Cocolia: How Can Anti-Entropy Get Anything Done with Those Imbeciles? / The Ones Who Saved You

For the students at this school, most of whom had some kind of background, the teacher was powerless to stop them from doing as they pleased and could only try her best to mediate.

However, seeing the tacit understanding and intimacy Gwen and Raiden Mei displayed in certain small details, the elderly teacher, tempered by society, gave up on the idea of speaking with Gwen after class. Instead, she went straight to the dean of students to ask about his background...

After the homeroom teacher left, the nearly frozen atmosphere in the classroom did not improve much.

When the students nearby cautiously asked about the relationship between this American transfer student and Raiden Mei, Gwen took Mei's small hand and answered, "What? Don't we look like a couple?" The atmosphere in the classroom grew even more oppressive, as though a massive boulder weighed down the entire room. Everyone spoke carefully, afraid of making any noise and drawing attention.

Thanks to the presence of Gwen, the mysterious American transfer student, Raiden Mei's standing in the class seemed to have improved somewhat—

At the very least, she no longer returned from breaks to find her desk covered in every kind of filthy insult—

They still used Raiden Mei, the fallen young lady, as gossip, even using bullying her as a way to cement their own positions within their little cliques.

But that did not mean these students would blindly mock Raiden Mei without regard for the consequences—

At least, they would not act rashly before figuring out the background of Raiden Mei's new backer.

"I'm sorry, Gwen. You were treated unfairly because of me."

At noon, Raiden Mei apologized as she ate lunch with Gwen in a quiet spot.

Nearly half a year of being bullied had taught Raiden Mei the skill of "reading the room," something she had never needed before.

"Hehe, isn't this what I should do as Mei's boyfriend?"

With a soft laugh, Gwen teased her.

"If you want to thank me, how about a fragrant kiss from a beautiful girl?"

Yet Raiden Mei merely rolled her pretty eyes at his teasing.

"Alright, hurry up and eat."

Over the course of their recent dates—acting, rather—Raiden Mei had become far more accepting of many things Gwen said based on his identity as her boyfriend. She no longer blushed bright red even from holding hands like she had at the beginning—

Though her cheeks were still inevitably faintly flushed at that moment...

What Raiden Mei did not know was that the scene of her having lunch with Gwen was appearing on a screen in a room within a satellite city not far from Changkong City.

"Who is this man?"

Having finally prepared everything needed to trigger the Honkai eruption, the triumphant Cocolia was making one last inspection of her testing grounds. Once she confirmed everything was proceeding according to plan, she would begin the experiment—the first and most important step toward rescuing her daughter, who had fallen into the Sea of Quantum.

"Reporting to Lady Cocolia,"

Upon hearing Cocolia's question, the burly and skinny pair stationed in Changkong City, responsible for monitoring Raiden Mei, hurriedly replied.

"This brat is from America. According to our investigation, he is an online friend Raiden Mei met recently. They have now become a couple."

"Heh...

In the end, they'll still become a pair of star-crossed lovers..."

Cocolia sneered. There was not the slightest hint of emotion in her laughter. Her narrow, fox-like eyes narrowed as she stared at the young man and woman on the screen.

"Bronya, investigate that brat's identity carefully."

"Yes."

There was still no change in expression on Bronya's small face. Heavy Cannon Rabbit appeared, its mechanical hand holding a computer for Bronya to operate.

A moment later, the burly and skinny pair in Changkong City heard words that made their already disgruntled hearts skip a beat—

Cocolia: How Can Anti-Entropy Improve with Those Vermin Around?

"According to the records, Gwen appears to possess nothing more than a huge inheritance left by his parents. In reality, however, he is also an FBI agent stationed abroad, and..."

After a series of operations, Bronya's gray eyes reflected the information Rita had helped fabricate. In her emotionless voice, she delivered intelligence that instantly drenched the burly and skinny pair in cold sweat.

"Gwen's parents had ties to Anti-Entropy's conservative faction, and Gwen himself has registration information within the conservative faction."

