The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

"Heart? What a mess." Sitting in front of the bed, Bronya took a few sips of breath, her eyes fixed on the regular ups and downs on the electrocardiogram. She finally breathed a sigh of relief, but soon she felt deeply tired again. "Don't you understand? In fact, there is no need to force it. The reason I said this is because of my understanding of Mikael. You can't understand Mikael as deeply as I do, so of course you can't understand what I want to express." "You-you know this yourself, why do you still tell Bronya this? Is it really meaningful?" Bronya used her thumb to press hard on her gloomy eyebrows, but the moment her thumb was raised, her eyebrows frowned again. Mei was sitting right opposite her, and Seele, who was lying on the bed, separated the two. If there was a choice, Bronya didn't want to share the time to visit Seele with this guy. But unfortunately, as a B-level Valkyrie, she really didn't have the power to refuse the other party who was a "specially hired scientist", not to mention it was just a "small" thing. That's right, it's just to go into the ward and take a look at Seele, which doesn't seem to be a big deal. Maybe in the hearts of some people who don't even realize this, Seele has an extraordinary weight, but for Hyperion at this moment, Seele is just an ordinary B-level Valkyrie. As for the whole world... that smile is not much different from the dust in the sun.

"Do people really think about it in advance when they speak?"

Mei raised a finger, her face was not serious, but it always gave people the illusion of "having to listen".

"From an absolutely rational point of view, humans always hope that every word they say, just like everything they do, has been fully thought out and chosen. But this phenomenon itself reflects that only a few people, in very few cases, have the opportunity and willingness to speak after sufficient thinking. So you don't need to always think that my words are meant to be meaningful. Is there a possibility that I am just speaking purely out of inspiration?"

Speaking out of inspiration? Bronya rolled her eyes. Maybe Mei was right. She over-interpreted it herself, but how much difference does it make?

"Ah... As for what you call meaning. Bronya, do you also think that everything people do must have a corresponding meaning? What is meaning? Existentialists, nihilists, absurdists... Almost everyone believes that there is no meaning in this world or in our lives. Things done simply for one's own pleasure are often considered "meaningless" even in traditional concepts, but if suffering is considered meaningful, then should people be born to suffer? So, don't ask questions like "Is this kind of thing meaningful?" "

Bronya sighed silently. She really didn't want to face the woman in front of her. It was not just a matter of vigilance and unfamiliarity. After the earlier unfamiliarity, she also understood that since Theresa and the two doctors of Anti-Entropy chose to trust this woman, she didn't have to be so aggressive.

It's just... chatting with this woman is really... uncomfortable.

She always uses some wild metaphors, says some seemingly irrelevant words, goes around in circles and then pulls the topic back to the starting point, or like just now, says a long string of words that are almost tongue twisters in one breath.

Coupled with the vague scrutiny, Bronya didn't know whether this woman named "Mei" was clear-headed or not, and how stressful it was to talk to her.

Bronya fixed her eyes on Seele's pale sleeping face. After a few seconds, she looked up again as if she had felt something, and saw Mei also looking at the girl on the bed with a rare gentle look.

Almost instantly, she recalled the illusion she had encountered in the Oceania branch before. Besides, Mei had just admitted without any concealment that she did know a "Seele" in the past. Judging from her reaction, and the reactions of Mikael and Mobius in the illusion, it was obvious that the two looked very similar.

"Actually, you don't have to worry too much about this girl."

The silence lasted for about a few minutes, and Mei spoke again, but this time, what came out of her mouth was finally a topic that Bronya was interested in.

"What do you mean?"

"Guess?"

Mei blinked, and Bronya covered her forehead weakly.

Sure enough, I shouldn't have any expectations of her.

I don't know whether to say birds of a feather flock together or people of the same kind gather together, or something else. Mei, like Mikael, seems to like to use words to arouse a person's interest, and then stop talking.

Could this kind of riddle-man behavior bring some kind of pleasure?

Bronya only knew that as the other party in the conversation, she... really hated such behavior.

If something should not be said from the beginning, then don't say it. If something can be said, there is no need to cover it up.

Why do you always like to say half of the words? Is it just to let the other party guess? But what's the point of this?

Well, Mei seemed to have just said that she should stop asking the question of "Is this kind of thing meaningful?"

