Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 541 - 468 Eternal Owner

Chapter 541: Chapter 468 Eternal Owner

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Kanako was still Kanako, but she seemed much more mature and cheerful than the last time Xu Yang saw her.

With a smile on her face, she hung her white sunhat on the back of her black scarf, donned a bright white suspender vest dress, and jumped down. A crocodile skin purse hung diagonally at her waist, and she wore a pair of vine-woven toe-exposing sandals. Her bare toes were clearly visible with tender rose-colored nail polish.

"I’m finally back!" A mixture of shyness and joy could be seen in Kanako’s eyes. Upon seeing Xu Yang and recalling those delightful intimate moments, she couldn’t contain herself; she immediately walked forward, intending to throw herself into his embrace.

"You must be very familiar with Miss Tenjouin, this is Kojima Kanako," said Lila as she walked towards the tarmac, interrupting Kanako’s action.

Tenjouin Shino had been standing aside enjoying the scene, only to snap back to reality at this moment.

"Yes, Lady Honma’s thirteenth daughter," Tenjouin Shino said with dignified poise as she turned to look at Kojima Kanako.

"Excuse me. I am Kojima Kanako. Please take good care of me!" Given the occasion, Kanako bowed respectfully to Tenjouin Shino, paying heed to the proper etiquette.

"If Miss Kojima could lend her assistance, Nestor Corporation would develop even more splendidly," said Tenjouin Shino, not yet considering Kanako one of her own, speaking politely while also remembering something more terrifying, "...Have you brought back any messages from Lady Honma for this return?"

"Ah, yes, I have a mission to fulfill; my mother entrusted me with a message, which I have brought with me," Kanako nodded earnestly.

The message from Noriko Honma. Merely thinking about it was frightening. Especially since she certainly wouldn’t let Nestor Corporation, which now occupied the Xisheng Shrine, off the hook.

"So the surgery was a success?" asked Xu Yang, contemplative, then inquiring, "Did she go through with the upload?"

"Yes," Kanako nodded gravely.

By uploading her consciousness through the Ascension Surgery to the web space, Noriko Honma had completely broken through the limits of her lifespan. She would continue to control the Xisheng Group in the future, steadily regaining her assets and power.

"I am terribly sorry. I would like to know if Lady Honma’s message is related to the situation in the Northern Archipelago. If there’s a chance, I would also like to hear it," said Tenjouin Shino politely.

There was no room left for joking—Noriko Honma! Merely hearing the name brought back that invisible pressure for Tenjouin Shino.

She had personally experienced the era dominated by Noriko Honma, and compared to the younger ones now, she was even more afraid of the immense influence Noriko brought.

People used to fear her in the past, saying her soul was malicious, made of steel and machinery. Now, her mechanical Ascension had become a reality, controlling everything within a vast facility.

"Let’s go." Kanako, weighed down with heavy thoughts and equally uneasy, felt the jubilation of finally coming home evaporate in an instant.

Her role was as the messenger for her mother, as it always had been and continued to be. Without her mother’s approval, how could she safely depart from the Near East and return to the Northern Archipelago?

As they followed Tenjouin Shino through the massive structure, the aesthetic of the designs left by the Xisheng Group was evident everywhere. Each room was spacious and well-lit; corridors stretched in all directions, with sensible layouts aiming for efficiency, precision, and perfection—Xisheng Shrine was a majestic building. The thought of playing Noriko Honma’s message here was like having the woman return to dictate orders.

Feeling the tension so thick that it was hard for everyone to breathe, Tenjouin Shino decided to speak to lighten the mood.

"Speaking of which," Tenjouin Shino said with a smile, "The achievements of Nestor Corporation are truly remarkable. To stand within the Xisheng Shrine now is quite extraordinary."

"I was born here," said Kojima Kanako.

"...Well... now you are the stronger one," Tenjouin Shino averted her gaze.

Walking into an empty office, Kanako paused in front of a terminal.

"Right here." She slid aside the bionic slider and opened a storage cavity below her left ribcage. From it, she extracted a separation chip glowing with a purple luminescence, "This is what Mother wanted me to give to you all."

Xu Yang operated the terminal, setting up a sandbox for an isolated runtime environment to avoid any potential risks before inserting the chip into the slot.

As the terminal emitted a faint humming sound while running, Kanako folded her arms across her chest, her expression solemn. Lila sat on the sofa beside her, pulling out a charging cable to connect to the charging port at the end of her metallic tailbone. They all kept silent, their attitudes cautious.

Reading was nearing completion.

The thought of hearing Noriko Honma’s voice made Tenjouin Shino shiver.

There were many contingency plans for Noriko Honma. Tenjouin Shino contemplated silently.

Originally, the company’s president and the ’fox-head’ were also chess players of stature equal to Noriko Honma’s. They grew with the capital from Honma, developing from a simple anime company to a gigantic conglomerate with their own army, warship troops, research institutions, and a vast ninja force.

But once they fell from grace, their assets were bought and dismembered by Xisheng, as if Kyoto Infinity had never developed such forces, now wholly transformed into a subsidiary of New Xisheng, leaving only Zina to keep the core sectors of anime, games, and community alive, finally regaining some independence.

