"You... you people..." Theresa felt as if her brain circuits were being torn apart by a swarm of frenzied Paramecium.
She raised a trembling finger, pointing back and forth between the three of them, her voice shaking.
"What exactly do you people mean by this? What kind of riddle are you all playing at? Three people, one single question, and somehow you managed to give three completely contradictory answers. Are you rehearsing some new comedy sketch together, or are you trying to play some idiotic guessing game with me?!"
Theresa's chest heaved violently.
But once her anger passed, the headmistress of St. Freya Academy's intellect finally reclaimed the high ground.
Her sharp eyes swept across the three faces before her, and within seconds, a logically airtight narrative framework had assembled itself in her mind. She understood now. She understood everything.
If that bastard Siegfried had dared to openly admit, right in front of Cecilia, that Kiana was his illegitimate daughter, that could only mean it was an ironclad fact — he didn't even have the nerve to deny it.
And as for Cecilia.
Theresa looked at her friend on the hospital bed, a deep ache of sympathy flashing in her eyes.
Cecilia was clearly forcing herself to endure this, shielding Siegfried — a husband who apparently didn't know the meaning of fidelity. To spare Siegfried the humiliation of facing her, to preserve the laughable dignity of House Kaslana, Cecilia was actually willing to forcibly claim this illegitimate daughter who'd sprung out of nowhere as her own biological child.
As for Kiana.
Theresa turned to look at the uneasy, fidgeting white-haired girl.
This child, who had suffered so much since childhood, had flinched and shrunk back the moment she saw her own biological father about to face Theresa's wrath. She clearly didn't want this irresponsible deadbeat father to get beaten, so she'd gone along with Cecilia's excuse, blurting out that absurd claim without even a passing regard for basic genetics.
"You people..." Theresa's voice cracked with the beginning of tears.
Cecilia, Kiana — how could the two of you be so kind, so selfless? To shield a lying scumbag like this, you'd actually humiliate yourselves fabricating an excuse full of holes.
"That's enough. No more talking."
Theresa slashed her hand through the air, cutting off the suffocating silence in the hospital room.
Her eyes were rimmed red, and she glared down at Siegfried on the floor, teeth gritted.
"I understand everything now. You don't need to say another word — I understand exactly what's in all your hearts!"
Siegfried lay on the floor, utterly baffled.
Cecilia sat on the edge of the bed, staring at Theresa, at a complete loss.
Kiana stood rooted in place, hands fumbling uselessly.
Su Yu leaned against the windowsill, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
And just what exactly do you understand, Ms. Theresa?
"Siegfried, you scumbag!"
Theresa spun around and snatched up the metal-legged attendant's chair beside her.
Terrifying strength erupted from her petite frame as she hoisted the chair high above her head.
"Even if Cecilia and Kiana are soft-hearted enough to shield you, I will absolutely not let you off the hook today! I'm going to deliver justice on heaven's behalf and smash that face of yours — the one that's only good for deceiving women — into pieces!"
Theresa raised the chair high and, roaring, brought it crashing down toward Siegfried's head.
"Whoa, hold on! Shorty, you're actually serious?!"
Siegfried watched the metal chair leg come whistling down and, in his terror, completely forgot about his aching back as he scrambled and rolled out of the way.
The chair slammed down hard on the floor with a deafening, ear-splitting crash, and several marble floor tiles shattered instantly.
"Theresa, calm down!" Cecilia leapt off the bed in a panic, rushing to pull Theresa back.
"Auntie, please, listen to us explain — it really isn't what you think—"
Kiana scrambled to hold her back too, equally frantic.
Just as the scene was about to spiral into an irreversible bloodbath, and Su Yu was bracing himself to physically wrestle the chair away from her—
Three knocks, calm and rhythmic, sounded on the hospital room door that had only just been shut.
Knock, knock, knock.
Then the door swung open.
Bronie sauntered in, hands tucked into her pockets, unhurried.
"Yo, Boss." Without even glancing at the wreckage on the floor, Bronie lifted her chin in a casual greeting straight at Su Yu.
Her face wore an expression of world-weary exasperation, as if to say: Boss, you really owe me a full kowtow of gratitude for saving your life.
Theresa's chair froze in midair.
