Chapter 335

The doll quickly escaped from Kiana and disappeared into another room. Kiana hesitated for a moment but could only give chase. The Herrscher of Domination, did they plan all of this from the beginning? No wonder they didn't care about the sacrifice of their companions at all, launching such an attack on her while Shen Gonglin was drunk. Tsk, this is really troublesome.

Kiana chased after the dolls as she ran in, and as soon as she entered, she saw several dolls standing side by side. What was going on? How did the number of dolls increase?

"Hehe, are you confused? Are you troubled? I know what you're guessing, but that kind of thing is meaningless. A puppet is just a puppet. You have never discovered the true Herrscher of Domination! This place is nice, the view is great, perfect for performing the best show. Although, it's already the final act, let's invite the last actor to come on stage. I think she can't wait."

The dolls formed a circle and stared at Kiana, or rather, they were staring at another consciousness hidden within Kiana's body. Their true purpose was to stimulate Sirin's consciousness and awaken the Herrscher of the Void once again!

"Haha, now everyone outside thinks things have calmed down, right? Everyone's eager to return to normal life, isn't they? Although Anti-Entropy still has doubts, under public pressure, you're forced to say that the crisis has been temporarily resolved. So here's the question: what if we reappear at this time, bringing the Herrscher of the Void with us—"

The doll's smile was extremely sinister, leading Kiana to think in the worst possible way.

"Guess how humanity will deal with Anti-Entropy after something like this happens? Oh, right, Welt and the others have been insisting that Kiana Kaslana can control her power... Oh, and you might be thinking about Shen Gonglin, right? Although he is indeed a problem, a fully-fledged Herrscher controls four cores... But, he simply can't bring himself to kill the Herrscher of the Void, haha, well, what can you do when your beloved Shen Gonglin is such a womanizer!"

The dolls chattered incessantly, provoking Kiana. Luckily, Shen Gonglin wasn't there, otherwise, if he heard the dolls slandering him like that, he would definitely twist their heads off and see who the womanizer was!

"I will not let that happen."

Kiana took a deep breath. This absolutely cannot happen. For everyone's sake, it must not.

"Haha, it's alright, it's alright. This was our previous plan, but it's outdated now. In this operation, we had an unexpected gain. Kiana... you might be more qualified to be one of us than Sirin. Come on, Kiana, the trial prepared for you has begun."

The dolls surrounding Kiana suddenly leaped up and landed on the surrounding railings. Only then did Kiana realize that this place was actually designed as a trial bench. The dolls looked down at Kiana from above, as if they were looking down at a criminal who was about to be judged.

"Judgment! Judgment! Judgment!"

"Now, let's begin the examination of the new members' eligibility for entry. State your name!"

"I know, I know, her name is Kiana, Kiana Kaslana!"

"No, she's not Kiana at all; that name was stolen!"

"Hehehe! Poor little guy, even that name was stolen! But don't worry, everyone here is a loser just like you!"

The dolls started chattering and discussing, while Kiana's eyes darkened. Had they said enough of this?

Chapter 160 The Unexpected Gem

Are they all losers, just like them?

Kiana raised her eyebrows, suddenly feeling insulted. Why did they have such a misconception, thinking that she was the same as them? Don't use their standards to judge yourself. These puppets really know how to rub salt into people's wounds, or is this their method of attack?

"Is that look in your eyes because you look down on us? We are puppets, and what are you? A clone experiment subject containing a core? You're not even human."

"New member, commit your crimes."

"I know, I know!"

Before Kiana could answer, the dolls started chattering away, their noise giving Kiana a headache. How boring! She decided to just listen to what they had to say. She really didn't need to be kind to these dolls.

"She made a man named Siegfried lose everything! He lost his daughter to save you, raised you without holding a grudge, yet you cut off his arm and shamelessly called him Dad. You couldn't control yourself, but you were unwilling to be locked up obediently, causing your friends to become homeless. When you were homeless, you even made Shen Gonglin eat expired bread and get diarrhea... Tsk, why didn't he just die back then?"

The dolls started discussing Kiana's "crimes," and this kind of chaotic dancing in a minefield was provoking Kiana's nerves, but these guys still didn't seem to be stopping.

"You claim to fight for all the good things in the world, yet you killed your own teacher with your own hands. You also hurt your best friend, forcing her to go to such a dangerous place for you, not even knowing if she would have enough to eat! You perform so-called heroic deeds, but the number of people around you is decreasing, and the world is getting worse and worse!"

