While Cocolia was feeling a tumult of emotions inside.
She had no idea that Bronya, who had just attempted to assassinate her, was at this very moment above her residence.
Bronya sat on one of the Heavy Bunny's arms, holding a notebook in her lap, scribbling away.
At the same time, she murmured to herself in her milky tone.
"Cocolia actually turns out to be a woman well-versed in the Art of War. She might have even left a five-star review for it. It seems the plan of deliberately losing and asking to become her adoptive daughter won't work."
"I need to think of a more perfect method..."
Bronya held her pen, propping her chin with the end of it, deploying her worldly wisdom to refine the plan.
This Cocolia was somewhat different from the one fifty thousand years later. The same methods wouldn't necessarily work.
And thinking about it carefully, she also felt that directly charging in and deliberately losing to trigger a CG was far too basic.
Fortunately, after recognizing the shortcomings of the original plan, she had already thought of another, more perfect solution.
Reviewing the ideas in her mind, Bronya began putting pen to paper.
"First, I need to establish a new character identity for my current self. This is the foundation of any story."
"And to make the story emotionally compelling, leaving a deep impression on the reader, my character must have flaws... flaws that can trigger psychological trauma."
"A character who is too perfect cannot evoke resonance. Only by having flaws does a character have the opportunity to demonstrate their arc through overcoming those flaws."
"So I should..."
As she wrote, Bronya's pen came to a stop.
She had hit a creative block.
Racking her brains and thinking hard, Bronya still found her mind empty, and so her little face became sullen.
"Alright... it seems I truly have no talent for writing."
After thinking for a moment, Bronya decided to directly copy from an existing template.
And the template she chose was the Bronya from fifty thousand years later.
However, since this was still the era before that civilization, the other's character setting still needed to be modified.
So with a template in hand, Bronya continued writing.
"My character setting is a girl who was taken away from her mother's side since childhood, and was modified by the Poison Pupa organization into a killing weapon."
"This girl's brain is controlled by a chip developed by the Poison Pupa organization, and her sole reason for existence is to eliminate targets for the organization."
"Until one day, the organization selects this weapon-girl's own mother as the target."
"And so, a drama of mother and daughter killing each other is about to unfold."
"But in the moment of their confrontation, this pitiful woman recognizes her own daughter."
"Based on her love for her daughter, this mother chooses to end her own life with her own hands, thereby extending her daughter's life."
"Facing her daughter who has raised a gun under the chip's control, this pitiful mother wipes away the tears from her daughter's face and sends her a final blessing."
"—My dear daughter, may you never shed tears again..."
The pen tip scratched against the paper with a soft rustling. The corners of Bronya's delicate little face gradually curled upward—the expression of someone yearning for rivers of blood.
"Watching her mother die before her own eyes creates severe psychological trauma in this weapon-girl, and this also becomes the catalyst for her transformation."
"For the first time, she who exists as a weapon thinks about something beyond orders, and begins trying to break free from the chip's control."
"But unfortunately, she is still controlled by the chip, taking one target's life after another."
"She thinks to herself that perhaps she will continue like this forever, until she is eventually destroyed by the organization after being deemed spent in some mission."
"Until... in one mission's target, she encounters another woman who bears a ten-out-of-ten, or at least nine-out-of-ten resemblance to her mother. The mission target's name is 'Cocolia.'"
"Looking at that face so similar to her mother's, memories from the past surge up like a burst dam."
"But tragically, despite her every reluctance, under the chip's control in her mind, she still must pull the trigger on this woman who bears her mother's ten, or at least nine out of ten resemblance."
"Watching Cocolia in utter despair awaiting death, intense unwillingness surges in the girl's heart."
"Perhaps it is some kind of miracle, or perhaps the violent emotional fluctuation simply affected the chip's stability. In that moment, her body shut down for several seconds."
"Using these few seconds, she deliberately allows that frail woman who looks so like her mother to wound her."
"Then, using the damage to her body as justification to request a retreat authorization from the chip in her mind, the chip agrees to her request based on the priority of protecting organizational assets."
"She successfully preserves Cocolia's life, but this is only temporary."
"Once the organization's orders are issued, she must complete them. And the next time, she will need to make a choice that determines her fate."
...
MEI Company, President's Office.
