Bronya's Apology

Yet no one felt relieved by this news.

"Damn it!"

Upon learning that Wendy had been taken, Theresa could not help but blame herself. "It was all because I failed to protect her."

She had thought that having Hua protect Wendy would make everything foolproof, but no one had expected Cocolia to create a clone of the Herrscher of the Void.

Although that clone was somewhat strange, possessing gravity manipulation rather than creation, it had still managed to hold Hua back.

At the time, Hua had no time to put on her Valkyrie Armor, nor did she have a weapon in hand. The fact that she had held out through sheer physical strength was already impressive.

Looking at Himeko lying in the infirmary, she said guiltily, "I'm sorry. I even got you involved."

"Don't say such silly things. Looking after students isn't your responsibility alone."

Himeko's voice was somewhat weak. She had already been injured in her battle against the Herrscher of Thunder, and this only made things worse.

But she did not regret it.

"Rather than talking about that, you should go check on Chen Ran. You've seen how he feels about Wendy. I'm afraid he might do something foolish."

Hearing Himeko's words, Theresa could not help but sigh.

After Anti-Entropy's invasion had ended, Theresa had asked Rita to investigate the source behind this attack.

The Far East Branch had no intelligence-gathering capabilities whatsoever, so she could only rely on Rita to collect information.

But intelligence took time, and she did not even dare imagine what fate awaited Wendy.

Still, as the leader of the Far East Branch, Theresa had no choice but to pull herself together and visit Chen Ran.

Fortunately, what reassured Theresa was that apart from excessive blood loss and some frostbite on his skin, Chen Ran was not seriously hurt.

The medical staff told her, "What Mr. Chen Ran needs now is proper rest and more sugar to replenish his energy. If you're still worried, he can remain here under observation."

"Thank you."

Theresa breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Ran had not woken up yet. At least she still had time to prepare herself.

Just then, she heard footsteps and went outside to take a look.

Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya had arrived at the infirmary.

"Auntie, we heard Himeko was hurt, so we came to see her."

Kiana spoke directly. "Is Himeko okay?"

"She's fine. But what about you? Last night's incident didn't affect you, did it?" Theresa asked with concern.

Raiden Mei shook her head. "It happened in the middle of the night. The battle didn't reach us."

Bronya said calmly, "Principal, what exactly happened?"

"It was Anti-Entropy, along with someone from an unknown faction. They came for Wendy."

Theresa slowly explained everything that had happened.

Theresa knew that Bronya was Cocolia's adopted daughter, but she chose to trust Bronya now and told them, without reservation, how Chen Ran had brought Wendy to the Far East Branch.

Kiana stared in shock. "So that's what happened. Little Bronya, you even said he was a liar."

Theresa looked puzzled. "What liar?"

Bronya hesitated before saying, "Bronya thought Chen Ran's feelings for Wendy were somewhat false, but it now appears that Bronya was wrong. Bronya will find an opportunity to apologize to Researcher Chen."

She had even considered exposing Chen Ran directly and forcing him to reveal his true nature.

But now, she had been wrong.

Raiden Mei said with some concern, "But shouldn't Wendy's safety be our first priority right now?"

Theresa said, "I've already contacted headquarters to investigate the enemy. Until we have information, we cannot act rashly."

"Himeko's room is over there. Most of her injuries are lingering effects, and she wasn't hurt last night." Theresa continued, "Right now, I'm thinking about how to comfort Chen Ran."

Even Kiana, usually so carefree, knew that this was not the time for jokes.

However, they were not familiar with Chen Ran and had no idea how to comfort someone they barely knew.

"We'll go visit Himeko first."

Raiden Mei spoke first. "Principal, if there's anything you need help with, just tell us."

When Chen Ran woke up again, he saw Theresa sitting beside his bed.

Her head bobbed up and down, and she looked extremely sleepy.

The principal seemed to have had a dream, then suddenly jolted awake.

She happened to meet Chen Ran's gaze and instinctively became nervous. "H-Hey, you're awake."

Chen Ran's voice was weak. "Yeah. Is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."

Theresa hurriedly stood up. "I'll get you something to eat."

Theresa had never taken care of anyone before and somehow brought back a pile of bitter melons.

Chen Ran looked at the green vegetables and sighed. "When someone's weak, it's best not to eat something so harsh. Is there no chocolate here? An apple would work too."

"Ah, ah, ah, sorry! I'll get it right away."

Three minutes later, Chen Ran finally got a piece of chocolate into his mouth.

After consuming enough sugar, he felt as though his mind had become much clearer.

He looked at Theresa and found her staring at him with an apologetic expression.

After a long silence, he said, "Himeko should be alright, right?"

"Like you, she'll need to stay in bed for a few days," Theresa said instinctively.

Then she apologized, "I'm sorry. I failed to protect you."

Rather than Anti-Entropy's attack being too sudden, it was more that Theresa had become too lax.

