The two Duckies, temporarily held back by Yssring invoking her authority as their guardian, could only give up in frustration. Or rather, one of them was distracted by other matters, while the other simply had no choice but to give up.
"Hey, hey, why did you suddenly become so preoccupied?"
Bronie looked at Bronya, whose expression had turned dark and troubled after they left Doctor Yssring's office, and asked with concern.
"It seems that girl named Cocolia is a very, very important person to you too, right?"
"She is Bronya's mother. Well, to be precise, Bronya's adoptive mother."
"You care so much about her... Your relationship with her must be great, right?"
Bronie showed a curious gaze.
"No... Bronya's relationship with Mother Cocolia..."
"Probably doesn't count as being very good in your eyes... Mother often makes Bronya do things against her will."
"Eh? The relationship between mother and daughter is that tense?"
After listening to Bronya's account of her relationship with Cocolia, Bronie thought about her own relationship with Cioara and sighed that comparisons only lead to heartache.
"But Mother Cocolia really took great care of everyone at the orphanage. Bronya can feel that her feelings for everyone were genuinely sincere."
"But Mother also does things that everyone doesn't want to see..."
"Seele also left us because of this..."
"Mm-hmm, she sounds like a very contradictory person... But I think if Bronya went to see Lady Cocolia now, she would act more like a mother, wouldn't she?"
Bronie shared her thoughts after some consideration.
"Why do you say that?"
Bronya tilted her head in confusion, looking at the girl who looked exactly like her.
"Because from Doctor Yssring's description, this Lady Cocolia has already been dismissed from her post and is under investigation..."
"And from Bronya's description, it feels like this lady is a woman who wavers between her career and her family."
"Now that her career has practically vanished, all her remaining energy and emotion will be poured into her family."
"Bronie's intuition about people is actually quite accurate. If Lady Cocolia were right in front of you now, she would definitely say you're her pride too."
The two strolled through the center of the city. With Bronie's guidance and insight, the dark clouds on Bronya's face gradually cleared.
"Ah, so this is the center of the city..."
The two unknowingly arrived at the core area of the Sea of Quanta City, the location of the Eye of the Deep, the Gate to the Sea of Quanta.
"The gate to the Sea of Quanta should be this open space beneath our feet."
"Wow! That's huge. Captain's Hyperion could probably fly right out of here."
Bronie whistled, sizing up the massive plaza. She made a measuring gesture and nodded with some certainty.
"We can just have the Captain fly the Hyperion out when the time comes..."
Just as Bronie was thinking about her own strange collections on the Captain's Hyperion, Bronya's voice interrupted her...
"Miss Bronie... when we first got here, were these floor panels glowing?"
"Uh... I don't think so?"
"..."
The two Bronyas fell silent, exchanging a glance...
"This gate... it seems to have activated?"
Cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of the two standing atop the gate...
"Run!"
Bronie grabbed Bronya and bolted toward the edge of the massive plaza.
"I don't want to be flushed down like a toilet—Whoa!"
The scream cut off abruptly. A flash of white light streaked across the empty plaza, which then fell silent once more... leaving only the echo of a young man's voice...
"Two of them? Whatever, two is fine, not much difference... Slurp—"
Accompanied by the strange sound of someone slurping noodles, the plaza fell completely silent. Then, a scream rang out from another location—
"Why did the Gate of the Deep suddenly activate?!"
Doctor Yssring anxiously rubbed her small hands while staring at the monitoring instruments, contacting the other Anti-Entropy Executor stationed here.
"Simon, can you hear me, Simon?!"
"I'm here, I'm here! Yssring, why are you yelling so urgently? You're about to deafen me..."
"The Eye of the Deep just activated for some reason!"
"Huh? Can that thing even activate on its own?!"
"I don't know! The Previous Era records never mentioned it could activate spontaneously."
Doctor Yssring was completely bewildered and at a loss for words.
"Never mind that. Contact all personnel and see if anyone got sucked in."
"If anyone actually got caught in it, we'll have to activate the Eye of the Deep again and figure out a way to rescue them from inside..."
"Oh, right, there are more personnel..."
Yssring rushed to the communication platform and turned on the global broadcast.
"Hello? Hello? All Sea of Quanta City staff and support forces, please respond immediately upon receiving this message! Please respond immediately!"
"This is Einstein and Tesla. Doctor Yssring, we've received your communication. What's happening?"
"This is Kyuusyou. Same question."
"Theresa, same here."
"Delta and Ninti copy. Green-haired Doctor, are you in any danger?"
"This is Rozaliya and Liliya. Doctor, Doctor, I just saw a cool girl who looks super like me..."
"Thank you for the compliment."
"Cough, cough, cough. Wait, where is Bronya? Bronya, please respond!"
Looking at the banter in the communication log, Yssring suddenly realized someone was missing...
"So, Doctor, why did you call everyone in such a hurry? What are we doing?"
Theresa's voice rang out.
"Just now, the Eye of the Deep suddenly activated on its own for a few seconds. I called you all to confirm if anyone got sucked in..."
"From the current feedback, it seems Bronya and that Miss Bronie were likely sucked in..."
"If you have finished clearing the Honkai Beasts on your end, please gather in the main control room of the Sea of Quanta City."
"I will activate the Eye of the Deep again. While they haven't been in there for long, I need to bring them back as quickly as possible."
"If they stay in the Sea of Quanta for too long and lose their way, they truly might never return. Besides, that Bronie is a traveler from the sea and has an adaptability to the Sea of Quanta, but we don't know if Bronya does."
"Understood. We will finish off these Honkai Beasts as quickly as possible. Please prepare several rescue plans in advance."
"Alright, please hurry up, everyone..."
Yssring began to pace anxiously in the main control room...
"I'm dead. If we can't find them, Cocolia will definitely break out of prison to smash me to pieces."