"It's a pleasure that you've ultimately chosen to cooperate with us once more, whether out of necessity or for the sake of your adorable daughter."
Grey Serpent's voice was filled with satisfaction. "Madam Cocolia."
"Don't you find your words rather ironic?" Cocolia let out a light, dismissive hum.
"Back then, when that Grey Serpent abandoned me, he didn't hesitate in the slightest."
"Clearly, those with short-sightedness seldom endure for long," Grey Serpent spread his hands, cleanly severing ties with his other iterations without a second thought.
"Besides, the more radical Grey Serpents have already been... thoroughly purged, for reasons that are best left unspoken."
"I have no interest in the internal strife within your World Serpent. Now, tell me what you need from me and what I stand to gain."
"Straight to the point, I appreciate that." Grey Serpent gave a slight nod.
"My request is simple. You only need to inform me of the time when Anti-Entropy plans to activate the Eye of the Deep."
"That's all?"
"That's all. Once it's done, the Lord will bring your daughter out when he emerges from the Sea of Quanta."
Cocolia fell silent for a moment, a faint purple glimmer flickering deep within her eyes.
"Fine. The Eye of the Deep will activate twice. The first time will be…"
A short while later, Cocolia calmly left the room and returned to her office.
"Lady Lynelle, I don't understand…"
The moment she stepped into her office, Cocolia turned to the empty space before her, her expression puzzled.
"Why disclose the true activation time to World Serpent? I initially thought you intended to use this opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop…"
"Because, after the Grey Serpents purged their internal radicals, the remaining ones are largely from the more moderate faction. There's no longer any need to eliminate them all."
Lynelle's translucent figure gradually materialized in front of Cocolia.
"Moreover, we cannot stop World Serpent's Lord, Kevin, from returning to the main world from the Sea of Quanta."
"Rather than constantly worrying about World Serpent causing trouble every time a Herrscher appears, it's better to just release Kevin outright."
"More importantly, I have some understanding of that Lord's circumstances. His determination to overcome the Honkai is likely unmatched. With him present, Earth will have an extra layer of security before the Herrscher of Finality descends."
"But in that case… what about Seele?"
"Regarding that, you need not worry." Lynelle's voice paused briefly.
"In this operation, anyone else might face danger, but Seele is absolutely safe… because both we and World Serpent share the same goal: to bring her back to the main world."
"Cocolia, don't underestimate Seele's potential, alright?"
--+--
"Preparations for the first activation test of the Eye of the Deep are complete… Dr. Einstein, you may give the order."
A day later, at the Eye of the Deep testing site, numerous experimental facilities were in place.
According to the plan, Anti-Entropy would deploy a large number of support mechs into the Sea of Quanta to determine Welt's general situation and search for any trace of Seele.
To prevent the Serpent from detecting the Herrscher core's fluctuations and tracking them, Lynelle and Mei, who possessed the Herrscher cores, were deliberately stationed far from the testing site during the first phase of the plan.
Of course, as a precaution, if anything went wrong, the two could reach the testing site in about a minute at full speed—provided no one stood in their way.
"Alright, Lady Theresa, please stand by. Cocolia, are the Quantum Titans in position?"
"About 50% are deployed. This is a testing site, after all; I can't exactly fill the place with powered mechs." Cocolia shrugged.
"Besides, there have been instances where disturbances from the Eye of the Deep triggered Honkai beast attacks on The Deep. The remaining Titans have been deployed to fortify the city's perimeter."
"That's fine, 50% will suffice." Einstein nodded. "All teams, prepare. In three seconds, begin charging the activation device and open the Eye of the Deep!"
As multiple Honkai energy reactors powered up simultaneously, unstable phantoms began to manifest at the center of the testing site—a visible effect of quantum information spilling into reality.
However, this level of disturbance was still within Anti-Entropy's control.
"Open the warehouse. Begin deploying probes."
Once the center of the site was enveloped in a soft, blue glow, numerous probe carts began rushing along designated tracks from the warehouse connected directly to the testing site, spreading into various parts of the Sea of Quanta.
Due to the unstable nature of the Sea of Quanta, even exploring areas adjacent to the main world required a staggering number of probes.
However, thanks to the experimental data Welt left behind before his disappearance, the search range had been significantly narrowed.
Even so, Einstein had prepared thousands of probe carts, as locating Seele—whose whereabouts were completely unknown—posed an additional challenge.
"Wait, Einstein, we have a situation!"
But at that moment, Theresa's exclamation and the testing site's alarm blared almost simultaneously.
[Alert, alert—Quantum tidal wave frequency entering abnormal state. Please shut down the Eye of the Deep immediately—]
"What? Why now, of all times…"
Einstein frowned slightly but didn't immediately order the Eye of the Deep shut down.
Instead, she pulled up the testing site's monitoring equipment, intent on finding the cause. Her intuition told her this wasn't just a natural phenomenon of the Sea of Quanta.
Moreover, with the immense cost of each activation and the preparatory work, halting now was impossible. Doing so would delay the entire plan by at least a month.
Yet, a quick glance at the data made her realize the issue instantly.
The moment she saw the readings, Einstein looked up in alarm, her eyes fixed on the testing site.
More precisely, on one seemingly ordinary probe cart among the countless others.
"How can this be… Since when was there a Herrscher core signal in The Deep?"
--+--
At the same time, elsewhere, Mei practically leaped from her chair the moment she heard the alarm.
"Lynelle, listen… this alarm doesn't sound right. Could something have happened on the Doctor's end?"
"Clearly, yes."
Lynelle waved her terminal. "Well, an emergency assembly signal, along with one bad news and one even worse news."
"The bad news is, the experiment seems to have encountered a major problem. And the worse news is…"
As she sensed several Grey Serpents clad in bio-armor within her range, Lynelle let out a soft sigh.
"Unfortunately, we've been targeted as well."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.