Chapter 306: Thanks to Dark Seele, Who's Still Being Stubborn, for the Gift!
As soon as Su Mu opened his eyes, he heard a faint clamor.
He sat up and stretched his somewhat stiff body—he was currently backstage at the BW Exhibition in Canghai City. Not long ago, he had remotely connected to a Herta puppet in ARC City to observe the situation at the Honkai Impact 3rd booth from a close distance.
The results of this year's BW Exhibition exceeded Su Mu's expectations. It seemed Carole and the others had indeed put a lot of heart into the preparations. No wonder when he asked Carole earlier, she had patted her chest and guaranteed that everything would be foolproof.
With this, Su Mu could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Later, he planned to check out the Resident Evil booth. He wondered if those curious players would scream at the top of their lungs after trying out the holographic equipment.
Since the venue was crowded and full of prying eyes, Su Mu had handed the Herta puppet over to Asta and logged off. With members of the Herta Space Station on-site, there shouldn't be any issues.
As one of the first test users, Su Mu was well aware of how terrifying the holographic technology from Herta's studio could be. That terrifying sense of immersion, combined with the classic mansion of Resident Evil and the zombies lurking in the shadows, would surely provide the players with an unparalleled audiovisual experience!
But this was just the appetizer. Even in Resident Evil, you at least had firearms. As everyone knows, all fear stems from a lack of firepower... The Outlast series, which he planned to launch in the future, would be the ultimate torment from Su Mu!
Quack! That despicable Old Scoundrel Su Mu must be planning to use horror games to scare the wits out of the players and force them all to become his slaves!
Su Mu stretched his limbs and walked out of the backstage area, only to be startled by the wave of heat that greeted him.
The exhibition site for Genshin Impact was even more popular than he had imagined. Large crowds of players gathered at the booth, all eager to experience this "Anime + Open World" game.
After all, in this world, this kind of mobile game was unprecedented. Players' curiosity has always been strong, and they were naturally very keen to experience this historic new title.
Looking at it from his current perspective, the graphics of Genshin Impact when it was first released in his previous life weren't actually that outstanding.
But at that time, it represented the pinnacle of technical prowess.
Since the technology in this world had leaped far beyond that of his previous life, Su Mu was able to fully recreate the Mondstadt that players had dreamed of.
Mondstadt would no longer be mocked for being just a small town; it was truly sentimental.
In addition to upgrading the graphics and visuals, Su Mu also added many new features, such as various tools to facilitate exploration and running, and optimized character performance.
Currently, the game's development had already reached Liyue Harbor, a speed that would have been unthinkable in his previous life.
However, this test only included the Mondstadt map, though the character roster included the "Standard Five" (with Dehya added to the standard pool later) so that players could experience different combat styles.
High technical power, excellent visual performance, and a magnificent, colorful open world unfolded before the players.
As word spread, within just a few hours of opening, a staggering number of players had already gathered.
"I was originally sad that I couldn't go to the Honkai 3rd booth, but looking at this, it's not a loss at all..."
"Exactly. I have a feeling Genshin Impact is going to be a massive hit!"
"I wonder if the appearance of Genshin Impact can break the Old Scoundrel's monopoly on the mobile game market..."
"My take is that we should put some pressure on the Old Scoundrel. If he dares to torment us players again, believe it or not, we'll all defect to Genshin!"
"Yeah, exactly!"
Many of the players' discussions reached Su Mu's ears, making his expression difficult to maintain.
As you know, sometimes holding back laughter is very hard work.
Good grief, defecting? Defecting from Honkai 3rd to Genshin? After all that wandering, you still haven't escaped my grasp, have you?
This was quite amusing.
For this exhibition, the entire Songque Studio was working around the clock, determined to show their spirit to the players.
However, the sheer number of players clearly left these "newborn calves," who were mostly office-bound shut-ins until recently, feeling light-headed.
Most of them were typical indoor types, and after all this running around, everyone was exhausted.