She turned to look at this unexpected intruder, her brows furrowing deeply.
"Bronie, why are you here?"
Theresa eyed Bronie warily.
Bronie ignored Theresa's question entirely, ambling over and gently pressing down the chair Theresa still held raised.
"If I hadn't shown up, I'm pretty sure there'd actually be a homicide in this hospital room right now."
Bronie chewed her gum, her tone perfectly flat, without a ripple of emotion.
She looked at Theresa's still-furious face and shook her head.
"Theresa, I heard that whole passionate deduction of yours from out in the hallway." Bronie pointed at the sweat-drenched Siegfried on the floor. "You suspect he's lying, and that Ms. Cecilia is covering for him. Since the three of you can't convince one another, have you forgotten what Kevin said backstage at that press conference a few days ago?"
Theresa froze for a moment.
Bronie walked to the bedside, picked up an apple from the cabinet, and tossed it lightly in her hand.
"Since both Ms. Cecilia and Mr. Siegfried, the two parties involved, are right here at the scene, isn't this problem incredibly simple to resolve? No arguing, no more tear-jerking stories."
Bronie turned around, her gaze sweeping across everyone present.
"Just head straight downstairs to this hospital's testing lab, draw blood on the spot, and get an emergency paternity test done. Illegitimate daughter, or biological daughter — whoever's lying, whoever's covering for whom — once the black-and-white data comes back, won't the truth just reveal itself?"
At those words.
The chair slipped from Theresa's hands and clattered to the floor.
That's right.
With how advanced modern medicine was, why were they still standing here arguing back and forth?
"Fine." Theresa fixed Siegfried with a deadly stare. "We'll do the paternity test! And if the results prove you've been lying to me, Siegfried, I promise you will not be walking out of this hospital today!"
Forty-five minutes later.
In the hallway outside the testing center of Arc City First People's Hospital.
The lighting here was even brighter than in the hospital room.
The corridor stood empty, save for this odd group waiting anxiously.
Theresa sat on the row of benches in the hallway, gripping Cecilia's hand tightly.
"Cecilia, don't be scared." Theresa held onto Cecilia's hand, murmuring comfort over and over. "No matter what the results say, I'll be right here backing you up! Even if it turns out that child really is his love-child from some affair, I'll personally beat him black and blue for you to get your revenge!"
Watching Theresa's earnest, fiercely protective expression, Cecilia felt a warm rush flood through her chest — while simultaneously feeling an unbearable headache coming on.
There was nothing she could say right now. All she could do was grit her teeth and nod along.
At the other end of the hallway.
Siegfried lay face-down on a waiting sofa.
Su Yu stood beside him, and using the acupoints he could see with his Eye of Deconstruction active, precisely inserted qi needles into several key points along Siegfried's lower back.
As the qi needles worked, Siegfried let out a few low, satisfied groans.
"Hey, kid, who taught you this trick? Damn, it's incredible." Siegfried tried to twist his head around to look at Su Yu. "With my old injury flaring up today on top of everything else, I figured I'd be bedridden for half a month. But after you fiddled around with me for a few minutes, I feel like I could get up right now and run five kilometers."
"Just stay face-down for now, old man," Su Yu said, pulling out the last qi needle. "Being able to move is one thing. Once the results come back, if you still want to walk out of this hospital in one piece, you'd better pray you've got some stamina left in reserve."
The muscles in Siegfried's face twitched a few times.
He glanced over at Theresa, still comforting his wife, let out a heavy sigh, and simply buried his face in the pillow, the picture of a man too far gone to care anymore.
The door at the end of the hallway swung open.
A young doctor on duty walked out, holding two sealed report folders.
Theresa shot up like a startled rabbit, closing the distance in a few quick strides and snatching both reports right out of the doctor's hands.
Every eye in the corridor fixed on what Theresa held.
They were two urgent one-to-one comparison results. One was for Siegfried and Kiana. The other was for Cecilia and Kiana.
Theresa took a deep breath.
The very air in the hallway seemed to grow taut with tension.
She opened the top report first — the one for Siegfried and Kiana.
[Confirmed biological parent-child relationship (father-daughter)]
Theresa clenched her jaw.
