Honkai, I Alone Save Everything Chapter 3

Ming Yu glanced at the Honkai beasts lying defeated on the ground, then looked around, seemingly searching for someone.

In Changkong City, there were only a few individuals active who could defeat Honkai beasts.

Kiana, Mei, Raven, and...

Kiana likely only had a stick, a bat, and a pistol. Mei, as a Herrscher, wouldn't be here. Raven... didn't seem like she could inflict these kinds of wounds either.

So, there was only one answer.

Within his line of sight, a silver-haired girl appeared.

She wasn't standing; she was gently floating, holding a Houm plushie in her arms, quietly looking this way.

Behind her, the outline of some large mechanical device could vaguely be seen.

It was likely her handiwork that defeated these Honkai beasts.

Ming Yu's gaze grew a little more serious.

Bronya Zaychik.

Although she would become one of the renowned "Big Three" in the future, the inheritor of the Herrscher of Reason, and the prover of the famous inequality "8 > 50000"... at this point in time, this girl was still under Cocolia's command.

Even though the artificial Honkai here wasn't caused by Bronya, her current mission should be to follow Cocolia's orders to retrieve Raiden Mei, making her still a member of Anti-Entropy.

If anything, her role here should be that of an "antagonist."

He couldn't afford to clash with her here, but then again... there wasn't anything for Ming Yu and her to clash over right now.

From what Ming Yu understood, Bronya wasn't someone who would kill indiscriminately.

Should he try to negotiate with her?

Of course.

Even if something unexpected happened, he could use time rewind to avoid this future, as long as he avoided Bronya during his next action.

Thinking this, Ming Yu lowered his head to look at the mechanical watch on his wrist, noting the time he encountered Bronya.

The moment Ming Yu and the others spotted Bronya, she noticed them as well.

"Are you... survivors?"

Bronya asked in a calm voice.

Currently, due to the effects of the X-10 Experiment, her brain's emotional circuits were damaged, causing her to lose the ability to feel emotions. Her legs were also infected by Honkai energy, requiring her to rely on a mechanical exoskeleton to move.

This state of brain and physical impairment would only be healed after she became the Herrscher of Reason.

"Yes."

Ming Yu nodded.

"..."

Bronya didn't reply, merely gazing intently at Ming Yu with her gray pupils.

She was observing the posture of Ming Yu and Xiaokong.

People who had undergone combat training had a different aura and posture than ordinary people; she, who had been trained as a child soldier since childhood, knew this better than anyone.

Based on their body language and observations, these two were indeed just ordinary people, showing no particular signs.

Therefore, Bronya ruled out the possibility of them being a threat.

Her immediate priority was to find Raiden Mei and retrieve her. Other matters were outside her scope of consideration; these two survivors they encountered by chance could simply be ignored.

Raiden Mei... that awakened Stigmata user, she had to find her and have Mother Cocolia study her to find a way to get Seele back...

As long as she could find Seele, she was willing to do anything.

The silver-haired girl thought mechanically.

She no longer had emotions; her sole purpose in living now was to find Seele, who grew up with her.

Then, Bronya's gaze shifted to the young Xiaokong beside Ming Yu, and her expression softened slightly.

In losing her family due to Honkai, she was no different from Raven; both were victims of the Second Honkai Outbreak.

Therefore, she naturally felt a degree of goodwill towards such a young and helpless child.

However, Ming Yu found it somewhat ironic that the culprit responsible for Xiaokong and the other children losing everything was her beloved "Mother" Cocolia.

Bronya handed the Houm plushie she was holding to Xiaokong and said in a calm voice:

"Here, this is for you."

"Eh... Um, thank you, big sister."

Xiaokong took the Houm plushie, saying with a bit of surprise.

Feeling the plushie's still slightly warm touch, her dejected mood, caused by the major upheaval, was somewhat soothed.

Of course, she also really liked this soft, fluffy yellow bunny plushie.

In the world of Honkai, these yellow Houm plushies held a strange appeal for beautiful girls. From future Schicksal Bishops and Herrschers of Reason to ordinary civilian girls, everyone loved Houm; they were truly universally adored.

Of course, Ming Yu didn't feel anything particular about this plushie...

What's so cute about this tacky yellow doll?

Afterward, Bronya pointed to the east and suggested to Ming Yu and Xiaokong:

"You two should hurry and find a place to take shelter. The density of Honkai Beasts is lower in that direction."

As for herself, she still had to find the Herrscher of Reason, Raiden Mei.

The concentration of Honkai energy in Changkong City had reached an extreme level, with high concentrations of Honkai energy permeating everywhere. Bronya couldn't locate Raiden Mei using the Honkai energy detection device at all.

Although Cocolia had deployed Honkai energy at Chiba Academy, Bronya believed that after awakening as the Herrscher of Reason, the Raiden Mei she had never met might not necessarily stay at Chiba Academy and surrender obediently.

Considering the Honkai phenomenon that had already spread throughout the city, Bronya deduced that the other party was likely wandering within the city.

It was just a pity that despite searching the city for Raiden Mei's whereabouts for a long time, she had found nothing.