Fortunately, seeing so many players marveling at the game they helped create, everyone expressed that they could keep going a bit longer.
"Oho, little Songque~ I'm here to help~"
"Lady Thelema! Y-you... why are you here?"
"Haha, since it's an exhibition for my dearest servant's new game, naturally I have to be present."
"I... I'm truly overwhelmed..."
To Su Mu's surprise, Thelema had also come to help manage the booth.
On second thought, it wasn't that strange. Songque Studio had investment from Thelema, so she naturally had to pay some attention to it.
Of course, Su Mu suspected she mostly wanted to see Songque running around in a frantic state, which is why she came...
"Oh~ This must be the famous Director Su? I have to thank you for taking care of little Songque during this time~"
Thelema looked Su Mu up and down with interest, as if she had seen something intriguing. Her amethyst-like eyes flowed with a certain playful radiance.
Truly the second-generation "Herrscher of Pleasure."
Su Mu was also secretly startled. Thelema was dressed like any other normal woman passing by, yet she couldn't hide that dangerous and charming aura. Just by standing there, she piqued one's curiosity, making them want to investigate this dangerous and mysterious woman.
The clothes make the man, but as the saying goes, a bright pearl cannot be hidden by dust.
It was just like Senti. No matter how "suggestive" Senti dressed, nobody would find her suggestive... after all, the "idiot best friend" filter was far too strong; it was impossible to make a move!!
And most importantly, being a "grass idiot" is illegal, you know?
Although Thelema seemed to want to chat more with Su Mu, the scene was far too busy, and she quickly turned to join the hardworking crew of Songque Studio.
Besides Thelema, Fu Xuan and Qingque had also come to help, along with an employee Su Mu hadn't met in person but knew of—Hanya.
Fu Xuan told Su Mu that the proposal he submitted had caused a huge stir within the Luofu Company. The entire company was preparing for the treasure appraisal program... She hadn't seen the whole company work so hard together for a single goal in a long time and was deeply moved.
If he hadn't been so tied up, Jing Yuan would have wanted to treat Su Mu to dinner.
Hearing that Su Mu's studio was announcing a new game and the BW Exhibition was short-staffed, Fu Xuan—who happened to have a bit of free time—caught Qingque trying to sneak off to the parlor and ran into the miserable overtime worker Hanya. So, the trio came to help.
Looking at Hanya, Fu Xuan, and Su Mu, Qingque joked, "Three workaholics together... Songque Studio is set for life!"
One stays up late working every day, one catches people to work overtime every day, and one created clones to work frantically with both hands—with these three "overtimers" together, wouldn't they form some strange bond and create a miracle "Three-in-One Warrior of Light"?
At the same time Su Mu disconnected from the Herta puppet and threw himself into the Genshin Impact exhibition...
The live-stream of Honkai Impact 3rd was still ongoing.
Many players were heatedly discussing whether the recent social cases were related to a Herrscher.
Soon, someone deduced from the eerie opening of The Solo Stage that these incidents were likely connected to the puppets in that strange space.
Elysia raised her own doubt: "Could it be that this Herrscher can turn people into puppets they control, and then use these puppets to cause havoc around the world?"
Kiana scratched her head. "But why would a Herrscher do that? To be honest, these malicious events are a bit too 'small-time' compared to the disasters caused by previous Herrschers, aren't they?"
Bronya nodded in agreement. "Mm... just as Kiana said. Compared to previous Herrschers, this one's methods are indeed too... After all, the previous ones were all spectacular, wanting to destroy the world the moment they appeared."
Kiana was also a bit confused. "Yeah, just looking at the destruction caused, it seems completely incomparable to previous Herrschers..."
"Perhaps... this new Herrscher has other motives..."
Seele spoke up timidly, offering her own analysis.
"The Previous Era also saw the Herrscher of Corruption, who used human civilization to destroy human cities... Regardless, Herrschers are ultimately very dangerous enemies. We must not underestimate them..."
Everyone nodded. Although the Will of Honkai had been tagged as a suspected "mole" by the community, no one knew if it was actually a mole or just a "noob" with poor taste.
