29: Chapter 28 Confession

But Mei no longer cared; she merely sat on the cold ground, holding Kaiwen's untethered right hand with both hands against the side of her own face.

Her fingertips brushed over Kaiwen's chilling back of the hand over and over again, and Mei closed her eyes, entirely unaware of the slowly approaching footsteps behind her.

Bronya walked over from the side and sat down beside Mei, her gaze falling along with hers upon the slender figure on the hospital bed.

"Mei, Bronya previously… lied to you."

She paused for a long time, as if finally casting off shackles that had weighed her down for a long time.

"In the villa, the document Bronya showed you was fake."

"What?" Raiden Mei's eyes suddenly widened. "You… what did you say?"

"The genetic report is fake, and Kaiwen is not some undercover agent." Bronya paused slightly. "At that time, Bronya's chip was remotely controlled by Mother Cocolia. In order to activate the herrscher core, Bronya fabricated those things according to instructions."

"Kaiwen approaching you might have truly just wanted to be friends with you."

Raiden Mei slowly turned her head to look at Bronya.

In those purple eyes, something extremely dangerous flashed for a split second.

Bronya saw it, but she did not dodge. "This is Bronya's fault. Mei can punish Bronya however she likes, and Bronya will not resist."

Mei stared at her intently, the air pressure around her dropping to the extreme, as if she would lose control and erupt in the next second.

Yet that surging anger was ultimately smothered alive by a sense of despairing guilt.

She turned her head back to look at Kaiwen once more.

Looking at that face wrapped entirely in gauze.

Bronya was controlled.

But after seeing the document, the one who chose to believe it and harbor suspicions against her was always herself all along.

She had no right to blame anyone.

"……So that's how it was."

Mei's voice was so hoarse it didn't sound like her own.

She pressed Kaiwen's hand back against her own cheek and closed her eyes.

Tears started falling uncontrollably once more…

Before Raiden Mei could continue immersing herself in this sorrowful atmosphere, the glass of the medicine cabinet suddenly trembled slightly.

Very lightly, as if brushed by the wind.

Then the vibration sound of the medicine cabinet's glass showcase grew louder and louder, emitting a fine, rattling collision sound.

Suddenly, a noise rang out.

"Thud——!"

In the distance, the first muffled, thunderous impact of something hitting the ground came echoing over.

The hanging saline bag began to sway slightly, and dust from the ceiling cascaded down in rustles.

Immediately following, a second and a third heavy slam landed consecutively.

The tremor of the earth suddenly accelerated, changing from jolts into violent shaking, as if some colossal beast was running wildly.

"Bang——!"

Following closely was a deafening crash.

The entire gymnasium building trembled along with it, and countless fragments of stone and dust fell from the cracks in the ceiling.

Mei snapped back to her senses instantly, bending down to protect Kaiwen's head and chest tightly with her own back.

…

When the tremors subsided slightly, Bronya leaned against the wall and walked over to the window.

"Mei, come take a look."

After confirming that Kaiwen was uninjured, Mei also walked quickly to the window.

Outside the window, the main teaching building of Chiba Academy looked as though it had been smashed in half by something, leaving only one half desperately holding on in mid-air.

"Roar——!!!!"

Suddenly, a deafening roar came echoing over. Accompanied by this roar, the precarious teaching building began to collapse, reinforcing steel and concrete pouring down like a waterfall in the night, the kicked-up dust shrouding the entire area.

Seeing this, Mei hurriedly wanted to return to shield Kaiwen once more, but out of the corner of her eye, amid the center of the smoke and ruins, she caught sight of that gigantic dark shadow.

Merely the visible portion of it was already completely towering above the entire expanse of ruins.

Mei didn't look much, nor dared she look more; she simply returned to the hospital bed and bent over to tightly shield Kaiwen.

Immediately afterward, the impact sound of the teaching building smashing into the ground reached them.

Along with the impact sound, countless pieces of gravel and dust pattered heavily against Mei's back, while she clenched her teeth and tightly guarded Kaiwen beneath her body.

Soon, gravel and dust stopped falling from the ceiling.

After a long while, the earth's tremors slowly faded away along with the giant entity's footsteps.

Although the giant entity's footsteps no longer rang out, the peace of the entire academy had been thoroughly shattered.

Sounds of numerous Honkai Beasts and Death Soldiers roaming around drifted over; most of them had gone far away following the giant beast, yet quite a few were still wandering aimlessly within the ruins of the teaching building.

Bronya's expression changed, and she withdrew her gaze to look at Mei.

"It's not safe here anymore; we have to leave right now." Her voice was pressed very low as she walked quickly to the hospital bed, pulled the infusion needle out from the back of Kaiwen's left hand, and then grabbed a dry cotton ball to press against the puncture wound.

Mei didn't hesitate either, bending down to carefully gather Kaiwen into her arms.

After finishing all this, Bronya maneuvered Project Bunny to lift Kiana with its remaining arm.

"Zizhi…"

But when lifting Kiana, a blue electric spark suddenly flashed out of control at Project Bunny's joints.

The rustling sounds outside the window also abruptly quieted down.

The infirmary instantly plunged into a dead silence.

Holding Kaiwen, Mei cowered in the shadows against the wall, not daring to draw a single breath, quiet to the point where she could only hear her own beating heart.

Soon, the sound of some hard object scraping across the concrete wall came from outside the window.

It was so screechy and grating that it caused psychological discomfort.

Bronya turned sideways toward Mei, silently mouthing the word "Go".

Avoiding the direction of the window, they hugged the base of the wall and slowly retreated from the infirmary, stepping into the dim, dilapidated corridor.

It seemed that because of the earlier commotion, a section of the ceiling had collapsed, and the ground was littered everywhere with rubble and glass shards.

The hallway that usually took only a minute to walk through now required extreme caution with every single step taken.

Project Bunny's size was too large; a slight carelessness would cause it to brush against the debris by the wall and make noise.

Therefore, Bronya walked at the very front, avoiding the debris along the wall and scouting the path bit by bit.

Mei followed closely behind, Kaiwen's head resting gently against her shoulder in her arms, swaying slightly with the tiny, careful footsteps.

Just as the group was about to reach the exit, a shadow abruptly poked in from the end of the corridor.