In the next second—rather, the very next frame of the footage—their height became 180 centimeters.
Since they were dressed identically, no one would notice the change without looking carefully.
Moreover, although the clothes were of the same style, differences could still be seen in the folds.
Those were not wrinkles caused by bodily movement, but differences in how the clothes were worn. For example, a sleeve that had been rolled up in the previous frame was undone in the next.
Also, the clothes in the previous frame looked rather old, while those in the next frame appeared newer.
And this phenomenon was not isolated. It seemed to affect a vast area.
Hmm? Another anomaly appeared. One of the assassins looked exactly like the person he had attacked?
That was bizarre. Why would someone be dressed exactly like an assassin?
There was another widespread anomaly as well. The citizens in the previous frame all had slightly different heights, didn't they?
Some were taller, while some were shorter.
Yet in the next frame, all their heights had become standardized and uniform.
Of course, children had not suddenly grown into adults.
But looking around, children of roughly the same age were all built to the same specifications, like identical dolls manufactured on a modern assembly line. Only their faces and clothing differed.
That made it even stranger.
Yet at the instant of that fluctuation, some people had not changed at all—the assassins intending to cause chaos, as well as those who had come from afar to watch the ceremony.
"Big Sister, what exactly is going on?"
Although she had noticed the differences, Lantigreese could not understand any further, so she could only ask her sister beside her.
From the faintly amused curve of her sister's lips, it was obvious that Brunhilde understood what had happened.
"Do you think the First Emperor forced a large number of people to abandon their bodies and imprisoned their souls inside machines?"
"Huh? Isn't that what happened?"
Judging by her sister's tone, she did not believe that was the case.
If it was not, that was good. Lantigreese did not want such a cruel thing to happen—souls being extracted from human bodies and bound to machines, turning them into puppets.
That was utterly inhumane.
"No."
Brunhilde shook her head.
She had seen more clearly and understood what had happened.
At that instant of fluctuation, the world had simply been replaced.
It was like the bizarre change that had occurred when they encountered Xiang Yu before.
It was as if yesterday had still been a normal era before Christ, yet today it had directly entered the Industrial Revolution.
As for that change, Brunhilde had a guess. She had been pulled into a Different Dimension, one with an environment identical to real space.
In other words, during that instant of fluctuation, the assassins intending to cause unrest and the people who had come from afar to watch the ceremony had been transferred into a Parallel World—a Qin Empire whose technological level far surpassed that of the other side.
At the same location, the First Emperor had already arranged mechanical actors and recreated the exact same scene, preventing those who had been transferred from noticing the change right away.
Then how had the First Emperor accurately identified those people as suspicious? Those who were not originally residents of Xianyang City?
Perhaps the original residents had been marked in advance somehow.
However, Brunhilde had another guess, one she considered more likely: he had analyzed them while they sang that battle hymn.
If they genuinely wished to celebrate with their Emperor, they would not be transferred. Those who did not sing, or who were insincere, would be marked and moved into this space.
As for what method he had used to determine that, she did not know.
Why had the First Emperor done this?
Was he planning to kill these people here, so they would not affect the other citizens proud of Qin?
It should not have been merely for that. He also wanted to properly distinguish certain people.
After all, some had come from far away, had they not? Would he kill them simply because they had yet to develop a sense of belonging toward Qin?
Surely he was not that brutal.
This was to further screen out the assassins hidden among them, waiting for them to act before capturing them all in one sweep.
That should have been the First Emperor's true purpose.
Thus, Brunhilde was deeply astonished by his unimaginable abilities and methods.
First of all, how had the First Emperor obtained another Parallel World and altered it until its terrain nearly matched the outside world?
That way, he could secretly transfer others here without anyone noticing?
And this Parallel World was not equivalent to a Parallel World in the usual sense.
In Brunhilde's view, it was merely a small parallel plane layered over the real world.
Every pantheon possessed such planar spaces of its own.
However, such planes required something extremely special to support them. It was not something mere humans could obtain, nor was it something humans could control.
"Big Sister!!!"
Lantigreese's exceptionally shocked voice sounded beside her.
Glancing from the corner of her eye, Brunhilde saw that Lantigreese was no longer looking at the First Emperor on the reviewing stand. Instead, she had turned around to look behind them, toward Xianyang City, the capital of the Qin Empire.
From Lantigreese's profile, Brunhilde could see the utterly incredulous expression on her face.
What exactly had she seen?
Brunhilde turned around as well, her gaze following several assassins who had snapped back to their senses in panic—they were running toward Xianyang City.
The army blocked the road ahead, leaving them no choice but to flee toward Xianyang City.
Thus, Brunhilde's gaze followed them as they ran through the gates of Xianyang City.
