The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

Chapter 5: In the sea: kill them all

"Whoosh-"

The running water was freezing cold, but both Bronya and Xi'er just washed the dishes without saying a word.

After all, this level of coldness is already unbearable for others, but for a child who grew up in the Siberian wilderness, it is just a slight numbness on the fingertips.

"Xie'er. Come here. Um... I'm really sorry. Please clean up these things. Miss Bronya, I have something to say to Xi'er."

Bronya put down the rag, turned her head, first looked at Xi'er who lowered her head and said nothing, then looked at Cocolia, and nodded slightly.

"I see."

"thanks, thanks."

Cocolia clasped her hands together, bowed, and then waved to Xi'er.

Xi'er raised her head and hesitated to speak, but in the end she followed Cocolia out in silence.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Bronya trembled all over, as if she suddenly woke up from a nightmare.

But she didn't say anything, she just picked up the rag He Wan from the bucket again and started scrubbing it carefully.

It's just that...the surrounding air is getting colder and colder. Every time a bowl was wiped away, Bronya would take her hands out, wipe them dry on her uniform, put them under her mouth and breathe hard to warm them, then put them into her armpits and cover them for a while until her bruised fingers recovered. The flesh color was so bright that she continued to brush the next one.

This was repeated until the fourth bowl was washed, and the soft and delicate footsteps sounded behind her again.

"Xie'er is back. You should go and rest first. This is Xi'er's job."

The girl's voice was as gentle as she remembered, but lacked the familiar title, and seemed more...mature.

"It doesn't matter, Bronya doesn't have the habit of going to bed so early."

"That...that..."

Xier pouted, squatted next to Bronya, picked up one of the few bowls in the barrel, and started scrubbing it with a rag.

"Then... you can chat with Xi'er for a while. Cocolia's mother just happened to have something she wanted Xi'er to convey to you..."

"good."

Bronya's response was so brief that she seemed to be responding to an instruction from a superior, but her words were trembling, a little uneasy, and seemed to be forcibly suppressed impulse and tenderness.

The water is also swaying softly. No, the water itself does not contain anyone's will, it's just that Xi'er's whisking movement is so gentle, and so is the water.

After silently washing the last bowl, Xi'er carefully stacked all the wooden bowls together, wrung the used rag with water, spread it flat on the table, and wiped her hands with another dry rag.

It was clearly agreed that the two of them would "chat", but until all this was done, Xi'er did not take the initiative to speak, and neither did Bronya.

Both of them were waiting for something, a long and futile wait.

Wait for the other person to speak first.

"That... Xi'er..."

"That...Sister Bronya..."

The two people turned their heads and spoke at the same time, then froze at the same time, turned their heads at the same time, pursed their lips, and then said nothing.

Bronya slowly raised her hand, as if she wanted to touch Xi'er, but stopped in mid-air, hesitant.

Yes, what can "Sister Bronya" mean?

Maybe it's just that there is a Bronya in this world, otherwise how could Xi'er...

Um?

Bronya's eyes widened, and she realized that she seemed to be caught in some kind of worry about gain and loss, so that she became extremely stupid——

If the Xi'er in front of her is just a phantom in the world and doesn't know the real Bronya at all, shouldn't she say hello like a normal acquaintance?

Isn't Xi'er's current reaction exactly the same as Bronya's own?

So, so... so!

The Xi'er in front of me must be...

"hope……"

"Sister Bronya!"

The cold palms came together, and Xier firmly grasped Bronya's right hand that was still in mid-air, and pulled it to her knees.

"Sister Bronya, you...are..."

Although she was brave enough, at this moment, Xi'er's voice still trembled.

"ah."

Bronya responded, swallowed hard, and then hugged Xi'er off guard.

"Xie'er..."

Along with the white steam, there was the same trembling sound.

"I finally found you."

Xier didn't know how to answer, so she just hugged Bronya and used the strength of her arms to prove her existence to Bronya.

