6. Pretend to doze off, using it to lure the enemy / 7. The organization has decided: you're going undercover

So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the tickets to Theater of Domination will be in my hands...

Xia Ling pondered for a moment. Everything she needed was ready. Now, all she had to do was secretly protect Seele while she conducted her investigation.

After all, considering the Thousand-Man Herrscher's "turning" of Black Seele, if she went to investigate the same location herself, she might not necessarily be able to obtain the "ticket" to Theater of Domination like Seele did.

However, in order to prevent the Thousand-Man Herrscher from directly pulling Seele into the Theater of Domination during this period, she still has to follow Seele in case the plot changes.

Judging from the current situation, the targets of the Thousand-Man Herrscher seem to be Herrscher or people with Herrscher potential. As for why no one is coming after her... Xia Ling speculates that it may be because her abilities are too troublesome for the thousand Herrschers.

It can sever the connection between the puppets and the theater, and may even be able to trace the clues directly to the theater. They can't just kick it out like they did with Mei in the original work. For the Thousand People, it is a top-tier countermeasure card against them.

However, as long as they're not stupid, they'll definitely find a way to counter them. It's just a matter of how they'll approach it...

Lost in thought, Xia Ling followed Seele invisibly all the way to the university where the college student was located.

While Xia Ling was making steady progress, a dispute was also unfolding on the other side.

"Mon3tr!"

A dark shadow appeared from behind Kal'tsit, and black claws grabbed Kal'tsit from behind, blocking the missiles fired from the mech.

"You bastard, when will you ever stop?!"

A man piloting a mecha roared in exasperation, and on her body, the joints of a puppet were also beginning to appear.

"How many puppets have you killed in the past few months! Tell me what you want! You're clearly not from this world, so why are you chasing us like this?"

"It seems you haven't learned the lesson of not talking during a fight."

Kal'tsit did not answer its question. As it broke through its defenses, mon3tr appeared behind it. With a snap of its claws, which were shrouded in red mist, the puppet was destroyed on the spot, leaving only a core that quickly disappeared into the Imaginary Space.

True damage is the most realistic damage in this game.

Ignoring the escaped core, Kal'tsit took out a list and gently crossed out a name.

"Let's go, mon3tr, we're going to the next place."

Before Chapter Six, he feigned sleep, ostensibly to lure the enemy.

Unlike Xia Ling, Kal'tsit's side has been in a constant state of busyness ever since the Celestial Meteor.

The root of her busy schedule is, of course, the Thousand-Man Herrscher.

In her previous investigation, Kal'tsit, by identifying the dolls in Changkong City, uncovered more than a dozen dolls along the way.

Such a high-profile investigation naturally caught the attention of the Thousand-Man Herrscher. However, Kal'tsit didn't care; with the Thousand-Man Herrscher 'Herrscher specialized abilities, even if she were caught, it would be of no use.

Of course, the Thousand-Man Herrscher were not to be trifled with. After trying various methods, they actually managed to "capture" Kal'tsit once.

Unfortunately, this capture was also Kal'tsit's deliberate act, aimed at confirming how many Thousand-Man Herrscher had increased in number.

The Thousand-Man Herrscher had excitedly captured Kal'tsit and was preparing to turn her into a puppet, was dumbfounded.

For the first time, they learned that monsters really do exist that can reside in a person's spine, and that these monsters can even self-destruct.

After realizing they couldn't defeat Kal'tsit, the Thousand People changed their strategy and began to hide. Since Kal'tsit neither actively killed the puppets nor was Herrscher, she was simply recording information about them.

During this tracking game that lasted for nearly a month, Kal'tsit gradually gathered a lot of information about the doll.

However, all of this gathering was just a prelude; Kal'tsit was only beginning to act after Xia Ling had gone to see the Serpent.

After determining their main strategy for dealing with the thousand Herrschers, Kal'tsit began to "serve" each of the Thousand-Man Herrscher one by one, according to her previous list.

