Starting with the Herrschers, I Cut Down All

Ling secretly glanced at the chief producer, who hadn't started speaking yet. "Your sister told you that?"

"No, I lied to my sister."

After all, An Yu wasn't really a child, and it was hard to imagine any child in the world raising another child.

Even though compulsory education had now been fully implemented, with student aid and other policies providing comprehensive coverage...

Ling's little face went blank. Huh? You lied to your sister? So which one of you was actually older?

Before she could sort out her thoughts, Bronya at the front tapped the microphone, and the crisp sound instantly quieted the conference room.

But Ling still couldn't help asking, "Did she believe you?"

An Yu seemed to see his sister's eyes from long ago, instantly reddened and filled with helplessness and sadness. He gave an almost inaudible "Mm."

"She cried for a long time."

After a moment, he added that.

After all, getting along well with Ling was important.

Maybe he could win over her sister, and since they were both Anti-Entropy employees, perhaps Ms. Sakura would find her conscience and help him persuade Elysia.

As for Bronya's impassioned speech... An Yu didn't pay much attention to it.

Since Anti-Entropy had always been there to back them up, the boss didn't seem to understand the essence of mobilization all that well. It felt like... doubling this year's salaries and tying bonuses to results would work better.

And perhaps because it involved memories of her own youth, Bronya was being a little too fired up right now.

When they returned to work, Ling skipped along cheerfully in front. From far away, she spotted her computer screen; the code on it was already running.

Yes!

"Senior, let me emphasize this again: I didn't get in through connections!"

The girl clenched her rosy fist, brimming with energy, shining with confidence.

In response, An Yu simply returned to his workstation, pondered for a moment, and sent the boss a private message.

An Yu: "How did Ling get in?"

Bronya: "Her sister put in a word, and the girl is pretty capable."

The boss's response was brief and to the point.

An Yu looked at the screen and leaned back in his chair with satisfaction. He knew it.

P.S. I was planning to post this at eight in the morning. The day after tomorrow, it'll switch to the dreamscape.

Your Sister Is Sick

"An Yu, your! childhood! sweetheart! is downstairs! waiting for you!"

It was that same voice, envious to the point of jealousy. An Yu instinctively wanted to take out his phone and ask what nonsense his sister was up to again, but the phone was in the hands of the "high school student."

She wasn't really waiting. Elysia had simply wandered around for a while, gotten tired, and found a familiar spot downstairs. She held a heavily loaded cup of milk tea and slowly sipped from it.

At the same time, she cast a net in the group chat full of fair-weather friends, seeing which lucky person she could fish out today to keep her company while she killed time.

An Yu tapped away at his keyboard. Though technology had developed rapidly in this era, most jobs still didn't permit direct mental input.

He opened his chat window with Elysia.

An Yu: "Sis, why don't you find a job?"

Though the siblings weren't short on money... at least not small amounts of money, Elysia spent all day loafing around. An Yu was genuinely afraid she'd turn into a fair, soft little parasite.

There was nothing wrong with being a useless member of society. At worst, he'd support his sister for the rest of her life.

But if being useless was combined with mental illness, that wouldn't be funny anymore.

An Yu had an inexplicable fear of psychiatric hospitals. What if his sister got talked into something there and started waving around a clothes hanger every day, shouting, "Watch closely, Xiao Yu, this strike is going to look awesome!"

If her chuunibyou evolved into a quantum superposition of mental illness and chuunibyou, and she started yelling every day that humanity would definitely defeat the Honkai... just imagining the scene made An Yu feel that his future was bleak.

Elysia: "But I have a two-year employment gap. I can't exactly say I stayed home preparing for pregnancy..."

Why were you so obsessed with that pregnancy preparation thing? Couldn't you make up another reason?

Though, to be fair... preparing for pregnancy really was the best excuse for a woman. And a new company wouldn't even have to worry about her continuing to prepare for pregnancy, so it was practically a win-win.

Elysia: "And if people ask about my marital status, I can't say that the pregnancy preparation is over, that I'm currently unmarried, and living with my younger brother, can I?"

Elysia: "And then... boohoo~"

An Yu: "Terrified cat meme.jpg"

An Yu: "Sis, what do you gain from sparing no effort to ruin my reputation?"

Did an ambiguous atmosphere really make you that happy?

An Yu didn't dislike it either, but whenever he thought about how he still had such a wonderful youth ahead of him, yet his future already seemed anchored in place, a fear from deep in his heart would quietly surface.

Too terrifying. And his sister had mental illness, one that seemed to be getting worse. Her sudden unfamiliarity and hostility left An Yu completely at a loss.

Elysia: "Dragon roar.jpg"

Elysia: "I found the message where you booked an appointment at a clinic."

An Yu: "..."

How did you find that?

Tragic. vivo had fallen... even vivo with its private space wasn't reliable anymore.

Elysia hadn't actually found it, but An Yu had booked an appointment at Aponia's clinic.

Though Elysia also suspected Aponia had bought positive reviews, the patient feedback didn't quite seem like it, and its authenticity appeared to have fooled Xiao Yu as well.

