Chapter 71: Daydreams Turn into Nightmares? Then Let Me Dream of Seele!
Earth, ME Corp Underground.
A blonde woman in a Russian-style military uniform sat in the base's main control room. Inside, a dozen or so researchers in white lab coats typed away at keyboards, occasionally exchanging information to align their data.
Without a doubt, this was the true master of internal strife in the Honkai universe, the one to blame for this world's woes—Cocolia.
Ignoring the researchers, her gaze was locked on the massive, modular display screen.
The screen showed live feeds from various locations in Nagazora City. Critical nodes on the surveillance interface were marked with complex data, one particular figure slowly ticking upwards.
To save her adopted daughter who had fallen into the quantum realm due to human experimentation, to incidentally expand her influence and actual control within Anti-Entropy, and to further attempt to master the power of a Herrscher.
Cocolia unleashed her astonishing intellect, devising a perfect plan to kill three birds with one stone!
What she was currently doing was the first phase of her meticulously crafted plan: using calculated, marked regions as nodes to spread Honkai energy throughout Nagazora City.
To prevent the more moderate faction of Anti-Entropy or Schicksal from noticing, this process needed to be gradual. Once the Honkai concentration reached a certain level, it would be too late even if Schicksal discovered it.
Currently, the Honkai energy dispersed according to the plan's metrics had reached 37%. At most, it would take another half a month to reach the critical point for triggering a Honkai Eruption.
Watching the numbers on the screen climb, a disdainful arc formed on Cocolia's lips.
The first phase was progressing steadily. As long as the second phase proceeded smoothly, she could wait for the opportune moment, and everything would fall into place.
However, thinking of the second phase, the smile on Cocolia's lips gradually faded.
She wasn't worried about any mishaps in the second phase; after all, the implementer was the renowned assassin of the underworld, the Uralian Silver Wolf—her excellent daughter.
After a slight hesitation, Cocolia picked up the communicator and switched to a private channel. Upon hearing the click indicating the call was connected, she spoke softly:
"Bronya, can you hear me?"
After a brief silence, a response came from the other side.
"Communication is stable."
The voice was as still as stagnant water, devoid of any ripples, like a cold winter wind, without a trace of warmth.
A flicker of bitterness crossed Cocolia's expression, but it vanished in an instant. She made her tone even gentler, speaking earnestly:
"Bronya, this combat mission is very important to us. Only by continuously accumulating negative emotions and pressure in Raiden Mei can she, when the Honkai reaches its critical point, stimulate the power of the Gem of Conquest and transform it into a Herrscher Core."
"As long as we grasp the Herrscher Core, we can use that power to search for Seele in the Sea of Quanta and bring Seele back to our side."
"Furthermore, we can even go a step further and defeat the Honkai. After that, everyone in the orphanage can live happily in a world without Honkai."
"Bronya, Mother knows she has done some very terrible things to you, but… can you lend your power to Mother one more time?"
"For our future, and for Seele."
The other end of the communicator remained silent for a long time before giving an answer.
"Bronya will definitely complete the mission."
It was still an indifferent, emotionless tone. Cocolia knew this was due to damage to her emotional center.
The call ended.
A gentle breeze caressed her bangs. Bronya stared silently at the communicator, the emotions in her eyes like a lifeless electrocardiogram.
On the laptop screen in her hands was surveillance footage from within Senba Academy. In a classroom, a group of female students excitedly wrote 'daughter of an embezzler,' 'go die,' and other, even nastier things on Raiden Mei's desk with pens of various colors.
Bronya didn't look.
She tilted her head, gazing down from the high-rise balcony.
Senba Academy at dusk had a unique scenery. On campus, students could be seen in groups of two or three, walking together and chatting merrily about the day's amusing events.
But one figure was so out of place. Occasionally, when other students saw her, they would immediately move away, then whisper and gossip about something.
Those undisguised, malicious words gradually shattered the black-haired girl's feigned strength, smearing her exposed soul with dark shadows.
The once high and mighty princess had fallen into the mud; who wouldn't want to step on her a couple of times to gain a certain sense of superiority?
She had no interest in the depravity of humanity; she was just an emotionless killing and mission machine.
Bronya closed her laptop, packed her equipment, and, stepping on her long, slanting shadow under the setting sun, walked off the building's balcony.
The subject was, just as Mother Cocolia planned, sinking into the abyss bit by bit.
However, by causing a Great Honkai Eruption in this city and turning Raiden Mei into a Herrscher, could she really save Seele?
Lacking information, unable to calculate the outcome, the success rate was pitifully low, but this was the only hope Bronya could grasp.
Leaving the building, Bronya walked along the bustling street.
Her delicate and cute features were expressionless. Many passersby were attracted by this "three-nos" divine attribute, frequently casting glances her way. [Translator's Note: "Three-nos" (三无 sanwu) refers to a character archetype that is emotionless, speechless, and expressionless.]
Yet no one knew that this girl, who looked like a little angel, was currently executing a mission to send them to hell.
Bronya knew the consequences of triggering a Great Honkai Eruption; millions of humans in this city would die. Reason told her she shouldn't do this, but with her damaged emotional center, she had already lost her empathy and guilt.
Several million people... She couldn't feel the weight and souls behind the number; it was just a mere number.