As for what kind of service it is... of course, it's mon3tr's loving hug.

With the added benefit of true damage, the puppets simply don't have time to return to the theater. Once Kal'tsit catches them, they're guaranteed to be killed instantly.

Because Kal'tsit started collecting data very early, the puppets she killed were basically the first batch that were transformed, and now they are almost completely puppetized, so they can all be called "veterans".

However, Kal'tsit put all their Herrscher Core back, partly because Xia Ling's condition couldn't withstand such a high-intensity capture of cores.

On the other hand... it's okay if one core disappears, but if a large number of cores are captured, then the Thousand-Man Herrscher will inevitably start researching ways to counter it.

With a simple cross-out on the list, Kal'tsit continues her global flyable journey.

There was no other way; time was tight and the task was heavy. Before the end of the day, she had to find a way to reduce the number of Thousand-Man Herrscher to a certain level.

This way, they can easily take advantage of the chaos to carry out their plans.

Meanwhile, Seele had also finished her investigation of the academy.

After searching the crime scene, she successfully found the missing student's student ID and followed the clues to the school he attended.

John Doe, that's the student's name.

Unfortunately, even after asking around the academy for more than half an hour and even finding the student's roommate, Seele still couldn't find out anything of value.

The only two pieces of information were that he had been staying in a nearby apartment recently, and that he hadn't been to school for over a month.

As darkness fell, Seele checked the time and decided to go directly to the other party's apartment to check on the situation.

By the time she found the apartment where John lived, it was already evening.

"This is it... My other self, should we go straight in?"

"Of course, Xia Ling has already said that he is most likely controlled by that Herrscher of Domination. Why do you still care about these rules? What, do you have to ask whether killing a Honkai zombie is intentional homicide or self-defense?"

"But... never mind, there's really no time to worry about that in this situation."

Seele gritted her teeth, gripped the doorknob with one hand, and pushed hard with all her might—

"Ah!"

The door opened easily, but Seele, who had used a lot of force, accidentally sat down on the ground.

"Oh, little sister, I'm so sorry, I didn't notice someone opening the door..."

A kind-looking middle-aged woman quickly squatted down and helped Seele up.

"Little girls, what are you doing here so late? If you're here to look at houses, it's already past the time. Or are you here to meet up with friends?"

"I'm sorry... I actually came to see this person." Seele handed her student ID to the person who looked like the dormitory manager.

"I'm his friend. He forgot something at my house, so I happened to be passing by today and brought it to him..."

"So you're here looking for this child...?" The administrator sighed. "That's really unfortunate. This child... died a month ago..."

He has passed away.

"Huh?!" Seele's face also turned a little pale. Unlike Black Seele, she wasn't that brave. Even a caterpillar that suddenly appeared could scare her.

"But, but..." Seele swallowed the words that were already on her lips, "I saw him this morning," and changed it to, "How did he die?"

"I don't know, but for kids this age, there are only a few possibilities: love, studies, or being scammed out of money, etc..."

"In short, the school doesn't want us to make this public. His family just took the body away hastily and left all his belongings here. If you want to take anything as a memento, go in and take a look for yourselves."

"Anyway, I plan to clean up this house soon."

After saying that, the administrator walked into a room near the apartment entrance, leaving Seele standing there in a daze.

"My other self, should we go in and take a look...?"

"Suit yourself, but since we're already here..."

The Black Seele in her mind spoke in standard Schicksal, seemingly considering Seele's feelings, and asked, "Do you need me to control your body? You seem a little hesitant about these things."

"No, no need! I have to face these things eventually..." As if to bolster her courage, Seele slowly pushed open the tightly closed door.

Then she saw it, lying in the very center of the room, a broken doll. (V) Abandoned Scar (Neighbor Abandoned Willow)

Almost instantly, Seele drew her scythe.

A moment later, Black Seele's voice rang out.

