Anger

Elvin's relieved tone somewhat eased the tension of the others, but when it came to approaching Sakura without any reservations, it wasn't something everyone could do.

Compared to the Poison Cocoon soldiers who had almost completely transformed into Honkai beasts, Sakura's appearance was obviously mostly human. But if you used Kevin as the standard, the latter, aside from the cold aura he emitted, was clearly indistinguishable from a human, or at least visually indistinguishable.

But the former, Sakura, those slender fox ears standing upright on her head, made it hard not to think of the Honkai beast Yaksha from the documentaries.

Sakura pursed her lips, her heart growing even lonelier—perhaps, before the birth of the MANTIS Warriors, the loneliness Michael had experienced stemmed from this very thing?

If she thought of it that way, it wasn't as hard to accept.

Sakura stopped walking. She, Himeko, and Ato stood at the three vertices of a triangle.

The distance between them wasn't far, definitely within striking range, and it was undoubtedly Himeko and Ato subtly expressing their trust in her.

But trust was trust, and that was just from a personal perspective. For two organizations with delicate relationships, many things still had to be said.

"Sakura, what is your purpose here? I don't recall Fire Moth inviting Anti-Entropy."

Sakura smiled helplessly, her voice as clear and sweet as a mountain spring:

"Please don't misunderstand, we have no hostile intentions, as for why I'm here… uh?"

She turned her head with a hint of joy, seeing two figures emerge from the darkness.

"Hmm… the main players have arrived. Let them explain."

Himeko and Ato were the first to move, and a large group of people behind them belatedly followed, also turning their gazes.

When they saw Michael and Mei walk out side by side, everyone's hearts were in disarray, but somehow, it wasn't too surprising.

"Where's Kevin?"

Ato looked around and asked.

"Don't worry, although I'm not proficient in medicine, I can still manage to control his injuries. Besides, with Anti-Entropy's help now, Kevin's condition is no longer serious."

Watching Mei give her serious answer, Michael pursed his lips, trying hard to suppress a smile—if he remembered correctly, when he walked into Mei's lab after finishing off the transformed Poison Cocoon soldiers and Deadman, the first thing he saw was Kevin, Su, and Evangeline, all with bandages on their arms, surrounding a lab table while slurping down cold noodles that still had ice crystals on them.

...

"Elvin, I'm counting on you."

Mei instructed Elvin, and though she didn't specify, the latter understood her intent after a slight pause. He then beckoned to Fuxi and Nuwa.

With their recording equipment in tow, they moved to a third-person perspective, ready to record the upcoming events, and then broadcast it to the terminals of nearly every Fire Moth member via Fire Moth's advanced internal communication network.

"First, let me clarify something."

Mei spoke clearly as she walked towards the war room.

Although her figure was so petite, Michael didn't follow her closely to give her support like Kevin usually would. Yet, this seemingly frail and helpless woman, as she walked towards the crowd, those who had been blocking her path consciously parted to the sides, leaving a path in the middle.

She walked through unhurriedly, and then the crowd closed in again, supporting her as she headed to the war room, even ignoring Michael and Sakura.

"I must first clarify something,"

Mei emphasized again, her tone not as stiff as most leaders, and if anything, it was too gentle. So, listening to her speak could be an enjoyable experience, but at the same time, her pronunciation was clear, forcing people to contemplate the weight of each word.

"The guests from Anti-Entropy were invited by me to help quell the riot, and they are not involved in any invasion of Fire Moth's headquarters—according to Article 23, Amendment 58 of Fire Moth's Regulations, as the third in line of succession for Fire Moth's authority, when the two above me are unable to exercise their power, I am authorized to make any decision I personally deem beneficial to the situation, and without any consultation from the staff department, right, Lezlun?"

She turned her gaze towards the wine-red sofa at the back of the war room. Upon hearing this, Lezlun did not refute her, but instead, enthusiastically raised his wine glass and saluted her. His position was high, so he could look down upon Mei.

To Michael, his action seemed devoid of respect, if not outright arrogant, like some noble in a balcony greeting a victorious gladiator in an arena.

Mei nodded with a smile, and then, as if remembering something, she turned her head slightly, filling in the only gap in her argument - "I still need to thank Chief of Staff Lezlun. After all, when I locked myself in the lab, choosing to protect myself, it was Chief of Staff Lezlun who informed me of the situation outside, and told me that I could use that authority."

Lezlun's mouth twitched slightly, but with that twitch, his lips stretched out, so it appeared to outsiders that he was calmly accepting Mei's praise - although, in truth, he had done nothing, except for going to the bathroom and sleeping, he had been enjoying his drinks, playing games, and watching the live show unfold before him.

