A Deal

"What Anti-Entropy? What even is Anti-Entropy?"

Seele Vollerei, the illiterate girl, frowned, her face full of confusion.

Cocolia had never explained her Anti-Entropy identity to the children.

"Lady Cocolia never told you?" Shi Hen kindly explained. "Lady Cocolia is one of Anti-Entropy's senior executives, and you are her subordinates. Naturally, that makes you members of Anti-Entropy as well."

"And what does that have to do with me!?"

Seele frowned.

She hated troublesome things like this.

"Uh..." Shi Hen felt this personality's comprehension ability was rather concerning. "Simply put, just as you obey Lady Cocolia, you must obey my orders too."

"Huh? Are you kidding me?"

Seele shot back, anger appearing on her face.

First, this guy had sent people to kill her and Sister. Now he was saying he ranked even above Mama Cocolia and wanted her to obey him. Why would she believe that?

If she had been able to kill him, she would have poked a hundred and eight holes through Shi Hen by now.

"I'm serious." Shi Hen shook his head. "You are members of Anti-Entropy, so naturally, you must obey my orders."

"You..." She wanted to curse him out, but recalling how easily he had crushed her attack, Seele quickly calmed down. "Then go find Mama Cocolia!"

The girl felt she had come up with a brilliant solution.

"You actually have a brain."

Shi Hen said in surprise.

She had actually grasped the heart of the issue.

Seele: "..."

She felt insulted.

"But unfortunately, Lady Cocolia is busy dealing with another assassination attempt." Shi Hen sighed regretfully before adding, "Oh, right. I arranged that one too."

"Are you insane!?"

Seele could not help cursing.

Who sent people to assassinate their own subordinate?

Bang!

A finger struck the girl's forehead and sent Seele flying several meters away. Shi Hen said flatly, "Little girl, didn't Lady Cocolia teach you that some things should not be said carelessly?"

"..." Rubbing her forehead, Seele's face filled with anger. "What the hell do you want!?"

He had sent people to kill them, then babbled a bunch of incomprehensible nonsense. She felt like she was about to go mad.

"Seele Vollerei, your power is far too great."

Speaking softly, Shi Hen flashed before the girl in an instant. His fingertip, wreathed in white light, was already pressed against the Stigmata on her chest.

"You..."

Just as she was about to retort, Seele suddenly realized she could not muster any strength. It was as if countless arms were pinning her down.

"I'm sorry, but allowing you to move freely is simply too dangerous. I must seal you now."

Shi Hen spoke in an exceedingly sincere voice as immense Honkai Energy surged into the girl's body, permeating every cell in Seele's body and firmly sealing that special segment of genes.

For an ordinary person, being flooded with that much Honkai Energy would result in only one thing: death.

But for a Stigmata bearer like Seele, she possessed the ability to contain that Honkai Energy.

Of course, she could only contain it.

To bear such an enormous amount of Honkai Energy, the channels within the girl's body that circulated Honkai Energy would be completely paralyzed.

In other words, Seele would never again be able to use the power of her Stigmata.

"You... bastard!"

Cursing with the last of her strength, Seele's consciousness immediately sank into darkness. Her body toppled forward against Shi Hen.

A Deal

Shi Hen withdrew his fingertip from the girl's chest. Looking at the ring of white around the red Stigmata pattern, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Whew. This way, this unlucky kid won't fall into the sea."

Shi Hen let out a long breath.

Even for him, controlling such an immense amount of Honkai Energy all at once was... pretty easy.

Even Raiden Ryoma could seal Mei's Stigmata, so naturally Shi Hen could do the same.

Though Natural Stigmata were gifts from the Previous Civilization to this era, those gifts contained arsenic.

To give a simple example, if Seele's Stigmata ability was S-rank, then the girl herself only had D- or C-rank physical capabilities.

Once she unleashed her Stigmata's power, she would be the first to die.

That was the true reason she became a quantum state during the X-10 experiment, and also why Raiden Ryoma chose to seal Mei's Stigmata.

If the host was not strong enough, using a Stigmata was like making a pony pull a cart. The body would collapse first.

As for the X-10 experiment... according to Cocolia, its goal was to identify the key to allowing the human body to adapt to Honkai Energy and improve humanity's resistance to Honkai.

That explanation might be hard to understand, but put another way, it became obvious.

Promote the expression of Stigmata genes.

The X-10 experiment itself was part of the Stigmata Project.

For everyone else, the experiment could indeed improve the human body's adaptability to Honkai Energy, though it carried a certain degree of danger.

But for Seele... it probably meant directly maxing out a Stigmata that could have developed normally, forcing the girl to bear power she should not have possessed at her age.

The Raiden family had been desperate to run from that thing, yet she dared to charge into it herself.

Messing around like that, if she did not die, who would?

