Bronya mercilessly roasted the utterly illogical plan. Of course, she knew Cocolia wasn't actually that stupid.
The fact that her perspective was so limited only proved that Cocolia hadn't told her the full scope of the operation. The true plan was highly likely something Bronya would find completely unacceptable, which was why she was only given the tip of the iceberg.
But all of that was just speculation.
The hard fact was: Cocolia had specifically warned her to be extremely wary of an ordinary high school student named "Li Wu".
Huh?!
I've wiped out several international criminal syndicates on my own!
And you want the Silver Wolf of the Urals to worry about a completely ordinary Far East high schooler?!
Bronya thought it was completely absurd... until her broker dug up Li Wu's combat record.
Before looking into it, she didn't know.
After looking into it, Bronya could only describe it in two words:
"Fucking badass."
"How the hell did an ordinary guy slaughter the entire Blood Wolf Mercenary Group?! If I were doing that job, I'd need to plan for days in advance and set up countless traps! Doing it all in one night is fucking impossible. There will always be stragglers who slip through the net. The ones that escape are the most dangerous hidden threats; you absolutely have to pull them out by the roots!"
"The dossier shows he's very close to Raiden Mei, the heiress of ME Corp; Ana Schariac, the Holy Maiden of the Schariac family; and Kiana Kaslana, a direct descendant of the Kaslana family..."
"He has no background and no supernatural powers himself. He probably relies on those three. After all, the night Ryoma Raiden ordered a full-scale manhunt against them, the records state that Li Wu lured the majority of the enemies to a single location, and they only barely survived because Raiden Mei unleashed her Herrscher Authority. He himself probably doesn't have much combat capability."
"But seriously, is this guy a protagonist from an anime or something?! A completely unremarkable background character, yet his relationships with three illustrious noble heiresses are ambiguous as hell... It's too damn surreal."
Bronya rapidly formed a judgment of Li Wu. Naturally, when executing a mission, you could never completely trust the intelligence dossier.
Everything she had dug up was purely surface-level data.
Experience told her that the truth was highly likely a case of a pig eating a tiger. Or perhaps he was a fox exploiting the tiger's might, slapping his face until it swelled just to look intimidating. The specific truth could only be verified through direct contact.
So... she immediately contacted an acquaintance: Ruslan.
To her surprise, Ruslan actually knew Li Wu! They were friends!
How rare.
She knew Ruslan's personality. He didn't fit in with the mercenary circle at all and rarely had companions. Anyone he was willing to call a 'friend' was definitely a good person.
The two hit it off immediately and decided to meet Li Wu at a location Ruslan picked.
Suddenly, Bronya's footsteps stopped.
She uncontrollably gravitated toward a certain gift shop, crouching down in front of the pastel-yellow display window.
Inside the window, a row of plushies in various poses sat neatly lined up. Some were lying down, some were sitting, and some were hugging fruit and vegetable toys.
And right in the middle—
Yellow.
Round ears.
A silly, goofy smile.
It's a limited-edition HOMU!
Bronya's eyes instantly lit up.
She leaned forward slightly, her two small hands unconsciously pressing against the display glass. Her delicate, usually arrogant little face that seemed to find everyone annoying, was now completely plastered with two massive words: "I WANT."
She just stared intently at the plushie, her gray eyes refusing to blink.
"Do you like it, little girl? Come on in and take a look!" the clerk standing outside the shop said with a warm smile.
Bronya just gave a soft "Mhm," and continued staring at the HOMU. She didn't go inside.
She had no money!
She had given all her money to improve the infrastructure of the orphanage and the children's living conditions. She personally had basically nothing left.
If she had the money, she would have gone in and bought it ages ago!
A fashionably dressed young woman walked out of the store. She shot Bronya a disdainful glance and whispered to her companion, "She's been squatting there forever. You can tell she's too broke to buy anything."
She thought she was whispering, but for someone like Bronya, whose body had been remodeled by Honkai energy, sounds that normal people considered muffled were crystal clear.
Bronya whipped around and aggressively flipped the middle finger at the woman who had mocked her. "Shut the fuck up, dumbass! The money I make in a year could buy your fucking life!"
The young woman instantly flared up. Shoving her countless shopping bags into her companion's arms, she marched aggressively toward Bronya.
"Oh?~ What a joke! Even whores have boyfriends nowadays?"
"Who the hell are you calling a whore?! You're the whore! Your whole family are whores!"
"Oh boo-hoo, you're crying already? How pathetic! You think you can talk shit behind my back and I have to just swallow it?! Who the fuck do you think you are, talking to me like that?! Is your mom a wholesale distributor?! You're a whore, admit it! You think I don't know you just spent your so-called 'boyfriend's' money?!"
"Y-you... you... you!!! What if I admit it, huh?!"
