Thousand-Person Ruler's Personal Opinion

After a while, Welt extinguished the stale cigarette in his palm, sighed, and said:

"So, you two have been guarding this child all this time, and you didn't even bother to contact me?"

Einstein: "I thought Dr. Tesla had already contacted you."

Tesla: "I thought the messy-haired one would contact you!"

The two spoke almost in unison, shamelessly shifting the blame. They showed no remorse even after realizing the situation, as if Welt's feelings were completely irrelevant to them now.

Welt covered his face, unable to articulate his current feelings.

Could he really tell them that he was jealous over a little girl?

But it really stung!

I, Welt Yang, was also raised by you since I was young, but you never treated me this well!

However, Welt was a mature adult after all. After a brief bout of jealousy, he quickly adjusted his emotions and said with a serious expression:

"So, is the child's condition stable?"

"Yes, her physique is excellent, her abilities are stable, and her control over Honkai Energy and gravity is outstanding. She's inherited all of Joyce's strengths perfectly."

"Hiss! I can't quite figure it out, what were those scientists thinking when they modified a little girl from Joyce's genes?"

"I've also considered that. I think it's based on the reality that women generally have a stronger adaptation to Honkai Energy than men. They probably believed that a woman with Joyce's genes would be more powerful and worthier of study than a man."

Einstein earnestly answered Welt's questions.

Just as the Angies had predicted, as long as the setup was rough and vague enough, intelligent people would automatically fill in the gaps.

Welt nodded in deep agreement, approving of Einstein's rigorous and reasonable conjecture.

Just as Welt was about to continue discussing Ninti's issues, a cute little blonde girl popped out from behind the screen and said in a soft voice:

"Sister Liesel, Sister Frederica, what are we going to do today?"

"Ah! Little Ninti, you're so cute! Today, your sisters are going to take you skiing, hahaha!"

"Little Ninti, I've got the ski equipment ready. Here, let Sister Liesel teach you how to put it on."

"Beep~~"

The communication was cut off before Welt could react.

They couldn't even be bothered to say "goodbye"!

Welt's hands trembled as he shakily lit another stale cigarette for himself.

Cigarettes go stale, so does love, right?

Chapter 48: Cocolia Couldn't Possibly Be This Stupid, Right?

"Little Ninti, aren't you really coming back to North America with us? Believe me, there's a lot of fun stuff there, and the weather is much warmer than Siberia, it's very comfortable!"

"I'm not afraid of the cold. Mama Cocolia needs me. If I leave, Mama will be sad."

Ninti tilted her head up, her crystal-clear pure eyes blinking as if silently conveying her reluctance.

Tesla immediately imagined the child clinging to her clothes and crying pitifully to make her stay. Then, she crouched down and hugged Ninti.

"Ahhh! Forget that vixen, Little Ninti, come with your sister! I can't leave you either!"

"Sister Frederica, be good~~"

Ninti stroked Tesla's red hair, soothing her with a soft, monotone voice.

Tesla sniffled, hugged Ninti, looked up, and glared fiercely at Cocolia.

Cocolia crossed her arms, compressing the massive chest that Tesla would never possess in this lifetime, and smiled with dignified elegance.

"Heh!"

Tesla: "!!!"

Einstein sighed, covering her forehead with a helpless and weary hand.

Their friendship spanned over sixty years. In a serious crisis, Einstein was confident that Tesla would step in front of her and take a blow. Even with such a deep bond, Dr. Tesla often made her...

Unwilling to admit they were friends.

"Ninti, we're leaving now. But don't worry, we'll definitely come to see you often and we'll always be thinking of you. If you ever have any problems you can't figure out in the future, whether it's about yourself, or about Joyce, or anything else, remember to contact us anytime."

Einstein crouched in front of Ninti, tidied the hair on her forehead, and smiled very gently.

"Mm."

Ninti nodded softly. Then, she watched as Einstein dragged the teary-eyed Tesla away and boarded the transport plane for their return journey.

Cocolia walked over and stood beside Ninti, gazing at the transport plane as it soared into the sky.

"Damn it, that Cocolia! She's just met Ninti before us, and she dares to be so smug! It makes me so angry!"

Tesla said, huffing as she leaned against the window.

It was hard to say how much of this concern stemmed from Ninti's own cuteness and pitiable nature, and how much was due to nostalgia for Joyce. The only certainty was that Tesla cared about Ninti very much right now.

Einstein glanced at the drifting clouds outside the window, remaining silent as she sent a communication signal to Welt.

"Ein?"

"Yes, it's me. Did you look at the materials I sent you a couple of days ago?"

