Katerina slowly rose in the water, her graceful fish tail swaying unconsciously as she pondered deeply. She held that pose without moving for several minutes. At last, she suddenly smiled and looked at Hao Ren. "I'm glad you were willing to come discuss this with me."
"Uh..." Hao Ren froze for a moment. "Wasn't that only natural? It is your planet, after all—even though you don't live there."
"That's why I'm sometimes amazed that a human can possess qualities like yours. Great strength and a strong spirit appearing in the same person—it's truly incredible." Katerina smiled, her gaze lingering on Hao Ren's face for a long time. "Perhaps it's precisely because you possess such qualities that you were able to become the Observer and Guardian of the myriad realms?"
"Uh... are you saying I technically didn't have to discuss this with you?" Only then did Hao Ren vaguely understand what Katerina meant.
The Siren Queen gently swished her tail and bowed slightly to Hao Ren. It was not a salute, but a gesture of affirmation and respect in Siren culture. "You possess the power to travel between these planets, control all the gates and routes, know Aios's exact coordinates, and have already occupied every route around that planet with your drone army. Haven't you realized it yourself? You have long since become that planet's de facto controller. By ordinary people's standards, you're its governor. We're merely the nominal descendants of that planet. Originally, you didn't need to discuss anything with me at all—even if you placed anyone there, it wouldn't matter. In the end, all you had to do was inform us of the established fact. No one could object."
Hao Ren scratched his hair. "If I really did that, you definitely wouldn't be able to smile."
Katerina nodded seriously.