"Because Theresa's head really feels great to pat." Irene rubbed Theresa's soft silver hair again, withdrawing her hand at the perfect moment just before the latter was about to blow her top.
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore." Irene smiled, a trace of obvious exhaustion on her face. "A lot really did happen today, and I need to go back and get some good rest too."
"You should go to sleep early as well, Theresa. It's not good for a Principal to stay up late."
As she spoke, Irene tried to reach out and pat Theresa's head again. This time, Theresa swatted away Irene's mischievous hand and glared at her, though her tone softened.
"I know... you too..." Theresa looked at the smile on Irene's face and the fatigue that couldn't be hidden in her eyes. "Although I don't know exactly how much you are shouldering..."
"But... don't push yourself too hard. Here... all of us can be your support."
Hearing this, Irene was slightly stunned. Immediately, the smile in her eyes became somewhat more genuine and warm as she nodded gently. "Mn, I know~"
"When the time comes, if it's truly necessary, I will definitely ask you for help, my cute Principal~"
"Hurry up and go to sleep!" Theresa seemed to be provoked by Irene's final form of address. She stomped her foot, turned around, and walked toward her dormitory pretending to be puffed up with anger, though the slightly reddened tips of her ears revealed that her mood was far from calm.
Watching that petite retreating figure, Irene finally let out a soft sigh. She looked up at the cold, bright moon in the sky and muttered to herself in a low voice, "This is only the first step; the time has not yet come."
Right now, this was merely the prelude of the storm. The deeper storm was still further behind. As a small moth, she had to strive to flap her wings, whipping up a gentle breeze to withstand the invasion of that storm.
Irene turned around, preparing to follow Theresa back to the villa. Of course, the villa likely wouldn't be too peaceful either.
But wait, she seemed to have forgotten something. Though it didn't seem to be anything particularly urgent...
Just as Irene was pondering, Pardo's voice drifted leisurely from within Irene's mind: [Sister Irene, when we were fighting that guy, didn't we use Sister Kallen's Judah to smash the window?]
[...] Irene fell silent for a moment before patting Pardo's head mentally. [Mn, now that you mention it, I remember. It seems we'll only be able to sleep while facing the wind tonight.]
[Ah, blowing in the night breeze is good too.] Kallen patted Irene's mental entity. [Always blowing that air conditioning stuff doesn't seem too good, right?]
[You person from the Middle Ages, just shut up. You didn't have air conditioning back then, so don't talk about air conditioning hurting the body. Besides, with our physical constitution, we'd be fine even in Antarctica, let alone fearing air conditioning.]
Irene's mental entity looked at Kallen and rolled her eyes. Sigh, she could only hope her room wasn't too messy. At the very least, she had smacked him out with Judah, so it shouldn't be too chaotic, right?
[Mn, Miss Irene, your physical constitution is still slightly lacking. You might still need to wear thermal underwear.]
[Lixue, do I need you to roast me on this?!]
Mn, to be able to argue within one's own mind, Irene could be considered one of the very few. Moreover, regarding the level of liveliness, probably only Teacher Vill-V had the same model of liveliness.
However, this kind of cheerful liveliness was not ubiquitous.
—Anti-Entropy Radical Faction, A Certain Secret Base—
Cold metallic luster constituted the main color tone of this base. Cocolia walked hurriedly along the corridor. Although staff members passed by from time to time...
Seeing the anger flashing occasionally across Cocolia's face, they all steered clear, simultaneously informing their companions to stay away from the vicinity to prevent colliding with Lady Cocolia.
Cocolia naturally noticed this situation but didn't say much, because she was indeed extremely irritable right now. This operation was a complete and total loss.
A super loss. Cultivating a capable clone was not a simple matter. Moreover, she didn't know where the problem lay, but the personalities of those clones were each more difficult to deal with than the last.
One by one, they were almost stepping on her neck. Yet, she really needed this combat power and had to endure it. This time, the clone she sent out already had relatively high combat power.
But in the end, it still failed. Not only that, but she also lost three top-tier modified Titans. Those were all her things, not the Conservative Faction's.
The Conservative Faction clearly came over this time to get something for nothing. If not for that Dr. Einstein saying she would act together with her to uncover the secrets of Schicksal...
