The result, of course, was a clean sweep for Nana Toki—a scythe through grass, not even a ripple left behind.

After Nana’s tongue lashed like cold rain, Bamboo-Taker He slunk offline, tail between his legs. Players watched the horizon, but his name never popped up again—like a kite cut loose.

Guess he quit or wiped his account to start over. That face had hit the mud hard; even the world channel carried his infamy like drifting smoke.

But that was later’s ash. Right now, after Nana Toki lanced that two-bit clown, the world channel flared up like dry leaves catching a spark.

[World] Lone Hero: "Treasure Imp, I'm in love—pure fire. With that drive, you're my goddess."

[World] Bleak & Broken: "I hereby declare, unilaterally: Treasure Imp is my wife from now on. Opposition invalid."

[World] Crawl For Me: "You hear the creep dripping the moment the guy above opens his mouth."

[World] Shameless Sister-Licker: "Come on, sir—how's that a wife? Wake up. Treasure Imp is just code."

[World] Bleak & Broken: "Even code can be a wife!"

[World] Crawl On: "Are you nuts? Every woman you see is your wife?"

[World] I'm Cute, Please Pay Me: "What do you mean your wife? Treasure Imp is my wife!"

[World] Gacha Always Pity: "Aren't you on a female avatar? That can be your wife?"

[World] I'm Cute, Please Pay Me: "Can't a girl love a girl? /rage"

[World] Treasure Imp: "?"

What Nana hadn’t expected: that one hard clash on the world channel netted her a wave of fans, like starlings wheeling to a whistle. Her charm stat on the Goddess Leaderboard shot up like sparks, with a hint of overtaking the heroine’s top spot.

Worse, a few motor-mouths ran like runaway trains, grandly claiming Nana Toki as their wife to the outside world—shameless banners flapping in the wind.

Staring at those brain-dulling logs, Nana didn’t even think—she slammed the world channel shut, like dropping a curtain. The room felt clean as wind after rain.

Psychos. No way was she their wife. If a wife must be named, Nesting Phoenix would be her wife—fire roosting in her own palm—not Nana serving as someone else’s.

Ugh. A cannon-fodder picking a fight with the heroine, and I get stuck mopping up the mess? The grievance sat in her chest like a stone in a stream.

So fools really walk with lucky stars? She exhaled, a thin sigh, and the air felt colder. She’d have to hit up the Protagonist Lord for a fat mental-damages fee—something warm enough to bandage a bruised, baby-soft heart.

System: "..."

"Xie Yiyao!"

By a giant tree in Lizard Forest, Nana was scheming how to lure the Protagonist Lord over to pay ransom. Then his figure cut into her view, sword-flight slicing the sky like a silver carp through mist.

Cloud-white robe drifting like immortal fog, a handsome face storm-warm with anger—wolfdog alpha CEO vibes, a hunter in silk.

Mother of— The heroine gets bullied and you’re nowhere. I sweep the board, and you show up first to take attendance? Nice timing, Protagonist Lord.

Nana eyed that handsome face, her heart flat as lake glass. She even toyed with the idea of robbing the heroine right in front of him—bold as a hawk.

"Don’t move. This is a robbery."

The thought flickered, and she had Thorn out in a fluid whoosh. She half-crouched, blade-keen edge kissing Yanyu Jiangshan’s throat like a line of ice.

"B-Bigshot!" Xie Yiyao’s cute face blanched white as paper on cold rain. It was still a game, but steel at your neck feels like winter on bare skin.

So the Treasure Imp really was that evil NPC the bigshot had warned about—loves ganking low-level newbies, a shadow under torches.

The heroine barely dared breathe, like a candle in a draft.

"You again?" The Protagonist Lord—handle Xianlan Yanyu—leapt off his flying sword, a ripple of silk against bark. He frowned, his storm-warm gaze locked on the dagger in Nana’s hand. "Why are you here?"

Didn’t the officials say the Treasure Imp was patched? His words fell heavy as rain on stone.

