Cocolia said, "Buy... Ah, you don't need to buy this. Just have the technology department build one for you."
Cocolia led the children toward the dining room, grandly making all sorts of promises along the way.
Therefore, when dinnertime arrived, the three children very attentively served their most, most beautiful and generous Mother Cocolia. Someone massaged her shoulders, someone picked food for her, and someone dedicatedly poured drinks for her.
Cocolia enjoyed her lunch amidst a sense of floating euphoria.
However, the happy days did not last too much longer.
On a certain night with a biting wind and snow, Rosaliya and Liliya ran high fevers.
"Confirmed, it is the onset of Honkai corruption syndrome."
"Cure them!"
"We have already done our best, Lady Cocolia. Corruption syndrome is actually completely incurable. Even with some results from previous various experiments, at most it can only alleviate it. I know this kind of thing is hard to accept, but Lady Cocolia, they, I'm afraid, cannot hold on much longer. You need to mentally prepare yourself."
"...How much time do I have left?"
"It's hard to predict, but three to five years at most."
"Alright, do your utmost."
With a numb expression, Cocolia took one last look at Rosaliya and Liliya, who were fast asleep on the experimental table with numerous medical tubes inserted into their bodies, and then quietly walked out of the laboratory.
Coming to the lounge outside, Cocolia sat down on a bench, tilted her head back, covered her eyes with her arm, and sighed with a restless mind.
The purpose of the X-10 experiment is to find a method for the human body and Honkai Energy to coexist, in order to save the children suffering from Honkai corruption that Cocolia took in across this country.
Unfortunately, the experiment ended in failure. Cocolia lost Seele, lost Bronya's trust, and subsequently lost those children one after another... Up until now, Cocolia Orphanage, which used to be a harbor for pitiful children, only has Bronya, An, Rosaliya, Liliya, and Seele, who was cast adrift in the Quantum World.
No wonder she was in such a rush, taking the risk to move against Raiden Ryoma and even desperately manufacturing a Herrscher. Because the Herrscher is the only possibility for the X-10 experiment to succeed. If she still cannot complete the experiment and obtain a treatment method, she will next lose Rosaliya and Liliya.
A hateful person also has their hardships and shining moments. Is this what a 2D character is?
Or is this the commonality of human nature?
The Anqis pondered for a while, then gave up on delving deeply into Cocolia's true nature.
Whitewashing the current Cocolia was a matter of the Anqis' interests.
As for whitewashing the original Cocolia, sorry, the Anqis did not possess that kind of Virgin Mary complex; a simple "good riddance" was already enough.
"Mom?"
Amidst her trance, Cocolia heard An's soft call, carrying a trace of worry.
Cocolia lowered her arm, opened her eyes, and saw An standing beside her with slightly furrowed brows. Cocolia revealed a faint smile, reached out to touch An's cheek, and said in a soft voice:
"It's so late, why aren't you asleep yet?"
"Don't ask obvious questions! So, how are those two idiots? Is it very serious?"
"It's fine, it's just a stomachache from eating too much during the day..."
"Do you take me for a child?"
An rolled her eyes, put her hands on her hips, and said, her tightly knitted slender brows telling of her irritated and impatient mood.
Cocolia's smile paused. With no other choice, she gently hugged the girl before her, soothing her in a gentle tone:
"They really are fine. In a couple of days, they'll be bouncing around again."
"...How much time is left?"
"To be conservative, three years. But don't worry, I already have many ideas. Within three years, I will definitely find a way to treat them. Trust Mom!"
"Mm."
An nodded gently.
Having experienced the warmth of Mother Cocolia these past few days, amidst this suddenly darkened emotional atmosphere, An felt Cocolia's burden and her love for them as never before.
Thinking of this, An bit her lip, and finally stroked Cocolia's back, comforting her:
"Actually, none of us have ever blamed Mom. Elizabeth, Fabelin, Luluan... Everyone understands that Mom is the one who saved us. You've already done enough, and you've worked hard enough. So, just in case... I mean just in case, even those two idiots also... Don't blame yourself, because they definitely won't blame you either, Mother Cocolia."
An tried hard to dig out comforting words from her mind, but unfortunately she had never done such a thing before, so the more she spoke, the more confused she felt, and she could only express her thoughts as best as she could.
Cocolia froze for a moment, her eyes shimmering and eventually brimming with soft ripples, and smiled:
"Thank you, An. Mom is very touched."
"Who, who, who... Who needs you to be touched! No, I mean, anyway, just pull yourself together!"
An's face instantly turned crimson, and she replied in a awkward yet caring manner.
