"Wait, wasn't that person an important companion in the Engineering Department? An indispensable family member. Compared to work, shouldn't…"
"I'm sorry, I have to go to work. If I don't numb myself this way, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on…"
"Is… that so… ahaha, sorry, I didn't understand how you felt." Seele smiled and let go of Yiselian's hand.
Yiselian looked at Seele's smile, her expression neutral.
"No… it's you, Seele… why can you still smile in a situation like this?"
"Eh… ?" Seele's smile froze.
"I'm sorry… thank you…"
Yiselian shook her head, said thank you, and then turned and walked away.
Seele reached out as if to explain, but her outstretched hand eventually fell.
She turned to look at Ryn and Ryn, and her sunny smile returned.
"Ahaha… looks like I failed again… Let's dismiss for today. Thank you for your hard work."
Seele, dejected, said goodbye to the two and left. Ryn and Ryn had no choice but to return to their room.
——————————————
Ryn sat quietly on the bed, while Ryn knelt behind her, carefully combing her long hair.
Ryn's own hair could be instantly de-dusted and de-dandruffed with Honkai energy, remaining silky smooth and radiant 24 hours a day. Even if his long hair dragged on the floor, he didn't have to worry about it getting dirty or messy.
However, Ryn still couldn't use Honkai energy to protect her hair. Every time she went out on a mission, she would come back as dirty as Kiana did when she was a child.
Ryn's small legs, dangling from the side of the bed, swayed gently, her thoughts drifting to who knows where.
"Brother…"
"Call me Mom."
"Huh?"
Slap, slap—
Ryn slapped himself a few times. This scene reminded him of when he used to take care of Kiana.
"Sorry, sorry, my brain short-circuited. Please continue."
"Brother, do you think Seele was wrong?"
"… ? In what sense?"
"I mean what Yiselian said, 'Why can you still smile'…"
"Do you think Seele was wrong?"
"I don't know…"
"I don't know either~ But if I had to say… she probably wasn't wrong."
"Why?"
Under Ryn's innocent and curious gaze, Ryn reached out and used Honkai energy to create a Seele from his memory.
A clumsy and weak girl, but very strong. Although she would often cry her eyes out over small things, she could still stand up firmly with tears in her eyes.
"Because in my memory, that little one was a crybaby~
I don't know what Seele went through to become like this, but I can roughly understand why she has to be this way.
Smiles are the scarcest resource in the apocalypse. Seele chose to be strong, wanting to use her smile and optimism to influence others, to encourage them not to give up their desire to survive.
But ah… this kind of smile that doesn't come from the heart, a smile just for the sake of others, how can it be called a smile?
Seele wears this smiling mask, and she has forgotten why she smiles, and how to smile.
In the end, this mask has become her face, and it can no longer be taken off.
So even in that situation, Seele was still smiling. And even so, Yiselian still said thank you to Seele."
"…"
Ryn's swaying legs gradually stopped. She cupped her face in her hands and fell into deep thought.
"Brother, do you think doing this is… right?"
"I don't know~ Everyone has their own choices. Maybe in the end it will all be for nothing, but it's better than doing nothing and watching it all come to nothing."
After a long while, Ryn reached up and pushed up the corners of her mouth, also revealing a smile.
Then she turned around, pushed Ryn down, and knelt on top of him. She reached out and pushed up the corners of his mouth, making his smile match hers.
She didn't say anything more, but from the corners of her upturned lips, Ryn felt that she had also chosen the same path as Seele.
To start with herself, to pass on smiles, to pass on hope to others.
Knock, knock—
"I see your light is still on and your door isn't closed properly. Are you not resting yet? I have something to discuss with you."
Bronya Zaychik walked in at that moment, while Ryn and Ryn were still in that intimate pose of lifting each other's lips into a smile.
"Looks like I came at a bad time…"
Bronya Zaychik covered her face and backed out, but three seconds later, she peeked her head in from the door again.
"But, although I really don't want to say it, I have to remind you that the current environment can no longer support the survival of an infant, or even a pregnant woman… so you two should exercise some restraint…"
After speaking, Bronya Zaychik slammed the door shut.
Ryn and Ryn looked at each other.
"What do infants have to do with us? But… if even infants can't survive… then…"
"…"
Ryn shook his head, signaling Ryn not to say any more.
If even children cannot survive, it means that humanity is not far from extinction… Everyone knows the cruel reality, they are just choosing to escape from it now.
"But Bronya Zaychik might have something to discuss with us. Let's go see. And explain, we're not in the kind of relationship she thinks we are."
"What kind of relationship? Why explain that? Aren't we brother and sister?"
Ryn tilted her head in confusion.
——————————————
Outside the door, Bronya Zaychik patted her slightly flushed cheeks.
Damn it, what was I thinking just now? Aren't Ryn and Ryn brother and sister? It's normal for them to be close.
They wouldn't actually be staged some incestuous drama in this situation, would they!
But even if they were, so what. It's the apocalypse, who cares.
Forget it, there's no point in thinking about this.
Bronya Zaychik stopped thinking about it and turned to leave.
Click—
The door to Ryn's room opened, and Ryn and Ryn walked out.
"So fast…?"
Bronya Zaychik looked at Ryn with a mixture of surprise and disdain.
"Bronya Zaychik, you're overthinking it. We're not in that kind of relationship."
Ryn shrugged helplessly.
As for Ryn, she was still blissfully unaware. The lack of memories also left her with some gaps in her understanding of many things.