When Chen Ran woke up again, it was in the medical room of the far east branch.
The strong smell of disinfectant filled his nostrils, and his brain felt sluggish; he gradually became aware of his situation.
Wendy had been taken away by Raven.
And he had been urgently sent to the medical room by Himeko.
"Looks like you survived."
His eyes did not reflect the joy of survival.
If he had died back then, at least time could have been turned back an hour; he could have arranged things calmly. But now...
His brain felt heavy, and he couldn't help but close his eyes again.
So tired...
...
...
The attack from Anti-Entropy had been repelled; fortunately, although some were injured, no one had died.
However, no one felt relieved about this news.
"Damn it!"
Upon learning that Wendy had been captured, Theresa couldn't help but blame herself: "It's all my fault for not protecting her well."
She had thought that having Fu Hua protect Wendy would be foolproof, but no one expected Cocolia to actually create a clone of the First Herrscher.
Although this clone was somewhat strange, with abilities not of creation but of gravity control, it still managed to hold Fu Hua back.
At that time, Fu Hua didn't even have time to don her Valkyrie Armor, nor did she have any weapons. Just relying on her physical strength to endure was already quite impressive.
She looked at Himeko, who was lying in the medical room, and self-reproachfully said, "I'm sorry, I dragged you into this too."
"Stop saying silly things. Taking care of students isn't just your responsibility," Himeko replied, her voice somewhat weak. She had already been injured in the battle against the Herrscher of Thunder, and now it was just adding insult to injury.
But she had no regrets.
"Rather than this, we should go check on Chen Ran. You've seen how he feels about Wendy; I'm worried he might do something foolish."
Hearing Himeko's words, Theresa couldn't help but sigh.
After the Anti-Entropy invasion was repelled, Theresa had entrusted Rita to investigate the source behind this invasion.
The Eastern Branch had no intelligence-gathering capabilities, so she could only rely on Rita to collect information.
But gathering intelligence takes time, and she couldn't even bear to imagine what the outcome of waiting for Wendy would be.
However, as the leader of the Eastern Branch, Theresa had to force herself to stay strong and then visit Chen Ran.
Fortunately, what reassured Theresa was that Chen Ran, aside from excessive blood loss and some frostbite, was otherwise fine.
The medical staff told her, "Mr. Chen Ran just needs to rest well and consume some sugar to replenish his energy. If you're worried, you can continue to observe him here."
"Thank you."
Theresa sighed in relief.
Chen Ran had not yet woken up, so at least she still had time to gather her emotions.
Just then, she heard footsteps and went out to see.
Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya had arrived at the medical room.
"Auntie, we heard Himeko was injured, so we came to see her."
Kiana spoke directly, "Is Himeko okay?"
"She's fine, but what about you? The situation last night didn't affect you, did it?" Theresa asked with concern.
Raiden Mei shook her head, "The incident happened in the middle of the night; the battle didn't reach us."
Bronya calmly said, "Principal, what exactly happened?"
"It was the people from Anti-Entropy, along with someone from an unknown force. They were after Wendy."
Theresa slowly recounted the events.
Bronya was Cocolia's adopted daughter, and Theresa knew this, but she chose to trust Bronya now, impartially explaining the circumstances that led Chen Ran and Wendy to the Eastern Branch.
Kiana was dumbfounded: "I can't believe this! Little Pudding, you said they were frauds!"
Theresa was somewhat puzzled: "What frauds?"
Bronya hesitated and said, "Bronya thought Chen Ran's feelings for Wendy were somewhat insincere, but it seems Bronya was wrong. Bronya will find an opportunity to apologize to Researcher Chen."
She had even considered directly exposing Chen Ran to reveal his true nature.
But now, it seemed she was mistaken.
Raiden Mei expressed her concern: "But right now, we should prioritize Wendy's safety."
Theresa replied, "I've already contacted headquarters to investigate the enemy. We can't act rashly until we have news."
"Himeko's room is over there. Most of her injuries are aftereffects; she wasn't hurt last night," Theresa said. "I'm currently thinking about how to comfort Chen Ran."
Even the usually carefree Kiana knew this wasn't the time for jokes.
However, they weren't familiar with Chen Ran and didn't know how to comfort that unfamiliar person.
"We'll go visit Teacher Himeko first."
Raiden Mei spoke up, "Principal, if there's anything we can help with, just let us know."
…
…
When Chen Ran woke up again, he saw Theresa sitting by his bedside.
Her head was nodding slightly, looking very tired.
This Principal seemed to have had a dream, then suddenly jolted awake.
She happened to meet Chen Ran's gaze and instinctively felt a bit nervous: "Hey, hey, hey, you're awake."
Chen Ran's voice was weak: "Yeah, is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."
Theresa quickly stood up: "I'll go get you something to eat."
Theresa had never taken care of anyone before and didn't know where to find a pile of bitter melon.
Chen Ran looked at the green thing and sighed: "It's best not to eat such stimulating things when you're weak. Isn't there any chocolate here? Or apples would be fine too."
"Ah, I'm so sorry! I'll get it for you right away."
Three minutes later, Chen Ran finally got to eat a piece of chocolate.
With enough sugar intake, he felt his mind lighten considerably.
He looked at Theresa and found her looking at him with an apologetic expression.
After a long pause, he said, "Teacher Himeko should be okay, right?"
"Just like you, she'll need to stay in bed for a few days," Theresa instinctively replied.
Then she apologized: "I'm sorry, I didn't protect you well."
Rather than saying the attack from Anti-Entropy was too sudden, it would be more accurate to say that Theresa had been too negligent.
She had lived in peace for too long and had never experienced such situations before. She had thought 'Schicksal' could intimidate everyone, but now it seemed she had been too naive.
Chen Ran shook his head and said nothing.
His expression was somewhat grim.
At this moment, two system prompts were flashing in his mind.
[You have cleared the first simulation scene. After ending the simulation, the system will issue corresponding rewards.]
[You can continue to enter this scene for simulation, but no further rewards will be issued, and there will be no limit on consciousness carrying capacity.]
[Due to system functionality limitations, if the host enters this scene again, it will present an unobservable quantum state, with zero impact on the future.]
[The second simulation scene has been unlocked. After ending the simulation, you can choose to enter it.]
This message revealed two possibilities.
Wendy has become a controllable Herrscher within the Divine Authority Plan; 2. Wendy is dead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced chapters in patreon (45 blocked, 5 free)
https://www.pat reon.com/ThatGreatStuff