Upper District, Qlipoth Fort.
Cocolia's expression was somewhat ferocious.
"You damned thing, who told you to provoke the infiltrators on your own?!"
"If my daughter gets torn apart by them, I've lost her completely…"
At this, Cocolia sat down weakly, her upper body slumping over the desk.
Her face turned desolate.
"My wish, and your so-called plan—what's the point of it all anymore?!"
Another voice slowly rose in her mind.
"Supreme Guardian… cast aside despair, cast aside sorrow… cast aside useless emotions…"
"Shut up!"
Cocolia's arm angrily swept across the desk, knocking books and papers to the floor.
"She's my daughter, my only… You soulless things could never understand, never!"
The voice in her mind let out a long sigh.
"You haven't lost her… You can surely reunite in the new world."
"New world…?" Cocolia's ferocious expression slowly turned confused.
"Yes… Rise, Guardian. Fulfill your destiny, fulfill a mother's wish…"
The light in Cocolia's eyes dimmed, her spirit fading.
Her soul and thoughts seemed to vanish rapidly, her eyelids drooping.
Just as her eyes were about to close, the door to the Supreme Guardian's office swung open.
The sudden noise jolted Cocolia's thoughts, her eyes snapping open.
Before she could turn, a familiar voice pulled back everything on the verge of sinking.
—Temporarily.
"Mother, I'm back."
Cocolia turned, catching sight of her daughter, looking weary but stepping forward steadily.
"Bronya!"
Cocolia couldn't contain her excitement, rushing forward to pull her into a tight embrace, nearly suffocating her.
"I thought I'd lost you… Bronya!"
Her warmth, her scent—so familiar.
She was still here!
"Those infiltrators didn't do anything to you, did they? Did you capture them, or find a chance to escape?"
Cocolia's tone was filled with a mother's concern for her daughter.
Feeling her mother's embrace, Bronya felt a momentary daze.
This was the mother she'd always known…
Maybe things hadn't reached the worst yet.
"I'm fine, Mother. They didn't do anything to me. I…"
"No rush, no rush. Take your time. You're free from the infiltrators' control, that's what matters."
"Mother, they're not infiltrators. I went through a lot with them in the underground…"
The moment those words left her mouth, Bronya felt her mother's body stiffen.
Before she could continue, the arms around her quickly let go.
"The underground? So you bypassed the Furnace Core passage and found another way down…"
Cocolia's face became expressionless.
"If that's the case, report what you saw and heard in the underground, Commander Bronya."
Cocolia hopped—almost comically—toward her desk.
Bronya's instinctively clenched fists relaxed instantly.
The report she'd prepared turned into a different sentence.
"Mother… Mr. Leon… didn't actually poison you with anything lethal."
"What he added to the wine was just something to make you tear up unknowingly once a night for three days."
"So, you don't need to hop around…"
Cocolia nearly stumbled, catching herself on the desk just in time.
"How do you know he didn't lie to you?!"
Cocolia turned, her face dark.
Bronya: "Mr. Leon told me seriously when he escorted me to the underground exit. He also asked me to pass on an apology to you, Mother…"
Hearing this, Cocolia's face darkened further.
Yet she still didn't dare try walking normally.
"Pfft… hahahaha! No way, hahaha—"
"Sorry, family, I didn't expect a classic homage to hit this hard!"
The screen froze on Cocolia's dark expression, and Ah Xian didn't click the mouse, laughing so hard she doubled over.
"Based on the game's timeline, our time in the underground was probably two to three days."
"Meaning Cocolia, like Madam Hua, was hopping around for days for nothing."
Cocolia's gaze turned cold. "He escorted you to the underground exit and personally told you the poisoned wine wasn't poisonous?"
"Yes. We also temporarily forged a collaboration in the underground, defeating an ancient robot and learning the truth about the Stellaron."
Bronya paused, trying to read something from Cocolia's face.
But Cocolia remained expressionless. "Go on."
"Mother, those three Nameless are absolutely not villains infiltrating Belobog!"
"They discern right from wrong, risking their lives for the underground's people without expecting reward, fighting for others' ideals."
"I swear on my honor as Silvermane Guard Commander and my integrity, the Nameless are here for the Stellaron."
"And to end the disaster it's brought to Belobog!"
Bronya poured out her thoughts in one breath, only to find Cocolia's gaze growing colder, tinged with the impatience and unfamiliarity she'd seen when she dared overstep before.
Pain stabbed Bronya's heart.
But this time, she wouldn't back down.
"Mother, like every Supreme Guardian before you, you know the truth about the Stellaron, don't you?"
"Why hide it from me? I'm the next Supreme Guardian; I'll have to face those secrets eventually."
"The Nameless came to save this world. Please rescind the order to eliminate them."
"To resolve the deadly crisis the Stellaron brings, the Architects have waited centuries, and the Nameless might just be the ones to break—"
"Enough, Bronya!"
Cocolia slammed her palm on the desk, cracking it.
Bronya's pupils shook, momentarily thrown off, but she quickly steadied herself.
"Mother!"
She noticed Cocolia's aura felt even more unfamiliar.
Cocolia: "You disappoint me, Bronya. Arrogant, ignorant—glimpsing one corner of the iceberg and thinking you've seen the whole truth?"
"You got dirtied in the underground's muck and dare question my orders? The Architects' years of nurturing you—"
"They're not muck!"
Anger flared in Bronya's eyes, her voice rising.
"I saw it with my own eyes in the underground—people living in hardship because of the lockdown…"
"People abandoning dignity and kindness for survival, left with no choice but their stance…"
"And people fighting fate just to see the blue sky!"
"Mother, you heard about the Stellaron, heard the Nameless were investigating in the underground, and ordered me to eliminate them. Why?"
"At least tell me why you ordered the underground sealed off."
"Why keep sending Guards to die in the depths of the Fragmentum?"
"Why abandon the underground's people and disregard the Guards' lives?"
"My true origins, the memories I forgot but now recall—why?"
"Guardian, this time, I won't run or back down."
"Please tell me everything you know, see, and hear!"