Chapter Twenty-Five. The Atmosphere Was Set, What Else Could You Do Besides Applaud? / Chapter Twenty-Six. Inside the Hotel

Chapter Twenty-Five. The Atmosphere Was Set, What Else Could You Do Besides Applaud?

"What's with that look on your face, and what's with those tears?"

"After being bullied, did you really expect to cower in a corner and cry, trying to save yourself with tears?"

Raiden Mei suddenly froze upon hearing these two sentences.

At the same time, Lin Yu abruptly heard the voice of the system.

This system must admit that it is indeed inferior to humans in this regard.

Seizing the opportunity to care for a young lady and soothe her inner heart is indeed a prudent tactic.

However, this tactic of playing hard to get can actually produce unexpected results at a time like this.

Indeed.

Temporary care might make a young lady fall for you, true, but using this method allows you to step even further into her heart and engrave your own 'brand' onto her soul.

Brilliant, simply brilliant.

When it comes to picking up girls, this system is willing to call you the strongest!

And here I thought you were going to say something...

Whatever, just keep imagining things.

Sometimes, I even feel like you're a bit too wordy, guy.

Watching Raiden Mei's favorability jump right back from forty to fifty, Lin Yu always felt that this silly girl was truly a bit... too easy to fool.

No, just a few words were enough to easily pull your favorability back up... Why does this feel so wrong to me?

"Then..."

Gazing at Lin Yu, who still maintained a cold demeanor, Mei slowly spoke up to ask.

"What on earth... should I do?"

"What should you do? Stand up first."

"Or are you already so weak that you can't even manage to stand?"

"Of course not!"

Using her arms to support herself as she stood up from the ground, Raiden Mei stared at Lin Yu, a trace of an indescribable expression emerging within her gaze.

As for the young lady before him, Lin Yu simply dropped a "follow me" and walked away without looking back.

Of course, he didn't bother sharing his umbrella either.

At this moment, Lin Yu could indeed have followed the system's prompt, using gentle words and a concerned attitude to make Raiden Mei feel warm.

Yet, when all was said and done, this would only be drinking poison to quench thirst for Raiden Mei.

She genuinely needed the care and goodwill of others, that was true.

However, for the Apostle of God chosen by the Honkai, Raiden Mei's future was fraught with hardships.

Immense power was something delivered right to Mei's doorstep.

Yet if she merely possessed great power without the will worthy of it, Raiden Mei would only become a puppet manipulated by that strength.

In reality, within the original work, Raiden Mei was indeed a puppet of power before she condensed the Herrscher Core once more.

Every time she unleashed the power of the Herrscher, the Herrscher Persona would basically seize control of her body and start having the other party fight in her stead.

It was precisely because the Herrscher of Thunder had no intention of harming Mei that—had that Herrscher Persona directed any malice toward Raiden Mei herself—her host persona would have already kicked the bucket eighteen times over.

Lin Yu's choice of method was, when all was said and done, simply for his own sake.

If Raiden Mei's heart could grow a bit stronger before her awakening, the probability of her suppressing the Herrscher Persona when the Honkai erupted would increase by a fraction.

For Lin Yu, this brought only benefits and no harm.

As for any benefits this might bring to Raiden Mei, those were merely incidental.

Right now, Lin Yu walked ahead without any intention of shielding Raiden Mei from the rain precisely for this reason.

If he were to display even a shred of gentleness at this moment, the words Lin Yu had spoken earlier and the attitude he had struck would all go to waste.

Changkong City, ME Company Interior

Inside ME Company, Cocolia watched the constantly interrupted feed with an unkind look and asked.

"What on earth is going on?"

"With Bronya providing support, how have we still not seized control of all the monitoring systems in Changkong City?"

"Lady Cocolia..."

Sensing the growing impatience in Cocolia's tone, a staff member immediately spoke up with cautious care.

"Miss Bronya's support has indeed allowed us to successfully suppress the people from Destiny in electronic warfare."

"The problem is... the reason these monitors have unstable feeds isn't because of interference from Destiny's side."

"Hhm, you mean to say..."

Upon hearing the staff member's explanation, a smile appeared on Cocolia's face.

Seeing her leader wear such a smile, the staff member hurriedly expedited the explanation.

"Yes, just as you imagined, the electronic equipment itself is experiencing issues."

"A portion of the equipment in Changkong City is constantly malfunctioning due to chaotic electromagnetic fields."

"And most of this malfunctioning equipment is concentrated near the commercial street and Chiba Academy in Changkong City."

"Very good."

Chaotic electromagnetic fields—this was precisely the sign Cocolia had been anticipating.

The Gem of Conquest was the core of the Herrscher of Thunder, and according to surviving data within Anti-Entropy's database, the Herrscher of Thunder's authority was related to electromagnetism.

Both the commercial street and the vicinity of Chiba Academy were places Raiden Mei had passed through.

The fact that the electromagnetic fields around these areas were in chaos indicated that Raiden Mei was already subconsciously losing control of her own power.