"Seele, don't be too sensitive. This thing shouldn't be a living thing. At least, through the Stigmata, it doesn't give me that sense of life. On the contrary, the aura of death in this room is very strong."

"Then let's look around first."

Seele breathed a sigh of relief, but still didn't put away the scythe. Instead, she searched around the house.

A moment later... she found a ticket.

"Theater of Domination... performance tickets?"

Seele picked up the receipt and read it aloud softly.

"Performance Program - Foolish Jack..."

"Wait, Seele, watch out behind you!"

As she focused on the concert ticket, Black Seele's voice echoed in her mind.

Almost instinctively, Seele turned around, and then she saw...

A giant golden hand, the same color as the doll.

Chapter Seven: The organization has made its decision; you will be the mole.

"Something really did happen..."

Outside the apartment, Xia Ling had already sensed something was wrong when Seele entered the room.

The reason is simple: the moment Seele stepped into the room, it was as if she had already been half-pulled into the Theater of Domination.

"But... I didn't expect to get a share this time."

Looking at the several dolls that appeared around her, Xia Ling clicked her tongue in displeasure.

The Thousand-Man Herrscher must have done his homework on me, knowing that my Armor Break Line is mainly concentrated on sniping. Although my close-range ability is not weak, I cannot achieve the effect of killing the enemy with one shot.

The other side clearly didn't intend to kill them with just these few puppets; they were merely expendable pawns used to buy time. Their purpose... was probably to delay the inevitable and drag Seele into the Theater of Domination.

"Unfortunately, your homework isn't enough. Although I can't deal with you quickly..."

Xia Ling sighed, and the red markings on her hand, resembling Command Spell, lit up.

"Yae Sakura, it's all yours now!"

A cold, aloof figure appeared out of thin air beside Xia Ling. Before the figure could solidify, the blade, radiating a chilling aura, was already drawn.

"Xia Ling, should we keep one?"

"No need. These puppets are under the control of the core and have basically lost the ability to communicate. Talking to them will only disgust you."

Yae Sakura nodded slightly, then vanished instantly, appearing a second later on a doll's face.

With Yae Sakura handling the puppet, Xia Ling could confidently raise her gun again and take aim—

Then, a bullet was fired at the giant golden hand.

The bullet pierced through several walls and, as Seele turned around, crackled with blue-purple lightning, paralyzed the giant hand in place.

As the bullets were fired, the Seven Thunders of Retribution transformed back into a bracelet. Then, Xia Ling pulled at the void, and a blue portal of light opened out of thin air.

"Seele, get out of here!"

Hearing the familiar voice from the light gate, "(II) Phosphorus-Water; ErlingVII Siba Lingmeng, "Seele didn't hesitate. She grabbed the ticket to Theater of Domination and went inside.

"Eh? Sister Xia Ling, and Sister Yae Sakura? You... are all here?"

"The situation is a bit complicated, but wait a moment, there's still one doll we haven't dealt with."

Xia Ling raised her gun again and fired a bullet. This time, the bullet hit the building manager who was hiding in the apartment.

"Huh? Why is that auntie also...?"

Seele was even more confused. Although she came to investigate the Thousand-Man Herrscher, the fact that a fight broke out so inexplicably and almost destroyed an apartment building still left her bewildered.

"Didn't you notice a detail, Seele?"

Xia Ling holstered her gun and sent a message to the department in charge of cleanup at Anti-Entropy while explaining the situation.

"After you stepped into the apartment, the building manager always referred to you as 'you all'."

"In other words, she can see Black Seele."

"!" ×2

Seele's azure pupils widened instantly, a flicker of lingering fear crossing her eyes.

"From the moment you entered this place, you were already caught in the middle of it all. There are probably no living people in this apartment, only dolls... I only rushed here to support you after confirming that the boy had been dead for a month."

This is a lie; in fact, Xia Ling has been following Seele all along.