Bronya was a tough nut to crack.
Even though she had been caught by Chen Ran and had her license confiscated, she still refused to divulge the secrets of Nagazora City.
However, with his foresight in the plot and the information Bronya inadvertently revealed, he had a rough idea of what Cocolia was here for.
In simple terms, Cocolia was just a puppet master.
If an entire Nagazora City could be exchanged for data on Project Stigma and the Divine Authority Plan, then for the World Serpent behind Cocolia, as well as Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, it seemed like a fair trade.
Only this time, their choice just happened to be Raiden Mei.
He looked at Bronya and said, "Last question, where is the Honkai Energy reactor?"
Bronya remained silent.
"If you don't tell me, then don't expect to go back."
Chen Ran felt a surge of frustration and decided to be rude to Bronya, directly taking off his outer coat and binding her hands.
Ignoring the gazes of others, he threw her over his shoulder.
Bronya's clothes were damp from the moisture, and the temperature in the far east was not high, so she quickly felt a chill.
In fact, Bronya could feel her body temperature dropping.
A strong sense of drowsiness and fatigue washed over her, and her spirit began to wane.
This was a precursor to physical abnormality.
Logically speaking, as an assassin and someone Cocolia relied on, Bronya's body should not be this weak.
However, after being exposed to the wind and getting soaked, the combination had led her to develop a fever.
Chen Ran could feel Bronya's body starting to heat up.
He frowned and instinctively set Bronya down, only to find the girl was already dazed, touching her forehead with the back of her hand, which felt alarmingly hot.
"Not possible."
Chen Ran instinctively checked Bronya's body and found her clothes were soaked and covered in frost.
He tugged at the corners of his mouth, "My fault."
At this point, he couldn't care less about any stance; he quickly untied the clothes binding Bronya's hands and helped her put on something warm.
He then held her and ran quickly to the nearest hospital.
Fortunately, during the previous 'chase', they had ended up in a sparsely populated area, but they had not completely left the city, and he soon found a secluded clinic.
"Doctor, please help! My little sister has a fever!"
The boy spoke lies without batting an eye, pretending to be anxious as he spoke to the doctor.
The doctor was an elderly woman who, seeing Chen Ran's nervousness, did not dare to delay.
"It's just a fever, but don't underestimate it. How could you, as her big brother, let her clothes get all wet?"
The woman was kind-hearted and took out an old outfit from her youth, saying, "Quick, change her into this."
"Ah, I… it's not appropriate, right?"
"What's inappropriate about siblings?"
Chen Ran: "So you didn't notice that our hair colors are different?"
He immediately changed his story, "Actually, this girl is someone I picked up on the road."
The doctor looked at him for a long time before finally managing to say, "You're not trying to dodge the medical fees, are you?"
In any case, under a series of subtle misunderstandings, Bronya's condition improved.
However, Chen Ran looked at Bronya in front of him and nearly couldn't hold it together.
He quickly took out his phone and snapped a picture of Bronya.
In the photo, the girl's hair was disheveled, her eyes were hazy, and her cheeks were flushed from the fever.
Her clothes were from thirty years ago in the far east, a thick cotton coat wrapped around her petite frame, resembling a large black caterpillar.
The doctor had also kindly changed her into warm pants and shoes, which were very thick.
Chen Ran put away his phone, feeling satisfied.
The doctor sighed, "These are clothes from decades ago; they fit just right and still look good."
"The medical fees are settled, and the clothes are a gift for your little sister, no charge."
The woman generously said.
"It's getting late; take her home and let her rest well. Remember not to let her catch a cold again."
She advised Chen Ran.
The clinic was small and couldn't accommodate many people; those with serious illnesses had gone to nearby hospitals.
Chen Ran naturally nodded in agreement.
Fortunately, at this point, Bronya had regained basic mobility, and she had already woken up while taking her medicine.
Chen Ran tried to hold her hand, "Let's go back."