Her only obsession, the sole criterion for all her actions, was to find Seele. Even if she lost her emotions, she would never forget this.
She didn't continue to follow Raiden Mei. The Raiden residence had long been filled with hidden cameras. Bronya could check the subject's situation on her way home at any time through the backdoors of public cameras.
Even having lost her emotions and maintaining purely rational thought, the countless conflicting thoughts colliding in her mind, the overthinking still brought physical fatigue, making Bronya feel a certain heaviness.
To alleviate this feeling, Bronya bought a cup of milk tea from a roadside shop.
Sipping it slowly, the cool taste and sweetness flowed down her throat. It didn't make Bronya feel cheerful, but it supplied sugar to her brain, and the feeling of heaviness lessened slightly.
Until, those silver-gray eyes inadvertently swept over a white-haired, blue-eyed girl with braided pigtails sitting on a roadside bench. Bronya's eyelids twitched almost imperceptibly, by 0.1 millimeters.
Kaslana, one of the three great families of Schicksal, was a variable that needed special attention in the plan.
Bronya didn't think this idiot was worth any attention. Even now, what caused a slight ripple in her gaze wasn't Kiana's identity, but her actions.
The silly-looking white-haired furball sat casually on the bench, a cup of milk tea identical to the one in Bronya's hand resting on her chest.
She wasn't holding it at all; both her hands were occupied by her phone. She was smiling brightly, texting someone, but then became dejected when she didn't receive a reply, spitting out her straw.
That cup of milk tea had been steadily propped up by those two full, snow-white peaks from beginning to end.
Bronya glanced down at her own flat chest. The heaviness that had just disappeared seemed to surge back, her heart enveloped by a gloomy haze.
To prevent any accidents with the plan, should she eliminate the potential troublemaker beforehand?
Such a thought appeared for only an instant before reason arrived at a negative conclusion.
Perhaps Bronya's gaze lingered too long. The white-haired furball looked back, following her line of sight, blinking her large, watery blue eyes, so lively and expressive they seemed to be speaking.
Is there something you need?
Expressionlessly retracting her gaze, Bronya threw the barely touched milk tea into the trash can and turned towards her base.
"What a cute kid... she feels a bit strange, though."
Watching the little turnip, who seemed to have been hit hard and was shrouded in a layer of shadow, Kiana tilted her head, not understanding.
She nodded, put the straw in her mouth, and took a delightful sip of the sweet milk tea, boosting her mood.
"Why isn't Mei replying to my messages yet?"
Returning to the base set up near the Raiden residence, Bronya had a simple dinner and continued her surveillance of the subject.
Her eyes reflected the image on the screen: a girl with light purple-black hair tossing and turning, burying her face, tears soaking her pillow. Yet, Bronya's thoughts were not on the subject.
Seele's smile, the happy times in the orphanage in the past, scene after scene replayed in Bronya's mind.
"Seele... wait for Bronya. Bronya will definitely save you."
Amidst dream-like murmurs, the biochip's electrical signals weakened, and the body entered sleep mode.
Before falling asleep, the last image in Bronya's mind was of a certain white-haired furball holding milk tea with her useless fat.
And then...
What is this feeling?
So strange... and a bit comfortable...
As if awakened from a dream by a peculiar, scorching, and pleasant sensation, Bronya slowly opened her eyes.
She saw a face.
Under the warm white light, snow-white cheeks were flushed with a rouge-like crimson. The hint of pink in her silver-gray pupils seemed to pulse with a certain frequency.
What a magnificent face!
And, so familiar...
It looked like… her?
A strong sense of déjà vu told Bronya that this was very likely what she would look like when she grew up, but the two snowy peaks hanging down her chest made her disbelieve.
And that incredibly shameful posture in the mirror...
Wait!
Shameful?
No, it wasn't just shame.
Unfamiliar emotions she hadn't experienced in years exploded in her neural center, causing Bronya's brain to completely crash.
The inertia of her absolutely rational way of thinking allowed her to maintain the last shred of cognitive ability amidst this sudden, frame-zero change.
Is this a dream?
No!
Impossible!
For her, with a damaged emotional center, dreaming was a very difficult thing.
Even if it was a dream, why would Bronya have such a dream?
There was simply no reason!
Just because she was "stimulated" by someone during the day, she had a wet dream at night where she became busty?
This was completely illogical...
If it were really a case of "what you think about by day, you dream about by night," then Bronya, who thought about Seele day and night, should be dreaming of Seele!
She had wished more than once before sleep to dream of Seele, but she had never succeeded.
Why?
Just as Bronya's mind dissolved into a chaos of desire and reason, creak.
The bathroom door opened.
In that instant, Bronya sensed the person behind her stop moving.
Pressing her hands against the glass wall, Bronya focused her vision, using the mirror's reflection to look towards the room where the sound came from.
Familiar dark blue hair swayed, and a figure like a gorgeous blue butterfly flew into her eyes. That was...
The figure she longed for day and night.
Bronya... was dreaming of Seele!
A strange joy surged through her nerves, but in the next second, her peripheral vision caught the posture of the person in the mirror, and the pink that had been pulsing like a pink heart contracted into a needle point.
Bronya, instantly awake!
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