24. The Next Target / 25. Three Candidates for the Thousand Herrschers?

"It seems... things aren't going too well for you either."

"To be precise, it was extremely unsuccessful..."

Xia Ling sighed, "My suggestion is that Mr. Welt should take a nap now."

"Otherwise, you might not be able to sleep after hearing our mission report later."

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Next Target

In fact, Xia Ling's suggestion was perfectly correct. After listening to Bronya and Seele's descriptions, Welt's expression had transformed into a subway, an old man, and a cell phone. jpg.

"This ability... is truly terrifying. Although I knew long ago that the Herrscher of the current civilization would have some subtle differences compared to those of the Previous Civilization, this difference in ability is far too targeted."

"But... why didn't they try to take away my power just now?"

Welt was somewhat puzzled, after all, in terms of combat strength, he believed that he was completely inferior to the lineup of Xia Ling and the others who had just Theater of Domination.

If you want to pick on the weak, you should at least target them first.

"Well... I do have some guesses. With the help of Mulsus's information and Kal'tsit's analysis, I can probably understand the principle behind Herrscher of Domination seize abilities."

Xia Ling stroked her chin and continued to reveal information under Kal'tsit's name.

"If we compare the Herrscher Core to a faucet, the Imaginary Singularity is the pipe, and the water flowing out of it is the energy of the Imaginary Space."

"When I sealed Kiana before, it was like directly blocking or turning off the tap."

"And the Herrscher of Domination is more like a pipe attached to a tap, allowing water to flow into their bucket."

"Mr. Welt is a special case. He can use his powers directly without a tap, that is, the Herrscher Core. However, the Herrscher of Domination cannot do that. Its pipe can only be connected to a tap."

"Hmm... that does fit my situation. After all, the core of the Herrscher of Reason is different from the other Herrscher. As a discrete core, its power has long been imprinted in my DNA."

Welt sighed, "In short... given this situation, we'll need to make some changes to our strategy."

"According to the shared intelligence, the Herrscher of Domination had already run into trouble with Wendy and Anna before us."

"Having obtained the powers of the Herrscher of Reason, their next target will undoubtedly be Kiana or Mei... (The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the main story.)"

"Yes, this intelligence does indeed need to be shared."

Xia Ling nodded in agreement, saying, "I'll contact the World Serpent."

The dim light shone absently on a tavern tucked away in an alley, adding to the already somewhat eerie atmosphere.

This place should have been undisturbed, but today, that tranquility has been broken.

A tall figure gently pushed open the door and walked into the tavern.

She didn't speak, but went straight to the empty bar. After observing for a moment, her gaze settled on the cleanest bottle of wine on the dusty wine rack.

A small pink fox suddenly jumped up from her shoulder, knowingly nudged the wine bottle, and then landed back on her shoulder.

With a click of a mechanism, a monitor appeared in front of the wine rack.

"That's right, this time we were not only not late, but we also guessed the location of the mechanism correctly."

The figure of the Gray Serpent appeared on the monitor, and the calm voice made Mei unsure whether the other person was praising her or not.

After joining World Serpent, Mei mostly understood why this organization was able to remain hidden in the shadows.

Ubiquitous surveillance equipment, interconnected secret doors, and countless outposts and safe houses... The sheer size of this organization allows it to establish its own set of rules in the shadows of the world.

"This is a frequently used contact point. In that case, the bottle on the shelf that isn't covered in dust must be the secret location."

"Very good, perhaps you do indeed have the talent to walk in the dark world."

Gray Serpent affirmed once again. "However, simply being familiar with the process won't allow you to complete the task."

"Tell me, how's your investigation going?"

"Most of the tasks assigned to me last time were trivial smokescreens or deceptions under the guise of World Serpent. I didn't find any trace of the Thousand-Man Herrscher."

"However, there were some unexpected surprises. One of the missions led to a strange case. I did some investigation and found an individual who is suspected to be the host of Thousand-Man Herrscher."

"We have located the host's brother in a warehouse in this city. I plan to go check on him after today's routine communications."

"Hmm... The completion rate is acceptable. After all, you are just a newbie who has just joined World Serpent. It's already quite good that you can do this much."

Gray Serpent pondered for a moment, so long that Mei thought he had lost contact.

"In that case, you should be given some reward."

"Award?"

Mei raised an eyebrow; this was the first time she had heard this term this month.

"Enter the bar, go upstairs, to the innermost room on the third floor, just open the door."

"Someone is waiting for you there."

"Someone is waiting for me... If you're going to consider it a reward, is it Sister Xia Ling?"

"If you think I have the ability to get that girl named Kiana to your suite, then you can look forward to it."

Gray Serpent made a joke that wasn't very funny.

Mei ignored Gray Serpent and went upstairs on her own. Soon, she found the room Gray Serpent had mentioned.

The door wasn't locked, and after pushing it open, she indeed saw Xia Ling sitting by the window.

Hi, Mei, long time no see?

"Are you a little disappointed? After all, we didn't bring you that white fluffy ball."

"So you could hear the conversation below..."

"However, I'm already very happy to be able to see Sister Xia Ling."

A smile, which hadn't appeared on Mei's face for a long time, appeared. "Why did Sister Xia Ling think of this place?"