And even a "noob" had chosen someone like Sirin, who caused immense destruction. Although "Pufferfish" eventually died due to her own ego, the damage she dealt to humanity was very real!
During their discussion, the screen changed to the Salt Lake Base.
Seeing Seele's cute sleeping face, Dark Seele couldn't resist playing a prank on her, so she placed a caterpillar on Seele's face.
When Seele opened her eyes and saw the caterpillar, her scream echoed through the entire base.
Such a warm and cheerful slice-of-life scene momentarily confused everyone.
Where did this take me?
Is this still the same eerie narrative style from the beginning?
Why are we back to happy daily life now?
Although seeing the girls' daily lives made the players happy, thinking about Old Scoundrel Su Mu's track record, everyone felt that there was definitely a knife hidden behind this!
After waking up, Seele went to read stories to the children in the base and then went to find Einstein.
However, Einstein and Tesla were secretly whispering about something.
It turned out that not long ago, a mecha from Anti-Entropy had malfunctioned. During a live-stream, it rushed onto the podium and started cursing out the leaders.
This inexplicable turn of events left the public very confused about Anti-Entropy's behavior, and Tesla was also bewildered—what exactly was going on?
After Einstein finally saw Tesla off, she told Seele the reason she was looking for her.
Anti-Entropy was going to host a party for its 60th anniversary, and Tesla was in charge of procurement.
But with this incident, Tesla had no time.
So Einstein hoped Seele could take over the job.
Seele readily agreed; after all, she had always wanted to use her own strength to help everyone.
This slice-of-life segment gave players a long-lost feeling. After all, since St. Freya Academy, the plot of Honkai Impact 3rd had been a series of non-stop climaxes... now it had slowed down.
However, since everyone already understood Old Scoundrel Su Mu's habits, they knew he would never abruptly write a long segment of daily life unrelated to the main plot.
Clearly, the sudden rampage of the Anti-Entropy mecha and the cursing of leaders mentioned by Einstein and Tesla seemed related to the previous series of malicious social events.
Soon after accepting Einstein's task, Seele found Bronya to perform today's physical training.
Her previous experiences made Seele want to become stronger. That way, she could help Bronya and everyone around her.
So she worked especially hard during training.
While Seele was training, Dark Seele kept talking to her.
["What's this? This is the 'maximum intensity'? Just a bunch of scrap metal? I could crush them with one hand."]
["These are just training-specific models, that's why they're so battered."]
["If you sincerely come and beg me, I wouldn't mind fighting in your place, you know?"]
["Then the training would lose its meaning."]
["Hah? Who are you trying to impress? Let's see how long you can keep being so stubborn!"]
Although Dark Seele's words sounded heartless, everyone could tell this was a classic "tsundere" in action.
["Thanks to 'Still Being Stubborn' for the Gift!"]
[LMAO, is Dark Seele still being stubborn? She clearly cares so much; she's a total Seele-con!]
[Seriously, why do I feel like these consciousnesses born from the Honkai all have 'sharp tongues'? Look at the Herrscher of Sentience, Sirin, Dark Seele... every one of them is so good at trash-talking!]
[It's true! Even though Sirin never went to school, once she woke up inside Kiana, she had a whole set of snappy lines ready!]
[I get it now. Will of Honkai = 3 years of mock exams, 5 years of college prep, right? As long as you link to the Will of Honkai, you automatically transform into a Trash-Talk King, right?]
[Trash-Talk King? My Ice Kallen objects!]
[Well, then you tell me if the Ice Kallen and the City Lord in the Yae Kasumi timeline were split because of the Honkai? Do you like my 'Hungry Ghost Realm,' kid?]
Everyone burst into laughter at Dark Seele's classic stubborn-but-soft-hearted tsundere image.
No one forgot who was so heartbroken they almost cried when they saw Seele in despair in the Sea of Quanta.
Truly, you shouldn't look at what a person says, but what they do!
END OF CHAPTER
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