Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Cocolia was in the middle of her grand speech when Raiden Ryoma suddenly took a call, a look of utter shock spreading across his face.

"Cocolia, the Israelis and Palestinians have launched Honkai Fission Bombs at each other!"

Raiden Ryoma's announcement not only shocked Cocolia but also left every reporter in the room completely dumbfounded.

"Excellent!" Cocolia almost burst out laughing before quickly composing her features into a mask of sorrow. "Quickly, have our Far East peacekeeping forces embedded in the UN strike hard. We must eliminate these bastards who are using Honkai weapons to harm each other!"

She had long since replaced the members of the Far East peacekeeping forces with people from Academy City; they all carried Far East identification anyway. As a peacekeeping force, it was their unshirkable duty to intervene and suppress the conflict.

And as for whether the UN had convened a meeting or not?

To hell with that. Who could even tell the difference between someone from Academy City and someone from the Far East anymore?

In any case, the people of the Far East would take the blame for any wrongdoing, while Academy City would be seen as the benevolent mediators resolving the dispute.

Right on cue, another "righteous" reporter, who had been planted in the audience, rushed toward Cocolia and asked with a heart-wrenching cry, "Does your Academy City have no human decency left? No universal values?! Why would the Far East government violate the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons?!"

The moment he heard his country being criticized, Raiden Ryoma got heated. "What utter nonsense are you spouting? Honkai Energy weapons are not nuclear weapons! Alright, next question!"

His retort instantly stunned the reporter into silence.

He was right. There were no international treaties whatsoever concerning Honkai Energy weapons. Therefore, in theory, Cocolia could sell them however and to whomever she pleased.

'Damn it, the people from the Far East found a loophole in the treaty.'

The reporters were overcome with grief and indignation, completely forgetting about the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At that moment, Cocolia's spin had even managed to improve North America's public image by several percentage points, moving its rating from "mostly negative" to "mixed."

Sure, the US suppressed workers' revolts, set up machine guns in factories to mow down striking laborers, and brutally murdered party members at home. But at least America hadn't sold nuclear weapons directly into the most volatile conflict zones. They only ravaged other people's lands for profit. From that perspective, America was still a proper imperialist big brother, even if its moral compass was a bit skewed.

Soon, a female reporter stood up, trembling. She asked worriedly, "You... you didn't sell them to Russia and Ukraine too, did you?"

Cocolia immediately flared up. She spat, "Who do they think they are? Are they the Soviet Union? They aren't worthy of buying things from me."

The reporter nearly fainted on the spot. So, this woman was a vicious Soviet admirer, which meant she was about to bring the hammer down on their brothers and sisters in North America.

This person, who had no fear of nuclear deterrence and dared to toss around Honkai weapons, harbored such a venomous hostility toward the United States.

It was over. It was all over. The world was doomed!

The reporters in the room were aghast. Several of them, who were also carrying out missions as spies, immediately fled.

"Why did that woman faint from shock? Doesn't she know that most of our business is in North America? If I truly loved the Soviet Union, how would I make money in America? How would Anti-Entropy expand its operations there?"

Cocolia felt the woman was overthinking things. She simply admired the former power of the Soviet Union, that's all.

Raiden Ryoma nodded gravely. "You're right, Cocolia! We at ME Corp think the same way."

The two of them, one after the other, used the press conference to declare that North America had better know what's good for it and offer them more benefits in exchange for a chance to survive in the new world.

'This is truly the height of villainy!'

Schrödinger was now absolutely certain she understood what Noldrei meant by "world peace."

It meant peace for this group of genetic rulers, while everyone else was plunged into a hell of brutal competition and struggle under the guise of this "peace."

They even dared to sell things like Honkai Fission Bombs so casually... Cocolia wasn't even trying to hide it.

If Schrödinger were handling it, she would have claimed she was only selling Honkai Energy containment engines and then warned the buyers not to launch them with rockets, as any violent shock or damage could trigger a Honkai fission explosion and intense Honkai radiation. That way, you'd just be selling Honkai power stations.

'So crude. Unbelievably crude.'

Schrödinger had thought this was just a press conference for a new international power to flex its muscles and show off its weapons. But it turned out her imagination still fell short...

On stage, Cocolia began her performance again. She suddenly took a call, and this time, the problem had erupted from within Academy City itself.

"What? The Jewish and Arab Valkyries are fighting? For god's sake! What part of them is even still Jewish or Arab after all the genetic modifications? Are they insane? What, there are people trying to start a rebellion in Academy City?!"

"Suppress them! They must be brutally suppressed! What is this, all sorts of riff-raff think they can just pop up now? If they're not happy, we'll turn them back into the 'purest' Jews and Arabs and revoke every single one of their genetic enhancements!"

"Those treacherous dogs, biting the hand that feeds them! Send people to take them down immediately!"

Cocolia angrily hung up the phone. "These people don't want to be New Humans?" she fumed. "They want to go back to being the weak, humiliated Old Humans? They deserve to suffer from ethnic conflict for the rest of their lives! A bunch of useless trash! They're already Valkyries, yet they're still captivated by such backward thinking!"

Raiden Ryoma opened his mouth to say something but stopped. It was obvious Cocolia now looked down on even the genetic makeup of the Far East.

Within Academy City, there was only one type of superior being: the rulers who could control their own genetic information sequence.

Schrödinger watched this unfold in shock. The very concept of ethnicity, culture, and bloodline had been utterly discarded by Academy City's upper echelon. This genetic social system was even more cruel and blatant than capitalism.

On stage, Cocolia grandly announced her future plans to the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we know that you nationalists, you ethnic supremacists, you religious fundamentalists, and even you cultural purists... none of it actually matters."

"Join us in Academy City. Become a member of our future genetic society. Sickness will be a thing of the past. Parting will be a thing of the past. Disability will be a thing of the past. Discrimination will be a thing of the past. The cost of learning will be more equal, and the gap between people's natural talents will be leveled."

"What are you hesitating for? Do you want to watch as those who acquire this new energy wield Honkai Energy wantonly? Do you want to see them raise the flags of the old world and embark on campaigns of conquest and plunder?"

"Nuclear weapons can't deter us, and Honkai Energy even less so. Therefore, we will work even harder to proliferate this low-cost energy. And in the conflicts that arise from this proliferation, only one party can provide a solution, and that is us..."

"Academy City!"

The people in the audience stared in terror at the shining Stigma on Cocolia's forehead. They didn't know if this woman was a demon from legend, here to bring about the apocalypse, or a savior heralding a new revelation.

Her words had burrowed deep into the fear in their hearts.

From this day forward, the peace of the old era was no more.