"So for now, all we can confirm is that the unknown signal came from outer space?" Welt Yang's tone was somewhat strange. "The Honkai still hasn't been resolved, and now visitors from beyond the stars have appeared. That really is worrying!"
"Our primary task is still to protect humanity and eliminate the threat of the Honkai. Joachim, don't worry too much. We'll all help." Einstein comforted him as a friend.
"You're overthinking it again. But Ritsell is right, we'll all help you." Tesla folded her arms and looked at him. "But your task right now should be recovering from your injuries. Whether we're fighting the Honkai or those unknown visitors from beyond the stars, Anti-Entropy can't do without its Alliance Leader—the Herrscher of Reason."
Welt Yang steadied the turmoil in his heart and adjusted his mood before speaking. "But it's not as though there's nothing we can do right now. We can make preparations in advance. Have Ryoma deploy personnel to New Mexico and set up the Silver Bullet Array. No matter what, we can't be completely unprepared."
"That works. I'll tell Ryoma right away." Tesla acted with her usual decisiveness, immediately contacting Raiden Ryoma in the Far East. "Ryoma, I need you to dispatch personnel to New Mexico to establish a base and deploy the Silver Bullet Array. I've sent the reason to your email through internal encryption."
Raiden Ryoma, far away in the Far East, had originally planned to pick Raiden Yae up from school when he suddenly received the call. There was no helping it. He could only leave Yae in his secretary's care for the time being. It wasn't the first time, but it meant he had no time to play with Yae again.
After receiving the email, Raiden Ryoma entered the secret room behind his office and decrypted it. Once he had read through the information, his feelings were extremely complicated. He had long since learned the specifics of the incident in the Americas through Anti-Entropy's internal channels, and he had only just learned the hidden details. The possibility of visitors from beyond the stars was hard for him to believe, but all he had to do was follow his superior's orders.
What worried him more was Li Ming, who had come into close contact with and even touched that mutated clone. Back in Shenzhou, he had learned that Li Ming had no resistance to Honkai Energy. The serum was mainly used to neutralize and suppress it, and Li Ming had not even completed all three injections in Shenzhou. By now, Li Ming had most likely been corroded by Honkai Energy again.
But Anti-Entropy could not handle things as easily as the Shenzhou branch had. The serum belonged to Schicksal, after all. If Anti-Entropy wanted to resolve this, it would probably be troublesome.
"I hope the Alliance Leader and the others have a solution." Raiden Ryoma sighed, took the luggage his secretary had packed, and left the Far East at once.
After finishing the call, Tesla looked at the somewhat dejected Welt Yang before saying irritably, "All right, it's not that big a deal. Just leave it to us. Oh, right, I located your student's phone. He'll pass by St. Doctor's Hospital on the way, so I arranged a free checkup event there to see whether he has been corroded by Honkai Energy. But it seems your student doesn't have any intention of going. Shouldn't you, as his teacher, step in?"
Welt fell silent for a moment, then stood with a smile. "True. As his teacher, I should pay attention to my student's health!"
With that, Welt got up and left. Once the two confirmed that he was gone, Einstein looked at a certain twin-tailed girl who seemed to be working very seriously. "You don't want him to face these things, but it hasn't reached that serious a point yet."
"I just want him to get some proper rest. His injuries from two years ago have never healed. He only thinks he's hidden them well. All right, time to work. We've got another thing on our plate now, so hurry up and help me. We still haven't finished the experiments on those two mutated clones!"
"Fine, fine. But how many days has it been since you last slept? Staying up too much will make you bald, you know!"
"Mind your own business!"
Anti-Entropy made the corresponding arrangements and adjustments. At the same time, Schicksal was making adjustments as well. The bases originally established around the Americas were all dismantled and destroyed, then relocated to the south of the Americas and beyond its borders.
However, new bases were built in the regions surrounding the Americas. Some research institutes still in the United States also hid their identifying numbers, perhaps changing their names or transferring themselves under other companies.
Amber, who was overseeing all this, was somewhat puzzled. "Lord Bishop, is it truly worth going this far for Director Ryusuke Murata?"
"The focus isn't actually Ryusuke Murata. I want to see Anti-Entropy's reaction. After all, this is quite a commotion." Otto propped up his chin, brought up a screen, and said casually, "Besides, it's already been two years. Other than Shenzhou, there hasn't been any movement anywhere. Since that's the case, we might as well test them proactively. Consider it a greeting."
"But won't this be regarded as an attack on Anti-Entropy?" Amber was confused. Was it really necessary to pay such a great price just for a test?
"There are some things that, even if we do them and someone sees through them, no one will say we were wrong. Besides, we're only trying to eliminate the Honkai. Oh, remember to issue a public statement when the time comes. I'm going to see what my darling granddaughter is up to."
Otto gestured for Amber to handle it while he went to see what his darling granddaughter had been doing.
But Amber did not leave and instead continued, "Lord Bishop, you haven't handled any affairs for three days. Many matters are waiting for your decision!"
"Didn't I hand everything over to Nagako? No, I'm not doing it!" Otto refused. Working was nowhere near as appealing as his own granddaughter.
But Amber paid no attention to Otto's little tantrum and remained in the command room.
"Fine, if you won't leave, I will!"
Otto obediently stepped down from his throne and walked away with the screen in hand. But it was not as though he could leave whenever he wanted. Just as Otto was about to go, Nagako, with enormous dark circles beneath her eyes, burst through the door. She looked at a certain blond man and grabbed him directly. "Dear Lord Bishop, where do you think you're going?"
"Ah, isn't this our Lady Nagako? What brings you here today?"
