"Inherent Power and Third Rated Power. Currently, this is all you can do with Jizo Mitama."
After explaining its functions, Mei released the gem, tucked it back under Fuli's shirt, and even considerately straightened his collar for him.
She took a half-step back, observing her beloved's appearance and nodding slightly. "It's still in an incomplete state right now. I can't do much with it either. At most, I can use it to expand the internal space of the aerial battleship and move all the ME Corp equipment, including the Engine of Creation, inside."
Those clear, elegant, and alluring big eyes blinked, as if asking: Where's the battleship? Where's the battleship? Where is our cozy love nest?
Since they were establishing an independent organization, the remaining assets of ME Corp obviously couldn't be left to others.
Whether it was the large-scale mechanical creations that the temp workers hadn't been able to smuggle out, or the various high-level facilities within the Raiden Tower, not to mention the Engine of Creation itself... If they could use this Cold Hydrogen Super-Heavy Cannon—painstakingly built by Raiden Ryoma with enough power to pierce continents and ignite stars—as the aerial battleship's main cannon, that would simply be a cow flying a plane—awesome to the heavens!
And with this move, Mei, bringing her own capital into the group, would undisputedly become the number one person under the King—the BOSS's right-hand woman. Let those XXNs (entitled folks) see if our dowry is generous enough!
To this, Fuli expressed: It's not enough!
"Don't rush. The battleship's former owner will contact us soon."
Just as he finished speaking, a light screen appeared before the three of them.
Golden long hair coiled in a dignified, mature style. A ripe, full, and beautiful figure wrapped in a white bodysuit. Hands gloved in sheer black fabric, and a large blue-and-white cloak draped over her shoulders.
It was Cocolia.
Bronya silently stood up, walked to the door, and turned the handle.
"Bronya!"
Having just finished the battle with Sesha not long ago and hastily contacting Fuli after dealing with matters, Cocolia called out loudly.
Sweat slid down her wet hair, across her cheeks, gathered at her voluptuous, mature chin, and dripped into the cleavage on her chest.
Bang!
The only response this unqualified mother received was the vexing sound of her precious daughter slamming the door and leaving.
"Life is like a banquet, beautiful lady."
Fuli made no attempt to hide his attitude of kicking someone when they were down.
Bronya was merely the interest he collected from Cocolia.
This little girl had been raised by a Russian military organization since childhood and had spent time with Anti-Entropy. Her worldview had significant issues to begin with, so it was understandable if she was used as a tool.
But Cocolia was different. The score between them was far from settled.
Realizing something, Mei also stopped talking and sat on the side. Propping her chin on her pure white wrist, her beautiful eyes, resembling moonlight frosted over, rippled with hazy waves as she watched the boy negotiate with the other party with great interest.
"Hmph!"
On the screen, Cocolia snorted coldly. The joy of leading her troops to 'kill' a Judgement-Class Honkai beast had been diluted by her daughter's departure.
"I'll have someone send the aerial battleship you wanted. The warrant for the two of you will also be cancelled."
After saying this, she turned around, intending to cut the connection.
"Hold on."
Fuli interrupted her movement. He stood up and approached the screen, staring intently at her tense, indifferent face. "Just that? Do you think you're dismissing a beggar?"
The golden-haired beauty crossed her arms over her chest, her attitude very dissatisfied. "My daughter was abducted by you, you guy! She's a powerful A-Rank strength individual proficient in hacking technology!"
Fuli stuck to the facts. "Don't give me that crap. Bronya and I have a normal employment relationship. She was dissatisfied with the treatment at your place and chose to jump ship. It has not a dime to do with whether you let her go or not."
"Then what else do you want?"
Having only intended to try and see if she could silence them at the minimum cost, Cocolia wasn't angry at failing to achieve her goal.
Unexpectedly, the other party demanded her life the moment he opened his mouth: "All the ME Corp production lines you moved."
Originally, Fuli hadn't planned on asking for these things. The aerial battleship was, after all, just an aerial platform over two hundred meters long and over a hundred meters wide; its cargo capacity was limited.
But since Mei could use the Gem of Corruption to expand the ship's hull space... well, sorry about that. I'm going to seek justice for my Mei-Mei from this vicious woman who illegally seized her family property.
The Emperor's money!
"All of it? Impossible!"
Cocolia refused flatly.
She had already moved those things to her territory in Canada to take root, greatly expanding the breadth and depth of resources for the forces under her command.
Even if you, Fuli the brat, hold the leverage of me triggering the Third Eruption... I, Cocolia, am now the great hero who led the crusade against a Judgement-Class Honkai beast under the eyes of the public. The strongest propaganda machine is in Anti-Entropy's hands. Under overwhelming information bombardment, whether the world believes you or me is up for debate!
