Stark withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyes; he found that the folks of Elation were always so dramatic, and he let out a laugh.
“I guess the next line is, ‘Max affinity is 9999.'”
“You knew that?
But that’s such an exaggeration…
9999 is the limit for an Aeon; my max affinity is 999.”
“How about we add what just happened into the plot?
A bad-influence childhood friend shows the other party a doujin, the male lead pulls out a real one in return, and the heroine in that book looks just like the childhood friend!”
“And then she gets beaten up by the tsundere, shy, and angry childhood friend.”
“Tsk, I really am a genius!”
“…”
She started working on it immediately.
Cold sweat broke out on Stark’s forehead, and he drew even more attentively…
The long night was endless, yet for him, it passed a bit too quickly.
In the blink of an eye, it was almost dawn, and in the end, he still couldn’t stop Nihilux from sharing that mess on the Herta Space Station forum.
[The Unspeakable Past Between Geniuses · Herta & Ruan Mei Arc]
[Researcher AAA: Is there any hope for me if I say I haven’t seen it now?
Guys, trust me, don’t click it, it’s terrifying!]
[Ms.
Herta is Number One: My eyes, my eyes!
No, Ms.
Ruan Mei, don’t do this!]
[Yuri is Supreme: Shockingly delicious!
This is what I live for.]
[This content has been banned.]
[The Herta: Boring, not factual.
Even if such a thing were to happen, Ruan Mei would only be the defensive party.]
Not long after…
Ruan Mei forwarded the same content to Herta again, accompanied by an ambiguous smile.
This content had been very popular online recently.
She wasn’t interested in most things outside of her research…
Coincidentally, this comic happened to be one of those few exceptions, and she was a bit curious about Herta’s reaction after seeing it.
[Herta: Boring.
You read this kind of stuff too?]
[Ruan Mei: I actually think it’s quite interesting.
Herta, at least it drew you very beautifully, didn’t it?]
[Herta: It barely reaches 50% of my beauty.]
This was some man’s final effort…
Author signature: I am not Stark.
Herta narrowed her eyes slightly.
She was a bit curious; the world only ever saw the appearance of her puppet, while her true self rarely showed herself.
Who could it be?
Across who knows how many light-years, in Punklorde.
Stark suddenly shivered.
It was probably because he had been staying up too late with Nihilux to finish the draft lately.
The boss lady was beautiful, certainly, and easy on the eyes…
But he still needed to practice moderation in his daily life.
Otherwise, he was afraid he might die from overwork.
“Stark…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Never mind, it’s nothing…”
“Oh?
Does Wolf Cub have a little secret now?”
She glanced at the boss lady’s bedroom, then looked at Stark.
Recently…
She noticed that Stark always disappeared in the middle of the night, and the next day he would have dark circles under his eyes, looking exhausted.
To be more precise, he was burnt out!
In contrast, the boss lady was radiant and in a pleasant mood.
Usually, the two of them didn’t talk, but in the last few days…
Stark and the boss lady had become noticeably closer.
During meals, their eyes would meet with a tacit understanding, followed by smiles.
Perhaps…
Stark and she had always been that close, right?
The little Wolf Cub blushed.
She felt that some things were better left unasked.
Could the mission released by the game cartridge really be that easy to complete?
Why…
wasn’t she as happy as she imagined?
She always wanted to say a few more words to Stark, but when they were together, she found she had no topics.
Not everyone could be like Stark, who could start acting crazy the moment he opened his mouth.
Calling her Wolfie…
Asking this and that, ‘Are you hot?
Are you cold?
Are you hungry?
Let’s play together, Wolf Cub is such a tsundere, go to sleep early, grow up fast, Wolfie I love you…’
Repeating these meaningless expressions of care.
But although they were meaningless, she didn’t hate them.
Had he been saying these things less often lately?
Silver Wolf scratched her hair in annoyance, turned her head, and walked toward the basement.
She still had to grind for game records and assemble equipment; she didn’t have time to be thinking about all this nonsense here.
Annoying, so annoying!
You’re supposed to become the Wolf Lord…
Why are you so useless?
“What’s wrong, Cub?
You don’t look quite right today.”
Stark stopped his work, smiling as usual, and quickly caught up to her.
He wiped his dirty palms on his clothes a couple of times and placed them on top of Silver Wolf’s head.
Although Wolf Cub was a tsundere, he knew…
the little girl actually loved getting head pats.
“Annoying, don’t touch me…”
“Don’t…”
Silver Wolf stopped in her tracks, her heart giving a sudden jolt.
Her words seemed a bit too harsh; she didn’t think Stark was annoying.
She was…
annoyed with herself, she shouldn’t have lost her temper at Stark.
Had she been acting a bit too presumptuous lately…
She turned her head blankly, but she didn’t know how to explain.
Words spoken are like spilled water; they couldn’t be gathered back.
“So…
sorry…”
Stark scratched his head, his smile still gentle.
Hmm, he hadn’t noticed his daughter’s emotional changes lately, even though they had been together the whole time, right?
What happened…
He felt a sour, stifling sensation in his heart too.
Oh no, he’d fallen into a woman’s trap again.
But well…
He was willing.
“It’s okay.
Are you unhappy?
Who upset my Wolf Cub?
I promise to help you beat them up severely.
Even if the God of Elation from the heavens came down, I would still kick its butt hard.”
The corners of his mouth curled up as he stared straight at Silver Wolf.
In his matching blue eyes, pampering like seawater threatened to drown her…
“I…”
The corners of Silver Wolf’s eyes turned even redder.
It was so strange; why did he have to look at her with that kind of gaze?
Was he not even angry?
Was it because she felt Stark didn’t care about her enough?
And that’s why she felt uncomfortable?
Please…
How could Silver Wolf possibly say something like that?
She was definitely not jealous, and she definitely wasn’t unhappy.
“I…
I’m fine, I’m fine…”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“…”
Stark pondered for a long time, feeling a bit of a headache.
How did this look like she was fine?
But Wolf Cub seemed so unwilling to talk…
Should he be the kind of father who forces her to talk, or should he just listen to her, and not interfere?
Dad…
You never taught me how to be a father.
Being a father doesn’t seem as easy as I imagined, huh…
“It’s fine…
Is that so?
That’s good then.”
“Um, if anything happens…
make sure to remember to tell me.”
“…”
Silver Wolf didn’t respond.
She clenched her fists, her shoulders trembling slightly, and turned to run towards the basement Arcade as if fleeing.
It was too hurried, and she almost tumbled down.
Stark reached out with his hand, wanting to say something but stopping himself.
For a moment, it felt a bit like they had parted on bad terms.
The fast-food restaurant was terrifyingly quiet.
Before he knew it, Nihilux appeared beside Stark, resting her chin on her hand.
Watching the fleeing Wolf Cub, she smiled as if mocking him.
See…
This is what happens when you put yourself in the game!
Maybe it’s not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”