"Do you think Cocolia is a failure?"
"Hmm?"
"You try desperately to hold on to everything you have, but you keep losing it, and the things you cherish are pushed away by yourself. This kind of life is truly terrible! Right, Gray Serpent?"
"Hmm? I came to ask you why you suddenly destroyed Welt's experiment base and all the experimental data and records. Did you forget you don't need to share your experiences with me?"
In the floating communication screen, the Gray Serpent, shrouded in a black robe against a dark background, emitted a cold and ominous red light from its single mechanical eye.
Cocolia didn't care about the unfriendly attitude of this ally. She stroked Sin, who was taking a nap on her thigh, and without raising her head, she said, "The X-10 experiment failed miserably. I lost Seele, and now I'm about to lose more children. I was so anxious that I had no way out, so I chose to trigger an artificial collapse and personally create a Herrscher experiment in Nagazora City... and then I failed again."
"Cocolia, don't talk about other things! I'm talking to you about Welt's experiment!"
"Gray Serpent, Gray Serpent, what did I do to make you disrespect me so much?"
"Huh?"
The Gray Serpent on the other end of the communicator was a little confused, and his thought process was momentarily stuck.
No, normally, shouldn't Cocolia make a request with a smile at this time, ask him for some benefits such as technology, and then exchange experimental data? What does it mean to be so confused and unfathomable now?
Cocolia still didn't raise her head, letting the communication screen float in the air. She concentrated on combing Sin's hair and said in a faint tone, "You painted a big picture for me after the X-10 experiment's success. I trusted you, did it regardless of the cost, and even persuaded my daughters to become experimental subjects, but so far I have only lost."
"When my experiments failed again and again, you did nothing. I abandoned humanity to trigger an artificial Honkai Eruption to conduct experiments, and you did nothing. When I failed again and faced multiple pressures from radicals, conservatives, and even Schicksal, you still did nothing."
"I know that your Heliopolis Life Sciences Shenzhou branch has been built recently, with more funds, connections, and facilities, and you no longer need allies like me. However, when I was exhausted from dealing with a series of unstable factors and encountered my daughters' erosion disease... on my worst day, you showed up and asked me: Where are the experimental data?"
Cocolia slowly raised her head, and there was no emotion in her purple eyes, like a cold humanoid machine. This was something Gray Serpent had never seen before.
Gray Serpent could not help but reflect. Yes, Cocolia was his chosen collaborator, or to put it bluntly, a tool. But a tool is also a person and has complex emotions. Cocolia had experienced so many bad things, and he, as an ally, asked right away if he had really hurt her feelings.
And this tool still had a lot of value, so should he comfort her?
"Gray Serpent, Gray Serpent, what did I do to make you disrespect me so much?"
Cocolia looked at the screen with an extremely cold expression, at least not inferior to Gray Serpent on the other side in terms of momentum.
Gray Serpent's mechanical eye flickered, and after weighing the pros and cons, he thought it necessary to understand and comfort Cocolia's bad mood.
"Sorry, maybe I was too anxious. As you said, in order to conduct experiments better, I have recently put most of my energy into the construction and communication of the Shenzhou branch, and failed to take into account the overall situation. I apologize to you."
"... I found the whereabouts of Welt Yang."
Cocolia did not comment on Gray Serpent's apology but casually gave a piece of information.
Gray Serpent's mechanical eye flickered again.
"Is that so? Then I understand. If the leader is still fine, then Joyce's clone experiment does have a reason to be destroyed. After all, clones are always clones. Such power is okay to use against Valkyries or Titans, but it is insignificant compared to the real body."
Although it is a bit too cautious and does not fit Cocolia's past style of being wild.
But considering that Cocolia's series of radical actions have put her in an embarrassing situation of being trapped inside and outside, it is not incomprehensible that she wants to avoid the malice of Welt Yang, the ultimate power. Gray Serpent weighed the pros and cons. He actually already had most of the data for this experiment. Destroying the laboratory would only make him lose the most recent data, which was not a serious loss. Besides, Cocolia might not have destroyed the last part of the data. She might still have it in her hands, waiting to trade with him.
Considering this, Gray Serpent decided not to provoke Cocolia, who was obviously in a bad mood.
"I'm sorry to bother you tonight. I won't bother you for now. Let's talk when you have time."
"Wait."
Gray Serpent wanted to cut off the communication, but Cocolia asked him to stay.
Gray Serpent paused for a moment, feeling somewhat unpredictable about Cocolia's strange state, so he had to calm down and said, "Anything else?"
"Medicine for treating erosion... I don't want to save all the children in the world now, I just want to save Rosalia and Lilia, even if it's just to reduce the pain and buy time to a certain extent... Do you have it?"
"..."
"The Oceania branch of Schicksal is planning to artificially create an Herrscher, hoping to have the gem in their hands. Schicksal headquarters is holding the Serenity Gem and is also planning the same thing. In addition, I'm still investigating what tricks Welt is playing with Theresa Apocalypse in Saint Freya, which is the main reason why I didn't rush into Saint Freya to take back the Herrscher and my daughter."
Cocolia threw out a few more pieces of information, the first two of which were even absolutely confidential information that Schicksal was still planning, and even the World Serpent couldn't detect them in advance.
Gray Serpent was motionless on the surface, but was quite shocked inside, and all kinds of speculations emerged in his mind.
'Dr. Mobius said that the strongest point of human beings is infinite possibilities, which also represents infinite growth ability. Am I too arrogant to underestimate her who can climb to this position step by step?'
'With such a terrifying intelligence network, perhaps the appearance she showed me in the past was a disguise to paralyze me?'
'It means that tonight she is really close to emotional collapse and has nowhere to go, so she is unable to wear a mask and show her true appearance.'
Gray Serpent thinks that if he could make an expression, the face under the hood should show a relieved smile.
This call tonight is not a loss, at least I can see clearly that Cocolia is not simple. If I keep a contemptuous attitude, it is not impossible that he will be tricked by her in the future.
Gray Serpent reflected on himself and replied in a businesslike manner, "I didn't, but we did try this. If there are any results later, I will inform you."
"Okay, let's talk about it next time. I'm tired, goodbye."
Cocolia cut off the communication, and then sighed with real tiredness.
'It's over.'
'But robots are really hard to deal with.'
'Does he really not have it yet, or is he waiting for a good price? Remember the Assaka gene fusion potion that Rosalia and Lilia used at the end was given by the Gray Serpent at that time?'
'But we don't have anyone in the World Serpent yet, and we can't do anything about it now.'
'At present, the only known antidote is the HSN-b46 serum, invented by Dr. Maki of Schicksal. It has been confirmed by the bosses of Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and World Serpent as a potion that can cure Valkyrie. It can even suppress Sirin back into Kiana's body after being improved by Tesla.'
'Everyone, for the sake of the lovely Rosalia and Lilia, I'm afraid we need to send people to the Schicksal headquarters. We can't wait for Maki to defect and then rob him like in the original timeline. After all, we are all involved in this world, and there are too many uncertainties.'
'It's really exciting! I was trying to avoid the archbishop from the beginning, but now I'm actively trying to get close to him. If I go too far, maybe we'll all be killed, right?'
'So, shall we do it?'
'This is the first time I've been called mom in two lifetimes.'
'She's such a cute child...'
'Well, in life, there's always a time to take risks for something.'
'Besides, Otto needs dominance power, and we'll have conflicts sooner or later. It's only a matter of time before we plant a mine around him.'
'Just try it out first, and we may not be exposed!'
'Then do it!' xn
Want to see advanced chapters? Chapters 1-140 available at patréon.com/PorterOfSomething