Because he had been delayed for a while, Duanmu Huai ended up being the last to reach the base. By the time he and Seele arrived at the P21 Independent Base with the Herrscher of Wind's core, everyone else had already assembled and was standing by.
The two teams assigned to recover the God Keys had proceeded smoothly, without encountering any trouble. Only Ann's team, which was responsible for recovering the Herrscher of Ice's core, had been attacked by the Thousand-Person Herrscher on the way back. However, they had driven it off without incident.
Or rather... it had gone too smoothly.
"There's a problem."
After hearing the report, this was Duanmu Huai's first reaction.
"There's definitely a problem."
"You mean the Thousand-Person Herrscher deliberately let us go so that we would gather together?"
Dr. Mei had reached the same conclusion.
"Isn't that what you think too? Besides, weren't you the one who deliberately leaked the information? If the Thousand-Person Herrscher wanted to deal with us, picking us off one by one would obviously be the best choice. After all, it has the advantage in numbers and is skilled at disguise. Yet the fact is that although several Herrscher clones did act, their scale was far too small to resemble an attack.
"Of the four teams, only two were attacked. Duanmu Huai's side encountered three Herrscher clones, while Ann's encountered four, for a total of only seven—not even ten. Compared to a thousand Herrschers, that was practically nothing. It could hardly count as a loss.
"The question now is what exactly the Thousand-Person Herrscher intends to do."
"This base has already been equipped with a Reality Stabilizing Anchor, and everyone is gathered here. The Herrscher cores have been completely sealed, and the God Keys have been put in place..."
At this