The black off-road SUV smoothly pulled into the open-air parking lot of Arc City Tower.
Su Yu had just pulled out the car key when a faint burst of static crackled over the encrypted comm channel in the vehicle.
A moment later, Bronie's voice came through inside the cabin.
"Calling Mr. Producer, you two down below yet? I just finished compiling and cross-checking all the data from Anti-Entropy's side."
Bronie tapped away at her keyboard a few times, the crisp clicking carrying over the line.
"With Ai Hyperion's massive computing power backing the simulations, progress has been smooth."
"The one hundred twenty-five mech trainees' survival time in the holographic simulation battles has doubled compared to three days ago. Their teamwork is finally starting to look halfway decent."
"Also, Dr. Mei's side just finished the first batch of production-model battle armor. That idiot Kevin is wearing it out on the test field right now as a guinea pig, running high-intensity stress tests. All the readings are stable so far."
Su Yu leaned back in the driver's seat and asked, "What about Mobius's side?"
"That's actually the main thing I wanted to tell you." Bronie popped a bubble of gum, her tone turning a shade more serious. "That overclocked factor you redeemed, [Parvati] — Dr. Mobius has finished analyzing it, and she's now using it as a basis to research the improved Fusion Warrior surgical plan you provided."
"But..." Bronie paused. "She asked me to pass this along to you word for word: any surgery involving gene-level mutation comes with a despair-inducing fatality rate."
"If the surgery fails, no one knows what will happen to the subject."
"Whether to let Kevin walk that path — the choice is in your hands now."
Hearing this, Kiana, who had been sitting quietly in the passenger seat, couldn't stop a shiver from running through her.
"Fusing human genes with a Honkai Beast... isn't that way too dangerous!" Kiana frowned, worry creasing her brow. "Will Kevin really be okay?"
"Danger and Strength have always come as a package deal."
Su Yu pushed the car door open, and a gust of biting cold wind swept into the cabin.
"This isn't something we can decide for him anymore. The choice belongs to Kevin alone. He knows better than anyone what path lies ahead."
"Besides." Su Yu smiled faintly. "That improved Fusion Warrior surgery won't let him repeat that other 'Kevin's' mistake. The next generation of the Kaslana line still rests on his shoulders. If he really ends up unable to have kids, Uncle Siegfried will come after me for it."
"Copy that, I'll relay your exact words back to Anti-Entropy. I need to keep an eye on the servers on my end. Talk later."
Bronie cut the comm line briskly.
Su Yu and Kiana climbed out of the car one after another.
The temperature in Arc City had plunged after the snow, and a cold wind sent chills straight up their spines.
Kiana had only worn a thin fleece-lined hoodie today, and she shivered the instant she stepped out of the car.
She rubbed her stiffening hands hard, her gaze drifting to Su Yu beside her, bundled up in a thick black down jacket.
The girl's eyes rolled in a slow circle, and the corner of her mouth suddenly curled into a mischievous, scheming grin.
She hurried a couple of steps closer to Su Yu and, catching him off guard, jammed her ice-cold little hands straight into the wide pocket of his down jacket.
"Hiss—"
Su Yu sucked in a sharp breath at the startling chill flooding into his pocket.
He looked down at Kiana, who was grinning with obvious satisfaction beside him, and gave a helpless laugh.
But just as Kiana, satisfied her prank had landed, was about to pull her hand back out, Su Yu closed his own hand around hers inside the pocket.
His broad, thick hand wrapped firmly around Kiana's cold little one inside the pocket.
Kiana froze on the spot.
Her heartbeat skipped half a beat, and a charming flush raced up her cheeks.
She really had only meant it as a prank — grab his hand for a second, then let go!
After all, they were out in public, and they were about to walk right into the Company.
But Su Yu didn't seem to have any intention of letting go.
The two of them walked on like that, sharing one pocket in an oddly intimate pose, side by side through the snow toward the front entrance of Arc City Tower.
"Um..." Kiana said, head lowered, her voice barely above a whisper.
