Qingque: Silly Child, Run!

"Escaped, have they?"

Screwllum found this development somewhat unexpected, prompting contemplation.

"Was it just a bluff then?"

Although he seemed to have been deceived, he didn't feel much anger.

After all, if things could conclude this way, it actually aligned with his expectations.

Screwllum held both 'Silver Wolf' and Silver Wolf in high regard, appreciating their natures.

"Mr. Screwllum, did you capture that hacker?"

"Regrettably, the individual has departed."

"What! This- this won't do! You absolutely cannot let that audacious hacker get away!" The elites of Punklorde were naturally determined to capture Silver Wolf.

After all, a hacker of this caliber posed too great a threat to Punklorde.

And they still hadn't given up on recovering the Glamoth Iron Cavalry soldier she had taken.

"Apologies. I have fulfilled my duty."

"Subsequent actions are not on my agenda," Screwllum stated coolly.

For a genius like him, associating with such foolish and arrogant beings was typically out of the question, even for someone as benevolent as Screwllum.

His involvement was solely due to the existing cooperative relationship between Planet Screwllum and Punklorde.

And this assistance was limited to 'ensuring the safety of the Central Tower'.

Having done what was required, Screwllum had no interest in further entanglement with Punklorde's politicians.

"Your Excellency Screwllum, your attitude may affect the cooperation between our two parties."

The higher-ups grew restless, speaking with a mix of annoyance and subtle threats.

Honestly, their respect for Screwllum was limited to his 'genius' title.

As for Screwllum himself, especially the fact that he was a mechanical lifeform, they held considerable disdain and contempt.

After all, to Punklorde, skilled in Aether Editing, machines were merely tools easily manipulated.

The two Emanator Wars hadn't changed this perception, at most adding an element of 'apprehension'.

Now, Screwllum's act of dropping the ball and disobeying orders displeased the typically high-and-mighty Punklorde leadership.

Screwllum remained silent for a moment.

"Understood."

Just as they were feeling satisfied, assuming the genius had conceded, the cold, synthesized mechanical voice sounded:

"Henceforth, Planet Screwllum will cease all cooperation with Punklorde. This is my notification as the leader of Planet Screwllum."

With that, Screwllum's projection vanished, leaving the elites dumbfounded.

Exclaiming: "How dare he!" "How dares he!"

It wasn't just his decisive, unhesitating attitude that angered them. The main reason for their fury was actually because... although Punklorde indeed held a favorable position in this cooperative relationship, Planet Screwllum's weight within it was by no means less than Punklorde's, even more crucial in certain aspects.

If the cooperation ceased, Punklorde would suffer immense losses.

While alternatives like partnering with the Interastral Peace Corporation existed...

How could those bloodsuckers, those insatiable wolves, possibly offer terms as sincere as Planet Screwllum's!

They felt regret, but more than that, anger.

Anger at why that damned tin can was so decisive, completely unwilling to compromise.

The only silver lining for the elites was that the Central Tower remained intact.

Once 'that thing' was completed, sooner or later, they would settle this score.

However...

While the elites were feeling relieved and planning to use the traces left by Screwllum to further pursue the audacious hacker...

Buzz

Within the virtual data space, the utterly tranquil scene began to rapidly spread outwards from a single point, like a plague.

Like an autumn wildfire, it danced within a pale palm.

On a distant building rooftop, the silver-haired girl in a cyan dress watched as the 'Central Tower', brimming with light pollution, 'burned'.

"Woah, did you do this?"

Silver Wolf saw the state of the Central Tower, looked utterly dumbfounded, and turned to Jiang Qiao beside her in disbelief.

"Mm."

"Isn't it spectacular?"

"The light pollution created by a Glamoth Iron Cavalry shouldn't be much worse than your Punklorde's light pollution, right?" The flames consuming the Central Tower seemed capable of igniting the very sky, burning Punklorde's artificial night sky crimson.

Probably the entire planet of Punklorde could see this great fire in Neon City.

Looking at [Firefly]'s radiant smile and the terrifying reality behind the gentle tone used to describe this 'interesting event', Miss Silver Wolf couldn't help but shrink back slightly.

She thought she was already quite 'wild' and ruthless, but the most outrageous thing she had done, or planned to do, was probably just 'deleting the database and running'.

But this sister she just met, while looking beautiful and sounding sweet, her hobbies... were clearly somewhat frightening!

However, remembering the way she operated that tin can with booming sounds earlier, Silver Wolf instantly felt relieved and retorted:

"Isn't this not just light pollution, but environmental pollution too..."

