Let's Play a Game

Looking at the sincere Bronya, Wendy's heart was in turmoil. Instinctively wanting to flee from this gentleness, she warned Bronya not to come any closer.

Yet Bronya walked toward Wendy step by step.

"Wendy, you always remind Bronya of... back when she was at the orphanage, there was a little sister named Seele."

Siberia, Cocolia Orphanage.

Hearing the Bronya in the movie mention her name.

Seele, who was feeding a child milk, looked up. She even forgot to lift the bottle away until the child coughed, at which point she hurriedly removed it and gently patted the child's back.

But Seele's eyes remained fixed on the movie.

Seeing that Seele's attention was entirely on the movie, Anzu clicked her tongue and, looking displeased, took the child from Seele's arms.

"Seele, like Wendy, is a strong and gentle child."

"Seele was also once controlled by the Honkai, but in the end, she still defeated it."

"Bronya also suffered greatly during the modifications, even... even now... But as long as there is even a sliver of hope ahead, one should move forward resolutely. Bronya understands the pain in Wendy's heart."

"So Bronya can also understand Wendy's strength in enduring this pain."

"So please don't give up. No matter what, Bronya will always believe in you."

Amid Bronya's sincere and gentle voice, Wendy gradually calmed down. Her Herrscher battle suit vanished, and she was willing to trust Bronya once.

Just as Kiana and the other two were delighted that Wendy had regained consciousness and planned to return to the Hyperion together, an arrogant female voice suddenly rang out in Bronya's mind.

She ordered Bronya to retrieve the Fourth Herrscher. Even if she could not be retrieved, she was to be destroyed. If Bronya could not defeat her, she only needed to stall for time; the main force would arrive soon.

Bronya resisted with all her strength, but she was powerless. Project Bunny switched into sniper mode, its cannon aimed directly at Wendy.

Everything changed too quickly. Neither Kiana nor Mei had time to react, much less stop it.

Wendy looked at Bronya in disbelief.

Seele, whose face had flushed slightly at Bronya's words, could hardly believe it when she saw Cocolia forcibly order Bronya to attack Wendy.

To Seele, Cocolia was a gentle mother and the benefactor who had raised them. She did not believe Cocolia could truly be as portrayed in the movie, so she was a little angry.

At the same time, Anzu was angry as well. Unlike the gentle Seele, Anzu immediately began swearing.

"Sit down. What's the rush?" Cocolia's reaction upon seeing herself in the movie differed from Anzu's and Seele's. She was not angry at all, merely watching the movie with great interest.

"But, Mom..." Anzu said anxiously.

"It's just a movie. It's all fake." Cocolia comforted Seele and Anzu. "Playing a villain and getting 11.9% of the shares from Walter Yang in return is something worth being happy about."

"But..." Seele silently gave Yaqing the middle finger in her heart.

Things were about to erupt over here, while the Arlene sisters were still standing on chairs and holding a concert on the other side.

"This Cocolia is seriously too much!" Kiana said angrily.

"The real Cocolia Mom isn't like this. She's very gentle and only becomes forceful at work," Bronya reminded her.

"I remember Cocolia Auntie being very gentle too. When I got lost in a building as a child, she comforted me and took me to find my father..." Mei seemed to recall something. "Then she fiercely scolded my father right in front of me."

"Ah, then Uncle's script isn't based on reality? How can the people in it differ so much from their real selves?" Kiana asked in confusion.

"We don't know either. Logically speaking, he shouldn't make such a basic mistake," Shub said, turning around.

"Maybe the script required it. Otherwise, if Bronya really managed to reform Wendy, the plot couldn't continue," Shigure Kira analyzed.

"By the way, who do you think he'll credit as the screenwriter this time?" Shub suddenly asked.

If he credited himself, he would definitely get roasted. This movie was far worse than the last one in terms of pacing, plot, characterization, and battle effects.

"Don't know." Everyone shook their heads.

"Huh? Wasn't the previous movie written by Walter?" Kiana had thought Walter really was the previous film's screenwriter.