There were originally other children still alive in Cocolia Orphanage, but those characters were truly too difficult to shape, so let's just treat it as the divergence of parallel worlds. Here, it is set to only have the few girls who appeared in the game's story.
Chapter 39 Gray Serpent: I Have Discovered Your True Face!
"You know, don't you think a person like Cocolia is an utter failure?"
"Hm?"
"Desperately trying to grasp everything in her hands, yet constantly losing it. What she treasures is pushed away by her own hands—this kind of life is just utterly terrible! Right, Gray Serpent?"
"Hm? I came to ask why you suddenly destroyed Welt's experimental base and wiped out all the experimental data and records. Did you forget the share that needed to be shared with me?"
In the floating communication screen, Gray Serpent, located against a dark background, was shrouded in a black robe, with only a single mechanical eye releasing a cold and ominous red glow.
Cocolia, however, did not care about this ally's unfriendliness. She stroked An, who was resting and dozing on her lap, gazed at An's cute face, and without even raising her head, said:
"The X-10 experiment failed miserably. I lost Seele, and then watched helplessly as I was about to lose more children. I was so desperate that I had nowhere to turn, so I chose to instigate artificial Honkai corruption, personally manufacturing a Herrscher experimental subject in Changkong City... And then I failed again."
"Cocolia, stop beating around the bush! What I'm talking to you about is the matter of Welt's experiment!"
"Gray Serpent, oh Gray Serpent, what on earth have I done to make you disrespect me so much?"
"Ha?"
Gray Serpent on the other end of the communicator was a bit dazed, his thought loops stuttering for a second.
No, normally speaking, shouldn't Cocolia be smilingly making demands right now, trying to extort some technological benefits or the like from him, and then exchanging experimental data?
What was the meaning of this murky and unfathomable attitude right now?
Cocolia still did not raise her head, letting the communication screen float in the air while she focused entirely on tidying An's hair, and said in a lingering tone:
"You painted a grand blueprint for me after the X-10 experiment succeeded. I trusted you, and I followed it regardless of the cost, even going so far as to persuade my daughters to become experimental subjects. But up until now, all I've gotten in return is loss."
"When my experiments failed repeatedly, you did nothing. When I abandoned my humanity to trigger artificial Honkai corruption for experiments, you did nothing. When I failed again and faced multiple pressures from the Radical Faction, the Conservative Faction, and even Schicksal, you still did nothing."
"I know that your Shencheng Pharmaceuticals Shenzhou branch has recently been completed, with more funds, connections, and facility channels, and you no longer need an ally like me. But, right after I exhausted myself dealing with a series of unstable factors, and then encountered my daughters' corruption syndrome acting up... On this worst day of mine, you popped up and questioned me: Where is the experimental data?"
Cocolia slowly raised her head, devoid of the slightest emotion in her purple eyes, like a cold, humanoid machine.
And this was a side of her Gray Serpent had never seen before.
Gray Serpent couldn't help but reflect on himself.
That's right, Cocolia was a collaborator he had chosen, or to put it bluntly, a tool person. But a tool person was still a person, and had complex human emotions. Cocolia had experienced so many terrible things, yet he, an ally, started right off the bat with questioning—had he truly hurt the other party's feelings? And since this tool person still had a lot of utility value, shouldn't he soothe her a bit?
"Gray Serpent, oh Gray Serpent, what on earth have I done to make you so disrespectful to me?"
Cocolia looked at the screen, her expression extremely cold, at least completely matching Gray Serpent on the opposite side in terms of imposing aura.
Gray Serpent's mechanical eye flickered. After weighing the pros and cons, he decided it was necessary to understand and soothe Cocolia's terrible mood.
"Apologies. Perhaps I was too eager. As you said, in order to conduct the experiments better, I have recently placed the vast majority of my energy into the construction and communication of the Shenzhou branch, failing to consider the overall situation. I express my apologies to you."
"...I have found Welt Yang's whereabouts."
Cocolia was noncommittal toward Gray Serpent's apology, merely dropping a piece of intelligence casually.
Gray Serpent's mechanical eye flickered once more.
"Is that so? Then I understand. If that Sovereign is still fine, then the Joyce Clone Experiment indeed has reason to be destroyed. After all, a clone is always a clone. That kind of power is fine for dealing with Valkyries or Titans, but compared to the real body, it is negligible."
Although it was a bit overly cautious and didn't quite fit Cocolia's past style of recklessly stirring things up.
Considering that Cocolia's string of radical actions had driven her into an embarrassing plight of being besieged both internally and externally, it was not entirely incomprehensible that she wanted to desperately avoid the malicious intent of that ultimate powerhouse, Welt Yang.
