"So certain?" Lin Wei's groundless speculation and extremely jumpy thinking made Schrodinger feel a wave of surprise.
"I admit, this suddenly appearing girl is indeed a clue, but I must remind you: even if the people and events in this world bubble have existed and happened in the native world, it doesn't mean they will be exactly the same as in your memory. The clues obtained from just a few words are a bit too arbitrary."
"Arbitrary? Perhaps..." Lin Wei felt a little cold.
The polar bear skin that had been hastily wrapped around his body had been scattered in the brief exchange just now.
Cold wind whistled in through the large and small gaps, once again lowering the body temperature Lin Wei had worked so hard to accumulate.
Lin Wei frowned, pulled the skin a little tighter with both hands, and then, carrying the bound Bronya with one hand, he moved closer to the bonfire.
Only then did he continue, "A missing Seele, a sudden time loop... it's hard not to connect these two clues. Tell me, is there a possibility that in this world bubble, the missing Seele met with a mishap before she could be rescued? And then, just like that classic trope from so many famous movies, the hands of time rewind to the moment before the event was about to happen, but hadn't yet happened..."
Besides the tropes seen in literature and on screen, in the memories Lin Wei was familiar with, there was more than one world bubble that was constantly looping in a similar logic...
"Impossible! Seele... couldn't have met with an accident!"
Before Schrodinger could say anything, Bronya, who was just a short distance away, suddenly started struggling violently.
She didn't understand most of what Lin Wei was saying, neither "world bubble" nor "loop." She neither understood nor cared. But the idea that Seele would meet with an accident was something she absolutely could not accept!
"Let me go!"
Without the help of the Heavy Armor Bunny, Bronya couldn't break free from the black chains spun from the Divine Key, no matter how hard she tried. After a futile struggle, she steeled her heart and rolled towards the nearby bonfire!
It wasn't self-harm, nor was she seeking death, and she certainly didn't fantasize that the weak flames from a few damp logs could melt the metal chains.
She was just betting that her dangerous action would be seen by Lin Wei, that he would stop her, betting that he had further plans for her.
Then, she would have a chance, at the moment he reached out to grab her, to use her only slightly mobile legs to choke his throat, forcing him to tell her everything he knew, especially everything about Seele!
"Tsk..." Seeing her restless state, Lin Wei simply waved his hand and dispelled all the chains on her body. This sudden freedom and lightness surprised Bronya.
"Listen up, Bronya. We are not enemies, and I have never seen your Seele." After showing his sincerity first, Lin Wei calmly tried to negotiate with this familiar stranger.
"Calm down and let's talk. I don't think you want to waste time on the wrong person, causing your real Seele to get further and further away, right?"
...
Bronya still looked at Lin Wei warily, ignoring his words completely. But the next sentence easily broke her silence—
"If Seele had really fallen into my hands, as you believe, then... what reason would I have to deceive you?" Lin Wei suppressed his impatience and calmly stated an obvious fact. "Don't forget, you yourself have also fallen into my hands, haven't you?"
"...You know me, and you know Seele, but I don't know you." The facts were undeniable, and Bronya's hostility and resistance also lessened slightly. She said coldly, "Appearing at this time... is very suspicious. I don't trust you."
She swallowed the word that had almost slipped out, but this small action obviously couldn't fool Lin Wei.
"Cocolia's orphanage is nearby? Heh, since Bronya and Seele have already appeared, it's not surprising." Lin Wei thought to himself, but he didn't point it out, lest the communication window that had just been opened with such difficulty close again.
"I do know you, Bronya, but not the you from here, but..." Lin Wei scratched his head, feeling that it couldn't be explained in a few words. He simply asked the off-site audience for help. "Dr. Schrodinger, how about you help me explain?"
"I don't think it's a good idea to let the inhabitants of a world bubble know the truth about the world without any preparation, Mr. Lin Wei," Schrodinger said, declining respectfully.
"No matter what, this is also an independent world. But you and I are just untimely intruders. The 'truth' we rashly convey is likely to make them doubt the authenticity of their own existence. What's more, I don't think that with a lack of understanding, words alone can make her have the slightest trust in what we say."
