The next day.
"Dr. Bianca! Hurry to Room 18!"
Someone spoke urgently. "Annie's condition has worsened!!"
"Annie!"
Bianca hurried into Annie's ward.
Annie had been doing fairly well yesterday, with no signs of deterioration, but this had happened today.
"Dr. Bianca..."
Annie was already on a ventilator. "Save me..."
The purple markings on Annie's body had already crawled up to her face.
"Don't be afraid, Annie."
Bianca grasped Annie's hand. "Hold on."
"I'll definitely save you."
Everything before Bianca seemed to be telling her—
Stop clinging to this.
She had no way to save Annie. Let go... let her leave.
"No..."
Bianca's gaze was resolute. "I won't give up!"
"Mr. Xu Yanwu, what are you trying to do?"
Outside the operating room, SU stopped Xu Yanwu from going inside.
"You can't interfere."
"Why not?" Xu Yanwu asked SU. "Since this was once your experience, you should want to save that little girl too."
"But this is Miss Bianca's trial." SU stood firm. "You cannot interfere."
"...That little girl will still die in the end."
Xu Yanwu said, "Excision alone cannot deal with the erosion of Honkai Energy."
"This isn't something that can be solved with surgery alone."
"...I know."
"Since you understand that, I won't say any more."
Xu Yanwu turned and sat down. "Besides... Ragnar probably doesn't have much time left either, judging by her condition."
"What does the person Ragnar replaced mean to you? At least give me an explanation. Let me use it as a reference—what does Ragnar mean to Durandal?"
"..."
SU did not answer. The next moment, the operating room light went out.
The operation had failed.
Watching Fire Moth's vehicle take Annie's body away, Bianca returned home without saying a word.
Standing in the bathroom, she wanted to splash some water on her