That was why Cocolia's understanding of Honkai was laughably shallow. She had never understood what true Honkai was.

"Stay away from my daughter!"

Cocolia, who had finally arrived, shouted angrily. A large-caliber pistol was aimed squarely at Shi Hen's head.

"I hate it when people point guns at my head."

Shi Hen raised his eyes toward the dark muzzle seven or eight meters away and spoke without a hint of panic.

"Then don't blame me for being rude."

Cocolia spoke coldly. Clearly in no mood to trade lines with Shi Hen, she directly pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out. The metal bullet shot from the muzzle, struck Shi Hen squarely in the forehead, and then... bounced off without leaving even a scratch on his mask.

Cocolia: "..."

The scene immediately became awkward.

"Lady Cocolia, I just saved your daughter from these people."

The considerate Shi Hen took the initiative to ease the atmosphere, pointing at the special forces soldiers sprawled all over the ground.

"You think I'd believe you!?"

Cocolia swept her gaze over the special forces soldiers' wounds. Though she did not understand what weapon had caused them, she believed they were certainly not the work of the masked man before her.

Amid her confusion, Cocolia spotted another figure she knew all too well.

"Bronya!?" Cocolia cried out. She hurriedly threw herself beside the gray-haired girl, embraced the girl's bloodied body, and burst into tears. "I'm sorry, Mama came too late..."

If only she had arrived a little earlier...

"..." Watching the grief-stricken blonde woman, Shi Hen felt it was necessary to clarify something. "She only has a few dozen bullets in her. Mere fatal wounds won't kill her."

Cocolia: "..."

Did he even hear himself?

Though gunshot wounds were a broad category, with the severity varying depending on the firearm model and bullet caliber—

Anyone could tell without thinking that the weapons used by these disguised special forces soldiers were no ordinary weapons.

With weapons of this grade, even taking one bullet would be extremely troublesome, let alone dozens.

Looking at the pile of bloodstained bullets beside them, Cocolia felt as though her heart was being torn apart.

She had once sworn to protect every child, yet now she could only watch Bronya die before her eyes... Hm? Bronya actually seemed to still be breathing?

Holding the girl tightly and feeling her body rise and fall slightly with each breath, Cocolia froze.

Could someone truly survive after being hit by so many bullets?

Cocolia had encountered Honkai too late and was still a novice in the Honkai World, so she simply could not comprehend it.

"Bronya has great potential. She will surely become one of Anti-Entropy's top generals in the future."

Seeing that Cocolia had finally calmed down, Shi Hen said approvingly.

"I have never seen you in Anti-Entropy!"

Still holding Bronya, Cocolia instantly became wary.

The mask, the white robe... these traits were conspicuous enough, but because neither Schicksal's nor Anti-Entropy's wanted notices had updated Welt Yang's hair color, Cocolia did not recognize that the person before her was the new Anti-Entropy Leader personally appointed by Schicksal.

From that alone, Leona and those Valkyries had shown at least some sense of honor. They had not sold Shi Hen out completely.

Of course, it was also possible that they simply did not know what white hair meant in this world.

Seeing the distance in the blonde woman's gaze, Shi Hen could not help getting a headache. He could only introduce himself first. "I am Welt Yang, your new leader of Anti-Entropy."

Otto had personally stamped his approval on it.

"Are you joking with me?"

Anger immediately surfaced on Cocolia's face.

Schicksal had acknowledged him as Anti-Entropy's leader, but who within Anti-Entropy actually recognized him?

"This is a deal." Shi Hen shook his head. "Help me become Anti-Entropy's leader, and I can let you take charge of Anti-Entropy."

Anti-Entropy would end up in Cocolia's hands in a few years anyway. This investment was guaranteed to make a profit.

"..." Hearing Shi Hen's words, Cocolia paused involuntarily. After a long while, she shook her head. "Sorry, but I cannot accept such a deal."

Who knew what his true purpose was?

Inviting a god was easy; sending one away was hard. She did not want to bring in a powerful enemy.

Besides, if she really did something like that, Anti-Entropy would likely expel her first.

"It seems Lady Cocolia is confused." Shi Hen sighed as a wisp of white light lit up at his fingertip. "Then let Lady Cocolia see my art first."

Art?

Just as Cocolia was wondering what he meant, the white light at Shi Hen's fingertip shot out.

Boom—

With a deafening blast, a hill twenty or thirty meters high in the distance was instantly flattened. Billowing snow fell from higher ground, covering the barren patch.

Gulp.

Cocolia swallowed involuntarily, her scalp tingling.

An attack of that level with a wave of his hand...

Was this monster really still human?

To level a hill, even a Titan unit concentrating its fire would likely need quite some time. But how long had this Welt taken?

Less than three seconds.

In other words, the firepower he provided alone surpassed that of an entire mech unit!