A pouch of mysterious items condensed within the light and slowly descended into Vill-V's palm.
"Hm?" To Vill-V's surprise, inside was a stack of small booklets. She had thought Planck was going to show her something interesting again.
"Passports... ID cards... entry and exit guarantees... there's even a bank card."
She brought her watch close to the bank card. It immediately let out a crisp beep. Looking at the amount displayed on the watch, astonishment flashed through Vill-V's eyes. "Holy moly, this Swiss bank card is the real deal... A stored balance of one hundred billion U.S. dollars..."
What kind of cheat mod that edits your gold count could even compare to this? Facing such power, Vill-V had only one thing to say...
Rich lady, sugar mommy, take care of me, please—woo...
I don't want to be human anymore. I want to be a Herrscher too!
Planck continued, "Although I don't have much Honkai energy left, preparing these things for you didn't cost much. But I suppose you won't be staying in this world for long, will you?"
Still calculating what she could buy with that hundred billion, Vill-V replied, "Of course. Returning to our world is the top priority right now."
Now that she had found Planck, the main objective in this world was already complete.
Vill-V was certain that Planck had truly regained her human consciousness. It wasn't some fabricated benevolence from a Herrscher consciousness trying to trick her into bringing her back to the intrinsic world, only to discard her afterward. That point was crucial.
Vill-V needed the Herrscher of Reason's authority to return, but she absolutely could not allow a world-destroying Herrscher of Reason to go back with her.
All she needed to do now was bring Planck—who had recovered her human awareness—back to the Previous Era. Since this world had nothing to do with the Previous Era, any changes made here would ultimately be meaningless.
Planck gazed at Vill-V. When she saw Vill-V avoiding her sharp, scrutinizing eyes, she said, "Don't be in such a hurry. Why speak against your own heart and abandon this world?"
"Besides, I am also the Planck of this world. If its problems aren't resolved, I won't leave."
"Sigh... that's true."
Conductor felt a trace of bitterness in her heart. It wasn't that she wanted to abandon this world, but based on Planck's information, the longer Vill-V stayed here, the more dangerous it would become for her.
This wasn't because the world itself was on the brink of collapse. Rather, Vill-V's current form of existence here was fundamentally unreasonable.
Unlike a bubble world, a world that exists as an isolated time island cannot allow anything taken from it to match the original timeline. Temporal misalignment would cause such objects to vanish outright.
That meant not only could Vill-V bring nothing and no data out of here, but even any food she consumed—once she returned to the intrinsic world—would be affected. In a best-case scenario, she might starve to death on the spot. In a worst-case scenario, those substances could directly transform into toxic materials and kill her instantly.
Here, even the air itself was poisonous!
No wonder I've been feeling so hungry the whole time.
Although Vill-V knew this problem would not be easy to solve, when she thought of Tesla and the others—their joy and their sorrow—she did not consider the people of this world to be fake. "Who said I'm running away? If there's a chance to become a savior, how could I let it slip by so easily?"
And besides, I haven't even spent that hundred billion yet!
"But you really are confident. Even I haven't figured out how to solve this world's problem yet."
"If it were a bubble world, we could anchor it to the intrinsic world using an ether anchor. But a fragment of time like this—if you attach it to the intrinsic world, something will definitely go wrong."
She waved both hands, gesturing as if merging two worlds together. "It would be like stuffing two separate histories into humanity's timeline. What kind of chaos would that cause? This world might even fix the Previous Era's ultimate ending in place."
That was another of Vill-V's concerns. She feared this world might bring irreparable disaster to her own.
In response to Vill-V's worries, Planck smiled gently. "Don't worry. I'll help you eliminate any lingering troubles."
At this point, she truly trusted Vill-V.
Before this, Vill-V had essentially been a stranger to Planck. Therefore, Planck had deliberately revealed a great deal of information to probe Vill-V's character.
Much of their conversation had been layered with testing. Neither of them was naive. They both came from the Previous Era, and caution was unavoidable. In that world, there were far more villains than good people. Moreover, Planck had never trusted MOTH.
Those who carried a single Herrscher Core were rarely good people. Those who carried two required even closer scrutiny.
But through her own testing, Planck had concluded that Vill-V was not a bad person.
Now that their goals were aligned, Planck stood up. It seemed she had said everything she intended to say.
However, Vill-V felt she still had much left unsaid. She simply did not want Vill-V to press her further about how, exactly, she intended to help.
And in her current state... could she really return? Unless she abandoned this world, she would have to remain here forever as its anchor.
And her body wouldn't last much longer...
Or was it...
Tesla's distinctive voice interrupted Vill-V's thoughts. "Hey, old lady, do you really think you can summon me and dismiss me whenever you like? That's not funny at all. What were you two talking about?"
With the Herrscher of Reason's domain dispelled, Dr. Tesla was "teleported" back by Planck. She was currently standing in front of Planck, throwing a tantrum.
Although Planck had provided her with many mechanical little gadgets where she had been confined, Tesla was no longer a child!
Planck sighed softly in her heart, her expression turning cold once more.
"You don't need to know."
After leaving that sentence behind, she turned and walked straight out of the hospital.
Even after Planck left, Tesla continued complaining. "What's with that old woman? Completely inexplicable."
"Does becoming a Herrscher automatically mean you have to be cold and heartless? Look at Welt—he's doing just fine."
...
Without prior contact, Schicksal's aerial fleet intruded into American airspace, yet no interception was received. That was because Schicksal's aircraft had long since adopted radar-evading technology. By the time coastal outposts detected them, the fleet had already landed.
This time, Otto did not carpet-bomb the area with Honkai Fission Missiles. North America still held value.
Its greatest value was the anomalous existence known as Vill-V. Until he extracted sufficient information from her, Otto would not allow her to die.
Even if she had to die, her head had to remain perfectly intact.
To be safe, Otto even brought Honkai Fission Missiles with him as he arrived in New Jersey, a state with a population of tens of millions.
This time, Otto was no longer here under the banner of diplomacy.