18: Chapter 18 Bronya

The next day on the way to school, Kaiwen purposely took a detour to Raiden Mei's classroom.

She stood at the classroom doorway and looked inside, but even after searching the entire classroom, she could not find a trace of Raiden Mei.

Kaiwen pinched her own sleeve, and the sense of unease in her heart grew even worse.

For the rest of the entire day, Kaiwen had an unsettling feeling, as if she were about to miss something extremely important.

Therefore, after school, she didn't go to work at Luming Pavilion, but instead asked Boss Miyazaki for leave.

She still wanted to go see Raiden Mei, whether to apologize or for something else.

But Kaiwen went to the school's old pavilion, the courtyard benches, and the streets they usually passed by together, without seeing a trace of Mei.

Finally, Kaiwen found the Raiden family's address in the telephone directory at the school gate.

That luxurious mansion was located in an upscale residential area, with its gates tightly shut and the courtyard covered in withered leaves, looking desolate.

Ever since Raiden Ryoma was arrested, the servants here seemed to have all left.

Kaiwen stood outside the iron gate and rang the doorbell for a long time, but there was still no movement inside.

Looking at the motionless iron gate, she slowly took out that bright silver identification tag from her pocket.

The edges of the iron tag were very rough, but Kaiwen gripped it tightly.

For the first time in this world, she felt the warmth of a friend, yet because of her own carelessness, she had driven her friend away.

Meanwhile, deep inside the main house of the Raiden family villa.

The light in the room was very dim.

Raiden Mei sat alone on the sofa in the spacious living room, lowering her head and staring blankly at the floor.

"Miss Raiden Mei."

A milky girl's voice suddenly rang out in the quiet living room.

Mei slowly raised her head.

Standing in the shadows of the living room was a petite girl wearing dark clothes, with gray twin-tails and eyes as hollow as a soulless doll.

"Who are you?" Mei's voice was somewhat hoarse.

"Bronya is a liaison sent by President Raiden Ryoma's former collaborator." Bronya floated forward and placed a thick document bag on the coffee table.

Hearing her father's name, Mei's gaze flickered.

"My father..."

"The President's case is extremely complicated, but Bronya has come today to reveal another threat around you." Bronya said in a completely emotionless tone as she casually opened the document bag.

Several photographs slid out from inside.

Mei's gaze fell upon the photographs, and her entire body instantly stiffened.

Inside the photographs was a girl with white hair and exquisite features.

But the background of this photo was obviously taken covertly; the girl was removing the dark circle makeup from her face, revealing a delicate and clean true appearance.

Beside the photograph was an attached report, but Raiden Mei didn't clearly see anything else, only seeing the genetic comparison rate at the beginning: 100%.

"This is... classmate Kaiwen?" Mei's fingers trembled slightly.

"Kaiwen, according to our speculation, her true identity is a clone of Kaslana." Bronya stated indifferently, "According to our investigation, her approaching Miss Raiden Mei and providing assistance were all planned surveillance activities."

"Surveillance..."

"Yes. Kiana Kaslana and Kaiwen belong to the same faction. They utilized your favorable impression of them to jointly fabricate this scam, with the purpose of monitoring you up close as Raiden Ryoma's daughter."

Bronya's voice echoed in the spacious living room.

Mei stared at that photograph.

She suddenly remembered the earnest look Kaiwen had when helping her brainstorm in the pavilion, and the expression Kaiwen had when saying they were friends.

Turns out... it was all fake.

Their appearances were the same, and even the methods used to deceive her were discussed together.

The entire world seemed to become incomparably quiet at this instant.

Mei stared at that photograph.

She suddenly remembered the earnest look Kaiwen had when helping her brainstorm in the pavilion, and the expression Kaiwen had when asking "Aren't we friends?".

Turns out... it was all fake.

Their appearances were the same, and even the methods used to deceive her were discussed together.

The entire world seemed to become incomparably quiet at this instant.

"So that's how it is."

Mei let out a soft laugh.

The laughter was extremely light, but in the dark living room, it sounded somewhat wrong.

Bronya stood in place, observing her expressionlessly.

Mei put the photograph back on the coffee table with a very light movement, as if she were putting down a fragile object.

"Miss Bronya," Mei raised her head, "by telling me all this, what do you want me to do?"

"Bronya is merely conveying the facts. As for what Miss Raiden Mei will do next, you shall decide for yourself."

Mei didn't speak again.

The living room remained quiet for a long time.

Cicadas chirped in the distance outside the window, and a flying insect crashed into the screen window, making a faint fluttering sound.

Suddenly, a trace of pain came from Raiden Mei's chest.

It felt like something was expanding deep within her chest cavity, trying to push open her ribs.

Seeing her appearance, Bronya's pupils contracted slightly, and she took a few steps back.

Mei lowered her head and looked at her own hands. Between her fingertips, tiny purple electric arcs were dancing.

It was very faint, like static electricity.

But she knew that wasn't static electricity.

"...It hurts so much." Mei said in a low voice.

In the darkness, Mei's eyes emitted a faint purple glow.

Kaiwen stood outside the iron gate of the Raiden family and rang the doorbell once more.

Still no one answered.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, the phone in her pocket vibrated.

It was a message from Kiana.

"Why didn't you come to work today? Did something happen?"

Before she could reply, a shadow suddenly enveloped her.

She looked up.

The originally orange-red sky was now being swallowed by a massive layer of gray clouds at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Those clouds weren't drifting in from afar, but expanding outward from a central point, as if something had torn a gash open in the sky.

Then, a bolt of lightning struck down from the clouds, illuminating the entire residential area.

And the landing point of that lightning bolt was right before her eyes—inside Raiden Mei's home.

Kaiwen abruptly turned around.

She noticed a bright purple light leaking from the villa's windows.

Immediately following, the sky continued to rumble, and accompanied by the roaring sound, a second bolt of lightning also struck down, smashing right into the center of the villa.

The ground trembled slightly along with it, causing the chains on the iron gate to rattle loudly.

Looking at the growing commotion around her, Kaiwen no longer hesitated, stepped onto the crossbar of the iron gate, and climbed right over.

"Mei!!"