Chat Group: Starting by Swapping Bodies with Elysia?

—Thousands of meters above the Pacific Ocean, a dark, metallic, futuristic floating battleship hovered there, its hull clearly showing many signs of damage.

In the battleship's central control room, a blonde woman in a green military coat—Cocolia, the infamous instigator of Anti-Entropy's civil war, who had escaped from Nagazora City.

At this moment, judging from her expression, she wasn't in a good mood.

This was only natural.

After all, in Cocolia's estimation, the Nagazora eruption should have gone according to her plan—the detonation of the Honkai energy reactors would trigger a Honkai eruption, leading to the awakening of the Third Herrscher's host.

Then, she could directly return and capture the Third Herrscher.

But—

Why did this happen?

Although the expected Herrscher-level energy reaction did appear, there was no sign of a large-scale eruption in Nagazora City. Not only that, but even the Honkai energy reactors she had placed seemed to have gone silent.

This abnormal phenomenon made Cocolia, who originally wanted to return, choose to retreat and abandon her plan for Nagazora City.

She couldn't figure out what was going on. If she rashly returned… years of intuition told Cocolia that something bad would definitely happen.

Although arrogant, she trusted this intuition, which had saved her countless times in dangerous situations.

—And it was indeed the case. If she hadn't escaped fast enough, the effect of Jiang Qiao's arrow wouldn't have been limited to just shutting down all the Honkai energy reactors in Nagazora City.

And the Nagazora plan wasn't the most troublesome thing.

What annoyed Cocolia the most was that after leaving Nagazora City, she happened to run into the Hyperion, which was patrolling the Far East branch.

Anti-Entropy and Schicksal were hostile to each other, and encountering each other was like enemies meeting on a narrow road.

Schicksal's floating battleships were inherently superior to Anti-Entropy's, and the one Cocolia was on wasn't fully equipped due to the hasty departure. Without any ability to fight back, she was chased all the way, barely escaping to the edge of the ocean near Oceania.

This situation made Cocolia, who had always been quite successful, extremely furious.

The only good news was—

"Bronya, are you alright?"

Looking at the projection on the communication screen, Cocolia's gloomy expression softened a bit.

Although she initially thought that Bronya had betrayed her, after leaving Nagazora City and calming down, Cocolia dismissed that idea.

Even though they were estranged due to Seele's matter, Bronya wouldn't betray her just to save Seele, right? Although triggering the Third Eruption was partly out of selfish desire, setting aside the facts, Cocolia felt that she was indeed trying to make up for the regret she left behind.

"Yes, Bronya is fine."

Bronya's small face, devoid of much expression, showed no emotion. She simply responded monotonously in her slightly childish voice.

Cocolia, accustomed to this, didn't mind and asked the question in her heart:

"What happened to you?"

Although she convinced herself that Bronya hadn't betrayed her, her daughter's situation in Nagazora City still made her feel uncertain, especially…

According to her subordinates' reports, the control chip she had placed in Bronya's head had malfunctioned.

But Cocolia couldn't directly ask—"Why is the chip I placed in your head broken?"

She could only try to glean useful information using her usual motherly tone, gentle and concerned.

—Unfortunately.

Looking at Cocolia like this, Bronya showed no expression, but a hint of disappointment and mockery flashed in her eyes.

After learning about what Cocolia had done to her, the mother-daughter bond between them was completely severed.

However—

"I hope you can still maintain contact with Cocolia and understand her movements."

Recalling the words of the calm, white-haired girl when they were alone, Bronya chose to obey.

After all, the hope of saving Seele rested on that person.

Compared to the manipulative and harmful Cocolia, she felt that [Kiana] was much more trustworthy.

Bronya had already memorized how to deal with Cocolia's tactics. Her unexpectedly expressionless face made it impossible for even Cocolia, the thousand-year-old vixen, to see any flaws.

Regarding everything that happened before she was turned, except for matters related to Seele, Bronya told the truth. As for what happened afterward, and Cocolia's questions about what happened in Nagazora City, Bronya used the universal answer—I don't know.

—And she wasn't lying.

Bronya had never seen a Herrscher before, and as for the Herrscher's fluctuations… Bronya wasn't a Honkai energy detection radar!

As long as she kept the story of being turned a secret, everything she said was true, even a lie detector wouldn't be able to detect anything!

—Although in Jiang Qiao's opinion, Cocolia was just a clown.

But the good news was—she was a clown.

The bad news was—her destructive power when causing trouble was also clown-level… well, in terms of destructive power, she had already surpassed a clown.

Even the Joker would be impressed, giving a thumbs-up—"My friend, you are the true clown!"

In this aspect, perhaps only that Mr. Joker at Schicksal HQ could be better.

To prevent this troublesome vixen from causing more trouble without his knowledge, understanding her next move was necessary.

Perhaps because she trusted her too much, Cocolia dismissed her suspicions about Bronya.

She took the initiative to say:

"Since nothing happened, Bronya, come to New Zealand as quickly as possible."

"New Zealand?"

Facing her adopted daughter's confusion, Cocolia didn't hide anything and said frankly:

"Yes, our next target is Schicksal's Oceania branch. According to the information I received, the Gem of Desire, one of the four gems scattered after the Second Herrscher's defeat, is there now."

Although the Nagazora incident ended in failure, her cooperation with Gray Serpent didn't end.

In their secret meeting, they decided to target the Gem of Desire at the Oceania branch.

This time, they would succeed!

Bronya, expressionless:

"Bronya understands."