The Gray Serpent network suffered a devastating blow.
When a node executing an important mission suddenly lost contact, the Gray Serpents were bound to get to the bottom of what happened.
Many Gray Serpents began downloading and transferring the memories of the destroyed Gray Serpent from just before its death.
And then, they were finished.
That sense of Nihility instantly assaulted every Gray Serpent who performed the download. In just a few seconds, the eyes of roughly a thousand Gray Serpents dimmed completely.
Terrified, the Gray Serpents who hadn't had time to download yet almost physically disconnected from the network, thinking an existence like the Herrscher of Corruption had targeted them. However, that erosion of Nihility stopped its attack once people ceased downloading the memories of the dead Gray Serpents.
Now, the interior of World Serpent was in chaos. It could be said that while World Serpent's organizational structure was relatively small, it could support such a massive operation largely due to the thousands of Gray Serpent Avatars.
If not for their diligent work over the years, World Serpent would never have developed so vibrantly.
These Clones generally held very important positions within World Serpent or were out traveling for the organization's business. Naturally, after an incident occurred, the ones who would immediately download memories for analysis were those with the highest professional drive—the elites of World Serpent.
Now, this group of elites had been instantly wiped out, leaving only a few dozen surviving Gray Serpents who were truly too busy to step away. As for the other Gray Serpents... due to personality issues, they generally didn't handle important matters. While they weren't exactly lazy, they certainly couldn't compare to those high-drive Gray Serpents.
Indeed, there were individual differences even among the Gray Serpents. There were those like the one who died before Xia Yu, who incited Cocolia to plan a Great Eruption, and there were others walking in different roles whose actions were beyond reproach.
And now, with the backbone of the organization wiped out in an instant, World Serpent faced immediate paralysis. The work they left behind needed someone to take over, and their positions needed to be filled... but the Gray Serpents currently available to step up... sigh.
Take our Ms. Raven, for example. She watched in horror as the Gray Serpent she had been chatting with just moments ago had his eyes dim instantly, dropping dead.
Furthermore, a trace of extremely dangerous power remained on the corpse. Raven was so frightened she immediately bolted out the door to check the situation, only to find another Gray Serpent corpse lying on the ground after just a few steps.
In this terrifying situation, she worked up the courage to walk around the Headquarters. She did encounter a few living Gray Serpents, but without exception, they were all extremely tense.
Ha, tense. So even Gray Serpent could feel tension.
She wasn't the only one with a similar encounter. Some Gray Serpents fell into a permanent sleep in front of their collaborators, some died abruptly during experiments, and some died silently in places known to no one...
It must be said that the work efficiency of the Gray Serpents was top-tier. After so many individuals died suddenly, they quickly reorganized and began taking over the various messes.
No matter how much they usually practiced Slacking off, those Gray Serpent individuals knew that this was the time they had to step up.
But there was still a massive problem facing them.
Because the business-related information of those deceased Gray Serpents was stored in their memories, the Gray Serpents had originally felt this was the most effective security measure in the world—no one could pry into the secrets of the Serpent through any documents or recordings.
As for what to do when needed? Just upload the memory to other individuals for synchronization; how convenient.
The Gray Serpents had lived like this for many years.
But now, while the memories of those dead individuals still existed, they had been completely contaminated. Attempting to extract their memories was equivalent to suicide...
So, those Gray Serpents who took office temporarily could only bite the bullet and take over various projects, even without access to various classified materials. One could imagine the difficulty.
World Serpent still had to proceed with the investigation into that power and what the first self-destructed Gray Serpent had encountered, but clearly, results wouldn't be produced anytime soon.
Xia Yu actually hadn't expected them to be so thick-headed. She had simply killed one as a warning. She figured that an organization as rigorous as World Serpent should have strict procedural regulations, where someone specialized would review a memory upload after an individual died, right?
If that were the case, at most ten or so Gray Serpents would have died. She had things to do and couldn't be bothered to bicker with Gray Serpent over this.
As it turned out, they actually hadn't taken any precautions at all, nearly getting wiped out in one go.
Of course, Xia Yu wouldn't feel much regret; she would only clap and cheer.
Now, World Serpent couldn't spare any attention for Nagazora; their own home was on fire.
After searching around, Xia Yu still couldn't find the Key of Corruption, and in the end, she could only helplessly give up on that idea.
It wasn't that she truly had no way to find it, but the commotion would be too large; Nagazora would likely become a no-man's land... sigh, forget it.
She looked back toward the ME Corp Headquarters. The signs of life there were becoming fewer and fewer. Likely after tomorrow, Cocolia would clear the area.
Then, she would trigger the Great Honkai Impact.
