Ah, Grandpa (cont.)

She watched through the surveillance system as the things she hadn't had time to take with her from ME Company were directly transported away by Schicksal, and she was furious.

What worries Cocolia even more is that her adopted daughter Bronya still hasn't contacted her.

If it weren't for the concern that Bronya was currently in hiding and that her reckless actions might put Bronya in danger, Cocolia would almost have already used the 'Valkyrie System'.

After Anti-Entropy withdrew from Changkong City, Schicksal gradually gained the initiative in electronic warfare.

Before long, Cocolia will completely lose sight of Changkong City.

Adding to the various messages coming from Anti-Entropy Headquarters, Cocolia is now feeling like her head is getting bigger and bigger.

Left with no other choice, she had to bite the bullet and make a move.

A few minutes after making this move, Cocolia saw a screen of light open in front of her.

Within the light screen, the repulsive cyborg stared at Cocolia and uttered words clearly tinged with anger.

"You really have the nerve to contact me, Cocolia."

"To be able to make such a mess of things... Ha, in a sense, your talent truly exceeds my expectations."

"Mr. Gray Serpent, I think the problem this time is not with me."

At this moment, Cocolia listened to Gray Serpent's words and forced herself to calmly speak to Gray Serpent.

"Those conservative idiots not only refuse to cooperate with my actions, but they also try to obstruct them in every possible way."

"And Siegfried, who joined forces with the conservatives, even foolishly chose the approach that was in the best interest of Schicksal."

"Given the current situation, I feel I have done my best to complete that plan."

We must not show the slightest sign of 'cowardice' at this time.

Gray Serpent is a dangerous person. If I want to continue cooperating with him, I absolutely cannot continue to show weakness.

Otherwise, this cunning and venomous fellow will definitely seize my weakness and take a vicious bite!

"You really are..."

Although Gray Serpent himself didn't intend to pursue the matter further, after hearing Cocolia's remarks, he still felt...

This woman is truly shameless.

Otto is shameless yet intelligent, which is why he is dangerous.

Cocolia is different. She's usually fine, but when it comes to crucial moments, she'll be shameless and brainless at the same time.

If her brain could keep up with her shamelessness, I really wouldn't dare continue working with her.

However, on the other hand, her words also make it easier for me to continue with my subsequent plans.

"That's enough, let's leave it at that."

At this moment, as if angered, Gray Serpent continued to ask in an extremely irritated tone.

"Why did you contact me first?"

"I need Mr. Gray Serpent to help me find my dear daughter. Where is she now?"

"Oh?"

Hearing Cocolia's words, Gray Serpent suddenly asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"It sounds like you care a lot about your daughter Bronya?"

Damn it, is this man... planning to use Bronya to threaten me?

"Nature."

While sorting out her emotions, Cocolia casually spoke to Gray Serpent.

"She is my most useful pawn. She is intelligent, obedient, and despite having Quantum Mech, she was a child soldier in the past, so she can be ruthless when it matters."

"Even in electronic warfare, she is a master within Anti-Entropy. If Mr. Gray Serpent had such a subordinate, I think he would be concerned about her safety."

"... Ha, that makes sense."

Thinking of the highly skilled tool he had personally trained, Gray Serpent nodded slightly, his sarcastic tone disappearing.

"That's exactly as you said. Alright, I'll use my intelligence network to help you find your daughter."

"Also, I need Mr. Gray Serpent to keep an eye on the movements of those old conservatives."

"This is not difficult, but, Cocolia, you should understand one thing."

At this moment, the Gray Serpent stared at Cocolia with its scarlet eyes, its tone suddenly turning extremely cold.

"A snake can't work for you for free forever."

"The Gem of Conquest has been taken by Schicksal, and in the meantime, I have been assisting you in completing your plan."

"You've already disappointed me. To be honest, if you can't offer a sincere reward, I'm not keen on continuing to work with you."

As expected.

If he didn't do that, I would feel something was off.

If you don't give someone who is as greedy as a snake, you can't keep ordering him around forever.

"As for compensation... hehe, Mr. Gray Serpent, how about the entire Anti-Entropy?"

Upon hearing this, the Gray Serpent in the light screen, as well as the Jackal and Raven squatting beside him listening to the conversation, were all stunned for a moment.

Then, the Jackal and the Raven, who were usually at odds, actually looked at each other with perfect understanding and saw the same thought in their companion's eyes.

Cocolia —she's absolutely insane, isn't she?

"... The entire Anti-Entropy?"

After a pause, Gray Serpent suddenly said with great annoyance.

"Cocolia, if you think I'm a three-year-old, then this conversation can end here."

"Of course I wouldn't dare treat Mr. Gray Serpent as a three-year-old child. I mean it."

Having already prepared her words in her mind, Cocolia smiled and spoke to Gray Serpent.

"To be honest, we Anti-Entropy radicals are indeed at a critical juncture."

"After losing a large number of Titans, we are no longer able to match the conservatives in terms of manpower, and those old conservatives have been disliking me for quite some time."

"If I don't find a way to suppress them first, they will eventually turn against me. Given the disadvantageous situation, it's not surprising that I made this choice."