After seeing the script Bronya had sent over, Lucius knew that this Bronya had been thoroughly marinated in his influence.
He didn't reject the script she had sent, but rather made some additions to it, while also sending a message to Sakura's side, requesting her assistance in helping Bronya complete the upcoming performance.
Afterward, he sent a communication to Cocolia, inviting her to MEI Company for a meeting.
After receiving Lucius's communication, Cocolia quickly arrived at Lucius's reception room.
Upon seeing Cocolia, Lucius got straight to the point: "Ms. Cocolia, someone I have planted in the Poison Pupa organization sent me information. Another group has set their sights on you."
This news wasn't something Lucius was fabricating—there really was another group wanting to eliminate Cocolia, though if traced carefully, it did have a connection to him.
Regarding Lucius's words, Cocolia expressed no skepticism, but her expression turned terrifyingly cold.
"As I suspected. The ones who want me dead should be the local forces of Nagazora City."
"I forgot—I wanted to use them, but why wouldn't they want to use me in return?"
"As an official dispatched by the United Government, to deal with you, a dead me might actually be more useful than a living me."
"After all, on the surface I had just allied with them, and then died. The United Government would certainly make you, the opposing party, their prime suspect."
After working out the origin of the other group of assassins she had encountered, Cocolia temporarily set this matter aside and asked Lucius the purpose of inviting her here.
Hearing this, Lucius's face took on an apologetic expression.
"It's like this, Ms. Cocolia."
"Because I offered a very large commission when I originally posted the bounty, the Poison Pupa organization took this mission very seriously, and therefore deployed their developed biological weapon to carry out the task."
"Although I have already sent a cancellation request to the Poison Pupa organization, they indicated this may take some time."
"To prevent their humanoid weapons from being cracked and captured by enemies, during a mission's execution, these weapons are granted the authority to act independently."
"To make them stop, someone with the key must issue commands in person."
After hearing Lucius's explanation, Cocolia didn't pay attention to the apology on his face. Instead she asked another question.
"You mean to say the child who tried to assassinate me is a biological weapon they modified?!"
Lucius nodded.
"Yes. Their biological weapon program has been progressing for quite some time."
"If the results prove effective, they can use these biological weapons to replace the assassins who take on jobs."
"Then they wouldn't need to pay those assassins such high commissions anymore. They could even have them all dismissed. The operational costs of the organization would also be dramatically reduced."
Saying this, a cold gleam appeared in Lucius's eyes as he sneered: "With this kind of biological modification technology, there might even be the shadow of Fire Moth behind it..."
Although Bronya's assassination of Cocolia was something Lucius had directed himself, this information was not entirely fabricated.
In fact, it could be said that nine-tenths of the information came from actual dirt on Poison Pupa.
Poison Pupa really was advancing biological weapon research, and really was considering ways to cut costs and improve efficiency.
So why would an assassin organization have such technology? Because it was Fire Moth's black glove to begin with!
Otherwise, how could a notoriously infamous assassin organization exist so openly for so long?
And when Cocolia learned this information, she was furious—a fury that even surpassed the experience of being assassinated the previous day.
"Those damned bastards, they actually modified children this small into weapons!"
"What do they take children's lives for?!"
Cocolia completely abandoned the image she maintained in daily life, loudly cursing Poison Pupa's inhumanity.
However, after the cursing was done, her attention returned to practical matters.
"Ms. Cocolia, your current situation is extremely dangerous. As a partner, I don't want to see you at a funeral someday."
"Perhaps you should consider the quantum-state Titan mechs MEI Company has recently developed."
This time, after Lucius made the suggestion, Cocolia didn't immediately refuse. After thinking for a moment, she ultimately agreed.
Although she knew these Titans might carry Lucius's surveillance measures, she also knew that right now, her life was the most important thing.
So after Cocolia agreed, Lucius took her to MEI Company's hangar and personally arranged for her a squad of Titan mechs capable of entering quantum stealth mode.
Looking at those mechs, each as large as a small building, a strong sense of security descended upon her for the first time in a long while.
"With these big fellows protecting me, I'll surely be safe," she thought.
Soon, Cocolia left MEI Company with her squad of Titan bodyguards.
Watching Cocolia's retreating figure, Lucius sent Sakura a message.
"Sakura, next I need you to go give Cocolia some pressure. Remember—don't actually kill her."
---
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