The Happy and Unhappy Girl (4k)

But as things stood now, it was not too late.

For Chen Ran, failing to capture Cocolia was an accident. But for Cocolia, coming into direct conflict with Schicksal was no less unexpected.

Though he did not know why Raiden Mei had been taken away before Cocolia could inject her with the core, no matter what Cocolia was thinking, her ultimate target was still Raiden Mei.

So as long as they protected Raiden Mei, everything would be fine.

Still, if he wanted to end this scenario quickly, he needed to find something crucial.

Chen Ran would not instinctively drag out the scenario just because Wendy was here.

He always knew when he should do what.

Just as he was considering where to begin looking, Wendy suddenly spoke. "There's a passage leading underground here. Should we go in?"

"Underground?" Raiden Mei was stunned. "ME Company doesn't have a basement."

It was not as though she had never visited ME Company before, but she had never heard of a basement existing.

Chen Ran said, "Let's go down and take a look. This may be your father's personal secret."

ME Company's basement was enormous.

Wendy had learned how to estimate areas and quickly determined that this place covered at least four thousand square meters. Such a large facility was entirely maintained by miniaturized robots.

Clearly, Raiden Ryoma had hidden this place so carefully because it was an important part of ME Company.

However, all the robots here had stopped working. Cocolia had most likely gotten here first.

With that in mind, Chen Ran did not hold out much hope.

"This is probably ME Company's Titan production line. The materials are all stored here. But the important task is finding where the Honkai Energy reactor was supposed to be installed. Nothing else matters."

He reminded Wendy, then tried connecting to the network.

After the last simulation ended, the system had given him knowledge about computers. It could not have come at a better time.

This system seemed to know exactly what he lacked most.

Kiana did not know anything about computers, so she was responsible for searching for anything unusual. Chen Ran told her to bring over anything that looked special.

Although Kiana did not know much about Anti-Entropy at this point, she had good luck!

It was like pulling gacha—she could always get gold on a ten-pull.

Wendy also began searching, but unlike Kiana's aimless wandering, she had a clear goal.

Four thousand square meters was no small area. She had to hurry.

Raiden Mei, on the other hand, had no particular task.

She merely looked around, somewhat lost.

Clearly, her father Raiden Ryoma had hidden many things from her, enough to make her impression of him begin to change.

At that moment, Raiden Mei's gaze fell upon a cabinet.

A trace of surprise appeared in her eyes, because through the transparent acrylic, she saw a katana inside.

The girl's eyes showed a hint of contemplation as her body unconsciously moved toward it.

There was no obvious opening on the entire cabinet; it was perfectly sealed. But the moment Raiden Mei placed her palm against it, a synthesized voice suddenly sounded. "Information entry complete."

"Identity confirmed: Raiden Mei."

"Verification passed. Opening."

The cabinet opened.

Chen Ran, Kiana, and Wendy all stopped what they were doing, watching as Raiden Mei removed the weapon from within.

"Plasma Shadow Show."

She saw the blueprint beside the weapon.

There was only one brief line of description on it: ME Company's greatest design achievement.

Wendy could not help saying, "That weapon looks amazing. It's even better than mine."

After all, Wendy was currently an A-rank Valkyrie of the Far East Branch. The armor she used was Schicksal's third-generation standard Valkyrie Armor, already considered highly advanced.

There were rumors that headquarters had fourth-generation armor, but for now, they were only rumors.

Yet Wendy felt that even while wearing third-generation Valkyrie Armor, she would need to be extremely cautious when facing that blade.

A Valkyrie's strength came from training and equipment. She was a little envious.

Chen Ran smiled. "It's fine. Once we get back, I'll make you something good."

After all, he had spent some time with Vill-V. While he was not as skilled at weapon design as Vill-V, with sufficient materials, it was not completely impossible.

Wendy's eyes immediately filled with anticipation. "Okay, okay!"

Kiana, however, fell into thought. "Strange. Why wasn't such a good weapon taken away?"

"Could they not find this place?"

Kiana's question stumped everyone.

Chen Ran frowned. "Honestly, I don't understand either."

Plasma Shadow Show represented Raiden Ryoma's highest level of design, and its value went without saying.

Since the robots here had stopped, Cocolia should have come down here. So why had the nearly unhidden Plasma Shadow Show not been taken away?

If anyone claimed Cocolia was kindhearted, no one would believe it.

Either Cocolia had not yet reached this place, and Raiden Ryoma was the one who had shut down the robots here.

