Chapter 9: The Streamer Pardo, Pardofelis!
Today was the release day for *Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy* on the HOMU Game Platform. Su Mu performed one final check of the game's status and, after confirming everything was correct, shut down his computer.
Afterward, he did not remain idle. He opened a Word document and began writing the planning proposal for *Honkai Impact 3rd*. Most of the proposal was already complete; the system had informed Su Mu that if he could draft the proposal through his own ability, the requirements for unlocking the corresponding game source codes would be lower.
Truthfully, when Su Mu first saw *Honkai Impact 3rd*, it truly deserved the title of a "next-generation beautiful girl action mobile game". Compared to the cookie-cutter characters and flat 2D illustrations common on the market, presenting beautiful girls in full 3D was an irresistible draw for the ACG (Anime, Comic, and Games) players of that time. The success of *Honkai Impact 3rd* was inseparable from both its technical prowess and its plot.
However, as a veteran player from the open beta, Su Mu was well aware that the plot of *Honkai Impact 3rd* contained contradictions and even instances of "retconning". This was normal for a long-term live-service mobile game, as writers and editors change over time. The storyline of *Honkai Impact 3rd* was incredibly complex, spanning official visual novels, comics, and the main story within the game itself. The comics were meant to supplement the main story, but some content was so disconnected that it felt as if each medium was being written independently. Therefore, untangling these various settings and backgrounds required a significant amount of effort.
While patching the main storyline, Su Mu was also thinking about how to expand the event plots. He remembered that when Yae Village first debuted, the featured UP characters were Goushinnso Memento and Gyakushinn Miko. However, as everyone eventually learned, Goushinnso Memento actually had no direct connection to Yae Sakura; she never appeared in Yae Village. Memento was actually a Previous Era battlesuit for Sakura that originated from a game made by Otto. Interestingly, it was said that Otto banned the player who held the number one spot on the leaderboards at that time.
The more Su Mu edited the script, the more he scratched his head. Setting bugs aside, the plots involving Theresa and Siegfried had to be changed first; otherwise, they would become potential pitfalls later. In the original story, the fact that Theresa and Siegfried gave the name "Kiana" to the clone while knowing the real Kiana was still alive was a major point of criticism among players, who felt the logic behind their actions was quite absurd.
Su Mu remained focused on his screen, his fingers flying across the keyboard, completely unaware that someone was knocking on his door.
"Su Mu? Are you there?"
Seeing no response after knocking several times, the "Big Duck" curiously pushed open the door and found Su Mu hard at work. Surprised, she walked up behind him. Su Mu, completely immersed in his writing, didn't notice Bronya standing there. When a person is highly concentrated, they tend to ignore their surroundings; Bronya recognized this state and chose not to interrupt him.
She looked at the proposal on Su Mu's computer, and what she saw immediately captivated her. Su Mu was currently writing the "Herrscher of the Void" segment, where Raiden Mei and the Herrscher of Thunder cooperate to battle the Herrscher of the Void, who eventually strips a gem from Mei.
"Come back to me, my other half—"
It was only when he reached this point that Su Mu stopped typing and exhaled a long sigh. After concentrating for so long, he naturally felt a bit exhausted. Upon looking up, he realized Bronya had been standing behind him the whole time, staring intently. Because they were so close, Su Mu could even smell a pleasant, milky fragrance wafting from her.
"Manager? When did you get here?" Su Mu jumped, completely startled by Bronya's sudden presence.
"I knocked just now, but when you didn't answer, I thought something had happened," Bronya said, shaking her head. "Never mind that—what happens next? Kiana becomes the Herrscher of the Void—is she going to destroy the world? If Sister Mei and the Herrscher of Thunder lost even while working together, how is the Hyperion supposed to deal with her?"
Bronya threw out her questions all at once, only realizing afterward that she might have been too impatient. Her face flushed slightly. "Sorry, I got a bit too excited..."
Initially, Bronya had been confused to see familiar names appearing in Su Mu's proposal. After all, these were people she knew personally. Even she appeared in Su Mu's proposal, but why was she depicted as an expressionless, "poker-faced" girl? Did Su Mu have a specific preference for that type?
While Bronya had found it strange at first, as Su Mu continued to type, she had unconsciously become immersed in the "Herrscher of the Void" story.
"Are you writing a novel?"
"No, it's the script for a new game."
"A new game?"
"That's right," Su Mu nodded. "The game is called *Honkai Impact 3rd*! It's a next-generation 3D action mobile game featuring beautiful girls as its main selling point!"
The term "beautiful girl game" made Bronya pause. In this world, games were often repetitive, pushing the "reskinned" monetization model to its limit. It wasn't that there were no impressive games, but the productivity of those manufacturers was far too low.
Su Mu's words surprised Bronya, but they also piqued her curiosity. However, seeing Su Mu's playful smile, it was clear he was going to leave her in suspense, so Bronya didn't press further. She had a more important matter to attend to.
"Regardless of that, it's almost eight o'clock. Our 'Phantom Iron Studio's' new game is about to go live," Bronya said. "Kiana hired some streamers to help us promote the game. she recommended a streamer named Pardofelis. If you're not in a hurry to leave..."
Su Mu was naturally interested in the launch of the new game. The moment he heard the name Pardofelis, his ears perked up. Bronya shared the livestream link with Su Mu, and he opened it on his computer. As the stream loaded and Pardofelis appeared on the screen, Su Mu nearly stood at attention.
It was really Pardo!
In *Honkai Impact 3rd*, Pardofelis was one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era anti-Honkai organization, The MOTHs. She held the XIII rank and her Signet was "Reverie." She was once a member of the secret unit "The MOTHs" and, along with Mobius, Sakura, Elysia, and Eden, formed a group notorious for gossip!
Watching Pardo on the stream, Su Mu's mouth curled into an uncontrollable smile. This Pardo was truly adorable. After she played *Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy* for a while... she would probably be crying for a long time, right?
Bronya didn't notice that Su Mu was struggling to suppress his laughter. She watched Pardofelis, who was currently laughing and chatting in the stream, appearing completely stress-free.
Bronya couldn't help but sigh. She could already foresee how much poor Pardo was about to be tortured.
END OF CHAPTER