Night in Arc City — Old District carried a smell that mixed rusting metal with damp mildew.
Su Yu stood before the iron door leading up to the rooftop. Before his hand even touched the handle, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end first.
It was a strange feeling.
Like standing stark naked in a frozen wasteland, pinned by countless unseen eyes.
It was the premonition of death — of being targeted by infrared, locked on by high-frequency sound waves, of having one's trajectory predicted by some kinetic weapon about to go off in the very next second.
"Stop."
Inside his head, Fenghuang's voice turned grave and taut.
"There's something behind that door. Not just infrared proximity mines — the sound of the air currents is off too… There are at least six micro flying units hovering in the blind spots. That girl isn't joking with you — she's actually laid out a killing array."
Fenghuang paused, a trace of worry in her tone.
"Su Yu, why not pull back for now? Your body's been enhanced, sure, but it's still flesh and blood in the end — it can't yet match Kiana's level of physical strength. Facing this kind of saturating high-tech firepower…"
"Pull back?"
Su Yu chuckled softly in his heart.
He didn't retreat. Instead he reached up and straightened the collar the night wind had ruffled — the gesture as composed as if he were attending an elegant dinner party.
"Old Squad Monitor, did you forget? These past few days in the consciousness space, how exactly did that Her Majesty the Queen grind me into the floor?"
"Compared to that soul-piercing kind of agony, this little physical-layer threat…"
Su Yu raised his head, and through the rust-spotted iron door it was as though he could already see the little girl waiting behind it to enjoy the show.
"Isn't this exactly the time to test the results of your special training? Real combat is the best teacher, after all, Exalted Immortal."
In the consciousness space, Fenghuang was stunned.
She looked at Su Yu.
At some point she couldn't pin down, his mentality had already changed.
That calm in the face of unknown danger, that composure that set life and death aside, even that faintly revealed… craving for battle…
That was not the gaze a game producer from a peaceful world ought to have.
It was the gaze of a warrior.
"...I was being narrow-minded."
After a long while, Fenghuang's voice carried a measure of relief, and a sliver of barely perceptible admiration.
"Since you have this resolve — then let me see it. The… instinct you've clawed your way to, scrabbling along the edge of death all this time."
"As you command, Exalted Immortal."
"CLANG—!"
The iron door was kicked open by Su Yu.
The rusted hinges let out a shriek, the door slab slamming heavily against the wall, shaking down a layer of dust onto the floor.
The wind was strong on the rooftop.
The neon lights in the distance dyed the place a hazy, blurred shade of purplish-red.
And atop that enormous water tank in the center of the rooftop sat a petite figure.
Bronie.
She had long since changed back into that signature techwear-style tactical outfit.
Goggles pushed up on her forehead, her gray spiral ponytail whipping wildly in the wind.
She was chewing bubblegum, holding a holographic terminal glowing with blue light, looking down at Su Yu from on high.
That gaze was like watching a little white mouse that had blundered into a trap without knowing whether it would live or die.
"Yo."
Bronie popped a pink bubble — that crisp "pop" rang out especially clear in the wind.
"Three seconds slower than I expected. Looks like your intuition's passable — you knew there was something good behind that door."
Her finger tapped lightly on the terminal.
"Bzzt—"
On the iron door frame behind Su Yu, two micro electromagnetic mines that had been cloaked in stealth flickered into view, blinking with a dangerous red light.
If just now Su Yu had pushed the door open instead of kicking it, he'd probably be sporting an afro by now.
"The surveillance you installed in the bar isn't bad."
Su Yu patted the dust off his trouser leg.
"Clear picture, accurate audio. Looks like I'll have to install a set in my studio too — specifically to guard against little rats like you who love to eavesdrop."
Bronie's eyebrow twitched up.
"Eavesdrop? Ha! That's intelligence gathering!"
She leapt down from the water tank, her movements as light as a cat's.
"Just now in the bar, you sure talked a good game, huh? Wanting me to be your programmer? Wanting me to work for you?"
She walked toward Su Yu step by step, and with every step, a low hum was added to the surrounding air.
That was the sound of drone rotors spinning at high speed.
Six, eight… no, twelve.