"You are a villain, you are a sinner. Your good deeds cannot make up for your sins. Hehehe, we know, we all know. The voice in your heart, your true thoughts, the bottomless pain and despair, you know the taste of pain better than any of us. You are more suitable to be the host of the puppet than anyone else in this world. Recognize yourself, face reality!"

The dolls let out a sharp laugh, but they were met with a crisp gunshot. Kiana shot down one of the dolls on the judge's bench. What a noisy bunch.

"I've had enough of your nonsense. This ridiculous trial is about to end. You can't fool me. I will not yield, nor will I despair."

Kiana took a deep breath, assuming a fighting stance. Talking to these puppets any further would be pointless. She didn't know what the situation was like outside. Right now, she was the only one in the Domination Theater, and Kiana could only rely on herself.

"Sigh, we even went out of our way to show you the Second Herrscher's memories again, didn't you feel anything? Aren't you ashamed?"

Slightly disappointed by Kiana's reaction, the dolls thought that Kiana, after being judged by them, should kneel on the ground, bury her face in her hands, and cry, then lose her composure and become one of them. Who knew that this girl would be so stubborn? Is it because her brain isn't working very well?

"As expected, it was you guys who did this. Sorry, this trick won't work on me. I have many people who trust and support me. They have taught me what I should do. If you want to use these people to sway me, you'd better not bother."

Now she understood why she had suddenly dreamed about Sirin's life—that suffocatingly painful life. It was indeed the work of these dolls. In the past, this might have had some effect on Kiana, but not now. The emptiness in the girl's heart had been filled by something more valuable, and Kiana already had some guesses about Sirin's life.

"Huh? Trust you? It's more like protecting you and indulging you, isn't it? They knew you were the Herrscher of the Void, the greatest danger to humanity, yet they still risked their lives to keep you alive, even risking their own to protect you and save you. But what right do they have to do that? Whether it's Shen Gonglin, Cecilia, or Himeko, when they saved you, did they consider the rest of the world? Did they imagine that countless people would live in fear because of this?"

Disdainful of Kiana's statement, the dolls continued their judgment, calling them nothing but a bunch of fools indulging in self-satisfaction, who hadn't thought about ordinary people like them at all!

"No, they disregarded the lives of millions of innocent people and chose you, a bomb that could explode at any moment, an incorrigible sinner. Is this what you call 'the right thing to do'? Bah! Selfishness! It's nothing but the self-pity and self-satisfaction of a hypocrite!"

The dolls kept babbling on, but Kiana was angry this time. She didn't care what they said about her, but hearing these trashy dolls criticize her cherished companions made Kiana angry. These guys were really good at dancing in the minefield.

"Are you angry? You won't allow us to comment on your companions? Don't misunderstand, don't misunderstand. Of course we know that you've been through a lot along the way, and no matter what we say, it's hard to shake your will. But we also know that even someone like you has unfulfilled regrets and unhealed voids."

If Kiana were as calm as the Herrscher of Reason, their attacks would probably be useless. Fortunately, this girl can't be that absolutely calm. Seeing Kiana's emotional fluctuations, the dolls secretly rejoiced. Now it's time to concentrate our firepower. I wonder if she can withstand this bombshell.

Unfulfilled regrets? Are they talking about marrying Shen Gonglin? It is indeed a regret, but as long as I work hard, it's not impossible to achieve.

"We know everything about you, your heart, your torment. You know perfectly well that ordinary people cannot survive from the Imaginary Space, yet you deceive yourself again and again. You know perfectly well that besides Anti-Entropy, Schicksal and the World Serpent are searching for the Plague Gem, but have found nothing so far. You have long understood the truth in your heart, but you just refuse to admit it, and even deceive yourself by saying, 'I will definitely bring you back...' Haha, how ridiculous!"

As the dolls finished speaking, a crack suddenly appeared in Kiana's previously calm mind. What the dolls were saying was...

"Look, look, we haven't even said who it is yet. You know very well yourself, don't you? She is the most vulnerable part of your heart, the wound that can never be healed."

The dolls noticed Kiana's reaction and knew that this would definitely work on her.

Chapter 161 The Puppet, Making a Comeback

"We know that if you could go back to that day, if you could bring her back to life, you would be willing to give anything to atone for your mistakes. But you don't have that kind of 'if'! Even if you say you won't waver, when the facts are right in front of you, can you really remain unmoved? When that moment comes, can you still believe in the beautiful things you've said?"