"Besides, I think Mr. Gray Serpent should be well aware that those old fogies don't accept my style, but Mr. Gray Serpent's style is similar to mine. I think you should understand that this world needs someone to stand up and be bold in order to lead humanity forward."

No, no, no, no, no. Your approach of actively guiding Herrscher to awaken in a metropolis with millions of residents would be an incredibly disruptive move even in our Previous Era.

If the Venerable Lord knew I wanted to do this, I think he would be absolutely furious.

However, Cocolia was of course unaware of the thoughts running through Gray Serpent's mind at that moment.

Looking at the still silent Gray Serpent, Cocolia added fuel to the fire.

"In the end, I joined Anti-Entropy not to fight for power and profit, but to fight against the Honkai."

Upon hearing this, the Raven beside the Gray Serpent almost spat out its food.

She was considered the queen of mercenaries in the underworld, and Raven had indeed seen quite a few shameless and heartless people like her.

However, considering the major things Cocolia has done recently...

She said she didn't like fighting for power, but she was the one who tricked Raiden Ryoma into going to jail, and she was the one who took over ME Company.

She said she would fight against the Honkai, but she was the one who triggered the Third Honkai Outbreak.

When evaluating a person, don't just look at what they say, but also what they actually do.

Cocolia sabotages her teammates and triggers the Honkai while shamelessly claiming she dislikes power struggles and is only fighting the Honkai...

Where's your face?

"In order to fight the Honkai, I don't need colleagues who only hold me back and cause internal strife with me."

Cocolia's face hardened with ruthlessness as she uttered those words.

"Instead of continuing to cooperate with these idiots, I'd rather hand over Anti-Entropy to Mr. Gray Serpent in exchange for his help."

... Although I know you're just making empty promises, your expression definitely isn't fake.

At this point, Gray Serpent had to admit that Cocolia had terrified him.

As a cyborg, Gray Serpent rarely experiences fear.

But now, looking at Cocolia, Gray Serpent began to regret helping the woman climb up.

This woman has long been obsessed.

Otto was bad, but Otto least he had a brain.

And Cocolia... she really is a crazy, mad dog.

They are arrogant enough to think they can fool me, arrogant enough to think their actions are correct, and arrogant enough to trample on everything their colleagues have done without even realizing it.

The higher such a person climbs, the greater the harm she poses to the world.

I actually thought the dumber this woman was, the easier she was to control... Ha, have tens of thousands of years made my thought process messed up?

She's a madwoman who can send her own daughter to be used for human experiments, and who can cause Honkai of a city with millions of people at will. I actually thought, 'She's stupid, so she's easy to control'—I'm the stupid one.

Her ultimate value was simply making the entire Anti-Entropy even more chaotic.

Only after she continued to fight with the conservatives was our World Serpent able to take control of the Abyssal Eye in Haiyuan City.

When it comes to that, let's sever ties with Cocolia.

If you continue to associate with this mad dog, even a snake might expose its true nature because of her foolish actions.

"Snakes don't need to Anti-Entropy."

Upon hearing these words, Cocolia's heart skipped a beat.

Damn it, this guy really did see through my lie after all?

"What snakes need are enough allies to walk with us."

After saying that, Gray Serpent saw the joy flash in Cocolia's eyes and continued speaking to Cocolia.

"Since our previous cooperation was quite pleasant, I'll give you another chance."

"We will help you climb to the position of Anti-Entropy Leader, but after that, you must also fully support our operations."

"And in return... ha, hand over those children from your orphanage to me first."

Seeing the astonishment on Cocolia's face, Gray Serpent spoke to Cocolia.

"Don't blame me for not trusting you."

"Since you can't offer any compensation right now, I think we need to get something in return—otherwise, we can't feel comfortable cooperating with you, can we?"

"Besides, they weren't having a good time in that freezing weather either, and the conservatives... I think you know what I mean."

Protons... Ah, that's fine too.

After hearing Gray Serpent's words, Cocolia felt relieved.

If Gray Serpent doesn't want anything, Cocolia might suspect that Gray Serpent is so easy to talk to because he's planning something big.

But now Gray Serpent is demanding hostages from her—that's perfect!

This is precisely why Gray Serpent, after conducting a risk assessment, made this request, indicating that he intended to cooperate with her seriously.

Although Cocolia was very worried about her children, upon closer reflection, she realized that since they were with the Gray Serpent, the Gray Serpent wouldn't have nothing better to do than abuse them.

Moreover, the location of Cocolia Orphanage is known even within Anti-Entropy.

Just as Gray Serpent had implied, Cocolia also suspected that the conservatives might take action against the children if they got desperate.

By entrusting the children to Gray Serpent, they were, in a sense, given Gray Serpent's protection.

After accomplishing all of this, Cocolia lost her last weakness.

Thinking about these things, Cocolia was not worried at all; in fact, she almost laughed out loud.

In order to keep Gray Serpent using the children as hostages who could threaten Cocolia still had to put on an angry expression and grit her teeth as she spoke to Gray Serpent.

"Mr. Gray Serpent, if you dare to do anything to my children, I will definitely break our contract!"