Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Sirin, of course, didn't understand the change in Rita's heart.

She just vaguely sensed that the woman's feelings toward her had undergone a subtle shift.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Sirin felt that the way Rita looked at her was the same way Cecilia had once looked at her.

This wicked woman was clearly treating her like a daughter she was raising for fun!

To think that she, Sirin, was a Honkai Herrscher over thirty years old, yet this young woman, barely in her twenties, was treating her like a child?

How could Sirin accept such a thing?

But just as Sirin was about to engage Rita in a battle of wits, Rita, exhausted from her "relaxation," had already fallen asleep, snoring lightly.

This forced Sirin to swallow all her grievances.

Perhaps... Rita never imagined that one day she would take the initiative to treat a Herrscher like a living, breathing little girl.

It was hard to say whether Rita, after letting go of her past work, would be able to change her mindset and face the challenges of the next era.

---||---

Rita slept soundly.

But Tesla couldn't sleep a wink. She frowned, looking at the screenshot sent to her. It had likely been forwarded many times before finally landing in the researchers' gossip group chat.

By now, everyone in the Academy City knew that the future of marriage was doomed. Anyone with even a hint of romanticism or a fantasy about wearing a wedding dress couldn't help but have some extra thoughts.

But they couldn't all just fixate on the Emperor of the Academy City, could they?

Everyone was so busy. Instead of contributing to the coming of the new world, they were building little nests for their own emotional lives?

These young girls were getting more wicked by the day! All of them trying to sneak attack and deceive her, Dr. Tesla, an eighty-year-old comrade!

And the one who forwarded the screenshot was Elysia? Was the old vixen leading a group of little vixens to stir up trouble?

Noldrei had once placed a restriction on humanity outside the Academy City, preventing them from being affected by the Honkai. Anyone who came into contact with Honkai energy would neither become a Deadwalker nor develop a Stigma, let alone become a Herrscher.

Outside the Academy City, contact with the Honkai meant death.

Mobius had always wanted to find a way to lift this restriction in secret. Without it, the number of Honkai Herrschers would never increase.

As for finding a Honkai Herrscher among those with Stigma Armor?

Thanks to the presence of the Stigma Armor, all the Honkai energy damage was compensated for by the armor itself. The only thing people had to contribute was the mental power to synchronize with the armor. The Honkai's influence on these Stigma users was cut off by the will of the Stigma.

The path Noldrei had laid out was perfect, unless the Honkai could create a Herrscher without Honkai energy.

But wouldn't such a Herrscher just be walking straight into Noldrei's mouth?

According to the intelligence Mobius provided on the Herrscher of Binding, such a Herrscher would be nothing more than a free meal for Noldrei.

Others might not know, but Tesla had seen it with her own two eyes.

Noldrei's body couldn't be explained simply as some kind of substance. He not only lacked a consciousness and a spiritual manifestation, but even his physical form had become incomprehensible.

At that time, he looked more like some kind of particle-state neutron in motion, a miniature sun.

Noldrei didn't even need to do anything special; he himself was a powerful weapon capable of traversing time and space. He could simply crash into most of the Herrschers that had appeared so far and kill them.

It was only with the backing of Noldrei's power that Mobius had even conceived of the experiment to bring forth the next generation of Herrschers.

The current issue wasn't whether Mobius could succeed, but that opinions were divided. Some supported her actions, while others opposed them.

Those in favor wanted to gain control from Noldrei over whether humanity could use Honkai energy. Those opposed believed the Honkai was too dangerous, and that unleashing it would be as reckless as playing with fire in a forest.

"Mop-head, is Mobius still thinking about lifting the Honkai factor restriction that guy placed on humanity? Is anyone stopping her?"

"We're all trying to stop her. As it stands, we don't know how Noldrei will select the next group of humans to become Herrschers."

Einstein had been paying close attention to Noldrei's choices regarding Herrschers. The ones he produced were either those who had suffered ideological torment during social change, or those who had been unwittingly trapped by their social environment.

Therefore, Noldrei's process of introducing Herrschers was closely linked to every expansion and advancement of the Academy City.

But when would the next opportunity arise? Einstein wasn't sure. She still couldn't grasp the moment when Noldrei would deem that humanity had accumulated enough.

"You don't know what kind of person he wants to appear, so you don't know what kind of Herrscher will be born?"

Tesla was worried that the next Herrscher might be the Herrscher of a Thousand People or the Herrscher of Binding.

She explained, "The birth of a Honkai Herrscher is closely related to human civilization. And this time, the Herrscher Cores produced by the Honkai are different from those of the Previous Era. I have to consider a rather serious question: is Noldrei still considered part of 'human civilization'?"

"Or rather, do we humans have a sufficient 'understanding' of Noldrei's existence? Otto once tried to control the overall level of human cognition through technological means, thereby restricting the Herrschers born from the Honkai to the development of human civilization."

"In theory, as long as no one clearly knows what Noldrei's abilities are, the Honkai won't be able to read his abilities through the reactive power of human civilization."

Tesla's speculation wasn't just a wild guess. The power of the future people Noldrei brought with him was despairingly strong. The leader of Anti-Entropy gave up resisting, Schicksal's Otto decisively surrendered, and even an organization like World Serpent was helpless against him.

What did humanity go through in a hundred and thirty thousand years to create such a monstrous being?

As a top-tier scientific researcher, Einstein couldn't help but ponder these malicious questions.

Einstein couldn't help but chuckle. "They're not going to turn me into a Herrscher, are they? A memory entity could become the Herrscher of Sentience. It's not impossible for another scientist to become a Herrscher, forcibly boosting the Honkai's combat power."

"Unless... the next Herrscher is..."

"Someone from the old era who was persecuted by the new era Noldrei created. But who would be so consumed by that level of suffering?"

Einstein didn't think she was that kind of person. Deep down, she had already begun to lean toward the new era Noldrei described.

But who, at this point, still considered themselves a person of the old era?