Or Cocolia had done it deliberately.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but he could not grasp the thread connecting them.

"Forget it. Don't dig into it for now. At least this is good news." Chen Ran paused before continuing, "I just searched ME Company's internal network and found nothing."

"Cocolia has not had time to make preparations yet. This time, we've alerted the enemy. Let's head back first."

Europe, Schicksal Headquarters.

Rita stood outside an office, pressing the doorbell.

A mature man's voice came from within. "Come in."

Otto was seated before the conference table, looking utterly at ease. "What is it?"

"Intelligence from the Far East has arrived. It concerns K423 and Raiden Mei."

Rita paused before saying, "K423's behavior has been entirely normal, and Raiden Mei has shown no obvious symptoms of discomfort either. However, because our intelligence agents were too sharp, the Changkong City plan is about to fail instead."

Otto narrowed his eyes.

Anti-Entropy intended to carry out the Divine Right Plan, which likewise required obtaining an Artificial Herrscher.

Raiden Ryoma wanted his daughter to survive. Cocolia needed ample experimental data. Otto, meanwhile, also needed a control experiment as a supplement to the Sirin Plan.

In other words, the mutual understanding between Schicksal and Anti-Entropy had guided the entire tragedy of Changkong City.

But now, that plan had been disrupted by an outsider.

After a long while, Otto spoke.

"Continue the plan as usual. There is no need for us to interfere. Anti-Entropy's people will have their own ideas."

"After all, no one ever said a Herrscher had to be a particular person. Schicksal never lacks partners, nor does it lack opportunities for cooperation."

The Happy and Unhappy Girl

After leaving ME Company, the group split up.

Kiana returned to school first, while Chen Ran and Wendy followed Raiden Mei to her home.

Cocolia would definitely make a move against Raiden Mei; there was no doubt about that. So Wendy and Mei had to stay together.

It could not exactly be him staying by Raiden Mei's side, could it?

That would turn into the "school belle's personal bodyguard" kind of development.

Though he would not exactly object to that.

Raiden Ryoma was under custody, but his family's private assets had not been seized.

Thus, when Chen Ran and Wendy saw the detached villa where Raiden Mei lived, they also saw several nice cars in the indoor garage.

Wendy could not help exclaiming, "Wow, you're so rich. It feels like you have more money than the Far East Branch."

Chen Ran finally could not hold back any longer. "Wendy, do you have a hard life at the Far East Branch?"

"Ah, not really."

Wendy's eyes showed a trace of confusion as she said, "It's just that Teacher Theresa often sighs over funding problems, so I can't even bear to buy ice cream when I want some."

"Oh, right! You said you'd take me out for ice cream."

The girl's eyes curved as a hint of expectation appeared in them.

Chen Ran smiled. "Of course."

The Wendy from the previous simulation scenario and the Wendy of now were not completely opposite in personality, but they could certainly be called entirely different.

The girl standing before him was poised and open, never hiding her emotions.

She took pride in her own strength, and she honestly showed what she desired.

For the current Wendy, the world beyond the Far East Branch was a completely different, dazzling place.

Her strength had come entirely through hard training, but because of that, she had neglected the pleasures of entertainment.

In Chen Ran's words: she was easy to fool.

Raiden Mei, who had heard their entire conversation from the side, had clearly noticed that too.

She finally spoke. "Count me in. I'll pay."

When Raiden Mei looked at Chen Ran, there was even a hint of warning in her eyes.

She very consciously protected Wendy from being deceived.

Chen Ran smiled at that. "Then I'd be more than happy to."

Changkong City, movie theater.

Chen Ran said to the two girls beside him, "One large caramel popcorn and one large butter popcorn. That should be enough, right?"

Raiden Mei offered no opinion.

Wendy blinked. "The weather is so hot."

Her voice was soft and clingy, almost coquettish. "I really want something cold."

Chen Ran sighed. "Then let's add another ice cream."

Raiden Mei's gaze sharpened. "No. Wendy has already had two servings of ice cream today."

After placing all of Wendy's luggage at Raiden Mei's home, the three of them had not returned to Chiyou Academy. Instead, they had immediately taken Wendy around to familiarize herself with the city.

For a girl who spent her life carrying out missions, this was undoubtedly an enormous temptation.

She was straightforward by nature and did not understand the meaning of being polite.

So she had directly eaten two servings of ice cream.

Chen Ran could not think of anything else that needed doing for the moment, so he suggested going to the movie theater.

Raiden Mei did not refuse.