The neon lights dazzled with myriad colors, and the streets were filled with holographic images formed by high technology.
Long legs, provocative clothing, bewitching dance moves, and words filled with sexual innuendo were used to push products. The giant screens never missed an opportunity to hollow out people's energy and wallets, everything challenging the peak of human desire.
This is...
"Good evening, Arc City!"
"I am your iron buddy, Scott!"
" The all-powerful Shencheng Tech actually cappedsize last night! The Shencheng District security system, which claims that even three hundred hackers invading simultaneously couldn't breach it, was actually broken through by a single challenger acting alone!"
"You're really something, Shencheng, hahaha! My prosthetic body is about to laugh off!"
"The specific losses of Shencheng Tech are unknown, but looking at the reaction, they were definitely screwed over big time. Enthusiastic citizens from the Chaoyang District revealed that the one who made the move was that famous legendary hacker—Haxxor Bunny!"
Duck-san, a modulating voice came from the broadcast.
"Hey, this damn Scott, spouting nonsense! Slander! Theresa, they are slandering me!"
Walking in the cyber city, the light curtain of the dome shimmered faintly.
The young girl, wearing a black rabbit-head hood and sporting gray-blue gradient spiral twin-tails, couldn't hold it back immediately after hearing the broadcast, cursing and swearing.
"Bronie, keep your voice down!"
A girl wearing sunglasses and a mask, whose tender white skin could still be seen, panic-strickenly covered her good partner's mouth. Under her dark green beret was dustless white hair, and she had wrapped herself up tightly. She only sighed in relief after noticing that the people around them hadn't paid attention.
"Sorry, sorry."
Bronie put her palms together and winked cutely: "I forgot that Arc City's most famous super idol, the Taixu Sect's super cash cow, is right beside me."
As she spoke, the girl swung her slender, beautiful legs, which were bound with black leg rings and cute knee pads, skipping and spinning with crossed legs, perfectly synchronizing her movements with a certain super idol on the large holographic neon projection behind her.
"Let I, TeRiRi, bestow glory upon you!"
Bronie's eyes turned into (ω).
Her pinched voice maxed out the cuteness of her already milky tone, enough to make certain lolicons ascend to heaven just by listening.
"Starry Magic, welcome the Moon's Law Sue, let me Do-Re-Mi you! TeRiRi, Lati transformation~!"
The embellished, affected tone gave Theresa goosebumps as she hugged her shoulders, a large vein popping on her forehead:
"Bronie! Give me! Immediately! Shut! Your small mouth!"
"Not learning the good stuff, just imitating me."
Theresa said grumpily: "Besides, that was my business voice. When have you ever seen me pinch my throat like that normally?"
"Also, don't think you can change the subject like this!"
Theresa crossed her arms over her chest, enunciating her words heavily.
Clearly, this Theresa isotope was not infected with the 'Derp-lisa' virus; understanding her partner as she did, it was impossible for her attention to be diverted by such petty tricks.
"Explain to me, the blackout in the Shencheng District, what was that about?"
Bronie's deliberately put-on soft and cute magical girl expression froze. She lowered her head slightly, her face hidden under the rabbit-ear hood in the dim light.
Seeing Bronie reveal this appearance, the anger from being imitated gradually subsided, and a look of worry appeared on Theresa's face.
"Bronie, do you really want to..."
The hacker girl didn't answer immediately. Instead, she raised her head, her silver-gray gaze piercing through the dreamlike, magnificent neon lights.
There were no stars in the night sky. Under the black curtain of night, obscure gloom flashed and passed—this was the color of the light curtain, a faint, ghostly blue.
The Light Curtain. This was a spectacle unique to Arc City.
Like a giant bowl buckled over Arc City, isolating the inside from the outside. No one knew where this light curtain came from, what its operating principle was, or why it existed.
Is it to protect Arc City?
Is there an apocalypse or monsters outside?
Or is it a method by aliens to bind Arc City?
Don't know. Nobody knows.
But for Bronie, this light curtain was a cage.
This city was filled with traces of capital manipulation. Ordinary people who couldn't master information technology and cybernetics could only be manipulated without knowing it.
Bronie didn't like a world like this.
She worked hard to study hacker knowledge, becoming a pivotal super hacker in Arc City, only so she wouldn't be bound by the information cocoon, to be able to tear down the falsehoods blinding the eyes of those guys above, to see the truth clearly, and to possess a certain amount of freedom.
But as Bronie grew older, even Arc City with its population of tens of millions became smaller and smaller.
"Yeah, I want to open the light curtain."
Bronie looked up to meet Theresa's eyes and nodded seriously.
She and Cioara always quarreled. Although there were personality reasons, it was more because she hated the life of being bound to death by rules.
Bronya didn't like the life trajectory Cioara had designated for her. She wanted to lift this curtain, look at the world outside, and gallop through a broader world!
To adventure!
To Trailblaze!
Theresa fell silent, asking hesitantly:
"Bronie, are you sure you want to do this? This is making enemies of the three major factions. Are you really prepared for this?"
Her tone contained unconcealable worry.
The method to open the light curtain had never been a secret. As long as one gathered the three keys, one could control the light curtain.
And the three core keys were in the hands of the three largest factions in Arc City respectively: Shencheng Tech, the Taixu Sect, and Serpent's Eye.
