Reading Elysia’s comment, Xiyue’s mouth quirked up.
A tiny little body?
Who could ever imagine that the Duckling of eight years later, little Bronya, would become the statuesque Big Duck?
She’d pulled off what a certain immortal hadn’t managed in fifty thousand years.
Thinking of her own class monitor’s painfully flat chest, Xiyue rather wanted to pass on a special technique or two, but the moment the thought formed, she suddenly realized something.
Xiyue paused mid-motion, lowered her head for a glance, then returned her gaze to the screen.
Everyone else could mock an immortal for being unremarkable, but she, of all people, could not.
Eyes on the screen, she took in this strange yet familiar story.
Back when she first played Chapter 1, she’d felt nothing much; most people skipped the story outright.
After all, I’m here to play a game, not to watch a plot!
But as the later chapters built layer upon layer, players got ‘healed’ to pieces and only then discovered the knives had been set up from the very start.
All you could say was: that’s miHoYo for you.
In the game, Bronya studied the console before her.
She’d intended to crack it with her own superb skills, but the results on the screen caught her off guard.
“No operation password… all access permissions open… how can this be?”
After that, Himeko and Bronya exchanged words, which left the audience puzzled too.
This seemingly impressive battleship didn’t have a single soul aboard.
But as Bronya discovered a strange email, the mystery gradually unraveled.
In her flat, emotionless loli voice, Bronya read the email aloud.
“Dear Kiana, hello!
This battleship, the Selene, is at last returned to you after fourteen years.
You will ascend the throne and shape a new world.
But before that, you must first find four keys.”
“The Lightning of Conquest, the Flames of Pestilence.
The Storm of Desire, the Death of Serenity.
Oh, and the navigation system’s password is your birthday~”
Reading this, Xiyue really wanted to gripe.
Collect all four Gems, then summon Shenron.
Oh wait, no, the Queen.
As for who’d sent it, there was plenty of debate.
Some said Siegfried, some said Welt Yang (the “Yang sit-ups” guy in the memes), and some said Cocolia, since the manga itself said Welt sent it.
And the gathering of all four Gems was precisely the moment of the Queen’s descent, and the Queen’s descent was one of the most crucial steps in his plan.
When the comments saw this stretch of story, there was a lot of discussion too.
Kitty Snuggles: What, what, gifting a whole battleship?!
Kiana, no, Boss Kiana, just what kind of family is this?
Boss, next time you’ve got business, come to me, come to me!
I’ll definitely cut you a deal on the price!
Wants to Buy an Island: If you sold off this battleship, couldn’t you buy a whole bunch of islands (abababa)
Meanwhile, the real Kiana, booted out of the classroom by Himeko and made to stand in the doorway as punishment, wore the very same look as her in-game self: big eyes, big confusion.
“Could stinky Dad have sent it?”
“But stinky Dad should be even poorer than me right now.”
No Exams Thanks: Pssh, she’s just an utterly unremarkable young lady!
And deep in Kiana’s mind, the Queen watched the story before her, the corners of her mouth curving up faintly.
She knew better than anyone what would happen once Kiana gathered all four Gems.
Equally shocked was Elysia, though what shocked her wasn’t that the battleship was a gift, but the Selene itself, because at this very moment back in MOTH, someone had already put forward a Project Selene.
In the game, everyone asked Kiana for her birthday, but at this point Kiana was a little too embarrassed to say it herself.
Luckily, Mei spoke up a step ahead.
“Bronya, Kiana’s birthday is December 7th.”
No Exams Thanks: Mei, my Mei.
Standing in the classroom doorway, Kiana saw Mei rattle off her birthday so readily, and her eyes turned into little hearts again, just like a lovestruck fool.
[Navigation access granted.
Navigation destination changed.
New destination: St.
Freya Academy.]
Beside her, Kiana heard the system voice and made a face of distaste.
“Huh?
It really is my birthday?”
Seeing this, Mei’s expression eased, and she said softly.
“Looks like whoever sent the battleship meant no harm.”
The words had barely left Mei’s mouth when Bronya, standing at the console, flashed her eyes, and the armament across her body shifted.
[Bio-chip anomaly detected.
Forcibly seizing the emergency system.
Rebooting.
Switching to elimination mode.
Clearing all surrounding enemies.]
With that, Bronya’s eyes went blood-red, brimming with killing intent fixed on Kiana and Mei.
Then came the Black Nucleus fight, controlling White Comet and Crimson Impulse, going toe to toe with Black Nucleus.
No idea what miHoYo was thinking back then, dropping a high-difficulty boss like Black Nucleus in Chapter 2.
Who knows how many people Black Nucleus crushed, until the story got reworked later.
In no time she cleared it, and then Bronya lay in Mei’s arms, gazing dazedly at everyone.
Seeing the worry in Kiana’s and Mei’s eyes, she realized something.
“Bronya… could it be Bronya’s chip lost control?”
“Bronya, are you all right?”
“Bronya is fine.
But once we return to the Academy, Major Himeko, please arrange a full physical examination for Bronya.”
And with that, the story ended.
Kitty Snuggles: Huh, Bronya’s super cute and all, but how come this story leaves me all muddled?
Wants to Buy an Island: This “full examination,” is it on the level?
((✺ω✺))
Miss Pink Elf♪: What’s the deal with this twist?
Little cutie Bronya, how’d she change all of a sudden?
Could it be the little cutie’s a Herrscher, same as Mei?
Xiyue saw everyone’s confusion, which was about what she’d expected.
After all, when she first started the game she’d been full of question marks too.
Who’d have known Chapter 1 would bury this many hooks?
Luckily the manga came out later, so she learned why Bronya turned out this way.
She explained to everyone.
“Bronya’s background is a little special.
Because of a certain experiment, Bronya’s emotional circuits were severely damaged and both her legs were ruined.
That’s why Bronya’s body is always floating.
There’s a bio-chip installed inside her, and that bio-chip can control Bronya.”
“And what just went out of control was obviously the doing of whoever controls Bronya’s chip.”
“As for who that is, let’s just watch the story unfold, nice and slow~”
Xiyue was playing the riddler once more.
Kitty Snuggles: Aaagh!
Boss Yuexi, you might as well have said nothing.
So annoying!
Pardo, seeing this riddler act, bounced up off her cardboard box in a huff, startling the cat sprawled on top of her.
Miss Pink Elf♪: What an unlovable little thing.
Unlovable little things get punished, you know~
And Elysia really wanted to scoop Xiyue into her arms and thoroughly torment her.
As for our island-coveting Raven, a mercenary facing a riddler like Xiyue, she thought of the Jackal she’d just met, recalled Jackal’s smug face, and said sourly.
“Riddler, get out of Gotham!”