World Serpent Base
Inside the World Serpent base, Raven glanced at her colleague Jackal, then turned her gaze to Gray Serpent on the other side.
"I've already handed you the report on Singapore from last time. It hasn't been long, and there's already a new mission?"
"Precisely. And this mission is related to the event in Singapore."
As an organization lurking in the shadows, World Serpent certainly couldn't stand by while Cocolia prepared to make big news.
In fact, while Schicksal and the Anti-Entropy Radicals were facing off externally, Raven had followed Gray Serpent's orders, taking the Seven Thunders of Retribution and secretly infiltrating Singapore.
As a victim of the Second Honkai Eruption herself, Raven naturally didn't want to see the Honkai erupt directly in a populated area.
However, Gray Serpent's reason for sending Raven to stop the event was completely different from Raven's own thoughts.
It is well known that although Singapore is a small country, its economy has a certain influence on economies around the world.
As a 'human' who had founded multiple organizations, Gray Serpent wasn't an idiot like Cocolia who acted without regard for consequences.
World Serpent had industries all over the world, and Jackal's experiments and the preparations for Project Stigma required massive amounts of funding.
Gray Serpent didn't exactly pity the poor souls in Singapore; his main thought was...
—Damn it, can't that prodigal Cocolia pick a place that won't impact the world economy if she wants to blow something up?
It's not like Singapore is the only place where a Honkai Eruption can be triggered. Choosing this place to create a massive Honkai disaster would not only affect World Serpent's industries but might also cause economic fluctuations for ME Corp under Cocolia's command.
After this incident, Gray Serpent was already considering whether to discard Cocolia as a pawn.
Although he had squeezed enough intelligence and resources out of Cocolia, the problem was that allying with a fool was simply too dangerous.
Even without the intervention of the [Mysterious Organization] mentioned in Raven's report, those three clones under Cocolia... were useless.
Schicksal's newly promoted S-Rank Valkyrie, Durandal, could already use the [Key of Death], Abyss Flower.
And Schicksal's former S-Rank Valkyrie, Theresa, was also squatting outside carrying the [Key of Binding], Oath of Judah.
Even if those clones had some of the Herrscher of Reason's skills, compared to the combat power of these two S-Rank Valkyries, it wouldn't take much time to clean them up.
In the end, even if a Herrscher of Death were truly born, it would just be suppressed by Schicksal at lightspeed and taken back to Schicksal HQ for research.
And that wasn't the end of it.
"Raven, regarding that piece of intelligence at the end of your report—are you serious?"
Facing Gray Serpent's question, Raven spoke with utter helplessness.
"Of course I'm serious. I don't know where we showed a weakness, but just a while ago, a Schicksal S-Rank Valkyrie came to the Shenzhou branch of Heliopolis Life Sciences to probe for intelligence under the guise of business negotiations."
"Although I managed to turn her away this time, that woman isn't someone easily fooled."
"Hell if I know... where exactly did we leak?"
At this moment, Jackal suddenly looked at Raven and sneered.
"You didn't show a weakness while operating outside, did you, Raven?"
"Hah, who knows."
Facing Jackal's questioning, Raven didn't completely deny her guess.
Although she knew Jackal's guess was baseless and brought up just to annoy her, facts were facts.
Heliopolis Life Sciences, as an enterprise that had cooperated with Schicksal for many years, actually had a Schicksal Valkyrie come to their door to probe for intelligence... honestly, this matter alone was enough for the organization to take seriously.
"Since I'm here, I also intend to let Gray Serpent investigate. With Gray Serpent's intelligence network, he should be able to find out where the problem lies."
"If the organization was exposed due to my mistake, then deal with it however it should be dealt with."
"...Heh, no need for that."
Hearing Raven's words, Gray Serpent didn't pursue Raven's responsibility based on their conversation.
Raven was a subordinate Gray Serpent had brought up himself; regardless of anything else, this woman was serious in her work and convenient to use.
In comparison, while Jackal over there had terrifying talent and ability in scientific research, in aspects outside of research...