Twelve drones, each only palm-sized yet loaded with miniature tranquilizer darts and electric-shock probes, surfaced like a swarm of bloodthirsty hornets from every shadowed corner of the rooftop, surrounding Su Yu on all sides.
"Want to be Hack Bunny's boss?"
Bronie stopped five meters from Su Yu.
She tilted her head, the corner of her mouth curling into an extremely arrogant, extremely provocative wicked grin.
"Fine. Then let me see if you've got the goods."
"Since you're that white-haired brute-strength girl's Senior Brother, and since you can make even that old woman Cioara look at you with new eyes…"
She suddenly threw up her hand, fingertip pointed straight at the tip of Su Yu's nose.
"Then let me see for myself! Just how much you're really worth! Whether you're all just talk!"
Su Yu looked at the blue-glowing drones around him, then looked at Bronie, her face brimming with fighting spirit.
He sighed helplessly and reached up to loosen his tie.
"I knew it… With rebellious teenage girls like you, there's no sitting down and properly discussing salary and benefits. You absolutely have to be talked to with this kind of physical therapy before you'll understand human speech, is that it?"
"Cut the crap!"
The excitement in Bronie's eyes could no longer be suppressed.
"Beat me! As long as you can beat me—"
She licked her lips, that craving for the strong and that fervor for battle making her whole being light up.
"Never mind going back to be your programmer! I'll even put on a maid outfit and serve you tea!"
"You said it."
Su Yu's gaze changed.
The original gentleness, helplessness, and forbearance were all reined in within an instant.
In their place was something tempered through a thousand hammerings, something settled into place after being killed countless times in the consciousness space…
Absolute calm.
He crouched slightly, settling into an opening stance.
It wasn't any flashy posture.
It was the opening stance of the Inch Heart Fist.
Though he still lacked Fu Hua's kind of effortless, born-with-it grandmaster's bearing, that posture — steady as a mountain, yet hiding an edge — already carried a few traces of the spirit of Tai Xu Sword Qi.
The wind suddenly stopped.
Bronie's fingers swept across the holographic terminal in a sudden afterimage.
"Project-BUNNY, Link Start!"
"Now… lie down for me!"
Hmmmm—!!!
The twelve drones simultaneously let out an ear-piercing screech, turning into twelve streaks of light, charging at Su Yu from all directions!
The battle was on the verge of erupting!
…
Su Yu's home, the living room.
The hour hand pointed, neither hurried nor slow, to a quarter past seven.
Kiana was curled up on the sofa hugging her knees, the collar of the oversized white T-shirt she wore slipping down a little, exposing half of a rounded shoulder.
On the TV in front of her some dull variety show was playing, but her gaze kept drifting unsteadily to the front door at the entryway.
After dealing with that Tiger Claw Gang's outlying stronghold, Kiana had headed back home early, and yet today the house felt empty — unbearably cold and deserted.
"Liar."
She muttered under her breath, her fingers unconsciously drawing circles on the back of Chongchong, the heterochromatic kitten.
"He clearly said he'd be back in the afternoon… and now the sky's gone completely dark."
Chongchong gave a discontented "meow," flicked its tail, escaped from beneath her devil's claws, and leapt onto the head of that big pink Homu plushie, looking down from on high at this human radiating an aura of resentment.
"Could he have run into some kind of trouble?"
Kiana rolled over, lying on her stomach on the sofa, her two smooth, slender legs swaying in the air.
If it were before, she might have just charged straight out to find him.
But now, with that concept of "home," she had instead learned to wait.
It was just that this waiting… was a bit of a torment.
"Let me give him a call and ask."
She grabbed her phone, her fingertip hovering over the screen for half a second, then jabbed down hard on that familiar number.
"Beep— beep—"
The dial tone rang three times.
It connected.
"Hello? Su Yu?"
Kiana had just pressed the phone to her ear, and before she could even get out her interrogation, the sound that came through the receiver left her stunned.
"Huff… hah…"
It was an extremely heavy panting, the kind unique to someone after violent exertion.
Su Yu's voice sounded somewhat broken and intermittent, as though the air were being squeezed out of his lungs.