Tears overflowed from the corners of their eyes, but the two girls, who were not even high school students in peaceful times, held back their tears, so let the tears flow silently. As long as they didn't make a sound, maybe they wouldn't be so sad.

Maybe even strong.

For a long time, the two separated reluctantly, mainly because their emotions suddenly became too exciting, and the two children hugged each other so tightly that they felt out of breath and dizzy for a while.

Bronya gasped, thoughts racing in her mind.

The Xi'er in front of her was indeed the real Xi'er, and what Mikael had said to her outside had come true. But... would the real Mikael be so kind?

No, no, let’s think about it again. That Mikael claimed to be Mikael No. 2. Judging from the actual results, it was Mikael No. 2 who had been staying with Xier in the Quantum Sea, and he... he was a certain person in the past. Mikael's freeze-frame in this time period, he seemed to be fighting against Honkai at that time, so he did have a reason to do such a "good thing".

But this cannot deny the possibility that the Mikael who brought him here is Mikael No. 1. Personality can be disguised. It may be difficult for a person to imitate his future self, but it cannot be said that it is not difficult for a person to imitate his past self. At least it is much simpler.

After all... that man once pretended to be so gentle and deceived Mei, Kiana, Xi'er, and Bronya herself.

Facing such a cunning man, Bronya felt that she had to prepare for the worst.

It's even possible that Xi'er in front of her is also...

"Snapped!"

Bronya patted her head hard to make this terrible thought disappear immediately.

But instead of disappearing, the suspicion only intensified.

Bronya knew exactly what her weaknesses were. From a subjective emotional point of view, of course she will selectively believe that the Xi'er in front of her is Xi'er, but in Mikael's eyes, this may be her weakness. By using this weakness, she may be able to do what he wants to do. …

"Xie'er, before Bronya came here, she met Rosalia and Lilia. Do you remember them two?"

"Rosalia and Lilia!"

Xi'er covered her mouth and breathed softly.

"Of course Xi'er remembers it, but aren't they with Cocolia's mother? Could it be..."

"Well, a lot of things happened after you left. The principal and others also fought against Cocolia's mother. Forget it, let's not talk about these spoilers. Do you still remember the box in the orphanage before? At that time We were taken away by Mikael and had no chance to go back to the orphanage to sort out our things. They told Bronya that the box had been kept for you and they could return it to you this time. "

Bronya stared into Xier's eyes, not daring to blink.

Xi'er was a little confused at first, seeming to be thinking about what kind of box it was. Just a second later, her face suddenly turned rosy, and her eyes evaded because of embarrassment, so that she did not notice Bronya's abnormality at all.

"That...that...that's just an empty box. Actually, it's not, no, no...it doesn't need to be so troublesome."

Bronya laughed, Bronya laughed from the bottom of her heart.

Even if Mikael wanted to "forge" a Xi'er, he would only have the memory of when he met Mikael. It would be impossible to know what box Xi'er used to hide in every time he was bullied.

Therefore, there is no doubt that the Xi'er in front of her is indeed the Xi'er she is familiar with.

Bronya held Xi'er's hand tightly, expressing her joy at seeing her again after a long separation, but also silently apologizing for her doubts just now.

But her smile quickly disappeared again.

"Xie'er, listen to Bronya. During the time you disappeared, very...very unbelievable things happened outside."

"Sister Bronya, Xier is mentally prepared."

"Did...your other personality tell you?"

"Ah...Sister Bronya, how do you know..."

Bronya held her big head and said helplessly:

"You two are too obvious. I'm afraid not only Bronya, but also the principal, Himeko, and Sister Mei can see it. The only one who can't notice it is probably Kiana, the idiot."

"ah……"

"But that's not important."

Bronya pressed Xier's shoulders hard.

"Xie'er, what Bronya is going to say next may...may have a bit of a big impact on you. Especially, Bronya knows that the other you probably has a very close relationship with Mikael, but …”

"Sister Bronya, it's brother Mikael, what happened to him...?"

