"No, you did very well... From you here, and from the real Big Sis Mei, I have already received enough happiness. So I must, just as Big Sis Mei passed happiness to me, pass this happiness on to others."
Bronya knelt down and gently hugged the sobbing Mei, transmitting her own fervent emotions to her through their close contact.
"Everyone in the real world is still struggling hard. To pass happiness into their hands... this is my mission. So... I'm sorry Mei, this time I really must leave..."
"(sobbing) Can you not go..." Young Mei clutched Bronya's collar tightly, as if the moment she let go, Bronya would disappear before her eyes.
"Sorry..."
"...Then I understand..." Young Mei let go of her hands, wiped her tears, and then made a cheering gesture for Bronya. "Sister Bronya! You must live a good life!"
"Yes! Mei, please live happily in this world! And I, too, will live well in the real world..."
"...I understand... Goodbye, Bronya..."
"Yes... Goodbye, Mei..."
——————————————
Bronya returned, bringing back with her a Seele who was crying her eyes out.
After opening her eyes, Bronya saw Ryn and the others standing by, full of worry, and a warm, happy feeling welled up in her heart.
"Sorry... for making everyone worry."
"It's good that you're back."
After confirming that the two were unharmed, the group returned to the main hall of ME Corp the way they came, preparing to rendezvous with Yiselian and the others.
On the way back, no more mechs blocked their path. Perhaps it was because Bronya had successfully hacked the security system, or perhaps Young Mei had identified Ryn and the others as friendlies...
Ryn patted the shoulder of Yiselian, who was performing various precise operations on the equipment.
"Yiselian, how's the situation?"
"Don't hit me! Oh, it's you..." Yiselian jumped in fright at Ryn's pat, thinking it was Emisha coming to whack her again.
"It's a mixed bag... The good news is we can try to modify the programming of these mechs and turn them into our own combat units. The bad news is they've all been melted into scrap iron by your Heat Vision..."
After speaking, Yiselian took out several black boxes from the mechs from behind her back, as well as the "heart" Ryn had mentioned earlier.
"From the records in these black boxes, the systems of these mechs were all damaged long ago. Just as Ryn said, it was Honkai energy that replaced these system components and got them running again...
The Honkai is evolving... it seems now that not only can it corrupt living things, but also machines... in that case, next..."
Yiselian sighed. If things continued in this trend, the extinction of humanity was a foregone conclusion.
Clang—
Emisha knocked Yiselian on the head from behind and pushed her aside. Spreading news that humanity was doomed... Emisha felt that even if it was, Yiselian would be the first to go.
"Bronya, are you okay? Being corrupted by Honkai energy can turn you into a Honkai Zombie, and I can't treat that..."
Bronya: "I'm fine, I'm fine. Seele helped me cut the connection with the Honkai energy in time. Sorry for making everyone worry."
"As long as you're okay... Himeko, what about you? You look..."
After confirming Bronya was fine, Emisha looked at Himeko. Himeko's current state did not look good... she was covered in blood, with several wounds of various sizes on her body. Although the bleeding had stopped, the burn-like scars were still a bit frightening.
"I'm fine, they're all just superficial wounds." Himeko waved her hand, refusing Emisha's diagnosis. "They'll heal on their own in a few days."
Emisha frowned. The guys from the Gray Moth squad were all the same. Every one of them came back injured, yet none of them would accept a check-up or treatment from the Medical Department.
"Suit yourself. If you don't want treatment, fine by me. I can save some medicine... Here, take this."
Although she sounded like she didn't care, Emisha still took a roll of bandages from her backpack and threw it to Himeko.
Himeko caught the bandage, but without a second glance, she tossed it to Ryn.
This sudden move completely caught Ryn off guard. After fumbling to catch the bandage, she looked at Himeko in surprise.
"Eh? Himeko, you don't need it?"
"I don't. Consider this as me returning yours."
Seeing Himeko's resolute attitude, Ryn had no choice but to accept the roll of bandages. It was just right to take back and wrap herself up with...
Ryn looked up at the ceiling and then asked Emisha.
"You've been stationed here for so long, have you seen anything on top of ME Corp? There's a bad feeling coming from up there."
"Up there? Something bad?"
Emisha scratched her head. She was just an ordinary doctor, how could she possibly see what was hundreds of meters above ME Corp. Wait, didn't Yiselian also feel something up there?
"I think you should go ask Yiselian. She also felt something up there... I thought I had knocked her silly, but since you have the same feeling, there's probably really something there..."
After speaking, Emisha walked to the back and pulled over Yiselian, who was busy with her research.
"Hey, Ryn has the same feeling as you. He also feels something up there. You two should talk."
"Did you see anything fly over? Or did your instruments detect anything?" Ryn asked Yiselian.
Yiselian shook her head and showed the instrument to Ryn.
"I've already checked with the instrument. There was a very high energy reaction above ME Corp, but it disappeared quickly.
I thought it might be Raiden Mei, and that energy reaction should be the Honkai energy she emits when she descends.
But the Queen of Thunder's appearance is always accompanied by thunder. If it were her, it shouldn't have caused such a small commotion..."
Just as Yiselian finished speaking, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, briefly illuminating the world...
Boom—
The thunder came...
Emisha was startled by the thunder. After realizing it was just a normal thunderclap, she said to Yiselian, "You jinx. Don't tell me you were right?"
"Ah... well, maybe, probably..."
Yiselian looked at the instrument in her hand. The meter was already going haywire because the energy reaction had exceeded its detection range...
"It's over... she's really here this time..."
This time, Ryn saw her. The Queen of Thunder, suspended high in the sky, surrounded by mighty lightning, was looking down at them.
"Prepare for battle! Have the others evacuate immediately! They won't be able to withstand the leaking Honkai energy from Mei!"
Ryn immediately shouted, telling Yiselian and Emisha to quickly take the others and leave. If Mei charged over, these ordinary people would instantly turn into Honkai Zombies and turn against them.
"Heh, just in time. I was looking for you."
Himeko shouldered her Corona Greatsword and issued a defiant war cry to Mei in the air.
Himeko would not spare a single one of these culprits who destroyed the world, these creatures who were no different from the Honkai Beasts.