36. Kal'tsit: Avoid Their Edge and Yield for Now

Considering that Xia Ling is currently transitioning to a fountain-making role and is experiencing a water shortage, and on the advice of two experienced and empathetic clones, despite the many events happening in the world recently, they still allowed Xia Ling to enjoy a three-day "carefree" vacation.

Looking around, Theresa must have already left. After all, Theresa held an important position and had a lot of work piled up over three days.

Xia Ling opened the system's log channel and began to read through it.

"It seems that Flame Willow left me a lot of information, which is normal, since the next thing is Ice Herrscher."

"Kal'tsit... Wait, why are there so many? Did Kal'tsit go and blow up Schicksal Headquarters?"

"Huh? How come there's a report on Highmore's assistance in Kal'tsit's file?"

Xia Ling blinked, making sure she wasn't seeing things.

"It seems a lot has happened in these three days... Oh well, let's go find Kiana according to the previous plan. The Seven Thunders of Retribution should have gone to her place."

"Then I'll come back and slowly review the report; it's already been three days..."

Xia Ling slowly rummaged through her clothes, then got into her mode of transportation and floated away.

Kiana, I've come to see you~

Arriving at Kiana's room, Xia Ling knocked on the door and went straight in.

Kiana looked at some study materials with a headache-like expression. They seemed to be training plans and ability development suggestions devised for her by the two Doctor.

Upon seeing Xia Ling, Kiana finally showed a relieved expression.

"Sister Xia Ling ~ You've finally arrived..."

Kiana pounced on Xia Ling and hugged her slender legs.

"Help!... Did you add some kind of learning monitoring module to your Seven Thunders of Retribution? Why does it shock me every time I can't solve a problem, and I can't remove it...?"

"Yes, if I hadn't guessed that Sister Xia Ling might not be able to bother you these days..." Kiana said, a blush suddenly rising on her face.

"Uh..." When Kiana suddenly brought up the events of the past three days, a whole bunch of erotic scenes immediately flashed through Xia Ling's mind. She quickly shook her head and changed the subject.

"Then, let me see what's going on with the Seven Thunders of Retribution ... I can still roughly sense her emotions."

She quickly took the bracelet and put it on her wrist. Xia Ling carefully felt the emotions transmitted from the Seven Thunders of Retribution. After a moment, her expression became somewhat strange.

The general idea is that, perhaps because she was created by Vill-V, she has never really seen an academically challenged person.

Furthermore, Kiana was wearing it on her hand, allowing her to see up close those questions that even she could answer at a glance, which made... Seven Thunders of Retribution a little angry.

So he started to urge Kiana to study very hard.

"Well... she thinks you're stupid."

"Waaah..."

Kiana immediately turned into a dejected cat.

"Alright, alright, this is a matter of talent, let's put it aside for now." Ruffling Kiana's soft hair to comfort her, Xia Ling asked another question.

"There's another thing I want to ask, Kiana. When you were being domestically abused by Mei in Changkong City, Sirin came to your aid, right?"

"What do you mean by domestic violence...?" Kiana shook her head in dissatisfaction. "It's clearly a clash of ideas between equals!"

"However, Sirin did help me, almost to the point of being a substitute. She was the one who basically used my powers."

"She seems to care more about Mei's actions than I do... Did something else happen in that dream later?"

Kiana was not stupid; she immediately thought of Xia Ling's actions in not letting her see the aftermath of Sirin's dream.

Kiana: Staring warily.

Xia Ling silently looked away.

"As expected, Sister Xia Ling had anticipated this all along."

"Heh? Because it's obvious, but actually, Mei and I talked after you left..."

Xia Ling was just about to share Mei's thoughts when an urgent notification bell rang, interrupting her.

Kiana and Xia Ling both looked at the communicator.

"An emergency meeting notice? Has something happened?"

Kiana didn't have time to continue asking Mei, and quickly stood up and put on her coat.

"It can't be that we've discovered another Herrscher... Anyway, let's go over there first."

Xia Ling had a guess. Although the original work did not specify the exact day, judging from the time, the arrival of the Ice Herrscher was only a matter of days.

Grabbing Kiana's hand, Xia Ling activated her ability and brought the two of them to the conference room.

As everyone gradually arrived, Ain turned on the screen and started the meeting.

However, the content of the meeting was completely different from Xia Ling's guess.

"Just now, the Salt Lake Base was invaded by unidentified individuals."

"To be precise, it was an online intrusion; the target was our database."

Xia Ling, who had expected to hear news of the Ice Herrscher's arrival, was startled. It seemed that the content of this meeting was something that had not happened in the original work.

"The other party took two documents from our database... Their methods were very sophisticated. If they hadn't deliberately exposed themselves before leaving, we might not have been able to find their trail."

"Wait, then why not use Kishinuma?"

Xia Ling asked, "If it's about the attack and defense of the information world... then no one should be able to withstand the power of erosion, right?"

"Because... this person is someone we know."

Ain said slowly, "The person who hacked into the database was Theresia."

"?"

All eyes were on Xia Ling, including Xia Ling herself, who looked puzzled.

What? How come I didn't know there was such a plan?

Oh, I wasn't even fully conscious when I made the plan. Oh well, never mind.

"Moreover, although they stole our data, I feel that they did not have malicious intent... but rather were reminding us of something."

"So, what information did Little Ther actually take?"

Xia Ling tagged Kal'tsit in the channel while asking Ain a question.