That earlier, unreliable hair-follicle test might have been wrong, but with everyone here in person, blood drawn and tested on the spot — there was no room for error now.
So this man really did have a daughter from some affair out there.
Theresa flipped the report shut carelessly and clutched it in her fist.
Next, all she had to do was open Cecilia's report. As long as it confirmed no blood relation, then the lie Cecilia and Kiana had woven about a biological daughter would collapse instantly. Then she could rightfully make Siegfried pay for what he'd done.
Theresa's fingers trembled slightly as she opened the second report.
She skipped past the comparison figures at the front and flipped straight to the last page.
Her eyes landed on the conclusion.
Black text on white background. Crystal clear.
[Confirmed biological parent-child relationship (mother-daughter)]
Theresa's eyes fixed on those two lines, her pupils losing focus.
"Y-y-y-you, you, you..."
Theresa felt her tongue go numb, and the sound that came out of her was like a bellows with a cracked reed.
"I-I-I-I-I..."
She stumbled back two steps.
"She, she, she, she, she..."
She raised a shaking finger, pointing first at Cecilia sitting on the bench, then at Siegfried lying face-down on the sofa.
"What in the world is going on here?!"
Theresa let out the second roar of the day.
"Siegfried, tell me — didn't you swear up and down that Kiana was your love-child from some affair? Then why do these two reports say she's your and Cecilia's own biological daughter?!"
Siegfried buried his face deeper into the pillow, playing dead.
Theresa turned to Cecilia, her voice carrying a note of barely-contained hurt.
"Cecilia! You and Siegfried have a daughter this grown already, and you kept it from me all this time? What kind of person do you take me for?!"
Cecilia opened her mouth to explain, but looking at Theresa's expression — like she was about to burst into tears — she genuinely didn't know where to begin.
Finally, Theresa turned to look at Kiana, standing in the corner.
"And you, Kiana." Theresa's eyes had gone fully red. "When you said back in the hospital room that you were Siegfried and Cecilia's own biological daughter — you were telling the truth this whole time! You knew who you really were from the start, so why did you go along with them and lie to me? Why didn't you tell me the truth sooner?!"
Theresa was both furious and hurt.
Tears finally spilled down her cheeks.
Just how long had this group been keeping her in the dark?
She'd charged into this like a righteous warrior, fighting for her friend, trying to win justice for that poor illegitimate daughter — running around, racking her brain, doing everything she could.
And in the end, she'd discovered there was no lying scumbag, no illegitimate daughter at all. They were a real family, all along!
In this whole absurd farce, was she the only one who'd been running around like a clueless fool — worrying, raging, feeling wronged and heartbroken over nothing?!
Watching Theresa crouch on the floor wiping away her tears.
None of the people present felt good about this.
But there was simply no way to explain the whole parallel-world business.
"Actually, Ms. Theresa."
Bronie strolled over from the corner, the first to speak.
As she passed by Su Yu, she gave everyone present a confident look — one whose meaning was unmistakable.
Don't panic. Leave the cleanup to me, your one and only Hack Bunny.
Within Anti-Entropy, with Old Yang currently absent, the smartest and most emotionally savvy mountain had officially logged on.
"If you insist on tracking down the full story behind this," Bronie planted herself in front of Theresa, her tone turning grave, "the explanation gets very complicated. But bottom line — hiding this truly was not Mr. Siegfried's or Ms. Cecilia's fault."
Theresa looked up, her reddened eyes fixed on the gray-haired girl.
"Don't you dare make excuses for them. The child's already this old — how could the parents possibly not know?"
"Actually," Bronie sighed, as if recounting some long-buried piece of history, "Siegfried and Cecilia themselves only recently learned that Kiana — this daughter of theirs — was even alive. This whole thing, from start to finish, is honestly a complete tragedy..."
Bronie cleared her throat and launched into a vivid retelling of the year's "suffering."
"The truth is, back then, Siegfried and Cecilia actually had twins."
Bronie dropped her first bombshell.
This utterly outrageous claim made Theresa, who'd still been crying moments ago, snap her eyes wide open.
"Bronie, do you — do you even hear the nonsense you're spouting right now?" Theresa pointed at her. "I was right outside the delivery room when Cecilia gave birth! How could it possibly have been twins?!"