"Wait… a… sec… it's too tight…"
Kiana's brain went "bzzt" — instantly a complete blank.
Too… too tight?
What was too tight?
Before she could even react, another girl's voice came through from the other end of the line.
Crisp, arrogant, and carrying a kind of… excitement that, to Kiana's ears, was extremely suspicious.
"Ha! Caught you! Don't even think about running! Let me see where your limit is!"
"Faster! Harder! Aren't you so capable?!"
"BOOM—"
Kiana felt a mushroom cloud detonate right on the crown of her head.
That voice… sounded a little familiar.
But that didn't matter! What mattered was this conversation! This atmosphere! This panting!
Su Yu hadn't come back for so long… could it be… he'd gone to…
gone to do that kind of thing with another girl… the kind written about in books, the kind only adults can do?!
"S-Su Yu?!"
Kiana's voice was trembling, her cheeks flushing crimson in an instant, the tips of her ears and her neck taking on an alluring rosy tint along with it.
"Wh-where are you?! You sound like… you're really worn out?!"
The panting on the other end calmed a little, and Su Yu's voice came through, carrying a trace of helplessness and… exhaustion?
"It's nothing… just did some… intense… exercise."
"Phew… this little thing… is pretty full of energy…"
Clack.
The phone slipped from Kiana's hand and dropped onto the carpet.
Intense… exercise.
Full of… energy.
Her whole body went like a boiled shrimp as she abruptly buried her head into the sofa cushion.
"Aaaaaah! Su Yu, you big idiot! You big pervert! Shameless!"
She let out muffled shrieks into the cushion, her legs kicking wildly in the air — a storm formed of the mingling of "shame" and "jealousy."
Meanwhile.
Arc City — Old District, the rooftop.
"Beep—"
Su Yu looked at the phone screen that had been hung up on, his face full of bewilderment.
"This girl… why'd she suddenly go silent?"
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and stuffed the phone back into his pocket.
That call really had come at a bad time just now.
He'd been busy dodging the death-strangling net formed by those twelve drones, the air in his lungs about to be wrung dry — what time did he have to explain all that?
"Hey! Where are you looking!"
A delicate, scolding shout cut off his thoughts.
"Getting distracted in the middle of a fight is a fatal mistake! Now… lie down for me!"
"Shoo—!"
A rubber bullet shot straight at the spot between Su Yu's brows with a whistling, air-splitting sound.
Su Yu's gaze instantly turned cold.
He didn't dodge.
In the instant the rubber bullet was about to strike him, he abruptly raised his right hand.
He threw a punch.
"Bang!"
A muffled thud.
That high-speed flying rubber bullet was actually knocked clean away by his fist!
Just like hitting a baseball — precise, violent, and utterly unreasonable.
The rubber bullet traced a bizarre arc through the air, slammed into the water tank to one side, bounced off, and rolled to the ground.
Su Yu shook out his hand, looking at the gray-ponytailed girl hiding behind the drone array.
"Do you want to keep going? Bronie."
He stepped forward, each step landing right on the rhythm-node of the drone rotors' humming.
"Your drones are all loaded with rubber bullets and non-lethal weapons. You should know perfectly well — toys of this level… pose no threat to me."
Bronie stood at the edge of the rooftop, her chest heaving violently.
Her goggles had already gone crooked, a few strands of hair stuck to her forehead with sweat.
She'd lost.
On her home turf, using the drone array she was best at, she hadn't so much as touched the hem of this man's clothes.
Not only had she not touched him, he'd strolled through and dismantled more than half her attack net at his leisure, as though wandering through a back garden.
This sense of defeat, for the proud and prickly "Maze City Hack Bunny," was harder to bear than being killed.
"Stop looking down on people!"
Bronie gritted her teeth, a flash of viciousness streaking through the depths of her eyes.
It was the gaze only a beast driven into a corner would have.
"You think… this is all I've got?"
The next moment.
Her wrist flipped over.
As if by a conjuring trick, two submachine pistols with exaggerated shapes and cold, hard lines appeared in her hands.
The pitch-black muzzles glinted with a cold metallic sheen under the neon lights.
These weren't toys.
These were the real deal.
"Senior Brother."