Elysia: "Shouldn't you be apologizing right now?"

An Yu: "I sacrificed my valuable time to ask around for you, book a doctor, and worry myself sick. Why should I apologize?"

He replied with complete confidence, his hands never stopping as he neatly closed the chat app in the background, preparing to focus on work.

He also informed the clinic in advance that the planned Void Mountain motorcycle race tonight would be put on hold. Checking out the clinic first was more important.

"An Yu! Look at the company entrance! Elysia can actually play guitar!"

An Yu: ...

Mm, his sister really could.

And with his sister's outrageously extroverted nature, An Yu wouldn't be surprised if one day she carried a guitar to the central plaza and held a solo concert.

Inside the clinic.

The hand supporting Aponia's chin slipped, and her head dipped lightly. The nun in the dreamscape snapped fully awake from her hazy drowsiness.

The sky outside the window had gradually darkened. She kept reinforcing her mental defenses as she walked to the window.

After some time, the roar of a motorcycle made her look toward the sound. Elysia sat in the back with both hands raised high, not wearing a helmet. She smiled wildly and brightly, her long hair flowing in the wind.

"How strange. Such close siblings are always sworn enemies in the dreamscape..."

The anchors of reality were gradually being recovered. The sense of temporal confusion between dream and reality made her feel slightly excited and expectant.

There was always a voice by her ear, like the serpent that had tempted Adam to eat the apple. The little angel and devil within her heart kept fighting, until she slapped them all down.

Was this dreamscape, like some kind of apocalypse, a revelation from heaven or temptation from the devil...

These past days, she had continuously used everything she had learned in her life to actively hypnotize herself, attempting to piece together every possibility from the bizarre fragments of dreams.

But her subjective initiative in the dreamscape was simply too weak.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Excuse me, is the doctor in?"

"Come in."

Aponia smiled softly. Before the patient and his family entered, she flipped her name tag over and tucked it into her four-dimensional pocket.

At the very least, An Yu couldn't be allowed to learn her name before their conversation was over.

The moment An Yu entered and saw the doctor, he wanted to turn around and leave.

She was this young? Was she trying to fool ghosts?

"Here are my professional qualifications and relevant credentials."

As though she had anticipated his distrust, Aponia pushed a tablet toward him.

An Yu scanned it, spotted three records involving Teacher Einstein, and the frost on his face instantly melted away. His smile became exceptionally sincere.

"Oh my, Doctor, you're far too polite! There's no need to look at all this."

"Since I chose your clinic, I naturally trust your professional ability one hundred percent."

Aponia pursed her lips in a faint smile without exposing him.

"Then should I wait outside first?"

An Yu only felt that he had absolutely come to the right place!

Why?

Teacher Einstein's endorsement! That was a gold-plated seal of approval!

"Please rest assured. The initial assessment won't take too long."

Aponia's voice was gentle as her gaze shifted to Elysia, who had been unusually quiet since entering.

"And from what I can see, your... 'female friend' seems to be in quite a good mood. Communication should go smoothly."

She deliberately placed an imperceptible emphasis on the words "female friend." Hearing it, Elysia immediately lowered her head in cooperation, her shoulders trembling slightly as though she were trying to suppress her unease.

After An Yu exited the room with a solemn expression that said, I'm leaving my sister in your care, the door had barely closed when Elysia instantly lifted her head. There wasn't the slightest trace of dejection on her cheeks; instead, her eyes were smiling.

"Wow, Aponia, you have to speak up for me to Xiao Yu. He insists I have delusions and mental illness."

Aponia maintained her gentle smile and lightly pushed an assessment form toward her with her fingertips. "Certainly."

The assessment didn't take long.

Once the diagnosis was over, Elysia still spoke to Aponia in a worried whisper. "See? I'm not sick, right? Really not! Not even a little... At most, I might have a bit of ADHD."

But An Yu insisted she was sick, and yet she often couldn't find any reason to refute him.

"I understand, Ellie."

Aponia looked sincere. "How about this? You go out first, and I'll also give your younger brother a simple psychological screening while we're at it. What do you think?"

Elysia instantly perked up. Though she didn't think anything was wrong with An Yu, she really did want to know what he was thinking.

"Little brother, the doctor wants you to come in alone for a moment. She wants to say a few things."

Elysia winked at him. Her eyes weren't red, nor was there any sign that she had cried.

An Yu was somewhat confused as he entered the consultation room again.

Aponia confirmed that the door was tightly shut. Without any pleasantries, she went straight to the point.

"Mr. An Yu, your sister appears to have fairly severe delusions."

Only one thought remained in An Yu's mind: Just as expected!

Then a second thought arose: A doctor like Faer, such an old-school otaku, really isn't reliable.

And inevitably, the third thought followed: She needs treatment!

But I Can Make It Worse

Faced with An Yu's silence, Aponia raised her lashes, seemingly somewhat surprised.

"You should have already had an answer in your heart, shouldn't you?"

Aponia pushed a new assessment form toward An Yu.

Elysia definitely was ill. To Aponia, that conclusion was unmistakably clear.

With time displaced, the weight of the dreamscape would continue to grow heavier.