Chapter 73: Bronya's Vision Went Dark
[You! Who are you?]
As control of the body was taken over, Bronya's consciousness entered the body's 'backstage.'
Able to receive visual and tactile signals from the body, yet deprived of feedback from a healthy neural center, she calmed down at a visible rate.
[My name is Bronya Zaychik.]
The same milky voice, yet it carried an elegance and charm Bronya didn't possess, like red wine mixed with powdered milk, exuding a mellow fragrance.
[No, this is impossible!]
Bronya stated firmly.
If you are Bronya, then who am I?
[Why is it impossible? You, of all people, should be able to recognize it.]
Silverwing narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at the mirror in the bathroom so that Bronya, sharing her vision, could see her face clearly.
Just those two short sentences, coupled with the undeniably magnificent face in the mirror, contained an amount of information like a gust of wind, sending Bronya's thoughts fluttering like feathers in the air.
Fortunately, she was in a state of near-absolute rationality. Just as Bronya's mind was spinning at full speed, a piece of information suddenly surfaced from the depths of her mind.
...Parallel world?
So that's how it is?
This is a parallel world.
Bronya found it somewhat hard to believe, but given the current situation, this was the formula that could solve all the questions.
Her dazed contemplation was interrupted by the hand moving before her eyes. Bronya saw the owner of this body undo the stocking wrapped around the gray-haired young man's neck, gently caressing his neck.
"Caelus, I'm sorry, something strange just happened to me. You should go out first, I'll explain to you later."
Easily feigning a gentle tone, Silverwing stood on her tiptoes and gave Caelus a light, butterfly kiss on the lips, as if they were a deeply enamored couple.
The warm touch of the lips, fleeting as it was, made Bronya, in the body's backstage, raise an eyebrow.
In her emotionless state, she wouldn't feel any physiological shyness, but the body owner's actions reminded her of Seele's earlier words and tears, and her mood couldn't help but darken a little.
[A voice told Bronya that this is a parallel world. So, are you the Bronya of this world?]
Bronya got straight to the point. In this situation, being frank was the most efficient approach.
[Yes, something like that.]
After Caelus left the bathroom, Silverwing turned on the shower and rinsed her body.
[Question, why did Bronya come to this world?]
[The situation is a bit complicated...]
Little Duckling wasn't as easy to fool as Seele, but she wasn't the experienced Big Duckling from the later stages either. Silverwing was still confident in controlling the situation.
The most perfect lie in the world is the truth—a fragmented and vague truth.
[A suddenly awakened special ability... able to summon oneself from a parallel world...]
Bronya fell silent upon hearing this, her mind racing.
So, the Seele just now was a Seele from a parallel world, not her Seele.
Although watching Seele cry and get hurt was still unbearable for Bronya, it was just a feeling of loving the house and its crow; the gloominess instantly dissipated by more than half.
But seeing the body owner clean the residual marks on the frontal armor still made Bronya's brow twitch. She could only force herself to ignore it; this wasn't her body, after all.
Through the uncontrollable vision, Bronya examined the image of the person in the mirror. Her gaze was captured by gravitational waves, firmly adsorbed to the frontal armor.
Unbelievable. Bronya found it hard to imagine herself developing to this extent.
The desire for her future self to be able to drink milk tea without holding it with her hands, that mere wisp of gloominess, completely vanished, replaced by a hidden joy.
[Considering the sudden situation, I won't pursue the matter of you attacking my lover.]
The body owner magnanimously forgave her.
Bronya remained silent. She actually had something to say but ultimately didn't open her mouth.
After all, no matter how complicated the relationship between Seele, the body owner, and the gray-haired young man was, it had nothing to do with her, the Bronya from a parallel world, right?
However, the next second.
A casual remark from the body owner instantly threw Bronya into disarray.
[No wonder you know Seele. After all, she also comes from a parallel world.]
[What did you say!?]
The excitement that erupted from Bronya at that moment made Silverwing even suspect if she hadn't cut the body connection cleanly.
[Where did you say Seele comes from!?]
Silverwing was somewhat surprised by Bronya's reaction but continued nonchalantly.
[A parallel world... That might be a bit inaccurate. Before coming to this world, Seele had been drifting in the nihility and darkness of the 'Sea of Quanta' for several years, and her spirit almost collapsed because of it.]
[Speaking of which, it's all that Cocolia's fault...]
The subsequent words could no longer enter Bronya's mind.
Seele comes from a parallel world!
Drifting in the Sea of Quanta for several years!
Spirit almost collapsed!
BOOM—!!
A bolt from the blue, struck by three lightning strikes.
The first strike petrified her on the spot.
The second strike left her charred outside and tender inside.
The third strike turned her to ashes.
In that instant, Bronya stopped thinking.
Until her uncontrollable gaze shifted downwards, and Bronya watched helplessly as Silverwing began to clean the marks between her legs.
She once again recalled her state when she arrived in this world, and Seele's subsequent anger and tears.
"Ah!!!"
The legendary emotionless assassin of the underworld, the Uralian Silver Wolf, at this moment, couldn't maintain a shred of rationality and let out a scream like a groundhog.
It's Seele!
That's her Seele!
Bronya's vision went dark, and she almost fainted.
...
While Silverwing and Bronya were having their mental exchange, Caelus dried himself off and lay down on the soft, large bed, taking a deep breath.
With a roar louder than a groundhog's scream, he bellowed in his mental control:
"Sys-tem! You son of a..."
[Ah ah! Here, here, here!]
