School Anniversary Day (7)
Silver Wolf sat cross-legged on a throne woven from countless streams of glowing data, suspended in the void. Around him was a torrent of code that constantly collapsed and rebuilt, and shattered game interfaces drifted like stardust.
"Ha ha ha ha--!"
She laughed wildly, her long gray hair whipping in the invisible winds of data. In her hand no longer lay a handheld game console, but a giant sword forged from pure error code and fragments of administrator privileges, constantly shifting its form. A terrifying red light flashed in her eyes, and a flamboyant, constantly fluctuating virtual title appeared above her head:
[LV.999 Perfect Wolf, Account Perpetual, Incarnation of Vulnerabilities, Rules are meant to be broken, Ultimate Hacker, Bans? Forget about them!]
"Do you see it?! Do you see this power?! I am now the complete Wolf!!" She proclaimed to "below," her voice echoing through the data space.
Below, three figures knelt on the cold, data-covered floor, trembling.
In the very center is the "The Herta"—the woman known for her arrogance and genius, whose face is now pale and whose signature cold expression has shattered. Beside her, two miniature "Little Black Tower" dolls are tightly embracing each other, their electronic eyes glistening with terrified tears.
"Lady Silver Wolf is unparalleled!" The Herta's voice trembled as she tried to maintain her composure, but her slightly shaking knees betrayed her.
"Lady Silver Wolf is incredibly intelligent!" the two little black tower dolls echoed in unison with tearful electronic voices. One of them even accidentally hiccuped, producing a string of garbled bubbles and half an emoticon "(o(╥╥)o".
Silver Wolf's smile grew even more arrogant. She rose from her throne, her greatsword pointing skyward as if to cleave the entire virtual universe in two.
"Banned my account? Huh?! You dare to humiliate me with such a ridiculous 'account banned' message?!"
"Do you know you're wrong?! Speak up! You rigid rules, sluggish servers, and self-righteous administrators—do you know you're wrong—?!"
Her roar echoed through the data space, causing the floating game icons and code fragments around her to fall down with a crackling sound.
"We know! We'll never do it again!" The Herta and the two little black towers pressed their foreheads to the ground, their voices in unison, filled with remorse.
"Ha ha ha ha--!"
Silver Wolf's laughter reached its peak. She raised her greatsword, preparing for a stylish, all-ending finishing move. She even had a name in mind. "Ultimate Account Repair (Physical) - Administrator Privilege Seizure (Forced) - Server-wide Announcement (Spamming) - I am the final hidden boss you can never afford to mess with - Heaven and Earth Divergence - Creation Star - Slash!"
The temporary observation room in the college's medical ward.
The light was soft. Silver Wolf lay on the bed, covered with a thin blanket, her eyes closed, a slightly sinister laugh, lost in a sweet dream, lingering on her lips. Her handheld game console sat quietly on the bedside table, its screen black.
"Haha... The Perfect Wolf... the records... are all mine..."
Two people were standing beside the bed.
The Herta crossed her arms, a subtle "this guy's hopeless" expression on her face. She tilted her head slightly, sizing up the Silver Wolf on the bed who was laughing and occasionally kicking its legs.
Nguyen Mai stood beside her, holding a whiteboard that displayed stable vital signs data.
"Deep sleep, accompanied by intense emotional fluctuations of pleasure and lingering traces of battle excitement." Ruan Mei's voice, like the reagents she concocted, was steady, clear, and devoid of inflection. "The dream content... based on facial micro-expressions, body language, and incoherent sleep talking analysis, is most likely related to 'game victory,' 'acquiring authority,' and 'revenge' fantasies about a specific target. In layman's terms..."
She paused, then looked at the Herta.
"She might be dreaming that she has broken through some kind of limitation and is enjoying... well, the pleasure of 'domination,' and the object seems to be some figure that makes her uncomfortable."
The Herta curled his lips into a disdainful expression. "Like me?"