Bronya shook her head quickly, letting herself forget these troubles for the time being, because she had more important things to face, and she couldn't let a strange person's strange words disturb her mind.

The two silver drill bits hanging by her ears swayed like small hammers on a rattle. If Xier was still awake, she would definitely be smiling with her azure eyes staring at the dexterous rotation of her "turbine".

The girl didn't know why she had such "shameful" thoughts in her heart, but... whatever.

She held Xi'er's hand and silently felt the vague warmth in the other's palm. Although the regularly beating electrocardiogram had proved to her the fact that Xi'er was still "alive", the electrocardiogram was cold after all and could be heard from time to time. After all, the "didi" sound is harsh. Only when skin touches each other and feels the temperature of another person can we truly feel what "living" is like.

"not good……"

When she came back to her senses, Bronya found that her heart was in chaos.

No matter whether he opens his eyes or closes them, even if he keeps reminding himself not to think randomly, his thoughts are still driven by Mei's words and run wildly.

What exactly does the so-called heart mean? Why can you defeat Mikael with your heart, and why can you defeat Mikael only with your heart?

What is Xi'er's current state? How can we wake her up? What kind of "no need to worry" method does Mei mean?

They were all questions that she couldn't even figure out, and it was impossible for her to figure them out. The person who asked these questions was now crossing his legs, leaning his whole body weight on the back of the chair, calmly and with a trace of He looked at her playfully.

"Yeah, he seems to be thinking carefully about what I said. What a good boy."

Bronya's eyelids twitched, and she had a strong urge to hit someone.

There are two types of people she hates the most. The first one is the Riddler, needless to say (although it only took a few minutes to decide).

The second type is someone who treats her like a child at all times and talks condescendingly like a person who has experienced her.

At this moment, the woman named Mei in front of her took up both points.

Strangely enough, the feeling Mei gave to Bronya just now seemed to be able to easily see through what she was thinking. In this case, Bronya felt that she should also be able to see her current irritable mood.

But why does she keep inciting her emotions like this?

"Hehehe..."

Mei, who was across the bed, suddenly covered her mouth and chuckled.

"why are you laughing!"

Bronya felt that her patience was reaching its limit.

"I just think that there is indeed some kind of mysterious connection between you and him... Both of them like to suppress their emotions, euphemistically speaking, they are afraid that overly active emotions will affect their judgment in battle, but this Isn't it a kind of escape? It seems that as long as the whole world has nothing to do with me, then no matter what I lose, I won't be hurt. But is this really the case? If you don't care, you really don't care. The same is true for love. If you continue like this, you will get nothing. You will only realize that you have lived such a failure in life."

Bronya pursed her lips twice and clenched Xier's palm with both hands.

She took a sharp breath with a trembling voice and slowly closed her eyes. She instinctively wanted to refute Mei's statement, but what emerged from her dark consciousness was Xi'er's smile.

And that "Sister Bronya".

"..."

If you think about it carefully, during that time in Changkong City, she was not as indifferent as she is now. When did the mental state of returning to Siberia begin...

Sure enough, it started from the day when Xi'er also became the Valkyrie...

Bronya actually didn't remember the specific time. With human memory mode, it was difficult to grasp a turning point in her emotions. In other words, most transitions in this world do not have a clear "node". Changes always happen quietly. When a person truly notices this, it is always too late. So I looked back at the way I came from with my subjective impressions, and marked some landmark events that may have been the cause of this change. That was probably it.

And what Bronya did was strictly speaking.

It's just that she is more sensitive than ordinary people, and she can find the place where the flag should be planted more quickly and accurately. Although it doesn't matter whether the facts changed from here.

So, it really started from that day...

Because Xi'er has also become a Valkyrie, because Xi'er has changed from a person she can see after each mission to a person who needs to perform tasks with her, because Xi'er has changed from a person being protected to a protector. Others, therefore, may be sacrificed in front of her at any time.

Yes, Mei is right.

She was indeed running away...especially now, after something happened to Xi'er.

"Bronya, if something goes wrong in the next battle, Xi'er will die."

Mei's words came to Bronya's ears lightly. She was stunned for a moment at first. After she realized what she was doing, her eyes widened almost instantly. She jumped up from the bed and leaned forward over the bed. If she had Mei's height, , their heads were probably about to collide intimately.

