The Golden Threads... Have Already Entangled You / Ain: How Could Anyone Have Such a High Compatibility Rate?

"You, how did you get here!"

"Hmph... I'm not going to explain my tactics to my opponents like a classic villain."

"But you guys, you haven't completed your plan to defeat them one by one, are you getting impatient?"

"Hehe, there's no use in rushing. When I merge with Theresa, I'm invincible!"

Xia Ling chuckled softly and shielded Theresa in front of her.

"You, you coward, is all you can do is hide behind this little one?"

Hey! Who are you calling a little kid?!

These words infuriated Theresa. She was just about to use her light spear to cosplay Asuka for the Thousand-Man Herrscher when Xia Ling stopped her.

Theresa turned around and saw Xia Ling gently shaking her head, signaling her not to make a move.

Xia Ling had a clear understanding of the current situation. It was impossible for the Thousand-Man Herrscher to actually make a move against them at this time. In a situation where both sides were holding back, whoever couldn't help but reveal their trump card first would most likely be the loser.

Therefore, Xia Ling only needs to remain still, and after a while, the Thousand-Man Herrscher will naturally release them.

After all, Xia Ling's confrontation here did not consume any resources, and it even bought her time to find a way to leave the Theater of Domination coordinates.

Meanwhile, the pressure faced by the Thousand-Man Herrscher was far greater than theirs.

"Still weighing your options? If you want to fight, we're ready anytime!"

Xia Ling peeked out from behind Theresa and grinned mischievously, while Theresa cooperated by pulling out all the light spears.

"However, don't blame me for not warning you. Although I don't care how long it takes, you are a different story."

"That [country] over there, it can spread, you know~"

This is a lie. In reality, the Thousand-Man Herrscher only needs to hold out for a little longer before the kingdom dissipates on its own.

Of course, this is not a characteristic of the nation-state, but rather because the Collapse Paradigm has reached its end. This is why, even as they are about to dissipate, the expanding nation-state shows no signs of diminishing.

"Hateful..."

Things had gone beyond expectations, and the puppets no longer had the mind to mock, but instead began to consider the pros and cons.

If the real Herrscher of Domination were to appear here, what would be the chances of defeating them?

If we keep them trapped here, wouldn't it be more cost-effective to deal with the two little ones outside?

The dolls' thoughts didn't last long, because they were just "dolls".

When the true Herrscher of Domination issues a command, the puppet can only obey.

"Hehe, fine, I'll let you off this time."

The puppet at the front suddenly turned its head and said with a grin.

"Don't think you've won! The price you're paying today is far greater than you imagine..."

"Hehe, I never expected to find something so suitable..."

"The golden thread has already entangled you..."

Accompanied by a few incomprehensible words, Xia Ling and Theresa simultaneously felt an inexplicable sense of rejection.

With a sudden dizzying sensation, Xia Ling and Theresa opened their eyes at the same time.

"Xia Ling!"

Theresa had just opened her eyes when she rushed over and hugged Xia Ling.

"Feel sorry..."

"There's nothing to apologize for... The way the Thousand-Man Herrscher pull people into the theater is impossible to guard against, and you can't keep your Power of Restraint outward at all times."

Xia Ling patted Theresa's head reassuringly and smiled, "More than that, I'm concerned about what the Thousand-Man Herrscher said at the end..."

"What price did they actually pay?"

"Xia Ling, Theresa, can you hear me?"

Xia Ling wanted to say something more, but the sudden ringing of the communicator interrupted her.

"Ain, it's me."

"Great, we've finally connected..." Seeing the familiar figure appear on the screen, Ain breathed a sigh of relief, "Not long ago, headquarters suddenly lost your location signal."

"I just sent Bronya and Seele back to check on the situation, so why were you two...?"

"Well, it was a bit of a misjudgment... I originally thought the Thousand-Man Herrscher would target Seele, but actually they were after Theresa."

"We were just pulled directly into the Theater of Domination... but since they couldn't do anything to us for the time being, they eventually released us."

"Is that so... Then after you reunite, go straight back to Salt Lake Base. The mission is temporarily suspended. Bronya has already completed all the necessary investigations."

"This time, we found another performance ticket at the crime scene..."

"Huh? So that's what happened..."

After reuniting, the four quickly returned to the Salt Lake Base. After handing over both performance tickets to Ain, Xia Ling finally had the opportunity to talk about her previous experience at the Theater of Domination.

"The methods of the Thousand-Man Herrscher are annoying, but they are indeed very effective." Bronya nodded. "After Sister Xia Ling and the Headmistress were separated, the Thousand-Man Herrscher's explanations to both sides were almost like getting something for nothing."

"They took advantage of the information gap between the two sides who could not communicate, and tried to break through psychologically. If they succeeded, they made a fortune. Even if they failed, they did not expend much effort. For them, the loss might only be some dolls."

"It doesn't matter, Theresa and I are of one mind!"

Xia Ling hugged Theresa tightly. "By the way, Theresa, I clearly didn't give anything away, so how were you sure I wasn't in the black fog back then?"

"Ahem, this is... a secret."

Theresa turned her head away shyly.

She can't exactly say, "I sensed you because of some unspeakable item," can she? There are two children here, and what if she doesn't set a good example and leads them astray?

"In short, we don't need to worry about this side. Xia Ling and I are both seasoned veterans, and we have certain countermeasures against Thousand-Man Herrscher."

Theresa quickly changed the subject. "But you guys... you must have been briefly pulled into the theater too, right? What did you experience?"

"Bronya encountered a doll, Seele did the same... Furthermore, we can confirm that the doll was Mira Rimer, which is pretty much in line with our guess."

"Yes, Seele saw is indeed true, but..."

