Bronya's Choice (4k) (Continued)

Chen Ran sat with Bronya through the entire night.

He did not know what the girl was thinking after learning she had been betrayed, nor could he find a way to comfort the girl who had once been the Ural Silver Wolf.

Although Wendy had bought back two servings of ice cream, one purple sweet potato pudding and one blueberry, Bronya had wanted neither.

She simply stared blankly as the sky went from dark to light.

Wendy and Raiden Mei had gone back. At a time like this, they needed more rest.

Chen Ran was worried Bronya might do something unnecessary, so he stayed to watch over her.

But he was not about to torture himself.

Holding the latest game console Raiden Mei had bought, the boy plugged it into the television without caring whether the girl agreed, then mashed out combos with the controller.

Bronya sat there all night, and he played games all night.

"Ah, I'm exhausted. Bronya, want to play?"

Chen Ran invited the girl.

Bronya looked toward the screen and nodded.

When Wendy and Raiden Mei came over the next day, this was what they saw:

At some point, Chen Ran had fallen asleep, his head resting against Bronya's shoulder.

Meanwhile, Bronya held Chen Ran's controller expressionlessly as she challenged higher game records.

Although Bronya still looked expressionless, the dark circles beneath her eyes showed that she had not rested all night.

Raiden Mei did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Don't tell me you played games all night?"

Wendy blinked, a trace of envy appearing in her eyes.

She wanted to play too.

Honestly, this completely overturned Raiden Mei's imagination.

According to Chen Ran, both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy were frontline organizations fighting the Honkai. Both possessed advanced technology and manpower, gathering the greatest talents in the world.

For example, Wendy, who got a stomachache from eating ice cream without restraint.

For example, Bronya, who had spent the whole night playing games with Chen Ran.

Sure enough, if the world depended on girls to save it, it was doomed.

Just as Raiden Mei was lost in thought, she saw Wendy somehow find another controller and begin playing online under Bronya's guidance.

Raiden Mei smiled and shook her head, then helped Chen Ran onto the sofa by herself.

"I'll go outside and buy some breakfast."

She was no longer some young miss of the Raiden family, so no one would specifically deliver breakfast to her door. But she was not the Herrscher of Consumption either, so she still could not cook.

However, the moment she spoke, Wendy said alertly, "No, it'll be dangerous if no one protects you."

"Then what should we do?"

Wendy looked reluctantly at the game console. "I'll go with you."

It was obvious that she was extremely unwilling to say that.

"Honestly, you're like a child." Raiden Mei smiled. "No need to trouble yourself. There should still be ingredients at home. I'll try cooking for myself."

Wendy sighed in relief.

Great, she would not have to suffer through the pain of not playing games.

"Prepare ingredients such as salt, lemons, soy sauce, and prawns. Wash the mushrooms, asparagus, and bell peppers, then cut them with a knife."

"Remove the prawn heads and shells, devein them, make some decorative cuts in the prawn meat to shape it... Ah!"

Raiden Mei cried out in pain as she cut a gash in her finger.

The wound was not deep, but the blood flowing from it looked quite frightening.

"That's not how you cook, young miss."

Chen Ran had somehow appeared at the kitchen door. Looking at Raiden Mei's finger, he said, "Treat the wound first. It'll be troublesome if you get tetanus."

Raiden Mei instinctively protested, "My family's knives are all very clean."

"But you just used it to cut vegetables."

He somehow produced alcohol and a bandage.

When the alcohol was poured over the wound, Raiden Mei sharply sucked in a breath.

Tears welled in her eyes. "It hurts."

"Does a Hokushin Itto-ryu Menkyo Kaiden also fear pain?"

Chen Ran was teasing her both openly and indirectly, but he still treated her wound.

Mei turned her face away and snorted. "Why don't you try it yourself? Then you'll know whether it hurts."

Chen Ran recalled his memories from the Oceanic Branch.

He shuddered instinctively. "Then I'd better not try."

Raiden Mei could not help looking at Chen Ran with a complicated expression.

Since childhood, aside from her father, she had never been this physically close to any other man.

She suppressed the strange thoughts in her heart and instead asked, "What are you planning to do with Bronya?"

"That isn't up to me."

Chen Ran answered casually, "You should know too. I'm just an employee. There are people above me who call the shots."

After treating Raiden Mei's wound, he began preparing the ingredients.

Raiden Mei could not help asking, "Will she die?"

"You can't bear to see that happen?"

"She's a pitiful person too."

Although Raiden Mei did not know what Bronya had experienced, seeing the lifeless look in her eyes last night had filled Mei with pity.

She knew what that look represented. It was like the collapse of faith itself.