"Don't cut me off, Ms. Theresa." Bronie's tone stayed perfectly level, without a single crack. "Because the truth is often buried in the deepest, darkest places — not long ago, through certain... special methods, I hacked into Schicksal Foundation's most classified bottom-tier database. There, in Archbishop Otto's private encrypted files, I finally found the entire truth of what happened back then."
Bronie paused.
"Back then, that pair of twins — one of whom was Kiana — was born with an extremely rare and fatal congenital genetic defect the moment she came into this world."
"The doctors even declared she wouldn't survive twenty-four hours."
"And at the time, your grandfather, Otto Apocalypse, as the highest authority in Schicksal, decided to hide the truth — to spare Siegfried and Cecilia, who had already exhausted themselves with Kevin's birth, from the unbearable grief of losing a child."
Theresa froze.
"Otto never told those two grief-stricken parents that Kiana existed at all, and he sealed away every medical record." Bronie continued weaving her script. "But Archbishop Otto never gave up on that tiny, fragile life. He mobilized Schicksal's most cutting-edge technology and placed the newborn girl into ultra-low-temperature cryogenic suspension."
"He searched the entire world, relentlessly, for a way to cure that genetic defect."
The only sound in the corridor was Bronie's low, steady narration.
"Time passed, day after day, and years later, Schicksal's biological technology finally achieved a breakthrough."
"Bishop Otto finally found a treatment method for that impossible problem, and successfully woke and cured the Kiana sleeping in that cryogenic pod."
Bronie glanced over at Kiana, standing off to the side.
"So this is why Kiana's actual biological age should, technically speaking, be identical to Kevin's."
"But precisely because she spent those crucial developmental years frozen inside that ice-cold pod, her body never had the chance to grow."
"That's why, according to this freshly issued test report, she still appears to be a girl of only about ten-some years old."
This airtight loop of logic.
Su Yu, standing off to the side, felt cold sweat nearly break out just listening to it.
What the hell — are you just going to keep spinning a story out of thin air?
"If you don't believe me," Bronie shrugged, "Ms. Theresa, you can just call your dear grandfather, Bishop Otto, right now and ask him yourself."
"If you think back carefully, wasn't Otto also at that very hospital on the day Kevin was born?"
"And during the waiting period, didn't he also rush off somewhere in a hurry at one point over some emergency — or maybe take a call away from all of you?"
This was, quite clearly, an insidiously manipulative line of reasoning. Back then, Theresa had been so frantic over Cecilia's condition, there was no way she'd had the mental bandwidth to notice such details.
Under this kind of leading suggestion, even if Otto had never actually done any such thing, it would be all too easy for Theresa to convince herself that he had.
Theresa was completely stunned.
She felt her mind had short-circuited entirely, the worldview she'd just built shattered to pieces by this girl's few sentences.
Her hands trembled slightly.
She fumbled out her phone, scrolled to find that confidential contact number, and pressed dial.
She needed to ask Otto herself.
The call connected quickly.
"Hello, little Theresa? Why are you calling so late?" Otto's warm, perpetually amused voice came through from the other end.
Theresa skipped any pleasantries and repeated, word for word, everything Bronie had just said, along with the paternity test results.
She asked Otto directly — was there really a set of twins, and had he really frozen Kiana away?
As Theresa recounted the story.
The other end of the line fell into a silence so long it became suffocating.
A full two minutes passed.
Then came the sound of a deep breath, followed by a heavy sigh.
"So it's come to this after all," Otto's voice had lost all its usual composure, sounding suddenly old and exhausted. "In the end, I still couldn't keep it hidden from you, my clever little Theresa..."
The hallway outside the hospital room had gone deathly quiet. Every word Otto spoke reached each person's ears with perfect clarity.
"That's right." Otto's voice carried an undisguised note of sorrow. "I've been hiding this from Siegfried this whole time, from Cecilia, and of course, from you too."
"For things to have come to this point — the responsibility is mine, and I cannot shirk it."
He was confessing.
"I simply couldn't bear to watch that tiny, newly born life slip away right before my eyes."
"And I didn't want the joyful day of Kevin's birth to become the cold anniversary of his own sister's death. So back then, I had no choice but to play the villain, to bury that cruel and heavy truth completely, and set out on that long road to find a way to save Kiana."
