After quite a while, Welt crushed the stale cigarette in his palm, sighed, and said:
"So you two have just been watching over this child all this time and even forgot to contact me?"
Einstein said, "I thought Dr. Tesla had already contacted you."
Tesla said, "I thought the chicken-head would contact you!"
The two spoke almost in unison, shamelessly passing off the responsibility. Even after realizing what had happened, neither showed the slightest remorse, as if they no longer cared about Welt's feelings at all.
Welt covered his face, unable to put his current feelings into words.
Could he really tell them that he was jealous over a little girl?
But he really felt so sour!
I, Welt Yang, was raised by you two too, but I've never seen you treat me this well!
Still, Welt was a mature adult after all. After that brief bout of jealousy, he quickly adjusted his emotions and asked with a serious expression:
"So, is the child's condition stable?"
"Yes. She has an excellent constitution, her abilities are very stable, and her control over Honkai Energy and gravity is exceptional. She has practically inherited all of Joyce's strengths perfectly."
"Hiss! I really don't understand what those scientists were thinking, turning Joyce's genes into a little girl."
"I considered that too. I think it was probably based on the fact that women generally have stronger compatibility with Honkai Energy than men. They likely believed that a woman with Joyce's genes would be more powerful than a man and more worthy of research."
Einstein answered Welt's question seriously.
And just as Anqi and the others had expected, as long as the setup was rough and vague enough, smart people would automatically fill in all the gaps.
Welt nodded in deep agreement, acknowledging Einstein's rigorous and reasonable speculation.
Just as Welt was about to continue discussing Ninti's situation, an adorable blond little girl popped up from behind the screen and said in a soft, squishy voice:
"Big Sister Liesel, Big Sister Frederica, what are we doing today?"
"Ah! Cute little Ninti, today your big sisters are taking you skiing! Hahaha!"
"Little Ninti, I've got the ski gear ready. Come on, let Big Sister Liesel teach you how to put it on."
"Beep~~"
The call cut off before Welt could react.
They could not even be bothered to say goodbye to him!
Welt's hands trembled as he shakily lit another stale cigarette.
Cigarettes could go stale, so love could too, right?9
Cocolia Couldn't Possibly Be This Stupid, Right?
"Little Ninti, are you really not coming back to North America with us? Believe me, there are lots of fun things there, and the weather is much warmer and more comfortable than Siberia!"
"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 though silently expressing her reluctance to part.
Tesla instantly imagined the child clutching her hem and tearfully begging her to stay, then crouched down and hugged Ninti.
"Ahhh! Forget that fox woman! Little Ninti, come with your big sister! Your big sister can't bear to part with you either!"
"Big Sister Frederica, be good~~"
Ninti stroked Tesla's red hair, soothing her in a soft, emotionless voice.
Tesla sniffled, held Ninti in her arms, raised her head, and glared viciously at Cocolia.
Cocolia crossed her arms over her chest, emphasizing the enormous treasure chest Tesla could never possess in this lifetime, and smiled with reserved elegance.
"Heh!"
Tesla: "(╬￣皿￣)!!!"
Einstein helplessly rubbed her forehead and sighed.
They had been friends for more than sixty years. In a real crisis, Einstein completely trusted that Tesla would step forward and take a blade for her. Yet even with a friendship like this, Dr. Tesla still often made people...
Not want to admit they were friends with her.
"Ninti, we're leaving now. But don't worry, we'll definitely come visit you often, and we'll always be thinking of you. If there's ever anything you can't figure out in the future, whether it concerns yourself, Joyce, or anything else, remember to contact us anytime."
Einstein crouched before Ninti, brushed aside the hair over her forehead, and smiled very gently.
"Mm."
Ninti nodded lightly. Then she watched as Einstein dragged away the teary-eyed Tesla and boarded the transport plane home.
Cocolia walked over, stood beside Ninti, and watched the transport plane rise into the sky.
"Damn it, that Cocolia! Just because she met Ninti before we did, she actually dared to be so smug! I'm furious!"
Tesla leaned against the window and said indignantly.
It was hard to say how much of this concern came from Ninti herself being obedient and pitiful, and how much came from missing Joyce. The only certainty was that Tesla cared deeply about Ninti now.
Einstein glanced at the drifting clouds outside the window and said nothing. She simply sent a communication signal to Welt.
"Ein?"
"Yes, it's me. Did you read the material I sent you a few days ago?"
"I did. The X-10 experiment... back then, I only knew the name and never investigated it further. I never expected it to hide so much. Now, at least, we've finally found Cocolia's reason for targeting Ryoma and his daughter."
