Annan Can Practically Be Considered My Daughter

Stepping out of the gaming pod, Yaxiu felt his vision blur. He reached up and wiped his face, only to realize he had been crying. What a miserable day. He had literally been scolded to tears. Although he had acquired a top-tier account, let alone having experience leading high-difficulty raids, Yaxiu had never even run a high-difficulty raid before. His initial thought had simply been to see how others commanded. With a fully maxed character boasting all achievements and top gear for the current patch, sneaking into an Extreme raid group was an absolute breeze. In the game *Epic*, high-difficulty raids were divided into three tiers: Extreme, Phantom, and Ultimate. Extreme was the limit for ordinary players; Phantom could only be cleared by veteran professional gamers who had invested years; and Ultimate was an exclusive domain where only sorcerer players possessed the qualifications to clear. Yaxiu figured that even if he couldn't tackle Ultimate raids right off the bat, clearing an Extreme raid shouldn't be much of a problem, right? Furthermore, he had made sure to read guides beforehand to confirm his character's tactical responsibilities, aiming to clear an Extreme raid within the day before leading progression into Phantom raids. Then, over the course of that single day, he received a comprehensive education in the profanity culture of the Gospel Country. When it came to foul language, Gospel and Blood Moon each possessed distinct flavors. Blood Moon lacked parents, so its people tended to anchor their insults on the three pillars of race, gender, and education, delivering pinpoint, seamlessly intersecting, single-target discrimination. Gospel, on the other hand, was full of people with both parents living, meaning Gospel citizens centered their vitriol on maternal relatives and carpet-bombed their targets across a blast radius spanning eighteen generations of ancestors. More amusingly, perhaps because the Gospel held a religious-level status in this society, it frequently became the subject of their insults. Though Yaxiu felt nothing when hearing them, native Gospel citizens could be thoroughly broken by remarks like "The Gospel already marked you as scum of the earth for life" or "The Gospel assigned you an ugly-ass spouse." All in all, not only did Yaxiu fail to clear the Extreme raid today, but he was also brutally battered by both the boss and his teammates. Virtual games in Gospel were genuinely fun, but they were also brutally difficult. In full-dive consciousness games, players had to physically control their avatars to execute tactical actions. Actively dodging telegraph zones, turning away to avoid gaze mechanics, and positioning correctly to soak stack damage all had to be performed simultaneously while maintaining damage output. In the old era of light-screen games, these mechanics would only be considered mildly challenging; after all, even the most complex maneuvers ultimately came down to a keyboard and mouse. In this new era of full-dive consciousness games, however, these maneuvers were insanely difficult—Yaxiu either focused entirely on DPS and missed the boss's status, or scrambled frantically to handle raid mechanics while losing track of his teammates. Every limb had to be in motion every second. If your foot clipped an uneven patch on the ground and sent you sprawling, that alone could trigger an immediate wipe. Not to mention, the first-person perspective severely restricted situational awareness. Players couldn't grasp complete battlefield information and could even collide with teammates, sending both crashing down—Yaxiu had played the blind, deaf liability who battered his own squad several times that afternoon. Yet amidst this near-masochistic difficulty, Yaxiu noticed something: the enemies in these high-difficulty raids... resembled the knowledge creatures in the Void Realm! Or rather, their skills, traits, and combat styles were almost entirely modeled after Void Realm knowledge creatures. For instance, the "Extreme Cleaver Carp Overlord Duke" Yaxiu had fought that afternoon was clearly an enhanced, powered-up version of the Fishcleaver Dragon. Although Yaxiu and his companions had long since learned to kick the Fishcleaver Dragon around like a ball, experiencing the Extreme Cleaver Carp in depth gave him the distinct impression that their strategy for slaughtering Fishcleaver Dragons could be further optimized. Beyond that, because knowledge creatures in the Void Realm were so diverse, no universal solution theoretically existed. Yet the team strategies formulated for *Epic*'s high-difficulty raids applied to virtually every scenario: spread, stack, face away, taunt, bait... Compared to the mature, intricate team combat system in *Epic*, Yaxiu's trio was practically a prehistoric family of cavemen on a hunt, relying purely on unspoken synergy and limiting their tactical communication to "I got it," "Don't move," and "Get over there." Yaxiu quickly realized that high-difficulty raids were tremendously beneficial for improving his leadership abilities. At the same time, a question popped into his head: Why did other people play these masochistic raids? They couldn't party up in the Void Realm anyway... Then enlightenment struck. Right! Precisely because they couldn't team up, after getting beaten black and blue by knowledge creatures alone in the Void Realm, they came to reality to get their revenge! *You stepped on my head today, so today I'm bringing seven brothers to stomp on your grave!