And precisely because of this, she worried that her adoptive brother's act of "utilizing" the Overseer would displease Otto, thereby causing him to start hunting Lin Yu down with lethal intent.
"Actually, because of this child's actions, I've begun to feel he's worthy of my attention instead."
Looking at the subordinate whose expression remained unchanged yet whose eyes flickered slightly, Otto said with a smile.
"There is nothing wrong with Lin Yu's course of action. He is merely an agent responsible for monitoring K423 and Raiden Mei, and he only needs to do the job that falls within his duties."
"As for those tasks he cannot resolve, if he chose to stubbornly push through without speaking up, it might instead affect our subsequent plans due to him trying to act tough."
"He handles matters with a sense of proportion and isn't rash like other young people. Such a youth..."
After thinking of a certain matter, Otto continued speaking to Rita.
"After this mission concludes, I will ask him in person."
"I'll ask whether he has any intention of joining our Apocalypse clan."
Chapter 11: The Power of Love
Because of the ability Lin Yu displayed at that moment, Otto had taken a fancy to this young man...
That was clearly impossible.
Lin Yu's operation this time was indeed worthy of praise, but to Otto, who had lived for five hundred years, this operation was only worth a single word of commendation.
Overseer Otto, who had ruled Schicksal for five hundred years, had seen far too many geniuses over those five centuries.
In the span of those five hundred years, these geniuses had all, to a greater or lesser degree, contributed to the world.
However, there were also some who were far too clever, discovering things that ought not to have been found.
And for these geniuses, Otto naturally had no choice but to have them exit the stage for the sake of his plans.
Otto indeed always had the habit of bringing young talents into the Apocalypse clan.
Yet at this moment, for Otto, Lin Yu's greatest value lay in the fact that he was someone "capable of contacting K423 and not dying."
In Otto's plan, he needed a perfect Herrscher of the Void capable of overcoming the turbulence of the Herrscher persona.
Based on the results of past operations, Otto judged that the current K423 was not yet sufficient to become a Herrscher who could wield Herrscher Authority while still preserving her own self-identity.
Years ago, the Ragnarok Vanguard he dispatched located the whereabouts of K423 and Siegfried.
And K423, who had already spent years with Siegfried and whom Siegfried regarded as his own biological daughter, directly attacked everything around her once she was forced to manifest her Herrscher Persona.
The Ragnarok Vanguard was completely wiped out, leaving behind only the wreckage of Siegfried's severed arm at the scene.
Even Siegfried, who had spent years by her side, met such an end, so Otto naturally would not believe that the hatred residing within Sirin's body had dissipated.
Now, based on the reports from those previous agents, K423 was living well at Chiba Academy, and both Lin Yu and Raiden Ryoma's daughter, Raiden Mei, had interacted with K423.
With the Third Honkai Outbreak now imminent, if Changkong City were to become a dead city because of the Third Honkai Outbreak, then if K423 and Lin Yu were to cross paths within this place of death, they would highly likely develop favorable feelings toward Lin Yu due to the Bridge Effect.
Although Siegfried was also an important person to K423, a father and a peer of the opposite sex were ultimately different.
If Otto's plan went smoothly, and K423 acquired both an important friend in Raiden Mei and a male romantic interest in Lin Yu this time, then in the future...
--Both of these individuals would become the finest nourishment for her advancement.
In Otto's view, making human consciousness suppress the Herrscher consciousness ultimately relied on intense, positive emotional fluctuations.
To put it more plainly, Otto believed in the emotion of "love."
Whether it was love between friends or love with a lover, either would become the supreme nourishment for K423 to conquer the Herrscher Persona and master the power of the Herrscher.
And so...
"I hope you can survive this turmoil, Lin Yu."
Otto, who had already cut off the communication, had now assumed a completely different expression.
He knew this was deeply unfair to his loyal subordinate Rita, as Rita certainly wouldn't be happy to have the adoptive brother she cherished utilized to carry out such tasks.
Yet, so what?
Otto had betrayed comrades who shared his ideals and discarded everything just to push his plan forward to this stage.
As for him now, it was no longer possible to halt the plan he had striven toward for hundreds of years simply because of some minor, unimportant factors.
Changkong City. ME Company.
Inside ME Company, Cocolia looked at the expressionless Bronya at that moment and heaved a complete sigh of relief.
Just a moment prior, she had received a message sent by other staff members.
The staff members who had been continuously monitoring the surveillance systems in Changkong City reported that Bronya had summoned that Quantum Mech within Changkong City.
Although Bronya had made that Quantum Mech conceal itself at the very first instance, and the staff had immediately erased that footage from Changkong City's surveillance system, there were still people in the vicinity who had witnessed the scene.
Cocolia knew that her daughter was formidable in a fight.
And for this formidable daughter of hers to be driven to the point of calling out her mech clearly indicated that she had encountered danger.
Even though Cocolia had once prepared Bronya to participate in the X10 Experiment, it did not mean she cared nothing for her adopted daughter.
What felt even more amiss to her was that although the surveillance system captured Bronya moving toward ME Company, Bronya had failed to establish contact with Cocolia at the earliest opportunity.
The incomparably calm Silver Wolf of the Urals had actually abandoned contact with headquarters after suffering a defeat. To speak the truth, this made Cocolia feel a trace of unease.
Yet right now, upon seeing her adopted daughter, Cocolia knew her worries had been redundant.
Some minor injuries were visible on Bronya's person, but for Anti-Entropy, this was hardly a major issue.
