"Hypnotizing" Bronya (4k)

He shouted, and clouds gathered in the sky as moisture in the atmosphere condensed into droplets.

Changkong City lay in the Far East, bordering the sea, and the air was thick with moisture.

And he could not only control the wind—he could control water as well.

Bronya saw a massive bubble appear ahead of her and immediately changed direction.

But then, an enormous wall of water appeared, a doomsday tsunami sweeping toward her.

A trace of resolve appeared in the girl's eyes as she chose to accelerate.

She was gambling.

Chen Ran was with Schicksal, and Schicksal would never create such a terrifying natural disaster in Changkong City. So the wall of water before her was most likely an illusion meant to mislead her.

Bronya had guessed correctly.

It really was an illusion.

He could not conjure a large-scale tsunami out of thin air. At its core, this was merely an image created by water droplets in the air refracting light, like a mirage.

But while the tsunami was fake, the water vapor was real.

After she passed through the tsunami, the expected impact never came. But her entire body was soaked.

Of course, that was not the important part. The important part was that Chen Ran had somehow gotten ahead of her.

The moment Bronya rushed through the "wall of water" and let down her guard, Chen Ran lifted her entire body off the ground.

"Got you."

Ignoring Bronya's reaction, Chen Ran slung her over his shoulder and deliberately said in a wicked tone, "I told you, I'm going to spank you hard next. So, are you ready?"

Bronya: "..."

She said nothing.

Bronya had once been an assassin. In order to complete her missions, she had disguised herself thoroughly, no matter what identity she needed to assume.

A blow to her dignity alone meant nothing to her.

Then she heard a crisp sound.

Bronya gritted her teeth and remained silent as a burning pain spread through her.

Chen Ran had not hit her butt. His palm had landed on her back.

He still knew where to draw the line. A strike to the back could be considered a minor punishment, but spanking her would have been an insult to her dignity.

Though he would not return after this simulation ended, there was no need for him to invite unnecessary trouble.

He could still tell the difference between punishment and humiliation.

Chen Ran set her down and said calmly, "If there's a next time, I really will spank you."

A flicker of gratitude passed through Bronya's eyes.

She spoke flatly. "Mother Cocolia asked Bronya to ask you why you destroyed the agreement between both sides."

"Agreement?"

Chen Ran could not help frowning.

Bronya seemed thoughtful. "You don't know? Then Bronya understands."

Clearly, Schicksal had never taken the so-called agreement seriously and was still doing whatever it wanted.

That meant Otto had never cared about the agreement Cocolia mentioned.

If that was the case, then...

Schicksal had never sincerely intended to cooperate. Cocolia had been fooled all along.

After realizing that, Bronya said, "In that case, I misunderstood. Goodbye."

"Don't say goodbye yet."

Chen Ran grabbed her directly. "I haven't figured out what's going on. Tell me everything you know."

Bronya said flatly, "Bronya refuses. Anti-Entropy's secrets cannot be revealed."

"Is that so? Then what if I reveal one of your secrets?"

He suddenly leaned down beside the girl's ear and whispered at her earlobe, "You have a biochip implanted in your body, right? Have you ever considered what would happen if the biochip issued an order that did not come from your own will?"

The boy's voice was like a devil's whisper.

Bronya's pupils contracted slightly.

Her lips still repeated, "Bronya refuses to answer your question."

"Hypnotizing" Bronya

Bronya was stubborn.

Even after Chen Ran had captured her and confiscated her driver's license, she still refused to reveal Changkong City's secrets.

However, with his foreknowledge of the plot and the information Bronya had accidentally revealed, he roughly understood what Cocolia had come here to do.

Simply put, Cocolia was merely a front.

If sacrificing an entire Changkong City could obtain data on the Stigmata Plan and the Divine Right Plan, then it did not seem like a losing deal for World Serpent behind Cocolia, or for Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.

It was just that this time, their chosen target happened to be Raiden Mei.

He looked at Bronya and said, "One last question. Where is the Honkai Energy reactor?"

Bronya remained silent.

"If you don't tell me, don't even think about going back."

Chen Ran was in a bad mood, so he stopped being polite with Bronya. He took off his coat and used it to bind her hands.

Ignoring the looks from others, he slung her over his shoulder.

Bronya's clothes were damp from the water vapor, and the temperature in the Far East was not high at this time. Before long, she could feel waves of cold spreading through her body.

She could even feel her body temperature draining away.

A powerful drowsiness and fatigue flooded her mind, and her thoughts began to grow sluggish.