Otto's account and Bronie's script fit together seamlessly, without the slightest crack.
"But..." Otto let out a bitter laugh over the phone. "Even though I ultimately managed to save Kiana's life through technology, she still couldn't return to those poor parents right away."
"Because her physical condition was still far too fragile at the time — she needed constant, extremely painful examinations and treatments. Kiana grew terrified of anyone in a white lab coat, terrified of those cold needles."
"It wasn't until Kiana reached seven or eight years old that her vital signs finally stabilized enough — though her constitution remained deeply fragile."
"So I sought out renowned specialists far and wide once more. At last, in some hidden corner of Shenzhou, I found an ancient sect called the 'Taixuan Sect.' That sect possessed a special method for strengthening the body and health..."
"But perhaps precisely because she grew up without her parents by her side, that bone-deep loneliness eventually led to the birth of another personality within Kiana during those years — what you know as her 'dual personality.'"
"When I, as her grandfather, realized what had happened, I felt overwhelming guilt and self-blame. I felt I had ruined her life."
"But just when I felt most hopeless — Su Yu appeared."
Otto's tone grew more emphatic.
"My most talented student. When he learned of my troubles, he didn't blame me at all — instead, he proactively proposed this psychological treatment method, guiding her through a virtual environment."
"He wanted to use the game Honkai Impact 3rd to let Kiana re-experience and reintegrate into society within a virtual world."
"At the same time, he hoped to use this power to draw more attention from society toward children like Kiana — those with 'dual personalities,' struggling alone in their loneliness."
Su Yu's hand, resting against the wall, slipped slightly.
Student? Well, that part wasn't technically a lie — Otto had, after all, once been a professor at Su Yu's university, even if Su Yu had never once attended his lectures.
"My original plan was to wait until Su Yu's psychological treatment was fully complete, until Kiana had fully recovered into a normal little girl, and then reveal the truth to everyone, so they could all be reunited under the most perfect circumstances."
"But fate has a way of playing tricks. My actions here in Arc City ultimately caught Siegfried's sharp attention, and he uncovered the traces."
"Siegfried is a true man, and a fit father."
"To spare Cecilia the enormous emotional shock and worry of this bittersweet reunion, after discovering the truth on his own, he was willing to sacrifice his own reputation — willing to bear the label of a man who chased after another woman — just to make you believe he was a thoroughly rotten scoundrel..."
"Little Theresa." Otto's voice softened over the phone. "Please, don't blame Siegfried anymore. Don't blame Cecilia either, who was kept in the dark this whole time. And please don't blame Su Yu for not telling you about all this hardship sooner."
"Everything that led to this point — the root cause of it all — is me."
"It's entirely Otto Apocalypse's fault, and mine alone."
"This is the sin born of that selfish decision I made all those years ago. If you feel wronged, if you have anger in your heart that needs venting, then direct it all at me—"
Otto let out a sigh so long it seemed to drain every last ounce of his strength.
Then, the line on the other end fell into complete silence.
Not another sound came through the speaker.
Siegfried lay face-down on the sofa, his mouth hanging open.
Cecilia stood frozen in place.
Kiana looked like she was falling apart inside.
Even Su Yu couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.
So.
These two — Bronie and Otto.
One was a former underground hacker who spent her days playing arcade games in Arc City; the other was a Grand Bishop, sipping red wine every day at Schicksal Headquarters halfway across the world.
Not only were these two worlds apart geographically — they'd never even met face to face, not once, from birth until now.
And yet, with no prior communication whatsoever, no pre-arranged signals of any kind.
They had somehow pulled off, over this single phone call, a flawless, Hollywood-Best-Actor-caliber performance of perfect coordination??
Su Yu silently grumbled to himself.
Hey there, Ms. Vill-V — that grand illusion act of yours really doesn't hold a candle to this.
If you want to see real magic, you should be watching these two today!
As for this utterly outrageous script.
Theresa.
Theresa believed every word of it completely.
Because over these past few days, she'd already firmly convinced herself in her own mind that Su Yu and Otto shared some kind of cross-generational old-friend bond.
She was even more certain that Su Yu was the attending physician in charge of this psychological treatment program tailor-made for Kiana.