The Conservatives would also fully cooperate this time. After all, externally, they were a unified entity. They too wanted a share of the prestige and benefits of defeating the third Judgement-Class beast.
Knowing this, Fuli didn't insist. "A portion."
He held up a finger. "Unload the ones you haven't had time to ship to your home yet back to the ME Corp Industrial Park. I'll let that matter rot in my stomach."
"Not just you."
Cocolia glanced at Mei on the side.
The girl responded lazily, "No problem. His words are my will."
"That's still too much—"
The golden-haired beauty, who originally wanted to provoke conflict between the two, bit her nail. She wanted to fight for a bit more.
Click!
The guest room door opened, and Bronya returned holding a tray.
She placed the mousse dessert and milk tea from the tray in front of Fuli and Mei, then hugged the tray and stood obediently to the side, acting as a little maid.
During this time, she didn't even look at Cocolia once.
Haha! The little cotton-padded jacket is leaking wind!
Mei examined the dessert in front of her, secretly suspecting if Bronya's diligence meant she had poisoned it.
However, when she saw that the milk tea straw was shaped like Mikazuki Munechika, she couldn't help but cast a meaningful look at the mother and daughter separated by two places.
Cocolia frowned: Bronya is warning me?
Mikazuki Munechika, nicknamed Little March, Fuli's original sword.
It was this boy bargaining with her who used it to cut down the Herrscher of Thunder.
Whether it was her daughter or the Third Eruption, Cocolia, realizing she had purely brought this upon herself, finally softened her attitude.
She rubbed the center of her brows and said, "Fine, let's do that. Who will draft the blank Soul Contract?"
"You do it."
Fuli said calmly, "The legendary Lord Cocolia, who climbed to the position of head of the Anti-Entropy Reformist faction in just a few years, surely can't be unable to afford a contract."
In fact, he had no money and couldn't afford it.
"No need to flatter me!"
Cocolia, having lost her daughter and her wealth, was obviously not in a good mood. She ordered Yuya
She furiously wrote the content on it. The other copy of the duplicate contract materialized on Fuli's side simultaneously.
He and Mei, who leaned over, read the content. After confirming there were no issues, he bit his index finger and signed it.
"Phew."
Having shut these two up, Cocolia clearly relaxed a lot.
The mental energy she had consumed earlier backfired at this moment. However, compared to the dirt-poor Mr. Fuli, the bridge she was on had long been lit with Cloud Dream White Incense to nourish the body and mind.
Since the matter was settled, the two parties with nothing to talk about naturally wouldn't stare at each other to increase their annoyance.
"Hmph! Naturally evil Fuli brat!"
"Right back at you, artificially cultivated black-hearted old hag Cocolia!"
They glared at each other.
"Hmph!"
The call ended.
However, despite what was said, putting aside the grievances between them, Cocolia actually appreciated Fuli quite a bit.
This kid was someone who knew how to play dumb.
And someone who knows how to play dumb is someone capable of doing big things.
Of course, on Fuli's side, the evaluation of Cocolia was obviously the opposite.
In his eyes, no matter what great things Cocolia had done in the past, the only meaning of her current existence was to anger everyone as much as possible while alive, so that when she died one day, everyone could laugh with relief, achieving the effect of "suppressing first to raise later."
The golden hue of dusk had completely vanished. The deep blue sea surface, illuminated by the battleship's lights, still revealed a beauty no less than before.
On the bridge of the Belobog, young Anti-Entropy employees wore various outfits, all with smiles full of hope and drive on their faces.
That was their victory, their vigor.
"My Lord."
Seeing the call end, Adjutant Yaoye also leaned in at the right time.
"According to my observation, this Fuli has a firm character, strong execution, a belly full of bad water, and is cold and ruthless. If not removed, he will definitely become a major problem in the future!"
She drew her spare standard weapon, cold light flashing in her eyes. "Rather than letting his wings grow full, it's better for me to—Ouch!"
"If you don't want your head, you can give it to someone who needs it."
Withdrawing her hand, Cocolia was amused by her. "I admit I was bluffed by that stinking brat, but who dares to guarantee that his slash which severed dawn from dusk cannot be reproduced?"
"But for them to take away so many supplies... I, I am not reconciled!"
They had been busy for half a day, only for it to end up like the Jin people moving south—the Northern Song was gone.
They still had the Southern Song's half of the territory in hand, and the territory north of the Yangtze they gave away didn't include the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, but ceding even an inch of land was still paying indemnities!