"I did. The X-10 Experiment. I only knew the name back then and didn't investigate it further. I didn't expect it to hide so much. Now, the reason Cocolia targeted Ryoma and his daughter is finally clear."

Welt took off his glasses, rubbed his temples with a complex expression, and murmured:

"I originally thought she coveted the Herrscher's power, attempting to use the Herrscher of Thunder's strength to contend with me. Now it seems I judged a gentleman by a villain's standards. From beginning to end, all she wanted was to heal those children, and to find Seele Vollerei, who was lost in the Sea of Quantum."

"But why couldn't she just communicate with us properly? If she had just explained, we would have understood. We wouldn't have ended up in this situation."

Welt thought of Raiden Ryoma, who was still in prison. Because he didn't want to disrupt the Far East's legal system, he went through the appeal process and hadn't been released yet. Then, he couldn't help but think of Changkong City.

"Sigh!"

Welt let out a long sigh, reflecting deeply at that moment: Due to the philosophy of "respecting individual will" and the needs of development, allowing Anti-Entropy to reach its current state of near division indirectly led to the tragedy in Changkong City. He probably wasn't fit to be the Leader after all, was he?

Einstein leaned back in her chair, also feeling complicated, and said:

"Cocolia is a survivor of the Second Eruption. She initially fought for Anti-Entropy, even directly confronting Honkai with her mortal body, and she fully experienced the horrors of Honkai. Based on this, she wouldn't be foolish enough to deliberately create a Herrscher... The Changkong City incident was likely more a result of chance and accident, or perhaps it was truly manipulated by that third party force no one anticipated."

"But I've never heard of this 'World Serpent'."

"I didn't know about their existence before either, so I can't rule out the possibility that Cocolia deceived us and tried to shirk responsibility."

Einstein and Welt looked at each other through the screen, understanding from each other's expressions that neither of them believed Cocolia would try to fool them with such a clumsy lie.

If it were false, it would eventually be exposed with a little investigation.

But if it were true, it was truly chilling to think about.

A mysterious organization with unknown power and advanced technology, operating under the noses of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy for years, even deceiving the two major organizations to push for the awakening of the Herrscher of Thunder—what did they want? What else were they capable of?

Welt also found it difficult to deal with, saying:

"Let's sort this out. What did Cocolia tell you in the past two days?"

"According to Cocolia, the X-10 Experiment required subjects with extremely high Honkai Energy adaptability. By infusing them with large amounts of Honkai Energy, they aimed to reveal the secrets of human adaptation to Honkai Energy and thus research methods to treat Honkai Energy corrosion. I've reviewed the entire set of principles, plans, and experimental data. From a professional standpoint, it was dangerous but feasible. Some of its results did indeed extend the lives of Rosaliya Olenyeva and Liliya Olenyeva."

"But it was still the 'World Serpent's' scheme, wasn't it? While it was supposed to reveal the secrets of the human body and Honkai Energy, it ended up sending Seele Vollerei into the Quantum Realm."

"Yes, Cocolia had suspected this before, but she had already sacrificed too much and couldn't turn back. Moreover, Seele Vollerei was already lost and missing. Even for the sake of this daughter, she could only continue to press on."

Einstein analyzed.

Welt nodded as he listened, finding the idea of Cocolia dealing with the tiger and being bitten by it increasingly reasonable and believable.

Welt stroked his chin, reviewing the train of thought from beginning to end, and mused:

"To summarize, first, the 'World Serpent' contacted Cocolia and proposed the X-10 Experiment, a so-called plan to 'cure Honkai disease,' which Cocolia couldn't refuse. Then Seele Vollerei fell into the Quantum Realm, and the other children in the orphanage also met with misfortune one after another. Cocolia, driven to desperation, set her sights on Raiden Mei—a miracle who was born with a Stigmata and could coexist with the Gem of Conquest for over a decade."

"That's about right."

"But Cocolia didn't see through the 'World Serpent's' grand scheme. They set up a Honkai Energy reactor in Changkong City and, by leveraging Raiden Mei's instability, forcibly triggered an artificial Honkai outbreak."

"Perhaps Cocolia bears more responsibility here, for example, by assisting with these arrangements, or even if she knew... It's unlikely. As mentioned earlier, Cocolia knows the terror of Honkai. She needed a perfect experimental subject, not a Herrscher. Moreover, she sent Bronya Zaychik to capture Raiden Mei. She couldn't possibly be so foolish as to think she and Bronya could defeat a Herrscher on their own, could she?"

Einstein made a logical deduction.

Yeah, how could anyone think that a few Titans and a mere Bronya could defeat and capture a Herrscher? That would be too brainless. Cocolia definitely wasn't that kind of person, right?

