Chapter 128: The Brand-New Version [Cyberangel]Is About to Be Released!
It had been about half a month since the launch of the new Honkai Impact 3rd event, The Legend of the Xuanyuan. During this period, the viewers followed Senti through the story, feeling as though they had truly become the "Immortal" from the plot. Along the way, they encountered characters with familiar names but different roles: Kallen and Bronya dressed as Twilight Witches, and the greedy shopkeeper Ai-chan...
The players were constantly entertained by the humor and memes throughout the journey. The 3D chibi top-down shooter minigame was also incredibly engaging. Once people started playing, they couldn't stop; their heads were filled with images of the Immortal biu-biu-ing Honkai beasts with a laser gun. Without a doubt, this event was a massive success.
Thanks to this, Senti's livestreaming results were exceptional. Although Su Mu didn't have access to her backend data, seeing the soaring popularity in the room made it clear that with the platform's promotion, Senti had become a hit on Bilibili. The waves caused by this event plot once again pushed Honkai 3rd to the top of the trending lists on various websites. Many content creators worked overtime to produce videos, quickly dominating a large portion of the Bilibili landscape.
[Is Old Thief Su Mu out of ideas? The new event is lighthearted and full of memes? Is the Old Thief changing his ways, or does he have other schemes?]
[Honkai 3rd's new event plot, Legend of the Xuanyuan! Is the Old Thief actually not sending 'blades' this time?]
[Have you seen the Northeast-accented Benares? Do you like my Vodka idol girls?]
[I am the Winter Empress's dog!]
It had to be said, these creators were getting better and better at making content. The titles started out normal but quickly became abstract, with memes flying everywhere. Thanks to the efforts of these fan-made videos, many players gained a deeper understanding of Honkai 3rd. Community content is vital for a game's environment; if used correctly, it significantly increases player retention. Recognizing this, Su Mu required a "Fan Content Incentive Plan" after every version update, allocating as much prize money as possible to reward creators of high-quality fan videos.
This was a win-win for both the official team and the creators. The official team provided funds to ensure creators could make a living, while the creators added value to the community environment. Why wouldn't they do it? To this end, Su Mu specifically organized the operations team to establish this as a core pillar for Honkai 3rd moving forward—the cultivation of the community environment and the support and grooming of fan-made content.
Listening to the data summarized by Rita, Su Mu nodded with satisfaction. It seemed the players were happy with this event. Even the "crusade" against the "Old Thief Su Mu" had quieted down. In the comment sections, one could even see notes of praise. Normal players are very genuine: if you do a good job, they praise you; if you do a bad job, they curse you. It wasn't that Su Mu's previous work was bad, but simply that the Old Thief was too "inhuman"! Seeing him act like a human for once, everyone held a sliver of hope—maybe the Old Thief really was scared of their constant nagging and the fear of his future home being filled with razor blades, so he was truly preparing to write happy and relaxed scripts?
It's worth mentioning that the Vodka Girls... rather, Rozaliya and Liliya personally called Su Mu to express their gratitude. Because they "showed off their skills" in Honkai 3rd, they successfully formed a duo and moved past their trainee status; they would officially debut as idols in a while. Cocolia also conveyed her gratitude to Su Mu. She hadn't expected a game to have such a massive impact, allowing the underperforming Arinyeva sisters to board a "rocket" and gain countless fans overnight. In contrast, Rozaliya and Liliya were now busy with debut preparations under the guidance of relevant staff.
Seele, who had been dragged into being their "manager," was finally able to step away. However, Seele did not return to the Cocolia Orphanage; she chose to stay at miHoYo and join the Merchandising Design Department. As the name implied, this department focused on designing and selling merchandise related to the Honkai 3rd IP. Within it was the Clothing Design section, which created commemorative character apparel—like Kiana's classic jacket. Elysia took on the role of group leader without hesitation. In her words: "Being able to personally make beautiful clothes for every child who loves beauty is the happiest thing in the world for Ellie! ♪"
While Elysia sounded like an angel, and she truly was one, the line between angel and demon is thin. Lately, Seele had frequently been knocking on Su Mu's door with a measuring tape, blushing as she asked to measure his physique. Elysia had arranged this task, claiming that since Su Mu's physique was standard, he would be used as a model for reference. As for whether he really needed to be the reference, only Elysia knew. Due to Elysia's "repeated" instructions, Seele insisted Su Mu take off his undershirt for every measurement so the data would be precise. Every time she saw Su Mu's fit upper body, his strong pectoral muscles, and his broad back, Seele would shyly cover her eyes—only to peek through the gaps between her fingers.
"S-So broad.... Is this Brother Su Mu's back...."
Su Mu felt awkward at first, but he gradually grew accustomed to it, even playfully flexing his muscles sometimes and teasing Seele: "Is it big?" But he failed to notice that the way Seele looked at him had changed from initial shyness to something mixed with other emotions, eventually turning into something quite... intense.
As his phone rang, Su Mu glanced at the time. "Oh? It's time."
Seeing that it was time to clock out, Su Mu stood up, saved his documents, shut down his computer, and stretched his stiff body. Tonight was the release of the promotional PV for the brand-new version, Cyberangel. In the original Honkai 3rd, the Cyberangel version introduced Bronya's Herrscher of Reason and Kiana's Void Drifter. Kiana would also appear in the Chapter 11 Interlude. Su Mu had made improvements, merging the Stygian Threshold version into the [Cyberangel]update, meaning both S-rank Seele and the Herrscher of Reason would debut in a single version.
