Okay so that encounter really didn't work out well at all. Now in addition to trying to get Kiana and Mei together I also need to worry about making sure Siegfried doesn't take out Cocolia and actually manage to stop the 3rd eruption. Luckily Siegfried isn't really the most competent of people, however that is a double edged sword.
Siegfried is sure to ask his friends at Anti Entropy for help, and while Siegfried is incompetent, Drs Tesla and Einstein are certainly not. Once they get word from Siegfried that it's the Anti Entropy radical faction that's been causing the increase in Honkai energy, it won't take long to figure out that it was Cocolia, since she busted Raiden Ryoma's misuse of funds and put him in jail. That will lead them straight to ME corp, knowing Siegfried, he isn't likely to waste time investigating, he will probably go straight to ME corp HQ, beat up a few floors, threaten Cocolia into explaining her actions, and then depending on the response, probably killing her.
While this might seem like a good thing, Cocolia, while not exactly a terrible person, is certainly incompetent herself. She was completely and easily manipulated by the World Serpent for even the faintest chance that she could save her daughter and perfect the X-10 experiments, even if it meant sacrificing an entire city to do so. While I would also sacrifice the entire city, at least I know that my vision of success, while not exactly sunshine and rainbows, is certainly better than everyone else's.
Back to the trolley problem example, you have the population on Nagazora, less than 300,000, (I looked it up on my phone) for a 95% chance of a successful ending in which most of humanity is still alive and intact, VS saving those 300,000, avoiding setting the events of the game in motion, and potentially dooming all of humanity for a 5-10% chance for a better success?
Cocolia's X-10 experiments, while they would probably save some lives if perfected, wasn't exactly groundbreaking research. Dr. Maki would make headway in his gem research creating a cure for Honkai energy erosion in a little over 2 years. As for the stigmata research, Schicksal already had artificial stigmata, and some of the leftover data from the previous era.
Another thing is that the artificial eruption of Nagazora city, while providing a Herrscher gem for research, wouldn't really even help at all with the X-10 experiments. Sure, it undoubtedly would provide some data or even Cocolia would never agree to it. But the major pusher of the artificial eruption, the World Serpent , didn't care at all about treating Honkai energy erosion. They pushed for both the X-10 experiments and the artificial eruption of Nagazora solely for Jackal's research into stigmata. The worst part was that Jackal's research for the Stigmata project was already done by Mobius and Mei back in the previous era, Grey Serpent only tasked Jackal with 'creating' project Stigmata from scratch to test her ability.
The World Serpent also probably had a hand in getting the gem of conquest implanted into Mei in the first place precisely to cause this Honkai eruption. Honestly, as a cure for treating the awakening of natural stigmata, it was certainly dubious. Who has the idea of implanting a Herrscher core into a living human to counteract the effects of stigmata awakening? The only one crazy enough to even suggest the idea is probably Jackal of World Serpent. While the PE stigmata and the Herrscher gem were certainly opposites, that didn't really mean anything, if anything it made things much worse!
But that's besides the point. The point is that Cocolia is incompetent, however, the World Serpent hopefully isn't.
While it seemed odd to have to rely on the 'enemies' being competent to stop Siegfried, it was her only real choice, she couldn't exactly beat Siegfried in a fight. Hopefully Cocolia or World Serpent would have enough spies in the conservative faction of Anti Entropy that they notice and set off the eruption sooner rather than later.
The optimal outcome would probably be that Siegfried catches onto Cocolia's tail, Cocolia panics and sets off the 3rd eruption, and then Siegfried kills Cocolia.
Actually that wouldn't be optimal, since then Cocolia would never open the eye of the deep, which would mean that Kevin would have to come out some other way.
Kevin possessed the beacon to the 2nd divine key, which was needed for activating the 2nd divine key's 0th power, which was necessary for reaching the imaginary tree. While she wasn't sure that it was totally necessary to escape from the world of Honkai: Impact 3rd and get to Honkai: Star Rail, there was a good chance she would end up needing it.
Also, if Kevin somehow failed to get back to the real world in time, humanity would have to face the Herrscher of Finality the hard way, and probably lose and die horribly, and Kiana would never be able to use the project Stigmata finality backdoor.
Not that World Serpent doesn't have other plans or means of getting Kevin out of the sea of quanta on their own, but still.
Again, not much I can do, the outcome is almost entirely out of my hands.
The outcomes are as follows, the eruption happens or it doesn't, Cocolia dies, or doesn't, and the combinations of those outcomes. The optimal outcome is still the original, the eruption happens, Cocolia doesn't die. Also there is the additional requirement that she is not killed by Cocolia or Siegfried.
I don't have anywhere to go, I don't have any tasks to complete, and I am definitely not going to school, especially now that I've been threatened by Siegfried to stay away from Kiana.
I guess I will just wait around?
Almost at the hotel, Lee decided she might as well pay for the nicest room they had. She might be staying there for a while, doing nothing in particular.
The hotel sat on a quiet corner of the street, sandwiched between a laundromat and a residential area. The sign out front was a little dim, not broken but not quite bright either.
Well, at least it doesn't look abandoned.
