After Su Yu finished the video, he scrolled through the comments.
The comment section had completely exploded.
[Su Bro, you traitor!]
[Didn't you say you wanted to be Pink Fairy Miss' dog? Why did you secretly become someone else's dog?!]
[I'm broken. I'm really broken.]
[The guild leader is the first to get a girlfriend—Single-Dog Alliance officially disbanded on the spot.]
[Su Bro! How are you going to pay back what you owe me here?!]
Someone even wrote a short essay on purpose:
["He once said he'd fight shoulder-to-shoulder with us against loneliness. He once stayed up late in the stream with us, mocking those couples who flaunted their love. We thought he was our comrade, our brother-in-arms, the only light in the darkness. But we never expected—he would be the first to defect! Su Yu! Can you face the bullet comments we spammed together all those years?!"]
Su Yu's mouth twitched.
What the hell even is this.
His phone buzzed.
The culprit had sent a congratulatory message.
[Pink Fairy Miss]: Su Yu-chan Did you see it? Wasn't it a surprise~?
[Pink Fairy Miss]: You gained sooo many followers overnight! No need to thank me—just treat Pink Fairy Miss to a meal, okay~♪
[Pink Fairy Miss]: And remember to bring that "mysterious girlfriend" too. You must come!
Su Yu rubbed at his swollen temples. His fingers hovered above the keyboard for ages—unable to type even a single word.
Explain?
How?
Say, "That's not a girlfriend, that's a Valkyrie from a parallel world and we're currently engaged in interdimensional life-harmony?"
As he was thinking about how to even begin explaining—
The system panel popped up.
[Ding~ Detecting an increase in the "presence index" of linked character "Kiana Kaslana"! ]
[Current movement radius: 1.0 m → 1.2 m]
[Congratulations, Host! Keep it up!]
Su Yu froze.
He stared at that number.
1.2 meters.
It was only twenty centimeters more—but it felt like the first crack chiseled into an iron wall.
He turned to look at Kiana, still asleep.
Curled under the blanket, long white hair spilled across the pillow. Her breathing was steady and soft.
Su Yu extended a hand and waved it in front of her.
The distance was roughly… 1.1 meters?
Kiana showed no sign of going transparent.
So it really had expanded.
"Kiana."
He gently nudged her shoulder.
"Mm…"
Kiana groggily opened her eyes, her mismatched irises still fogged with sleep.
"What is it…"
"Good news." Su Yu said. "Your movement radius got bigger."
"…Huh?"
Kiana snapped fully awake and sat up in one motion.
"It expanded? To how much?"
"1.2 meters."
"…Just twenty centimeters?"
"Don't be picky." Su Yu said. "This is the first change we've ever gotten—and I think I know why."
He handed her the phone. The screen was still on Elysia's video.
"Last night… what you said went viral."
Kiana took the phone.
A few minutes later, her face went red from the base of her neck all the way to her ears—like she was about to combust.
"Th-this… what kind of 'analysis' is that?!" she sputtered.
She shoved the phone back at Su Yu, her voice equal parts embarrassed and furious.
"I only said I wanted to use the bathroom… why did it get interpreted like that?! 'Hiding a beauty in a golden house,' 'treasure'… are these humans full of holes in their brains?!"
"Netizens." Su Yu shrugged. "Gossip is humanity's evolutionary engine. For them, truth doesn't matter. Entertainment does."
"…Can it be deleted?" Kiana asked quietly, head lowered, fingers unconsciously twisting the corner of her blanket.
"Can't delete it. And there's no reason to." Su Yu pointed at the panel only he could see.
"The system says it's exactly because of this streaming accident—because the whole internet is discussing 'the mysterious girl next to Su Yu'—that your 'presence' in this world strengthened."
"All those bullet comments, replies, guesses—they're anchors locking your existence in place."
Kiana froze.
"Just because… of that one sentence?"
"Yeah." Su Yu nodded. "Perception equals existence. They don't know you're Kiana Kaslana, but in their heads, 'that girl' is real. That's enough."
Kiana lowered her head, processing.
Su Yu's brain started spinning.
If one sentence could have an effect this big…
What if Kiana "intentionally" showed up a few more times on stream?
A voice, a shadow, even a blurry figure in the background—anything could trigger more speculation and discussion.
More discussion → stronger perception → bigger movement radius…
[Ding~ Detected Host attempting to bug-abuse!]
[Warning: "Presence" gained through "streaming gossip" has a hard threshold!]
[Current threshold cap for this route: 1.5 meters]
[In other words: even if you turn the stream into a relationship counseling show, Kiana's range tops out at 1.5 meters. If you want real freedom, you must complete the main quest—produce Honkai 3rd!]
The system's popup ruthlessly snuffed out Su Yu's little flame of opportunism.
Fine.
1.5 meters it is.
At least that solved the privacy problem for showering and bathroom use—already a huge improvement.
But long-term… they still had to make the game.
Su Yu took a deep breath, reined in the joking, and turned serious.
"Kiana."
Kiana looked up. Seeing that expression, she unconsciously straightened her back.
"About the main quest… making the game."
"There's something I need to make absolutely clear."
He chose his words carefully, trying not to sound like an interrogator.
"The game I'm making is about your story."
"Everything that 'Kiana' from that world went through."
"Only if we make those stories real—let countless people play them, experience them, be moved by them—will you gain true freedom."
"I know." Kiana nodded.
"But the problem is…" Su Yu met her eyes. "The system can't generate a script out of thin air. It needs source material. The most authentic source material."
"That means you have to tell me—personally—what happened to you."
The air in the room seemed to solidify for a beat.
Su Yu didn't continue.
He knew how cruel that request was.
Every word would be a bloodied blade.
Asking her to tear open scabbed-over wounds one by one, to display them to the world…
"If you're not ready, or you don't want to talk, we can do something else first, like—"
"It's okay."
Kiana cut him off.
She lowered her head, gently petting the white cat on her legs. Her fingertips trembled slightly, but her voice was unnervingly calm.
"If this is the only way… if this means I won't stay a ghost that can only hide behind you…"
She raised her head. In those mismatched eyes, something shattered—and then reassembled.
It was the kind of resolve you only get after living through the darkest night, and still choosing to stare straight into the abyss.
"I'll tell you."
"Everything."
....
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