Belobog, Trailblazer Villa.
"Heeey! Where are you two? Weren't you supposed to be back today? Look at the time! Not a shadow of you anywhere!"
In the living room, March 7th was curled into the soft couch, two flawless, slender legs swinging back and forth out of sheer boredom.
One hand held up her phone on speaker. The other stretched straight out in front of her.
The delicate shuttle-shaped device on her wrist fired a beam of light onto the virtual board floating before her, a grid of crisscrossing lines.
Where the light landed, an eggshell pattern on one square cracked open with a crisp simulated snap, shell fragments scattering everywhere.
A majestic virtual elephant in gold armor burst out, head raised, trumpeting at the sky.
"Whoa! An elephant!"
March 7th's eyes lit up, but the smug grin blooming across her face froze a second later.
Because why, of all places, had this magnificent divine elephant landed right next to her opponent's shifty-eyed little mouse?
She had washed her face this morning, hadn't she?
Cheating, then?
The game program had been written by Bronie's own hand, and the one sitting across from her right now, blinking those big innocent eyes over her pieces, was sweet, adorable Little Seele... March 7th crossed that possibility straight off her mental list.
All she could do was bitterly chalk this hell-tier opening up to rotten luck and Mercury being in retrograde over her head.
"We got in a car accident on the way."
Stelle's voice came through the phone, crystal clear. The speaker volume was not small.
Ever since the Aether Front had been held, Belobog had entered a period of rapid development, and vehicles had naturally started appearing.
On the next couch over, Haxxor Bunny and Silver Wolf, who had been fighting tooth and nail over the prime spectator seat beside Seele, both turned their heads at once.
At the side table, Bronya Little Duck, in the middle of tipping the teapot to pour for Topaz, went still.
The living room fell silent in an instant.
"Huh?!"
March 7th shot up off the couch, face drained white, the chess match flung clean out of her mind. "Are you okay?"
"Broken bone, probably. The ambulance already showed up."
"?"
Silver Wolf and Haxxor Bunny, two pretty faces with a 98% similarity rating, were both filled with alarmed disbelief, and each could read the exact same question in the other's eyes.
What kind of car was that ferocious?!
Something that could hit Stelle, an off-the-charts monster, hard enough to break bones?
Even a boss-tier dump truck barreling in at full speed would have a rough time of it.
"No, wait! Where — where are you right now? Don't move around! I, I'm coming right now! Oh, and Caelus? Is Caelus hurt?"
March 7th spun in frantic circles, babbling, already lunging for the door.
"Huh? Caelus-cub?" Stelle on the other end seemed to blank out for a second, her tone a little lost. "Why would he be hurt?"
"You mean... only you got hurt?"
March 7th's nerves loosened a fraction, though her heart still hung in her throat.
"Me? I'm fine too." Stelle's voice snapped back to its usual bounce, with a hint of excitement. "We're standing on the roadside rubbernecking. They just carried that guy off on a stretcher and drove him away."
Before anyone's nerves could finish unwinding, Stelle went on in the thrilled tone of someone who had discovered a new continent, bursting to share: "Oh yeah, Ah Qi! Listen to this — while we were waiting for the ambulance, I saw a whole line of sows go plop, plop, plop, one after another, straight into the drainage ditch by the road! Hahaha, I nearly died. I got it on video, I'll send it to you later."
"..."
March 7th's charging feet slammed to a halt, her worried little face cracking apart.
She wanted to swear.
"..."
At the other end of the couch, Silver Wolf and Haxxor Bunny rolled their eyes in perfect unison, then went right back to tearing into each other.
Bronya kept pouring Topaz's tea, the corner of her mouth twitching.
"Ha. That's them, all right."
Topaz laughed out loud, watching the spectacular color changes on March 7th's face with genuine interest, as if enjoying a masterful pantomime.
"Try pausing dramatically like that one more time!" March 7th snarled at her phone, small fists cracking as she clenched them. "When you get back, this young lady is going to give your windpipe an adjustment!"
While March 7th fumed, Seele across from her hummed a lazy little tune and extended one arm with easy grace.
"Your look is uneasy~ your breathing is tense~ every move you make is wrong~"
So she could better nail the comic-relief-character vibe after transforming into Jerry, Caelus had been trying to recover his inner child lately, and Seele had dug an old cartoon called Chess King out of her memories.
Back then she had never noticed that the theme song's lyrics were written by Fang Wenshan.
"Mousey! Eat it up!"
