Bronya's final Instant Ultimate had not been meant to show off her skill. At the very end, the firewall had produced something extraordinary that instantly killed Top Player.
Then, while that thing was attacking Top Player, Bronya activated Instant Ultimate and destroyed it.
"The greatest feature of Instant Ultimate is that it can skip cutscenes and speed up the program. That thing was relatively rigid. It assumed attacks would only be resolved after the animation frames finished, so it failed to react when the attack arrived early. It couldn't defend itself and was instantly killed."
That was the truth behind the game just now.
Had she failed to destroy that thing, she probably would have been the one killed instead.
After all, there was no chance of winning a direct confrontation with an entire city's firewall. The helicopter she was sitting in would probably have been blasted to pieces by missiles from the security network.
Watching the surrounding scenery slowly rise as they passed through the smog above the city's factories, she saw neon lights in the distance come into view.
As an avid gamer, Bronya naturally understood all manner of concepts related to the ninth art, so she immediately recognized the essential style of the city center.
"Hmph, interesting." The corners of the girl's lips curved upward in excitement. "A battle against a cyberpunk world?"
The dark hood over her head concealed most of her face, revealing only a pair of bright eyes that gleamed like stars.
Her hands rested inside the spacious pockets of her dark brown hooded sweatshirt, whose surface was decorated with copper-colored gears of various shapes and delicate chains.
A pair of unfurled mechanical wings was printed across the back of the sweatshirt, seeming to flap in the fierce wind generated by the helicopter.
The compact armguards that occasionally appeared beneath her fluttering sweatshirt added a sharp, heroic air to the girl.
A faint vibration traveled up from beneath her as the invisible helicopter, filled with high-tech and steampunk styling, landed on the helipad of the Taixu Medical Center.
Teacher Vill-V's technological style had always consisted of all kinds of Victorian steampunk machinery.
The girl also thoroughly enjoyed the experience created by these steam-powered machines. They were utterly out of place in the modern world, yet unexpectedly thrilling. It was precisely the kind of experience gamers dreamed of.
Mayocli General Hospital, now renamed Taixu Hospital, had originally been Barcelona's largest primary central hospital, so naturally there was a hospital helipad on its roof.
However, the girl had no intention of disembarking on the helipad.
Her slender finger tapped lightly against her armguard, and the helicopter's cabin door automatically rose open.
The helicopter pilot was startled by the sudden rush of wind. Why had the cabin door opened by itself?
She quickly realized that the young lady in the back seat had used some kind of high-tech method.
Only this little young lady possessed the ability to travel freely by helicopter through a city constantly filled with Heliopolis Life Sciences' informants and electronic surveillance.
Infiltrating the helicopter's system was practically effortless for her.
The helicopter pilot assigned to receive the girl could only shout a warning, afraid that the young lady might accidentally be thrown out of the cabin and injured.
"Watch out for the turbulence from the helicopter rotors!"
Then, through the helicopter's rearview mirror, she saw a calf as pale and flawless as white jade extend through the cabin door before the girl leaped out.
At that moment, the helicopter had not yet reached the helipad. It was still several hundred meters above the ground, with powerful air currents interfering from every direction. Even a national-level gymnast would have needed to cling to a railing to maintain her balance.
"Oh God, don't deduct my commission... Don't deduct my bonus... Don't lower my rating."
The pilot could only pray silently. She was merely a mercenary temporarily hired for this job. Should anything happen to her young employer, even selling herself would not be enough to pay the compensation.
...
Not only would the dangerous mission she had accepted have been for nothing, but she would also suffer disastrous consequences.
It was hardly uncommon in the mercenary world for the people behind an employer to come seeking repayment. She had no desire to be strung up while her organs were auctioned off.
A gentle breeze brushed across the girl's pink cheeks and lifted strands of her hair. A small drone flew out of the cabin after her and stabilized her body.
The small drone was named Tracker, a derivative computer based on Project Bunny.
Although it did not possess an autonomous artificial intelligence, its human-machine interaction functions were highly sophisticated, allowing it to accurately determine its user's needs.
The girl's Mad Hatter uniform differed from Inori's. Vill-V had custom-made it according to her requests.
The girl gracefully spun through the air, reached out to grab the drone, and glided downward.
Seeing that the little young lady had not been reduced to a mangled heap, the helicopter pilot finally breathed a temporary sigh of relief.
"Looks like my kidneys and my commission are both safe."
This little young lady was no ordinary person. She was an important figure within Mad Hatter.
She was the owner of the Shenzhou Web Novel Orphanage—Bronya.
Vill-V felt both guilt and a desire to compensate Bronya, so she fulfilled every request Bronya made.
Bronya did not need to work. Every day, she only had to eat, drink, and have fun, with the girls from the orphanage keeping her company.
Furthermore, Bronya was currently at the age when adolescent delusions were at their strongest. As a result, she had gradually become Mad Hatter's little princess and had grown somewhat spoiled.
Within just two years, she had taught every girl in the orphanage... how to blow bubble-gum bubbles, earning herself the title of vice director.
Within just two years, she had defeated several long-established hackers and entered the World Hacker Rankings under the identity Haxxor Bunny, becoming a legendary hacker.
A second-year middle school student, a genius hacker, and Mad Hatter's hidden trump card.
Bronya waved at the pilot without turning around. "Miss Natasha, please give Bronya's regards to Isabella... Mm, Bronya will remember to leave you a positive review on HoMu Delivery..."
"Hey, Young Lady, I'm not a delivery knight!"
...
There was an opera house not far from the Taixu Medical Center, and it had become the newly constructed gathering place for the Taixu Gang.
Bronya flew over the new building covered in scaffolding and landed directly in the courtyard.
The courtyard's advanced electronic lock was nothing more than a small case to Bronya.
"Tracker."
She activated the stylish terminal on her armguard and flashed it lightly at the lock. The lock's camera and graphical interface processing module received falsified identity-verification data and obediently opened the back door for Bronya.
A calm synthetic voice sounded. "Identity authenticated. HT-365, welcome back to Mayocli General Hospital. We hope you have a pleasant workday."
At an age when others were merely second-year middle school students, Bronya had already become what countless adolescents suffering from delusions dreamed of becoming—a breathtakingly cool legendary hacker. Her talent naturally required no explanation.
Initially, Vill-V had no intention of allowing Bronya to join another operation against the Honkai. After all, Bronya had already "sacrificed" herself once as an anti-Honkai warrior. Surely she could not be asked to risk her life again in her second life.
Vill-V merely wanted Bronya to enjoy playing games and live the life of a descendant of Bronya's alternate self. Vill-V would not force her to bear greater responsibilities merely because of her unique identity.
Bronya possessed outstanding talent for video games. If she could offer a few more good ideas for Vill-V's HoMu games, that alone would count as her contribution.
Unexpectedly, however, Bronya had also displayed astonishing talent and enthusiasm for hacking.