"Why shouldn’t I be? Public map. I go where I want—none of your damn business." She’d just swatted the fly pestering the heroine, yet he brought thunder instead of thanks. Like he expected her temper to be a docile pond.

"Focus. This is a robbery. Don’t change the subject."

Yanyu Jiangshan: "..."

Xianlan Yanyu: "..."

What’s wrong with this Treasure Imp? He popped her panel open and saw stats towering like a cliff face. His expression went dark as a brewing storm.

Patched? He suspected she’d been buffed. This felt higher level than the last time—like the tide took the beach.

"Let her go. This time, I’ll pretend I saw nothing." His voice came flat as steel. "For a high-intelligence NPC who can tweak data at will, those devs must be a headache—like gnats under a summer lamp."

"Heh. A few idiot programmers think they can fix me? World’s biggest joke." Her smile was a crescent blade.

He really thought she feared the officials? With the System’s veil, even delisting the game wouldn’t scrub Nana Toki’s data—the snow wouldn’t take her tracks.

She angled Thorn and grinned, mean as a street rogue. "I’m the woman who’ll rule this entire game. Ants don’t enter my sight."

System: "..."

Its host kept catching a glorious edgelord fever whenever she slipped between worlds. The System floated, helpless as mist.

"So you won’t let her go?" He tightened his grip on his long sword, face shadowed like thunderheads. One wrong syllable, and steel would flash.

"I could let her go if you promise me one thing." Nana’s Thorn traced the pale curve of Xie Yiyao’s neck like a cold quill. "You don’t want your sweetheart dropping a level and grinding back up, do you?"

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I’ll kill her every time I see her—back to zero, rolled down to the starter village." Her tone was calm, a lake frozen into glass, but the words had the chill of iron. Even with protagonist glow wrapped around him, Xianlan Yanyu’s heart skipped—a hawk noting a trap. Wariness rose like a hedge of thorns.

Not a simple AI. No game NPC he’d seen breathed this real.

This woman was dangerous—a knife wrapped in silk.

"Well? Your answer?" Her question slipped out like a blade testing flesh.

"..."

"And don’t try that immobilize trick like last time." Her smile stayed as painted surface, but her eyes carried the draw of a naked sword. "People grow. AI does, too."

"Fine." After a brief silence, Xianlan Yanyu agreed, words landing like pebbles in water. She read him too neatly, like a map traced in ash.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Not much. Do you know about that incident three years ago—human consciousness trapped in a full-dive MMO? If you know, tell me."

"That?" His left eyelid twitched—surprise like a sparrow hopping. It was so off-sides he hadn’t expected it.

"What else? You think I’d ask you to rob a bank?" She rolled her eyes, a ripple across still water.

"..."

"I don’t know about ‘three years ago’ specifically, but for this game there were claims years back—rumors like smoke—that a player’s consciousness got trapped during public beta. Her friend went to the devs, got stonewalled. By the time the officials realized it was real, the girl had died offline—starvation over long days, a body left without hands to feed it. The company kept the game running and told the world it was slander, baseless stories woven by troublemakers. And since the game launched right after, attention swung to the shiny full-dive. Those posts had no hard proof, and most people laughed and scrolled on."

"..." The words hung in the air like ash that wouldn’t settle.

"That’s all?" Nana tested, her voice a needle probing cloth.

"That’s all." He nodded. "It didn’t last long. Having this much is already a lot—like catching smoke in a jar."

Nana Toki: "..." Thin as spider silk. What can I analyze from this fog?

"Can you still find those posts?" Her voice softened, childlike and airy, as if she’d traded iron for cotton. The shift was a drifting petal compared to that earlier blade.

Words alone were too few; she needed to see more—roots, not just leaves.

"I can, probably. It stirred up a bit back then; digging might still turn up embers." He frowned, lines cut like bark. "But this has nothing to do with you as an NPC. Why are you digging this?"

"You don’t want your sweetheart?" Nana’s eyes narrowed—a lazy cat showing claws.

Xianlan Yanyu: "..." The wind stilled, and he held his tongue like a man in a storm.