The controller on her wrist fired a laser, linking to the little mouse in its tiny suit of armor.
As her arm moved, the mouse zipped forward and burrowed straight up the trunk of the freshly hatched elephant beside it.
With a soft hiss like a balloon losing air, the enormous golden elephant went rigid, then crumbled and scattered like a sandcastle.
Incidentally, Seele really, truly had not been cheating!
It just so happened that the AI in her game wristband was Bronie.
If the referee steps onto the field to play, does that count as cheating?
Completely different concept from actual foul play!
Her strongest ace one-shot by the opponent's weakest piece — Little March's already teetering win rate hit absolute zero, which also meant she got to watch the last limited-edition cake in the display case slip through her fingers.
March 7th: "(T_T)"
Ten minutes later.
"Woo-hoo~ We're back!"
Like a husky let off the leash, Stelle shoved the front door open, radiating energy, and walked in to find Silver Wolf and Haxxor Bunny going at each other point-blank.
"Scrub. Can't play without hacks." Haxxor Bunny opened with a direct frontal assault.
"Excuse me?! Jarilo-VI's network in this dump lags like crazy! My personal accelerator isn't with me!" Silver Wolf craned her neck, face flushed, defending the dignity of a high-level player with everything she had.
"Heh. If you're bad, practice more." Haxxor Bunny's scornful little smile was pure smug-brat energy.
"I really was lagging! Without lag I'd have wiped you all!" Silver Wolf stamped her foot in fury.
"Oh? Is that so?" Haxxor Bunny tilted her head and produced a smile of complete innocence, the classic expression: (OwO) "You work at the Rookie Depot, don't you? Such outstanding skills. Should I be generous and install a mechanical prosthetic for you, to help with your inputs?"
"You f—!"
Silver Wolf's pretty face went scarlet in one blazing rush. The overheating shortstack was one step away from venting steam out of her head and shrieking "WARNING, WARNING."
"Ah Minos! #Punklorde expletive#!"
Damn it!
So you're a little better at games, big deal!
If they were competing, hacking skills counted as her own ability too, so why shouldn't she be allowed to use them?
That despicable, shameless rabbit — the moment she used a hack, the other girl shamelessly reported her to Seele.
The absolute height of shamelessness!
And just as the volcano inside Silver Wolf was about to erupt, a scene appeared that sent her blood pressure straight through the roof —
Seele speared the limited-edition cake she had won, sweet fragrance and all, on a dainty little fork and, with the adoration of a devoted fangirl, delivered it by hand to the smugly triumphant Haxxor Bunny's lips.
"Sister Bronie~"
Haxxor Bunny chomped down without an ounce of hesitation, cheeks bulging, and still found time to shoot Silver Wolf a victor's glance.
Snap!
Silver Wolf swore she heard the last thread of her sanity give out.
Lost the match, got mocked, and had the chance at being hand-fed by Seele stolen out from under her!
Damned rabbit!
Silver Wolf's eyes went bloodshot. She was one breath away from rolling up her sleeves, charging over, and dragging Haxxor Bunny outside for an offline solo.
The scene descended into chaos. Stelle blinked, baffled: "Huh? Why are you two fighting again?"
Did she even need to ask?
Obviously because Miss Seele had used that limited-edition cake as bait and hooked both fish — Big Sis Silver Wolf and Big Sis Haxxor Bunny — with pinpoint precision~
Back for two seconds and already served a delicious feast!
Caelus regarded the two chesty bros clawing at each other with a kindly, benevolent gaze, wearing the smile of a man thoroughly enjoying himself.
"It's all this despicable rabbit's — wait!"
Silver Wolf slammed the table and shot up, about to recruit Caelus as "one of us" for a joint denunciation of Bronie.
Then her gaze was seized by the figure strolling into the room behind him, and she froze in place as if someone had hit pause on her.
It was a tall woman in a pale green brocade cheongsam.
Ink-black hair fell like a waterfall. Her features were refined and cool, her figure as willowy as the misty banks of Jiangnan.
Her steps made no sound, yet she seemed to carry a layer of stillness that shut out all noise, freezing the previous pandemonium solid in an instant.
Silver Wolf, who spent twenty-five of every twenty-four hours surfing the net at night, naturally recognized that face.
"Ruan Mei?"
"Madam Ruan Mei!"
Almost simultaneously, Topaz sprang to her feet, and beneath her surprise, those shrewd eyes blazed with professional excitement.
