After disarming Bronya, they tied her up and tossed her aside with the others. Meanwhile, Mei found a lot of canned food in their camp.
After eating their fill, Kiana pinched Bronya's small face and asked Mei, "What should we do with her... Now that I look closely, she seems much younger than us..."
"It's hard to believe a child this young has been turned into a living weapon... If Bronya's mind is being controlled by a mechanical chip, should we try to awaken her consciousness through her other senses?" Mei looked at Bronya with pity, wanting to try and save this child.
"Got it. Leave it to me." With that, to Bronya's and Mei's disbelief, Kiana punched Bronya in the face.
"System completely silenced... awaiting reboot..." The light in Bronya's eyes faded, and she passed out.
"What are you doing!" Mei exclaimed in shock.
Startled by Mei's shout, Kiana awkwardly scratched her head and said, "Ryn told me a story about how a single 'Personality Correction Punch' can turn a crazy person into a good one... so I thought I'd try using a Personality Correction Punch on Bronya..."
Mei hugged the unconscious Bronya with pity, saying to Kiana in disbelief, "How could something like that possibly exist! It's completely unrealistic..."
"Actually... I've seen a lot of anime where the Personality Correction Punch is really effective."
Kika, who had just woken up, came over after hearing the commotion. After hearing Kiana's explanation, she nodded in agreement, then jumped up and lightly chopped Kiana on the head, saying, "Idiot Kiana, the Personality Correction Punch needs to be used with talk-no-jutsu! What you did was just punch her!!!"
"Ah! Is that how it works?! That damn Ryn didn't tell me the whole thing... made me mess it up..." Kiana held her head with teary eyes and squatted in a corner, drawing circles on the ground. Curses on that Ryn, she'd curse him by drawing circles.
At that moment, a tactical mech walked over, grabbed Bronya's hands, and lifted her up. Cortana's voice came from the mech.
"Let me handle this. I'll hack that control chip. You guys use words to stimulate her and awaken her sense of self. Forcibly removing the chip might harm her."
*Zzzt—*
As Cortana began hacking, a part of Bronya's body started to sizzle, and Bronya woke up.
Seeing that Bronya was awake in her arms, Mei began to try and awaken her personality.
"Bronya! Wake up, your consciousness is being controlled by a machine! The you right now isn't your real self!"
"The real Bronya?... Mental fluctuations detected. Increasing personality suppression system level..."
A faint light appeared in Bronya's eyes before being suppressed again. Mei noticed it and excitedly gripped Bronya's hand.
"Bronya! Hold my hand, can you feel the warmth in my hand! You're not a machine, you're a living human being! Don't just give up on your own consciousness!"
"Warmth... give up... Seele..."
"Seele? Is Seele someone important to Bronya? Think about Seele! Bronya! There's someone important still waiting for you, Seele is still waiting for you!"
Hearing Seele's name, Bronya's reaction became intense... She could forget anything, but she could never forget the most important person... she could not forget Seele...
"Personality suppression system error... Bronya..."
"Now's the time! System modification in progress... program formatting in progress... program formatting complete... Mei, take the control chip off Bronya! It's here..." Cortana pointed to a spot on Bronya's body, signaling for Mei to remove it quickly.
Mei felt around but couldn't find anything.
"It's not here!" "It's inside, feel for it from below..." "Ah!!!"
"Ah... ah... such a strange feeling, it's inside the body..."
"I've got it... this must be it, please bear with it for a moment..."
"Mmm... ugh..."
Finally, with her face so red it looked like water could be squeezed out, Mei fumbled for a long time and finally removed the chip.
(A classic reenactment. Bronya's original control chip was inside her body, but Kiana managed to get it out with her hand. So where on Bronya's body was the chip? The dialogue in the game for this part was quite suggestive, even Kiana was blushing, winky face.)
"Bronya... how are you feeling now?"
"Bronya does not know how to answer that question..." Bronya's face was slightly flushed, but with her emotion module gone, she still wore a blank expression.
"It's okay, I'll protect you... You won't have to be a living weapon anymore. I'll help you find your Seele..."
"Sister Mei, Bronya is willing to follow your orders. We must find Seele..."
"No, no, that's completely wrong. From now on, no one will order you around, and you don't need to follow anyone's commands. Just follow your own heart, that's all that matters. You have to find Seele yourself, but we'll definitely help you!"
"Bronya's own will... I think, I might be starting to understand." Bronya looked at Mei's worried and gentle eyes and felt a slight stirring.
Suddenly, Bronya clutched her head as a sharp pain swept over her, and different memories flooded her mind.
"Wrong... completely wrong, who am I... Bronya. Seele... right, Seele, I have to save Seele..." Bronya struggled out of Mei's embrace, trying desperately to stand up but was unable to due to the headache. Bronya summoned Project Bunny, but only a shattered, transparent shield appeared.
"Project Bunny... Project Bunny?!" Bronya's eyes widened, and then she fainted again...
"What's going on..." "Maybe she had a mental breakdown seeing Project Bunny destroyed?" "Don't look at me, I don't know either." The three of them looked at each other, then all waved their hands. In the end, it was Mei who once again held Bronya in her arms, letting her rest.
"Can I see that shield?" Cortana pointed to the virtual shield tightly gripped in Bronya's hand. It was the core of Project Bunny, the original data source. Cortana could read it.