A Thousand-Person Ruler's Personal Opinion

Cocolia froze for a moment, feeling a sharp sting on her forehead, and the light before her eyes seemed a bit too glaring. But soon, amid the children's calls, she brushed off these oddities again and walked toward them with a gentle smile.

"My dear children, Mommy's back, and this time I brought your favorite cake!"

Cocolia said this, then heard their joyful cheers as expected. Her mood lifted instantly, and the smile on her face grew even brighter.

Just as she stepped through the gate, Cocolia's expression stiffened. She looked up to see a black monster descending from the sky, opening a bloody maw lined with razor-sharp fangs.

"Crunch!"

A sound of biting and swallowing came from the darkness.

After that, Cocolia never knew what happened next.

"That's right, Cocolia, she really deserves to die."

Cocolia flipped through the documents on the desk, signing and approving them while casually responding to Kuerla's words.

"No decent resistance or struggle."

"Looks like our initial judgment was correct. Cocolia isn't special, at least not capable of resisting us."

"Now it seems deliberately isolating the Young Lady from this whole affair was overly cautious."

"But caution isn't wrong. Our identities are too dangerous, Otto's malice even more so. We can only be as careful as possible."

"Still, we've finally gotten an identity with a bit of leverage to shake the world... We have Cocolia's years of management to thank for that, and now, it all belongs to me!"

Cocolia (Anqi) finished processing the last few files, looked up, and met Kuerla's (Anqi) gaze, sharing the same meaningful smile.

Then, Cocolia abruptly leaned back, the ample, snow-white expanse of her half-exposed chest rippling with an eye-catching motion.

Cocolia let out a long sigh, her gaze dim as she stared at the ceiling.

"So, have I taken revenge?"

"You could say so, but I can't genuinely smile..."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

The two spoke one line each, but it wasn't a conversation—just pure self-talk.

The office suddenly fell into silence.

In the disaster of Changkong City, if you had to name the guilty, there were many: Raiden Mei, who became a Herrscher; Bronya, who aided the evil; even Raiden Ryoma, who first implanted the Gem of Conquest into Raiden Mei... From this world's Anqi's experience, killing all those involved might not be too much. But from the other world's Anqi's perspective, Cocolia, who triggered the artificial Honkai eruption, was the absolute mastermind and chief culprit.

Contradictory, painful.

Anqi suddenly felt a bit like she had split personalities.

After all, two entirely distinct individuals had merged into her current self. The psychological issues she had deliberately ignored before now demanded her serious attention.

"Whoosh!" In the silence, Kuerla suddenly pulled out her belt, then flipped up her shirt, revealing a flawless, snow-skinned waist.

Cocolia also tore open her buttons.

"Deal's a deal, now that we've got this body, I get to try it out first, right?"

"Stop blabbing, I'm annoyed right now!"

They moved toward each other in unison, Kuerla with her silver hair at neck length pressing Cocolia, with her golden waves, onto the wide, sturdy office desk...

Chapter 28: Already a Steadfast Comrade

"Pfft!"

In the misty natural hot spring, Young Lady Anqi held a ceramic sake dish, and the liquor she had just sipped sprayed abruptly into the pool.

"Cough, cough!"

Anqi covered her mouth, choked into a fit of coughing, the flush from the hot water and alcohol suddenly brightening her face, stark against her snow-white skin.

"Young Lady..."

"Young Lady!"

The beautiful maidens massaging and holding sake nearby immediately gathered around, looking at Anqi with worried, uncertain expressions.

Anqi's gaze was unconsciously drawn to the scenery right before her.

The Tachibana Family, which the Young Lady had inherited, might be insignificant before the true powers of this world, but in the Far East's little corner, it was a genuinely thousand-year-old great noble. And these maidens were all noble daughters from families vassal to the Tachibana Family—bloodline, beauty, and upbringing one in a million. Outside, even a billionaire might not earn a glimpse of their faces.

After Anqi took over the family business, especially after smoothly building a relationship with Cocolia, these maidens were sent by their respective family heads to Anqi's side as her assistants and attendants, symbols of those vassal families' loyalty to their new ruler.

But set that aside for now.

Beneath the warm pool water, Anqi's legs uncontrollably pressed together, and then she forced a smile on her blush-stained face, saying:

"I'm fine. You... leave first..."

"But, Young Lady, you—"

"Leave first. I want to be alone for a bit."

"Yes!"

Several charming young maidens rose from the hot spring, each uneasy but compelled to obey orders.

"By the way, book me a psychologist—two hours... no, I want to see her tomorrow!"

"Yes!"

With her last shred of rationality, Anqi scheduled an appointment with a mental health expert, hoping to assess and aid her psychological state.

The beautiful, docile handmaidens followed their orders and departed, leaving the spacious, elegant hot spring area to Young Lady Anqi alone.

"Ugh~~"

The experience transmitted through the shared senses made Young Lady Anqi cover her face with both hands. Her pitch-black, waterfall-like hair drifted in the water as she let out an ambiguous whimper, then sank entirely to the bottom of the pool.

"Anqi..."

"Anqi..."

"Anqi!"

"Hah!!!"

Still soaking in the hot spring, leaning against Himeko's warm embrace, Anqi jolted sharply.

Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya, who were nearby, moved closer.

"Anqi, what's wrong? You suddenly went completely unresponsive."