Inside, the lobby was clean but plain. The tile floors were a dull gray, and the walls had faded paint. There was a single potted plant by the elevator and a small counter with a tired-looking clerk behind it. While not exactly run down or unclean, it wasn't exactly a 5 star hotel.
Lee walked up and after talking with the clerk for a while, got the nicest single room, which was still apparently not nice enough to come with a kitchenette. The clerk slid over a keycard and a single page of rules.
No parties, no pets, no smoking. Yeah, yeah.
She took the elevator up. It groaned a little but worked fine. Her room was at the very end of the hall.
Opening the door, she stepped inside and looked around.
It was… fine. The bedspread was a generic beige, the furniture a cheap laminate that almost matched. There was a mini fridge and a small coffee maker and a single packet of instant coffee. However the real money was the large full sized desk, with an office chair that didn't look half bad. This hotel was clearly for the business traveler, as the room did come with a decently fast internet connection.
Well, I did ask for the nicest room. Guess this is as nice as it gets.
She put her bag on the bed and checked the bathroom. It was clean but tiny, just a shower stall and a little bar of soap wrapped in paper.
Lee let out a slow breath and sat down on the edge of the bed. It creaked under her weight but held steady.
Not bad. Not great either. At least it's quiet.
She laid back for a moment, staring at the ceiling. It had a single round light fixture and a faint water stain near the corner.
This will work for now. Not like I can stay at Kiana's place anymore.
Taking out both bats and the roll of grip tape which she had gone back for at the sporting supply store, she started wrapping the handles of both bats. After doing that, she awkwardly sat and stared around the room.
After a while she decided to take everything out of the backpack besides her one pair of dirty clothing, the ones she had borrowed from Kiana. Recalling, her old clothes were still at Kiana's place. No need to antagonize Siegfried over it. She had already disposed of her old wallet and phone yesterday, and nobody would check the brand of the clothing she had been wearing to see that it didn't match up.
Recalling that there was in fact a laundromat next door, she grabbed her backpack, now almost empty, and went back down the elevator and next door.
The laundromat was a standard affair, she had to install and fiddle with an app in order to get the machines running, however after setting her clothes to wash, she decided to go back to the hotel.
Sitting on the bed again, she stared at the time on her phone, which was only 2:03. Sighing, she realized that the next few days were going to be a long and boring affair.
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A few days later, March 2nd, 2014.
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"Cocolia are you listening?"
Cocolia was currently sitting in a deluxe office chair in what was formerly Raiden Ryoma's office, now hers.
"Yeah yeah I get it, the conservatives are snooping around. I am not worried about it, they won't find anything." Cocolia said while looking very tired. "I have been completely busy with the takeover of ME corp, not everything is fully under control yet, it's only been 5 days. Even if they find out I was the one behind Ryoma's arrest they can't do anything about it. The arrest was perfectly legal, even if they break him out of jail he certainly has no claim to ME corp anymore. Unless the conservatives are willing to foot the bill."
"I am calling because they have already found something." Said the voice on the other side of the call. It was Grey Serpent, a Gray Serpent. "I don't know where they acquired it from but they received some intel that you are behind the recent increase in Honkai energy around Nagazoa."
"We." Cocolia said in response.
"What?" Replied Grey Serpent.
"We are behind the increase in Honkai energy around Nagazora. We are in this together as partners."
"This is an intel report, they are completely unaware of my existence. As for our responsibility as partners, I am reporting this intel to you aren't I?" Grey Serpent finally responded.
"Even if they have some suspicion there is no evidence, I made sure to remove it all. I am working through several layers of intermediaries." Said Cocolia.
"It's Siegfried, he is really pushing for a full on investigation, he is certain that you are directly responsible, since he somehow is aware that it was you who arranged for Ryoma's arrest. Ryoma was Siegfried's friend."
"He is just one man, what can he really do about the situation? The plan will proceed regardless. If needed, I can just send Bronya after him." Cocolia smiled.
If Cocolia knew what Grey Serpent was thinking, she would certainly not be smiling. Thankfully, their face being made entirely of metal, one solid piece, kept any emotions that Grey Serpent might be feeling about the competency of Cocolia away from Cocolia's sight.
"Don't underestimate Siegfried, he has activated an old ICHOR factor and is now a MANTIS. He also possesses Judgement of Shamash, sending Bronya against him would be an extremely unwise move."
"Well then what exactly do you want me to do about it?"
"For now, move up the schedule, the 29th is simply too far away, we know exactly where the target is going to be for the next few days. As long as we can complete the research before Siegfried learns more we will be in the clear. After it's all over he will be too busy clearing out Honkai beasts to care much for our activities." Grey Serpent Said, "The bomb can be in place as soon as tonight, ready to detonate tomorrow after the target reaches the school."
"That won't be enough time to evacuate ME Corps' valuable assets."
"Focus on the weapons research first, everything civilian is not worth bothering with."
"I just hope this is all worth it." Cocolia said.
"Don't worry, it will be." Replied Grey Serpent. "Most of the research is extremely mundane anyway, and it's much better than you getting killed by Siegfried."
"That's not what I meant."