After Vill-V unexpectedly discovered Bronya's astonishing talent for hacking, she decided to entrust Project Bunny to her.
Indeed. Hackers were hardly safe professionals in this Previous Era. With the current level of technology, a hacker's power and danger ranked among the highest of all professions. Hackers capable of killing someone through the internet were everywhere.
As long as they knew a person's identity, targeting them was extremely easy. Without a powerful background, a person could easily be assassinated by a drone controlled by a hacker.
With Project Bunny protecting her, no matter how much trouble Bronya caused online, at least her identity and personal information would never be exposed.
To allow Project Bunny to naturally become Bronya's companion, Vill-V had Project Bunny teach Bronya hacking techniques.
Under Project Bunny's meticulous and patient guidance, Bronya progressed at astonishing speed.
Now, her hacking skills had even surpassed Vill-V's.
After all, Expert had never specialized in hacking and lacked the natural inspiration and talent required for it.
Some things could not be encompassed by technical knowledge alone. Hacking was also a form of combat skill involving psychology, luck, limitless imagination, and countless other factors.
(Expert could, of course, grant herself those qualities, but there was no need. She had neither the reason nor the energy.)
Now, rather than Vill-V worrying about Bronya's safety, it was the leading experts in every field of hacking who found themselves in peril beneath Haxxor Bunny's offensive.
A hacker possessing a super quantum computer was like a warrior in a martial-arts world wielding a divine weapon capable of cleaving mountains and parting seas—invincible.
It had taken Bronya only two years to breach the World Government's official announcement website and post evidence of certain corrupt officials' crimes there, making Mad Hatter "infamous" as the world's foremost terrorist organization.
The incident later became headline news across the globe and was enthusiastically discussed by netizens everywhere.
Had the veterans who devoted themselves to the field of hacking learned that this prodigious hacker was only fourteen years old, their jaws would undoubtedly have hit the floor.
However, Haxxor Bunny soon vanished from the hacking world.
Some suspected that she had been assassinated by the World Government. Others believed she had simply adopted a new alias.
No one knew that Bronya had actually become addicted to online games—
The moment online games entered the picture, even the genius hacker Haxxor Bunny would disappear...
However, when one of her "friends or family" encountered a crisis, Haxxor Bunny's return was only natural.
"This is no longer the time for Bronya to think about games. Bronya will definitely rescue Big Sister Zofia."
Bronya, whose head was usually filled entirely with games, reaffirmed her resolve and opened the road leading to the battlefield.
"Ugh... There are so many people. Bronya wants to go back and play video games... Hm? What's that?"
Among the crowd, Bronya seemed to glimpse a transparent blue butterfly.
"A transparent... butterfly? So pretty. Bronya likes it." ()
...
After the Treasure-Stealing Gang disbanded, the Taixu Gang absorbed a large number of its former members and had now grown to a considerable size.
Of course, Su would never accept those who had committed serious crimes or performed every imaginable evil.
Su was no philanthropist. The fact that he had not arrested and executed them on the spot, instead merely imprisoning them at the police station to await future legal punishment, already constituted tremendous mercy.
Fortunately, the Treasure-Stealing Gang had ultimately been little more than a gathering place for petty thieves. Most of the new recruits had merely been expendable underlings and had never committed any truly heinous crimes. By working for the Taixu Gang and redeeming themselves through meritorious service, their past actions could be overlooked.
The Taixu Gang's gathering was completely different from an ordinary gang assembly.
Vill-V, dressed as a storyteller, sat upon a tall stage constructed from dark wood and polished until it shone like a mirror. An exquisite tea set and refreshments had been arranged atop it, elegant and tasteful.
A tea table stood before the stage, holding a pot of fragrant tea and several small dishes filled with snacks and juice.
All manner of small tea tables were scattered around the stage. The members of the Taixu Gang had brought them from their own homes so they could listen to the storyteller recount tales of Azure Empyrea.
After all, it was truly unusual to find someone performing live storytelling in this day and age.
Storytellers in this era all used livestreams. Who still performed traditional storytelling before a live audience? Livestreams could display all kinds of images and special effects. Could a live performance do that?
Truthfully, quite a few people had come merely to laugh at the storyteller.
One audience member said, "Storytelling offline, without special effects? Can the atmosphere here really heat up? Won't the whole performance fall flat?"
"Heh, you're new here, aren't you?" A listener who had arrived the previous day calmly took a sip of tea.
Seeing the older man deliberately leave him in suspense, the newcomer grew unbearably curious. "What do you mean?"
"Hard to explain, hard to explain. Haha, you'll understand once you see it."
Su was also drinking tea beneath the stage as he waited for Vill-V to begin her performance.
When he spotted the girl sneaking around suspiciously, Su knitted his brows. "Hm? Miss Bronya."
He immediately stood and beckoned Bronya over.
After all, with Bronya's lively and outgoing personality, she might cause some kind of trouble.
Su had also heard of her reputation as the ringleader of the children at the Shenzhou Web Novel Orphanage.
Upon seeing Su, Bronya immediately trotted over in tiny steps and sat at the table opposite him.
"Mr. Moon, Bronya wants that... transparent butterfly."
"A transparent butterfly?" Su repeated in confusion. "I don't understand what you're talking about."
Although Vill-V had instructed him to satisfy any request Bronya made, Su truly had no idea what this transparent butterfly was.
"There isn't one?"
Bronya pouted, and her disappointment became visibly apparent.
However, Su gave her a warm, kindly smile and comforted her. "Perhaps Miss Vill-V knows something. You can wait until Vill-V's performance ends, then ask her. She may know what it is. Bronya, there is an urgent mission that requires your attention. Go and find Pardofelis..."
Bang!
The sharp crack of a storyteller's block rang out from the stage, drawing the eyes of every Taixu Gang member.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!
Click.
The dark curtain lit up with the crisp strike of the storyteller's block. Stage lights shone upon Vill-V in her storyteller's costume, while a gigantic fat bird stood behind her and pushed an enormous silhouette screen depicting Azure Empyrea to the front of the stage.
"One crimson feather, one Taixuan blade. A palm-sized strike splits heaven wide. Her heart belongs to all beneath the sky. Within Azure Empyrea's temple, the immortal abides."
The silhouette of Azure Empyrea on the screen actually began to move, changing in rhythm with the storyteller's rising and falling voice, as though true history were being reenacted before the audience's eyes.
"Last time, we spoke of the ancient age, when heaven and earth had only just been formed and humanity had yet to be born. With peerless hands, Nüwa molded humans from clay, while the Heaven-Mending Stone transformed into Azure Empyrea to fill the sea. Together, the two restored peace and prosperity to the world. Yet demons and wicked creatures still brought chaos among mortals..."
Behind the screen, the enormous bird put on the ferocious mask of a demon, glared with bloodred eyes, and clawed its wings as though preparing to charge into the crowd. Vill-V, quick-eyed and quick-handed, seized its feathers and forcibly stopped it.
"Wait, Zeo, I wasn't talking about you."
The next second...
A colossal primordial beast suddenly sprang from beneath the audience and charged onto the stage, startling the spectators who had previously complained that the special effects would be inadequate.