"And your face is really red."

"Huh? Seriously! Even your body's all red—are you feeling unwell?"

"Could it be you've been in the hot spring too long and your body can't take it?"

They studied Anqi's complexion and even reached out to touch her forehead, deeply worried by her strange state.

Surrounded by them, Anqi's petite body trembled slightly. Her eyes suddenly went dazed and spiraled, then she flushed crimson and said:

"I-I-I'm going back to rest first!"

Anqi blurted out a flustered explanation, then shot out of the hot spring area, leaving only a trail of wet little footprints behind.

The others exchanged bewildered glances. Finally, Himeko sighed, stood up, and stretched. Her stunning curves were fully displayed before the girls, with crystalline droplets of water slowly sliding down her fair skin. She said:

"Sigh, I was hoping to sneak in a few drinks. Oh well, you all enjoy yourselves. I'll go take care of that kid."

Himeko grabbed a towel nearby, waved back at them, and followed Anqi's trail.

Himeko quickly changed into a bathrobe in the dressing room and arrived at the room she shared with Anqi, only to find Anqi already buried completely under the covers.

"What's wrong now, little one?"

Himeko smiled helplessly and reached out to pull the blanket, but couldn't budge it.

Through the blanket, Himeko could feel Anqi's body trembling. Gradually, her expression grew serious.

"Anqi, is it Honkai Energy erosion?"

Whether it was Valkyries like Himeko, who used artificial Stigmata, or those like Anqi, recognized as naturally awakened and thus spared from Stigmata transplantation, none could escape Honkai Energy erosion—the difference was merely a matter of enduring a few more or fewer years.

This thought struck Himeko with sudden fear. She had experienced that agonizing torment herself, making it even harder to accept such a thing happening to Anqi.

Then, a hand reached out from under the blanket and pulled Himeko into the covers.

"Anqi!?"

"Himeko... let me hold you... don't move..."

Anqi's slightly trembling voice came from beneath the blanket, plaintive and tearful, as if she was suppressing some intense physical reaction.

Himeko's heart trembled along with Anqi's voice.

"It shouldn't be—you're still so young... That's right, when you awakened, you even lost control. The Honkai Energy inside you must be extremely unstable, and you've been so reckless since enrolling... I overlooked it! I'm sorry, Anqi! Are you in pain right now? I'll take you back to St. Freya for treatment!"

Himeko spoke frantically, trying to throw off the blanket and take Anqi away.

But Anqi's strength exceeded Himeko's expectations. She held Himeko tightly, transmitting her trembling and burning body heat to Himeko with unmistakable clarity.

"Don't... Himeko... don't go..."

"But you—"

"Let me... let me just hold you like this... please..."

Anqi's voice came from under the blanket, trembling with a tearful plea.

Himeko hesitated for a moment, her brow furrowed and unrelenting. In her anxiety, tears even glistened in her wine-red eyes. But in the end, Himeko could only hold Anqi's trembling body under the covers, comforting her gently and tenderly:

"Alright, I won't go. It's okay, Anqi. I'll stay with you like this. Don't be afraid. There, there—you'll be fine, Anqi."

"Mhm..."

That night felt especially long—for every Anqi.

The next day, Kuerla and Cocolia each dressed in the office, then faced each other, wiping and fixing the marks on their faces, necks, and elsewhere.

After restoring everything to how it was before anything happened, the two shook hands.

"From now on, I'll keep working hard in the military and become a iconic figure in Anti-Entropy's armed forces."

"I'll continue to command and develop the Radical Faction's power, and on the side, try to clean up Cocolia's stains as much as possible—at the very least, I can't end up on the opposite side of Kiana and the others. In short, with the two of us working together, by the time Welt returns, we'll make sure Anti-Entropy no longer goes by the name Yang or Joyce."

"Keep it up."

"Mutual encouragement."

The two Anti-Entropy Anqis clasped four hands together, their gazes steady as they looked at each other—the resolute expression of comrades who had engaged in frank, deep conversation.

In both lifetimes, this was the first time experiencing something like this, and Kuerla and Cocolia's qualities were nothing short of outstanding, more than enough to vent the accumulated pressure and frustration of the past few days, while greatly easing the conflicts of personality and psyche.

The Anqis would face the terrible fate laid upon them with a renewed, positive mindset.

'You %#@#￥***!' ×2

As for the warm greetings from St. Freya Anqi and Young Lady Anqi, whether it was the two close Anti-Entropy Anqis or the Anqis in the Theater, they all silently ignored them.

Who are you pretending for? We're all on the same side. Do you think we don't know what you experienced last night?

Chapter 29: The Anqi's Bumper Harvest

"Report, I've entered the pod. Feeling good..."

"Bam!"

Cocolia's palm slammed hard against the massive white-painted mecha, Bronya's mature golden spiral twin-tails swaying freely in the air.

"Quit with the spaceflight jokes. Don't you ever get tired of that?!"

"Sigh, this is my first time turning into a Titan, you know. Let me get used to it a little."

Bio-Hunter · Patriarch · Quantum-Tech Magic-Upgrade · Titan—a girlish electronic voice came from within the enormous white armor. At the same time, the heavy armored body performed a nimble side aerial cartwheel right in front of Cocolia, then landed on a single finger, steadily supporting its nearly ten-meter-tall massive frame.