Gray Serpent didn't want to disparage a fellow Cadre like Jackal too much.
But if he had to say it, Raven was an excellent hound, while Jackal... was like a Husky that liked to mess around.
At least for the current stage, Gray Serpent felt that Raven was not only usable but very useful.
Moreover, after Raven handed in the report, Gray Serpent had immediately used his intelligence network to investigate the cause of this incident.
As for the source of intelligence...
Don't ask. World Serpent's comrades are spread across the five lakes and four seas; some had even infiltrated Schicksal and Anti-Entropy long ago.
As the world's oldest organization, if Gray Serpent hadn't planted his subordinates in those two major organizations in advance, all his years would have been in vain.
According to intelligence from spies in Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, Schicksal Valkyrie Rita Rossweisse's visit to Heliopolis Life Sciences was actually connected to Cocolia's affairs.
First, neither Schicksal nor Anti-Entropy managed to capture the Herrscher of Thunder during the Third Honkai Eruption.
Second, Cocolia's adopted daughter, Bronya, whom she had sent to Nagazora City, went missing after the Third Honkai Eruption.
According to news from the mole World Serpent had mixed into the Radical faction, Cocolia judged that Bronya had lost contact because the 'Herrscher of Thunder' interfered with her brain chip.
Meanwhile, after returning to Schicksal HQ, Rita Rossweisse went to the intelligence division to ask about investigation methods and, with the assistance of Valkyries from the intelligence division, began investigating a man named Aaron.
Connecting these two events, Rita Rossweisse discovered something in Nagazora City, so she started investigating that man named Aaron.
Currently, the only active S-Rank Valkyries in Schicksal were Durandal and Rita.
Since Rita was Durandal's adjutant, an event she was paying attention to was likely being watched by Durandal as well.
Then the rest was simple.
The Herrscher of Thunder is not the [Herrscher of the Void]; even if she awakened her Herrscher Authority, she couldn't fly around randomly.
The reason neither Schicksal nor Anti-Entropy got her was that someone had suppressed the Herrscher of Thunder before the two major organizations could act, and then took her away early using some hidden method.
The man Rita Rossweisse was investigating, from the current look of things, was likely the mastermind behind this event.
Otherwise, this S-Rank who failed her mission wouldn't have started investigating a stranger immediately upon returning to Schicksal.
combining Cocolia's intelligence with this side's, Gray Serpent had roughly pieced together the current situation.
Cocolia's daughter was suspected to be moving with the Herrscher of Thunder.
But because the Herrscher of Thunder's Honkai energy interfered with electromagnetic waves, she couldn't complete the connection with her adoptive mother using her brain chip.
As for that man named Aaron, he was obviously moving with the Herrscher of Thunder.
According to the report submitted by Raven regarding Singapore, she couldn't use electronic devices after arriving at the Empress Hotel.
This also indicated that the Herrscher of Thunder not only failed to become an [Apostle of destruction] but had also regained her human heart.
Otherwise, there was no explaining why she didn't cause destruction in Singapore and actively went to the Empress Hotel to stop the Honkai outbreak.
Continuing to deduce along this line of intelligence, Gray Serpent found the matter to be quite significant.
Regardless, after completing her awakening, the Herrscher of Thunder indeed failed to suppress the Honkai energy outbreak, instantly taking millions of lives.
Under these circumstances, after her body control was seized by the Herrscher persona, she actually regained her human heart. Someone must have assisted her in this process.
How difficult is it for a Herrscher to regain a human heart... well, Gray Serpent felt the probability was quite small.
Especially regaining consciousness just by having someone shout a few words... he didn't believe that at all.
Then there was only one answer.
That man named Aaron might possess the power to suppress a Herrscher.
Precisely because he had such powerful strength, he could force back Schicksal and Anti-Entropy and successfully become the 'Master' of the 'Herrscher of Thunder'.
And the reason Rita investigated the Shenzhou branch of Heliopolis Life Sciences was actually quite simple.