"Hehe..."

Looking at the young man on the screen who was having dinner with the girl, seeming like nothing more than an ordinary high school student, Cocolia sneered with undisguised contempt and disdain in her voice.

"I thought Einstein and her lot had some great trump card hidden away, but they only sent some nobody brat...

Hmph, no wonder Anti-Entropy has declined more and more over the years..."

As she spoke, Cocolia looked at the agents beside her, who were trembling from this enormous oversight, and coldly ordered.

"From this moment on, place Changkong City under martial law and intensify reconnaissance.

I want to see how those vermin from the conservative faction intend to take someone away right under my nose."

"Yes!"

The agents, greatly relieved, answered and began working—

Using the intimidation brought by swallowing up ME Corp. in one fell swoop, Cocolia, this newly risen Siberian warlord, had taken control of every aspect of Changkong City over the past half year. She could now directly order the city sealed off.

However, there was still some time before the equipment could be fully activated. So Cocolia was merely imposing martial law rather than sealing off the city and triggering the Honkai eruption immediately.

"Hmph!"

Seeing the young man and woman on the screen seemingly dyeing the air around them pink, Cocolia snorted and turned away to inspect the other stages.

Gwen soon learned from Prometheus that the information about him hidden in an Anti-Entropy database had been accessed.

He was not surprised by this—

If they could not even uncover his first disguise, then just how incompetent would Anti-Entropy's conservative faction have to be for Cocolia to rise to this point?

That afternoon, news that Changkong City had been placed under martial law for some seemingly reasonable reason began spreading among the students.

Although the reason sounded perfectly reasonable, many Senba Academy students had sudden emergencies at home that afternoon and left school early.

Of course, that had nothing to do with Gwen and Raiden Mei, who were pretending to be a couple—

After receiving news from Prometheus, relayed from Schicksal headquarters, that "Cocolia has begun reinforcing the area around Changkong City," Gwen understood that unless he used an outside-the-rules method—transforming directly and flying away with Mei—he could no longer take Mei away directly.

So, still maintaining the premise that Artificial Collapse was a choice made only when there was no other way, Gwen chose Plan B—

After school, Gwen and Raiden Mei, neither of whom had been picked up early by their parents, continued their date. During dinner that evening, they "ran into" the part-time worker Kiana.

After dinner, Gwen and Raiden Mei kept feeding Kiana dog food for a while longer before leaving together.

At that moment, the three of them were less than two kilometers in a straight line from ME Corp., the famous Far East enterprise located in Changkong City.

Cocolia, who had also investigated Kiana's identity, did not care at all—

"Hehe, I really don't know whether to say they're careless or merely overambitious and incompetent...

At a time like this, they still haven't forgotten to recruit a Schicksal traitor..."

As for whether the core of her plan, the heavily guarded ME Corp., might be raided by three brats, that possibility never even entered Cocolia's mind—

Did anyone really think the melodramatic plotlines from novels in this country would happen in the real world?

As the three strolled along, they arrived before the grand ME Corp. headquarters building.

Looking at the landmark building that had once belonged to her father, Raiden Mei could not help but reveal a trace of sadness.

At that moment, a warm hand enclosed Raiden Mei's small one.

"I'm sorry for making you worry..."

Raiden Mei spoke softly, an apologetic look on her face.

"If you're sad, you can talk to me about it."

Gwen smiled as he replied.

"If you keep everything bottled up and hurt my little Mei, I'll be heartbroken."

"...

Suka, doesn't that American brat think that's cheesy?"

Having narrowly escaped death once, the burly man did not dare slack off in the slightest. Along with his partner, he closely monitored every move Raiden Mei and the others made, afraid of making another mistake and truly losing his head.

"Heh, who knows?"

With a sneer, the skinny man patted his companion on the shoulder.

"Quit complaining and watch carefully. I'm going to rest for a while. I'll take over for you during the second half of the night."