"You can't do it, you really can't, because you've chosen an utterly boring path of petty good, a fool's path destined to have no end! The drama is almost at its climax, it's time to reveal the exciting twist! What kind of expression will you make when hope turns to despair? Hehe, come on, come on, let's take a good look!"

Kiana's expression pleased the dolls, who slowly gathered around Kiana. Under Kiana's turbulent gaze, one of the dolls took out something she couldn't accept: a pink gem floating quietly in its hand. Kiana was all too familiar with this gem.

The Plague Gem is the gem that was inlaid on the God-Slaying Armor worn by Teacher Himeko, a gem from the previous era's Herrscher of Flames.

"How about it? It looks familiar, doesn't it? Do you remember who was holding it? Do you know why it's here? Tell me your answer, Murata Himeko, you're already dead."

The doll's words were cruel and heartless. Kiana felt a blank in her mind. This... this kind of thing... she couldn't accept it!

A little earlier in the story, at the Salt Lake Base laboratory, Tesla and Einstein were working overtime through the night. Unlike Shen Gonglin and the others, these two doctors were also responsible for Anti-Entropy's public image. The aftershocks caused by the Herrscher of Domination had not been completely cleared up yet, which was really annoying.

After eliminating a thousand individual puppets, the puppet hosts gradually returned to normal. They themselves did not establish close ties with the Herrscher, and we do not have good means to track them down. We can only speculate through investigation. There are missing persons reports in the past two months, eyewitness testimonies of sudden personality changes, and self-reports of people who have become aware of their own changes... There are probably so many ways to do this. It is really not a simple task to investigate.

Because when Tesla and Einstein compiled these reports, they discovered that the total number of these incidents far exceeded one thousand.

Tesla and Einstein were initially taken aback, thinking the number of dolls was far more than a thousand. However, after a thorough investigation, they discovered that things were not as they had imagined. The missing persons reports and eyewitness testimonies included some independent events unrelated to the dolls, which were still within their assessment scope. But the self-reported events were highly suspicious. Some people's self-reports were contradictory, and when they were asked to verify them, they claimed that they had made a mistake. The most outrageous one was that when they asked him three times, he gave three completely different versions!

I don't know where they got the rumor from, but they heard that causing trouble after being influenced by an abnormal force could reduce their liability. So they thought they could take the opportunity to shift the blame for their dirty deeds. It's really too much. They don't know anything about the dolls, so they make up stories about being abducted by aliens, eating poisonous mushrooms, or being possessed by evil spirits. But people who are actually affected by the dolls are often mentally scattered and have confused logic. They can't explain what happened to them at all.

Tesla and Einstein were trying to piece together the experiences from these people's chaotic retellings, while also trying to identify the opportunists. It was all because of these bastards that the Anti-Entropy investigation had been severely hampered. Even now, Tesla and Einstein were unable to confirm the true extent of the harm, which is why they were working so late.

I should have just stayed hungover; then the work would have been left to just Chicken Coop Head.

Tesla sighed. Sometimes he really envied some people. That guy was still drunk and hadn't woken up yet. What a great opportunity! But he had to tidy up all this mess. It was really too much.

"Dr. Tesla, slow down. If you're tired, you can take a break... Anyway, the work is still yours."

Glancing at Tesla, who was slumped over the table looking listless, Einstein said casually, "Don't think that just because you're putting on this act, I'll take over your work. The world isn't that simple."

"Okay, I know, this is so annoying..."

Tesla responded and continued his work. Fortunately, the matter of the Herrscher of Domination was over. As long as he worked overtime to finish this work, he should be able to relax a bit.

Tesla thought to himself, but unfortunately, the girl probably forgot that you should never make promises you can't keep.

A sudden, urgent alarm shattered the silence of the night at the Salt Lake Base. Tesla and Einstein looked up in astonishment. What was happening? What was that alarm...?

[Attention all departments! Attention all departments! Due to the absence of any sudden mech malfunctions at the base, all personnel are on Level 1 alert! All personnel are on Level 1 alert!]

What's going on? Another mech malfunction, and this time it happened inside the base. What's going on?

Tesla and Einstein exchanged a glance. This wasn't the time to delve into the reasons. Neither of them were combat personnel, and their first priority in such an event was to protect themselves.

"No way, Shen Gonglin is still sleeping in her room, you Chicken Coop Head. You wait here, I'm going to... Hey, how come you're faster than me?!"