Seele seemed to want to say something, but after thinking about it, she didn't say it.

Seeing Seele's hesitant expression, Xia Ling had some guesses.

It's highly likely that the puppets are harassing Black Seele again. After all, this part of the story was originally aimed at Black Seele, and given the current situation of the Thousand-Man Herrscher, they probably won't let go of any potential target they might control.

Although Theresa was the target of this attack, they will come after Seele again sooner or later.

However... considering the Bonds between the two Seele, Xia Ling wasn't too worried.

Chapter Sixteen Ain: Who could possibly have such a high degree of fusion?

The next day, at nine o'clock in the morning.

"This is... an emergency assembly notice?"

Xia Ling suddenly sat up in bed, disregarding the fact that her private parts had been exposed, and quickly pulled Theresa off the bed as well.

"You idiot Theresa, it's all your fault last night... Waaah, we're going to be late again!"

"Huh? Late? What's late...?"

Still dazed and confused, Theresa was dragged to the bathroom by Xia Ling before she could even react to what was happening.

Ten minutes later, the two finally arrived in the conference room in a hurry.

"Sigh, if it were any other time, I would definitely make fun of you two to lighten the mood."

Ain sighed, took out several reports, and handed them to Xia Ling and Theresa.

"But today is different... By comparing the soil analysis results from yesterday's two performance tickets, we obtained two pieces of information."

"One good news and one bad news?"

Xia Ling asked.

"No, it's bad news, worse news, and some news that's not exactly good either."

"Why is the situation suddenly so pessimistic..." Theresa felt like the sky had fallen when she woke up. "Well then, let's talk about the news that isn't exactly good first."

"Yes, the good news is that we can congratulate Dr. Tesla over there, because she will be back soon."

Ain looked at the Tesla projection next to her.

"Huh? I don't have to argue with these old fogies anymore?"

Tesla was so excited he almost jumped for joy.

"Dr. Tesla, I know you're happy to be home, but please be careful. Congress won't let you come back unless the situation becomes extremely serious."

Ain sighed, "Well then, here comes the bad news."

"Based on yesterday's soil analysis comparison of the receipts, the soil analysis results of the first receipt obtained in the student dormitory are completely consistent with the location where the second receipt was obtained, namely, Miss Mira's workshop."

"In other words, the first ticket not only contained a preview of the event's content, but also a preview of the event's location. X Reimu's Dad 3 Rin 907 Sake Cry (8)"

"In this way, we can get a preview of the location of the next event from the second ticket."

"So, where is this location?"

Bronya asked curiously, "For Doctor. Ain to call this bad news, this location must be... very important?"

"That's not wrong," Ain confirmed her guess. "In fact, according to that ticket, the next target of the Thousand-Man Herrscher is—"

"Salt Lake Base".

"Huh?" ×n

"They're going to attack the Salt Lake Base directly? They dare to do that? There are eight S-rank or higher combatants gathered there!"

Theresa's face was full of distrust.

After all, with the current lineup of the Salt Lake Base, even if Durandal led the team, they might not be able to take it down, let alone an opponent like the Thousand-Man Herrscher who are not good at head-on combat.

Even if the Thousand-Man Herrscher really has some trump card up its sleeve, if that trump card can deal with so many people at the same time... then it doesn't need to cause trouble all over the world, it can just go and name them one by one and prepare to rule the world.

"Putting aside what the Thousand-Man Herrscher is thinking for now, given the current nature of their Theater of Domination, even if they can't take down our high-level combatants, the Thousand-Man Herrscher can still inflict considerable damage on Anti-Entropy's ordinary members and equipment."

"Therefore, for safety reasons, we need to temporarily evacuate all personnel from the Salt Lake Base. After all, we can't gamble with so many people at the Salt Lake Base and the thousands of Dreamers Herrscher; we can't afford to gamble."

"This... is really the only option we have..." Theresa sighed. "Besides, if we evacuate the personnel, we'll have to split up again, which is like weakening ourselves."

"This is a problem, but given our current situation, even as a squad, we have sufficient combat strength."

Ain held up two fingers. "But there's a second piece of bad news."

"As is well known, the Salt Lake Base has a tight security system inside."

"If the Thousand-Man Herrscher are confident in taking action against the Salt Lake Base, it proves that they are very familiar with the interior of the Salt Lake Base, which means one thing."

"The interior of Anti-Entropy may have been infiltrated by the Thousand-Man Herrscher."

"Is this what they call the 'who's the mole' part...?" Xia Ling complained. "No matter who's being controlled, I remember Anti-Entropy just had a physical exam, right?"

"So, the existence of the Herrscher Core cannot be detected at all?"

"That's right. The core of Thousand-Man Herrscher is extremely well hidden, and can even almost completely conceal their own Honkai Energy fluctuations. In the early stages of their incubation, the host may not even know that they have been chosen as Herrscher."

"While instruments capable of detecting such hidden fluctuations do Anti-Entropy, such instruments have extremely high environmental requirements."

"If the host itself is an individual with Honkai Energy, then the instrument will be unable to detect the core due to the interference of its own Honkai Energy."

Ain explained to the group.

"But if that's the case, doesn't that mean that even we could be chosen as hosts for the Thousand-Man Herrscher?"

Seele raised her hand and asked.

"No, the Herrscher body has a certain degree of fusion requirement with the core." Ain shook her head. As the expert who first studied the Herrscher Core, she had plenty of authority to speak on this matter.

"For a base body with low fusion level, fusing with the Herrscher Core is an extremely painful process."

"Even if it has good compatibility with the core, a certain Rejection Reaction will occur during core fusion. Due to the instability of the core itself, this is almost unavoidable."