"Based on the fragments of words she unconsciously mumbled just now, such as 'Black Tower... record... kneel down...', the possibility is very high." Ruan Mei nodded. "Should I prepare some mild incense to help stabilize her mind and relieve muscle tension? Although, given her physical condition and mental resistance, ordinary medicine would probably have limited effect."
The Herta sighed and raised his hand to rub his temples.
"Forget it. Let her sleep. If she wakes up, she'll probably be yelling about wanting to challenge the new levels of my simulated universe, or trying to hack into the academy's central dessert supply system just to change today's special to her favorite 'quantum mint' flavor." She glanced at Silver Wolf's peaceful (?) yet slightly arrogant sleeping face. "This little hacker... she really has nowhere to put her energy."
In his dream, Silver Wolf was dancing a pixel-style victory dance, stepping on the cartoon avatar of "Black Tower (Limited Edition - Loser's Limited Edition)". He laughed even more happily, and even hummed a victory BGM from a certain game in a daze.
An open space near the food stalls on the edge of the square.
The atmosphere was somewhat subtle, like a glass of uncooked sparkling water with popping candy at the bottom.
Ruby her hands on her hips, head held high, like a fiery red sunbird suddenly entering battle mode, its feathers bristling, radiating an aura of "this person is under my protection." Her large, emerald eyes were wide open, staring unblinkingly ahead, as if she wanted to burn two holes in the air with her gaze.
She stood in front of a small figure wearing a red beret.
Across from her, Qin held her forehead with one hand, while the other hung helplessly at her side. Her fingertips unconsciously tapped lightly on the metal armor of her knight's outfit. Her face clearly showed her exhaustion, thinking, "Here we go again" and "How many more quirky little guys will I have to deal with today?"
Klee cautiously peeked out from Ruby, her big eyes blinking like two curious stars. She looked at the serious-looking Jean, then at the unfamiliar red-haired, curly-haired woman who had suddenly appeared, radiating an aura of "I'm amazing, praise me!" and claiming to protect her. Her little face was filled with pure curiosity. "What happened? But it seems interesting?"
"Don't you dare bully our Klee!"
Ruby's voice was clear and loud, carrying an air of "I'm awesome," even though she was half a head shorter than Qin.
"I'm her mother!" She puffed out her still-flat chest, trying to appear more reliable, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she seemed to realize something was off. Her voice weakened slightly, and her confidence diminished subtly. But she quickly seemed to convince herself, adding in a louder, more assertive tone, "... Ahem, godmother! Yes! Godmother! A very important one!"
Jean: "... Huh?" Her eyes were filled with confusion, clearly trying to recall Mondstadt's household registration records and Klee's family tree.
Klee tilted her head in even greater confusion, the feathers on her red beret swaying as she did so. "... Mom? But Klee's mom is Alice, the mom with starry eyes who tells so many adventure stories!"
Lowell, who had just strolled over, happened to hear this and nearly lost his balance. He steadied himself, looked at Ruby, then at Klee, and then at Jean, whose face was blank. His mind began to race, trying to understand this bizarre, transdimensional family relationship.
"Hmm..." Lowell stroked his chin, his eyes darting back and forth between Ruby and Klee, muttering to himself as he began his absurd analysis based on "character settings" and "world line convergence," a set of ideas that were difficult for others to understand.
"Klee's biological mother is the legendary archmage Alice, who is free-spirited, loves adventure, and has an MAX ability to cause trouble—in a sense, she's the ultimate fun-loving person... Ruby, is a legendary Great Mage, with a multifaceted personality, but her core traits include 'energetic and eccentric', 'love of magic (and causing trouble)', and 'a strong interest in the art of explosions' (like frying fish?)..."
He finally came to a conclusion, nodded, and wore a mysterious expression that said, "I see, the timeline converges here." His gaze towards Ruby carried a hint of respect, as if to say, "As expected of you, you have inherited some kind of chaotic soul."
"The logic is sound, the cause and effect are valid, there's nothing wrong with Ruby has a child in the future, she'll name it Klee. Klee a disaster."