Tesla immediately decided to go find Shen Gonglin, but Einstein acted even faster. The two female doctors ran down the corridor, as if she were the only one worried about Shen Gonglin, and that it was only natural for her to go and save him!

Tesla and Einstein headed towards Shen Gonglin's bedroom, but before they had gone far, the roar of mechs came from around the corner. It seemed that all the mechs in the base had gone out of control. What was going on? Weren't the Herrscher of Domination already defeated? Was this... a comeback?

Tesla and Einstein had nowhere to retreat as the mechs attacked them. Just then, a pale fist descended from the sky and smashed into the mech's head. Fu Hua gracefully landed and stood in front of the two doctors. The moment the alarm sounded, the Valkyrie in the base had already begun to move.

Chapter 162 Sacrificing a Thousand for One Person

"Doctor, what exactly happened?"

With a single punch, she smashed the rampaging mech to pieces, doing something so out of character for a fairy. Fu Hua gracefully landed, the girl standing in front of Tesla and Einstein. They weren't combatants, so she had to protect them. Suddenly, she heard an alarm. What was going on?

"It's obvious! It's most likely that the Herrscher of Domination has returned! What about the others?"

Upon seeing Fu Hua, Einstein and Tesla finally felt relieved. The mech malfunction was definitely related to those puppets. Tesla used the personal computer on his gauntlet to check the situation in the hangar. The puppet remains that were originally collected there had all disappeared. Although they didn't want to admit it, it seemed that they had been tricked by the puppets!

Tesla clutched his head, completely losing his composure. He hadn't expected things to turn out this way. He was trapped in a small corner of his own base, unable to move. Tesla was extremely agitated by this situation.

"Bronya, the headmistress, and Seele have gone to investigate... Look, they're back."

"Doctor, we found a puppet core on the mech, exactly the same as when the mech was controlled by the puppet before. Also, Kiana is missing."

Bronya and Theresa arrived and joined the others. Their report almost confirmed the matter: the previous victory might have been a deliberate act by the dolls. They had actually fallen into the dolls' trap, which was hard to accept. Moreover, Kiana was missing. These guys' ultimate goal was indeed Kiana!

"Don't worry, I'm coming to find Kiana... Wait, out of signal? What's going on?!"

Tesla had intended to use the bracelet Kiana wore to pinpoint her location, but the "no signal" indicator was unacceptable to her. This thing couldn't possibly be broken; she made it herself. No matter where Kiana was, whether in the sky or on the ground, she could definitely be found, unless she was currently not in the same space as them.

Tesla's face turned incredibly grim. Could it be that she deliberately used the Herrscher of the Void's abilities to hide in the Imaginary Space? Because if that were the case, the monitoring data would show a sharply rising curve, indicating her state before using the ability to teleport. But there was no such record. Could it be...?

Everyone's mood became heavy, but no one voiced what they were guessing. If it wasn't hiding in the Imaginary Space, then there was only one possibility.

"Doctor, and everyone... I found this in Kiana's room. Although it's a different size from the other dolls, the design is definitely..."

At this moment, Seele, who was in charge of investigating Kiana's room, also ran back. The girl opened her palm with a heavy expression, and a doll no bigger than her palm was lying in Seele hand. More importantly, the doll was still intact. It can now be basically confirmed that this incident was caused by the doll.

"Don't rush into this topic! We've already gone to so much trouble... Wait, wait a minute, things seem to be more serious than we thought. Bronya, connect to Heavy-duty Rabbit's video call!"

Upon receiving the signal, Tesla, his face grim, gave Bronya instructions. Meanwhile, Heavy-duty Rabbit projected the message she had received onto the screen. On the projection screen, images from all over the world were being sent over. In one image, a person was cooking, but suddenly pointed the cleaver at someone next to them. Another person was speaking on stage, but suddenly stopped, and didn't respond when people called to them from below, as if they had lost themselves. Such situations were countless. And most importantly, several of the people in the images were familiar faces to Fu Hua Theresa.

"Of course I'm familiar with them. These are the people who were previously identified as doll hosts. We've been monitoring their condition for the past few weeks. Everything was fine before, and everyone had returned to normal. But why... why did hundreds of people suddenly have an accident?"

Tesla was furious. Okay, it was confirmed. Now she had no more hope. Although it was hard to accept this result, there was only one conclusion that could explain the current situation: the Herrscher of Domination had returned.

