Chapter 76: What Was Your Question Just Now?

"Burn the past and rush to the new world? Our newly appointed Miss S-rank seems to be much stronger and more open-minded than imagined!"

Otto casually discarded the fire report he had just received and swung his rotating office chair with interest, then looked at the two trustworthy confidants in front of him.

"Rita, your work here has come to an end. The next promotion and transfer is the work of the headquarters. Join me for a visit this afternoon. As for Durandal, I need you to stay in Oceania for a while longer."

"Yes, Bishop!" ×2

After responding, Rita sighed resentfully. Half of her reluctance was because she had to say goodbye to Lady Durandal, and the other half was due to parting with Wendy and Delta. But as Otto's right hand, she had a duty and no choice.

Don't think that only Oceania has unrest within Schicksal. Given the organization's vast reach which covers half the planet, unrest is a daily occurrence. Thus, Rita's work is perpetually busy.

Durandal, however, was unaware of Rita's inner turmoil and was focused solely on her tasks.

Seeing this, Rita's eyes grew even more resentful.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Rita?"

"Nothing, just fortunate that the two lovely and delicate flowers have each other and won't pose a threat to me."

"Hmm?"

Durandal tilted her head in a cute, confused way.

Otto watched this scene with a smile, enjoying the dynamic between his subordinates. He then picked up an urgent message from the headquarters and his slightly narrowed eyes flashed with sharp light.

[Anti-Entropy's Siberia district discovered mysterious ancient ruins during the construction of the East Shenzou Sea base, suspected to be the ruins of a former civilization. The Intelligence Department is urgently investigating and verifying. Please advise, Overseer.]

"Anti-Entropy, Cocolia..."

Otto muttered these terms under his breath.

Now, things are getting interesting.

---

"Cocolia, I found that someone has been tracking information about World Serpent recently. Do you have any clues about this?"

"Huh?"

Cocolia, who was flipping through the Jiuyou Ruins Survey Report, looked up and blinked blankly at Gray Serpent in the communicator.

Gray Serpent remained silent, his expression indifferent.

After a long pause, Cocolia looked innocent and said weakly:

"You also know that because of the Nagazora City incident, the conservative old antiques have a lot of opinions about me."

"And?"

"Then I sold you out."

"...Cocolia!"

What do you mean by selling me out? Is there an ally like you?

The red light in Gray Serpent's mechanical eyes brightened, and a murderous aura began to spread.

"The experiment of fusing the Gem of Desire at the Schicksal Oceania Branch was successful. The new artificial Herrrscher is named Delta, who can compete with the monster-like Durandal and is stable and controllable. Unfortunately, Otto was present in person, and the power structure of the entire Oceania Branch was purged, nullifying my previous arrangements."

"Uh...oh..."

"Schicksal's headquarters has recently been searching for the whereabouts of the Divine Key Cosmic Juggernaut and seems to have made some progress. Unfortunately, I intervened too late, and it will take some time to follow up in depth."

"Okay, okay."

"By the way, the Far East and Siberia regions will soon import a batch of goods from Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceuticals, conservatively estimated at more than 30 billion US dollars. What was your question just now?"

"Nothing, I just said it is really my honor to have an ally like Ms. Cocolia!"

Gray Serpent said to Cocolia, who "has a bad memory," with a pleasant face. If he weren't a mechanical body, with a mask on his face, he would certainly show the same pleasant smile.

The Serpent can still be traced, right? Besides, with the appearance of the first three Herrschers, our World Serpent will soon become active.

Sooner or later, more people will know about us; it won't take a year or two...

Cooperation is a win-win situation, not bad!

The red light in Gray Serpent's eyes dimmed, making him appear as a loyal and harmless robot.

It wasn't totally because of the "freebies" Cocolia spouted right now. Totally not.

Cocolia, holding the survey report, said distressedly:

"It is basically confirmed that the ruins found on the seabed near the base are the legendary Jiyou ruins. According to ancient texts, the so-called Xuanyuan Sword is likely a divine key, but various signs also indicate that Chiyou is likely not dead yet. I'm having a headache now. How can I solve this unstable threat?"

"I understand the situation. Let's discuss it further and I'll report back to you later."

"Okay, please help me think of a good solution. There are so many issues lately; I feel my brain has become stupid. I rely on Mr. Gray Serpent for advice."

"What are you talking about? It's what we should do."

The communication ended harmoniously.

Then,

Gray Serpent: "Tsk! Vixen!"

Cocolia: "Tsk! That Serpent!"

"Mom is playing with me again!"

Sin lay on the table, speaking with contempt. Cocolia held her head up and gave her a hard kiss.

"Oh, my Sin has become cute again today!"

"I don't believe my mother's lies!"

"Then I'll kiss you a few more times until you do, mua mua mua!"

"Hehe~~"

Amid Cocolia's enthusiastic approach with shining eyes, Sin, who claimed to have matured, could no longer maintain her cold and arrogant mask, soon struggling and laughing.

"Mom, stop making trouble!"

"Okay, okay, go play with Rosalia and Lilia. Mom still has work to do."

"Tsk, isn't it just a Houkai beast that has been dead for thousands of years? Send me a BT, and I'll go help mom solve it now!"

"Don't make trouble. The scale detected so far is too shocking. It's not a monster that ordinary forces can deal with. I'm thinking, should I drag the leader into this, or throw more bait and let Schicksal help solve it?"

Cocolia picked up the file and knocked on Sin's head, looking a bit entangled.

Just after Sin reluctantly left the office, Cocolia leaned back, raised the report leisurely, and a cunning smile appeared on her face.

---

"Gululu~"

Under the heavy sea pressure, the giant white mecha slowly submerged with many bubbles, floating up in the dark sea water.

"This is Chiyou!"

The iron feet sank into the mud, finally stepping on the extremely solid foundation—Chiyou's body, which had not softened at all despite five thousand years of corrosion and wear.

Inside the mecha, Kella and Titan Angel stared at the undulating terrain, as huge as an underwater mountain range, and were speechless.

"The ingenious craftsmanship of Honkai is really scary!"

"Theoretically, the power of domination is above the subjective consciousness of Honkai beasts. If we put a core into it, we should be able to turn it into our own."

"But it's just theory. This is clearly not a regular Honkai beast. It may not follow the same rules."

"It means that if it resists, the entire East Shenzou Sea coast could be submerged. If it wakes up and breaks free from our control, the entire Shenzhou cultural circle could be doomed."

"We need to gather a force capable of suppressing it by force, even in the worst-case scenario. Let Cocolia arrange it and pull together a bunch of high-end combat forces before taking action."

The Angels sighed together.

They'd prefer to make a fortune quietly, and Delta theoretically has the confidence to suppress this monster, but there's no legitimate reason for Delta to appear here alone.

If they want to control this monster and obtain the Divine Key without endangering the entire East Asia, they must take a risk and prepare a grand scheme.

It just so happens that they knew many "traitors" among them. With the right design, it's possible to create a win-win scenario for Angel and the others!