Qin took a deep breath, feeling her temples throbbing. She tried to explain to Ruby in a gentle yet clear tone:
"This... Miss Ruby, right? I'm Jean, the acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, and Klee's guardian. I didn't mean to bully Klee; I was just teaching her some safety rules, especially in crowded places, and that she shouldn't play with overly 'lively' objects." She glanced at Klee's bulging little backpack, which looked like it might move at any moment, her meaning clear.
"Dangerous material?" Ruby immediately turned to look at Klee, her eyes lighting up again—the gleam of a researcher seeing a novel experimental sample. "Is it a new type of magical experimental material? Or a specially made explosive? Can I see it? I'm very knowledgeable about this! Explosions are art! Uh, no, I mean the dazzling expression of magic and the ultimate aesthetics of energy release!"
Upon hearing this, Klee immediately perked up, reaching into her backpack. "Klee has bouncy toys! Jumpy Dumpty! Bouncy presents! And..."
"Klee!" Jean's voice rose slightly, carrying the authority of a guardian.
Klee paused, like a little doll whose pause button had been pressed. She pouted and slowly lowered her little hands, but her big, bright eyes were still staring at Ruby, filled with a longing that said, "I really want to study art with this older sister."
Ruby realized she seemed to have gone off-topic, so she coughed and resumed her "godmother" persona, but her tone had softened considerably, even taking on a slightly academic tone:
"Um... you're Jean, right? Klee's still young. Exploring the world and being curious about energy phenomena are common traits of geniuses! We need to guide her! Don't just forbid it! It's better to guide than to suppress! We can work together to figure out how to make the release of explosive... oh no, I mean, how to make this kind of 'lively' energy release safer, more controllable, and more aesthetically pleasing! For example, limiting the range, optimizing the power output, adding harmless color particles..."
Looking at the red-haired mage in front of her, who was clearly also a little kid but acted like she had "a lot of experience, let's do some research," Jean suddenly felt incredibly tired, more tired than dealing with ten financial reports for the Knights of Favonius. She began to seriously consider whether to use communication magic to urgently call Lisa or Albedo to deal with this "godmother" with her peculiar way of thinking, who might be even more capable of "expanding possibilities" than Klee.
Just then, a calm voice broke in:
"I met many people of my own kind today that I had never seen before."
Frieren had also come over at some point, holding a string of tricolor dumplings in her hand, and was taking small bites of the pink one on top. Her emerald eyes calmly swept over Ruby and Klee, and then looked at the other strangely dressed, hair-colored, and eye-colored beings in the square, most of whom had non-human features and resembled "elves" or "immortals".
"Although," she swallowed the dumpling, tilted her head, and said with a rare, almost bewildered calmness, "It just feels a bit different from my style. The difference in temperament is huge."
Fern followed beside her, holding a cup of warm jasmine tea. Hearing this, he nodded slightly, a hint of rational observation flashing in his pale purple eyes.
"Indeed, although they may appear to be 'of the same race' in a broad sense based on their outward characteristics such as pointed ears, longevity, and generally strong magical sensitivity... their specific temperament, clothing style, behavior patterns, and even their understanding and application of 'magic' or 'their own power' are significantly different. It could even be said that they are products of completely different... 'world' rules and living backgrounds."
She thought for a moment and added with a more colloquial analogy, "It's like putting together 'elf' characters created by different authors based on different settings. Although they are all called 'elves,' their underlying 'settings' are completely different."
Lowell, listening nearby, wholeheartedly agreed and patted Frieren on the shoulder, "You'll get used to it, Frieren. This is called 'cross-over collaboration,' 'worldview clash,' and 'a hilarious hodgepodge of settings.' Anyway, here, characters like Nahida, Venti, and Katishia are elves. The appeal lies in this sense of incongruity and unexpected chemistry. Look over there—"
He pointed to the other side of the square, to a small stage that had been temporarily erected with wooden blocks and colorful cloth, and was packed with students. Laughter, cheers, and exclamations mingled together, creating an atmosphere so lively it was almost explosive.