"Not really."

"Strictly speaking, this fire isn't fire in the true sense," Mr. Jiang Qiao definitely didn't accept this accusation.

Although it looked like fire and indeed possessed all the physical properties of fire, the flames burning the Central Tower were, in essence, the ultimate consciousness virus—the power of the Herrscher of Corruption.

Of course, he hadn't yet encountered a true, complete Herrscher of Corruption.

Rin was already incomplete.

But having at least encountered Jizo Mitama, Jiang Qiao, true to his nature, had recorded it down just in case it might be useful someday.

He thought he'd never have a chance to use this stuff, but unexpectedly, running into Screwllum provided the perfect opportunity.

Faced with this method, which was practically a kill-shot in the realm of information and networks, the Central Tower had no chance to resist, forced to watch itself burn. Of course, if they wished, they could burn along with the tower.

"Just how big is your grudge against them..." Out of curiosity, Silver Wolf took a peek and clicked her tongue, somewhat amazed.

She specifically checked the data layer of the Central Tower, and the situation there was now utterly disastrous.

If it kept burning like this, the data stored there, and indeed the entire data layer of Punklorde's elite class, would suffer massive, irreversible losses.

Even the operational layer of Aether Editing would be severely damaged.

Undoubtedly, Punklorde would stagnate for a long time to come.

"It's nothing much. Just being harassed like that eventually becomes unpleasant."

"So, consider it a small lesson for them~"

"Besides, with this, the thing you wanted to do should be completed now, right?"

Hearing this, Silver Wolf pursed her lips, biting them:

"Losing to that guy still leaves me feeling unwilling."

Regarding being beaten by Screwllum, the competitive Cosmic Wolf Miss was undoubtedly unreconciled.

Also...

"And you! You're also someone I need to defeat!"

She stared at [Firefly]'s pretty face, shaking her fist dissatisfied.

For Silver Wolf, any opponent stronger than her was worth challenging, and Jiang Qiao's performance undoubtedly made him a 'challenge target' for Miss Silver Wolf.

"Uh..."

A subtle expression appeared on the girl's face.

Honestly, before this, Jiang Qiao had always been an 'authority-type' player, always adhering to the principle of 'brute force solves everything'. From a hacker's perspective, this was simply a disgrace to hacking, cheating! Hacking the game, pure foul play!

However... the interaction with Silver Wolf just now, although it wasn't using the [Swap] ability to change bodies, the 'cartridge' of a Punklorde hacker was basically their 'second brain'.

It stored all their knowledge.

Normally, obtaining memories doesn't equate to obtaining talent—just like getting a genius's memories wouldn't turn someone into a genius.

But this rule wasn't quite as effective on Jiang Qiao.

After all, his current level of existence was no longer limited to the perspective of a 'human'.

A complete transformation, coupled with certain traits he possessed...

Made 'replication' a reality.

Therefore...

His current self now possessed Silver Wolf's hacking skills.

Combined with his existing 'authority tactics' and 'brute force tactics'...

Even more so... Jiang Qiao completely understood Silver Wolf's style, even predicting her thoughts.

A hard power gap, plus this ability to guess what color Miss Cosmic Wolf's underwear was today without even looking—knowing her inside out.

"Alright."

Despite not being optimistic about Miss Silver Wolf's challenge, Mr. Jiang Qiao maintained the smile appropriate for this body.

After all, one had to leave the kid some hope, couldn't crush her fighting spirit.

In order to better defeat [Firefly], I must observe my opponent closely, at close range, to find weaknesses.

With this perfectly valid excuse, Miss Silver Wolf officially declared her entry into the team.

And that tallest, most light-polluting Central Tower of Punklorde, amidst the dancing flames, turned to ash along with its arrogance.

Far away on Planet Screwllum.

Screwllum stared at the pile of inorganic lifeforms all stuck in a 'Theresa' state, many of them muttering "Big Sis, Big Sis," and fell silent.

Undoubtedly, due to mobilizing the Planetary Differential Engine, not only him but the entire Planet Screwllum had failed to escape, invaded by that unknown 'virus'.

However, strangely, this virus had almost no destructive power.

It merely caused the inorganic lifeforms to enter a brief 'crash' state, exhibiting somewhat amusing postures, and muttering strange titles.

Overall, it seemed more like a 'prank'?

"Could that young lady be a Masked Fool?"

Looking at the 'Big Sis freak' with somewhat bizarre movements before him, Screwllum felt helpless yet amused, forming this guess.