Members of the Genius Society were not people you could simply arrange to meet!
Plenty of executives at the IPC had to book an appointment a month or two in advance just to get five minutes with Herta.
And this Madam Ruan Mei standing before her, eccentric and solitary, had essentially never once responded to the IPC's simp-like enthusiasm, ignoring every olive branch the company extended — one of the most impossible icebergs in the universe to court!
Topaz's mind raced.
She knew Caelus was on familiar terms with Madam Ruan Mei. The question was why Madam Ruan Mei would appear here.
According to available intelligence, this woman almost never engaged in any form of meaningless socializing, and yet here she was...
In a flash, Topaz had adjusted her professional smile to perfection and glided forward with steps both elegant and swift.
Never mind the reasons. Get her face known first.
Last time Madam Ruan Mei had come to Jarilo-VI together with Mister Screwllum, Topaz had regretted not managing a conversation. This time she might be able to establish a line through Caelus.
A heaven-sent opportunity!
Even just becoming a familiar face was an incalculable invisible asset in the universe's financial circles!
"Madam Ruan Mei, hello. It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time. My name is Topaz, and I'm an investment Expert with the IPC—"
"Of course I know you're Topaz."
The voice was clear and cold as pearls dropping onto a jade plate, and it cut Topaz's carefully prepared introduction off mid-sentence.
She looked up, stunned, at this Genius famed across the universe for eccentricity and madness.
Madam Ruan Mei's manner was off.
Far too off!
Why did it carry such an uncanny familiarity?
And that tone... that subtle inflection...
"Haha, that you'd even know of me is quite the honor," Topaz said, laughing it off, trying to bury her shock under the professional smile.
Only for the woman in front of her to give a smile heavy with meaning. "Mm. Cheongsams really do suit you, Miss Topaz. Next chance I get, I'll have one tailored for you — something that hugs your figure better."
Cheongsam!
The word detonated in Topaz's head like a thunderclap.
Her pupils shrank, and an absurd guess forced its way out of her mouth before she could stop it. "You... you're Caelus?!"
She stared, eyes wide with disbelief, her voice cracking out of register.
"Hehe~"
The beauty before her, who by rights should have been all misty Jiangnan elegance, broke into a grin so guileless and goofy it violated her entire character concept.
She planted both hands on her hips and threw her chest out, the cheongsam's curves pulling taut, and announced in a voice bursting with energy: "From this moment on, this young lady is Ruan Mei."
"Stelle?!"
March 7th, who had heard Caelus mention Ruan Mei before and had been preparing to step up and greet her properly, saw this horror show and petrified on the spot, mouth hanging open in a perfect O.
Dumbstruck.
Everyone present had been thoroughly scrambled by the inexplicable situation.
"What is going on?"
March 7th shot forward in a single stride, grabbed "Ruan Mei's" wrist, and shook it urgently. "You're Stelle, right? You're definitely Stelle! Aren't you?! Say it!"
"Guess who I am?"
"Ruan Mei" seized the initiative instead, reaching out one slender jade hand to cradle March 7th's soft cheek with a teasing touch, kneading gently.
That meaningful gaze anchored itself between her beautiful legs.
Awakening certain scorching fragments of memory in March 7th.
That time at Suyueduo...
"Caelus!"
"You — what on earth is going on with you two?! How did it turn into this?"
Her line of sight swept back and forth like a searchlight gone haywire: the real Stelle gnawing a savory pancake on the couch, the real Caelus beside her enjoying the show, and this mystery entity wearing Ruan Mei's face.
Her brain's CPU visibly overloaded, and you could practically see the loading icon spinning wildly above her head before... it froze.
"It's not that big a deal~"
The beauty in the dark green cheongsam preened, and from that dopey grin it was obvious Stelle was the one driving the body right now.
"Ruan Mei just gave herself to us, that's all. What do you think? From now on I really am Ruan Mei! Surprised? Shocked?"
"Huh?"
Topaz's meticulously maintained professional smile shattered outright, expression management gone, mouth open wide enough to fit an egg.
"???"
March 7th stood there blank and stupefied. She did not understand that sentence!
Requesting a translation from Chinese into Chinese!
"!!!"
Little Duck's face was equally blank.
What in the world kind of maneuver was that?
"What was that?"
"That is beyond absurd!"
Silver Wolf and Haxxor Bunny's sync rate went off the charts, both pretty faces plastered with "WHAT THE HELL!" — they had even forgotten to keep insulting each other.
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