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Bronya tried to point out the locations of several landmark buildings, and Seele was surprised to find that every place she mentioned matched the correct one.
Even more familiar than her, an underground person——
"What about this store? Do you recognize it?" Seele listened to Bronya's muttering in a gradually subtle tone. After confirming that there were no creatures from the Rift Valley nearby, she pointed to the blackboard behind her.
"This store... used to be a restaurant. I still have some impression of the sign." Touching the blackboard whose price list had been wiped clean long ago, Bronya's eyes became more and more dazed.
"...No way?" Xi'er was also confused when she heard this: "This used to be the restaurant where Nata brought her obedient children to improve their meals. She actually got it right...?"
"Bronya?" Seeing that Bronya seemed to need to lean on the blackboard for support, Kong hurried forward to help her.
"I'm not feeling unwell, it's just... like I've returned to a place deep in my memory."
She leaned back against Sora's chest, the confusion on her face slowly turning into a serious look: "If we continue climbing along this road, we should reach the orphanage - sorry, I have something I want to verify."
After realizing that Kong's chest was very solid, her dazed look was replaced by a sense of security.
"Don't force yourself."
From the moment Bronya's eyes wandered across the streets, Sora had roughly guessed her connection with the underground world, but he didn't expect the method of awakening her memory would be so crude. He couldn't help but worry whether it would trigger some kind of self-protection mechanism of Bronya, causing her to become stressed out.
It is not known whether her memory was erased or she forgot on her own - Kong suddenly regretted bringing her here to "relax". Don't be too distracted, the pressure value exceeded 100 and brought back a Duck who was in a state of self-torture to the Iron Guard...
"It's okay with me."
What could be harder to accept than the truth that your own mother is the culprit?
She laughed at herself in her heart and tried to break free from Kong's arms, but her actions seemed as if she was reluctant to leave.
"Oh no, she's going to fall for it." Paimon, who had been observing as a bystander for half a day, pouted and admired another unlucky girl being captured by empty and meticulous care.
To be fair, she knew that Kong was not being particularly attentive, and there was almost no purpose behind his behavior. It was all out of concern from an "elder" to a "junior", but the little girl had no idea what kind of concern he had. She just felt that it was very comfortable to touch his chest muscles.
Following the stairs, the street scene of Rivet Town slowly descends in the field of vision - the location of this mansion was chosen very carefully, and most of the scenery of the mining town can be seen at a glance. The original purpose of its location does not seem to be to serve as an orphanage, but to be used for enjoyment.
Seele beheaded two or three Rift Creatures that blocked her way with her sickle. At the same time, she explained the origin story of the orphanage to her friends as if her mood was calm. But every time she killed a Rift Creature, she would glance at Bronya who was still being protected by Sora.
After the other party recognized the restaurant, Xier erased the word "upper floor" from the top of Banya's head. In order to test whether Banya's memory had recovered a little and to take care of her emotions, Xier paid more attention to her expression...
But apart from seeing Bronya's expression relaxed when she got close to Sora, she didn't see anything useful, and her mentality was almost blown away by the observation.
After all, she had never taken such good care of herself - she even gave Natasha a brief account of Banya's situation in private, and Banya's return to her... was nothing more than taking advantage of the man she had already fallen in love with, and she didn't have any of the reservedness that a guardian should have, and it was as if she really didn't care that the shadow next to her didn't exist.
"You two should be about the same age... The name Bronya..."
Natasha is the head of the orphanage, but she only has a vague impression of the little girl with "silver hair", and some details of her adoption have also become blurred with time.
When it comes to Bronya's possible brain problems, Nata bluntly says that she can't make any judgments based on Seele's description alone. She is like a child who is at a loss when it comes to love.
"Hey, go and relax with her, but don't relax and leave the man you like to her."
"... Nata, I don't want to bother with you anymore."
This strange atmosphere continued until everyone reached the highest point of Rivet Town.
The slide, sand pile and seesaw formed a small amusement park. Looking at the bright paint on the children's facilities, Sora was not distracted by Seele and Bronya's strange and longing gazes. He frowned and began to survey...
Is it maintained by someone? No, it's probably because the dust nearby is not fresh, but is blown away frequently.
Besides Eric who just visited, is there anything else going on here?
But after observing for a long time, he found that the red dots wandering on the map were still quite far away from the orphanage, except that occasionally some less conspicuous red dots would suddenly move a long way - probably due to creatures traveling between the rifts.
The good news is that there are no obvious openings nearby, so we can safely check for supplies.
"We're here, and it's surprisingly still well preserved..."
Almost brought to a standstill by the combined attack of Nata and Banya, Xier finally managed to draw enough emotional energy from the familiar scenery and calmed down temporarily.
"...These boxes look like they've been stacked for years. Are you sure there's still any usable supplies inside?"
"It's good enough to be useful, who cares about the shelf life?"
As she said this, Xier glanced at Kong, with a strange sense of relief and expectation in her eyes: "Someone said he would help get the medicine, we only take the most important ones... Oh, Nata just said that we should take some disinfection and bandages back first - the fixing clips will be collected slowly by your people."
"So... just bring back alcohol and bandages?"
Bronya first stared at the mansion in front of her for a long time, then realized that she was distracted again, trapped in memories that she was not sure whether they were true or false, so she shook her head vigorously and took the initiative to start selecting supplies.
"Well, I will purchase things with complicated production processes from outer space. Simple medical devices made with local raw materials will not go through my 'personal transportation channel'."
Although Kong didn't mind running a few more times, he still hoped that his work efficiency could be higher.