"what are you saying!?"

After a second, she opened her lips and continued to ask:

"Didn't you just say that Xier doesn't need to worry too much!!"

Mei Laoshen crossed his arms across his chest comfortably, his purple eyes did not waver, he just looked at Bronya silently through the thin lenses.

The little bit of "deterrence" that Bronya thought she had was nothing in front of her. After all, the only individual she had ever needed to face seriously was the Herrscher. To her, such an immature young Valkyrie was indeed It’s something that doesn’t require much effort to deal with. Although this Valkyrie has an extremely heavy weight for her next plan...or for the entire "plot", that is also the future, not the present. Unlike people like them who have already reached the destination, girls still have a long way to go and a long way to go.

"Everything must be decided based on the next plan. If the plan goes well, then not only will your Xi'er not be harmed, but she will also gain enough power to protect herself in this world and make you no longer worry about her so much. But if the plan fails to unfold as planned...then the only path waiting for her is loneliness and death."

"What on earth do you mean!"

Bronya stood up straight and pressed her heart hard with her palms in an attempt to calm herself down.

This did work, and her voice became calmer, calmer...or rather colder.

"It's simple."

Mei spread her hands, not knowing whether this action was showing Bronya that she had no ill intentions, or whether it was just out of some habit.

"I read your mission report. It's obvious that what you were in was not an 'illusion', but a world bubble in the Quantum Sea. The specific explanation is quite complicated, so just understand the Quantum Sea as The other world corresponding to the original world is fine. When the world bubble collapsed, you and Raiden Mei left successfully, but Xi'er was involved in the outside of the world bubble, which is the "sea". So in my opinion. Lai Xier's problem is obvious - since the other party only pulled your spirit, not your whole body, into the quantum sea, it was only Xier's consciousness that was drawn into the sea, thus causing a conflict between her consciousness and body. Separation, it is impossible for her to wake up in this situation.”

"Like a vegetative state?"

"No, there is no analogy between the two. Many vegetative people will retain a certain amount of consciousness, which is the so-called 'minimum state of consciousness'. The original blueprint for the common story in human narratives in which persistent companionship finally awakens a vegetative person is probably It's a case of a state of minimal consciousness. And Xi'er's current problem is the complete separation of body and soul, which is far more dangerous than a vegetative state - if it is a vegetative state with complete loss of consciousness, it is destined not to be saved from the beginning. Possibility, but Xi'er is just the opposite. Theoretically, the possibility of success is higher than the minimal state of consciousness. But once it fails, the vegetative state can continue to linger, and the only thing waiting for Xi'er is death. "

Mei stood up slowly and lifted the blue and white striped sheets in front of Bronya. She unbuttoned Xi'er's hospital gown again. Just when Bronya was about to ask her why she did this, she saw the black bruises under the stigmata on Xi'er's chest.

"What's this?"

"This is the consequence of the soul being separated from the body for a long time. The body will gradually become necrotic, and the same goes for the soul. Just like after a flower is picked, both the buds and the rhizome will only wither. Judging from the current situation, This body can only support it for another month at most. In fact, the rate of necrosis of the body will become faster and faster. This is already a very optimistic estimate. "

Bronya's body fell backwards, falling back into her seat.

Her hands were helpless as she tried to find the armrests of the chair, but this stool only had a backrest. Her arms dangled twice, and finally grabbed the edge of the chair.

"So...what should Bronya do?"

After two or three seconds, she spoke directly.

"It's very simple. Entering the quantum sea, finding Xi'er's soul, and taking her soul back to the original world is almost the only way. But the problem I just said is that this body can only support one month. You only have this opportunity, so I missed it..."

"that's all?"

Mei was not annoyed when Bronya interrupted her speech, but instead smiled.

"Of course it's not that simple if you look at it carefully, but that's generally it."

"Bronya understands."

"Even if you immediately become enemies with Cocolia, who once took you in, does it not matter?"

"Bronya just wants to...it doesn't matter."

"very good……"

Mei leaned over without warning, and gently tapped Bronya's forehead with her index finger.

"Now you understand, what is the so-called 'heart'." (End of Chapter)