"What's wrong? Your hands cold or something?" Su Yu kept his eyes forward, his tone carrying a note of easy nonchalance.
Kiana bit her lower lip, sneaking glances at the office workers passing by out of the corner of her eye.
She couldn't shake the feeling that everyone was giving them gossiping looks.
"To anyone watching... doesn't this look like we're... a pair of lovestruck idiots?"
The thought had barely surfaced before an inexplicable sweetness bloomed in Kiana's chest.
She snuck a glance upward, studying Su Yu's resolute profile as the wind and snow brushed past it.
The man seemed lost in thought, mapping out whatever came next, completely oblivious to her stolen glance.
The two of them walked all the way into the warm lobby of Arc City Tower.
"Morning, President Su! Morning, Miss Kiana!"
The Front Desk Lady greeted them warmly.
"Morning."
Su Yu nodded with perfect naturalness, but the hand tucked in his pocket still showed no sign of letting go of Kiana's.
Considering she was the one who'd started the whole prank in the first place, it was Kiana who now wanted nothing more than to find a hole in the ground and disappear.
Just as the two of them reached the elevator, a soft "ding" sounded and the doors slid slowly open.
Two dazzling figures appeared before them.
It was Elysia and Eden, arms loaded with shopping bags large and small.
Today Elysia wore a loose, cream-colored turtleneck sweater, draped with a long, exquisitely tailored coat, a pink scarf casually wound around her neck.
Below, thick black stockings paired with a pair of slender leather knee-high boots, setting off her fairy-like elegance to perfection.
Beside her, Eden wore the same style of outfit, except her turtleneck was a mature, composed black.
Standing together, the two of them looked like a pair of stunning best friends straight off the cutting edge of fashion.
"Oh! It's Su Yu and Kiana~"
Elysia's eyes lit up.
"Running into you two right at the elevator, what are the odds~ Just getting back from outside?"
Eden simply kept her elegant smile in place, but her eyes couldn't help drifting to the slightly bulging pocket of Su Yu's down jacket, a hint of amusement flickering in her gaze.
Su Yu nodded, perfectly composed. "Went to talk business with Uncle Yang's company, checked on the progress while I was there. You two out on a big shopping run?"
Standing behind Su Yu, Kiana caught that amused glint in Eden's eyes with sharp instinct.
She glanced at Eden, then at Su Yu, and it suddenly dawned on her just how suggestive their current pose looked.
"Wait, could it be..."
Elysia's nose caught the scent of gossip in the air. She leaned in close, blinking those pink-blue eyes playfully.
"Were you two holding hands the whole time out there? Whoa~ Did you two secretly level up into the kind of intimate relationship where you just casually hold hands, and I somehow missed it?"
Facing Elysia's blunt, no-holds-barred teasing, before Su Yu could even respond, Kiana yanked her hand out of his pocket as if she'd been shocked.
"I... my hands were just a little cold outside! It doesn't mean anything, mm-hm! That's all it was!"
Kiana, face flushed, eyes darting around, forced out the explanation.
Seeing this, Elysia's smile only grew wider.
She stepped forward and grabbed the very hand Kiana had just yanked free.
"Whoa, it really is cold!" Elysia blinked, a sly glint flashing in her eyes. "But warming hands happens to be one of my specialties too! Kiana, why don't you let me warm your hands up next?"
"Cough cough cough cough!!"
Kiana was so startled by the sudden close-up assault that she broke into a fit of coughing, yanking her hand back in complete embarrassment.
Elysia was still the same unpredictable Elysia, always ready to close the distance without warning. It genuinely left Kiana unable to tell sometimes whether this pink fairy had feelings for Su Yu, or was just hungry for her own body.
Kiana quickly ducked behind Su Yu, pinching his arm hard as a signal to bail her out.
Su Yu caught the hint with a knowing smile and immediately changed the subject. "What are you and Eden doing here at the studio today? Weren't you supposed to be off today?"
Elysia didn't press her "pursuit" of Kiana any further.