"Oh, great! Then say it! Say: 'If I didn't use my own money, my entire family will die a horrible death!' What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or are you really just a fucking whore trading your body for cash?"
Bronya sneered coldly, her words absolutely merciless and venomous.
Suddenly, the phone in her pocket buzzed. Ignoring the young woman screaming obscenities at her, Bronya pulled it out.
Even her phone case was custom-made, embedded with a glowing HOMU pattern. She had modified it so that whenever the screen lit up, the HOMU's eyes would glow.
The message was from Ruslan: [Where are you?]
Bronya kept one eye on the furiously hyperventilating woman while typing entirely with one hand. She replied rapidly: [Looking at HOMU. Got into an argument with some bitch, though.]
Ruslan: [Don't cause trouble.]
Bronya: [You should tell her that.]
Bronya locked her phone and shoved it back into her pocket. Right as she finished, the young woman had already marched right up to her face.
Just as her lipstick-smeared mouth opened to scream, the thunderous roar of an engine erupted from behind them.
The woman turned around.
Bronya's gaze bypassed the woman, looking toward the road.
Under the dazzling sunlight, a staggeringly luxurious red sports car pulled over by the curb. Its chassis was fiercely aerodynamic, the rear spoiler flaring out like the wings of a Cretaceous pterosaur, brimming with aggressive, fluid beauty.
Someone in the crowd recognized the model and muttered that the price was utterly astronomical.
Soon after...
Stepping out into the sunlight, Ruslan and a black-haired young man emerged from the car. Ruslan was towering and burly, overflowing with rugged masculinity.
The young man walking behind him didn't say a single word. He just walked forward quietly.
His pace was slow, yet every single step exuded an undeniable aura of supreme nobility, even though the total cost of his entire outfit probably wasn't enough to buy a single lug nut for that car.
"Haha! Silver Wolf! Long time no see! You're still exactly the same as always, constantly picking fights with people! That's not right, you know. We finally get a chance to meet, don't look so grumpy! Look, I brought you a very interesting friend! He's also my boss! Let me tell you, the amount of money I made in the past half-month... you absolutely wouldn't believe it!"
Seeing an old friend, Ruslan let out a hearty, booming laugh.
Bronya clicked her tongue and turned her head away, her tone light. "It's not like I started it. If someone curses at me, am I supposed to just not curse back?"
Having said her piece, she couldn't wait any longer. She immediately shifted her gaze to Li Wu.
Ruslan's boss? His sugar daddy?
Bronya carefully looked Li Wu up and down. He was dressed incredibly normally, but that red sports car parked behind him was definitely worth a fortune!
"H-hell—"
Before Bronya could even finish saying "hello", the young woman who had just been trying to tear Bronya's throat out suddenly trotted right up to Li Wu. Her face was plastered with a saccharine, fawning smile.
Her foundation was caked on so thick a normal person might not notice, but Li Wu saw every crack with crystal clarity.
"Senior! Do you guys know each other?"
"..."
Li Wu completely ignored the woman. On the way over, he had already heard Bronya's argument with her, so he perfectly understood the situation.
As for the sports car... he had bought it directly using [Future Loan]. Ruslan had advised him to dress up a bit, saying that if he looked like a wealthy scion, Bronya would be much more "interested" in him.
Li Wu didn't know exactly what kind of interest Ruslan meant.
But compared to simply dressing up, Li Wu felt that casually driving up in a hypercar was a much more effective way to prove himself. He had plenty of money left in the card anyway. Buying a hypercar was nothing.
"Hello. My name is Li Wu. Nice to meet you. You can just call me Wu."
This time, it was Bronya's turn to freeze.
Brother, you're talking to a beautiful girl, not a fucking rock!
Could you please put at least a tiny bit of emotion into your voice?!
Bronya complained internally. However, facing this hard-won sugar daddy, she maintained the very little politeness she possessed.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Bronya Zaychik. You can just call me by my alias, Silver Wolf. I just want to ask... is this car yours?"
"Yes."
"How much was it?"
"A lot."
"I want to be your friend!"
"Okay."
This rapid-fire, insanely minimalist conversation left both the passing pedestrians and Ruslan utterly dumbfounded.
Are you two even human?!
What the hell kind of conversation is this?!
Several minutes later—
Bronya happily hugged the limited-edition HOMU plushie. She stuck her tongue out and made a face at the infuriated young woman, then hopped into the driver's seat of Li Wu's red sports car.
Ruslan casually made up an excuse to leave, giving the two of them a space to talk privately.
Inside the car, Li Wu cut straight to the chase. "You came to Nagazora City because of Cocolia's mission. What does she want you to do?"
"Hehe~"
The corners of Bronya's mouth curled up. She casually rested one hand on Li Wu's thigh in the passenger seat, rubbing her thumb and index finger together in the universal sign for cash.
"Pre-borrow."
