Chapter 91
by Need_More_SleepChapter 91: Yiwen Is A Liar
Easter Branch 67.
The facility existed as a floating laboratory, hovering high above the city. Its primary functions included production and supplying black-market gangs with surplus contraband.
Even ignoring the technical challenges, the energy required to keep it aloft was astronomical.
Isolated in a parallel dimension, its researchers dedicated their lives to science—ethics be damned.
Some were recruited talents from around the world; others were born and raised within Easter, rigorously trained for this path.
Unlike their surface-world counterparts, these scientists weren’t driven by altruism. Their sole motivation was quenching their own insatiable curiosity.
To them, the world was a vast sandbox game—every undiscovered “mechanic” sent them into euphoria.
Aside from the incident at Branch 2 two months prior, Easter had operated flawlessly for a century. Worrying about discovery was as pointless as fearing another meteor strike.
Even if someone did breach their dimension, cleanup crews would handle it. Not the researchers’ concern.
So when alarms blared, their first assumption was malfunction. Even explosions triggered automated containment—fire alerts sounded nothing like intrusion warnings.
Only when frantic footsteps echoed through the halls did realization dawn.
“What’s happening?”
“No idea. Control center triggered it.”
“That can’t be right…”
“Traitor? No outsiders detected.”
“No—”
When the supervisor shoved through the crowd, the truth became clear.
A computer had vanished.
Not just any terminal—the decades-ahead supercomputer at the control hub’s core. Gone. Under cameras and eyewitnesses.
————————
A Rundown Apartment, Fanzui City.
Takeout containers carpeted the floor, leaving no standing room.
A hunched, unshaven young man glared through bloodshot eyes at his game’s chat log, where teammates’ greetings piled up.
“Did you eat shit?”
“Your mom gave great service yesterday.”
“’I was playing cards with your mom while you pushed from behind—”
The man smirked and typed:
“Kushou Ryoya, run fast after school tomorrow. Or I’ll wait for you at Yutai High’s gate.”
“I’m playing cards on Kushou Nae’s bed. Want to watch? Kushou Jussuke’s pushing me from behind.”
The opponent instantly quit.
Of course they’d flee—he’d doxxed their real name, school, and parents mid-insult.
Quitting wasn’t enough.
He alt-tabbed, hacked into every messaging platform the target used, and continued the barrage—forwarding their cowardice to all their classmates until they begged for mercy.
His teammates didn’t dare complain about his AFK tirade. The moment he started naming names, they realized—this was that infamous esper hacker.
After hacking the game for an instant win, he grabbed his phone to browse shorts—then froze.
“Heh. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
The elusive signal he’d chased for months had finally exposed itself. Previously, he couldn’t even pinpoint its coordinates. Now? Time to dissect its secrets.
His ability seeped into the system. Progress crawled—this was the first device to resist him. But resistance was futile. No matter how advanced, if it ran on data—
Gone.
Impossible!
Not just hidden—erased. Had its data self-destructed?
He hacked nearby city cameras, tracing the signal’s last location.
Nothing unusual. Limited camera coverage (Thanks to those Tian Xing Dao bastards) restricted further tracking.
He pulled feeds from every functional camera within three blocks.
At the signal’s disappearance point: Two middle-schoolers taking flight. Commonplace in Fanzui City.
But one figure stood out.
Grainy footage made identification tricky, but enhancement matched the white-haired girl to FBI databases—White Whale.
He’d noted her before due to… personal history.
Which made her companion easy to deduce.
He began digging into Mi Xiaoliu’s records.
Unnoticed, an owl perched on his balcony, silently observing.
————————
Though Easter’s branch existed in a parallel dimension, by aligning coordinates in the primary space, Mi Xiaoliu successfully yoinked the supercomputer into her system storage.
She’d tried transferring a pen earlier—failed.
Why attempt it?
Because in that moment, an inexplicable urge whispered: Take the entire facility.
Sasha stopped her.
That lab housed more than Easter personnel—it held test subjects like Mi Xiaoliu had once been.
Her storage couldn’t preserve living beings. A mass abduction was impossible.
(Not that she owed them salvation. Many subjects likely wanted death as release.)
The core issue? A missing computer might go unnoticed. A vanished facility? That screamed her involvement. Easter would deploy countermeasures within seconds.
Worst-case scenario? It could summon First Fractal.
Only pity was letting those researchers off easy.
[Present.]
“Close call. If anyone traces this, we’re in trouble. Don’t retrieve it until we’re ready,” Sasha warned sternly.