She eagerly unzipped one of the massive shopping bags in her hands and, after rummaging around inside, pulled out a soft gray scarf like a magician conjuring it from thin air.
"Ta-da-da-da! It's time for the beautiful Elysia's studio winter benefits giveaway!"
Humming a cheerful tune, Elysia stepped forward with complete naturalness and wound the gray scarf around Su Yu's neck.
"The moment I saw this cold snap and the snow, I just knew Eden and I made the right call going on this big shopping trip today! Knowing you, bad Su Yu, with that couldn't-care-less attitude of yours, you'd probably just throw on a down jacket and call it done!"
Elysia stepped back and admired the scarfed Su Yu with satisfaction, then couldn't resist launching into a round of teasing.
"Freezing yourself is one thing, but look, you're dragging Kiana along too! You have zero idea how to take care of a girl. If you ever have kids someday, you're definitely going to be the kind of clueless dad who mixes up baby formula wrong."
Watching Elysia act so naturally, even scolding him with the sort of fussing tone of a doting wife, Kiana, hiding behind Su Yu, felt her internal alarm bells go off instantly.
Su Yu touched the warm scarf around his neck and turned to Eden with a wry smile. "Has Miss Elysia been signing up for some community senior wellness class lately? Her nagging skills are really coming along."
Eden hid a laugh behind her hand. "I actually agree with Elysia on this one. Staying healthy is something you should start early."
Just as the sour feeling in Kiana's chest was about to fully brew, Elysia had already spun around like a cheerful little sprite.
Somehow, another scarf had already appeared in her hand — this one white, with a little bear pattern.
Without waiting for permission, she stepped forward and tied this scarf around Kiana's neck.
"Hehe, this one's just for you, Kiana!"
"Huh? I... I get one too?"
Kiana froze, the last of her budding jealousy stuck somewhere in midair.
"Of course!" Elysia said with a bright smile, pinching Kiana's dazed-looking cheek. "Kiana is one of my absolute favorite friends! How could I possibly prepare a gift for Su Yu and forget about you? In the beautiful Elysia's book, playing favorites between friends is strictly forbidden!"
Elysia playfully crossed her hands into a cute "X" shape over her chest.
Looking at the pure, radiant smile on Miss Pink Elf's face, Kiana touched the warm scarf around her own neck, and a wave of warmth washed through her chest.
At the same time, she let out a long, quiet breath of relief in her heart.
So this wasn't some special "token of love" Elysia had prepared just for Su Yu — it was simply a friendly gift for everyone.
"Thanks for the gift, the scarf's really warm. But Miss Elysia—" Su Yu pointed to the side. "The elevator's here."
The four of them chatted and laughed their way into the spacious elevator.
As the elevator slowly rose, Elysia seemed to remember something. She looked at the two of them with great interest, mischief sparkling in her eyes.
"Speaking of which, I heard Su Yu gave the studio a day off yesterday, and then you and Kiana went out on a date, just the two of you~ So, so, did anything fun happen?"
"Cough cough cough! It, it wasn't a date!" Kiana stammered out an explanation. "It was simply... simply that I saw this guy working nonstop, day and night, for so long, and thought he should relax a bit! You know, balancing work and rest is how you're best prepared to face any challenge, right?"
"That's certainly true~" Elysia drawled, nodding with a sweet smile. "But, when a young man and a young woman deliberately carve out time to go out together, just the two of them... in human social parlance, isn't that the textbook definition of a date? So come on, where exactly did you two go yesterday?"
Kiana couldn't hold up against Elysia's rapid-fire, honey-tongued interrogation and caved within a few exchanges, honestly confessing that the two of them had gone to the arcade yesterday.
"The arcade, huh—"
Hearing the name of the place, the amusement in Elysia's eyes deepened.
She turned and shot a meaningful look at Su Yu, who was standing off to the side playing dumb.
"Come to think of it, the first time I ever met Su Yu, it was also at an arcade~"
Elysia clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward slightly.