"Recover some of the light ones, save the backpack space for the key parts that Swarovski requested, and build a cableway before leaving. I think the Rift Creatures here don't seem to be interested in destroying buildings."
As Seele spoke, she picked up some alcohol bags and put them into her bag - she didn't know whether the joy of the harvest had healed Bronya, but it had healed her a little.
While everyone was busy, only Ying squinted his eyes, looking at the Rift Crystal that had grown into the main body of the building and clung to the rock like ivy.
"What's wrong, Ying? Has the flow of lightning elements nearby become more intense?" Only Kong noticed the faintly glowing ends of her hair and became alert again.
"There is a lightning element fault here."
While Seele and Bronya were still picking up their things, Ying suddenly pulled out a naginata from thin air and pointed it at the front of the slide.
"Something is moving in there, everyone be careful."
233. I can’t do anything!
The instability and concealment of the rift meant that even with the help of the mini-map function, Kong was unable to determine how close the "thing" Ying was talking about was, or where it would appear from.
The restless star core in his body will point out the location of the opening of the rift, but apart from this reminder, before the new opening is formed, everything in the rift is still unknown and chaotic.
"Shadow, can you point out the direction of the attack?"
"…Lightning elements are overflowing near the sand pile."
Ying turned his hand and tilted the tip of the naginata toward the ground, covering an area near the play sand pile.
This was her usual opening move - through the alert range of the opening move, Kong could guess that the amount of lightning element leaked was not large.
Ying has special means to fight against different enemies, some of which are agile, some are huge, and some have exaggerated elemental amounts. Judging by instinctive movements alone, there should be a low-threat target behind the opening of the rift.
"what happened?"
Xier realized it later but did not let down her guard. When she heard the sound of Kong turning on the safety, she immediately turned around, only to find that both of them were looking at a lively little girl with a hostile attitude.
"Huh? Where did this kid come from?"
"Don't get close yet! Xier, she jumped out of the opening of the rift just like Eric!"
Just as she was about to check on the child who was being sandwiched between Kong and Ying, Kong suddenly scolded her, causing her to pause.
"Where are the brothers and sisters I haven't met...are they visiting our courtyard?"
But unlike Eric, this timid-looking girl made everyone feel creepy as soon as she opened her mouth.
"Come to visit the courtyard...ah?"
Xier, who used to live here, felt a chill down her spine.
Oh no, this kid, could it be the afterimage of the world rift? The kind of thing that is neither human nor ghost.
The afterimages I saw before were all gangsters and hooligans, and occasionally there would be Iron Guards...
Seeing that everyone was looking at her warily, the child didn't know what to do for a moment, and turned to Bronya with some embarrassment - and then her words made the situation even worse for the few people who were already feeling cold.
"Sister Bronya, how come you've grown so tall? But this curl is definitely you! Did you come back to see us? I'm so happy——"
"Ah I……"
When called by the enthusiastic little girl, Bronya, who was already immersed in the memory fragments, became more confused.
Her body tried to lean forward, but before she could hold back her emotions, Sora put his shoulder to her side, trying to separate her consciousness from the tide of memories.
The blond glanced at her silently and found that Bronya seemed to have some impression of the girl in front of her.
"I'm Ishakova. Didn't your sister remember me? It hasn't been long since your sister was adopted - ah, sorry! I forgot that when the elder sister took you away, she didn't let me tell anyone else that you were adopted..."
The little girl seemed a little bothered, but after comparing his appearance to Kong's, her eyes lit up: "Big sister gave me candy and told me not to talk nonsense... um... but - my hair color is very similar to that of the blond big brother - are you family? Hee -"
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm not related to that woman..."
Sora slowly put the gun back on his back - there was no hostility, no power, the afterimage in front of him was just a harmless ghost.
Seeing that he took the lead in expressing his opinion, Ying also put the naginata behind his back and looked at the child's cute but unreal face with a complicated expression.
"Chief Natasha - has your orphanage ever adopted a child named Ishakova?"
"Ishakova...ah, did you find her belongings in the orphanage?"
"Relics...?" Kong was basically certain.
He asked Natasha casually, actually wanting to call Yaya back to consciousness on the public channel, but Natasha actually remembered some information about the child in front of her.
"Yes, I'm afraid she was killed in the Rift Disaster... I sent people to protect the children in batches as they left Rivet Town - but unfortunately, three children were lost in the disaster... Although they were lost, they are probably..."
Natasha's tone was somewhat reluctant: "If you find her relics, can you please help to recover them?"
"We haven't been able to confirm her identity through her belongings...Her afterimage is still wandering around the hospital area."
"What……??"
Natasha's exclamation finally brought Banya back from the bubble of illusion and memory:
"Ishakova, I... remember you."
This time, Kong retracted half of his body, allowing Banya to bend down towards the child.
"I knew my sister hadn't forgotten!"
The girl jumped up in joy, and then rushed over with stars in her eyes, but her hands were empty on the pressed duck, and she did not react at all: "Is the nutritious meal in the upper area so powerful? You have grown taller than me so quickly... Wow, you have grown twice as tall as me?"
She gestured a bit, and in Banya's continued silence, she shyly put her hands behind her back:
"Sister, do you still remember our agreement when you come back this time?"
"Promise..."
Bronya paused.
"Well, those uncles and aunts took photos of many children, but I want to have a photo of myself - I couldn't talk to them at the time, so I can only ask you, sister... Did you bring a camera back? It must be expensive, right?"
"Camera..." Banya's eyes seemed to be moist and hot: "Sorry, I didn't bring it..."
"Give."