The instant they crossed the gate, they froze in place with horrified expressions, as though they had been petrified.
They stared into Xianyang City in terror, as if Hell itself lay within.
Brunhilde also looked inside, wanting to see what had frightened them so badly.
Then what entered her sight was—
"Just as I thought!"
The scene within the city was indeed distinctly different from the era more than two hundred years before Christ in the real world. It felt as though they had arrived in a foreign city.
No, perhaps calling it a city from another world would be more fitting.
Although much of its ancient style remained, countless differences had terrified those people.
Especially the location of the Xianyang Palace. The buildings there were even more shocking—enormous beyond measure.
They appeared to have been built along an incomparably massive tree trunk.
In truth, it really was a tree trunk—the World Tree, perhaps.
So the World Tree truly existed. That was how this Different Dimension could exist.
Of course, this World Tree was far smaller than the ones Brunhilde had seen before.
Then where had the First Emperor obtained a World Tree?
Wait, something else seemed wrong.
She remembered. Why could it block the Akasha System?
The World Trees within these spaces attached to the real world were actually "branches" of the Main World Tree existing in reality. They should not have been able to reject a connection with the Main World Tree.
Rejecting it would be equivalent to severing that connection, which was no different from suicide.
Then this World Tree would wither, and this space would collapse and be destroyed.
Yet from the looks of it, this World Tree showed no signs of withering. It seemed to have truly become entirely independent from the Main World Tree and able to survive on its own?
Unless this World Tree was on the same level as the World Tree outside, and this space was actually a complete universe—but that was impossible, wasn't it?
How could that be? Absolutely impossible.
Come to think of it, Solomon had also created a Different Dimension before. Did that mean there was a World Tree inside that Different Dimension as well?
Did King Solomon, like the First Emperor, possess a world of his own?
There was some difference between that and the First Emperor's situation. That Different Dimension had likely been constructed by borrowing the space of the Demon Kings of Hell.
"Big Sister, that is—the World Tree, right?"
Lantigreese finally snapped back to her senses, speaking in a somewhat dazed voice.
Only the gods possessed spaces supported by a World Tree. They were the home worlds of the various pantheons.
Yet the world before her belonged to humanity?
Moreover, she could see technology far beyond that of the outside world.
Could it be that the First Emperor had acquired the technology of some alien super-civilization in the universe?
That was simply impossible. Did the gods not know exactly how much they understood this universe?
"Mm."
Brunhilde nodded, but another matter confused her.
Had the gods of the East not noticed the First Emperor's actions at all?
Come to think of it, after the gods of the Eastern world had heavily interfered with the Human World more than three thousand years ago, it triggered the involvement of other gods. In the end, a great battle broke out, forcing the gods of the other pantheons to withdraw and never step into this region of humanity again.
Nor had they participated in the meetings held once every thousand years afterward.
However, during this meeting, several new gods from the Eastern world had appeared as representatives.
They had also agreed without hesitation to the proposal to exterminate humanity.
Suddenly, Brunhilde's entire body stiffened, and cold sweat ran down her face.
A gaze had locked onto her. It was a gaze with substance, as though it would crush her beneath its weight.
That substantial gaze seemed to fill the entire air around her.
Brunhilde felt as though she had lost the air itself and could no longer breathe.
Her body also seemed to be frozen by the invisible air, leaving her unable to move.
Worse still, the pressure created by that gaze seeped through her skin and into her blood vessels and internal organs, freezing her blood and preventing it from flowing, stopping her heart from beating.
So who was the owner of that gaze that brought Brunhilde such immense pressure?
There was no need to guess. Who else could possess such a gaze? Naturally, it was the ruler of the Qin Empire, the first Emperor to call himself Emperor—the First Emperor, Ying Zheng.
The First Emperor's gaze had pierced through time and space, sensing the Valkyrie sisters?
No, that was wrong. He had not merely sensed them. He had truly seen the sisters and could even directly reach them.
The reason was that they had also been transferred into this space, cut off from the outside world, just as when they had encountered Xiang Yu.
"Haah...!"
She suddenly exhaled deeply, as though she had been holding her breath for a long time, because the gaze that had pressured her into not daring to move even a finger had shifted away.
Lantigreese, beside her, also emerged from her petrified, statue-like state and nearly collapsed onto the ground.
In fact, Lantigreese had truly been about to buckle and fall, but she had stopped herself because another gaze had locked onto her and stiffened her body.
It was not that the First Emperor had looked at them again. After glancing at them, he had ignored them and boarded his war chariot, returning toward Xianyang City.
Since it was not the First Emperor's gaze, why did it still make her panic, cold sweat continuing to run down her porcelain-like skin?
Before you continue