"Hehe, Kiana, you have no idea — that guy was so heartless back then! Even after I pitifully begged him for help, he still complained I was a hassle and almost just left me alone in front of the machine and went back to his dorm to play games by himself!"
"I have to correct the record here — you'd clearly taken a bribe from Kevin and Mei back then and came to ambush me on purpose," Su Yu added.
"Mm-hm, so it's only okay for you to be Kevin's helper, but not okay for me to be Mei and Kevin's helper? Double standards aren't fair, you know~"
Su Yu shrugged, unable to argue.
"So, what did you and Su Yu do at the arcade?" Elysia turned back to Kiana, curious.
Kiana recounted while grumbling, "We did some racing — that guy's driving is basically monstrous! Then we went to try the claw machine! But that thing was seriously rigged, the claw had basically no grip strength at all. I dumped in so many coins and still couldn't grab anything!"
"Ha, so it's not just me — even you couldn't beat that scam of a claw machine, Kiana~" A smile bloomed across Elysia's face like a flower opening. "That thing had me stuck there for an entire morning back then. Good thing Su Yu stepped in and finally won that doll for me."
Elysia tilted her chin up slightly, as if sinking into some fond memory. "Now that I think about it, even though Su Yu back then always looked like a listless, couldn't-care-less slacker, the way he stood in front of that machine, focused on winning me that doll — he actually looked pretty cool."
Listening to Elysia's nostalgic recollection, an uncomfortable sour feeling churned in Kiana's chest again.
Before she could stop herself, the words tumbled out: "Hmph, yesterday... he won me a doll too. Though, though I'm not really that into that fox plushie..."
The air in the elevator went silent for a beat.
"Oh..."
Elysia drew the word out.
She looked first at Kiana, whose eyes were darting away evasively, then turned to stare fixedly at Su Yu, whose face wore an expression of pure "innocence."
A flash of sudden realization sparked in her pink-blue eyes.
"Ah! I get it now!"
Elysia suddenly jabbed a finger right into Su Yu's chest, her tone dripping with the certainty of someone who'd seen through everything. "Bad Su Yu! You totally did that on purpose, didn't you!"
"You saw Kiana couldn't win a doll, so you pulled the same trick you used on me back then — deliberately showing off your cool, reliable side in front of Kiana to win the little girl's affections, right! That's so calculating of you!"
Elysia's wildly leaping logic left Su Yu rubbing his forehead with a sigh.
He looked at the pink fairy in front of him with a helpless expression and a wry smile. "The way you're talking, it's like I hired someone to secretly adjust the claw machine's grip strength just to make sure Kiana couldn't win anything."
"Oh? Isn't that exactly what happened?" Elysia said with a bright smile, leaning in a little closer, cunning sparkling in her lovely eyes. "Then how exactly does Mr. Producer plan to prove to us that you didn't secretly rig anything?"
Faced with this utterly illogical "accusation," Su Yu could only laugh helplessly and throw up his hands in surrender.
The girls bantered back and forth, and the once faintly awkward air in the elevator cabin filled with lighthearted energy.
With a soft "ding," the elevator doors slowly slid open to either side.
Just as everyone was about to step out, Eden, who had been keeping her elegant smile the whole time, suddenly stopped in her tracks and called out softly to Su Yu.
"Su Yu, there's something work-related I need to confirm with you privately." Eden turned to the other two girls with a gentle look. "Elysia, Kiana, could I ask you two for a favor — could you go ahead and hand out these prepared gifts to everyone at the studio?"
"No problem! Leave it to me!"
Elysia cheerfully took the shopping bags from Eden's hands.
Kiana nodded obediently as well, taking a few bags off Elysia's hands to help. "Auntie just messaged me too, she said she bought some good snacks and she's waiting for me at the studio."
They watched Elysia and Kiana's backs recede as the two headed off toward the office area.
Eden turned, and in perfect sync, she and Su Yu pushed open the fire door of the nearby emergency stairwell, stepping into the dimly lit, secluded stairway beyond.
