"This is a laboratory, right?…" Kiana said, surveying the messy room.
"Yes, but it looks like it was destroyed by something," Mei nodded, looking at the chaos and scorched marks of an explosion around the room.
"Could it be that this was a facility for creating humanoid weapons, but the experiment failed, and the weapon went berserk and wrecked the place?" Kiana guessed, looking at the cracks on the wall that seemed to have been made by a sharp weapon.
"That's not a funny joke," Mei said, finding it hard to believe. How powerful would that so-called humanoid weapon have to be to turn this place into this?! What if… that humanoid weapon was still alive…
The thought of this possibility made Mei's face turn pale. She walked towards the center of the chaotic laboratory, where a pile of discarded, rust-stained items lay…
"By the way, Mei, what are you looking for?" Kiana turned around to see Mei crouched down, rummaging through a pile of discarded trash.
The old discarded items were covered in dust, and the dust kicked up by her search made Mei squint her eyes.
"If it was an experiment, the experiment files and data would be stored in a key area," Mei explained as she searched through the junk. She had seen her father, who was also a researcher and developer, store experiment files when she was very young…
"An explosion like this wouldn't be enough to destroy it. Got it!" Mei's eyes lit up as she found a stack of yellowed papers in a dilapidated iron box.
"Experiment files?!" Kiana said in surprise. The first page of the papers clearly had the words 'Experiment Files' printed on it.
"…Experiment codename X-10… Experimental objective, to make the human body adapt to and carry Honkai energy, and then control tactical mecha." For some reason, the words on the file were somewhat blurry. Mei read it out, half guessing.
"Five failed experiments, test subjects… deceased. The test subject for the last experiment was Seele Vollerei…" Mei turned to a new, yellowed page in the notebook and read it carefully.
"The girl named Seele Vollerei completely controlled the Honkai energy, but the experiment failed. The Honkai energy collapsed, and the test subject went berserk… transforming into a quantum state."
"Quantum state?! What's a quantum state, Mei-senpai…" Kiana asked, confused. She had spent her high school years coasting by like a slacker, never really paying attention in class…
"If she became a quantum state… it means Seele Vollerei became a probability cloud…" Mei's expression was one of surprise. Unlike Kiana, who was a slacker whose grades were always in the red, Raiden Mei, a top student in her year, understood what a quantum state was.
"This means she can only exist under the condition of a specific observer," Mei explained.
"Only by making her believe that she is being observed, that she still exists, can she not disappear…"
"Oh~" Kiana said, looking like she had a sudden realization. "I don't get it…"
"Alright… I had a feeling you might not get it," Mei said, covering her forehead helplessly. She had heard about the extent of Kiana's slacker tendencies back when they were in the same school…
"Hmm?!" Kiana suddenly frowned, looking around, but all she saw was darkness. The power of her Kaslana Stigmata made her blood quicken involuntarily.
"Mei, something's not right. The chaotic Honkai energy is starting to get agitated…" Kiana could feel a massive amount of Honkai energy not far from her starting to go berserk.
Rumble!~
The floor of the laboratory suddenly began to shake, and the discarded bottles and cans on the ground clattered and rattled…
"This place is about to collapse!…" Kiana shouted.
"I know. We need to get to the source of the Honkai energy right now. We might be able to find a way to escape there…" Mei said urgently, nimbly dodging a steel pipe that fell from the ceiling.
"If the suddenly agitated Honkai source has something to do with Bronya, then we must go…" Mei added. After all, Bronya was their friend.
"Okay! But Li Xuan…" Just as Kiana nodded and was about to ask Mei what to do about Li Xuan… two sets of footsteps came from behind them.
"Eh?! Kiana, Mei?… Let's go, Bronya is in danger!" A black shadow rushed past Kiana and Mei with a whoosh of wind, and Li Xuan's words reached their ears.
"Eh?!" The two of them were still in a daze, unable to react.
"Ah?! Miss Kiana and Miss Mei~" After the black shadow flashed past, a beautiful girl in a black and white maid outfit ran up from behind them, stopping in front of Kiana and Mei, panting slightly.
"Liv, why is Li Xuan running so fast?!" Kiana asked, confused. Is he in a hurry to get reincarnated? He almost ran into me!
"Uhm… Master said that someone wants to harm Miss Bronya, so he's in a hurry to save her," Liv replied calmly and directly.
"What?!" Upon hearing this, Mei immediately ran in Li Xuan's direction without a second thought.
"Hey, hey?! Wait, Mei-senpai!" Kiana chased after Mei.
......….
Meanwhile, on the other side…
"Seele?" Bronya looked at Seele, who was laughing in an unfamiliar tone, with confusion. This Seele felt so strange to her…
"This is utterly ridiculous…" the girl named Seele said contemptuously.
"You…" Bronya wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth, no words came out.
"Oh my, [No matter what, Bronya-oneechan will be by your side]. How nice that sounds," Seele said mockingly.
"But, Onee-sama, why, at that time, when Seele needed you the most—" Seele lifted her foot and began to walk, speaking to herself.
"To save you, she took your place in the X-10 experiment, enduring an overdose of Honkai energy and unimaginable pain…"
"To pass the experiment, she used the power of her Stigmata that should not have been used at that moment, even to the point of near disappearance…"
"Even so, she was still constantly calling your name…"
"Even after transforming into a quantum state, unable to even maintain her own existence without an observer…"
"Seele treasured her thoughts of you like a treasure chest."
"So, Onee-sama, when Seele needed you the most—"
"Where were you?"
Where were you?
(End of Chapter)