Otherwise, Cocolia wouldn't have been willing to let the Conservative Faction come empty-handed. But this operation still resulted in nothing. No secrets were seen. Neither that Irene nor the Herrscher of Thunder was obtained.
It was simply an ultimate, invincible, super-massive loss-making operation.
"A bunch of trash..." she cursed in a low voice, unsure if she was talking about those three Titans or that Welt clone who was of no use.
Subsequently, Cocolia calmed her mood and began to ponder what to do next. Undoubtedly, she could not reveal the information of the clone's death to the Conservative Faction.
The authority she had painstakingly gained using the clone could not be exposed so quickly. And the Conservative Faction...
Cocolia recalled the previous communication. Einstein appeared to have already detached from St. Freya and should have escaped as well, but she felt something was wrong.
It was impossible for the Conservative Faction to have no moves at all. It was just that she didn't know yet what exactly they were willing to act with her for.
But after alerting the enemy this time, a forceful attack on St. Freya was obviously no longer feasible. Theresa would inevitably strengthen security, and Schicksal would definitely make some reaction.
To go and provoke Schicksal again would clearly be unwise. She needed new bargaining chips, stronger and more direct power. Since the Gem of Conquest couldn't be obtained for the time being...
Cocolia walked into her room, took out a specially made communicator, opened it, and dialed the only number on it.
The phone rang for a while, but no one answered. Cocolia wasn't anxious; the person on the other end couldn't be free anytime and anywhere.
Cocolia, as a former warlord, still possessed this bit of patience. However, this also required the person on the other end to possess such value. And clearly, the person on the other end did possess such value.
Dr. Magi. He could be counted as a top-tier scientist even within Schicksal. The project he was currently responsible for was the "Gem of Serenity" research project.
Interestingly, this doctor was not someone Cocolia had come to the door to lure over with various promises. Quite the opposite—this doctor had sought her out himself.
As for why, Cocolia had no time to study the psychology of a doctor. She only knew that this doctor could help her obtain the Gem of Serenity. As for the other requests proposed by this doctor...
Cocolia naturally nodded to all of them, but she hadn't taken those requests to heart at all. As for why?
Did it even need to be said? The most valuable thing about this doctor to her was the Gem of Serenity. As long as she could get the Gem of Serenity, this doctor would naturally lose his utility value.
As for the remaining wishes and requests, let this doctor go to the underworld to find someone to fulfill his wishes.
After quite a while, the communicator finally showed activity. The screen lit up, revealing an old man wearing a white lab coat with somewhat messy hair.
"Cocolia?!" Dr. Magi's voice was suppressed very low, carrying wariness. "What is it? I should have said not to contact me frequently. If discovered by Otto..."
"Good evening, Dr. Magi." Cocolia interrupted Dr. Magi directly. "I hope I didn't disturb your rest. As for Otto, as long as you defect completely, won't you not need to care about Otto anymore?"
Hearing Cocolia's words, a trace of panic flashed through Dr. Magi's eyes. Betraying Otto—this was indeed a thought he'd had for a long time. But if he really had to do it, Dr. Magi's heart still held only fear.
"Dr. Magi, there will always be contact between us. Long pain is worse than short pain." Cocolia looked at Dr. Magi before her. To be honest, if this scientist were truly ruthless...
Cocolia might actually spare his life. After all, under her command, she lacked nothing except a researcher with brains to help her research various things.
But it was a pity. In Cocolia's view, this doctor was simply a mass of contradictions. He hated Otto, yet dared not betray Otto.
Clearly, he had decided to betray long ago, yet he remained indecisive, always in a state of hesitation. If it were just that, fine; being a spy within Schicksal's research system wasn't impossible.
But the problem lay in the fact that this person refused to provide her with intelligence on Schicksal's internal research. Once or twice was fine, but after so long, Cocolia's patience had long been worn away.
Coupled with the massive loss this time, Cocolia no longer had any mood to wait. So, Cocolia spoke directly: "Doctor, you must understand that the longer you drag this out, the harder it will be for you to extricate yourself."
"Isn't now the best time? Or do you intend to wait until Otto discovers your actions before you are willing to cooperate with me?"