These were signs that something was wrong with her body.

Logically speaking, as an assassin and someone Cocolia relied on heavily, Bronya's body should not have been this frail.

But she had been battered by the wind earlier and then soaked through. The combined assault had successfully given her a fever.

Chen Ran only noticed that Bronya's body was beginning to burn up.

He frowned, instinctively set Bronya down, and found that the girl was already groggy. When he touched her forehead with the back of his hand, it was frighteningly hot.

"Seriously?"

Chen Ran subconsciously looked over Bronya's body and saw that her clothes were soaked through, with a layer of frost forming over them.

He tugged at the corner of his mouth. "My fault."

At this point, he could not care about their respective sides anymore. He quickly untied the clothes around Bronya's hands and wrapped her up to keep her warm.

Then he held her in his arms and ran swiftly toward a nearby hospital.

Fortunately, their earlier "chase" had ended in a sparsely populated area, but they had not completely left the city. He quickly found an out-of-the-way clinic.

"Doctor, please save her! My little sister has a fever!"

The boy lied without batting an eye, putting on an anxious expression as he spoke to the doctor.

The doctor was an elderly woman. Seeing how worried Chen Ran looked, she did not dare waste any time.

"It's only a fever, but it can't be taken lightly. What were you doing as her brother? Her clothes are completely soaked."

The woman was kind-hearted. Considerately, she took out some old clothes from her youth and said, "Hurry up and put these on your sister."

"Ah, I... wouldn't that be inappropriate?"

"What's inappropriate about siblings?"

Chen Ran said, "So you didn't notice that we have different hair colors?"

He immediately changed his story. "Actually, I found this girl on the road."

After staring at him for quite a while, the doctor finally forced out a sentence. "You aren't trying to dodge the medical bill, are you?"

In short, after a series of awkward misunderstandings, Bronya's condition finally improved.

Still, when Chen Ran looked at Bronya before him, he nearly lost it.

He hurriedly took out his phone and snapped a photo of Bronya.

In the photo, the girl's hair had been let down, her eyes were hazy, and her cheeks had turned rosy from the fever.

The clothes she wore had been fashionable in the Far East thirty years ago. The bulky padded jacket wrapped around her petite body, making her look like a giant black paramecium.

The doctor had even thoughtfully changed her into thermal pants and warm shoes, all of them exceptionally thick.

Chen Ran put away his phone, thoroughly satisfied.

The doctor sighed. "These clothes are decades old, but they fit her perfectly. She still looks so pretty in them."

"The medicine has been paid for. Consider the clothes a gift for your sister. I won't charge you for them."

The woman spoke generously.

"It's getting late. Take her home and let her rest properly. Remember not to let her catch cold in the wind again."

She reminded Chen Ran.

The clinic was small and could not accommodate patients overnight. Anyone seriously ill would go to the nearby hospital.

Chen Ran naturally nodded in agreement.

Fortunately, Bronya had regained basic mobility by then. She had already woken up while taking her medicine.

Chen Ran tried taking her hand. "Let's go home."

Bronya nodded and followed him out of the clinic.

She knew what had happened, but it all felt like a dream.

Warmth radiated from his palm. Bronya instinctively calculated how long it would take to use a weapon and subdue the man before her, who was bigger than she was.

But the calculation was useless. In these heavy, clumsy clothes, she could not move smoothly at all. Besides, she no longer had any weapons.

Still, these clothes were really warm.

The girl remained expressionless, but the corners of her lips curled into a faint smile after taking the medicine.

"So during the time you went out, you successfully abducted her?"

When Chen Ran brought Bronya to Raiden Mei's residence, Raiden Mei and Wendy could not help looking at the girl with a hint of wariness.

Wendy in particular. Though Bronya looked rather ridiculous right now, Wendy had personally experienced Bronya's combat ability before.

Chen Ran sighed. "There was no other choice."

He glanced at Bronya, then made up a new excuse in his heart. "She hopes Schicksal won't get involved in this matter."

"How is that possible?"

Wendy blurted out, "A Valkyrie's duty is to protect people from Honkai."

Bronya said nothing.

She was not someone who excelled at arguments, and she knew that what she was doing did not come from a position of "justice."

Raiden Mei, on the other hand, looked troubled. "So what should we do with her?"

Even though she knew Bronya was their enemy, she could not bear to kill or imprison her.

Bronya did not look any older than Wendy. Rather than a villain, she seemed more like a tool used by villains.

Chen Ran looked at Wendy.