She calmly stated this conclusion, Einstein's composed demeanor made it hard to believe that this was a sudden situation. However, she was also quite surprised. While analyzing these core crystals, Einstein had been considering the possibility of the worst-case scenario. Under pressure to quell the situation, they could only announce that the disaster caused by the thousand Herrscher had temporarily ended, and the Alliance Leader had been working tirelessly to clean up the mess. But this was at best an inference based on observation, without any conclusive evidence. After all, the enemy had never made any agreement with them that there were only a thousand of them.

The reason they have this information is simply because of their conjecture about the records of the Previous Era. If this is all wishful thinking on their part, if this is exactly the kind of misconception that the Thousand Herrscher want them to fall into... it seems that this is indeed the case.

"But... in terms of quantity, each core of a thousand Herrscher is indeed only one-thousandth the level of an ordinary Herrscher."

Tesla wanted to persist, but Einstein calmly offered an explanation.

"There are many ways to confuse the issue. For example, the number of puppets is only slightly more than a thousand, as if there are a thousand and one. When averaged across each core, the energy difference becomes negligible. The Honkai energy of each core is not exactly the same, and there is a certain fluctuation difference, making this difference even more blurred. In this way, they do have a chance to deceive the instruments. Or... the puppets are just appendages of the Herrscher of Domination's power. The real Herrscher of Domination is still hiding in the shadows. As long as there is one core, it will not be destroyed and will have the ability to revive all its companions."

Einstein shared his conjecture, and although it was just a conjecture, considering the current situation, everyone's expressions turned grave. Was this the puppet's plan?

Sacrificing a thousand individuals to create a single, unique opportunity for one individual... Is this really something Herrscher could do?

Tesla was somewhat incredulous. The Herrscher were actually so united? The Herrscher of Domination in the records of the Previous Era were not this intelligent at all.

Chapter 163

"... The thousand Herrscher of the Previous Era were indeed not so far-sighted... but it must be admitted that they were also evolving. Perhaps, the thousand Herrscher are actually the most human among all the Herrscher that have appeared so far."

Fu Hua stated these words. As a warrior who had come from that era, she also found it hard to believe that the Herrscher had become like this. Humans are evolving, and the Herrscher are evolving too. They had underestimated their enemy.

"Knowing they were weak and unlikely to win in a direct confrontation, they devised a plan to sacrifice themselves from the very beginning... going to great lengths to use deception in front of us... their target from the start was Kiana!"

Bronya shook her head, having to admit that they had indeed fallen into a trap this time. It was hard to believe that Herrscher would come up with such a scheme; the wisdom of a thousand people was indeed difficult to deal with.

"The rusty tin lamps are shining, children are making noise in the dark, the audience is clapping and laughing, and heterochromatic eyes are popping out... These are tickets for a performance that were found before the Salt Lake Base was attacked. So, does the heterochromatic eye in the trailer refer to Kiana?"

Seele covered her mouth in disbelief. This reversal was truly unacceptable. To disperse the danger, only she and Sister Bronya were at the Salt Lake Base, which was why the puppets hadn't succeeded. But they hadn't given up on Kiana, constantly waiting for their chance. So when the bait operation was proposed, even knowing it was a trap, they still swarmed out. Because for them, no matter the cost, they would stop us from actually sending Kiana to the Arctic containment facility...

Then, today, after the Anti-Entropy weakened, the out-of-control mechs disarmed the electromagnetic barrier within the base and re-established contact with the Domination Theater. So... Kiana is probably already being dragged into the Domination Theater.

The atmosphere among them suddenly fell silent. This was indeed a big blow to them. This wouldn't do. Tesla frowned slightly when he saw this. No matter what, morale is always important. And have they forgotten something? It's not just Kiana's missing, there's someone else too.

"Cheer up! Have you forgotten we still have one person? I just checked the security footage from Shen Gonglin's room, and he's not there either. That kid must be acting alone right now. Maybe he's already with Kiana. Don't you trust him? With him here, everything will be fine!"

Tesla's encouragement to the others was clearly very effective. Fu Hua, Bronya Seele, and the others' eyes lit up immediately. "That's right, there's still Shen Gonglin! He's the ace who can turn everything around. Now that he and Kiana have disappeared together, maybe they're together right now. With Shen Gonglin by her side, what is there to worry about?"

The only thing that matters is why Dr. Tesla installed surveillance cameras in Shen Gonglin's room.

"Phew, you're right. Although Shen Gonglin usually gives off an unreliable vibe, he has never actually disappointed anyone. He must be... What's wrong, Ms. Theresa? You look so pale. Is something the matter?"