She had lived in peace for too long and had never encountered such a situation before. She had thought that Schicksal could intimidate everyone, but now it seemed that she had been far too naive.

Chen Ran shook his head without speaking.

His expression was simply somewhat grim.

At that moment, two system notifications flickered in his mind.

You have cleared the first simulation scenario. After ending the simulation, the system will issue the corresponding rewards.

You may continue entering this scenario for further simulations, but no further rewards will be issued. Correspondingly, there will no longer be a limit on consciousness capacity.

Due to system function restrictions, when the host subsequently enters this scenario, they will exist in an unobservable quantum state, with zero impact on the future.

The second simulation scenario has been unlocked. After ending the simulation, you may choose to enter it.

This notification implied two possibilities.

1. Wendy had become a controllable Herrscher under the Divine Right Plan; 2. Wendy was dead.

Bronya's Apology

When Chen Ran entered the simulation scenario, the system had reminded him that everything he experienced was a simulated scenario rather than reality.

And the one thing he should never have done was confuse memories from reality with those from the scenario. Once he became lost within them, it would be truly fatal.

Therefore, Chen Ran had always comforted himself by reminding himself that this was merely a simulation scenario.

Theoretically, he could end the scenario now and proceed to the next one.

But...

Why did his heart hurt so much?

He could no longer hear what Theresa was saying beside him. By the time his world became clear again, the entire hospital room was empty.

"System."

He slowly spoke and asked a question. "Tell me honestly. How much impact do simulation scenarios actually have on the reality where the Herrschers live?"

When he had first obtained the system, he had jokingly said that although it was called a simulation, it actually still affected reality.

However, because of that joke, the system had not properly explained the simulator's primary function.

Fate paths.

"What does that mean?"

Honkai Resistance Simulator No. 666 may be regarded as a special Stigmata. This anti-Honkai weapon adjusts the Herrschers' destinies in order to seek the ultimate answer to resisting Honkai. Simulation scenarios centered around the host may all be regarded as previews of that Herrscher's future fate, thereby shaping that fate.

Clearly, the system had placed three bets.

The first was to rely on Chen Ran obtaining rewards through simulation scenarios to seek opportunities to resist Honkai; the second was to rely on No. 666 entering Flame-Chaser to gain a deeper understanding of Honkai and seek opportunities to resist it.

And the third was to rely on the Herrschers influenced by the simulation scenarios, causing their destinies to deviate and seeking opportunities to resist Honkai.

Chen Ran fell into thought. "So what happens in the simulation scenario will inevitably happen in the future, right?"

The temporal distance is too great, and the system's capabilities are limited. It can only be said that the future within the simulation scenario has a probability of occurring, and will only follow certain vague nodes. Therefore, simulation scenarios affect the Herrschers' future fate paths.

Chen Ran suddenly thought of a term: Stigmata Terminal.

It seemed that the Stigmata Terminal in Guns Girl Z worked this way, except it affected reincarnation. And the system did not possess the collective unconscious.

So this system was actually less impressive than the Stigmata Terminal.

But even so, it was already absurd enough. Through simulation scenarios, it could shape the Herrschers' destinies and guide them onto predetermined fate paths.

"Then if something happens to Wendy in the simulation scenario, does that mean there's also a high probability that something will happen to her in the future?"

Yes.

The system's brief answer made Chen Ran fall silent.

Clearly, the purpose of this Honkai Resistance Simulator was to reduce the damage Herrschers caused to civilization. As for the Herrschers themselves, it did not care, or cared very little.

His mind sank into deep thought.

At the same time, in another room of the infirmary.

Kiana and the others were visiting Himeko.

Raiden Mei's face was filled with obvious guilt. According to Theresa, Himeko had not been injured last night, and most of her injuries had been sustained in Changkong City.

Himeko did not care much about that.

She waved her hand. "Alright, all of you should go back. There are medical staff here watching over me, so I don't need you."

"Especially you, Kiana. If your grades drop, don't come begging me when it's time for make-up exams."

Kiana immediately puffed out her cheeks in protest. "I'm a genius! How could those exam questions possibly stump me?"

"Give me a break. I've seen your grades at Chiyou Academy. You barely passed anything."

Himeko paused before saying, "Being a Valkyrie is different from being a student. You need to precisely grasp every weapon parameter, which naturally demands strong mathematics and physics skills."

Kiana pouted. "Stop looking down on me."

At this point, Kiana had not yet taken a single exam at St. Freya, so she could still pretend to be a genius student.

The three of them still followed Himeko's words and left the infirmary.

Before they left, however, they heard Himeko say, "Oh, right. Help me with something before you go."

A strained smile appeared on her lips as she said, "Help me apologize to Chen Ran. I failed to protect Wendy."

When Kiana and the other two arrived at Chen Ran's room, they found him staring expressionlessly at the ceiling.