The next morning.
Mei's lashes trembled as she slowly opened her sleepy eyes. She was just about to cover her mouth for a yawn and stretch when she felt an itch at her chest. Looking down, she realized that last night she'd fallen asleep in Su Ming's arms—yet now he'd burrowed against her, resting there as if it were the most natural place in the world.
Mei smiled and gently stroked his back.
His chest was still firm, his posture still straight; but at this moment he clung to her warmth, the hard lines of his face softened into quiet peace.
Like a child, really.
Mei lowered her head, pressed her cheek lightly to his forehead, and closed her eyes again—listening to his steady breathing, sharing a rare slice of calm with him in the morning light.
"Mm…"
Su Ming, a bit more sensitive than usual, mumbled awake and sniffed.
Huh… what is that?
The warm, milky scent short-circuited his still-booting brain. He opened his eyes—and all he saw was a sweep of pale skin.
First thing in the morning and I get this kind of "welcome"? My wife is treating me too well.
He nuzzled closer and stole an affectionate kiss, only to earn a flustered, annoyed smack to the waist.
She'd really thought he'd behave, considering how long they'd been up the night before—and yet he still wasn't honest the moment he woke.
Mei instinctively touched her lower abdomen, a lingering soreness reminding her of last night's overenthusiastic "effort." She wanted to twist his ear—or at least pinch him hard enough to settle the score—but her gentleness won out and she let her hand fall.
"You're awake? Then I'll go make breakfast. There's still business at the company today."
"Thanks, honey."
Su Ming stayed sprawled in bed, answering lazily.
What can I say? This is the blissful life of a man with a good wife—wake up pampered, then lie here while she cooks.
Mei didn't mind his sluggishness at all and headed into the bathroom. Even she felt a bit worn out; Su Ming had clearly put in plenty of work last night.
Of course, it wasn't his stamina that was the real issue. With an unmistakable 18 in stamina sitting on his status panel, physical fatigue wasn't the limiting factor. The problem was mental drain.
Last night's dungeon run had cost him 7.5 Spirit. He'd come dangerously close to being auto-ejected by the system. The worst was the final sequence—when the Titan's three-hit combo had flattened "Su Ming-chan," maxing out the pain meter and dropping 2 Spirit in one go. The accumulated pain and fatigue were what left him feeling hollow now.
Lesson learned. From now on, no more reckless runs. Grind the basic enemies first—become the "ten-mile slope sword saint"—then talk.
He opened the system and found a message he wasn't expecting.
[Daily Quest: Perform one "Heroic Route / Sleazy Route" action on the heroine (Completed)]
[Quest Review: Sharing a tranquil morning with the heroine is wonderful / Degenerate—sees something pretty and immediately pounces]
[Reward: +30 Heroic Points, +30 Sleazy Points]
That system is slandering me again.
Su Ming, who'd been lounging like a king a second ago, sat bolt upright out of sheer indignation.
"Let me ask you something: me kissing my wife—how is that your business?"
[System Scan: Raiden Mei's affection for the player is 40. Please refrain from self-delusion.]
Sigh. Typical. A daily, soulless NPC system.
Since he'd been thoroughly awakened by rage, Su Ming got up and washed up.
"Then answer this: what's Mei's Bond Quest Two?"
He was genuinely curious. Was there really something about Mei he hadn't already dealt with?
[Raiden Mei — Bond Quest 2: Though your relationship has grown closer since the last incident, Raiden Mei seems to be hiding a small secret. To understand her better, you decide to investigate ME Corp and the Anti-Entropy connections behind it…]
A secret? What secret could Mei still have from me? Her being a Herrscher? That should complete the quest instantly…
Muttering to himself, Su Ming finished washing up and walked into the kitchen.
Mei had just finished breakfast. He helped carry it to the table.
"Honey—do you know what relationship the company has with Anti-Entropy?"
After a bite of her cooking, he got straight to it.
No way was he starting an investigation from scratch. Even if he couldn't directly ask Mei what she was hiding, the system's "entry point" was fair game.
"Mm… the Anti-Entropy Commercial Alliance?" Mei set down her chopsticks and thought. "Officially, ME Corp has no relationship. But I've heard my father holds a small amount of Anti-Entropy stock, and Mr. Welt was once his superior."
That much did match recorded history.
So Mei didn't know any more than he did. Su Ming stopped pressing and focused on eating, deciding to ask his father-in-law directly at the office. They were family now, and the company would be his soon enough—what secret couldn't be asked?
"Your cooking is amazing."
"Flatterer," Mei said, but the smile at the corner of her mouth gave her away.
…
A ten-minute drive later, they arrived at ME Corp headquarters. As Su Ming's gaze swept past the ground floor of the building to the right, he shivered.
"Honey, you go to your office first. I'll check on production."
He still had a bit of psychological shadow from the dungeon version of ME Corp.
After a quick round, he confirmed it: the real-world ME Corp looked nothing like the dungeon's layout.
"Looks like I can't map real ME Corp directly onto the instance. I'll find a map of Nagazora City later—traffic routes may differ without Honkai energy, but the general geography should still help."
He remembered the instance's clear condition: defeat the Third Herrscher.
Which meant: fight his way from ME Corp all the way to Chiba Academy.
If his starting stamina hadn't been high, he'd have suspected the system was deliberately setting him up.
Back in his office, he found someone already waiting.
"Oh? Kevin? When did you get here? Where are Elysia and the others?"
"Just arrived. Elysia went to see Miss Raiden. Vill-V is in the tech division looking up information."
The white-haired man smiled like an old friend.
"Come on, I'll make you some tea."
Su Ming rummaged around and found the Shenzhou tea his father-in-law had gifted him.
Whether in a game or in this world, he genuinely treated this man as a friend.
"No need. Vill-V should be fast. We'll probably leave soon. She was the only one scheduled to come—Elysia insisted on seeing Miss Raiden, so I came along."
Kevin, Head of Security for the World Serpent Group, said it plainly.
World Serpent Group—formally entering the stage.
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