[You have pre-borrowed 1,000 Far East Yen.]
A crisp thousand-yen bill materialized in Li Wu's pocket. He pulled it out and placed it into Bronya's hand.
"I knew it. There's no way that idiot Ruslan would just randomly introduce a friend to me for no reason. As expected, you want something from me... Haha, this is great! At first, I actually thought you were like those pathetic scumbags whose brains are attached to their dicks, and you just wanted me to sleep with you. After all, a lot of 'big shots' have those kinds of sick fetishes, you know?"
Bronya glanced at her own youthful reflection in the rearview mirror, her tone incredibly flippant and teasing.
"I am not that kind of person," Li Wu stated.
"Who knows? You can know a person's face, but not their heart. Even though this Silver Wolf is naturally beautiful, I'm not a fucking flower vase. There's no way I'd easily trust someone I just met."
"Honestly, if you really were that kind of person, I'd have to figure out a way to politely reject you. But being polite is the one thing I'm worst at. Trying not to swear is already my absolute limit."
She's far more lively than she was in the manga or the original game. And her personality... it seems she's evolved from a kuudere into a full-blown delinquent.
Li Wu made his evaluation internally.
"I don't care about any of that. I just want more intel."
"Look at you, getting impatient again," Bronya mocked. She yanked the steering wheel hard, executing a highly stylish and incredibly dangerous drift around a corner. Once the car stabilized, she glanced at Li Wu's completely expressionless face, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.
"As expected of a hypercar! The performance is fucking amazing! Sigh... how great would it be if I could own a hypercar one day..."
"Intel," Li Wu emphasized again. "Give me enough intel, and I will give you this car."
"OJBK! Li Wu, I fucking love you!!"
Bronya's eyes gleamed wildly. She slammed her foot on the gas. The hypercar instantly transformed into a red streak of lightning, tearing down the highway.
The surrounding scenery blurred and rapidly receded. Only she and Li Wu sat in the car, hurtling forward at an absolutely psychotic speed.
As for her sudden confession of love, neither of them took it seriously in the slightest. It was ultimately nothing more than a joke.
"Keep an eye on Raiden Mei, and bring her to Mama Cocolia after she loses control."
"Of course, I personally have absolutely no intention of doing that. What kind of fucking retard goes looking for a pile of shit to step in when they have nothing better to do? That's fucking ridiculous. I'm not like those retards."
"Raiden Mei? Ha! She's a walking, ticking nuclear bomb. Whoever touches her is gonna get fucked. Only an absolute retard would blindly follow those orders. I'll just help her gain control of the Herrscher Authority, make her owe me a huge favor, and then she'll naturally help me with my problem when the time comes."
As she spoke, Bronya casually crossed one leg over the other.
Yes.
A youthful, cyberpunk-styled little girl was driving a hypercar, her legs crossed, purely using one foot to slam the gas pedal.
If anyone else were in the passenger seat, they would likely be scared out of their wits by this sight.
But sitting in the passenger seat was Li Wu. Even if this car slammed head-on into a hundred-ton truck, he wouldn't die.
Bronya, on the other hand, hadn't inherited the Authority of Reason yet. If they got into a crash, she'd definitely end up as a red smear on the pavement.
"Is that it?"
"What else would there be? Do I look like a cheap bitch to you? You think I have so much free time I'd just wander around this city for fun? There are already so many fucking retards bothering me every day, trying to assign me the most brain-dead, retarded missions imaginable!"
"They have no fucking shame! If I get the chance, I'm absolutely gonna tie them all up and throw them into a pen full of rutting boars so they can experience what it truly means to be 'unwilling'!"
"That seems a bit extreme."
"Haha, I'm just joking! Li Wu, are you actually scared?"
"No."
"Oh? You're actually not? Interesting. I've got high hopes for you. You really are different from other men."
"I feel like that statement has absolutely zero credibility coming from your mouth."
"Oho~ Did I go too far? You're fucking amazing! I'm just teasing you, hehe~"
Bronya grinned, revealing two adorable little canine teeth. She narrowed her eyes, studying Li Wu with intense curiosity.
To be completely honest.
She was genuinely intrigued by this young man and his extraordinary aura.
She felt an inexplicable charisma radiating from him. If she had to force herself to describe Li Wu with a single phrase...
A lone star.
That phrase fit him perfectly.
He was blindingly radiant, yet profoundly lonely.
His wealth, his background, his interpersonal relationships, his courage, his temperament, his demeanor... he even possessed supernatural powers. No matter how you looked at him, he was anything but an ordinary person.
Calling him a dazzling sun wouldn't be wrong at all.
Yet, there wasn't a single trace of joy or interest in his eyes. His face was practically stamped with the words 'Loneliness' and 'Apathy'. He had nothing he felt he absolutely had to do, and nothing he genuinely wanted to do.