Mhm, the stage was almost set, and it was time for the performance to begin.
But before that... Xia Yu turned her head toward her back.
"Siegfried," she said indifferently, "is there anything else?"
"Of course there is!" Siegfried said through gritted teeth. "Who exactly are you? I've verified it with Ryoma; the Raiden Family has no such person!"
"He's never even heard of anyone named Acheron! He doesn't know you at all!"
"It's normal... that he doesn't know me," at this point, a hint of melancholy appeared on Xia Yu's face. "It's all too normal. After all, he has never personally seen this version of me..."
"What do you mean?" Siegfried frowned.
"Nothing else," Xia Yu shook her head. "Just a sentiment. Things change, and people pass on..."
"If you truly have some difficulty, you can tell me. Anti-Entropy will help with all its might," Siegfried spoke up. "Regardless, you protected Ryoma's daughter. This is his promise."
"Anti-Entropy? You can't help me," Xia Yu shook her head.
"Don't look down on Anti-Entropy," Siegfried said confidently. "As the only organization capable of contending with Schicksal, Anti-Entropy's strength is beyond doubt."
"Then can you help me extinguish a Black Hole?" Xia Yu tilted her head and asked.
"Wha... what? A Black Hole?" Siegfried frowned. "Can I take that as a refusal?"
"In other words, you can't do it?" Xia Yu shook her head. "If you can't even extinguish a single Black Hole, Anti-Entropy still wants to help me?"
Nihility was far more terrifying than a Black Hole.
"If it's a refusal, just say so. No need to be so indirect," Siegfried's expression became complicated. "Also, those words you said to me that day... what exactly did they mean?"
"So, you didn't find out anything at all," Xia Yu sighed. "Anti-Entropy isn't omnipotent after all."
"When it involves Schicksal, that's how it is," Siegfried, forced to bow his head under the circumstances, asked humbly: "Please, what exactly did you mean by the last gift Cecilia left for me?"
"Do something for me, and I'll tell you," Xia Yu looked at his sincere appearance and nodded.
"What is it?" Siegfried answered simply.
"In the next few days, Schicksal HQ might send someone over. Help me intercept her, and just don't interfere with my plan," Xia Yu said as she threw him a locked notebook—the childish kind used by kids.
"This is Kiana's notebook. I've recorded everything inside, but you cannot open it now." She blinked and said, "Wait until you see that S-Rank Valkyrie before you can look at it. Understand?"
"And if I really can't help myself?" Siegfried raised an eyebrow, looking at the girlish pink notebook in his hand.
"Don't forget, I have a very good relationship with Kiana," Xia Yu gave him a faint smile. "Mr. Siegfried, you wouldn't want your daughter to know that you're a scumbag who never keeps a promise, would you?"
Kiana... Hearing this, Siegfried could only extinguish the thought of opening it immediately upon his return.
In his heart, Kiana's status was still very high.
"Can you tell me about your so-called plan..." Siegfried still wanted to fish for some intelligence.
"Soon, you will know," Xia Yu said softly. "It won't be kept from anyone anyway."
After speaking, she turned and left, thinking as she walked whether she really should buy an umbrella.
Siegfried could only frown, watching her figure disappear from sight.
Can't be kept from anyone? Meaning it will cause quite a stir?
Is she going to stand up for Raiden Mei? Cocolia's Titan Legion and Battleship are near Nagazora... so is she going to move against Cocolia?
Siegfried could only think this far. After all, he was a normal person; how could he imagine that Cocolia, as an Anti-Entropy Executor, actually wanted to proactively trigger a Honkai outbreak to birth a Herrscher?
Ryoma had never told him about the Gem of Conquest inside Raiden Mei's body.
So, Acheron wants to move against Cocolia and is afraid Schicksal might reap the benefits, which is why she wants him to act?
In that case, the nearby S-Rank Valkyrie... would just be Theresa, right? Haha, that's a piece of cake.
Given his relationship with Theresa, wouldn't a few exchanges of blows be enough to brush it off? Anyway, she didn't like having friction with Anti-Entropy either.
As for other S-Rank Valkyries, Rita had already been taken down, and during this special time, Durandal needed to guard Schicksal HQ and could not move lightly. Could Schicksal produce anyone else?
Absolutely impossible.
Thinking of this, Siegfried's mood improved slightly. He took that girlish pink notebook and walked toward the Safe House.
When the time came, he had to be careful not to let Theresa discover Kiana. Truly, he trusted Theresa's character, but he didn't trust her ability; only a fool would believe there were no Otto's people in that St. Freya Academy.
This was also the reason he hadn't entrusted Kiana to Theresa.