Beneath the system storage’s “Stack All” function hid an inconspicuous toggle: Signal [ON/OFF]
This was how Mi Xiaoliu’s phone could receive messages while stored.
Leaving signals unblocked was like carrying a live tracker—one that could remotely wipe the device.
“Ready?”
“Yes. At minimum, my Master needs basic computer skills—mouse usage, file navigation, keyboard commands. Plus a secure location with power access, escape routes, signal jammers…”
Sasha listed requirements far beyond Mi Xiaoliu’s comprehension.
“If all else fails, find someone tech-savvy.” (If only the landlord hadn’t left…)
“Mmm.”
[Back at Yiwen’s Home.]
Tonight, Raven’s cooking channeled Heli’s flavors—recipes for Mi Xiaoliu’s favorite dishes had been shared via WeChat.
Since arriving, Mi Xiaoliu had been quieter than usual, which was saying something. Raven worried she felt out of place—compounded by the household’s already-awkward mealtimes.
Dias Black visited her office again today. Young men’s intentions were transparent — engaged, yet still sniffing around other girls.
Raven watched Mi Xiaoliu gaming with Yiwen.
Baffling. Yiwen, who’d once despised her, now seemed… close?
“Xiaoliu, don’t KS! I need that pentakill!” Yiwen kicked Mi Xiaoliu’s leg from the couch, phone clenched tightly.
Too late. Stolen.
“You dare steal my penta?!” Yiwen grabbed her collar, shaking her violently.
Mi Xiaoliu’s only kill in that game — her pentakill. Infuriating.
“Sorry.”
“N-no, it’s fine…” Yiwen wasn’t the type to rage at friends over games. Mi Xiaoliu’s earnest apology made her feel guilty. “Bickering’s part of friendship, you know?”
Saying it aloud felt… weird.
Mi Xiaoliu blinked, uncomprehending.
“Xiaoliu, we’re friends, right?” Yiwen sat up straight.
Silence.
Mi Xiaoliu didn’t understand the concept.
Yiwen pondered. “Like… if someone tried to hurt me—say, that blonde senior who tutors you—would you rush to save me?”
“No.”
Yiwen’s smile froze.
Couldn’t you lie?!
From anyone else, this would’ve been banter. But Mi Xiaoliu meant it.
Just how scared are you of that senior?!
Okay, bad example.
“If someone hurt you, I’d fight them—even if I’d lose,” Yiwen declared.
Then immediately cringed.
Why did I say something so cringey?!
“My point is—you don’t have to obey everyone. You’re not a tool. That mindset’s dangerous.”
Blank stare.
“If someone upsets you, call them out! Like if my brother hogged my PC—”
She dragged Mi Xiaoliu to Toby’s room and barged in.
Toby, headphones on, was mid-game: “Ranked match. Play properly, and we’re still bros—”
Yiwen flashed her “summoner spell”.
Toby’s eyes bulged.
“MOM! SIS IS—” (Since when did he call her “sis”?!)
“Did I give you that PC for gaming?” Raven, for once, didn’t take his side.
She usually favored Toby—not out of sexism (she was female herself), but like many parents, she indulged the younger child.
No parent could be perfectly fair. Especially with a rebellious teen daughter.
Her philosophy: Toby gets priority now, Yiwen will later.
She’d assumed Mi Xiaoliu would bond with Toby first—maybe even become a lovely daughter-in-law. Why had she clicked with Yiwen instead?
Some shared tomboy camaraderie? But they shouldn’t even know each other’s secrets…
Or maybe Toby’s just hopeless. She’d hinted he should be nicer.
……
So confusing.
Mi Xiaoliu was equally lost.
Yiwen is a liar.
That night, following Sasha’s advice, Mi Xiaoliu sought someone tech-literate.
The Hermit Sister.
Upon entering, she found Wei Shi gaming—who immediately snapped without turning: “Don’t just barge in unannounced! Go to bed!”
Mi Xiaoliu frowned.
So she quietly walked over, imitating what Yiwen had taught her-
“Deng! (A vivid flash sound effect)”
And then, in a flash, Wei Shi appeared, using brute strength that surpassed even Mi Xiaoliu’s combat suit, pinning her down and spanking her with a feather duster.
“Getting bold, are you? I say a few words and you start rebelling!”
Yiwen was a liar.
Of course, Wei Shi didn’t hit too hard, and there was a combat suit in between, so it didn’t really hurt that much.
Mainly, it was because the Hermit Sister was protecting her.