Of course, that was no mouse, nor was it any wild animal. It was a person launching a sneak attack, a person Lin Wei was quite familiar with.
"Hm?"
Pandora, having sent the attacker flying, flew back and circled around Lin Wei.
Lin Wei could now clearly see the identity of the assailant. Even though the person had fallen into the thick snow, her petite figure and her almost iconic light gray twin-drill pigtails allowed him to instantly recognize who she was.
"Bronya?"
Lin Wei was greatly surprised. How could she be here? "Dr. Schrodinger, the Sea of Quanta..."
Before his thoughts could move to the next logical step, Bronya, who had been knocked back into the snow and was feigning unconsciousness, tensed up and launched another attack, cutting off the rest of his unfinished sentence.
Using her young age and small size to appear weak, then seizing the opportunity for a fatal blow when the enemy let their guard down, thinking she was just a child—this was a tactic Bronya had used time and time again with great success.
But all of that became meaningless the moment Lin Wei called out her name. So, she decisively switched strategies. If a sneak attack wouldn't work, then a direct assault it was!
"Hah!"
Her childish shout held no intimidating power, but when she drew the dagger from her boot and thrust it towards Lin Wei's chest, her movements were as swift, precise, and mercilessly lethal as a hunting cheetah, without a single bit of discount.
Ting!
Lin Wei's eyes and hands were quick. His armored right hand shot out in front of his chest, precisely catching the sharp dagger in his palm, stopping the thrust aimed at his heart.
Her first strike having failed, Bronya didn't show any disappointment. Or rather, her goal was already achieved the moment she got close to Lin Wei.
The instant her dagger was caught, she let go, twisted her body, and pushed off the large rock beside her with her small but powerful legs, flipping over Lin Wei's head.
As she flew over, she drew the pistol from behind her waist and fired four consecutive shots—BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!—almost instantly hitting Lin Wei's shoulders and both thighs.
In the same instant that Lin Wei fell to the ground from the gunshots, the young and experienced hunter landed lightly. The entire process was as swift as a rabbit escaping and a falcon swooping, filled with a deadly beauty.
"Hmph."
Bronya casually tossed aside the still-smoking pistol, grabbed her heavily wounded prey from the blood-soaked snow, and slammed him against the thick rock wall.
She picked up the dagger she had just dropped and pressed it heavily against Lin Wei's neck. A crimson bead of blood seeped out from the sharp edge.
Seeing this, Bronya showed no mercy at all. Instead, she pressed the dagger even harder and interrogated him coldly, "Where is Seele?"
...
"What were you about to say?" Schrodinger asked, her voice as calm as ever, showing no surprise or panic at the sudden appearance of an enemy.
She also showed no interest in the black feathers falling from the sky. Instead, she was more interested in what Lin Wei hadn't finished saying.
"Nothing. I was just curious if there was too great a difference in the flow of time between the Sea of Quanta and the native world. After all, in my opinion, Bronya shouldn't be in the Sea of Quanta at this time. But now it seems that's not necessary."
Lin Wei shook his head, looking strangely at the twin-drill girl who was still holding him at knifepoint but was now standing motionlessly with vacant eyes.
He clicked his tongue and muttered to himself, "Was Bronya always this ruthless in the past? It seems I should be grateful she went easy on me back then. After all, at St. Freya Academy, she could have easily kicked me while I was down when I was in a complete mess..."
Seeing how badly his illusionary self was beaten, Lin Wei felt a pang of toothache. To have dared to mess with such a ruthless and violent loli, I was truly brave back then!
"I see. It seems you've met your 'acquaintance'," Schrodinger said. "It's not uncommon to encounter similar people and things in world bubbles, but I shouldn't need to remind you of this fact—they are not the people you were familiar with in the past."
She said she didn't need to remind him, but she did anyway.
"Yes, I know," Lin Wei nodded. "The Bronya I know, at least, wouldn't attack me so heavily right from the start. And—she seems to prefer large-caliber cannons to guns now..."
The Heavy Armor Bunny is just too useful. The Bronya in the native world doesn't even need to fight personally now, she's not even willing to walk on her own!
Huh, could it be that the process of turning her into a useless person actually started from now?
The thought of the future Bronya, who wouldn't want to go out whether it was sunny or rainy, made Lin Wei's mind wander again. The contrast was too stark!
"Although I'm reluctant to interrupt someone's train of thought when they're thinking, but..." Schrodinger's calm voice sounded at the right time. "I think you should at least deal with the matter at hand first. After all, privately manipulating someone else's consciousness is not a commendable act."
This gray-haired little girl who had suddenly appeared, one second thrusting a dagger at Lin Wei with murderous intent, the next second standing motionlessly with a dazed expression, was an extremely bizarre sight no matter how you looked at it.
"Some things are better observed and verified through illusions. After all, I don't want to be really hurt by Bronya in reality, and of course, I don't want to hurt her either," Lin Wei said.
"The tone and manner of your speech just now were indeed somewhat similar to Otto's," Schrodinger said. "Just as self-centered and sanctimonious."
"Hehe, is that so? That's truly regrettable."
Lin Wei smiled nonchalantly. He would no longer be affected by such words.
He gently pried open Bronya's tightly clenched fingers and carefully took the dagger from her hand. Then he snapped his fingers, and the always-dazed Bronya shivered and quickly came to her senses, her face full of astonishment.
"Huh? This..." Bronya looked at the unharmed Lin Wei in disbelief. Weren't his limbs crippled, and wasn't he being interrogated by me?