Otto laughed awkwardly and tried to slip away, but Nagako's little hand quietly tightened around his shoulder. Otto immediately begged for mercy. "All right, all right, I'm not leaving! Mercy, mercy!"
Seeing Otto surrender, Nagako dragged him back to his seat, then said to Amber, "Amber, you spoil him too much."
Caught red-handed, Otto had no choice but to miserably start making up for the work he had skipped, picking up the documents and reading them stack by stack.
"Raiden, where are we going?"
"Let's take a look first. There are plenty of places to visit, actually. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hollywood, anywhere."
"Let's go, let's go!" The moment he heard that, Li Ming became excited and pulled Raiden along, while Himeko followed behind them.
All three of them were walking because—none of them had a car.
"But are we really going to walk there?" Himeko was skeptical. They had taken the train even to go to the DreamWorks cinema yesterday.
Raiden and Li Ming exchanged glances before hesitantly saying, "How about taking a Greyhound?"
"Yes, yes, yes! I've only heard of it in novels. I've never seen one!" Li Ming was up for anything.
Himeko kept covering her face as she looked at Li Ming. The main reason was that Li Ming truly felt sorry for Raiden. There was nothing else he could do but go along with him. But Raiden did not want to pay him any attention, so what else could he do? He could only keep pestering him.
He unleashed the long-lost Eighteen Touches! No, Eighteen Plates!
Then their conversation turned into this.
(￣_￣|||)(￣▽￣*)ゞ
One word: annoying!
In the end, they still decided to take the train.
As soon as the three got off the train, they discovered that there were tons of people around. The route ahead had been smooth, but the road behind them was completely jammed.
"Is this Los Angeles? It's so lively!" Seeing so many people, Li Ming immediately got excited. Raiden, however, found it strange. He looked around before saying, "No, we haven't arrived yet. This seems to be St. Doctor's Hospital, though I have no idea why there are so many people at a hospital."
After asking around, Raiden learned that there was a free checkup event, which was why many people who could not afford medical examination fees had come over.
"Oh, it's fine. We don't need a checkup anyway. Let's go, onward!" Li Ming did not care in the slightest.
Raiden did not mind either, so he merely glanced at it and prepared to leave. Himeko, however, wanted to take a look. After all, they had not been sure whether there was a problem yesterday, and she had been so groggy that she did not even know what exactly had been examined.
"Li Ming, should we go in?" Himeko looked at Li Ming and asked hesitantly. Seeing that Himeko wanted to go, Li Ming thought for a moment. "It's not impossible, but there are so many people right now that we can't squeeze in. Next time. We can come back next time!"
"Then... all right!" Seeing the crowd, Himeko hesitated as well and gave up. However, she remembered the fee for yesterday's examination. Li Ming did not know his insurance number, so it probably had not been covered by insurance. He must have paid for it himself, and it probably had not been cheap.
Just as Himeko was about to speak, a voice came from beside them. "If you don't mind the trouble, you can come with me."
The three looked at the newcomer. Himeko and Raiden did not react, but Li Ming was surprised. Looking at the handsome brown-haired man, he said in astonishment, "Professor Welt, why are you here too? Could it be..."
The Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy had personally come here. Could something be about to happen? But Welt had probably dealt with that monster last night as well, so what exactly had been going on in California lately? Nothing had been going right.
Li Ming looked at Welt, still wondering whether he should run, but Welt's next sentence stunned him!
"Well, I actually came here because I saw there was a free checkup." Welt Yang smiled, though he felt rather helpless inside. Why were there so many people here?
Though it was strange, Li Ming still introduced both sides. "This is Professor Welt from the Aerospace Dynamics Department at the California Institute of Technology. This is Raiden, a psychology major at the University of California, Berkeley, and this is Himeko from the Aerospace Dynamics Department."
"Hello, Professor Welt!" Himeko and Raiden greeted Welt. What Li Ming found strange, however, was that they were from the same department, so why did Himeko not know Welt?
Li Ming only remembered that Himeko had once been Welt's student, but he did not know when they had met.
"Hello. I'm Welt Yang, an acting professor in the Aerospace Dynamics Department. Psychology at Berkeley has always been a demanding field. Student Raiden, you seem very diligent. As for Student Himeko, I've read your paper." Welt Yang smiled as he spoke. Neither woman had expected the professor to be so kind and approachable.
"Professor Welt, did you come for the free checkup too? But there are so many people here that we probably can't squeeze in." Though he did not know what was going on, Li Ming figured he could not run now anyway. But for the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy to come mooch off a free checkup, wasn't that a little too pathetic? Maybe I should join Schicksal instead!
Uncle Ryoma did not make money easily either. Being able to produce so many mechs when the Queen descended had not been a simple matter.
Since Li Ming knew him, Himeko and Raiden did not leave. Sweat formed on Welt's forehead. "Well, I have a membership here, so we can use a special entrance."
Hearing that, Li Ming hesitated. "But since it's your membership, we shouldn't trouble you."
After thinking briefly, Welt understood why and said with a smile, "You're only following me through the special entrance. My own checkup is by appointment, while you can go in and get the free examination."
Welt offered Li Ming a solution. Himeko and Raiden looked at Li Ming. Since Welt had put it that way, Li Ming could not really refuse. Himeko had clearly wanted to go all along and looked worried. Besides, Welt had come all the way here to invite them, so Li Ming figured it was probably related to yesterday's incident.
"All right, then. Sorry for the trouble, Professor Welt!" Once Li Ming agreed, the three followed Welt through the so-called special entrance.
Before you continue