"That's headquarters' problem, isn't it?"
Listening to Rita's sigh, Theresa replied expressionlessly though the smile on Rita's face only deepened as she watched the little loli try so hard to look serious.
"You can't say that." As a confirmed lolicon, Rita genuinely admired Theresa's earnest pout, but business came first. "No one knows what the extraterrestrials might bring bacteria? Disease? Or perhaps a catastrophe on par with Honkai? Our world can't afford any more chaos."
"Oh? Then why do I get the feeling Grandpa loves stirring up chaos more than anyone?"
"His Eminence naturally has his reasons. If Lady Theresa has doubts, feel free to ask him directly."
Rita's response was a flawless deflection.
The core message boiled down to one thing—
Why don't you go fight the Bishop yourself?
"…"
Sure enough, that shut Theresa up.
Rita pressed her advantage. "By the way, Lady Theresa—what exactly brings you here?"
"Who else? Kiana, obviously. Your captain's precious little sister."
"Oh? Has Miss Kiana gone missing?" Rita's mind immediately jumped to World Serpent.
"Nah." Theresa shook her head.
"That idiot girl smashed a priceless treasure from Liyue Chamber of Commerce during a mission. Now she's working off the debt."
"…No reimbursement?"
Rita blinked, genuinely caught off guard.
"One warehouse full of antique paintings and calligraphy—initial valuation thirty billion. You want me to expense that?"
Theresa's face darkened at the memory, her words practically grinding through clenched teeth.
"That brat was never beaten enough as a kid! Can't she watch where she's kicking during a fight? One flaming meteor beast gets punted straight into their warehouse! The big boss herself Ningguang personally showed up at our branch demanding answers. What was I supposed to do?"
"Mm… well… how to put it…"
Rita was at a loss for words.
Though, thinking about it, her own captain had collapsed more than a few buildings with thrown spears Schicksal property, granted.
Thirty billion. The Far East Branch definitely didn't have that kind of liquid cash lying around.
"What did Lady Cecilia say?"
"What could she say? She invited Ningguang for tea… then threw Kiana over as collateral."
Theresa sounded thoroughly defeated.
Rita's expression was one of complete understanding.
She'd have done the same.
That girl was beyond saving.
"Still… I bet Lady Cecilia is secretly pleased. Call it character-building for Kiana."
Theresa's resigned tone made Rita's smile freeze for a split second.
You're sure you didn't just sell her?
Could Kiana even pay back thirty billion in a lifetime?
Fine Rita knew Cecilia had probably already cut a private deal with Ningguang. Some kind of understanding had been reached.
After all, a mother cleaning up her daughter's mess was only natural.
"So… Lady Theresa, you're here to look after Kiana?"
"Huh? Look after?"
Theresa shot Rita a bewildered glance.
Rita returned it, equally confused.
Wasn't that the case?
"Rita, did your brain short-circuit too? I'm here to stop that rotten girl from running away!"
"…"
Ah… unexpected, yet somehow perfectly logical.
"Though…" Theresa frowned slightly. "There was an attack on the Chamber today. Assailant unknown."
"Targeted at Kiana?" Rita's expression sobered.
"No idea. The Chamber itself is a juicy target makes money on par with Anti-Entropy but lacks their overt military power. Getting eyed isn't surprising."
Theresa looked mildly troubled.
"And your extraterrestrial targets?"
"Lost. But my gut says World Serpent's involved."
"Since when did you become an intuition type?"
Theresa gave Rita a sidelong glance—then a spark lit in her eyes.
"Wait—Rita, I've got an idea."
"…One of your ideas, Lady Theresa?"
"Don't look so skeptical! I'm serious!" Theresa hopped in place at Rita's doubtful face. "The most informed factions here besides World Serpent are Liyue Chamber! Need intel? Buy it from the Chamber! Way better than having Immortal Blade comb the city like needles in a haystack."
"And incidentally keep an eye on Miss Kiana for you?" Rita instantly saw through the scheme.
"Exactly~!"
"…It's actually not a bad plan."
Too cute to refuse…
Serenitea Pot – Thatched Hut.
Ding—!
From behind the neighboring screen came Guinaifen's sleepy mumble.
"Mmm… boss, you're still up…"
"Sorry—I haven't figured out how to mute this wristband. Did I wake you?"
"Zzzzz…"
"…"
Apparently not. The girl slept like the dead.
Just earlier, Gray Serpent had sent over the compiled map of World Metropolis power distribution and faction histories to his wristband.
First, the city itself: national borders gone, the planet fully integrated via endless rail bridges into a single "World Metropolis"… a literal global village.
As a game mod setting, fine. As reality? Absurd.
Then the factions.
The entire world or rather, the entire World Metropolis was divided into three zones:
Schicksal-controlled territories.
Anti-Entropy-controlled territories.
And finally, Free Commercial Zones.
Current location: Sky City sector Free Commercial Zone.
Schicksal's boss: Otto. No surprises.
Anti-Entropy's boss: also no surprises Joyce…
Wait! Walter Joyce what's his deal?
Fine Herrscher is Herrscher. Whatever. Not someone Liu Bai could touch at his current level anyway.
Other free factions—Liu Bai skimmed them.
Hm. Aside from World Serpent, everything matched his memories.
Current strategy: build combat power.
With the current money-making pace, that wasn't the issue.
The real problem…
Stellaron Catastrophe.
Originally set for one year after game start. Liu Bai had casually dialed it down to six months in the settings.
A high-difficulty event explicitly flagged for save corruption risk.
High difficulty. Six months…
He really wanted to strangle pre-transmigration himself.
Stellaron Catastrophe—Liu Bai didn't know the exact plot, but the name alone gave him a solid eighty to ninety percent guess.
Stellaron. Rifts. Destruction Legion. The usual.
At this rate, might as well rename Earth "Xianzhou Luofu VI" and call it a day…