Since Mei was willing to pin this undeserved credit on him to validate her argument, he would accept it. In return, he drank the last of his red wine. Taking advantage of others' inattention, he quietly left from the back door with Lao Ba.

Mei walked to the position that was designated for the "commander," yet she didn't sit down.

As expected, the large screen in the war room suddenly turned red, then the black letters [SEELE] appeared.

Keer's calm voice rang out:

"Mei, though you claim your decisions are in line with Fire Moth's regulations, Amendment 58 of Article 23 also states that the United Government will review the decision afterward. If the United Government believes your decision betrays the organization, I think you know the consequences."

On Elvin's broadcast, nearly 100,000 members of Fire Moth could see everything.

Mei stood alone before the command console, facing the inquiries from the United Government. Her individual figure was so small in front of that twenty-meter tall screen.

But then, Michael was the first to walk out of a space-time rift and stand beside her, and then blue petals fluttered by as Sakura also joined them.

After that came Himeko, Ato, Fuxi, Nuwa, Andre, even the hesitant Karabis, pulled by his younger sister, joined Mei's side.

Yet, they still appeared weak and isolated.

"Oh? Mei, now in addition to colluding with outside organizations, your charges now include dividing forces internally."

Michael chuckled, as that was a load of crap. Fire Moth had always borne Phamas's personal touch since the beginning. The more he said that, the more it showed his own guilty conscience, and the fact that he could do nothing about Mei.

But ordinary soldiers wouldn't think this way. Their voices grew louder – most of them didn't know the details of what had happened. They only saw that their own Dr. Mei, who developed the MANTIS Warrior and successfully resolved the Fifth Honkai Eruption, was being accused by someone from the "United Government" who was even unwilling to show his face.

They naturally couldn't accept this humiliation! Indeed, it wasn't just a slight on Dr. Mei, but a slight on Fire Moth, an organization that had always been at the front lines of the battle against the Honkai – why should some self-proclaimed higher-ups who were always being protected by them, come here to lord over them?

Keer's words were drowned out by the clamor of the soldiers. Mei looked mockingly at the huge [SEELE] on the screen, then played her trump card -

"Is that so? The United Government wants to accuse me? Then let's listen, and watch these, before we say anything else."

She inserted a hard drive into the command console, and tapped out a few lines of code with her fingers.

Soon, [SEELE] was pushed to the upper-left corner of the screen, a black screen taking center stage.

Without any hesitation, Mei hit the play button, using their own methods against them.

…

"In the end, it's still that our control over Fire Moth is too weak. Letting Lezlun and Vasak take over was really a bad move. These two, one is too calculating, and the other's brain was damaged by Phamas's death. If you ask me, we should have talked to Mei back then!"

"Why are you offering hindsight now? Mei back then was still a high school student. If it weren't for Mobius's letter of recommendation, we wouldn't even know this person existed. Besides, this little girl is even more calculating than Lezlun. How could she willingly be controlled by us?"

"...Taro actually said something sensible for once."

"Then what should we do? Sit and wait for death? Mei has already invited people from Anti-Entropy to participate in the victory dance. There's obviously something fishy going on between them… This is very dangerous, everyone should understand what I mean."

"Ahem, cough."

"If you want to prevent them from merging, you just need to create contradictions artificially."

"Secretary-General, you make it sound so simple, but how do we do it?"

"Just a frame-up. What's important isn't Mei's thoughts, Lezlun and Vasak's thoughts, or the First Herrscher's thoughts, but the thoughts of 'ordinary people.'

"First, we need to select a character who cuts across the three forces as an entry point."

"Is there really such a person?"

"Yes, but it's not a person. Using [organization] to describe it might be more appropriate.

"From a certain perspective, that [organization] is precisely the dark side of Fire Moth, the most cruel, and also the most… fragile place. Moreover, the people who make them up are also very easy to incite… Poison Cocoon."

The first recording ended, and silence descended, with everyone carefully weighing the massive amount of information they had just heard.

Perhaps they didn't recognize the voices of the others, but they all clearly recognized the voice of the last one, which was exactly the same as the person who had just accused Mei!

So the silence was broken, and with anger flaring, people started shouting, banging on tables with their shoes. Some were even throwing their boots at the projection screen – although the boots went right through the screen and couldn't harm those behind it, and some of the bio-weapons carried by the soldiers even injured some of the allied troops.

But this show of anger was very effective. So, more and more people, even the female staff members, were taking off their shoes and boots, and throwing them at the projection screen.

A terrible odor began to spread. With a spark, the fire of anger was ignited.