Amidst the amusement, he fell into brief thought again:

"But, what exactly was that..."

Raising a metallic hand, sensing the residual data contained within the sticker on his viewscreen, Screwllum felt curious about this 'virus' that had invaded the Planetary Differential Engine and indeed the entire Planet Screwllum.

As a planet of mechanical life, Planet Screwllum was armed to the teeth against such attacks.

Even if all the factions in the universe teamed up, it would take them quite some time to breach Planet Screwllum's firewall.

Yet, faced with this virus, the firewall offered no defense, and the security programs within remained completely unresponsive until the anomaly occurred and they finally realized something was wrong.

Screwllum's synthesized mechanical voice sounded softly:

"A new research topic has emerged."

...

Firefly's life before this was not something to boast about.

After all, being a weapon driven, even deceived, by others was hardly a happy past.

Of course, she acknowledged it was indeed a part of her life.

However, everything belonging to the Glamoth Iron Cavalry had departed along with the designation AR-26710.

Now, she was just Firefly.

And compared to the past days of booming explosions and constant fighting against the Swarm, this place called the Elysian Realm felt like paradise.

...Of course, Firefly didn't really have a concept of paradise.

After all, she was an artificial human. As mere weapons, the Glamoth Republic hadn't bothered injecting too much knowledge into the Iron Cavalry.

Fight for the Empress—that was their everything.

But, a place like this, with singing birds, fragrant flowers of all kinds, peaceful and detached from worldly affairs—Firefly felt that if paradise existed, it would probably be here.

She sincerely thanked the owner of this body for allowing her to experience all this... Although Elysian Realm Elysia candidly stating this wasn't reality, merely a virtual space extremely similar to reality, did bother her somewhat.

But, the Glamoth Iron Cavalry were beings denied even the right to dream.

Even if it was just a beautiful dream, even if it was all fake, it was incredibly precious to Firefly.

If possible, she really wanted to personally thank the man Elysia called Jiang Qiao, the owner of this body.

Perhaps this wish was too strong.

Just as legends in a certain world say—when a person's wish is too strong... ahem.

In short, Miss Firefly's wish seemed to have been answered.

Within the chat group.

New member [Firefly] has joined. Let's welcome them together.

Though lacking presence, the chat group, always keeping up with the times and version updates, popped up a notification for the newcomer.

Furina: Welcome, welcome.

The Dragon Sovereign of the group, reigning champion of Teyvat and Fontaine's number one idler, was the first to pop up.

Followed by a string of +1s, vigorously supporting the thriving gaming cause.

Qingque: Finally, a newbie.

Although suffering greatly thanks to a certain someone, Miss Qingque,坚持摸鱼 (insisting on slacking off) during work breaks, saw the new member join and cheered inwardly.

Then, under Jingzhi's watchful gaze, she buried her head back into the scrolls with a bitter face.

Miss Elysia, busy thrashing someone in a car game, seemed not to have noticed.

Firefly: Hello everyone.

Firefly was startled but not entirely ignorant about the chat group. After all, the diligent Elysian Realm Elysia had reaped many 'public rations' (gained info from Jiang Qiao), and knew bits and pieces about his affairs.

For potential future use, she had casually informed Firefly.

Therefore, Firefly adapted to the chat group remarkably quickly.

And specifically went looking for traces of Mr. Jiang Qiao.

Seeing his ID, her eyes lit up, and she sent a message:

Firefly: @Jiang Qiao. Thank you for lending me your body.

Qingque: Wait, could you be the 'missing owner' he mentioned?

Firefly: Eh?... Missing owner?

Changing her ID back to the name she was familiar with, Firefly saw Qingque's message, somewhat bewildered.

Qingque: Great... another victim.

Hugging a stack of scrolls, Miss Qingque wore a pouty cat face. This group should just be renamed Victim Central, Victim Rights Organization, or 'Historical Evidence of Mr. Jiang's Crimes' or something.

Of course, despite saying that, Miss Qingque was actually quite happy about Firefly's appearance.

After all, as fellow victims, they surely had common ground.

Considering herself a senior, Miss Qingque felt it absolutely necessary to save this victim who hadn't been completely ruined yet.

Especially this one named Firefly, who seemed a bit naive at first glance.

If she were left to be tricked by a certain someone, wouldn't she lose even her underwear?

Looking at the scrolls before her, the furious Miss Qingque was overwhelmed with grief and indignation.

She issued a warning:

Qingque: Silly child! Run!