Anti-Entropy's biological research might fall short of Schicksal's, but treating a few injuries was still well within their capabilities.
"Mother."
Upon seeing Cocolia, Bronya felt an unreasoned pang of a guilty conscience.
"I'm sorry, Bronya failed this mission."
"No, this is not a major issue."
Cocolia, having confirmed that Bronya had not sustained severe injuries, now walked reassuringly to Bronya's side.
"However, was this opponent really so tricky? Even you couldn't resolve him?"
"That man..."
Upon recalling Lin Yu's figure, Bronya paused, then shook her head.
"Bronya is no match for him."
"Initially, Bronya thought he was merely a rookie, but after exchanging blows, Bronya knew she was mistaken."
"After clashing for less than a minute, Bronya was easily knocked down by him."
"If Bronya hadn't seized the opportunity to leap from the tall building and utilized Heavy Cannon to escape the battlefield, Bronya might not have made it back at all."
Hearing of Bronya's ordeal, Cocolia let out a cold snort, then spoke in an icy tone.
"It doesn't matter. Later on, I will make this man pay the price."
As for why Bronya had not used Heavy Cannon to blast people away, Cocolia did not press further.
In her view, her daughter was very intelligent and knew that creating a massive uproar with a mech at that moment might throw the situation into even greater chaos.
Choosing to retreat at the time actually had no significant impact on Cocolia's side.
After all, Schicksal already knew that Anti-Entropy was preparing to stir up trouble here, and Bronya seeking him out merely served to let Lin Yu know he had been exposed.
In any case, Raiden Mei was on the verge of awakening, and following that...
Hah, if that man could survive the Third Honkai Outbreak, only then would Cocolia consider the matter of helping her daughter exact revenge.
Chapter 12: Going to School
Yet Cocolia, who had completely relaxed at this moment, failed to notice how Bronya differed from her usual self.
Which was hardly surprising.
Before the conclusion of the X10 Experiment, although Bronya rarely displayed any expression when facing strangers, she would still show genuine emotion toward her companions at the orphanage and her adoptive mother.
Yet after the X10 Experiment ended, her emotional circuits were damaged as a result of the ordeal.
While this did not mean the young girl had completely lost her emotions, her facial expressions were no longer as easy to read for hidden clues as they once were.
At this moment, Bronya remained unable to comprehend two matters.
The first matter—why that man, having been in a position to kill her, ultimately stayed his hand.
Under those circumstances, Bronya was certain she was not the opponent's adversary.
For Lin Yu to snap her neck would actually not have been a difficult task.
Yet in the end, the opponent did not kill her.
As for the other matter, it was actually quite simple.
Bronya could not understand why she...
--Why she, too, had stayed her hand in the end.
Cocolia did not question her for the reason, but Bronya knew that after summoning Heavy Cannon at that time, she could have used Heavy Cannon to pursue and kill the opponent.
Facing a heavily armed mech like Heavy Cannon, no matter how strong Lin Yu's close-combat skills were, there was a very high probability he would have been defeated right then and there or even executed on the spot.
Yet ultimately, she merely departed from that man's sight and did not directly command Heavy Cannon to slay him.
For Bronya, who had always been loyal to Cocolia and was seeking ways to save her companion Seele Vollerei, this matter was even more incomprehensible to her than the first.
Facing an enemy who might pose a future hazard to Mother's plan, Bronya had actually held back.
Could it be that, not only her emotional circuits...
--Even Bronya's thought circuits had malfunctioned due to the X10 Experiment?
The next day. Downtown Changkong City.
After finishing her wash at a certain hotel in the city center, Lin Yu looked at himself in the mirror and let out a slight breath of stale air.
Yesterday, after leaving the apartment, he had chosen to stay at a hotel in the center of the city.
Though Cocolia was fond of acting recklessly, she was not yet reckless enough to stir up major news before Raiden Mei fully awakened.
Lin Yu didn't know how Cocolia had forced Raiden Mei to awaken in the original work, but for the present Cocolia, having already laid out her plan, the fewer variables in the subsequent operations, the more stable her scheme would be.
Had it been the past, with Cocolia holding absolute sway in Changkong City, manipulating a bit of intelligence and placing relevant news under censorship would have been a trivial matter.
But now that Schicksal had arrived, she wasn't nearly as free in this regard.
Even if Lin Yu had not contacted Rita afterward, he knew that Cocolia was probably tearing her hair out right now due to Schicksal intervening in Changkong City.
As for why he arrived at this judgment, mainly because, well...
Provided the plot wasn't too abstract, Otto was far smarter than Cocolia; for that man to get slightly serious and back Cocolia into a corner was practically as effortless as breathing to him.
Oh, look! This handsome visage is your finest weapon!
That little girl last time didn't deal a fatal blow in the end; she was bound to have been moved by your handsome face!
You have already proven with facts that being handsome truly works. Just keep going like this, and making those Herrscher maidens swoon over your looks is merely a matter of time!
Ah, enough.
Early in the morning, hearing you wildly hype me up... I'm begging you, this really makes people feel so awkward.
Awkward? While you say such things, your heart is actually overflowing with smug delight at the praise of others.
And now, you know the task you need to carry out is none other than heading to Chiba Academy—after all, moving forward, both the Herrscher of Thunder and the Herrscher of the Void are your targets!
Sigh, while I indeed intend to do just that, why does the way you phrase it sound so off?
Before you continue