Compared to that, Raiden Mei felt that Bronya stopping them before did not seem like much anymore.

Chen Ran skillfully prepared the dishes and said calmly, "Don't worry, she won't die."

"Schicksal will consider Wendy's feelings. Wendy and Bronya get along very well."

At this point, the Oceanic Branch had not yet conducted its Gem of Desire injection experiment. Although Wendy had not yet passed the A-rank Valkyrie examination, she was already being hailed as Schicksal's future fourth S-rank Valkyrie.

Only now did Chen Ran understand just how terrifying the privileges of Schicksal's S-rank Valkyries were.

Schicksal's largest Valkyrie squad, Blade of Immovability, had more than three hundred members. It was divided into six teams, each equipped with technical staff, logistics personnel, weapons maintenance crews, and intelligence officers. All of them served Durandal.

Even Rita herself was in Blade of Immovability because of Durandal.

Wendy's displayed talent was currently slightly inferior to Durandal's, but it was absolutely not lacking.

In other words, so long as Wendy's request was reasonable, Schicksal would respond to it with respect.

As for Schicksal itself, Bronya was completely unimportant.

Under such circumstances, even having Bronya join Schicksal would not be a problem.

Raiden Mei did not know this, but hearing Chen Ran say that still made her relax slightly.

Watching the boy begin pouring oil into the wok, she could not help saying, "Then... can I join Schicksal?"

"Of course you can. Where else would you go otherwise?"

Chen Ran sprinkled in some salt and began stir-frying the vegetables.

The oil, salt, and moisture from the vegetables began to sizzle. The choking smell made Raiden Mei frown.

She had lived in the Far East and was used to lighter dishes.

She truly was not used to Chen Ran's heavy oil and salt.

Chen Ran noticed her discomfort.

He smiled. "Training in Schicksal consumes a lot of stamina, so oil and salt are actually necessities. Eating too much might not be healthy, but at least it keeps you from getting hungry."

"Besides, if you're already considering joining Schicksal, there's no need to worry about health anymore."

Raiden Mei said tactfully, "I hadn't thought about that. It's just... your cooking seems to be a little burnt."

Chen Ran: "..."

When dish after misshapen dish came out, the four of them began eating at the table.

Calling it enjoying a meal was not quite right. They were merely making do.

Raiden Mei expressed tactfully, "I should handle the cooking from now on. I'll try my best to do it well."

Although she had never cooked before, she knew that the Shenzhou-style cuisine of fierce high-heat stir-frying did not suit her tastes.

Mei even placed a cup of plain water in front of herself, rinsing off the oil every time before eating a dish. It was still morning, and her stomach could not handle greasy food.

Chen Ran did not mind Raiden Mei's pickiness.

She was a young miss, after all. Being picky was only natural.

Besides, Wendy was happily eating beside them. That was enough.

Generally speaking, if enough oil was used in cooking, making a dish taste bad was not easy. Of course, using too much oil did not make food delicious either, but it would at least be passable.

Wendy was not picky about Chen Ran's cooking.

It was not because the Far East Branch lacked good food, but because she was easily satisfied.

Bronya, on the other hand, seemed to have had her competitive spirit ignited and began competing with Wendy for food, seeing who could eat more.

Chen Ran could not help smiling at the sight.

They were still just children.

After eating, Bronya became visibly sleepy.

Such oily food really did make people drowsy after eating. Not to mention that rice was the Far East's staple food; once blood sugar rose, the effect was no weaker than sleeping pills.

She had already stayed awake all night, and her entire body looked listless.

The girl's eyes were hazy as Wendy led her back to her original room and settled her down to sleep.

Raiden Mei looked thoughtful. "So you did that on purpose?"

"Did what on purpose?"

"You don't actually know how to deal with Bronya either, so you wanted to keep her mentally exhausted this way, make her relax, and create the illusion of a home."

She paused before adding, "I'm starting to believe that you're a biology expert."

She did not understand the exact theory, but based on their positions, they and Bronya should have been enemies.

Yet judging by the result, how did Bronya look anything like an enemy now? She was more like a pitiful doll.

Chen Ran was speechless and shook his head. "I wouldn't put that much thought into something like this."

"There's no need to."

The reason he made such high-calorie dishes was simply because those were the only dishes he knew how to make.

After Bronya realized she had been betrayed, Chen Ran had already given up on plotting against and controlling her.

After all, his foreknowledge of the plot allowed him to be this willful.

If even this emotionally blank girl could be moved by Mei, he did not believe that after doing so much, Bronya could remain untouched.

The fact that he could fall asleep leaning against Bronya already explained the issue well enough.