Chapter 172: Herta: Nice Photoshop
After Belobog connected to the Star Rail, its first order of business was to join the Interastral Peace Corporation's network. With the IPC's assistance, full network coverage was quickly established across the planet, and personal terminals soon found their way into every household.
As the city's celebrated "Deliverer," Leon's account naturally garnered the attention of the entire populace., since everyone was now playing the game he had released, Honkai: Star Rail, they had learned that Stelle and Caelus—the heroes who had accompanied him—actually hailed from the Herta Space Station.
This particular revelation left Pela caught somewhere between laughter and tears. From a certain point of view, it meant that Stelle and Caelus calling her "Big Sister Pela" wasn't technically wrong...
Of course, that wasn't the most pressing matter at hand. The point was the voice message that had just arrived from Bronya.
Leon tapped it open.
"Daddy..."
A soft, gentle, and impossibly shy voice drifted from the receiver.
'Wait, wait, Bronya, you actually sent it?' Leon thought, his mind reeling for a moment.
The phrase "call me daddy" had been a joke, a provocative comeback he'd prepared for Herta. It was his standard reply whenever she pestered him to test the Simulated Universe, a playful escalation of his usual "beg me."
Who could have possibly predicted he'd send it to the wrong person? And that she would actually take it seriously?
More … Bronya had actually said it.
'This is insane,'he mused.'I never took you for this kind of person, Bronya.'
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a message from Seele popped up. Were the two of them together right now? Was Bronya blushing?
A flicker of amusement stirred in Leon's heart. His gaze seemed to transcend space itself, drifting down toward the distant world of Belobog.
In her office, Bronya stood with her back to the massive floor-to-ceiling window, her hands braced against the sill. Her cheeks were flushed a deep crimson, and though her eyes darted about nervously, a dazed, almost giddy smile lingered on her lips.
'What should I do... What on earth did I just do?'she panicked internally.'How did I really send that...? Will Mr. Zixuan think I'm too frivolous?'
Her heart was a maelstrom of turmoil, her finger unconsciously scratching at the cool stone of the windowsill.
Beside her, Seele stood with her arms crossed, a slight frown creasing her brow as she sized Bronya up with suspicion. 'What's gotten into Bronya? Why is her face so red?'
A new message appeared on Leon's screen.
[Seele: What did you say to Bronya? Why did she suddenly turn so red it looks like she's about to catch fire?]
Leon rubbed the bridge of his nose and typed out a reply to Seele first.
[Leon: Nothing, I just sent her a message by mistake.]
Seele's side was easy enough to handle, but Bronya's… that was a bit tricky. Should he just come clean and tell her he'd sent it to the wrong person? Before she had sent the voice message, that would have been fine. But now that she had, and the message couldn't be recalled, explaining it away would feel like a deliberate attempt to distance himself. Bronya would be mortified, utterly humiliated. The dynamic between them could become incredibly awkward.
But if he didn't explain… that didn't feel right either. He could already feel his reputation taking another hit, painting him as some kind of scoundrel who toyed with people's feelings.
While Leon was weighing his options, a notification from Herta popped up, demanding his attention.
[Herta: If you do this, won't Ruan Mei be angry?]
[Leon:???]
Stunned, Leon scrolled back through his chat history. Ah. It turned out the message "Come here, I miss you," which had been intended for Ruan Mei, had been mistakenly sent to Herta.
[Leon: Too many messages. I sent it to the wrong person. That was originally for Ruan Mei.]
He admitted it frankly, seeing no reason to lie.
[Herta: Oh, really? Then I'll send the screenshot to Ruan Mei. You don't mind, right?]
She clearly didn't believe him. With Leon's reaction speed and intellect, how could he possibly make such a low-level mistake?
Under normal circumstances, he certainly wouldn't.
So… it had to be Aha's doing.
Leon lifted his head, his eyes landing on the Aeon of Elation, who was gleefully playing cards not far away. As if sensing his gaze, Aha paused while drawing a card, looked up at the leaves of the Ambrosial Arbor at a perfect forty-five-degree angle, and began whistling a horribly out-of-tune melody.
Phew...
Leon raised his phone and snapped a photo of the card table. In the frame, four Aeons sat around a table, deep in a game. Off to the side, Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance, was placing bets. Of course, what Leon captured wasn't their mortal disguises, but their true, cosmic forms.
He sent the photo to Herta.
[Leon: Go ahead and send it. Ruan Mei will understand.]
[Leon: Besides, I know what caused it now.]
[Image.jpg]
Herta clicked on the image and fell silent for two seconds.
[Herta:?]
[Herta:??]
[Herta:?????????]
She was certain she had misread the situation. Four Aeons gathered together playing cards, with Fuli placing bets on the side? What kind of abstract, nonsensical composition was this?
Herta's mouth twitched. This… this absolutely fit her impression of Leon.
[Herta: Nice Photoshop.]
[Leon: Can't you tell for yourself if it's Photoshopped? Funny.jpg]
Leon had no intention of getting drawn into a pointless cycle of self-justification.
Seeing his dismissive reply, Herta was so amused she was almost angry. This image didn't even need to be checked; it was definitely Photoshopped.
However, a competitive spark ignited within her. She decided to deconstruct the doctored image and throw the proof right back in Leon's face.
She ran it through a series of her most advanced detection tools… and paused.
'Huh? Why are there no traces of digital alteration at all?'
A large, shimmering question mark slowly materialized above her puppet's head. As a bona fide genius, deconstructing a simple photograph should have been an insultingly easy task. Yet, after running it through multiple diagnostic programs, she found no evidence that the photo had been doctored in any way.
The problem was, if it wasn't Photoshopped…
How was that possible?
It was one thing for Aha to be playing cards; that was entirely within character. But how could Nous, the Aeon of Erudition, and the Amber Lord possibly be convinced to join such a frivolous game? Not to mention that the fourth player at the table was Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction himself.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Unaware that Herta was spiraling into a vortex of self-doubt, Leon saw another message from Seele pop up.
[Seele: What did you send by mistake? I feel like after Bronya saw your message, she's been completely out of it.]
Leon sighed. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to just tell Bronya the truth.
[Leon: Actually... I sent that to the wrong person.]
On the other side of the galaxy, Bronya had been trapped in a daze of anxious anticipation ever since sending the voice message.
'Why hasn't Mr. Zixuan replied yet...? Does he think I'm...' The deep flush on her face had just begun to fade when she saw Leon's latest message.
Sent to the wrong person?
In an instant, her cheeks exploded into a shade of crimson so deep it was almost painful.
'It's over.'
Leon had sent his message by mistake, but her voice message… that was sent very, very deliberately.
At that moment, Bronya wished she could dig a hole in the ground and bury herself on the spot. A tidal wave of awkwardness washed over her, and her toes curled involuntarily inside her boots, clenching so hard she felt she could dig out a new Qlipoth Fort from the bedrock.
'This is too embarrassing... Will Mr. Zixuan think I'm a very easy person?'
Her eyes grew hot, and she was on the verge of tears.
Just then, Leon's next message appeared on her screen.
[Leon: But... your voice sounds quite nice.]
[Leon: I like it a lot.]
Bronya's head spun, and she felt her knees go weak. She was about to keel over.
Leon's words had just delivered the final, devastating blow.
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