The Killing Begins

"...He really was a Herrscher."

Looking at Elysia's troubled gaze and the fleeing crowd, nearly causing a stampede, Lee could only utter these dry words.

"Mm, I understand," Elysia nodded hesitantly, saying to Lee, "Let me handle things here for now. Lee, you should go back."

Elysia didn't know what had happened. But the way the leader suddenly died didn't look like he had taken his own life. It looked more like he was forced to commit suicide, against his will.

The only ones capable of doing such a thing, apart from those specialized psychic MANTIS warriors, were the Herrscher of Sentience... and Lee.

If the deceased was truly a Herrscher, why would he commit suicide? Besides, there was no Herrscher core in his body.

And if a Herrscher in the distance used a psychic control ability similar to the Eighth Herrscher to force this person to commit suicide, how could Lee, with her abilities, not detect and prevent it?

Elysia's thoughts were in turmoil, but she knew that no matter what, Lee should leave immediately to prevent the scene from becoming even more chaotic—both to protect Lee and to protect the people here.

"..." Looking at the complex expression on Elysia's face, Lee opened her mouth as if to explain something. But in the end, she closed her mouth, saying nothing.

She just lowered her eyes and nodded gently, "Okay."

[Chatroom comments:]

[Jailed Lee seems to be breaking! Elysia doesn't usually do much, but when she does, it's shocking! ]

[I can't tell, I really can't tell—is Jailed Lee affected by the Herrscher core or not? Is she killing Herrschers or people?]

[Fast forward to Lee thinking she's killing Herrschers, but actually killing people.]

[Rather than being affected by the core and making a judgment error, I still think Jailed Lee isn't mistaken. It's just that the Herrscher of Dominance is too good at playing games.]

[Only she knows the truth, but no one believes her... Jailed Lee, you're still Sun Wukong fighting the White Bone Spirit three times! [Reference to Journey to the West, where Sun Wukong's correct identification of a demon is disbelieved]]

Being broken by Elysia? Impossible~

Although this wave caught her off guard by the Herrscher of Dominance, she had harvested a lot of energy from Elysia. And there were definitely members of the Herrscher of Dominance lurking in the crowd just now.

Once the video of the scene spread, she could probably get some more from others.

If she were to be broken, it would be her mentality being affected by the Herrscher of Dominance.

But it was always her turn to act on others. How dare this Herrscher of Dominance act on her today?!

She'll kill all these Herrschers of Dominance and rip out all their cores!

But what Lee never expected was that the Herrscher of Dominance would be so bold. It had only been the morning, and they were already causing trouble in front of Lee again in the afternoon.

"...Assistant?"

"Yes, her name is Klein. Blanca recommended her to me, but you two probably haven't met before..." In the laboratory, Mobius looked at the materials in her hand.

Her expression didn't look happy at all. "All your body's indicators are within the normal range, and there's no sign of core erosion. But your compatibility with Soulium has increased a bit... Try not to get injured."

"I'm not an expert in consciousness checks, but there's really no need. It was just killing a Herrscher. It's such a small matter, yet it hasn't been resolved until now. And it's turned into this mess. I really don't know what Su and those guys are doing all day. Those idiots outside are also like amoebas, without the ability to think. They treat every piece of news they hear as the truth. I really don't know if they have brains!"

Although Mobius didn't usually pay attention to matters outside of experiments, the impact of this incident was so great that even she had learned a lot from various channels.

Although Mobius had never cared about reputation, she was still rarely dissatisfied that Lee was affected by this matter. From the moment Lee came for the routine checkup, she had been complaining about Su and the others' incompetence.

But Lee didn't respond to Mobius. Her gaze was fixed on the green-haired girl who had just entered, carrying experimental materials.

"Um, Miss Lee, why are you staring at me...?"

The girl, who had the same green hair as Mobius, tilted her head in confusion, looking at Lee with a puzzled expression.

Why am I staring at you? Don't you know?

That consciousness frequency belonging to the Herrscher of Dominance had not stopped since the beginning... Unfortunately, Mobius was not a psychic-type MANTIS warrior and could not detect this anomaly. If Aponia were present, things might have been simpler.

But unfortunately, the Herrscher of Dominance had clearly chosen to enter when only she and Mobius were present. Lee could even feel the killing intent on her—not directed at Lee, but at Mobius beside her.

If she didn't reveal Klein's identity, she would harm Mobius—although Mobius couldn't be killed anyway.

But if she revealed that Klein was currently the Herrscher of Dominance, Lee had no evidence.

Since the other party dared to provoke her like this, they had definitely taken out their core, just like the guy in the morning. If she forcibly killed Klein without evidence... Although she didn't know how long they had known each other, Mobius clearly trusted Klein a lot now.

Although Mobius always seemed to care about nothing, she valued the people around her. Even if it were her, if she killed someone close to Mobius without reason, Mobius would definitely not let it go easily.

Perhaps even their original friendship would be completely shattered, turning into enmity.

Mobius was Lee's first friend in Fire Moth... Looks like she had to get something out of this.

"Herrscher, you made a mistake—you appeared in front of me too many times."

Lee's sudden words made Mobius turn her head in confusion. "Lee, what are you talking about?"

Then, the next moment, she saw Lee strike without hesitation, piercing Klein's body in the blink of an eye.

"Wait—?!?"

Before she could even finish her shout of protest, a flash of a blade and splattering blood completely eliminated any chance of Mobius saving Klein.

"—What are you doing, Lee?!?"

[Energy +300000]

It was clear that Mobius was truly panicked, but Lee's expression didn't change. She just silently wiped the blood from her face. "Doctor, Klein is a Herrscher."

"She's been with me all this time. How could she be a Herrscher? Her Honkai energy reaction has never been abnormal. And if Klein really became a Herrscher, I would have noticed it long ago!" Mobius held Klein's corpse, her eyes trembling as she glared at Lee. "Lee, do you even know what you're doing...?!"

"...I don't know how to explain it to you right now," Lee shook her head silently and turned to leave. "When I come back, I'll—"

"Lee, you're not going anywhere until you explain yourself!"

Honkai energy surged behind Lee. Mobius clearly wasn't going to let Lee leave just like that. Although she was a scientist, Mobius's combat strength was definitely stronger than ninety-nine percent of the people in this world!

But unfortunately, Lee was not one of them.

"[Stop.]"