Republic of the White Eagle, border region.
Within the secluded, quiet mountains, a streak of blue light tore through the forest. It sent fallen leaves scattering wildly in its wake, causing quite a commotion.
"Seele, slow down. Drive a little slower."
Bronya sat on the backseat of Project Bunny, which was currently in its motorcycle form. She hastily called out a warning. At this moment, she was holding onto various large and small bags, making her movements awkward.
The two of them had clearly just returned from a small town tens of kilometers away, having purchased a significant amount of supplies.
Then, she heard...
"Stop nagging."
Seele did not even turn her head. It would have been fine if she had just ignored Bronya's words. Rather than obediently listening to the advice, hearing Bronya complain only made Seele stubbornly twist the throttle instead.
She pushed the vehicle's speed even higher.
Seeing her act so rebellious, Bronya could not help but speak up again. "The roads here are already uneven. Bronya thinks we should pay attention to safety... "
"To hell with safety ." Seele shouted back. "Earlier, when it was your turn to drive Project Bunny, you were even more ridiculous than I am."
"Uh... " Bronya choked on her words.
Fine. That was indeed the truth. Neither of them had any right to criticize the other. They both loved speeding. And coincidentally, their driving skills were actually quite good.
Therefore, the person driving had a great time, which naturally meant the passenger on the back suffered. It was an absolutely nerve-wracking experience.
More than ten minutes later...
Screech!
The sound of braking echoed out. Carried by the massive momentum, Bronya involuntarily crashed into Seele's back.
The corners of Seele's mouth curled up slightly. She had clearly done that on purpose.
By now, Project Bunny had come to a halt at the edge of a dense jungle. Seele turned around and deliberately raised an eyebrow at Bronya.
Bronya was not annoyed. She merely wore a somewhat helpless yet doting smile on her face and shrugged her shoulders.
Immediately after, the two of them hopped off the bike with practiced ease. They casually handed all the packages filled with supplies over to Project Bunny, which had automatically shifted back into its quantum robot form to carry them.
The two girls then moved through the jungle with agile and vigorous steps, leaping and maneuvering through the trees.
Very quickly, the two girls and the intelligent mech arrived at their little nest. It was a stilted wooden cabin in the forest where they had lived for several months. Ordinary people would never be able to find its location.
By now, the clearing surrounding the cabin had been expanded considerably. The ground had been leveled. The stumps left behind after logging had all been cleared out, and the holes had been filled in.
They had even planted some crops nearby. Several additional wooden sheds had been built next to the cabin. Clearly, this was also the handiwork of the omnipotent Project Bunny.
"Phew. We're finally home."
Just as Seele reached the door of the wooden cabin, before even stepping inside, she stretched her body lazily.
The corners of Bronya's mouth curled up slightly. She really loved her current life.
There were no conflicts. There was no slaughter. She didn't have to care about the Honkai. She didn't have to force herself to bear any responsibilities or missions.
As long as she had her...
"Oh, right."
After the two of them entered the house, Project Bunny reached a mechanical arm inside and handed the large and small bags of supplies to Bronya.
Bronya took them and carefully placed them one by one into the small cabinets inside the room. Naturally, these pieces of furniture had also been crafted entirely by Project Bunny. High-precision mechanical craftsmanship was truly reliable.
At this moment, Seele plopped down onto a wooden bed that had been tidied up to be even more comfortable. She crossed her legs and asked, "What are we eating for lunch today? "
"Beef borscht."
"Great... Ahem. That works."
Seele almost let her excitement show too obviously, so she quickly reined it in. Bronya naturally noticed this, but she chose not to expose her.
The two of them simply got to work. They first walked together to the adjacent fire shed. It was a simple, semi-open-air kitchen with a stove built from wooden strips and mud.
Then, they sliced vegetables, cut meat, lit the fire, and added firewood. Their coordination was flawless.
"Just wait another thirty minutes."
Covering the pot with its lid, the two young girls looked at each other's smudged faces and blackened noses. They shared a smile and decided to wash their hands before preparing some side dishes.
Right at this moment...
Hum!
"!!! "
Bronya and Seele, who were just about to head back to the wooden cabin to grab more ingredients, simultaneously detected an anomaly occurring nearby without any warning.
The two of them instantly looked toward the source of the sound.
In their line of sight, that thing...
"What the hell is this thing now? Bronya, do you know... Hey! What's wrong with you? "
Seele had been staring warily at the abruptly manifested black hole. She originally wanted to ask the highly knowledgeable Bronya to see if she knew exactly what this thing was.
But when she turned her head, she discovered that Bronya's eyes were already wide open in absolute terror. Her entire body was trembling uncontrollably.