Let me, Yuya, bloom in slaughter and kill until the world is bright and clear!
Seeing the girl standing there indulging in fantasy, with illusory bubbles popping up over her head from time to time, Cocolia was speechless. "This child is dreaming again."
After waiting a while, seeing that Yuya not only stood still but the bubble over her head actually turned into a terrible pink heart shape, she couldn't help stomping her foot hard. "Yuya!"
The person in question snapped back to reality and hurriedly saluted. "Huh? Yes!"
Accidentally started fantasizing about married life with My Lord... Sinful, sinful...
"How is Dr. Ike's research team doing? How is the progress on the non-Honkai energy interference room-temperature superconductor they are researching?"
If that thing could really be developed, then all the concessions she, Cocolia, had made earlier wouldn't be in vain.
What she swallowed was grievance; what she grew was perspective!
"Ah, that..."
Yuya looked up at her, answering hesitantly in a small voice, "The Doctor and the others said... actually, as long as we define minus 200°C as room temperature, then... then non-Honkai energy room-temperature superconductivity can be achieved."
Without the research boost from Fuli's Thief of Heaven's Time, this bunch was quickly beaten back to their original forms.
"—Th-that's what they said?"
Cocolia's expression was particularly colorful. It was as if Controller Lu, having been punched three times by the Butcher of Zhenguan, had opened a sauce shop right there—salty, sour, spicy, all rolling out at once.
Gritting her teeth and sulking for a long while, she finally sighed.
"Fine. Doing research is like shooting birds with a shotgun anyway. You might not hit if you shoot; if you hit, it might not die; and if it dies, it might not be edible."
She waved her hand. "No one can do research forever, but someone must always be doing research. Go back and tell them I don't mind, and I hope they can produce exciting results next time."
A sympathetic voice came from beside her. "Indeed. In that ocean that exists and yet doesn't, you really don't know when you can fish something up, nor do you know what you'll fish up. But you can't not fish."
"I was talking about Dr. Ike. Why are you, a genius famous across ten villages and eight towns, empathizing?"
Cocolia turned around and rolled her eyes at the returning Mobius.
"Whether for them or for me, research is a lifelong ascetic practice."
Snakey naturally sat in the commander's seat. With a slight push of her beautiful legs, she spun around in the chair. "Your attitude just now wasn't bad. In exchange, how about I tell you some exciting good news?"
"If you have a fart, let it out."
"Your choice of words is as crude as ever, greatly deepening my stereotype of Slavs."
Several tick marks popped up on Cocolia's forehead.
Mobius quit while she was ahead. "Among the twelve Honkai phenomenon nodes you chose to induce the Third Eruption, one was named Thousand Shadow Story."
"The Undefeated Sword Saint who traversed the Far East, the founder of the Hokushin Itto-ryu, Hokushin Wasuregawano-kami Mei. The current Raiden family carries the bloodline passed down by her brother, so calling her the ancestor of the Raiden family isn't an exaggeration."
She paused, then continued, "The protagonists of Thousand Shadow Story were deeply involved with her during their lives, which directly led to her being buried there after death."
"And likely influenced by the Third Eruption, this legendary Sword Saint has returned from the dead. She left the scene using a method similar to spatial folding. Due to the information interference caused by the Great Honkai, we couldn't track her current location."
Cocolia rolled her eyes and asked tentatively, "So, you're saying I dug up the Raiden family's ancestral grave?"
"Theoretically speaking, yes."
"Phew, I feel much better now."
Her depressed mood alleviated, she patted her chest and, with a heave, did a handstand.
Supporting her body with one hand, she took the noodles handed over by Yuya with the other and started slurping (Slurp slurp).
Mobius was astonished. "What is she doing?!"
Crazy!
The Adjutant whispered, "My Lord said that if Bronya didn't catch Fuli, she would eat noodles while doing a handstand from now on."
Mobius sucked in a breath of cold air. "And you still gave her noodles?"
"Mainly... cough, mainly because I've never seen how one eats noodles in a handstand. Wanted to broaden my horizons."
Yuya said sheepishly.
Across the light screen, seeing this scene, Klein stared thoughtfully at Mobius.
The latter's hair stood on end. "Don't look at me! I haven't even done the Meta-Morph Surgery yet! Asking these old bones to eat noodles in a handstand... Klein, you might as well kill me!"
"We're about the same age, slurp slurp."
Cocolia, showing off her eating skills, gloated, "I can do it, slurp slurp, why can't you, you green-haired snake?"
"Wait!"
"Yuya, give her a hand."
"Received!"
The Adjutant kept a straight face, her petite figure gradually looming over Mobius, who wore a look of despair.
...