"..."
Bronya quietly watched Lin Wei talk to a voice that seemed to come from thin air, remaining silent all the while.
It had to be said that first impressions were important. Although Schrodinger had never shown herself, her calm and unhurried tone and voice had unknowingly won some trust. Along with Lin Wei, whom she had rejected, the hostility and resistance also unknowingly decreased a bit.
"...Is that so? Then it seems we can only use the simplest method." Lin Wei thought for a second, turned to look at Bronya, who was quietly observing him, and said in a deep voice, "To make a long story short, Bronya—we are people from another parallel world. I know the you of that world, and I also know the Seele of that world, that's all. The previous misunderstandings also arose from this."
"..." Bronya was speechless. What kind of clichéd isekai novel development is this?
...
Lin Wei also knew that saying this would not be convincing at all. So he spread his hands, and a small, exquisite black feather appeared in each palm.
He extended them towards Bronya and said, "These two feathers each contain a piece of my memory. One is my memory of getting along with the Bronya of that world, and the other is my experience after coming to this world. This is the evidence I can show."
"...Memory... can also be shared with others to see?" Bronya said, sounding like a country bumpkin. She looked at the two feathers warily. "Was that illusion just now because of it?"
That illusion was too real. Even now, she couldn't quite tell if she was in an illusion or in reality.
"Yes, it's just a piece of memory. You can think of it as a VR movie, or a special illusion," Lin Wei said. "In fact, I'm very willing to help you find Seele. And at the same time, I need your help. But before that, we should at least have a minimum of trust..."
Sincerity and directness had always been Lin Wei's magic weapon for gaining others' trust, and it had always been successful. It was the same even in a different world.
"...Why?" Bronya tilted her head and looked at him strangely.
"Because you are also Bronya," Lin Wei said seriously, his tone sincere. "The you of the other world is my friend. I hope it's the same here."
"...Nonsense." Bronya was speechless. What kind of nonsense is this?
But for some reason, seeing his sincere expression, she unconsciously began to believe that what he said was true...
"Besides, if this person wanted to harm me, he wouldn't have to wait until now." Bronya secretly convinced herself, gritted her teeth, and reached out to touch one of the feathers.
"Ugh..." The moment she touched it, large chunks of memory, accompanied by images and sounds, began to pour into her brain, making her feel dizzy.
"You're really patient. You could have easily done it by manipulating her consciousness, but you went through so much trouble to talk," Schrodinger said, watching Bronya immerse herself in the memory. "I really don't know if you think time is urgent or if you're taking your time..."
"Manipulating consciousness is indeed simple and time-saving. But if I did that, Doctor, you probably wouldn't be willing to stay by my side anymore, right?" Lin Wei smiled and said calmly.
...
"If I had acted wantonly from the beginning just because I had some special abilities, I would have probably been abandoned by everyone long ago. I might not even have made it to today, and might not even have passed the first hurdle of the Honkai sickness!"
"Is that so?" Schrodinger's voice was still calm, it was unclear whether it was emotional or sarcastic. "Both full of calculations and completely open... Heh... sometimes I really don't understand why Einstein and Tesla would be willing to help you."
"Because they owe me, Dr. Schrodinger." Lin Wei placed the second feather on the small beacon, his tone still calm. "Without me, whether it was the two doctors or the Anti-Entropy they founded, they would have probably committed a monstrous crime against human civilization that would have been nailed to the pillar of shame, all because of their own mistakes."
"..." Schrodinger was speechless. As a quantum life form, her ability to receive information was much stronger than Bronya's. In just a few seconds, she had seen the memory content contained in that feather—it was the living hell of a person named [Lin Wei], and a monstrous flood that seemed to want to destroy the world...
She wanted to say something, as if countless memories had been stirred up, but she didn't know what to say and fell silent for a moment.
"Divine Keys are indeed convenient, they can save a lot of trouble." The world seemed to have completely quieted down. Lin Wei smiled lightly.
