I actually cried out loud! I really couldn't accept this!
I just whaled to pull Himeko! Damn it! Give me my money back!
Don't panic! The CG only says Himeko's missing, there's still hope!
All Captains, get ready to do the midair splits and catch Himeko!
Some in the chat were crying, some were cursing, and some still believed Himeko could be saved...
But the curses were still the most numerous. Just from the volume of the chat, it was clear that the platform had filtered out a huge amount of profanity.
To get around the filter, many viewers sent comments like...
I bought a hiking backpack last year—super durable! And so on.
Normally, Elysia should have been moderating the stream, but right now, she simply didn't have the time.
"Sniff... sob!"
Seeing Griseo crying uncontrollably at the end, even trying to block her tears with her tiny hands only left her little face covered in them.
"Don't cry. It's my fault."
Seeing Griseo cry like this nearly broke Elysia's heart. She loved cute girls far too much.
"Himeko will be fine. There'll definitely be a twist later."
"Look, they didn't find a body, right? Someone must have saved her."
Normally, Elysia had a hundred ways to cheer a girl up, but now she could only repeat the chat's speculation.
After all, Elysia herself was badly shaken. If not for her naturally optimistic nature, she would probably have started crying too.
It's fine if I cry, but I even made Griseo cry!
MiHoYo, you've done every evil under the sun!
You're bullying our little angel Griseo, huh?!
Seeing the chat about to erupt into a second wave of cursing, Elysia hurriedly shut down the stream.
Griseo was not only the little angel in the viewers' eyes, but also the entire Elysian Realm's beloved darling.
And precisely because of that, Elysia felt immense pressure after making Griseo this sad.
"Mobius is definitely going to eat me alive! And Aponia too! Sob... what am I supposed to do?"
Meanwhile, the girls who had all stayed behind for the overnight shift had also finished watching The Last Lesson.
All of them stared wide-eyed, their brains trembling nonstop as even their breathing grew rapid.
"This is the new version's story?"
"No wonder Himeko had been acting so strangely!"
"Anyone would be upset if their story was written like this!"
The girls finally understood why Himeko had looked like she had seen through the vanity of life these past few days.
All their previous suspicions had turned into sympathy.
"Himeko~~"
"Come here, let me hug you~~"
"Huh? Where's Himeko?"
Just as everyone wanted to comfort Himeko, they realized she had long since disappeared from her workstation.
Himeko: So this is a public execution, huh?
"Don't joke around! Watching The Last Lesson right in front of me—what kind of torture is this?!"
Himeko hid in the studio corridor, her skin burning red like a cooked crab.
"Himeko~~ Where did you run off to?"
"Himeko~~!"
"Eek!"
Hearing the others calling for her, Himeko's body jolted. She wished she could dig a hole and bury herself in it immediately.
"Himeko, why did you come here?"
Zhen and A-Tzu asked worriedly:
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"Has the Honkai energy corrosion become serious?"
"If single life counts as Honkai too, then yes, it's pretty serious."
"Just as we thought! Himeko's condition is already terrible."
"No! I was joking!"
Himeko covered her face in embarrassment. Only then did she realize that putting herself into the story might have merely made her sad...
But if the people around her kept bringing it up, that was practically an execution by embarrassment!
"Himeko, are you really not hiding any illness from us?"
"Thank you for worrying about me, but aside from high blood pressure, I probably don't have any major problems. At least, nothing related to Honkai energy."
"Who says? I think you're at risk of liver cirrhosis too."
Ye Ming, who had just returned from buying a late-night snack, happened upon the scene and casually chimed in.
"Ye Ming! You came at just the right time!"
The girls surrounded Ye Ming and demanded angrily:
"What is going on with the new story?!"
"Huh? Is the quality bad?"
"It has nothing to do with quality! It's the style!"
Bronya pouted unhappily.
"Wasn't our game supposed to be healthy, sunny, and uplifting?"
Even Ganyu, who rarely acted tough, questioned him firmly:
"Why did Himeko have to die? And die so tragically at that!"
"Um, well..."
Himeko wiped away cold sweat and said:
"Could we perhaps phrase that differently?"
"Anyway! Ye Ming, you need to give us an explanation!"
Faced with their questioning, Ye Ming thought for a moment before saying:
"After playing our game, Himeko drinks less, stays up late less, and gets regular checkups. Isn't that healthy, sunny, and uplifting enough?"
I think this is great. Its positive influence on young people is immeasurable!
"But..."
"Kiana!"
The girls clearly couldn't accept such twisted logic, but just as they pressed for more answers, Mei's anxious voice suddenly rang out from inside the room.
Since earlier, Kiana had been sitting there, staring at the now-black screen as tears flowed endlessly down her face.
Mei called to her several times, but Kiana didn't react, as though she had lost her soul.
"Kiana! Wake up!"
"Huh? Wh-what is it?"
Only when Mei gently patted her cheek did Kiana finally come back to her senses.
"You've been crying so hard. I'm worried about you."
"Crying? What... nonsense are you talking about..."
Kiana wiped away her tears while stubbornly insisting:
"I... wouldn't cry... How could a fictional story... make me... sob!"
Choking up, Kiana could no longer speak. Wiping her tears hadn't stopped them at all; instead, it only made her eyes grow redder and more swollen.
"I've never seen Kiana like this before."
Bronya stared in shock. She had thought a single-celled organism like Kiana would surely be the least affected by the story.
Yet Kiana had cried harder than anyone else.
"And you were so confident before, saying you wouldn't dwell on a virtual story."
"Who's dwelling on it?!"
Kiana retorted through tears:
"I just played on my phone for too long, so my eyes feel uncomfortable!"
"Kiana..."
Himeko wanted to comfort Kiana, but the moment Kiana heard that familiar, gentle voice, she suddenly stood up as if startled.
Merely hearing Himeko call her name made Kiana's shoulders tremble uncontrollably, let alone having a conversation with her.
"I'm fine! Leave me alone!"
Unable to face Himeko because of the conflict between them these past few days, Kiana left behind those harsh words and hurried out of the office.
"Kiana!"
Mei immediately chased after her, and Himeko followed close behind, but Ye Ming stopped her.
"Himeko, didn't you say you wanted to see what Kiana looked like when she grew up?"
Recalling what Himeko had confided in him before, Ye Ming smiled.
"It's time."
When they came to work the next day, Kiana, who was usually so lively, didn't say a single word.
Every time anyone saw her, her eyes were red and swollen.
The traces of last night's tears couldn't possibly still be there today. Clearly, she had cried again not long ago.
"At this rate, even Bronya has no interest in mocking Kiana."
Seeing Kiana act so unusually, Bronya felt stifled inside.
She had prepared so many jokes to tease Kiana, but before she could even open her mouth, Kiana had already broken down. It took all the fun out of it.
"Mei, tell Kiana to take the day off and adjust her mood."
"I told her that this morning."
Mei pushed up her glasses, her face full of worry.
"But she insisted on coming to work. She said she wanted to become independent as soon as possible and had no time to rest."
"Is that so?"
Ye Ming quietly walked up behind Kiana and found that she really was working hard.
She was either helping Bronya maintain the code or dealing with customer service complaints.
Whenever she had even a little free time, she started reading through the earlier scripts and studying all kinds of presentation techniques. She hadn't even had time to eat.
"What does healthy, sunny, and uplifting even mean?"
Before you continue