The system screen, dripping with sweat, unfolded before Caelus, as if it had long prepared to be interrogated. It directly opened the compensation email Caelus hadn't read and slid it over.
[Big Bro, take a look at this first.]
Enlarged, bold text filled Caelus's vision, letting him see the BUG compensation immediately.
360 Crystals, Trial Character Card Gift Box ×1.
A little more than two pulls worth of crystals, not a small amount. What made the black flames surrounding Caelus extinguish was the latter.
"Trial Character Card Gift Box?"
Caelus mentally opened the gift box, and soon, a detailed description of the gift box appeared in his mind.
After use, one can randomly draw one card from all four-star character cards for trial use, with a trial period of 45 days.
This duration was quite sincere, and coupled with the 360 crystals, Caelus's furrowed brow immediately smoothed out, the coldness on his face completely transforming into a warmth as gentle as a spring breeze.
"Eh, how did I get here? Hmm, System, is your technical adjustment over?"
Caelus looked around in confusion.
Seeing the host feigning amnesia on the spot, the System heaved a sigh of relief.
"System, ah, you can do this kind of technical adjustment a few more times in the future if you have nothing else to do. For your growth, I'll go through fire and water, I guarantee I won't even frown!"
Caelus and the system's light screen put their arms around each other's shoulders, looking like they were about to perform a sworn brotherhood ceremony.
Quickly reading through the compensation email, Caelus understood the cause and effect of the matter.
The enterprising System had thought of extracting the BUG that allowed auto-battle to be reverse-mapped and turning it into an independent functional module.
The good news was, it succeeded, making it more convenient for Caelus to project part of his consciousness into the Honkai world.
The bad news was, the operational errors also increased.
The specific manifestation was just as Caelus had experienced; the auto-battle function might suddenly activate.
This wouldn't affect Caelus's absolute control over the body; he could turn off auto-battle and regain control at any time—this was unalterable underlying code.
The system's starting point was good, and for this reason alone, Caelus wouldn't blame it.
Anyway, this BUG was screwing over Bronya, and possibly others who might suddenly be accessed in the future. He was the one receiving compensation, and he could even enjoy some pleasure in the process.
No loss either way!
The only thing Caelus needed to consider was the relationship between 'himself' and the 'substitute fighter.' The system's 'auto-battle' had no compulsory function; the Valkyrie's consciousness could completely slack off, or even actively feed.
To prevent this from happening, Caelus and his various consciousnesses needed to maintain a good relationship, like with a 'ride-hailing driver.'
"Speaking of which, the consciousness currently in Silverwing's body's backstage isn't the Big Duckling from A Post-Honkai Odyssey, right?"
It was easy to deduce from Bronya's attitude towards Seele.
[Uh, because mistakenly sending past and future consciousnesses from the same timeline would cause paradoxes and timeline chaos, subsequent consciousnesses will likely all come from the first anchor point, which is Seele's time point.]
The system explained the program logic.
"Then this auto-battle is fighting for nothing! How can there be such a noob substitute fighter?" Caelus couldn't help but complain.
The Big Duckling from A Post-Honkai Odyssey not only proved 8 > 50000 to become a legendary mathematician, but her combat experience and skills were almost maxed out. Even without Herrscher powers, she was a bona fide S-rank Valkyrie.
And the early-stage Little Duckling got screwed over from beginning to end, remotely controlled by Cocolia, had her driver's license revoked by Traffic Cop Kevin, and had her powers drained by the Herrscher of Domination.
The Stand user lost their Stand, could only fight with their own body, wasn't used to healthy legs, and was stacked with heavy debuffs.
This 'auto-battle AI' might not be much stronger than Caelus, who had a talent advantage in Honkai energy.
Especially since he still had a learning chip lying in his backpack. He had originally planned to practice after savoring Big Duckling a few times tonight, but he was unexpectedly interrupted by the system.
[Uh...]
Looking at it this way, the auto-battle function was almost half-useless. The system felt particularly guilty and kept quiet, playing dead.
"Forget it, in that case, let's try the reverse-mapping function."
Thinking about it differently, a noob substitute fighter could accelerate his own growth, so it wasn't entirely a bad thing. Caelus quickly shifted his attention.
White Seele had drifted in the Sea of Quanta for several years and had no idea of the specific time in the Ethereal World. Through the system, Caelus could only determine a general range.
Now that Bronya was here, he could use her to determine the time point in the Honkai world.
[Module updating... Reverse-mapping function implemented.]
Caelus activated it directly.
The moment it switched, the part of his consciousness located in Silverwing's body experienced a dizzying spin.
The hideout room in Nagazora City.
The girl, whose sleeping face was also expressionless, abruptly opened her eyes. If anyone else had seen that sudden movement, they would have been scared.
"Emotional center damaged... It seems it doesn't affect me."
Without the absolute rationality buff, the silver-haired girl slowly sat up from the bed, controlled her small face, and revealed a brilliant smile.
"Legs necrotic... a bit unused to it." She moved the cells of her exoskeleton-equipped limbs.
Surveying the room, she immediately noticed the nine-grid screen display. The top-right image showed the purple-black-haired girl finally asleep.
Her youthful and pretty face was almost entirely covered in wet tear tracks, and half of her pillow was soaked.
Quickly scanning the time on the computer, March 6, 2014.
Unlike his cluelessness about the plot of Star Rail, Caelus knew the Honkai plot like the back of his hand.
"The Great Honkai Eruption of Nagazora City, hasn't it happened yet?"
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