"Hmm... that's one of the reasons why I think she meant no harm."

"The documents she took were a recent scientific research record about Oceania and an information survey of citizens of Changkong City."

"She practically used a search method to extract about a hundred citizen identity records from Changkong City and then took away their detailed information."

Chapter Thirty-Six: Kal'tsit: Avoid the Enemy's Edge and Give in for Now

Hearing this, Xia Ling felt a sudden weight lift from her shoulders.

She had a rough idea of what was going on with Kal'tsit.

Sure enough, Kal'tsit's action log in the channel confirmed this.

Let's go back a few days.

"Theresia, why have we suddenly gone into hiding these past few days...?"

"Because... Kal'tsit discovered something very dangerous in Changkong City."

"I'm not entirely clear on the specifics. Let's wait until Kal'tsit arrives before discussing it further."

In the Sea of Quantum, Himeko and Theresia sat quietly inside the shuttle, waiting.

A moment later, Kal'tsit walked in.

"Time is of the essence, so let's get to the conclusion first."

Kal'tsit still had some dark circles under her eyes, looking like she hadn't had much rest lately.

"There are traces of what appears to be Herrscher activity in Changkong City."

"Based on a comparison of the intelligence on your world, I suspect that the Thousand-Man Herrscher have already descended."

"What?"

Himeko suddenly stood up.

"Don't rush, it's not over yet."

Kal'tsit pressed Himeko back down, and then dropped a second bombshell.

"Judging from the current situation, I think they might be looking for you, Himeko."

Himeko pointed to herself without saying a word, but her exaggerated expression clearly showed her confusion.

"After deliberately 'exposing' myself in Changkong City, my actions were predicated on being under the watchful eye of the Schicksal. Therefore, in order to divert attention, I began to do some operations that were theoretically understandable but practically meaningless."

"For example, we can retrace Xia Ling and the others' movements in Changkong City."

"During this process, I discovered something interesting."

"A little girl named Jian Yun."

"She was a survivor rescued from the disaster by Kiana, but afterwards she was ostracized and bullied by her classmates..."

"Then, when I found her, I observed that she had a very subtle connection with the depths of the Imaginary Space, and that there were fluctuations of Herrscher power on her."

"This fluctuation only lasted for a few days before disappearing. I suspect it was because she was not proficient in mastering the core... After that, I quickly found a second suspected individual in her vicinity."

"Then came the third, the fourth, and there were quite a few in the entire Changkong City that met these conditions."

"Although I haven't found enough evidence to prove that this is Thousand-Man Herrscher, this number of Herrscher Core... if it's not Thousand-Man Herrscher, then this civilization is probably not far from destruction."

"How could this happen... But, Dr. Kal'tsit, what's this about them looking for me?"

"I'm not entirely sure about that either, because among the suspicious individuals I've investigated, more than one is gathering information about you. Of course, given their social status, it's not very useful; their searches are mostly limited to the location of your battle with the Herrscher of the Void."

"But isn't that in the Imaginary Space...?"

"That's right, but their main base also seems to be in the Imaginary Space, which can be seen from their inexplicable connection with the Imaginary Space."

"Although I don't know their purpose, since it involves you, Himeko, there are only two possibilities."

"They either want to exploit your corpse, or they want to find your lost core, or both."

"In short, whichever it is, hiding you away was the right decision."

Kal'tsit continued her analysis, "After searching for a while without success, they will definitely make a fuss about your death, for example, by using it to attack Kiana. If you jump out at this time, you will undoubtedly deal a heavy blow to their carefully planned scheme."

"But all of this is contingent on you hiding it well."

"But given the stealth capabilities of the Thousand-Man Herrscher, it would be very difficult for me to hide myself well..."

Himeko couldn't help but feel a little worried.

"Indeed, that's why I brought you to the Sea of Quantum. Since the Imaginary Space is their stronghold, their knowledge of the Sea of Quantum must be limited."

"This shuttle cannot remain in the Sea of Quantum for long. Therefore, you need a friend who can help you create a stable space in the Sea of Quantum."

Himeko suddenly thought of someone—no, perhaps not a person.

"That's right. The next plan is for Theresia to raid the database of the Salt Lake Base where Xia Ling and the others are located and obtain information on your friend Highmore."

"And Theresa will help me get a list of suspects, and I will investigate them one by one for possible Herrscher suspicion."

"This sudden move will also make Xia Ling and the others be on their guard, so that when they actually encounter Thousand-Man Herrscher, they can react quickly and make use of this suspicious list."

"But if you just want to give them information, why not just tell them directly?" Himeko asked, puzzled.

"Because of the stealth of the Thousand-Man Herrscher," Kal'tsit answered without hesitation. "We don't yet know how the Thousand-Man Herrscher chooses its hosts, and there may be spies within Anti-Entropy."

"So, Lingmeng Wuyi Qi: Ba Ming @] (six) Yi, this hint only needs to be something that Xia Ling can think of. Then, she will naturally tell this information to someone she trusts."

"As for the two of you, you need to go to Oceania to seek help and ask them to help you stay in the Sea of Quantum for the time being, and wait for an opportunity."

"Wait, the two of us?"

"Dr. Kal'tsit, aren't you coming with us?"

"I won't go. I reckon I've already come into their sights during these past few days of investigation."

Kal'tsit shook her head. "Don't worry about my safety. Even if I encounter a genuine Herrscher, I have the strength to fight, let alone this kind of Herrscher."