She came initially to investigate Aaron.
But as she investigated, she found that Heliopolis Life Sciences also had some issues.
So that woman ultimately misunderstood that 'Aaron is related to this problematic enterprise, Heliopolis Life Sciences', and thus went to the Shenzhou branch to probe for intelligence.
Hah, interesting.
"The reason for Heliopolis Life Sciences' exposure this time does not lie with you, Raven. I already roughly know the cause."
"Oh? Then who leaked the intelligence?"
"That requires specific investigation. But right now, we have more important things to do."
After actively cutting off the topic, Gray Serpent spoke to Raven.
"Currently, we still cannot use the [Key of the Void] to rescue the Lord. So now, we need some assistance."
"Jackal's strength in research is excellent, but regrettably, we don't have time to wait for you to continue researching at a snail's pace."
"Tch... just give me a bit more time..."
"According to the information left by the Lord, there are at most five years left until the Finality descends."
At this moment, Gray Serpent's tone suddenly became incredibly cold.
"How much time do you think we have for you to waste?"
"Focus on preparing for Project Stigma. If you have no ideas in that area, we can only ask others for help."
"Others?"
"Cocolia has a request this time—she wants us to help assassinate her two colleagues, Frederica Nikola Tesla and Lieserl Albert Einstein."
Hearing this, even Raven, who was usually relatively calm, revealed a trace of shock.
Subsequently, unable to control her emotions, she shouted at Gray Serpent.
"Has she finally gone mad?!"
"I think so too. Anti-Entropy has managed to avoid being completely wiped out by Schicksal despite their Sovereign being missing, relying entirely on those two veteran executors."
"Their minds are undoubtedly treasures of humanity. Cocolia actually wants to kill them for power... Hah, that's why I think it's about time to end our alliance with this woman."
"Your mission this time is to bring those two doctors from Anti-Entropy to our World Serpent after Cocolia helps us disable Anti-Entropy's internal defense systems."
"We need to use their brains to assist us in completing the plan. Of course, to Cocolia, we will claim that these two doctors have already been killed by us."
"...Understood."
Having worked under Gray Serpent for many years, Raven instantly understood her superior's thoughts.
Capture the two doctors with extreme research capabilities and make them work for World Serpent.
At the same time, Gray Serpent didn't intend to continue the alliance with Cocolia.
This didn't mean Gray Serpent planned to abandon the organization of Anti-Entropy.
On the contrary, like a true snake, Gray Serpent wanted to greedily swallow the organization of Anti-Entropy whole.
Let the foundation of the Conservatives be taken away, while allowing the Radicals to gain enough authority.
Then eliminate Cocolia, and finally create a new 'Cocolia' to indirectly control all of Anti-Entropy.
After crippling Anti-Entropy's internal defense systems, Cocolia would not only send her two colleagues, who should have been partners, into World Serpent's mouth, but also send herself to hell.
Gray Serpent would inevitably seize the opportunity to take Cocolia out as well.
The timing would be right after Raven announced she had dealt with the two doctors.
At that moment, Cocolia might relax her vigilance and expose a flaw.
Of course, it didn't matter if she didn't have a brain cramp and expose a flaw; with Gray Serpent's hacking skills, as long as Anti-Entropy's network defenses were actively removed, he had plenty of ways to find Cocolia.
Prepare clones of Tesla, Einstein, and Cocolia in advance, then pull a switcheroo, and all of Anti-Entropy would be World Serpent's to command.
Of course, Gray Serpent didn't have their DNA, so he certainly couldn't create clones with identical DNA.
But who would think that their three executors had been swapped and demand a DNA test?
"You're truly ruthless."
"Hah, I told you. To save the world, lukewarm methods won't work. I originally thought Cocolia would be a like-minded companion because her philosophy in this regard aligns with ours."
"Just a pity. Her philosophy is fine, but she's sick in the head. Such a person is ultimately unsuitable to be an ally."
"Working with her, sooner or later, one would end up like those two unlucky doctors, pitted to death by this brainless woman."
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