Welt removed his glasses, rubbed his brow with a complicated expression, and muttered:
"I thought she coveted the power of a Herrscher and intended to use the Herrscher of Thunder's power to contend with me. Now it seems I judged a gentleman by my own petty standards. From beginning to end, all she wanted was to cure those children and retrieve Seele Vollerei, who had been lost in the Sea of Quantum."
"But why couldn't she just communicate properly with us? If she had just explained things, we would have understood. It never had to come to this."
Welt thought of Raiden Ryoma, who was still in prison. Because they did not want to undermine the rule of law in the Far East, they had gone through the appeals process, and he had not been released yet. Then Welt could not help thinking of Changkong City.
"Ugh!"
Welt let out a long sigh. At that moment, he could not help deeply reflecting on himself. In the name of respecting individual will and the needs of development, he had allowed Anti-Entropy to reach its current, nearly fractured state, indirectly leading to the tragedy of Changkong City. Perhaps he truly was not suited to be the leader of this alliance.
Einstein leaned back in her seat, equally conflicted, and said:
"Cocolia was a survivor of the Second Honkai Eruption. In the beginning, she fought for Anti-Entropy with a gun in her hands and once faced the Honkai head-on as an ordinary human. She understood the horror of the Honkai firsthand. Going by that, she would not be stupid enough to deliberately create a Herrscher... The Changkong City incident was probably more of an accident and coincidence. It might really have been that unexpected third party manipulating things behind the scenes."
"But I really have never heard of this so-called World Serpent."
"I didn't know of their existence before either, so we cannot rule out the possibility that Cocolia lied to us in an attempt to evade responsibility."
Einstein and Welt looked at each other through the screen. From each other's expressions, they understood that neither believed Cocolia would try to fob them off with such a clumsy lie.
If it was fake, an investigation would expose it sooner or later.
But if it was true, the implications were terrifying.
A mysterious organization wielding unknown power and advanced technology had been operating for years right under Schicksal and Anti-Entropy's noses. It had even deceived both major organizations and acted to trigger the awakening of the Herrscher of Thunder—what did they want? What else could they do?
Welt also found the matter deeply troublesome and said:
"Let's sort it out. What did Cocolia tell you over the past two days?"
"According to Cocolia, the X-10 experiment required subjects with extremely high compatibility with Honkai Energy. By infusing them with a massive amount of Honkai Energy, it sought to reveal the secrets of the human body's adaptation to Honkai Energy and develop a treatment for Honkai Energy erosion. I've reviewed the full theory, plan, and experimental data. From a professional standpoint, it is dangerous, but feasible. Some of its results did indeed prolong the lives of Rosaliya and Liliya."
"But it was still World Serpent's plot, wasn't it? The experiment was supposed to reveal the secrets between the human body and Honkai Energy, yet it sent Seele Vollerei into the Quantum World."
"Yes. Cocolia had her suspicions before, but she had already sacrificed too much and could not turn back. Besides, Seele Vollerei had fallen into the Quantum World and gone missing. Even for the sake of that daughter, she could only keep walking deeper into it."
Einstein analyzed.
Welt nodded as he listened. The more he considered Cocolia's attempt to seek help from a tiger only to be harmed by it in the end, the more reasonable and believable it seemed.
Welt stroked his chin, organized the whole chain of events from beginning to end, and said thoughtfully:
"To sum it up, World Serpent first contacted Cocolia and proposed the X-10 experiment, this so-called plan to cure Honkai Sickness, and Cocolia could not refuse. Then Seele Vollerei fell into the Quantum World, while the other children at the orphanage suffered misfortunes one after another. With no way out, Cocolia set her sights on Raiden Mei—a miracle born with a Stigmata and capable of coexisting with the Gem of Conquest for more than ten years."
"More or less."
"But Cocolia did not see through World Serpent's far greater scheme. They set up a Honkai Energy reactor in Changkong City and, when Raiden Mei faltered, forcibly triggered an artificial Honkai Eruption."
"Cocolia may bear more responsibility in this. For example, she may have helped with those arrangements, or perhaps she knew about them... No, probably not. As I said before, Cocolia knew how terrifying the Honkai was. What she needed was a perfect test subject, not a Herrscher. Besides, she even sent Bronya Zaychik to capture Raiden Mei. She could not possibly have been stupid enough to think she and Bronya alone could defeat a Herrscher, right?"
Einstein made a logical deduction.
Yes, how could anyone think that a few Titans and a mere Bronya could defeat and capture a Herrscher? That would be far too brainless. Cocolia definitely was not that kind of person, right?