"Dummy. If Walter had really written it, how could someone from the Schicksal Foundation have been the director? It wasn't as if Anti-Entropy had no one else available," Bronya said.

"Bronya, don't call me a dummy!" Kiana puffed out her cheeks angrily.

After being attacked by Bronya, the last thread in Wendy's heart snapped completely. She could no longer trust anyone, and the Herrscher battle suit appeared on her body once more.

Kiana and Mei had no choice but to fight Wendy.

Facing two B-rank Valkyries, the extremely enraged Wendy actually remarked that they were exceedingly troublesome. Kiana swept back her hair and boldly declared, "I can fight all day."

"Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of patience."

Cocolia's voice rang out again. Countless tactical mechs emerged from invisibility, and with a simple punch, they knocked down the Herrscher of Wind, leaving Mei, the Third Herrscher, dumbfounded.

"How is that possible? A Herrscher was taken down in one hit?" Mei's tone was not one of awe at the tactical mechs' power, but astonishment that the Fourth Herrscher had actually been defeated by something like that.

Hearing Mei's voice, Cocolia remembered that there was also a Third Herrscher here and ordered Bronya to capture her.

Facing the darkened Bronya, Mei was effortlessly defeated by the plot, and the Third Herrscher was easily knocked down.

Just as Bronya was preparing to deal with the final target, she sensed Schicksal's forces approaching. Cocolia could only order Bronya to retreat.

Afterward, the arriving Himeko only rescued Kiana. Mei and Wendy were both captured by Anti-Entropy's forces. Filled with regret, Kiana could only return to St. Freya Academy and, with Theresa and Himeko's help, devise a plan to rescue Mei.

Let's Play a Game

Watching her movie self helplessly watch Mei get taken away by Anti-Entropy's forces, Kiana clenched her fists. Mei gently took Kiana's hand.

Kiana felt the softness and looked at Mei.

Mei was looking at her too.

In the last row, Yaqing turned off his phone's flash and sound, silently took a photo, and sent it to his sister. Cecilia quickly replied.

Snowfield Flower: "O(∩_∩)O"

Yaqing smiled faintly.

Mobius curiously leaned over.

"This is too awful! Wendy had clearly already trusted Kiana and the others, yet she was still..." Kevin said angrily.

"Sigh."

"It's only a movie, Kevin. In reality, Ms. Cocolia is very gentle with children. She established an orphanage in Siberia and adopted orphans who lost their families in war," Yaqing explained.

"Then why did you write her like that in the movie?" Mei asked.

"The movie just needed a villain," Yaqing said.

"You're lying." Mobius pulled Yaqing's head over and stared seriously into his eyes.

"What?" Yaqing asked in confusion.

"Whenever you lie, your fingers twitch unconsciously. I've observed it carefully. It looks strange, but if you're holding a coin, it becomes normal," Mobius explained.

Yaqing was not flustered in the slightest. Smiling, he said, "I never lie, Senior. Or rather, lying is the lowest form of deception. Unless absolutely necessary, I won't use such a method to deceive others and achieve my goals."

Yaqing turned the tables, raising his head slightly. That look in his eyes made Snakey uncomfortable.

"Let's play a game, Senior."

"What game?"

"If one day you catch me in the act of lying, I'll agree to one condition of yours. But if I can prove it wasn't a lie, then the reverse applies."

"Why should I play this game with you?" Mobius said irritably.

"Because you have no other choice." Yaqing looked into Mobius's eyes.

Mobius seemed to think of something.

"You mean that matter?"

Seeing Yaqing's serious expression, Mobius's tone carried a hint of displeasure. "Giving so easily, Yaqing, you really feel unfamiliar to me now."

"Senior, people always change. Ten years is enough to alter a person's attitude toward life and emotions from the very foundation."

Kevin looked at the two of them in bewilderment, unable to understand why the somewhat ambiguous scene from just now had become so strange.

Elysia also looked up, watching curiously with Eden.