Bronya nodded and followed him out of the clinic.
She knew what had happened; it felt like a dream.
The warmth in his palm was burning, and Bronya instinctively calculated how long it would take to counterattack against the man who was larger than her if she used a weapon.
But such calculations were useless because, in this heavy and cumbersome clothing, she could not move fluidly, and now she was also unarmed.
However, this clothing was indeed warm.
The girl still wore a blank expression, but the corners of her mouth, after taking the medicine, curled into a faint smile.
…
…
"So, during the time you were talking, you successfully took her in?"
When Chen Ran brought Bronya to Raiden Mei's residence, Raiden Mei and Wendy looked at the girl in front of them with a hint of vigilance.
Especially Wendy, although Bronya looked comical at the moment, she had previously experienced Bronya's combat abilities.
Chen Ran sighed and said, "There's no other way."
He glanced at Bronya, then concocted a new excuse in his mind, saying, "She hopes Schicksal won't get involved in this matter."
"How is that possible?"
Wendy blurted out, "The Valkyrie's duty is to protect people from the invasion of Honkai."
Bronya remained silent.
She was not one to engage in heated debates, and she actually knew that her actions were not driven by a stance of 'justice'.
Raiden Mei, on the other hand, felt a bit of a headache: "So what do we do with her?"
Even though she knew this was her enemy, if it came to killing Bronya or imprisoning her, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Bronya looked no older than Wendy; rather than being a villain, she was more like a tool of the villain.
Chen Ran looked at Wendy.
Wendy quickly shook her head, "Don't look at me. Teacher Theresa never taught me what to do in situations like this."
Schicksal and Anti-Entropy are enemies.
But in Theresa's education, Valkyries were only taught to be ruthless against Honkai creatures, and there was no guidance on how to deal with human enemies.
This was an aspect Theresa had not considered; she believed Valkyries only needed to deal with Honkai and did not need to get involved in the struggles for ambition and power.
But this left Wendy at a loss when faced with such a situation.
If severe torture could make Bronya spill the secrets of the Honkai Energy reactor, she wouldn't be able to do that either.
But to kill? To imprison? Wendy couldn't bring herself to make that decision.
Bronya, on the side, seemed to sense the entanglement between the two. Her calm face belied a sigh of relief within.
She was actually quite nervous.
After all, the people she had dealt with before were not all as kind as Wendy and Mei. It just so happened that she had always come out on top.
At that moment, Chen Ran spoke up, "Ah, neither killing nor letting go, this is really a headache."
"But I just remembered, I know a bit about biology. How about we just hypnotize this Duck?"
"Hypnotize?"
A hint of terror flashed in the eyes of Wendy and Raiden Mei.
Chen Ran grinned wickedly, "Right, human hormones are a fascinating thing. I happen to have studied what hormonal ratios lead to a state where a person's self-awareness is suppressed but can accept external commands, commonly known as hypnosis."
This was not a lie.
It was knowledge provided by the system.
"This is quite common knowledge in biology."
Raiden Mei retorted, "That's not common at all."
Wendy, however, understood the mischievous glint in Chen Ran's eyes.
She turned her gaze and pointed at Bronya, saying, "How nice! I also want to see what it's like to hypnotize someone. We have a perfect candidate right here."
She tilted her head and said, "Let's make her do the bunny dance later."
Raiden Mei asked in confusion, "What is the bunny dance?"
"It was the debut dance of the once-popular Magic Girl Teriri. Actually, that's Teacher Theresa, I found the information secretly." Wendy explained.
Raiden Mei: "…"
"You Schicksal folks really know how to have fun."
Meanwhile, Bronya felt like everything was going wrong.
Indeed, one should not harbor kind expectations for their enemies.
…
…
When Bronya woke up, she felt as if she had just had a long dream.
She vaguely remembered Chen Ran wanting to hypnotize her...