And what kind of man was Otto?
Besides being the powerful helmsman of the Foundation, he was also a widely renowned physician in the medical world.
And in Theresa's eyes, he was also a great philanthropist who donated to causes everywhere. More than that, he was the grandfather she cherished most in this entire world.
To save the life of an innocent little girl who could have died at any moment, choosing to silently shoulder all the pain alone — to hide the truth, to search for a cure.
This kind of sacrifice fit Otto's lofty image and character in Theresa's mind absolutely perfectly.
And what's more — the way Otto had just spoken on the phone.
That tone, brimming with guilt, exhaustion, and selfless devotion.
It was, frankly, enough to move anyone to tears, heartbreaking to hear and heartbreaking to witness.
It hadn't sounded like an improvised script at all — it had sounded exactly like the heartfelt confession of an old man in his twilight years.
And besides, taking ten thousand steps back.
Otto and Bronie existed in two completely separate worlds; they didn't even know each other.
Bronie herself had said just now that she'd used her top-tier hacking skills to forcibly break into Otto's private computer to steal this classified information.
In those short few minutes, there was simply no possible window of time for the two of them to have coordinated a story or rehearsed their lines together.
And Su Yu, standing off to the side.
He looked at Bronie, blowing a bubble with her gum against the wall.
Suddenly, it was as if something clicked into place.
This Bronie hadn't just hacked into some Schicksal database on the spot just now, had she?
No — she'd probably already hacked into Otto's communication device long ago, and then sent over a pre-written script — this whole "frozen twins" drama — directly to Otto Apocalypse's screen while he was on the phone, hadn't she?
Watching Bronie turn her head at that moment and wink her left eye at him.
Su Yu felt certain of it now.
So that was it.
One scheming, silver-tongued devil of a Hack Bunny, paired with an Archbishop of Schicksal who could turn in an Oscar-worthy performance the moment you gave him half a chance.
The two of them had joined forces to thoroughly, completely fool a guileless, unsuspecting Auntie.
And what's more.
The most brilliant part wasn't even the script itself — it was Otto's final self-reflection.
On the phone, Otto had seemingly taken all the blame onto himself, confessing to everything.
But in reality, after this act of self-sacrificing confession, not only did it fail to spark the slightest resentment in Theresa's heart — it filled her with even deeper respect and emotion.
Because Theresa could feel that everything Otto had done, his entire motivation, had been purely for the sake of keeping Kiana alive, for the sake of preserving the wholeness of Siegfried and Cecilia's family.
His motives were so selfless, so righteous, so bathed in a glow of justice.
"Grandfather..."
Theresa clutched her phone with both hands, tears sliding down uncontrollably.
"So... so you and Su Yu, the two of you, have been silently shouldering so many secrets and so much pressure behind the scenes this whole time."
Theresa's voice trembled, thick with deep regret.
"So this is the truth behind it all! I had no idea — I truly had no idea at all. If it weren't for these test results today, I can't even imagine how you and Su Yu have managed to endure all these years!"
"As your granddaughter, as one of your closest family members, I had absolutely no idea about any of this!"
"I even nearly — just a few days ago — because of my own stupidity, mistook you and Su Yu for some kind of unreasonable villains..."
On the other end of the line, Otto's sigh seemed to soften.
"It's alright, little Theresa, don't blame yourself." Otto's voice came through again, carrying a note of relief. "Since everything can no longer be hidden, I won't keep forcing myself to maintain the pretense any longer. Right now, as an elder of this family, I formally invite you to join our ranks."
"Together with Su Yu, with Siegfried, with Cecilia."
"Let's make up, little by little, for all the years we owed Kiana because of this concealment."
"Let all of us, together, build Kiana a world filled with love. Let her understand, every single day, truly and completely, that she is not alone in this world — that she is loved by everyone."
"Mm!"
Theresa nodded fiercely, too choked up to speak.
This phone call, full of tears and emotion, finally ended.
Theresa slipped her phone back into her pocket.
She turned around, rushed forward, and pulled both Cecilia and Kiana into a tight embrace at once.
"Kiana..." Theresa buried her face between the two of them, repeating those heart-wrenching words over and over. "Your mom and dad are both here. Your auntie is right here beside you too. From now on, you are absolutely never alone again. Never, ever again!"