Bronie raised the twin guns, aiming them dead-on at the spot between Su Yu's brows.
Her voice was no longer flippant, but carried a desperate, all-or-nothing chill.
"In the end, you're nothing more than flesh and blood."
"If I were to use my real skills… all I'd have to do is pull the trigger, and you'd already be dead beneath my guns."
Inside his head, Fenghuang's voice turned sharp.
"Su Yu! Stop!"
"Those are live rounds! Even with an enhanced body, a point-blank shot to the head… not even an immortal could save you! You're not a real Valkyrie, and you don't have Honkai energy — don't risk your life recklessly!"
Su Yu's steps did not stop.
He didn't even blink.
Facing those two muzzles, each enough to take his life, he looked at them as if at two water pistols pointed at him — a faint… smile even surfacing on his face?
"Real skills?"
Su Yu chuckled softly.
He walked toward Bronie step by step.
Five meters.
Three meters.
One meter.
Bronie's hands began to tremble.
Not from recoil, but from fear.
This man… is he not afraid of death?
Shouldn't a normal person, seeing a gun, cover their head and scurry away, or kneel and beg for mercy? Why was he still walking forward? Why was there not the slightest trace of panic in his eyes — but instead, nothing but mockery?
"A-are you insane?!"
Bronie couldn't help retreating a step, her heel knocking against the concrete block at the rooftop's edge.
"Didn't you hear what I'm saying?! I'll shoot! I really will shoot!"
Su Yu walked right up in front of her.
Within arm's reach.
He extended his hand.
Not to snatch the gun, nor to attack.
He gripped the barrel of the gun in Bronie's right hand.
The warmth of his palm conducted through the cold metal.
Then, he made a move that left Bronie, left Fenghuang, left the whole world thinking he'd gone mad.
He slowly, firmly, pressed the muzzle against his own left chest.
Right where the heart is.
"Come on."
Su Yu looked into Bronie's gray pupils, dilated with terror.
He spoke with a smiling squint, his tone as gentle as if coaxing a child to sleep.
"This way you won't miss, right?"
Bronie felt her heart was about to leap out of her throat.
The gun in her hand had become as heavy as a thousand catties.
The trigger was right beneath her fingertip — just a light squeeze…
But why was he still smiling?
Want to give it a try?
Su Yu leaned in a little closer, those black eyes bottomlessly deep, as though they could devour everything.
"Want to make a bet with me?"
He stretched out his other hand, two fingers pinching a gleaming one-yuan coin, and waggled it before Bronie's eyes.
"Let's bet just this one coin."
"The gun fires. I die. You win."
Su Yu's voice was very soft, yet every single word slammed into Bronie's heart like a heavy hammer.
"But I have a rule."
His smile vanished in an instant, replaced by a suffocating killing intent, as though he'd crawled out from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
"And that is — whether the gun fires or not… I will never let off the person who shot at me."
Fenghuang fell silent inside his head.
After a long while, she let out a long sigh, her tone full of that helpless "I don't get it but I'm thoroughly shaken" feeling.
"Where on earth did you learn lines like this… this wave of swagger crashing over me is even more absurd than Kevin back in the day."
Su Yu shot back in his heart:
"From Yan Shuangying, of course! Half-man, half-ghost, number one with a divine gun! This is causality-law-tier swagger!"
In reality.
Bronie looked at this man before her who could still chat and laugh with a gun pointed at his heart.
In that moment, the image of "Senior Brother" in her eyes utterly collapsed, reassembling into an even more terrifying, even more incomprehensible monster.
He wasn't human.
He was a madman.
A gambler a hundred times crazier than her, a hacker who'd knocked about the streets.
"Clang."
The pistol slipped from Bronie's hand, falling to the ground with a crisp clatter.
Her legs gave way, and like a deflated ball, she slumped down onto the floor.
That little face, always wearing arrogance and disdain, was now written all over with defeat and… fear.
"You… win."
Bronie lowered her head, her voice trembling.
"Monster."
Su Yu put away the coin, bent down to pick up the gun from the ground, and offhandedly removed the magazine.
He reached out and gave that head of gray spiral twin-ponytails a hard rub.
"Much obliged for the win, Junior Sister."
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