Chapter 43: The Waiting Raiden Mei
Bronya sat perched on the arm of Project Bunny 19C, her small fingers gently stroking its cold, mechanical shell. In that simple touch, a phantom warmth from a time long past seemed to ripple through the years, reaching her hand.
"Seele..." she whispered, her voice a fragile thread woven with an endless, aching longing.
"Say," a voice cut through her reverie, "could you help untie me? Being trussed up like this is getting pretty tiring."
Rovel shifted, testing his bonds, only to find them utterly unyielding. He had no idea what exotic material the rope was made of, but it held him fast.
Bronya shot him a sidelong glance, her expression flat and dismissive, before turning away and ignoring him completely.
"Fine then," Rovel sighed theatrically. "I'm just going to log off and get some sleep. You can take your time reminiscing about the good old days; I won't disturb you. I'm out."
As if to punctuate his statement, Bronya raised a small toy pistol and fired. A tiny rubber bullet zipped through the air and struck Rovel squarely on the forehead with a soft thwack. It bounced once before falling harmlessly to the floor.
A small "-1" materialized above Rovel's head.
[Ding! You are currently in a combat state and cannot log off.]
The system's synthesized voice echoed in his mind, cold and impartial.
"The Bronya will not permit you to leave," she stated, lowering the toy gun.
A slow realization dawned on Rovel. It seemed the inhabitants of the real world weren't the only ones exploring the mechanics of this game. The denizens of the Honkai World were actively studying the Descenders, learning their rules and finding their weaknesses.
This special prison he was in could, in theory, hold him indefinitely. And now, they even knew how to force a player into a combat state to prevent them from logging out.
Less than a week had passed since the game's launch, and they had already devised a countermeasure against the Descenders. They were no longer passive victims of this strange invasion. With this method, they could even… kill a Descender for good.
After all, not everyone used a full-dive game pod, where a steady supply of nutrient solution could sustain a person for a month. The vast majority of players used simple game glasses. If they were trapped in-game, unable to log off, they could very well starve to death in the real world.
Players might have near-infinite respawns, but for every rule, there was a way to break it.
"Then what is it you want?" Rovel asked, his eyes losing their playful edge and turning flat. He mimicked her blank expression perfectly.
( ᗜ ˰ ᗜ )
"Do not imitate the Bronya."
The toy gun fired again. Another soft thwack, and another "-1" floated above his head.
Ignoring Rovel's flicker of annoyance, Bronya walked over and, with a few deft movements, untied the rope.
Rovel stood up, stretching his stiff limbs with a groan. He rolled his shoulders, feeling the circulation return, and looked at Bronya with genuine surprise.
"Aren't you afraid I'll run away now?"
"You can try."
The moment the words left her lips, Project Bunny 19C stirred behind her. One of its massive mechanical arms snatched a slab of steel from a nearby pile and tossed it high into the air. As the metal began its descent, the laser cannon on the other arm swiveled, spewing a torrent of incandescent energy.
By the time the slab hit the ground with a heavy clang, it was no longer solid steel. It was a glowing, bubbling puddle of molten iron.
Rovel's eyes narrowed, the heat from the molten metal washing over his face. He watched the puddle cool and harden, then wisely gave up any thought of struggling. After one final stretch, he sat back down, leaning his back against the cold wall.
"How do you know about Seele?" Bronya asked, her voice low and serious.
"Even if I answered that, you wouldn't be able to hear it," Rovel replied calmly. "Someone else asked me a similar question before. I'm restricted by the world's rules. Anything I say on that topic will be automatically censored."
He then demonstrated, mouthing a few key phrases. As he predicted, no sound emerged. He even tried scratching the words into the dirt, but the letters blurred and vanished as soon as they were formed.
"..."
The obvious proof left Bronya silent, a flicker of frustration in her stoic gaze.
"How about we continue our talk about you and Cocolia?" Rovel shifted gears smoothly. "You claim you promised Seele you wouldn't hurt others, but Cocolia seems to have no such reservations."