Siegfried, standing not far off; Cecilia, seated on the row of benches; Kiana, caught in the middle of the embrace; and Su Yu, leaning against the wall.
All four of their expressions were, in this moment, strikingly identical.
As if they'd all just collectively chewed through a full pound of unripe lemons together.
And somehow, this whole mess actually got smoothed over.
Under this ridiculously flimsy logic, it had somehow, unbelievably, actually worked?!
Cecilia's body went slightly rigid.
She slowly raised her arms and, following Theresa's lead, pulled the sobbing Theresa and the utterly bewildered Kiana into that not-particularly-spacious embrace.
Over the top of Theresa's head, she met eyes with Siegfried, lying face-down on the sofa, and then with Su Yu, leaning against the wall.
And then.
All three of them sighed inwardly, at the exact same moment.
What else could they do.
Might as well accept their fate.
This was Auntie's world!
Looking at this warm, tearful, joyous "family reunion" scene before him.
Su Yu silently turned and walked down the corridor toward the balcony at the far end.
He pushed open the glass door, and the cool night air brushed against his face.
Su Yu walked up to the balcony railing and gripped the cold metal bars with both hands.
Instinctively, he reached into his pocket, searching for something to light up, hoping to calm his mind, which felt like it had been trampled a thousand times over by a herd of rampaging alpacas.
He searched for a while before finally, despairingly, realizing a harsh truth.
He didn't even know how to smoke, and he didn't have so much as a lighter on him.
The soft sound of footsteps came from behind him.
Bronie had followed him out.
"Here." Bronie walked up beside him and casually handed him a lollipop wrapped in plastic. "Strawberry flavor. Make do with it, Boss."
Su Yu took the lollipop, tore off the wrapper, and popped the red candy into his mouth.
He bit down on the white plastic stick, striking a pose eerily similar to those brooding movie tough guys standing at the edge of a rooftop, deep in thought over a cigarette.
He gazed up at Arc City's night sky, where the stars looked faded against the glow of the neon lights, staring for a long while.
"Hey, Bronie," Su Yu said, without turning his head.
"Mm? What's up, Boss?" Bronie chewed her gum.
"The wiring in this Kaslana family's brains is a little too terrifying, don't you think?" Su Yu bit down on the plastic stick with his teeth. "If I shut down the game servers right now and make a run for it back to my own world's Earth with all the money, would I still make it in time?"
"What are you even saying."
Bronie let out a soft chuckle.
She rose up on her toes and reached out to pat his jacket.
"At this point, the script's already been written this far, and every actor is already in position." Bronie looked at him. "Boss, are you seriously joking about wanting to make peace with all this now?"
As Bronie's words landed, an expression of pure, wordless grief crossed Su Yu's face.
At that moment.
The daily quest that had been hanging in the back of his mind for an entire day — [One-Man Elbow Drop on All of Anti-Entropy].
After going through more twists and turns than a rollercoaster, it finally drew to a close.
Accompanied by a flippant "ding-dong," the row of red System subtitles scrolled out in that same cheeky manner.
[Host, haven't you heard? The highest realm of the Mamba Elbow Drop was never about elbow-dropping others — it's about going hard enough to elbow-drop yourself right along with them!]
[After all, the Mamba's ultimate fate was to go... out!]
[You played director and screenwriter through this entire family-recognition drama, elbow-dropping your own original cover story to pieces just to keep the lie going! And since you're technically counted as a member of Anti-Entropy yourself — if you don't give yourself a good, hard elbow drop too, can this really be called a true 'Elbow Drop on All of Anti-Entropy'?]
[Congratulations, Host! You have perfectly, and beyond expectations, completed this fate-defying quest. The System is currently settling the complex Emotion Points you harvested tonight... please wait patiently for reward disbursement.]
Watching this shameless System pop out that final string of exclamation points.
Su Yu stood on the balcony and silently raised one hand toward the pitch-black night sky above.
He extended his middle finger, straight and unmistakable, in that universally understood gesture.
He felt that tonight, his brain had basically been ground into the pavement, over and over, a hundred times, by a few of the Kaslana family's Paramecium!
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Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter
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