55. The Core... wasn't it you who hid it yourself? / 56. Theresa: To protect the one I love...

"Cough cough..."

Kiana lowered her head somewhat embarrassed. Seeing Mei looking equally awkward, Kiana took her hand and led her aside.

"Ohhhh, did you see that, Qi1? It's correct, rational, a perfect match, and an objective fact!"

Xia Ling, a member of the Qi1 party, cheered in the channel, drawing a wave of agreement.

"Alright, alright, let's ignore them for now. There's another group of guys here who's been teasing us."

Theresa turned her gaze to the Herrscher of Domination in the arena.

"Want to talk to it? I feel... you probably still have a lot of questions? We can answer them now."

Kal'tsit glanced at the Herrscher of Domination, who had turned into a mass in the arena, and gave Xia Ling a wink.

What does that mean...? Xia Ling was taken aback, then opened the system's communication channel.

Sure enough, she saw it in the channel, below a string of repeated words, Kal'tsit's message.

"What? You mean, there's no trace of Otto...?"

Looking at Kal'tsit's message in the channel, Xia Ling pondered.

After all, in the original work, when Kiana defeated the Herrscher of Domination, Otto secretly used Soul Steel wire to drag away a doll and intercept its core.

This is a crucial part of his plan to revive Kallen, and both Xia Ling and Kal'tsit agree that Otto cannot give up on this step.

Even if it meant risking a complete falling out with Xia Ling, Otto would never give up on his plan to revive Kallen.

To be honest, Xia Ling didn't intend to make things difficult for Otto here. Although opinions about Otto were mixed in her previous life, from Xia Ling's personal perspective, she still admired this pure-love warrior.

At the same time, she was also very aware of the extent of Otto's obsession, and if she hindered his plans... she might be in danger.

So from the beginning, Xia Ling had no intention of hindering his plan to revive Kallen. In fact, if needed, she could even help Otto by assisting him in breaking free from the constraints of this generation.

After all, without Otto, the constraints of this generation would likely have meant that Theresa would have to risk her life. The original work also mentions later on that Anti-Entropy had conducted similar research.

Based on Xia Ling's current personal experience, she also has no way to deal with the Power of Restraint, so there is no possibility that she would take a knife for Theresa.

However, the question is, why isn't Otto there...?

Does he feel he can't end the Herrscher of Domination here? Or does he plan to have a detailed discussion with me or MewMew later?

Xia Ling was somewhat unable to figure out Otto's thoughts. Although she had a slight advantage over Otto before, that was based on Otto's one-way transparency of information to her side. Now that the plot had changed, she could not predict Otto's actions.

"Perhaps Otto hasn't arrived yet? Should we stall for a while?"

"Sure, this Qianlu is also different from the original, and I'm quite curious about it."

After quickly completing her exchange with Kal'tsit, Xia Ling approached the Herrscher of Domination.

Seemingly sensing someone's arrival, the Herrscher of Domination opened its eyes—well, perhaps its eyes.

"So it's you... Xia Ling, hehe, what a memorable name..."

"'We'?" Xia Ling and Theresa exchanged a glance. "Even now, you still refer to yourself as 'we'... So, among the Herrscher of Domination, this so-called Dominator is indeed not a single person?"

"We are the collective of the Herrscher of Domination, the rulers formed from the collective malice of a thousand people... If you refer to us as a single person, it is certainly not the correct way to address us."

To Xia Ling's surprise, perhaps because she had been beaten into submission, the Herrscher of Domination's answer was surprisingly normal, unlike her usual sarcastic and cryptic style.

"You are far behind the Thousand-Man Herrscher of the previous era. Their era of domination did not have the strength and environment you have, let alone the Theater of Domination that comes with it."

"You shouldn't be asking us this kind of question... However, we have also seen descriptions of the previous era's rulers in your databases. Your statement is not wrong. The difference between us and them is probably greater than the difference between you and this white-haired dwarf next to you."

"Hey, who are you calling a white-haired dwarf!"

"No, no, no, don't be impulsive, Theresa! If you kill it, where will we find the answers..." Xia Ling quickly grabbed Theresa's body, which was about to be kicked.

"How confident you are... Heh." The Herrscher of Domination suddenly uttered a cryptic remark.

"Well, since you've asked so many questions, we also have a question we'd like to ask you."

Xia Ling could feel the gaze of the Herrscher of Domination fixed on her.

"You've been in the theater for so long, haven't you noticed anything strange about your body?"

Chapter Fifty-Five: The Core... Didn't you hide it yourself?

Xia Ling and Theresa's gazes both sharpened simultaneously.

From the moment Sirin joined, the intensity of the battle (seven) Mingba Wu IV Sulfur Dam Qiqi Qi Ling Meng dropped instantly. In addition, Xia Ling later simply withdrew from the battlefield. Therefore, only Theresa knew that Xia Ling was in poor condition.

Xia Ling shook her head slightly, squeezed Theresa's hand reassuringly, and then looked at the Herrscher of Domination.

"Looks like it was you who did this?"

"We admit that this matter is indeed related to us..." The Herrscher of Domination's voice was somewhat amused. "However, it would be a mistake to say that we are the culprits."

"After all, you were the one who orchestrated this whole thing."

"Mon3tr".

Kal'tsit summoned the black behemoth in a low voice. "I suggest you don't speak riddles, Herrscher of Domination."

"Very well..." The Herrscher of Domination's voice was filled with schadenfreude. "Then, my dear companion, even at a time like this, why... are you still hiding the Herrscher Core within you?"

"Miss Xia Ling?"

"Who? Me?"

The sudden turn of events left Xia Ling stunned for a moment.