Gray Serpent weighed the situation. In fact, he already possessed most of the data for this experiment, and Cocolia destroying the laboratory only caused him to lack a small portion of the most recent data; the loss was not severe. Besides, Cocolia might not have destroyed that final portion of data; she might still be holding onto it, waiting to trade with him.
Considering this, Gray Serpent decided not to provoke Cocolia, whose emotional state was clearly abnormal.
"Pardon the intrusion tonight. I won't disturb you for now; we can talk after you have some free time."
"Wait."
Gray Serpent wanted to cut off the communication, but Cocolia spoke up to keep him.
Gray Serpent paused, feeling somewhat unable to fathom the current, bizarrely-state Cocolia, and had no choice but to steady his mindset and say:
"Is there anything else?"
"The medicine to treat corruption syndrome... I am not asking to save all the children in the world right now; I only want to treat Rosaliya and Liliya, even if it's just to reduce their suffering and buy time to a certain extent... Do you have it?"
"..."
"Schicksal's Oceania Branch is currently planning to artificially manufacture a Herrscher, and the Gem of Desire is in their hands. Schicksal Headquarters holds the Gem of Serenity and is also plotting the same thing. In addition, Welt is at St. Freya, and what kind of tricks he and Theresa Apocalypse are playing is something I am still investigating. This is also the main reason why I haven't charged into St. Freya to snatch back the Herrscher and my daughters."
Cocolia threw out several more pieces of intelligence, the first two being absolute classified information that Schicksal was still in the planning stages of—information that even World Serpent could not have detected in advance.
On the surface, Gray Serpent remained motionless, but inwardly he was quite shocked, and continuously speculated:
When did her intelligence network become this terrifying? Have I always underestimated her? Indeed, as Dr. Mobius says, the strongest point of humanity is infinite possibility, which also represents infinite growth capacity. She has managed to climb to this position step by step; I truly should not look down on her.
Perhaps the appearance she showed me in the past was all a disguise deliberately used to lull me into a sense of security?
That is to say, tonight her emotions truly approached collapse, and she was truly driven to a dead end, which was why she lacked the strength to wear her mask and revealed her true self.
Gray Serpent felt that if he could make expressions, the face beneath his hood should be smiling.
This contact tonight was not a loss; at the very least, he saw through the fact that Cocolia was no simple figure, and in the future, he would definitely have to adopt an even more cautious attitude to avoid being backstabbed by her at some point.
Gray Serpent replied:
"I don't have it, but we do have attempts in that direction. If there are results later, I will notify you."
"Good, then we'll talk next time. I'm tired. Goodbye."
Cocolia cut off the communication, and then, with genuine mental exhaustion, let out a sigh.
Fooled him.
Robots are really difficult to deal with, though.
Does he really not have it yet, or is he waiting to drive up the price? I remember the Ashwatthama Gene Fusion Potion that Rosaliya and Liliya ended up using was given by Gray Serpent at that time, right?
But we don't have anyone inside World Serpent yet, and there's nothing we can do about him right now.
Currently, the only definitively known antidote—the HSN-b46 serum, an invention of Dr. Maki of Schicksal—has been confirmed successively by the bigwigs of Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and World Serpent as a medicine capable of treating Valkyries, and even after being modified by Tesla, it was able to suppress Sirin back into Kiana's body.
Everyone, for the sake of the cute Rosaliya and Liliya, I'm afraid we need to send manpower into Schicksal Headquarters. We can't just wait around for Dr. Maki to defect like in the original story before going to snatch it, especially since we've all participated in this world and there are already too many uncertainties.
This is so damn thrilling! Originally, I just wanted to do my utmost to avoid that Archbishop, but now I have to actively crowd around him. If I mess this up, we might end up getting wiped out, right?
Then, are we doing this?
It's been two lifetimes, and this is my first time being a mother...
They're such cute kids, after all...
Well, you only live once; there are always times when you have to take risks for something.
Besides, Otto needs the Dominion Authority, and sooner or later we're going to have a conflict. Planting a mine by his side is something we'd have to do sooner or later anyway.
We might not necessarily blow our cover.
Then let's do it! × n
Chapter 40 Anqi: This Is a Win-Win!
The plan to infiltrate Schicksal Headquarters was announced to have reached a turning point the next day by the Anqis.
Ah, thinking about it now, it's still way too reckless.
Yeah, yeah, that's Schicksal Headquarters, right under Otto's nose, a genuine cluster of black technology! It's not some toy like St. Freya prepared for Headmistress Theresa.
Before you continue