"Well... the reasons are a bit complicated."

Xia Ling's face showed a complicated expression. "I mainly came to deliver some information to you... Of course, if you want to hear about my recent situation, I'd be happy to oblige."

"However, it can't be too late."

Xia Ling quickly added, "Otherwise..."

"Otherwise, the headmaster will punish you, right?"

Mei couldn't help but chuckle, "That's really... a very down-to-earth reason."

"Sister Xia Ling's side is as interesting as ever."

"I hope you won't make fun of my suffering next time... Besides, the reason why I'm not allowed to stay out all night is also closely related to the Thousand-Man Herrscher. After all, that Theater of Domination is really hard to guard against."

Xia Ling couldn't help but sigh, "Listen, Mei."

"In the upcoming mission, you need to be careful about the following points..."

Chapter Twenty-Five: Three Candidates for the Thousand-Man Herrscher?

Nighttime, in a warehouse by the sea.

"Another warehouse that looks exactly the same..."

After saying goodbye to Xia Ling, it was almost dusk, and Mei arrived at her destination based on her investigation results.

However, compared to the joy she felt when she first found the information, Mei's mood was now rather heavy.

She had heard about the attack on Anna and Wendy, but she thought it was just normal harassment... However, judging from Xia Ling's situation, the Herrscher of Domination's purpose was clearly not so simple.

Seizing power is their goal.

Of the remaining Herrscher, only myself and Kiana have remained untouched.

"So, the next target will definitely be either me or Kiana?"

"Kiana just finished an attack, so it shouldn't be that quick. It's probably my turn."

"If I were to seize this opportunity to enter that Theater of Domination... could I inflict a devastating blow on the Thousand-Man Herrscher?"

Mei couldn't help but consider the feasibility of this plan.

According to information from World Serpent, while these puppets are not very durable, the Theater of Domination itself is quite resilient.

Anna's previous all-out destruction did not cause any damage to the theater. If it were me, the Authority of Conquest known for destruction, would things have been better?

After a moment's thought, Mei finally abandoned this radical plan.

It wasn't because she felt the risks were too great... She joined World Serpent to eliminate risks for Kiana, so there was no reason for her to back down because of that.

However, Xia Ling had told her to remain restrained for the time being and to conceal her strength to some extent.

Although they didn't know what Xia Ling's plans were, cooperating with Xia Ling's various wicked ideas had become second nature to them during their time at the academy.

Even now, Mei has no intention of changing this "habit".

"The mech patrols are getting more frequent... That man should be making his move soon too."

Mei observed for a moment, then her body flashed into the shadows.

The patrolling mechs, seemingly blind, failed to spot Mei, just like in the game.

At the pre-scouted location, Mei easily spotted her target: a man who looked suspicious.

At this moment, he was eyeing a box with great interest.

Mei didn't give him a chance to speak. A current traveled along the ground and easily knocked the man unconscious. Mei appeared behind him just in time, catching his falling body and gently placing him on the ground.

Then, she looked at the box that the man had been trying to open.

According to intelligence, his "sister" was inside the box.

Another electric current swept through, and Mei easily opened the box. As expected, inside was a small and broken doll.

"According to Sister Xia Ling, touching these puppets could very likely teleport you into the theater...?"

Mei gently placed her hand on the top of the doll's head.

"Hmm..."

With a wave of dizziness, when Mei opened her eyes again, she was already in the Theater of Domination.

Around her were various types of controlled mechs.

"Some of them are Anti-Entropy, and some are Schicksal... they should all be mechs they stole."

"Sister Xia Ling told me not to use Herrscher powers on the puppets, at least not now... Fortunately, these mechs aren't too strong, so we can deal with them easily."

Mei did not use her core; she simply used the power inherent in her weapon and Honkai Energy to deal with the mecha in power-saving mode.

However, unlike Xia Ling's talk of a human wave tactic, this puppet seemed to be rather poor. Not only did it only have a dozen or so mechs, but after discovering that Mei wasn't falling for it at all, it even withdrew all of its mechs.

After the obstructive mecha disappeared, Mei turned onto a platform and, as expected, saw the doll she had seen in the box not long ago.

"No wonder my brother didn't let me out for so long, it turns out he ran into trouble."

The doll moved its joints exaggeratedly in front of Mei Yi, making postures like "" from time to time.

"What, your little trick didn't work, so you've decided to take matters into your own hands?"

Mei placed her hand on the scabbard.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't get excited... It's not easy to come all this way, won't you take a good look around before you leave, Mei Raiden?"

"Who knows, you might even become one of us."

Since we're not planning to fight, let's see if we can gather any information... With this thought in mind, Mei countered with a question:

"Everyone? How did you come up with the idea of having me join you?"

"Because... we are all weak, we have all experienced failure, and we have all despaired of this world, right?"

The doll let out an eerie laugh, "Not long ago, we suffered a major blow. We lost many of our comrades. Now is a good opportunity to replenish our families."

"Although you are very strong and different from us, it would have been more logical to invite you a few months ago."

"But that's not important. What's important is... that you still feel despair in your heart."

Indeed, their distinction between Herrscher depends on whether they have completely merged with the core; Sister Xia Ling seems to call this phenomenon "ascension"...