* One reason enemy designs in the game drew inspiration from Void Realm knowledge creatures was that it made copying easy. Another was that such foes could ignite a sorcerer's rage without needing any narrative setup. The underlying principle was probably much like painting a fly inside a urinal. However, *Epic* was hardly an educational game for sorcerers. At most, sorcerers could glean an approximate understanding of a knowledge creature's attack patterns; as for the actual combat experience gained in raids, it was practically useless to them. First, their real-world combat strength fell far short of their game characters—after all, in any nation, the number of production sorcerers vastly exceeded combat sorcerers. Second, raid strategies were built upon multi-person coordination, whereas in the Void Realm they were unquestionably solitary figures; the Void Realm's examination grounds offered them zero opportunity to collude. It was truly a coincidence that only an examinee like Yaxiu, who could illegally form a party, could extract meaningful cheating experience from high-difficulty raids. It was just that playing this game cost far too many tears. *So what if I was a little clumsy, caused over a dozen wipes, and kept the party stuck on Phase 1 of the Extreme Cleaver Carp all afternoon? Did they really have to curse me out that viciously...* Seeing that the time was about right, Yaxiu had to go meet up with Annan. Right now, he had to juggle affairs across three fronts: the Void Realm, reality, and gaming. With his soul damaged, the Void Realm could be temporarily shelved until the Blazing Soul Essence Special Drink fully healed him. His raid journey in the game had only just begun, leaving him a long way from becoming an accomplished shot-caller. In reality, he still had to cater to Lady Annan's whims, with no telling what quota of tasks she would hand down this time... Yaxiu felt like he had prematurely stepped into the life of a middle-aged corporate drone: home life thrown into chaos by a lover, crushed by a young boss at work, and unable to find even a shred of carefree fun in entertainment. Though... Did Annan mention where they were supposed to meet? Yaxiu opened the Book of Gospel. "Where is Annan?" Book of Gospel: "Your Eminence, according to regulations, Gospel cannot directly disclose an individual's location. However, you may inquire about the location of the target's belongings." Yaxiu: "Where are Annan's clothes?" Book of Gospel: "(1 Gospel point deducted) In the wardrobe of Room 2803 on the 28th floor... Your Eminence, you should inquire about personal items worn close to the target's body." Yaxiu: "Where is the underwear Annan is currently wearing?" Book of Gospel: "(1 Gospel point deducted) The inquired target does not exist... Your Eminence, Gospel has a humble suggestion: could you inquire about a personal item you have witnessed with your own eyes?" *Target does not exist...?!* Yaxiu: "You're such a rip-off. I didn't get any useful intel, and you scammed two points off me just like that." Book of Gospel: "My deepest apologies, Your Eminence. Gospel will make improvements as soon as possible." In the end, Yaxiu asked where Annan's amethyst earrings were, and the Book of Gospel finally delivered a proper answer—Suite 24 in the South District of the dining floor. The Book of Gospel even thoughtfully provided the shortest walking route. Yaxiu took the elevator down to the dining floor. Just as he was about to head toward Suite 24, he spotted Igola sneaking suspiciously into the shadows of the hallway. After a moment's thought, Yaxiu slipped into the shadows and stood beside him. Igola glanced at him without saying a word. Moments later, the door to Suite 24 opened, and a maid stepped out. Speaking of which, although Fanmula also had cleaning automatons, it relied far more on human service staff—a stark contrast to the heavily automated Azula. Yet the decline in service staff elsewhere wasn't merely due to cheaper mechanical alternatives; it was because no one wanted to work in the service industry. While chefs, hair stylists, and