Simulation! The Birth of Anti-Entropy

Theresa looked at the mecha forces gathered before her, fine beads of sweat forming across her forehead.

Wasn't Sky Dome City's mecha force a little too outrageous!?

Besides all kinds of Sky Dome Patrol models, she had even spotted something resembling an RPC-6626 heavy anti-Honkai Beast helicopter!

Even with the Blood Knight: Moonbeam, one of the fourth-generation Godkiller Armors she was currently wearing, she still found herself somewhat overwhelmed by this tide-like mecha legion.

If someone told her this was Schicksal's mecha force, she would believe it!

Meanwhile, Bronya was trying to crack the access permissions on the modified little girl before them.

"Just a little more and...!" Bronya's voice carried a trace of urgency. "Wait, taking over the highest authority requires one more biometric authentication."

Yet perhaps the greatest distance in the world was "just a little more."

"Sorry to disturb you kidnappers."

An elegant, composed female voice came from the rooftop. "A child should still be left to a maid like me to care for."

Rita, clad in silver-white armor, sat on the eaves with a smile, looking down at everyone while casually tossing some "object" in her hand.

"I'm starting to seriously doubt Schicksal's teaching abilities, you know."

Liu Bai complained as he stared at the silver-white maid, who resembled a goddess beneath the moon.

Pale Knight: Moon Soul (Rita Rossweisse). Possession requirements: Guardian Spirit Lv. 5, Rita compatibility above 50%. During possession, the skill "Guardian Spirit" became "Guardian Spirit: Silver Moon."

The silver-white Valkyrie beneath the night sky—honestly, Liu Bai admitted that he had been stunned by her beauty in that moment.

Rita leaped down from the roof, dragging her scythe as she approached the wary members of the Far East Branch.

Then Rita slowly raised her hand, allowing everyone to clearly see the "object" in it.

"You wouldn't happen to be looking for this, would you?"

"That's... Gray Serpent's eye!"

"Highest authority authentication complete—Rita Rossweisse, taking over highest authority."

"Headmistress, stop her!" Seeing the electronic voice sound from the modified girl's body, Bronya's face showed a trace of panic.

She had already guessed what Rita's next command would be.

As expected, Rita still wore her composed smile as her red lips parted. "I command you, data upload, then self-destruct."

Data upload, then self-destruct—upload the data, then destroy herself.

As Rita's words fell, the modified girl's body instantly went limp.

"Rita—!"

A heavy cross crashed down toward Rita's head.

Boom—!

"If that hit her, she'd turn into minced meat, wouldn't she?"

Liu Bai continued floating overhead and watching the show, only regretting that he did not have a bag of five-spice sunflower seeds in hand.

When women fought, it was a waste not to watch.

"Sorry, everyone. I've had enough fun."

Rita calmly dodged Theresa's furious strike.

Then Rita closed in, briefly suppressing Theresa with her impenetrable scythe swings and the frigid cold radiating from its blade.

However, Rita had no intention of truly "clearing the battlefield"—her goal had already been achieved.

After all, Theresa was an S-Rank Valkyrie wearing Godkiller Armor as well, and she had Anti-Entropy support behind her. If the battle truly dragged on... though more importantly—

Rita raised her head and looked to the sky—Schicksal's reinforcements had arrived.

"Please excuse my departure. I have other matters to attend to." Rita lightly leaped away from the battlefield.

Boom—!

The silver-white Divine Machine descending from the sky completely separated Theresa and Rita.

Divine Machine: Heimdall!

"So this hunk of metal has been repaired?" Theresa glared furiously at Heimdall blocking her path—the Divine Machine Himeko had once destroyed. "Then I'll smash it again!"

"I told you, the force behind Sky Dome City's mecha riot was you people from Schicksal."

"My apologies, but you have never said such a thing." Having left the battlefield, Rita reined in her sharpness.

"I never said that?"

"In my recollection, never. Perhaps Heimdall's appearance was merely a coincidence?"

"To borrow Gray Serpent's words, 'Please do not insult my intelligence.'" Liu Bai rolled his eyes at Rita's smile and continued, "By the way, your command just now... You said self-destruct, but what you actually ordered was formatting, wasn't it?"

"There is no difference."

There was a huge difference.

Liu Bai rolled his eyes, but he did not say it aloud.

A serious yet warm-hearted Rita was the good Rita—the Rita Liu Bai remembered.

"Was it handled cleanly?"

The moment Liu Bai asked that, he felt as if someone had asked him the same question before.

"Ghostly Gentleman, are you worried about me?" Rita covered her mouth in feigned surprise. "I thought you had been thinking about popcorn all this time. Don't worry, formatting is not that fast. Before that child wakes up, everyone else will see it as 'consciousness self-destruction.' So, would you like some popcorn?"