Just as he left his office, he bumped into Bronya and Seele. There were also three people peeking out from a corner, whispering to each other: Elysia, Pardo, and Carole. He had no idea when they became so close, but they had been stuck together recently, acting all mysterious.
"Bronya, Seele, is something wrong?" Su Mu looked at them curiously. When his gaze met Seele's, the latter immediately looked away, not daring to meet his eyes. Seele looked a bit off, with slight dark circles under her eyes. Did she stay up late last night? Su Mu wondered.
"Are you going to Kiana's place after work?" Bronya looked at Su Mu.
"Mhm, you know, I promised Theresa." Su Mu shrugged helplessly. Looking after Kiana wasn't an easy job... tutoring a "tuna" with zero life skills back into the realm of a normal human being took a lot of effort. Honestly, it was more exhausting than writing code.
"That idiot Kiana, truly making herself at home and letting you take care of her... she's hopeless." Bronya clutched her forehead, looking like she had a headache. "Anyway, Seele has been very happy at miHoYo lately, so she wants to do her part to help that idiot. Today, Seele will go with you to Kiana's house to help correct her bad habits."
"Mhm?" Su Mu's expression turned a bit strange. "Bronya, aren't you going with us?"
Bronya nodded. "I have to go to Anti-Entropy Entertainment later. Mr. Yang wants to discuss the recent hiring with me. He helped find a few experts in single-player games who should be very useful for Firefly's development of Titanfall."
"Mhm, thanks for the hard work."
Bronya put her hands on her hips. "If you want to thank me, then protect Seele well, okay? If Seele comes back missing even a single hair, I won't be polite."
Su Mu nodded. "Fine. If anyone wants to hurt Seele, they'll have to step over my corpse first."
Bronya rolled her eyes. "Corpse.... Have you been writing too many scripts lately? I give up on you."
After giving Seele and Su Mu a few instructions, Bronya took her things and left in a hurry. It seemed the matter was indeed urgent. And so, only Su Mu and Seele were left in the hallway.
"Seele, let's go. You haven't eaten either, right? Let's buy some groceries on the way."
Seele nodded obediently. "Mhm."
Over the recent period, Su Mu and Seele had interacted frequently and naturally became much closer. They had a tacit agreement never to speak of what happened that night, yet the atmosphere wasn't as tense as one might imagine. On the contrary, to outsiders, this new girl running to the Director's office every other day suggested they had a very good relationship.
The two left the company and headed toward the underground parking. After Su Mu and Seele left, Elysia and Pardo walked out one after the other, their expressions perfectly synchronized in their gravity.
"There's a problem, a big problem." "This is bad, this is truly bad."
Carole looked at the two "riddle-makers" beside her with bewilderment. What was with this atmosphere where everyone seemed to know something she didn't?
"Su Mu and Seele are alone together again, and Bronya can't go because she's busy. This situation is really bad." "Indeed, this situation is very bad."
Watching the two of them nodding in deep thought, Carole was on the verge of a breakdown. "No! Ellie, Pardo, what are you even saying! Why don't I understand at all!"
Elysia and Pardo made eye contact, let out a long sigh together, and patted Carole on her left and right shoulders.
"Carole, are you prepared to face Hell?" "Is facing Hell... not Hell? Why are you being so weird today?" "Carole, you don't understand, you don't understand, you don't understand...."
About five minutes later, Carole's internal scream rang through the hallway!
"A-Are you serious! Is that really true? Wow, that's way too stimulating!!" Carole's eyes were wide as she confirmed the gossip she just heard from Elysia and Pardo. "Then doesn't that mean Sister Bronya and Seele both like Director Su? Are they about to start a 'Shura Field' mode with him?"
Elysia nodded. "Yes, Ellie's favorite part.... ahem, no, this is a very precarious situation. If handled poorly, it might lead to the breakdown of their sisterly bond."
Carole asked urgently, "Then what should we do! If Sister Bronya really finds out, she'll be so sad, right?"
"That's exactly what we're worried about. Ellie and I don't want to see that either..."
"Indeed, Pardo and I feel the same way. So, we have made a very major decision." Pardo and Elysia looked at each other and then extended their hands toward Carole.
"Carole, to prevent the world's destruction!" "To protect the world's peace!" "Join us!" "Let us work together for Bronya and Seele, and use our power to create a world where the two sisters can live happily with Su Mu!"
Carole looked at them, her forehead now sprouting countless question marks. Wait? Join you? Wasn't I a member of the gossip squad from the start? Good lord, do you guys have another group chat behind my back?! She couldn't help but think of the joke about four girls in a dorm having eight group chats... Could this actually be happening to me?!
"I just felt like saying those lines suddenly, don't mind it! Anyway, from now on, our group's goal is to focus on maintaining Bronya and Seele's sisterhood while letting them find happiness with Su Mu. Got it?"
Looking at the smiling Elysia, Carole sighed. "I don't really get it.... and I feel like I'm boarding a pirate ship, but at this point, do I even have a choice to refuse?"
Clearly, although the two remained silent, they just stood there watching Carole with smiles on their faces. Follow Ellie, and you'll starve nine times in three days... wait, no.
Regardless, Carole knew she wouldn't be escaping in this lifetime.
END OF CHAPTER
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