fitness coaches could more or less realize their personal life value, intensive manual labor like serving dishes and busing tables existed purely for survival. Civilizational progress meant freeing humanity from the shackles of survival to enjoy life's true worth; occupations incapable of fulfilling personal value were destined for obsolescence. Dining maids like this could easily be replaced by mobile ordering apps and food-runner automatons, which would also be far more cost-effective. Yet Sennheiser continued to provide such jobs to ordinary clan members, and the ordinary clan members were remarkably content working them. A Sennheiser that needed to provide positions for its people, paired with ordinary clansmen who had inhaled Beauty Mist for so long that they were utterly satisfied with reality and bereft of ambition, together formed this family ecosystem that was simultaneously advanced and backward. As the maid walked past, Igola reached out and yanked her straight into the room. Yaxiu watched in dumbfounded shock before following inside and shutting the door. *Aren't you Swindlers supposed to use psychological suggestions and hypnotic gazes? Why are you using brute force? Even I could do that!* However, Yaxiu soon realized he couldn't. The maid was initially startled, but the moment she looked up and saw the Swindler's top-tier mud worker face—one handsome enough to charm even a Moon Shadow elf—her cheeks flushed crimson. Lowering her head, she murmured, "Is... is there something you need?" Yaxiu waved a hand in front of her. *Why 'you' and not 'you two'? What about me?!* The maid was a human female in her early twenties, her ears slightly pointed—perhaps one of her parents was an elf. She had delicate features and a delightfully pert rear. Noticing the ravenous look in her eyes as she stared at Igola, Yaxiu realized he had fallen into a misconception. Because the sight of countless citizens staring down at them in the streets earlier had been so jarring, Yaxiu had subconsciously stopped viewing the people of Fanmula as ordinary humans, treating them instead like neutral yellow-named mobs. In reality, aside from being cheerful and brimming with energy every day, they were hardly different from normal people. They drooled over handsome men, and they cursed when their teammates were too terrible to carry in video games. It was only the barrier between locals and outsiders that made it hard for Yaxiu to see their normal side. "You know who we are, right?" The maid nodded. "The matriarch told us. You are Miss Annan's servants, as well as Sennheiser's guests." "Actually, no," Igola said. "We aren't Sennheiser's guests. We are Sennheiser clansmen." Both the maid and Yaxiu froze. But because Yaxiu was draped in a black cloak and mask, the maid failed to notice his expression. She shook her head. "Impossible. I can recognize every single Sennheiser clansman." "We were undercover agents sent by the matriarch to infiltrate Annan's side, tasked with stealing the Doran family's secrets," Igola said smoothly. "Yet Annan is exceedingly cunning. She would never trust anyone from Sennheiser, and the matriarch wouldn't trust an outsider either. So she arranged for us to undergo a demon-purging ritual, temporarily severing our ties with the clan and Fanmula. Only after winding our way through layers of disguises did we successfully gain Annan's trust." The maid remained skeptical. "You're trusted by the matriarch? But from what I recall, the matriarch doesn't really trust men." Igola let out a soft sigh. "You're right. The matriarch indeed doesn't trust men. Which is why... I used to be her closest female confidante." Both the maid and Yaxiu shuddered. A complex swirl of emotion surfaced in the maid's eyes. "Could you have...?" "For the eternal glory of Sennheiser, such a small sacrifice is nothing." Igola tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, wearing an expression of heart-wrenching, delicate sorrow. "It's just that it's been so long since anyone showed me any tenderness..." The emotion radiating from the Swindler carried an irresistible persuasiveness. The maid believed him almost instantly. Turning her head, she looked at Yaxiu. "Then who are you...?" Yaxiu glanced at Igola, who blinked back at him. Though he had no idea what Igola was playing at, Yaxiu obviously had to play along. "I am also someone the matriarch trusts." "But the matriarch wouldn't trust a man." The maid eyed him suspiciously. "Don't tell me you were the matriarch's female confidante too?" Yaxiu knew he couldn't reuse Igola's excuse. Igola could pull it off through sheer acting prowess and the perfect face, whereas Yaxiu lacked both the hardware and the software. He had to invent an identity that fit his persona— "Theoretically, Annan can practically be considered my daughter."