Starting with the Herrschers, I Cut Down All

The owner laughed heartily and went back to bring over a second bowl of wontons.

"Heartless, cold-blooded, faithless, and without a conscience."

Coming back to her senses, Elysia muttered under her breath and lightly kicked An Yu beneath the table with the tip of her foot.

An Yu curled his lip. "When I actually get a ring ready, you'll be the one who can't handle it."

"Eat. Can't these wontons shut your mouth?"

As he spoke, he brought a slightly cooled wonton to her lips.

Elysia lowered her gaze. "...Who said I can't handle it?"

An Yu: ...

If your abilities were even half as tough as your mouth, you'd be a world-famous entrepreneur by now.

Melancholy? Ice and Snow? Kiana? Are You Okay?

An Yu stood downstairs from the company, waiting for the elevator. He was calculating how to finish work today while also finding time to seek out a reliable psychologist for his sister.

"Morning, boss!"

While waiting for the elevator, An Yu noticed the late-arriving useless duck. Bronya's silver-gray hair was somewhat disheveled. She had clearly raced here too.

"Morning."

Bronya hadn't intended to reply, but upon recognizing An Yu's voice, she raised her eyes slightly instead of merely nodding.

"...How's your sister doing lately?"

An Yu was... definitely a little special. At the very least, this was the first time Bronya had encountered a real-life lunatic, and that lunatic happened to be the older sister of An Yu, her junior from elementary school.

"I made an appointment with the wrong doctor. That guy was a quack. I'll look for another one after work."

That was a lie. He'd slack off during work to look. It was more efficient that way.

"A quack?"

Bronya tried hard to recall. Hadn't he booked an appointment with an expensive old doctor?

"Was it really not because the doctor's advice didn't suit your wishes?"

Using the elevator's reflection, she tidied the ends of her windblown hair. A helmet couldn't restrain the speed at which she raced.

An Yu's tone remained calm. "He said my sister was obsessed with her little brother, but she wanted to kill me a few days ago. And a bunch of bad friends on her phone talked her into creating a new Loving Family group chat—I wasn't in it."

Bronya lowered her head, only raising it again after a moment, having understood the complexity within An Yu's two sentences.

Wow! Your life was so exciting!

No wonder she hadn't seen him racing around Void Mountain at night recently.

"Are you sure you can still work?"

Bronya couldn't help asking, with a trace of genuine concern in her voice.

"Whatever. I was planning to quit on the spot, but my sister thinks there's no need. She doesn't think she's sick."

Bronya hesitated, unsure whether to speak. That wasn't what she meant, and his casual tone really made her want to fire him.

She patted An Yu on the shoulder and comforted him earnestly. "Hold on a while longer. I'll definitely promote you when the time comes."

An Yu: ...

Thanks, but that promise was too dry to swallow.

"How about this? Once the project is done, if you don't want a promotion, I can introduce you to some beautiful girls. I've got plenty of connections."

Bronya changed tactics and spoke half-jokingly.

An Yu: ...

That promise was even less reliable than the last one.

"Boss..." An Yu said faintly. "Why don't you try getting one of your games into the top eight this year?"

Though the odds weren't high. Bronya had still been working at Anti-Entropy a few years ago, and her collaborating teams had all been readily available.

Bronya's expression stiffened, as if an arrow had struck her knee.

She hurriedly cleared her throat and put on the air of a superior.

"Address me by my title during work, An Yu."

This wasn't casual chatter among racing buddies. Be serious with Bronya!

"Yes, yes, Chief Producer."

An Yu went along with it smoothly.

The elevator finally arrived. It was empty, which was a little surprising for so early in the morning.

Yet after stepping inside, Bronya found herself unable to stay still. The thought of bringing out her old IP and making something big out of it made her feel as though she'd returned to eighteen, to that bright, passionate age of youth.

"An Yu, if Mei really joins the Previous Era, what reason should we use?"

Eighteen was also the age when she'd first gotten her driver's license—and the age when it had first been revoked.

An Yu: ...

"We're making a game, boss. The initial setup doesn't need to be too logical, and the hidden setup needs even less logic."

"World Serpent is the big boss anyway. Just give them a few more settings."

They could make it more perfect, of course, but this was a game about fighting and survival, not a dating game. Players would mainly immerse themselves during the later gameplay.

"And boss, what you should really worry about is what happens if the game succeeds and a bunch of Kiana-Mei Power Faction fans rise again."

After all, Mei had truly experienced a civilization-ending catastrophe, yet in the end, her achievements still didn't surpass Kiana's.

That sense of absurdity would definitely become a meme.

Unless the Honkai IP completely died out, but An Yu didn't say that aloud.

"Kiana-Mei Power Faction..." Bronya murmured.

Images from her student days immediately flashed through her mind: Kiana hugging her thigh and crying loudly, begging to be the protagonist. Bronya shook her head and decided to end this delicate topic.

"Yesterday's progress wasn't complicated. Catch up as soon as you can."