He leaned forward slightly, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "I've always been curious. In Cocolia's eyes, are you all her precious children? Or are you just 'tools,'locked by her side in the name of'love'?"
"She selects children with excellent Honkai resistance to complete her experiments. Isn't this so-called protection just a sugar-coated excuse for her own selfish desires?"
Rovel's words were like surgical probes, slipping past her defenses and striking at the heart of her doubts.
"Enough!" Bronya's voice was sharp, laced with an anger she rarely showed. "Mother Cocolia… she loves the children of the orphanage very much! If it weren't for her, we would have all starved to death in the frozen wastes of Siberia long ago."
Her eyes dimmed, her own words sounding hollow even to her. She was trying to convince Rovel, but more than that, she was trying to convince herself. If he had simply called Cocolia a weak woman who couldn't even truss a chicken, Bronya would have dismissed it as the well-known lie it was.
Lies didn't hurt. The truth, however, was a razor's edge.
"Perhaps," Rovel said, his tone softening unexpectedly. "Perhaps she does love you all."
He didn't refute her point, which caught Bronya off guard.
"But if one can commit acts that harm children in the name of love," he continued, his voice steady and relentless, "then that so-called love is, in essence, nothing more than a transaction."
"And if it's a transaction, doesn't that mean that when a greater interest presents itself, the children of the orphanage can be treated as the disposable party? Just like all the children who died in the X-10 experiments."
"And just like Seele, who was forcibly separated from you..."
The moment he spoke her name, the light in Bronya's eyes seemed to extinguish a little more. She knew, deep down, that letting Seele fall into the quantum realm was never Cocolia's intention, but it was undeniably Cocolia's actions that led to it.
The purpose of the X-10 experiment was to grant the subject control over matter at the 'atomic level'using Honkai Energy. Seele, with her exceptional resistance, had achieved this with terrifying ease. The experiment had, by all metrics, succeeded. But that success bred a fatal sense of luck in Cocolia. She pushed further, aiming for the'subatomic level', perhaps even the 'quantum level'.
And it was that greed that personally cast Seele into the Sea of Quanta.
Even as she vanished, Seele believed her fate was the result of the experiment's failure…
Cocolia had indeed given them a home. But her actions were hardly those of a qualified mother.
The next day, in the Kendo Club dojo, the sharp scent of polished wood filled the air. Raiden Mei went through her practice swings, but her movements were unfocused, her mind clearly elsewhere.
Her gaze kept drifting to the side, lingering on the simple wooden sword that Rovel always used. A touch of tenderness softened her features, followed by a flicker of quiet determination.
'I made his favorite tempura today,'she thought, a small, hopeful smile gracing her lips.'I wonder if he'll be happy when he sees it?'But as the morning bled into the afternoon, the anticipated figure never appeared. The dojo remained quiet, empty save for her and the rhythmic sound of her own practice.'Perhaps something delayed him,'Mei told herself, trying to calm the anxious flutter in her heart.'He'll be here soon.'
She sat down to eat her bento, the carefully prepared meal feeling lonely on her lap. As she ate, she found her mind replaying every moment she had spent with Rovel, a warm blush rising to her cheeks.
Above her head, a soft chime only she could perceive sounded as her intimacy level increased by 5%, reaching a total of 35%.
The more she missed him, the more agonizing the wait became. Each tick of the clock felt like an eternity.
A full day passed. Mei waited in the Kendo Club until the evening shadows grew long and the staff came to lock the doors for the night. Still, he did not come.
A wave of disappointment washed over her, so sharp it almost stole her breath. But she quickly pushed it down, forcing herself to stand tall.
'Am I becoming too dependent on Mr. Ruobai?'she chided herself gently. It had only been one day.'He promised,'she remembered, clinging to the memory of his words, his sincere eyes.'He promised he would never abandon me!'A fresh wave of resolve washed away the disappointment.'Yes,'she thought, her spirit lifting.'Tomorrow… he will definitely be here tomorrow!'
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