Hardly anyone ever passed through here — it was the perfect place for a private conversation.
As the heavy fire door slowly swung shut behind them, it sealed off the noise from outside.
Eden let the flawless social smile she'd worn for everyone else fall away, her expression turning a touch more serious as she gave Su Yu her report. "Shenzhou's officials are very pleased with the data feedback from your internal test submission. They're hoping you can put together a detailed final operational plan as soon as possible and submit it."
Su Yu nodded slightly. "I still need a bit more time to work out the details, but it should be soon. Let them know for me — everything's proceeding according to plan."
With the work matters out of the way—
Eden gazed quietly at the man before her, the dim sensor lighting of the stairwell falling across the side of his face.
"So then..." Eden's red lips parted, and she suddenly asked, out of nowhere, "How does it feel to be a hero?"
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Su Yu visibly froze for a moment.
Then he laughed, self-deprecating, and shook his head.
"Doesn't really feel like anything." Su Yu leaned against the stairway railing, his tone light and unbothered. "You know how it is, Eden. I never played the clown to become some hero everyone looks up to."
Watching the man before her — someone who bore the whole city's scorn and yet still held everything firmly in the palm of his hand — a flash of tenderness passed through Eden's eyes.
"Still, Elysia and Kiana had a point earlier." Eden took a step forward, her heels clicking crisply against the empty stairwell floor. "You really have been far too busy lately."
Su Yu froze again.
He looked into Eden's eyes, which seemed to see straight through him, then couldn't help but let out a wry laugh.
He could tell exactly what this world-famous star was really getting at, hidden beneath the surface — why he hadn't been able to be "close" with her in all this time.
"Of course, rationally, I understand perfectly well that you have important things you have to do, and this city needs you."
Eden had already closed the distance, standing right in front of Su Yu.
She extended a slender finger, sheathed in a black velvet glove, and let it trail lightly, almost imperceptibly, across his chest.
"But emotionally..."
Eden tilted her chin up slightly, a smile both enchanting and dangerous surfacing on her stunning face.
"Right in front of your secret lover, getting a warm scarf tied around your neck by another young woman's own hands... has Mr. Producer ever considered that his lover might get jealous too?"
The air in the stairwell seemed to thicken in that instant.
Looking at the face now just inches from his own, Su Yu lowered his head slightly, meeting Eden's eyes directly.
"In that case, how should this humble servant make it up to you and earn your satisfaction? My... sugar mama?"
At the teasing nickname, something shifted in the flow of Eden's gaze.
She reached out and gently gripped the gray scarf around Su Yu's neck — the one Elysia herself had just tied there — and gave it a light tug toward herself.
Su Yu went with the pull, pressing forward until Eden's back met the cold wall.
"Well then, let's see..." The corner of Eden's mouth curved into a perfect arc. "...just how sincere you really are."
With that, she closed her eyes on her own.
Her slightly raised chin and those thick, faintly trembling eyelashes made the invitation unmistakably clear.
Looking at the flower blooming before him, Su Yu didn't hesitate for even a moment.
He wrapped one arm around Eden's slender waist, lowered his head, and pressed a deep kiss to her soft, red lips.
The temperature in the stairwell shot up in that single instant.
...
Meanwhile.
In the break room.
Elysia and Kiana were pulling the gifts out of the shopping bags one by one, sorting them, ready to hand them out to everyone at the studio in a bit.
Just as Kiana was bent over checking a name list, Elysia suddenly paused what she was doing.
As if she'd stumbled onto some earth-shattering secret, she turned and asked Kiana an odd question.
"Kiana."
"Hm? What's up?"
"Have you noticed..." Elysia raised a finger to her lips, blinking thoughtfully. "Something's a little off between bad Su Yu and Eden, don't you think?"
Kiana's hands, busy sorting gifts, froze mid-air.
She snapped her head up, a flicker of surprise crossing her face as she looked oddly at the pink fairy beside her.
"Off...? What do you mean?"
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