On a bright, breezy weekend morning, sunlight filtered through the clean glass windows, casting warm patches of light across the floor.
Xia Mi had no classes. Dressed in loose, comfortable loungewear, she curled up on the living room sofa like a cat.
The television was on, playing Animal World. Teacher Zhao Zhongxiang's steady voice narrated tales of the African savanna, but she clearly was not paying much attention. More often than not, she lowered her head to scroll through her phone, her fingers swiftly swiping across the screen.
Amon sat in the armchair beside her with a laptop resting on his knees. Its screen glowed faintly, displaying the Hunter Net interface. He occasionally scrolled through the page, his expression focused as though he were screening missions.
The living room was quiet, filled only with the television's background audio and the soft tapping of keys. Sunlight fell over the two of them, outlining their languid silhouettes.
Just then, Xia Mi's phone suddenly let out a crisp series of beeps.
It was a QQ message.
The sender's nickname was unmistakably "World's Cutest Fenrir."
Xia Mi froze, an exceptionally strange expression flashing across her face, as though she wanted to laugh but forcibly held it in. She tapped open the message.
World's Cutest Fenrir: "Sis, sis! What are you doing? "
It was followed by a built-in cartoon penguin emoji that wriggled around.
She looked up and glanced at Amon beside her, who was intently staring at his computer screen.
There was no need to ask. This was the work of her bargain-bin brother. Not only had he equipped Fenrir with a computer and set up an internet connection, he had actually taught that dumb dragon how to use QQ and even given him such a... facepalm-inducing nickname.
Xia Mi tapped out a