"Go on, then."

The burly man waved his hand and replied casually.

However, while Gwen and Raiden Mei were being lovey-dovey on the two men's screens, the guards stationed at the actual entrance to ME Corp. had already collapsed limply to the ground.

Not far away, Kiana and Raiden Mei were sprinting away at full speed—

"I'll hack all the nearby surveillance cameras, take control of ME Corp.'s network, then break in directly and shut down and destroy all of Cocolia's preparations.

Mei, Kiana, your task is to run. The farther away you get, the better."

That was what Gwen had said while explaining the plan not long ago.

—Over the past half month, Raiden Mei had tried countless times to recall her vague memories from five years ago, but every attempt had still ended in failure.

Yet despite her unease, Raiden Mei asked Gwen to examine her body and ultimately received the result that the Gem of Conquest was currently inside her.

Raiden Mei felt a complicated swirl of emotions at this revelation, along with deep unease—

After all, she had long understood the mission represented by Gwen's identity.

Fortunately, to the girl's relief, Gwen did not show the slightest change in attitude toward her because she was a Herrscher candidate. Instead, he cherished her even more, quietly raising the girl's affection for him once again.

It was because they had learned this that, after covering Gwen's successful arrival at ME Corp.'s entrance, Raiden Mei and Kiana retreated immediately—

It was not that Kiana had not offered to help. Rather, no one could guarantee that Raiden Mei, with the Gem of Conquest inside her, would not undergo some terrible change after coming into contact with a massive amount of Honkai Energy.

To protect Raiden Mei and prevent Cocolia, who knew the truth, from forcibly capturing her, Kiana could only abandon that idea and leave alongside Raiden Mei.

Meanwhile, within ME Corp., which Prometheus had quietly taken control of, all external communications had been cut off and every door locked. The staff inside were terrified, unaware that a figure was charging toward the underground secret as though entering an unguarded place—

The One Who Came to Save You

"Prometheus, what's the situation underground?"

As he continued advancing downward under Prometheus's guidance, Gwen asked in his mind about the state of his target.

"At present, the several Honkai Energy engines visible through surveillance are all in a safe condition.

However, based on past surveillance footage and entry and exit records, several larger Honkai Energy engines are likely located in surveillance blind spots. Their exact condition is unknown."

Prometheus answered calmly while offering another possibility.

"Furthermore, while I have isolated this area from the outside world and ensured that Cocolia cannot trigger a Honkai eruption externally, if the Honkai Energy engines have certain proximity-triggered detonation devices installed, I cannot determine whether we will be able to resolve them."

"In any case, shutting down whatever we can is the right call."

Gwen did not dwell on it. He would do as much as he could; worrying about matters beyond his ability was simply troubling himself for nothing.

"Then turn left ahead and take the elevator down."

Prometheus did not comment on Gwen's view, merely continuing to calmly offer instructions.

"Got it."

He answered casually in his mind, then rushed into the elevator with its doors already open and rapidly descended underground.

At the same time, Cocolia, who was preparing the next stages of her plan in the base where she was hiding, suddenly received a communication from Bronya—

"Mother Cocolia, something has happened in Changkong City."

Bronya got straight to the point.

"There is a problem with the information transmitted by ME Corp. Based on information comparison, it appears to be false intelligence created through AI."

Although Prometheus had remote computational support from Schicksal, Bronya was no slouch either. With technical support from Cocolia, who was currently unmatched within Anti-Entropy, she had no chance of breaking through Prometheus's arrangements, but discovering some irregularities was not difficult.

"Hmph, have they only decided to act now?"

Cocolia remained calm, a cold smile appearing at the corner of her lips.

"Bronya, set the computer to automatically attack the enemy's disguise. You will personally prepare to lead a team to Changkong City. After the Honkai outbreak, proceed to capture the Herrscher."

"Yes."

Bronya calmly accepted the order and drifted away as silently as she had arrived.

Half an hour earlier, at Schicksal headquarters—