"Cooperation?"
Inside Anti-Entropy's meeting room, the moment she heard Otto's proposal, Dr. Tesla's temper exploded again. "Shove your grandmother's dog— up your ass. Who the hell would cooperate with a scum like you?"
Otto still ignored her.
Even through the remote projection, his gaze only rested on Welt Yang.
Seeing this...
"...Sigh."
Dr. Einstein let out another helpless sigh.
She knew very well that, as things stood, Anti-Entropy really only had one road left.
So—
"Dr. Tesla, please calm down."
She tried to persuade her. "Right now, from the standpoint of all humanity, we truly don't have any strength left for infighting."
"..."
Dr. Tesla was not an unreasonable person.
Of course she knew the "bird's nest head" beside her was right.
But with a temper as explosive as hers, there was no way she could stand sitting down to work with a bastard like Otto—
"You talk to him, then!"
Dr. Tesla strode straight for the meeting room door. "Tell me the result afterward."
With that, she left without a second thought.
Seeing her go, everyone could only sigh.
But they all understood how she felt.
In truth, it was not just her.
Welt Yang's own feelings were just as complicated when facing Otto.
Because Otto was the one who had killed his father.
Everyone present, more or less, had been schemed against or harmed by Otto before.
No one here had a good impression of him.
And even so...
"Go on. Tell us your cooperation plan."
Welt Yang took a deep breath and did his best to steady himself.
Right now, he was standing here as the sovereign of Anti-Entropy.
So he would carry out his duty.
Seeing that—
"Very good."
Otto smiled. "Since you are willing to cooperate, then I will make a promise here as well..."
"Until the Tenth Herrscher is completely destroyed, I, Otto Apocalypse, will never be your enemy."
Several days later.
Inside the Theatre of Domination, in a room Ling Ke had deliberately set aside, one so dark it felt suffocating—
"Mgh!!!"
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
The screams never stopped.
This was an interrogation room.
Cocolia's comfortable life over the first few days had already come to an end.
Starting today, for a full two hundred and eight days, just as he had promised before, Ling Ke would have the subordinates assigned to this task recreate on Cocolia, piece for piece, everything he himself had gone through back then.
Of course, he was being very "considerate" and had not restricted her freedom.
At any moment, if she wanted to give up, she could get off the surgical table being used for torture, walk over to the table at the side, pick up the sharp dagger there, and end her own life.
But...
that dagger sat right in front of a group photograph.
The moment Cocolia could not hold on any longer and reached for the dagger, the first thing she would see would be that orphanage photo.
"If you choose to end your own life, then all the pain left over will be borne by your daughters."
That sentence would keep echoing in Cocolia's ears.
A curse as vicious as poison.
Its name was—
to live.
At one point...
"No, don't keep going, let me die! Let me die! AAAAAH!!!"
Inside the interrogation room, Cocolia's eyes were bloodshot, her face full of terror, her whole body trembling without end.
Only now did she understand just how much it had hurt, back then, for those people she had once ordered her subordinates to torture.
That suffering, inflicted purely on the flesh, kept striking at her nerves again and again.
At last…
"Let me die! Let me die!"
Her mind was starting to give way.
Like a madwoman, she tore free of the restraints on her body. They had never been tied that tightly to begin with. Half-crawling, half-stumbling, she made her way to the table at the side.
As if she had found a treasure, she snatched up the sharp dagger and moved to plunge it into herself.
But then…
"!!!"
At that moment, under the soft lighting Ling Ke had so "thoughtfully" arranged for her, she saw the photograph.
Bronya's blank face. Sin's disgusted look. Rozaliya, Liliya, Seele… the smiling faces of her daughters.
In that instant, the dagger in her hand could go no farther.
She collapsed to the floor, limp and weak, but she still did not let go of the knife.
Tears fell, one drop after another, onto the backs of the hands she had braced against her knees.
And so, after a long while…
Cocolia's hands shook as she put the dagger back where it had been.
Then, step by step, she walked back toward her own hell.
At that moment…
"Two hundred and seven days, thirteen hours, fifty-nine minutes, fifty-nine seconds."
One of the Puppets of Domination announced the time in a cold voice.
Then—
"Continue."
The moment the word fell, the muffled groans and screams rose from the torture chamber once again.
Now Cocolia had finally begun to understand what Ling Ke had felt back then.
It was despair in its rawest form. Like falling into a bottomless abyss. Like climbing a mountain of blades through a sea of fire. Like poison seeping in while insects gnawed at the flesh. Not a shred of light anywhere.
Now she understood.
In this place…
to die cleanly, with nothing left tying her down, really was a luxury.
At the same time, in the Throne Hall of the Theater of Domination…
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a brand-new game character template: Puppet of Domination-13807.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a brand-new game character template: Lycaon.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a brand-new game character template: Puppet of Domination-13808.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a brand-new game character template: Ellen.]
Just as before, Ling Ke himself did not spare much attention for what was happening on Cocolia's side.
As far as the "debt" she owed him was concerned, he only cared about one thing: the end result.
Better to leave that suspense hanging and savor the anticipation the way one savored a mellow wine.
Right now, there were more important matters on his side that needed his attention.
"By my estimate, after all this trouble I've stirred up, Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and World Serpent will put aside their grudges for the time being, alliance or no alliance, and turn their full attention to dealing with me."
"And if they want to make absolutely sure they can eliminate me, the Tenth Herrscher, while still being unable to pin down my real body, then the only workable method left to them is…"
Ling Ke narrowed his eyes. "To throw out bait they think I cannot possibly ignore."
Of course, the fact that he could think this far did not mean he was some master schemer.
In the end, it was only because…
that was how the original plot had gone.
Unfortunately…
"Unfortunately for them, they don't know I have the advantage of foresight."
As the thought passed through his mind, Ling Ke raised his right hand, and a crimson crystal appeared in it.
The Gem of Haste.
In the original plot, this thing had been directly "delivered" to Kiana by the Herrscher of Domination.
That was what led to the later birth of the Herrscher of Flamescion.
Otherwise, Kiana would never have made it past the ordeal of struggling against the other personality inside her own body—the Queen of the Void.
Looking at it now, one could only say fate really had arranged everything in advance.
Without the Herrscher of Domination handing over that piece of equipment, many things would have turned out very differently.
And that was exactly why Ling Ke had chosen to seal away the Gem of Haste.
He would never take it out of the Theater of Domination.
"At the end of the day, the Herrscher of Domination in the original plot had to steal the powers of other Herrschers in order to keep growing."
"But I don't need that at all."
"The Reason authority I took from Bronya before, and the Void authority I took from Kiana, were nothing more than something I did along the way."
Just look at the situation now.
The Puppets of Domination spread across the world had already reached five digits.
At this point, calling him the "Thousand Herrscher" was no longer accurate.
A more fitting name would be:
Herrscher of Domination — the Herrscher of Ten Thousand.
That was right.
No longer the original "thousand," but the raised form of it: "ten thousand."
Because Ling Ke alone was already a complete Herrscher of Domination.
By now, he no longer trusted anyone.
He neither needed nor would ever allow strangers to share in his power.
For the fighting strength of "ten thousand," one will was enough to rule them all.
That way, there would be no betrayal within, no schemes, no backstabbing.
They would work together and face outward as one.
And with that as the foundation…
"The threats I aimed at individual enemies before were just small-time play."
Seated on the throne, Ling Ke's gaze sharpened. "Now it's time to declare war."