Chapter 49: A Somewhat Righteous Cocolia

"Ryoma kept his daughter very well hidden. Cocolia could only find out that the Gem of Conquest was inside Raiden Mei and had been stable for a long time. She probably thought Ryoma had already achieved the stabilization of the Gem of Conquest, which is why she boldly acted against Ryoma and then captured Raiden Mei. Who knew..."

Who knew the World Serpent would be so insane?

Who knew Raiden Mei's condition was actually unstable?

Cocolia, limited by information disparity, her own impatience, and the World Serpent's behind-the-scenes calculations, ultimately led to the tragedy in Changkong City. However, if we trace the root cause, Raiden Ryoma, who implanted the Gem of Conquest into Raiden Mei, might be the main culprit. And Welt, Einstein, Tesla, and others who tacitly agreed were also accomplices.

For the safety of her old friend's daughter's life, they gave away that gem and tacitly allowed it to stay in the city for over a decade, hidden within a little girl who was completely unable to control it—a Herrscher Gem that could potentially give birth to a new Herrscher at any moment. How could it be treated so carelessly?

Welt and Einstein sorted through the cause and effect, only to realize that they themselves were also murderers, and not even innocent compared to Cocolia!

"Hoo—"

Welt lowered his head deeply, his waist seeming to bend slightly under the weight of those heavy sins.

He felt that the entire incident was now completely clear, and the previously confusing parts were all filled in, forming a flawless, true history.

"Yang, it's already happened. We still have a lot to do, and now is not the time to be dejected."

"I know... The victims in Changkong City, let's provide more support to North America as well. Even if it's a futile compensation, let's do something."

"Yes, I will. In fact, Cocolia did better than us in this regard. She started acting very early. The Tachibana Foundation almost went bankrupt aiding the victims in Changkong City, certainly at her behest. We can also cooperate with the Tachibana Family, as that would be the most efficient method."

"Alright, I'll leave it to you."

Welt nodded with a weary expression, not paying too much attention to these specific details, and changed the topic:

"Then, regarding Cocolia's three requests for cooperation: establishing the East Sea Base and exploring the Eye of the Abyss—what do you think?"

Although there were three requests, Welt only mentioned two.

Einstein didn't seem to have any questions either, and gave her pre-considered answer:

"Researching Abyss City is to enter the Quantum World and find Seele Vollerei. I have no objections to that and can agree. As for the East Sea Base, if it's merely to expand influence, her performance during the Siberian Honkai incident qualifies her. But I worry her objectives go beyond that. You understand what I'm implying."

Welt sat up straighter, his expression completely serious.

"I understand. The East Sea Base likely serves her third cooperative request—to eliminate the Herrscher of Thunder."

"I think we can agree to let her build it for now. It will take time anyway, and by the time the East Sea Base is fully completed, we don't know what the situation will be. It ultimately expands Anti-Entropy's strength, so we might as well let her do it."

"I think so too. Construction is fine. As for how it will be used after construction, we can discuss that then. As for the Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei's situation... tell her I'm still observing and not to act rashly for now."

Welt felt a headache coming on again.

He wasn't sure how to put it, but after feeling like he'd sorted out the Changkong City incident, Welt felt Cocolia wasn't as irredeemably evil. At least her intentions were good; at most, it was a moment of carelessness and misjudgment.

And her proposal to eliminate the Herrscher of Thunder was clearly a sign of her remorse for the Changkong City incident, which was why she was so determined to eradicate this temporarily dormant, massive source of danger.

It was a perfectly reasonable request, so reasonable that Welt felt a bit hesitant to refuse.

He felt that Raiden Mei was a good kid, and she might have the potential to become the next Joyce, possibly allowing humanity to gain another Herrscher power.

However, this reasoning seemed almost as crazy as the World Serpent's. How could he possibly convince Cocolia, who was so intent on atoning for her mistakes in Changkong City?

"Just say it's my order. For now, I'll use the Leader's authority to stop her."

"Alright, I'll keep an eye on her as well... I have a suggestion: you could communicate with Bronya and have her persuade Cocolia. Cocolia cherishes her children greatly; her previous mistakes were mostly for the sake of these children. Bronya's words should be more effective than the Leader's authority."

"Bronya? You make a good point. I'll try that."

"Yes, I'll keep an eye on her from my end too. I'll let you know immediately if anything seems amiss."

Einstein said, then looked at Welt with a gentle, caring smile.

Welt sensed her concern, and his heart warmed. He then smiled back and said, "It's alright, I'm fine. It's just a matter of continuing to bear the burden. I won't be dejected like this, as it's no use anyway."