Wait, hypnosis?!
The girl's eyes widened instantly, and she became fully alert.
Then, she realized something had been inserted into her head.
"You're awake."
Bronya looked over to find Wendy smiling at her, "You've been asleep for eight hours. Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
"What did you do to Bronya?"
Her mind raced with terrifying thoughts.
Back when she was the Silver Wolf of the Urals, she had heard of some warlords with rather peculiar tastes, particularly fond of obedient girls and the process of training disobedient girls into slaves.
Wendy chuckled, "You can't really believe that, can you? Don't worry, Chen Ran actually didn't do anything."
"Ah, who said I didn't do anything?"
Chen Ran's voice rang out leisurely, smiling at the girl, "Bronya, you should still remember the chip implanted in your brain, right?"
"Chip?"
Wendy asked in surprise, "What is that?"
Bronya remained silent, simply watching Chen Ran quietly.
Chen Ran did not hide it, saying, "There were no conditions for me to perform surgery here, so I didn't take it out. However, I used a bit of technique to connect your internal chip to a computer for data retrieval."
"You should understand this area, so you can see for yourself the authenticity of this information."
Chen Ran knew that merely torturing Bronya would not be enough to extract information about the Honkai Energy reactor.
To make Bronya reveal what she knew, she had to feel that she was betrayed.
The evidence of Cocolia's betrayal of Bronya was precisely the chip in her emotional processing module.
With knowledge of biology and computers, it was not difficult for Chen Ran to connect the chip to a computer. Of course, the reason was that this world had many special materials that could achieve things he had never dared to imagine.
Bronya could hack into Schicksal's hidden files; he was not necessarily inferior to Bronya.
Everything was going smoothly.
The emotional module chip implanted by Cocolia in Bronya was essentially a microcomputer processing system, but this computer was directly controlled by Cocolia, prioritizing her commands.
Moreover, this system could emit strong waves, instantly overriding Bronya's original consciousness.
This was what Chen Ran referred to as hypnosis earlier.
He said mockingly, "I haven't even started the hypnosis yet, but Bronya, you're just one step away from falling."
Bronya looked at the chip data Chen Ran had pulled up, still expressionless.
After a long while, she spoke, "I need tools."
"Here you go."
Chen Ran handed her his small computer.
He knew Bronya was seeking verification, and he was not worried about the outcome of her verification.
From Bronya's perspective, Cocolia had not done anything wrong.
She was the victor; if Cocolia had been ruthless, Bronya would have already died in Siberia.
But Cocolia's mistake towards Bronya was giving her love and then betraying her.
When Bronya had asked Cocolia, "Do you want to be my master too?"
Cocolia had replied, "Rather than a master, I want to be your mother."
The love of a warlord was undoubtedly very cheap, but it gave the girl unrealistic dreams.
Bronya's fingers danced over the computer like flowing water, but the tension and unease in her eyes grew stronger.
Chen Ran was not lying.
This was Bronya's judgment based on reason.
She indeed had not been deeply loved; Cocolia, like her previous masters, merely regarded her as a convenient tool.
Bronya's eyes began to grow lifeless, like a computer that had crashed.
Wendy, still unaware of the situation, curiously asked Chen Ran, "What's wrong with her? She seems unwell."
Chen Ran sighed and suddenly said, "What would happen if one day you were betrayed by Principal Theresa?"
"Ah, that would probably be very sad."
Wendy blinked and directly expressed her inner thoughts, "It would be like never being able to eat ice cream or see a movie again. But Teacher Theresa isn't that kind of person, so I definitely won't encounter such a situation."
Chen Ran casually remarked, "But Bronya has encountered such a situation."
"She was betrayed by her 'Teacher Theresa.'"
Wendy understood Chen Ran's meaning.
After a long while, she whispered, "Chen Ran, I want to go buy ice cream, two."
"She probably wants to eat something cold and delicious too right now."
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