-star Eden's Secret Romance Exposed.'"
"Then let them write it."
Eden laughed nonchalantly, then walked up with utter naturalness, extended her arm, and looped it through Su Yu's wrist.
"For the sake of making the act convincing, I'll have to trouble our esteemed producer-sir to cooperate with me a little — play a couple sneaking out for a low-key date, hmm?"
"...Huh?"
Su Yu's body went rigid in an instant.
This wasn't acting — this was a stress-test of a cadre's composure!
In order to evade their fan-search, the two of them were pressed extremely close together.
At this distance, Su Yu could not only clearly smell that premium perfume blending grape, oak barrel, and tipsy aromatics rising from Eden, but the outside of his arm could also unavoidably feel...
That presence belonging to the mistress of the Golden Courtyard.
Su Yu kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, even softening his breathing, terrified that a single deep breath might get him labeled a pervert.
If this scene were ever recognized... or worse, photographed by the paparazzi...
The image was already forming in his mind — tied to a stake by Eden's hundreds of millions of fans, each one taking a knife, dying by a thousand cuts.
"Um... Sister Eden, if your fans recognize this, I'm probably going to be sliced a thousand times, and then my corpse will be strung up at the gates of the Golden Courtyard as a public warning." Su Yu let out a dry laugh, trying to mask his awkwardness with snark.
Eden tilted her head slightly, looking at Su Yu's flustered demeanor, the smile in her eyes deepening.
Here was a superstar standing at the pinnacle of the world, yet at this moment she was like a girl-next-door big sister who had just pulled off a successful prank.
"Oh my, Su Yu, you do get shy?" She deliberately leaned in a little closer, breath like fragrant orchids. "You always look so serious normally — I never expected you to be unexpectedly innocent. That's a very rare sight to see."
She paused, her tone taking on a hint of mischief: "Just consider this your punishment."
"Punishment?" The corner of Su Yu's mouth twitched. "What did I do wrong?"
"Punishment for refusing to ask Ellie for help when you ran into trouble before," Eden said righteously. "Ellie complained to me about it for ages — said you were treating her like an outsider. So I, as her older sister, just had to help her get some payback."
Su Yu let out a helpless sigh.
What kind of punishment was this? This was clearly a reward... no wait, if the paparazzi really did snap a photo, that would indeed be a hell-tier punishment.
"Su Yu, relax a little."
A soft, smiling murmur came from beside his ear, warm breath brushing against his earlobe.
"Your face... is as red as a fully ripe apple."
Su Yu turned his head sideways, and met Eden's smiling eyes directly.
That "watching-you-blush-makes-me-so-happy" brand of mischievous taste was practically identical to Elysia's!
You really do live up to being the head Eleison Bishop, Eden!
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