The entire city could be said to be controlled by the three major factions. Ordinary people were just ants in front of them; even the legendary hacker Haxxor Bunny was powerless to shake them.
"I've thought it through. I've already made the mental preparations."
Bronie slightly covered herself with her hood, her tone becoming serious.
She wanted to see a broader heaven and earth, a more wonderful and myriad world!
Theresa wanted to persuade her further, but seeing Bronie's eyes gazing at the firmament, silver-gray pupils harboring determination and resolve, the feeling she gave off became different from usual.
Theresa finally sighed: "What do you need me to do?"
"Hehe, I knew you would help me!"
Bronie revealed a 'just as planned' smile.
"You, oh you!"
Theresa grumpily poked Bronie's forehead with her finger.
There was no helping it. Who asked her to always treat Bronie as her own little sister?
She understood her sister's personality very well. Once she decided on something, it absolutely couldn't be changed. She was extremely stubborn!
"I'm easy to talk to, but you'd better think about how to get Cioara to agree."
Theresa crossed her arms.
"I... I'll think of a way..."
Mentioning Cioara, Bronie's expression became conflicted. That was tough!
"That's it for today. I'll tell you when I've thought of a plan. Bye."
Saying goodbye to Theresa at the intersection, Bronie walked towards the direction of 'home'.
Outside Raven's Bar.
Bronie checked the time. 3:00 AM. She instantly felt even more guilty.
"Hope Cioara is already asleep."
Bronie quietly opened the door a small crack, carefully poking her head in to look inside, only to run head-on into those pair of bewitching crimson pupils like rubies.
Although this shopkeeper lady always upheld a cold, impersonal attitude on weekdays, showing no favor even to frequent customers, one had to admit that being beautiful meant one could do whatever one wanted.
Even if the service attitude was overly cold, or even a bit dismissive, there were still plenty of men who would empty their wallets just to say a couple of words to this aloof shopkeeper lady.
But for Bronie, the coldness at this moment was different.
Crap!
Bronie's heart skipped a beat.
She didn't run, because it was already too late.
"S-Sorry... I came back a bit late."
With a submissive expression and tiny, weak words, it was hard to imagine this was the Haxxor Bunny who could turn clouds into rain in the cyber world.
"Heh, that's really only 'a bit' late, huh."
With an exquisite, pretty face and light gray shoulder-length short hair, paired with a figure whose graceful curves were hard to hide even wrapped up tightly, Cioara's expression was icy:
"Enough. I know you're a busy person. You've grown capable, huh? Daring to get involved even in Shencheng Group's matters."
"I didn't participate in the firefight, I just hacked the power grid a bit."
Bronie argued in a whisper.
"Participate in the firefight? Do you think you'd still be able to talk to me here if you did?!"
Cioara slammed a tablecloth onto the bar counter with a pa sound.
"It's impossible for them to find me."
Bronie turned around, pursing her lips, and looked at Cioara very seriously: "My skills are very strong now, really strong."
"Bronya!!"
In her anger, Cioara called the girl by her real name directly.
"How many times have I told you! Arc City's intelligence network has long been intercepted by Serpent's Eye."
"Independent hackers are both dangerous and have no profit margins, only able to pick up what others have left over... Can't you do anything else besides these opportunistic things?"
Cioara gritted her teeth, suppressing her anger.
"Bronie, you always think you've found opportunities that others can't find... It was like this before, and it's still like this now!!!"
Speaking to this point, Cioara seemed to deflate, covering her forehead weakly:
"Bronya, is it that I can't feed you? Or have I mistreated you?"
"You want manga, I buy it for you. You want big meals, I cook for you. You want to watch cartoons, I bought the TV. You want to learn tech, I prepared the computer. What haven't I given you!"
"This home, this Raven's, who do you think I opened this shop for!"
"Stop playing your mercenary and hacker games. Isn't it good to just stay here peacefully and be a bar waitress?"
The gradually rising voice represented suppressed emotions. Cioara took repeated deep breaths to barely calm down, stuffing a waitress uniform into Bronie's hands:
"Go change your clothes. Sweep the lobby and the bar counter clean, wipe the tables too, and then come to the kitchen to help me."
"No!"
She had been trying hard to suppress the emotions in her heart from start to finish, but when Cioara said those words, she finally couldn't hold it back anymore.
The clothes were thrown out by Bronie, knocking over a glass cup which fell to the floor and shattered.
"I don't want to live this kind of life where I can see the end at a glance!"
With a slightly trembling, crying tone, Bronie ran upstairs without looking back.
"Bronie! Bronie! Bronya!!"
Cioara's desperate shouts behind her made the girl feel waves of distress, running even faster.
Bang!!
Bronie locked herself in her room, throwing her petite body onto the bed, burying her head in the pillow, taking repeated deep breaths to calm her emotions.
It was like this again. She and Cioara really couldn't communicate normally. They quarreled again.
Worries fluttered in her mind. The girl, who had pulled an all-nighter for two days, felt a bit exhausted. She slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Unknown how long she slept, Bronie slowly opened her eyelids.
"Hmm?"
Gazing at the small alley in front of her, the girl's silver-gray eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment.
She just had a sleep.
Where the hell has this sent me to?
Is this still Arc City?
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