Tesla's ecstatic shriek came through the headphones: "All signals gone! All five hundred remaining reactors have shut down! Beautiful!"
Theresa rushed over in a few strides and caught the swaying Kiana. "Kid, can you hold on?"
Kiana tugged at the corners of her mouth, managing a tired smile. "I'm fine. Just a little hungry."
Doctor Einstein's voice cut in at just the right moment, calm but urgent. "The spatial structure is collapsing. The Theatre of Domination is about to disintegrate. Return to the Hyperion immediately!"
The roar of the Hyperion's engines stopped abruptly.
After a violent shudder, the ship anchored itself in the real dimension again.
That Herrscher seemed to have truly taken its final bow.
But the viewers watching their screens showed not the slightest relief.
Instead, an indescribable heaviness hung over their faces.
Countless messages flooded the chat.
All of them were wrestling with the final words that last Doll had left behind.
"Was it wrong, though?"
"Those puppets were clearly united, firm in their convictions, and even fought with everything they had for the right to survive."
"Why was the ending they got so merciless?"
The question struck the still surface of a lake like a massive boulder.
Someone swiftly fired back, every word cutting deep:
"Because they were born in society's darkest corners."
"No one cares whether ants live or die."
"To those at the top, wiping them out doesn't even feel as tangible as crushing a bug."
Once that reply appeared,
the livestream fell dead silent.
Sister Zhou opened her mouth, but it felt as though a thorn had lodged in her throat.
She could find no logical flaw with which to refute that coldly realistic argument.
But she firmly believed Lin Yuhao would never make the tone this dark.
It wasn't his style.
Absolutely