Xi'er seemed to want to say something else, but finally covered her mouth again.

Perhaps, she had already realized something - from the fragments of words she heard from her other self and her past brother Mikael every time she woke up.

"Mikael, he..."

Bronya took a deep breath and bit her teeth lightly.

"Mikael betrayed us."

"..."

Xi'er's pupils shrank slightly, but she didn't make any sound.

So, Bronya continued speaking boldly:

"He...he kidnapped sister Mei and Kiana, and turned Kiana into the Herrscher of the Sky. Now Kiana is missing, and sister Mei doesn't even know whether she is alive or dead..."

"..."

"..."

"ha?"

This was the first and only syllable that Xi'er uttered after letting go of her biting lower lip.

Xi'er's eyes gradually became blurred. Bronya had seen this scene before. This was often a sign of Xi'er's personality reversal. However, everything seemed to be stuck at this moment. Xi'er made no further movements, and there was no second move. When the two personalities appeared, Bronya didn't understand what was happening, so she had to sit and wait.

"哐——"

The door was pushed open somewhat roughly, Bronya turned her head following the sound, and stood with Kevin standing at the door. Half of her body stepped into the light in the room, and the other half of her body was hidden in the restaurant that lost the light.

His eyes swept over Xi'er, but didn't stop.

"Bronya, there are new orders from headquarters."

"What?"

Bronya stood up hesitantly. She didn't know the rules of Fire Chaser, but whether it was the rules of mercenaries, the rules of Cocolia, or the rules of St. Freya, the headquarters directly gave instructions to those who were performing tasks outside. It's never a good thing when the team gives orders.

"The situation is a bit... unexpected. Let your brother tell you."

"good."

Bronya stood up and looked at Xi'er who was still in an unknown state with some reluctance.

She leaned down to Xi'er's side and reminded softly:

"Xie'er, I'll be back soon."

He followed Kevin neatly out of the kitchen, turned around and closed the door.

The dining room outside the kitchen has long since lost its commotion from half an hour ago. The children were all taken back to the dormitory in the backyard by Cocolia. Candles were very expensive, so the candle flames naturally could not stay on forever. Only the moonlight coming in from the window made them brighter. Everything you can touch is plated with a thin silver edge.

Kevin brought Bronya into the courtyard. He was still leaning on the door frame of the restaurant, pouting at Mikael, who was standing upright in the courtyard, as if urging Bronya to come forward quickly. Apart from this, he neither made a sound nor made any movements, but just lowered his head, as if he was brewing some special emotion.

"What happened? Bronya heard that there was an order from headquarters."

Bronya didn't notice Kevin's expression. Of course, even if she noticed it, she didn't have the time or mood to understand it.

She just took two quick steps and came to Mikael's side, but before she even got close, she smelled a strong smell of alcohol.

"It's not a big problem."

Mikael poured wine into his stomach.

"I reported the situation to the headquarters. You should have seen it just now. Those children undoubtedly have Honkai disease. I measured the Honkai reaction again. Our mission target should be here. I insist on saying peace The expected difference is that Cocolia doesn’t seem to know much about Honkai Disease, otherwise, she would have prevented outsiders from seeing these children.”

"Then what."

Bronya pretended to be worried and didn't want to talk nonsense to Mikael.

Mikael shrugged and said:

"The superiors have given instructions on our report, what else could it be?"

"What instructions?"

Bronya frowned and asked.

She didn't understand why Mikael would break a sentence into several parts. If it was just to whet people's appetite, it would be unnecessary and a bit bad.

"Um……"

Mikael covered his mouth and groaned for a while, then gently put his hand on Bronya's shoulder.

"The meaning above is quite simple, just let us handle it according to the normal process."

"So, the normal process is..."

"Kill all these Honkai patients and take the bodies back."

"……ha?"

Bronya opened her mouth and uttered a broken syllable, exactly like Xie'er just now.