Their current situations were worlds apart—one side relied on drawing in an office for a living while the other still maintained an imposing presence and had infinite life.

When the reading completed, the projector on the terminal cast a bright light, and Noriko Honma’s torso appeared from a white augmented reality device.

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It was just like looking at Kurokawa Kana, this was the image of Honma Noriko around 30 years old, her hair elegantly done up in a high bun, skin fair as alabaster, and the beauty of peach blossoms, dressed in a black suit, ready to dive into work at any moment.

Even among entrepreneurs, she was the fairest. Tenjouin Shino gazed absentmindedly at Honma Noriko.

She had united so many noble families through matrimonial alliances, spawning the entire Xisheng Family, and she once regretted in private that she was not a Witch, but now even that last bitterness was filled. The Ancient Witch had performed a transformation ritual, granting this creature eternal life.

Applause.

Honma Noriko first smiled and clapped her hands as though to encourage their achievements so far.

"Congratulations. You have taken the Xisheng Shrine," Honma Noriko’s virtual image emitted a semi-realistic voice, almost as if she herself had returned, a voice that was enough to make Kojima Kanako reveal a troubled look and silently stand behind Xu Yang.

"Your children are not as brave as you, so they failed," Lila said from her seat on the sofa, looking up at Honma Noriko.

"They have courage, just lacking the necessary resources," Honma Noriko said, "Of course, their biggest mistake was letting a thief into my house."

"We’re not thieves, the Xisheng Shrine is our spoils of war," Lila said.

"I find it curious that you have chosen to be stationed at the Xisheng Shrine. Don’t you understand... you are being surrounded by 50 million citizens in a very small area, right?"

"Madam, you yourself live here," Lila said. "You look upon those 50 million people with disdain without a flicker of fear; why should we feel any different?"

"It took 15 years to build the Xisheng Shrine," Honma Noriko laughed, "I started from its underground level, slowly moving upward. In the depths of their hearts, people have equated this place with me. You, however, are nothing."

"So, Madam, are you preparing to come back and take the Xisheng Shrine? We await at your convenience," Lila said.

Honma Noriko raised her hand in a brief and forceful gesture. Tenjouin Shino shuddered upon seeing this; 50 years ago, Honma Noriko did the same in news broadcasts, making such a gesture when about to acquire or completely erase a company.

"Thanks to that ritual, my youth has been restored, allowing me to undergo transformation, my consciousness ascending to a higher level," Honma Noriko said, "Now I have infinite time and boundless energy to rectify the past, to correct mistakes."

"..."

"What you will come to understand," Honma Noriko’s words carried a tone of judgment, "is that no matter how hard you try, the world will not change one iota."

The virtual image flickered above the machine and then wholly vanished, as the chip finished playback and self-destructed the content.

"No extra data transmission," Xu Yang checked the machine, "That’s all she had to say to us."

"Lila won’t be afraid," Lila asserted. "Such people feast on our fear."

"I don’t know," Kanako said with disappointment as she pulled out the empty Separation Chip, "maybe it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have brought the message back."

"Actually, what Lady Honma said makes sense," Tenjouin Shino felt an unstoppable oppression, "...first, Nestor Corporation will encounter unprecedented trouble in Shangjing. Second, the world is too vast, and no matter what we do, we can only change a tip of the iceberg. If you fail, if you’re destroyed - just a week later, the whole world will forget about you!"

"We will not lose," Lila consoled Tenjouin Shino.

Tenjouin Shino packed up, agitated by the reappearance of Honma Noriko.

Her psyche had been seared half a century ago, an indelible mark that forbade going against the will of Honma Noriko, a brand that still burned hot to this day. Those who hadn’t lived through that era couldn’t understand how with mere words, Honma Noriko could destroy companies, nearly manipulating reality itself.

"...I’ll return another time," she said, thinking that if she could become powerful enough to match the Supreme Witch soon, perhaps she wouldn’t fear any enemy ever again.

After Tenjouin Shino had left, Xu Yang turned to Lila and Kanako.

"Mom will avenge all of this," Kanako sighed.

"You did right by revealing our eternal adversary to us," Lila closed her eyes to consolidate the data redundancy.

"We have no match on the front line," Xu Yang consoled Kanako, "Nestor Corporation’s raw power has been proven in the corporate wars. Even if Honma Noriko is arrogant, even if she’s confident, it’s not possible for her to build an army across the sea to attack us."

"Now is the time to test Nestor’s soft power," Lila added, "to see how we can win in espionage, test our ability to conduct cultural propaganda, how we can rebuild societal cohesion, stability, and a new order, and whether Nestor can find allies across the world, find more partners to fight against the pressure from Honma Noriko and her allies."

"It’s not over yet," Xu Yang summarized, "Keep pushing until tomorrow. We said we would change the world, not just stay in the Northern Archipelago, and not even Honma Noriko can stop us."

"...Yeah!" Kanako nodded with force, no longer as frightened as before.

"Lastly...welcome back," Xu Yang moved forward and hugged Kanako, "Honma Noriko keeps emphasizing the Xisheng Shrine as her possession, but remember, this is also your home."