Magi opened his mouth, looking at Cocolia. His gaze shifted to the small box that had been sitting on his table all along. Inside it was the Honkai energy clearing potion he had researched.
Just one injection could clear the Honkai energy within a certain individual's body. If injected over a long period, it could even completely empty it out.
In other words, the potion inside could cause a Valkyrie to lose her Honkai energy. Long-term injection could even turn a Valkyrie back into an ordinary person, letting her return to a normal life.
At least, that was what Dr. Magi believed. And the reason Dr. Magi had sought out Cocolia, or rather, sought out Anti-Entropy, was that he believed Schicksal would absolutely not use this research for good.
He didn't wish for Valkyries to step onto the battlefield of the Honkai anymore. They were clearly just a group of ordinary girls; why did they have to bear such responsibility?
While Dr. Magi was still distracted, Cocolia continued to press him: "I believe you can definitely bring the Gem of Serenity to me. As long as you can bring it to me, I will naturally complete all those previous requests of yours."
"I..." Dr. Magi looked at Cocolia, his eyes still holding a bit of hesitation. After all, Otto's pressure was truly too strong.
Yet Cocolia was biting down hard: unless he stole the Gem of Serenity out, she would absolutely not accept Dr. Magi. And Magi could find no other capable organization to help him mass-produce the potion.
After taking several deep breaths, Magi nodded forcefully, as if persuading himself: "I understand. I will bring it over. You... you must abide by the agreement between us."
"This is natural, Dr. Magi." Cocolia nodded casually. But to be honest, she had forgotten what agreement she had made with Dr. Magi at the time.
However, as long as the Gem was in hand, it didn't matter. Cocolia casually closed the communication. The rest depended on how that Dr. Magi performed.
But Cocolia was also clear that the Gem of Serenity, as a Herrscher Core, was an extremely important item in Schicksal. Once stolen, it would certainly trigger Schicksal's reaction.
She certainly couldn't count on Dr. Magi to travel all the way to give her the Gem. He was just a doctor, not a trained spy or agent.
Since that was the case... Cocolia sighed, stood up, and shook her head with some mental exhaustion. It seemed she had to go awaken a troublesome clone again.
On the other side, Dr. Magi looked at the communicator, which had gone silent, and slumped over the table. His fingers slowly tightened into his sparse hair, attempting to use this method to make himself slightly more awake.
"Haa... Haa..." After panting for a few breaths, Dr. Magi released his hands. His gaze looked toward a photo placed on the table, looking at the girl in the photo.
"Lin..." Dr. Magi reached out, wanting to touch the girl in the photo. But just as his hand reached halfway, it was as if he were stung by something, and he jerked his hand back violently.
A cheerful female voice seemed to echo by his ear.
[Grandpa, starting today, I'm going to become a Valkyrie! I want to be like Grandpa and work hard to protect humanity!]
Under the white light that was like an illusion, Magi looked at the laughing young girl before him, looking at the determination in her eyes. He wanted to say something, but back then, he seemed to have dared to say nothing.
And within that illusion of light, a painful scream suddenly came. That lively and cheerful female voice seemed to have been filled with lead, becoming heavy and hoarse.
[Grandpa! Grandpa! My body hurts so much!] The illusion before Dr. Magi suddenly collapsed. The young girl used one arm to frantically pound on the glass in front of her.
And the girl's entire body was like grains of sand, gradually disintegrating, scattering into the air.
[Grandpa! Save me!]
With the fall of the final sentence, the girl turned into flying ash in an instant. Only a gem that fell from her chest remained, crashing onto the ground and emitting a crisp sound.
As the crisp sound rang out, Dr. Magi stood up abruptly, his back already soaked with cold sweat unknowingly.
"Lin..." Magi looked at the girl in the photo. He wanted to reach out again, but his hand felt like it was filled with lead; he couldn't lift it no matter what. After a while, Magi walked toward the outside.
Outside the window of the room, the moonlight was gradually shrouded by shadows. Only a tiny bit of moonlight peeked through the gaps in the clouds, shining exactly on the photo of the girl placed on the table.
And as the cloud layers surged, that last glimmer of moonlight was also obscured, and the entire room fell into a stretch of darkness.
________________________________________
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