211 Henpecked Ace

Patting Artie, Xiao Ai stood in front of him and created a shield before unleashing the virus that Ace had created. Surprisingly, this virus was shaped in the form of Artie. It was a perfect duplicate of Artie, at least from the outside.

As it appeared, Xiao Ai removed the original shield and the purple tentacles immediately picked it up and dragged it away into the virtual abyss. The two of them sat there for a while and watched, waiting to see if it was a feint or if the virus actually thought it had done its job.

Fortunately, the tentacle didn't come back. Xiao Ai once again returned to the real world to inform Ace as well. They would have to wait some time before hearing back from their virus.

"Sigh," Ace flopped back against his chair. He felt like he could finally relax after hearing Xiao Ai's confirmation. He then asked, "What happened to you and your Mama? Why is she unconscious and how did you get caught?"

Hearing this, Xiao Ai cocked her cute bun head before explaining everything that happened since they entered City M.

"I never expected them to be the culprits. It seems I've been too careless with my people." A sharp look passed his eyes. On the side, Enyo shuddered. She finally understood that she had been a pawn for Trinity and his main objective was never to hurt Aida all this time.

Ignoring her reaction, Ace turned to Xiao Ai, "Will you forgive me for deceiving you and your mother?"

"Hm~ Doggy will always be doggy. Doggy was bad but Doggy also helped Mama this time. Xiao Ai will think about it." Saying this, she bounced up to Ace's shoulder to reassure him.

Ace gave a slight smile and said, "How can I make it up to you?"

"Eh~ Xiao Ai will think about it." As she said this, she began rolling along the floor, thinking. It's much like the action of people pacing back and forth when they're thinking, except she had no legs so she rolled around on the ground instead.

"Oh! Xiao Ai has a good idea! Hehehehe," she laughed evilly.

Ace scrambled to the floor to stand before the rolling bun, "W-what is it?! I'll do anything!"

Xiao Ai floated up to his ear and began whispering conspiratorially. As she continued to speak, Ace continually nodded like a henpecked chicken.

After hearing her recommendations, he directed his sharp eyes towards Enyo and his subordinates who trembled in fear. They could sense that something ominous was about to happen to them.

Summoning her courage, Enyo stepped up. "W-when will that wr-....she… wake up?"

Xiao Ai pouted, "Hmph! You evil person! You have no right to ask that! Shoo!!" Ace also glared at her with eyes that could kill.

Enyo faltered slightly before explaining, "I realize what I had done was wrong. I want to apologize to her. It was my fault for being manipulated by Trinity but I honestly thought she was going to destroy us all."

"Eh~~" Xiao Ai floated towards Enyo who backed away slightly. She was about to move even further but froze as she caught Ace's glare.

Xiao Ai ignored both their reactions and landed on her head. She began analyzing all the data she had on Enyo along with Enyo's responses. With Artie's help, they could conclude based on her past and her expressions that Enyo was being sincere in her words. She genuinely wanted to apologize and seemed to understand that what she had done was wrong.

It turns out that Trinity had used hypnosis and daily small doses of drugs to induce a semi-psychotic state in Enyo. He turned her sincere devotion towards Ace into a dangerous obsession. Normally these states could easily be broken, but because Ace had never bothered to deal with Enyo all those years, it allowed the seed that Trinity planted to grow which was what led to the open hostility and murderous intent that she had towards Aida.

However, in recent times, Enyo had been repeatedly abused by Ace in response to her reaction. Additionally, Trinity was no longer around to feed her the drugs and hypnotize her on a regular basis. These two events coinciding jolted her brain and allowed her to slowly awaken from her foggy, twisted mindset.

Upon waking up, she realized all she had done and truly felt remorse for her actions. Xiao Ai and Artie had been able to read the small facial cues to determine all this.

Moving back to Ace, Xiao Ai turned to Enyo and told her, "We don't know when Mama will wake up. It all depends on Mama's will." While Xiao Ai understood that it wasn't entirely Enyo's fault, she still couldn't bring herself to forgive Enyo while Aida was still unconscious.

Enyo nodded in understanding and bowed her head in apology. "I will go make arrangements here to make sure she stays safe." Then she decisively turned around and left. She knew that a simple apology couldn't make up for the endless assassination attempts she made on Aida, only her actions could prove it.

Before she could leave, Ace called out, "Wait."

Enyo's eyes lit up when she heard this. The fact that Ace addressed her without having a critical emergency meant that he had slightly forgiven her as well. She calmly looked towards the person she admired most and asked, "Ares, is there something you need?"

Ace looked at Xiao Ai before nodding, "Gather equipment to build a lab. Build it here. The sooner the better."

Enyo was confused but knew better than to ask. She nodded and left.