Rita had unexpectedly remembered Liu Bai's comment while watching the show... The maid was rather petty about strange things.

"...I can't eat it anyway."

"That is precisely why I asked."

Rita wore the gentlest smile as she spoke the most wicked words.

"I'll haunt you while you sleep. I really will haunt you."

Liu Bai half-jokingly threatened her.

"For example, I could possess your bed and flip you off while you sleep, or pull away your pillow and give you a stiff neck."

"Oh my... that truly sounds terrifying. But according to our agreement, you cannot enter my room while I am sleeping."

"Then let's go buy some weird discs."

"..."

Rita compatibility +3%

The Birth of Anti-Entropy

Ding—! Today's simulation attempts have been restored. Please begin the simulation promptly.

Please note, the simulation is about to begin!

Simulation location: Imperial Research Institute, Lab 42

Simulation hosts: Liesel Albert Einstein & Frederica Nikola Tesla

New story segment discovered: The Birth of Anti-Entropy

Liu Bai was slightly stunned as he looked at the system prompt. The targets of the previous two simulations had both been from the Previous Era, but this time, one from the Current Era had suddenly appeared, making his eyes light up.

Of course... what caught his eye even more were the simulation targets.

—Liesel Albert Einstein & Frederica Nikola Tesla.

It was a dual-host simulation he had never seen before, and the hosts were two great scientists whose names would go down in history.

The scene before him shifted, and Liu Bai appeared in a room filled with an incongruous blend of antique and technological styles. Before him, a blue-haired girl with a complete mess of hair was "slumped" on the sofa.

"Coffee, want some?"

Another red-haired girl with twin ponytails poked her head out from what appeared to be a kitchen and asked the blue-haired girl.

"No, thank you. I'm going to sleep."

There was no doubt that these two were Liu Bai's hosts for this simulation.

The scruffy blue-haired girl—Liesel Albert Einstein.

The red-haired girl with twin ponytails—Frederica Nikola Tesla.

The two great scientists who would one day lead Anti-Entropy were currently working at the Imperial Research Institute, Lab 42 under Schicksal.

However, the environment before him looked nothing like a laboratory. If not for the books filling an entire wall of shelves, the technological equipment, and the white lab coats worn by the two beautiful scientists, Liu Bai might have mistaken this place for some shared apartment.

...Had he really come to the right place?

Liu Bai looked at the two beautiful scientists before him, unsure whether to speak.

He felt that he had already prepared his opening line for the new host.

"Ahem, Miss Einstein, don't you have work to do?"

To avoid startling Einstein, Liu Bai deliberately cleared his throat twice.

"A laboratory does not mean one must work every day." Unexpectedly, after hearing Liu Bai's voice, Einstein showed no surprise at all. Instead, she calmly explained, "The idea that one must work every day is merely a stereotype."

Was she a little too calm?

Though, though he was a Guardian Spirit, not one of those terrifying ghosts who claimed lives, and he should undoubtedly have been happy that he had not frightened his host, but...

Looking at the calm and unruffled Einstein before him, Liu Bai inexplicably felt humiliated.

He had disgraced his ghostly predecessors...

"...Um, I'm a Guardian Spirit. A ghost, you know."

"Mm, I understand. Could you help me get a bag of snacks?"

"...Weren't you going to sleep?"

"I lied to Dr. Tesla."

Neither righteous nor guilty, the blue-haired girl said those words as flatly as though they were an immutable law of the universe.

"...Please do not say something like that in the tone of stating a law of physics."

Einstein... This beautiful scientist was even more troublesome than Liu Bai had imagined.

"So ghosts understand the laws of physics too?" A hint of amusement appeared in Einstein's tone.

For some reason, Liu Bai seemed to sense something called a "devil's smile"...

"? Liesel, are you talking to someone?"

Tesla emerged from the kitchen holding coffee, her face full of confusion.

"I think I just heard a man's voice? Are you on the phone?"

"No. Perhaps Dr. Tesla is under too much work pressure and has started hallucinating."

"...That does seem possible." Tesla froze for a moment before nodding. Then she frowned again. "Why do I feel like you're brushing me off, Ein? Besides, haven't we been resting these past few days?"

"Have we?"

"You..." Tesla looked at Einstein, unable to vent her frustration.

"But speaking of hallucinations... Dr. Tesla, have you ever heard ghost stories?" Einstein looked at Tesla meaningfully.

"W-What!? Why bring that up all of a sudden?"

Despite being a great scientist, Tesla unexpectedly showed a childlike fear—though Tesla herself was still a girl now.

But thinking about it carefully, Tesla did seem a little chuunibyou...

"Liesel, you aren't trying to scare me, are you?"

"I am merely extending the topic appropriately, adding some amusement to a dull life." Einstein made it sound completely believable.

Liu Bai felt that Einstein seemed to be hinting at something.

"Th-Then... all right."