It was as if that hole a short distance away was some sort of death warrant.
Seele's expression turned even uglier. She grew even more cautious. Project Bunny had already manifested on its own.
It crossed its two massive mechanical arms in front of it, shielding the two young girls respectively. Seele was still fine.
Although she was tense, she did not appear overly overwhelmed.
Perhaps ignorance truly bred fearlessness.
Because, looking at Bronya right now...
"Haa... haa... haa... "
Despite having a perfectly fine physical constitution, Bronya was currently breathing incredibly heavily, as if she were suffering from an asthma attack.
Even though the sensation in her legs had long since recovered, she now had to rest both hands on Project Bunny's mechanical arm just to stand steady.
And right in the midst of this overwhelming panic...
Creak.
A teeth-grinding noise echoed out, sounding like an axle that had not been lubricated in a long time.
From within the pitch-black hole, the spatial door, a person stepped out.
He was pushing a wheelchair. He had short black hair, and his eyes were incredibly murky.
The moment he appeared...
"Se... Seele. Hurry... "
Bronya subconsciously wanted to tell Seele beside her to run away.
It was him! It was that man!! He had appeared before her once again!!!
The last time, after his successful revenge, he made her lose absolutely everything.
Then this time...
"Ah. Long time no see, Bronya Zaychik."
The uninvited, black-haired young man spoke up first to strike up a conversation. At this moment, he wore a smile on his face. He looked just like an easygoing older brother from next door.
His gaze swept past Bronya and Project Bunny. Ultimately, it landed on the short-haired girl. "Should I offer my congratulations? "
The black-haired young man asked with a smile. "Congratulations. After so much bitter loss and miraculous recovery, you have finally found a 'new Seele'? "
Seeing that no one responded...
"Well then. In truth, that night, I deliberately had you descend in that specific location."
The black-haired young man asked again. "How was it? Did you like my arrangement? "
"... "
Seele did not like the person standing before her. However, she did not speak out of turn at this moment.
It was because of the other party's remark about a "new Seele ." Then there was the remark about "that night, deliberately having you descend in that specific location."
And finally...
"Bronya Zaychik? "
This was the first time she had ever heard the "full name" of the gray-haired girl beside her. (Note: The concept of a "surname" did not exist in the Previous Era.)
To be completely honest, she disliked this kind of concealment.
But...
"Don't! "
Bronya, who had just been trembling uncontrollably... well, she was still shaking all over right now. Despite clearly being terrified to the absolute extreme, she stepped in front of Seele to block her.
Looking at the girl shielding her from behind...
"... "
Seele remained entirely silent, but her heart still felt a surge of warmth.
On the other side...
"You do not need to be so afraid."
The black-haired young man, Ling Ke, curled up the corners of his mouth slightly. "At least, not today."
"I am not here to vent my anger on you."
He deliberately added another sentence. "At least, not right now."
Having said that, seeing that Bronya still had not returned to normal, he seemed to find it somewhat amusing, yet also somewhat dull. He soon stopped dwelling on the matter.
Instead...
"Do you still remember her? "
Ling Ke released his hands from the backrest of the wheelchair. He walked to the side and gestured toward it.
This action forced Bronya's gaze to temporarily shift away from him.
And then...
"This... "
The person was familiar. Looking at the clothing, she could already guess her identity with near certainty.
But it was precisely because she had already guessed that identity, and then compared it to the other party's current state... That was why Bronya felt such sheer disbelief.
And amidst her incredibly conflicted and complicated state of mind, there was a feeling of heartache that she could not ignore no matter what.
"Cocolia... Mother? "
The subconscious whisper reached the subject's ears.
The latter's catatonic face... her brow seemed to tremble slightly for a fraction of a second.
She... Cocolia numbly raised her head. Only now did she lay eyes on those two familiar figures for the first time.
"Ah... ah... "
She wanted to raise her right hand to grasp onto something. But her sanity had already crumbled to the point where she could no longer properly control her own body.
Even a simple action like raising her hand was impossible to execute properly.
Right at this moment...
"Madam Cocolia... the grudge between her and I ends here."
Ling Ke's voice suddenly rang out. It was like a discordant note pulsing without any warning, disrupting the progression of everything.
Bronya looked toward him once again.
Immediately after, she heard...
"I have already delivered the person ." Ling Ke spoke in an entirely apathetic tone. "As for how you 'handle' things moving forward, that is your business."
"See you around, Bronya Zaychik. And you too... 'Seele'."
He turned around and walked toward the spatial door. He casually waved his hand behind him, gesturing toward the two young girls.
"Since I came uninvited, I will not overstay my welcome."
"I will not disturb your... family reunion."