She didn't understand what had happened, but it didn't stop her from acting instantly. She didn't leap towards the rock wall as originally planned; it was too late for that.
Without any warning, she kicked up a cloud of snow to cover Lin Wei's vision, and under the cover of this kick, she drew the pistol from her back.
BANG!
She only managed to fire one shot, and it was off target. The moment before she pulled the trigger, Pandora flew in from the side and knocked it out of her hand.
Then, before she could launch any other plans, a black chain appeared out of thin air and bound her tightly in place, unable to move.
"There might be some misunderstanding between us, Bronya," Lin Wei couldn't help but be amazed by this little girl's ruthlessness and cunning.
Only after completely subduing her did he have a chance to try and talk. "I don't know the Seele you're talking about, nor do I know her."
In fact, he didn't know either Seele.
You're full of it! Bronya struggled in vain, looking at Lin Wei with cold, hateful eyes, as if she wanted to eat him alive. She said, word by word, "Mother Cocolia will not let you go!"
At the same time, her heart was filled with regret. If she hadn't clearly heard the name "Seele" from this person's mouth just now, how could she have made a sound in her panic at that moment, thus being forced to give up her hiding and immediately launch a direct attack?
If not for that, how could she have fallen into his hands so easily?
This despicable person, he had recognized me, discovered me long ago. From the very beginning, everything he showed was just to toy with me!
"Lin Wei, when we were chatting just now, you mentioned the name 'Seele',"
Schrodinger reminded him at the right time. "Although this is just a coincidence, what you're saying now might deepen the other party's misunderstanding."
Ah, as expected, there's an accomplice! Bronya's eyes darted around, but she couldn't find the person who had made the second sound, which made her even angrier. Seele isn't here, she must have been taken away by your accomplice, right?
As for what Schrodinger had specifically said—she didn't care about the enemies' back-and-forth!
"...It's indeed an extremely clichéd coincidence." Lin Wei shrugged helplessly. Besides remembering another familiar name from Bronya's vicious threat, he really didn't take it to heart at all. "But no matter what, our investigation of this world bubble has finally shown some results."
Compared to wandering aimlessly in the snowfield alone, the appearance of another person, especially a familiar one, was undoubtedly a huge progress!
"Your eyes and expression are much richer and more vivid than the Bronya I know..." Lin Wei walked to her side and carefully examined this little girl, who was even younger than the expressionless loli in his memory.
He couldn't help but feel a little emotional. "To avoid any more misunderstandings, let me confirm one question first. Bronya, do you know Kiana and Mei?"
What kind of nonsense is he talking about? This Bronya had never heard of these two names and continued to glare at Lin Wei.
"...Is that so? I probably understand now." Lin Wei sorted through the information he had obtained in this short time. "Rich in emotion, doesn't know Kiana and Mei, respects and trusts Cocolia, and Seele seems to have been abducted by someone... Hehe, putting aside the 'parallel world' where the world line goes completely haywire, the answer pointed to by the current clues is too obvious."
In the native world, when Seele was living in Cocolia's orphanage, she was once abducted and later rescued by Bronya alone.
Although I don't know why Cocolia was so useless, letting her own child be abducted on her own turf, and even letting Bronya take on the extremely risky task of rescuing her alone.
But no matter what, this absurd thing happened so spectacularly. And now... it seems I've stumbled into this matter?
"Bronya, believe it or not, I and the you from another world are pretty good friends. At least we often play games online together..." Lin Wei squatted down in front of Bronya, trying to keep his line of sight level with hers, and explained seriously to this "old friend" who was full of hostility towards him.
"I don't know if the current you likes to play games, but we're not enemies in any case. How about this, I'll untie you, and then we can sit down and have a good talk about what happened, okay?"
Bronya looked at him, her expression softened, and she nodded silently. Seeing this, Lin Wei waved his hand and dispelled the chains that bound her.
In the next instant, Bronya's chubby little face once again showed a fierce look, and she pounced at the close-at-hand Lin Wei. She didn't believe a word of the nonsense Lin Wei had said.
In the next instant, the chains appeared out of thin air again, binding her in the exact same way with a clatter. Her whole body lost balance due to inertia and she fell forward, only to be caught by Lin Wei's hand, saving her from a fall.
"Despicable!" Bronya was not grateful at all, but instead cursed angrily.
"I was just being cautious. The truly despicable one is you, right, Bronya?" Lin Wei couldn't help but feel a headache. "Where did that upright, beloved Duckie go?"
To counter-attack after a failed sneak attack, is that even allowed?
Was the "personality correction" at St. Freya Academy that effective?
Lin Wei, who had always lived in the wild, was greatly moved for a moment.
"It's not that simple to resolve the other party's hostility with just a few words," Schrodinger said. "The ability you just used should be similar to the authority of the Key of Consciousness, right? After all, you said that your Key of Corrosion can borrow the power of other Divine Keys."
"Are you suggesting I use Fenghuang Down to modify her memory and tamper with her consciousness?" Lin Wei certainly understood Schrodinger's hint.
"If the person who came was Cocolia, I really wouldn't mind doing that. After all, I have no goodwill towards that woman. But I don't like to do such dignity-trampling things to innocent people, especially since Bronya is my friend—even if the her in this strange world is a stranger to me."
"Is that so?" Schrodinger was noncommittal but didn't say anything more.
"Alright, no need to probe, Dr. Schrodinger. Even if it's just a dreamlike bubble, when I go back, I still want to be able to talk to Bronya with my head held high!" Lin Wei said. "In any case, maybe we've found a clue. If I'm not mistaken, that missing Seele might be the key to this world bubble!"