This also meant that Raiden Mei's awakening into the Herrscher of Thunder would become a reality in the near future.

It further meant that Cocolia's plan had already succeeded by nearly half.

However...

"Hmph, by her side... if I'm not mistaken, that Destiny member named Lin Yu is right beside her now, isn't he?"

"Precisely so."

Seeing the smile vanish from Cocolia's face once more, the staff member spoke at top speed.

"Furthermore, based on our projections, the direction Lin Yu is taking with Raiden Mei... is the hotel where he currently resides."

A vulnerable young girl who had suffered intense bullying, accompanied by the young man who had previously helped her through her ordeal, heading toward a hotel at a time like this...

No matter how one looked at it, everyone felt they could easily guess the subsequent plot.

In truth, under any other circumstances, Cocolia couldn't care less about such trivial details.

Right now, however, Raiden Mei was nearing awakening due to the despair breeding within her heart.

If someone were to step into her heart at this moment to comfort her and make the despair within her vanish, Cocolia would be rather displeased.

As for what the two of them intended to do...

As a mature adult, Cocolia naturally knew what two kids would do at a time like this.

Hormone-filled youths—with the atmosphere set, what else could they do besides have sex?

For Raiden Mei, regardless of whether Lin Yu's feelings for her were genuine, as long as someone comforted her heart through such an intimate act of love, the degree of her awakening would decline.

"Send people to stop them."

Watching Lin Yu riding the motorcycle with Raiden Mei holding onto him, a cold gleam flickered in Cocolia's eyes.

"My plan..."

"—must not be disrupted by such trivial matters."

Chapter Twenty-Six. Inside the Hotel

Yet, although Cocolia had issued her command, the world clearly did not revolve around her.

The individuals she had dispatched to cause trouble for Lin Yu were all dealt with by Destiny's people as soon as they mobilized.

Anti-Entropy held a massive advantage in electronic warfare, but that did not mean Destiny could only passively take a beating in this domain.

Especially now, as electromagnetic field failures began erupting intermittently across Changkong City with Chiba Academy and the commercial street at their epicenter, Anti-Entropy's advantage in electronic warfare shrank even further.

More crucially...

—Anti-Entropy excelled at electronic warfare, but when it came to personal strength, Destiny could turn the tables and beat Anti-Entropy to a pulp.

Even a freshly enrolled B-Class Valkyrie could utterly hammer an Anti-Entropy operative.

Let alone the fact that Valkyries sent onto the battlefield were at least B-Class, and this time, anticipating the potential manifestation of a Herrscher, the Destiny Council had explicitly ordered all Valkyries without missions across various branch offices to converge on Changkong City.

In a place unknown to Cocolia, Otto genuinely hoped the Herrscher would descend smoothly.

Yet Otto was still the type to put up a facade most of the time.

Some within Destiny viewed him as a great hero who had guarded the world for five hundred years, while others regarded him as a cold-blooded executioner; regardless of who they were, however, not a single person doubted Otto's determination to fight the Honkai.

That everyone inside Destiny shared the aforementioned sentiments was evidently because Otto put on a sufficiently convincing act.

Under these circumstances, Otto naturally would not actively obstruct the normal actions of the various branch leaders.

Watching the subordinates on her roster lose contact one by one, Cocolia knew that her initiative was slowly being wrested away by Destiny.

Dammit!

If those two old hags were willing to support me together, and Siegfried didn't just stand by and watch, there is no way I would be this isolated and helpless, nor would Destiny be able to easily suppress me.

When all was said and done, having failed to fully control Anti-Entropy, the resources and manpower at her disposal were still far too scarce.

Hmph, the Alliance Leader... if he maintains this state of disappearance, I will need to make more provisions for my own future.

That organization... Heh, indeed.

That organization lurking in the shadows would never want Destiny to hold sole dominance.

The Third Honkai Outbreak was already too late.

Once this incident concluded, she would have to get in touch with that person.

Even if it meant ceding a portion of her authority at that time, she had to purge the corrupt elements within Anti-Entropy and flush all the pus completely out of Anti-Entropy's body.

Only then—could she single-mindedly fight the Honkai!

Changkong City, Inside a Certain Hotel

Inside a hotel room, Raiden Mei, who had just been brought to this location by Lin Yu on his motorcycle, still had no idea what Lin Yu intended to do.

If anyone else had done something like this... if it were someone else, Mei would never have followed that person to such a place.

She was indeed a young miss well-protected by Raiden Ryoma, but Mei was not truly completely naive about the world.

A teenage boy and girl coming to a hotel in private... what that implied, how could Raiden Mei possibly not know.

Yet, looking at her classmate right now...

Truthfully, she felt none of that particular atmosphere from him at all.

On the other side, Lin Yu opened his suitcase and assumed the posture of searching for something.

Then, finding his opportunity, he secretly pulled out the women's clothing he had purchased earlier from within the case, took the set of clothes out, and tossed them to Raiden Mei.

"Go take a shower, then change into these."