She quickly mustered her strength to examine her body, but... the Honkai Energy swept over her entire body and found nothing.

Are you treating our Anti-Entropy technology as mere decoration?

Theresa said in a deep voice, "Since mastering reverse tracking, Anti-Entropy has scanned the Salt Lake Base at least ten times, and even found more than four or five of the puppets you carefully hid."

"If Xia Ling had a Herrscher Core inside her, would we not know?"

"Yes, you're right. Your technology can indeed pinpoint the core location."

"But you treat our core as a strategic resource, don't you? After all, the Previous Civilization had a thousand Key of Domination."

"Because of your own greed, the three organizations of you have only maintained a minimum level of information exchange... In other words, you do not actually know how many cores the other side has actually acquired, and therefore you cannot confirm whether you have collected all the cores in terms of quantity."

"Furthermore, it seems you haven't considered one possibility," the Thousand-Man Herrscher said sarcastically, "What if... the person involved hid it themselves?"

"Do you think I believe Xia Ling or you?" Theresa sneered. "Besides, even if Xia Ling really does have a core inside her, do you really think we would believe Xia Ling's a mole?"

"Alright, Theresa, don't rush."

Kal'tsit spoke up, "I remember that if an individual Herrscher is highly adaptable, it is indeed possible that they will not feel that they are being parasitized by the core... Your Doctor should have mentioned this as well."

"The question now is, why didn't the Anti-Entropy probe detect this core?"

"That's right, and I didn't even notice it myself..."

Xia Ling was also completely baffled. As a veteran who had sealed Kiana's core twice, she knew very well that a core was not something that could be stuffed in at will. Fusing a core would leave behind Imaginary Singularity.

This Imaginary Singularity doesn't disappear even after the core leaves the body, just like Mei's. And within her own body, it seems only the imaginary singularity left behind by the Origin Power remains...

Etc.

Xia Ling was suddenly taken aback.

She is not a dual-core Herrscher, and before her, there was only one multi-core Herrscher, Sirin, who was illiterate.

In other words, she didn't actually know whether there was only one Imaginary Singularity within the body of a multi-core Herrscher.

Moreover, given the size of the Domination Core, it would be more than enough to share an Imaginary Singularity with Xia Ling's Origin Power.

"Didn't you find it? That's normal. After all, even we couldn't sense the core when she was outside the theater." The Herrscher of Domination chuckled. "However, you still have ways to verify it. It's up to you whether you believe it or not."

"Hey, you traitor over there, you're one of the thousand. If she's willing to open up her body for you to examine closely, you should be able to find her."

The Herrscher of Domination suddenly looked at MewMew beside him.

"This... [a series of seemingly random characters]..."

Theresa and Sirin were both momentarily hesitant.

From their perspective, as Thousand-Man Herrscher, MewMew clearly doesn't have that much credibility.

What if this is a trap...?

"Can."

Xia Ling opened her arms to MewMew without hesitation. "Come on."

"Tsk tsk, no wonder she can defeat us, she's got guts..." The thousand people still maintained a spectator's mentality, and even praised Xia Ling.

Despite the intense gazes of those around her, MewMew slowly walked to Xia Ling's side and placed her hand on her chest.

A trickle of water began to flow around, seeping into Xia Ling's body from various places, checking her condition.

A moment later, MewMew's expression turned ugly.

"Xia Ling, it seems... there really is one."

"Follow my power, and you will see."

MewMew aroused Xia Ling's Honkai Energy.

"!"

Xia Ling's eyes widened suddenly.

"Why is that..."

"Yes, why is that? Only you can answer that question."

"Stop talking nonsense and confess honestly!" The spear of light, carrying the Power of Restraint, was instantly aimed at the body of the Herrscher of Domination.

"Hehe, don't rush, let me explain slowly~"

The Herrscher of Domination chuckled, "At first, we simply discovered that Xia Ling, as the host of our Herrscher of Domination, has exceptional talent."

"So, taking advantage of her entering the theater, we secretly implanted a core into her body when she was injured."

"Of course, we didn't expect so many unexpected gains at the beginning. Our initial goal was simply to make you fight amongst yourselves."

"But then we discovered that this core... seemed to have lost contact."

"At this point, although implanting the core into her did not cause any internal strife, and the core has probably already been removed by you, we haven't paid much attention to it."

"Until... the time you wanted to drive the Hyperion into the theater."

"Although she won against us that time by bringing in more people, when she entered the theater and faced us face to face, we felt that core again."

"In other words, she didn't remove the core at all, and may not even have told you about it."

"Even we ourselves can only detect it when we get close, let alone you with your so-called technology."

"That's why I said it wasn't that your intelligence network couldn't find her, but that she hid herself~"

At this point, the Herrscher of Domination shut her mouth and quietly prepared to watch the show.

Unfortunately, it underestimated Theresa's level of trust in Xia Ling.

Although she did believe the process described by the Herrscher of Domination, her focus was entirely on something else.

"... Xia Ling, tell the truth."

Theresa glared at Xia Ling with an unfriendly expression.

"Are you secretly preparing some dangerous plan again, and you're afraid to tell me after fusing a core because you don't want me to worry?"

"???"

Xia Ling was so frightened that she shuddered.

"No, I... I'm innocent! This really has nothing to do with me!"

Chapter 56 Theresa: To Protect the One She Loves...

This was the first time Xia Ling had ever been so confused since she transmigrated.

She genuinely didn't discover the core. After all, Ain had said that if Herrscher's adaptability was good enough, it was indeed possible that they wouldn't feel themselves being "parasitized."

Having the Origin Power herself, it was expected that she would be highly adaptable Herrscher, and she didn't see anything wrong with it.