Bronya switched back into work mode. After a few seconds of silence, a subtle undertone entered her voice.

"Come pick someone up with me at noon." She added, "Remember to dress smartly. Make me look good."

An Yu froze. Huh?

Boss, are you okay? If not, go eat some Liuliumei, okay?

And this took up his lunch break. You were still the project's person in charge, and he couldn't see any hope of advancement in the short term at all.

"A young lady is coming over today. She says she ran away from home, but I don't believe her story."

Bronya explained casually. "Remember to dress more handsomely. Make me look imposing."

Among her old friends, the one Bronya found hardest to read was Kiana. She always gave Bronya the illusion of being a hot-blooded fool who was secretly wise, yet no one could say for sure whether she was actually stupid.

An Yu: ...

Seeing An Yu's speechless expression, Bronya showed rare consideration. "Forget it if you really don't have time. Given your state lately, you do need some rest."

After all, An Yu's sister was a lunatic... If it were Bronya, she probably couldn't be as normal as An Yu was.

"May I ask which family's young lady it is?"

An Yu was a little curious. In this day and age, calling someone a young lady was usually an insult.

"Kiana, my go-to leading lady. You should've heard her name in college."

Bronya gave the name and sighed inwardly. She felt that An Yu probably had no interest in dealing with that idiot.

However—

An Yu's eyes seemed to light up.

"Who? That senior who often sat alone by the club window in college, looking melancholy like an ice princess?"

He really had seen Kiana a few times. Though they had never spoken, that senior's isolated, faintly sorrowful silhouette had left an extremely deep first impression on him.

It might have been full of filters, but from childhood to adulthood, it was the first time he'd seen such a cold, melancholic ice princess.

"Melancholy? Ice and snow? Kiana?"

Who?

Bronya's thoughts nearly came to a complete halt.

If she absolutely had to connect those two words with Kiana, then perhaps... while everyone else in college studied, Kiana would hug an online novel, pull a grumpy cat face, and stare blankly out the window by herself.

"I'll go, I'll go! Boss, take me with you! Don't forget me!"

But An Yu seemed to have been fired up. Bronya's lips moved for a moment before she finally curved them into a smile.

Smile. Smiling didn't need a reason.

After all, she'd never imagined in her life that Kiana's looks fans liked Melancholy Kiana.

From Marriage to Divorce in a Single Day

"Don't worry, sis. I'm the finest—workhorse—you raised with your own two hands."

Ling joked, enduring Sakura's helpless expression as she set the Kalpas photo magazine by the roadside aside, then flashed a playful smile.

"Gotta go, sis. I'm off to the interview."

Her steps were light, almost skipping as she blended into the crowd flowing into the towering office building before her.

Watching her energetic younger sister disappear behind the revolving doors, Sakura let out a soft sigh.

She didn't doubt Ling's abilities. The girl had followed by Sakura's side throughout college and thoroughly mastered C and Java, but the workplace was far more complicated than code. The interview wouldn't be as easy as Ling imagined.

[Loving Family]

Her fingertips swiped across the screen as she opened the not-so-lively group chat.

Sakura: "Watching my little sister go to an interview alone and step into society suddenly makes me feel a little emotional. Cat wiping tears.jpg"

Elysia: "Exactly, exactly! It always feels like once the little one leaves your sight, they'll quickly become unfamiliar and stop being clingy!?"

Sakura: "..."

The faint sadness that had just arisen was instantly scattered by the frightening future Elysia described.

Elysia: "And my little brother and I were only apart for four years in college, but it feels like he's become a different person. He's not nearly as easy to fool as he was when he was little."

Sakura: ...

The others in the group couldn't join the conversation. After all, only Elysia and Sakura had younger siblings close to their own age.

Elysia: "Then the child you raised grows completely beyond your sight, sheds their disguise from home, gradually changes into the person deep inside their heart, and then they'll never—come back."

Sakura: ...

Aponia: "Boys and girls are still a little different, but... Sakura, are you okay?"

Elysia: "They're all the same. Back in high school, I even tricked my little brother into signing a marriage application. He even pressed his fingerprint on it, but now that child isn't close to me anymore. Crying cat face.jpg"

That same afternoon, Elysia had used irreconcilable differences as the reason to make her little brother sign divorce papers as well. She divided half of An Yu's savings and used it as startup capital for the Pink Elf account.

Then she successfully made money from money and covered both siblings' college tuition... though that maneuver had also deeply shocked eighteen-year-old An Yu.

Aponia: "?"

Sakura: "I'm going to work. Let's stop chatting for now."

Though she had taken the day off today, her heart felt somewhat clogged right now.

Elysia: "Entering society is so annoying. Everyone gets less and less time together... But! Everyone has to be happy!"

Sakura: ...

She silently opened the settings and turned on Do Not Disturb for the group chat.

Aponia: "I think it's alright. At my private clinic, the patients are unexpectedly easy to talk to. Cat feeling sentimental.jpg"