The scene shifted to a street. Silver moonlight shone into an alley, where Kiana, dressed in Valkyrie armor, leaned against a wall and communicated with Theresa and Himeko.

According to the intelligence, Mei, Bronya, and Wendy were being held in the ME Corporation headquarters building right in front of them. Since Schicksal was unwilling to wage all-out war against Anti-Entropy, only three people were participating in this infiltration.

Himeko, Theresa, and Kiana.

After probing the perimeter for a while, they found the headquarters building was like an iron barrel, with no way to infiltrate it. Kiana also raised a question: wasn't the CEO of ME Corporation Mei's father, Raiden Ryoma?

Theresa and Himeko's answers soon cleared up Kiana's confusion.

On the surface, Raiden Ryoma had been imprisoned because of financial problems. In truth, he had been framed by people within Anti-Entropy, the root cause being the clash between the moderates and the radicals.

Theresa and Kiana spoke of Bronya. Kiana could not let go of Anti-Entropy modifying Bronya, but Theresa could not help asking, "So does that mean Schicksal is justice?"

Anti-Entropy modified Bronya and implanted a chip in her brain. That was undeniable.

But wasn't Schicksal the same? They modified Valkyries, granting them the power to fight the Honkai, while the cost was that Honkai energy would constantly erode their bodily tissue, causing them to die young.

Theresa taught Kiana that there was no absolute justice in the world. The opposite of justice was still justice. Striving toward one's own goal was itself a form of justice.

"The most brilliant of them is the Kaslana family's... justice, the kind that disregards itself in order to protect others."

Theresa told Kiana not to forget it.

"Can time really change someone from the very foundation?" Mobius frowned. Both what Yaqing had just said and what the movie showed told her of the changes wrought by time.

From a passionate young woman fighting for her country in the first movie to a madwoman who framed her colleagues and even implanted a chip in her own daughter's brain in the second, fourteen years had passed in between.

"Justice... Yaqing, what do you think justice is?" Kevin asked curiously.

"My heart and actions are as clear as a mirror; everything I do is justice."

At Anti-Entropy's headquarters building in North America, Einstein, Tesla, Walter Yang, and Joyce all looked at the bowed head of Raiden Ryoma. The next second, everyone sprang into action.

Tesla and Einstein grabbed Raiden Ryoma's arms, Joyce wrapped his arms around Ryoma's waist, and seeing that every spot had been taken, Walter Yang ignored all concerns about his status and grabbed Ryoma's legs.

"Ryoma, calm down!"

"Ryoma, don't get worked up."

"Yeah, movies are all fake."

"Ryoma, don't go thinking about doing anything reckless!"

Faced with everyone's exaggerated actions, Raiden Ryoma could not help laughing. Mocking himself, he said, "Who exactly is worked up here, you or me? You all know the movie is fake, yet you still think I'll treat it as real. Am I really that stupid?"

"Whew, that's good."

Joyce took the opportunity to sit beside Ryoma.

Walter Yang silently climbed up from the floor.

Tesla wiped away her sweat. It was no wonder they had been so agitated; the Cocolia in the story truly had it out for Ryoma's family. First she framed Ryoma and sent him to prison, then she turned his daughter into a Herrscher.

"Using ME Corporation as the headquarters base, I think that's the part of Cocolia's portrayal closest to reality," Ryoma said with a smile.

ME Corporation was Anti-Entropy's most profitable enterprise and also the enterprise Cocolia wanted most. But Ryoma had always kept ME Corporation firmly in his hands, never giving her the slightest opening.

Yet even ME Corporation's earning power could not withstand Anti-Entropy Entertainment's spending. That yearly season of Aharato often needed ME Corporation's funds to fill the hole.

After all, Tesla and Einstein loved making tokusatsu.

Joyce had no intention of stopping them either, so he let the two of them establish some subsidiary called Anti-Entropy Entertainment.

"Achoo!"

In Siberia, Cocolia suddenly sneezed.

"Mom, did you catch a cold?" Seele asked with concern.