Ming Yu glanced down at the Mechanical Watch on his wrist and made a decision.

Nearly fifty minutes had passed from the time he left that small cabin until he met Bronya here, and his limit for rewinding was almost reached.

In other words, it was necessary to set a new "save point."

In other routes, he hadn't managed to find Raven within an hour. Well... he should stick with the current route.

He solidified the experience of meeting Bronya into reality and recorded the current time as the rewind source point again.

Next, he would "split into two paths." One path would be to follow the original plan and take Xiaokong to find Raven's safe haven. The other path would be to try and follow Bronya to find Raiden Mei and see what would happen.

Chapter 4: "I'm Not Raiden Mei"

Just as Bronya and Ming Yu were still talking, an unlucky Assault-class Honkai Beast happened to be wandering nearby.

It detected the presence of humans and, gathering all its strength, charged towards the direction where the three were.

Seeing the monster appear, Xiaokong fearfully hid behind Ming Yu. Bronya, however, didn't even look up, controlling Project Bunny to casually fire a laser.

With a wail, the Assault-class Honkai Beast fell to the ground, unable to rise again.

While it was indeed an unfortunate event for the Honkai Beast, for Ming Yu, it was a godsend.

—He had been looking for an excuse to bring up Raiden Mei with Bronya.

Although he guessed that Bronya was likely looking for Raiden Mei, abruptly mentioning her name without any reason would easily make Bronya suspicious.

Therefore, he needed to come up with an excuse.

Because I personally witnessed her powerful strength, I have something I want to ask her for help with... that should work.

Taking a shallow breath, Ming Yu put on a slightly surprised expression and asked the silver-haired girl before him:

"Um, excuse me for asking, but did you defeat all the Honkai Beasts here?"

Bronya nodded speechlessly and got up, preparing to leave.

"I have a friend who seems to be having some strange problems and is in some kind of crisis... I'm very worried about her and want to see her again. Could you please help me?" Ming Yu requested with a very sincere tone.

"..."

Bronya had intended to refuse, as she still had a very important mission to carry out.

However, when her gray eyes met Ming Yu's one-hundred-percent sincere gaze and the weak, pitiful, and helpless Xiaokong beside him, she changed her mind and said:

"...Who is it, and where?"

If it wasn't too far, she wouldn't mind helping out.

She couldn't find Raiden Mei's location anyway, so going anywhere was the same.

It wasn't impossible to encounter Raiden Mei on the way.

Cocolia's mother had only given her the command to [Recycle Raiden Mei]. Everything else could be decided according to her own judgment.

Seeing that Bronya didn't refuse, Ming Yu threw out the bait to hook her:

"She's a student at Chiba Academy, and she's my friend. Her name is Raiden Mei."

"..."

For a moment, Ming Yu thought he saw a flicker of light in the petite girl's eyes.

For Bronya, finding Raiden Mei was a very important matter.

The sooner she could find and retrieve Raiden Mei, the higher the chance of avoiding interference from the Schicksal organization.

—The Far East Branch of Schicksal didn't know when they would arrange for Valkyries to come and deal with the Herrscher, so her actions needed to be as swift as possible.

"When I escaped, she was still at Chiba Academy... she should still be there now, right?" Ming Yu said with an uncertain tone.

After Cocolia released the Honkai energy, causing the Herrscher of Reason's power to fully awaken, that girl did not leave Chiba Academy to cause destruction in the city.

On the contrary, she chose to remain within Chiba Academy to avoid her existence affecting a larger area and causing more damage.

In other words, the current phenomenon of Honkai Beast invasions occurring in Changkong City was merely the aftermath of her power awakening.

If the Herrscher of Thunder had truly intended to cause large-scale destruction, then Changkong City would likely have turned into ruins long ago, and he wouldn't be struggling to survive here.

"Mm, of course, if he guessed wrong and the Herrscher of Thunder wasn't at Chiba Academy for some reason, he could just use Recall to erase this future and find Mei's location again."

"…Bronya promises to take you to her,"

The girl said silently.

Because of her distinctive speech pattern, Ming Yu was spared the step of pretending to ask for her name.

Right now, he really didn't know how things were going at Chiba Academy, for example, whether Kiana had already found Raiden Mei and started their "heart-to-heart talk through combat."

If he could catch up, it would be a viable option to sneak into St. Freya Academy along with the "Big Three."

Regardless of whether it worked, it was always right to gather more information and intelligence in the present, leaving himself with more viable options and more paths to take.

Currently, Ming Yu could only operate within a limited scope on his own, so it was necessary to rely on Bronya to see a wider world.

Since he had this ability to rewind time, he should make the best use of it.

"…But Bronya cannot guarantee your safety. Your friend is likely in a precarious situation right now."

Bronya added immediately after.

Her mission was to find and retrieve the Third Herrscher. Considering the influence that entity had shown in Changkong City, a fierce battle was highly likely to break out upon their meeting.

Setting herself aside, she had long since disregarded life and death. In her view, Ming Yu, who was just an ordinary person, would have a hard time surviving a battle of that magnitude.

"You don't need to worry about that. Mm… I must see her."