A Somewhat Righteous Cocolia
"Ryoma hid things about his daughter very well. Cocolia could only discover that the Gem of Conquest was inside Raiden Mei and had remained stable for a long time. She probably thought Ryoma had already stabilized the Gem of Conquest, which was why she boldly moved against him and then captured Raiden Mei. Who knew..."
Who knew World Serpent would be so insane?
Who knew Raiden Mei's condition was not stable at all?
Restricted by the information gap, her impatience, and World Serpent's calculations behind the scenes, Cocolia ultimately caused the tragedy of Changkong City. But tracing it back to the source, Raiden Ryoma, who implanted the Gem of Conquest into Raiden Mei, might have been the true culprit, while Welt, Einstein, Tesla, and the others who tacitly permitted it were accomplices as well.
For the sake of an old friend's daughter's safety, they had handed over that gem and allowed it to remain in the city for more than ten years, hidden inside a little girl with no ability to control it—a Herrscher Gem that could produce a new Herrscher at any moment. How could they have treated it so carelessly?
As Welt and Einstein sorted through the causes and consequences, they finally realized that they too were among the killers. They were not even any more innocent than Cocolia!
"Phew—"
Welt lowered his head deeply, and even his back seemed to bend slightly under the weight of those heavy sins.
He felt that the whole incident had now become completely clear. Every point that had confused him before had been filled in, forming a flawless piece of real history.
"Yang, what happened has happened. We still have many things to do. Now is not the time to be depressed."
"I know... Let's provide more aid to the victims of Changkong City from North America as well. It may be meaningless compensation, but we should at least do something."
"Mm, I will. In fact, Cocolia has done better than us in this regard. She started acting long ago. The Tachibana Foundation has been assisting the victims of Changkong City at the cost of nearly exhausting its assets. It must have been at her instruction. We can cooperate with the Tachibana Family too. That would be the most efficient approach."
"Alright, I'll leave it to you."
Welt nodded listlessly. He did not pay excessive attention to those specific details and instead changed the subject.
"Then, regarding Cocolia's three requests for cooperation—establishing East Sea Base and exploring the Eye of the Abyss—what do you think?"
He called them three requests, but Welt mentioned only two.
Einstein did not seem puzzled at all and gave the answer she had already considered:
"Researching Abyss City is meant to enter the Quantum World and search for Seele Vollerei. I have no objections to that; we can agree. As for East Sea Base, if it is only for expanding her influence, then based on her performance during the Siberia Honkai incident, she is qualified. But I worry that her purpose goes beyond that. You understand what I mean."
Welt sat upright, his expression becoming completely serious.
"I understand. East Sea Base will most likely serve her third request for cooperation—eliminating the Herrscher of Thunder."
"I think we can allow her to build it for now. It will take time anyway, and by the time East Sea Base is completed, who knows what the situation will be. In any case, it will expand Anti-Entropy's strength, so there is no harm in letting her do it."
"That's what I think too. She can build it. As for how it will be used after construction is complete, we can discuss it then. As for the Herrscher of Thunder, and Raiden Mei... tell her I am still observing. She is not to act rashly for now."
Welt had another headache.
How should he put it? After believing he had sorted out the Changkong City incident, Welt felt that Cocolia was not quite so unforgivable after all. At the very least, her intentions had been good. At most, it had been a momentary lapse in judgment and a mistake, right?
And her proposal to eliminate the Herrscher of Thunder was clearly born of remorse over the Changkong City incident, which was why she so firmly wanted to erase that huge source of danger that had temporarily fallen silent.
It was an extremely reasonable request, so reasonable that Welt found it a little difficult to refuse.
He thought Raiden Mei was a good-natured child. Perhaps she could become the next Joyce and allow humanity to gain another Herrscher's power.
But that reasoning seemed no less insane than World Serpent's actions. How could it possibly convince Cocolia, who was determined to make up for Changkong City?
"Just say it is my order. Use the alliance leader's authority to stop her for now."
"Alright. I'll keep an eye on her too... I have a suggestion. You could speak with Bronya and have Bronya persuade Cocolia. Cocolia values her children greatly, and her previous mistakes were basically all for those children. Bronya's words should work better than the alliance leader's authority."
"Bronya? You have a point. I'll give it a try."
"Mm. I'll keep watch over her here too. If anything is wrong, I'll tell you immediately."
Einstein spoke, then quietly looked at Welt with a gentle, concerned smile.
Welt noticed her concern, felt warmth rise in his heart, and smiled as well.
"Alright, I'm fine. I just need to keep carrying the burden forward. I won't become so dispirited over this, because that would accomplish nothing."
Before you continue