Outside the orphanage, in a small, crudely furnished cave, Cocolia knocked three times on the cave wall before entering.
The moment she went in, a gleaming cannon barrel was pointed right at her.
"It's me, Kai." The feeling of having a cannon pointed at her wasn't pleasant, but this was something Cocolia herself had proposed. If she hadn't knocked three times before entering, Kai would have had to open fire, even if she could identify her.
Cocolia felt that an AI would strictly follow her suggestion.
Sin Mal, carrying the unconscious Schrodinger on her back, was taken aback when she saw Kai and Noah in the cave, but then she immediately understood what was going on.
"Did Noah bring you in?" Sin Mal expertly placed Schrodinger on a pile of hay in the corner of the cave, then turned and spoke bluntly to Cocolia.
This was Rozaliya and Liliya's number two base on the island. They had so many secret bases on the island that even the saying "a crafty rabbit has three burrows" couldn't describe them.
Sometimes, to find the two of them, Sin Mal had to run through all these bases only to discover that they had found a new "secret base" at some point.
But again, the Alin sisters were just playing at things Sin Mal had already mastered. Sin Mal could always catch them. After several rounds of outwitting them, Sin Mal had become familiar with all these secret bases.
"Then what about Shu? Why didn't he come?" Sin Mal sat down on the ground, panting as she asked.
"He can't come until we dismantle this canopy," Cocolia answered directly. Sin Mal's appearance wasn't entirely a bad thing. As her best assistant, Sin Mal's positive feedback would definitely outweigh the negative.
"Dismantle the canopy?" Sin Mal remembered the faint curtain of light in the sky. She pointed a finger at the sky. "That thing? You can all get in, but Shu is blocked?
"Or could it be..." Sin Mal's voice dropped slightly, "that it has something to do with you not wanting to take Bronya away?"
Cocolia nodded. "A Herrscher has appeared here. It has used some means to control Bronya and two of her companions. If we directly destroy the canopy, they will all die."
Sin Mal didn't speak. She had actually already met one of them. In the fire, Frélle had almost killed Schrodinger. She had pushed her out of the way in time and then carried her out.
It wasn't wrong to say she was being controlled. After all, how could Frélle make such stiff movements?
From the first moment she saw her, Sin Mal had smelled the thick, almost putrid scent of nobility on Frélle. A person like that would never perform such stiff and ugly actions, no matter how unskilled they were.
"You have a plan?" Sin Mal asked directly. "How do we dismantle that light curtain? Don't tell me your plan is just to bring Noah in and fight that thing."
Noah was taken aback and turned to look at Cocolia.
Cocolia wanted to snort and retort. Her exchanges with Sin Mal had always been like this. Although Sin Mal had a sharp tongue, she was actually very obedient.
But the image of that mirror suddenly flashed in her mind. Then, Cocolia forced a smile, one as gentle as she could manage, for Sin Mal.
"Of course not. Our main objective is to sever the connection between those three and the canopy. Shu has already told us what weapons can cut those threads..."
Cocolia quickly explained the plan to Sin Mal, then tried her best to soften her voice. "And now I need your help. Can you..."
"When did you get so mushy?" Sin Mal interrupted her. Cocolia paused, and the stiff smile on her face finally seemed to soften a little.
"What do you need me to do." Sin Mal propped herself up. The soreness all over her body made it difficult for her to even stand. Since the incident began, she had been running around saving people non-stop. Her body was already pushed to its limit.
"I need you to find Sirin and tell her the plan," Cocolia said, dropping her act and speaking to Sin Mal in her most familiar manner. "Remember, only let her know."
Sin Mal nodded and turned, using the cave wall for support as she walked out.
When she reached the entrance, Sin Mal paused.
Then, Cocolia heard Sin Mal's voice.
"You're finally acting like a mother..." The usual gunpowder in Sin Mal's voice was gone, replaced by the calm statement of a fact.
After that one sentence, Sin Mal disappeared from the cave entrance.
Watching her leave, Cocolia was stunned for a long while. It wasn't until Noah tugged at her sleeve that she came back to her senses.
"Let's go. The situation has been fully scouted. There are some discrepancies with what Shu said. I didn't see Mei. We might need to find her first. And... Seele. The Key of Remembrance should be with her."
---||---
Sin Mal moved as fast as she could, but it still took some time to find where Sirin was.
She was already awake, weakly leaning against a corner, tightly clutching that magic wand.
"What are you all huddled here for?! Waiting to be wiped out in one go?!" Sin Mal was already shouting at the entrance. A group of children jumped in fright. When they turned and saw it was the scowling Sin Mal, they all let out a sigh of relief.
"Sin! What happened?!" Rozaliya and Liliya immediately squeezed their way to Sin Mal's side, asking anxiously.
The two of them had been maintaining order among these children. Now that they saw Sin Mal, they both looked as if they'd seen their savior.
"How should this great me know!" Sin Mal impatiently pushed Rozaliya aside. "Hurry up and get to the shelter! Have you all forgotten what you were taught?!"
"But we can't get out once we're inside the shelter!" Rozaliya exclaimed.
"The shelter has an automatic locking function. Once the door is closed, it can only be opened again after several decades," Liliya reminded her, as if afraid Sin Mal had forgotten.
"I know!" Sin Mal grabbed their shoulders, spun them around in front of her, then pushed them out, one in each hand. "Hurry up! When the danger is over, this great me will naturally have a way to let you out!"
"Eeeh?! Sin, aren't you coming?!" Rozaliya was pushed forward.
"Hmph... this place can't do without this great me," Sin Mal snorted, gave them a final push, and then waved them away.
"But—" Rozaliya wanted to say more, but when she turned back, she saw Sin Mal's murderous glare.
Rozaliya pouted, then wiped away her tears fiercely.
"Sin Mal is a big idiot!! Waaaaah—!!"