For some reason, he felt a chill all over his body again. Perhaps it was because he had used the Divine Key too much in succession.
Lin Wei didn't think too much about it, just reached out to add some new firewood to the bonfire to make it burn more vigorously.
"Ugh... what did you just say?" After a moment, Bronya came to her senses.
Her consciousness had not fallen into a daze, so she had naturally heard the conversation between Lin Wei and the other person. "You are... from Anti-Entropy? And the me of the other world... is from Schicksal?"
In the memory she saw, the "herself" of the other world was actually a student at a Schicksal Valkyrie academy. This was truly surprising!
And why does she look like a deadpan?
Her identity, expression, speech patterns, etc., were all completely different from her own. Is that really me?
Bronya was in a state of confusion and self-doubt for a moment...
It was precisely because the Bronya in the memory was so different from herself that she didn't suspect it was a fabricated lie, but a real, existing herself living in another world. After all, as a "lie," these overly huge differences were a bit too much like gilding the lily.
"I'm not from Anti-Entropy," Lin Wei shook his head and said.
...
"And the you of the other world is indeed a Schicksal Valkyrie now. But her story also begins at Cocolia's orphanage..."
Lin Wei briefly recounted that Bronya's story, from being a child soldier wandering the Siberian snowfields to being adopted by Cocolia, meeting Seele at the orphanage, and later rescuing Seele when she was kidnapped...
"Then, the experiment called 'X-10'..." Lin Wei continued, explaining how Seele fell into the Sea of Quanta because of the experiment, and how Bronya herself lost her emotions because of it and became like a robot...
"No, that's fake! What Sea of Quanta, I don't understand! The X-10 experiment wasn't like you said!" This part was too relatable.
When Bronya heard this, she couldn't help but cry out excitedly. "That's just an experiment to stimulate the body's potential and awaken the Stigma through physical training! Mother Cocolia said that as long as the experiment is successful, whether it's Seele, Sin, or the other children, they can all gain powerful strength to protect themselves!"
It was precisely because of this promise that, although she knew this experiment was dangerous and that all the children who had participated before had died without exception, she was still willing to be the next sacrifice and cooperate with the new experiment, just so that Seele could succeed one day.
"Awaken the Stigma? Is that what she told you?" Lin Wei was noncommittal.
Come to think of it, besides the Herrscher Cores, the only thing that requires human experimentation is the Stigma...
"And... and... Seele didn't even pass the screening for the experiment!" Bronya argued excitedly, it was unclear whether it was to refute Lin Wei or to relieve her own fear.
As if grasping at a life-saving straw, her eyes lit up. "That's right... right! Mother Cocolia's requirements are so strict, it's impossible for her to bypass me and Sin and let Seele go to the experiment table first!"
"But Seele has a complete, not-yet-fully-awakened Stigma on her body. As long as she shows it to Cocolia, it's enough to convince her," Lin Wei looked at the agitated Bronya with some pity and said, "The you of the other world lost Seele just like that..."
"..." Bronya instantly shut her mouth. She remembered the red mark on Seele's chest. She had once wondered why Seele's birthmark was so well-designed...
"Wait, experiment? Screening? You've already started screening experimenters?" Lin Wei belatedly caught the blind spot. "So the experiment is about to begin... no, that's not right. Then why would Seele go missing at this time?"
In the native world, the time Seele was abducted was long before this. It was precisely because of the stimulation of this event that Seele's Stigma began to awaken little by little. And after that, she never left the orphanage again.
And now...
...
It didn't add up. The timeline didn't add up at all. Lin Wei was confused for a moment. Was I really prejudiced from the beginning? Is this actually an independent world with a timeline completely different from the native world?
"...Yes, Seele... is missing..." Bronya muttered to herself as if she had lost her soul. "Maybe, just as you said... she secretly went to find Mother Cocolia without telling us..."
No wonder she looked so strange when we were eating last night. So...
Bronya thought with a look of regret, then suddenly thought of something, raised her head, and looked at Lin Wei with a hopeful expression. "You are from another world, from the future world, right? You must know how to stop all this!"
"Please help me, save Seele!