When old acquaintances meet, they naturally have much to say, but now was clearly not the time.
Welt Yang suppressed the longing in his heart and asked directly:
"Your current state... are you alive or dead? And why have you stayed at St. Freya Academy to be a security guard?"
If he could clarify these two key questions, he would be able to make sense of many things.
"Neither alive nor dead. I am currently in a single moment transition from life to death, and this moment has been infinitely stretched by some kind of power. That is my state at this moment."
Joyce paused, then said in a deep voice, "As for why I am staying here, the reason is simple: we cannot disobey the summoner's will."
"Cannot disobey..." Welt Yang's heart tightened.
This was absolutely not what he wanted to see.
The answers Joyce gave were not entirely good news; aside from the fact that it was truly him, the other two points were bad news.
Being in a state between life and death and being unable to disobey the summoner's will—the former was manageable, but the latter was a fatal flaw.
It meant that someone could go against Joyce's own wishes and force him to do things he was unwilling to do.
"Don't worry too much about me."
Joyce laughed freely and said, "The summoner is a kind-hearted person. I believe she won't make me do anything evil."
Hearing this, Welt Yang only felt slightly better.
With his closest mentor and predecessor under someone else's control, he still couldn't reach the level of calm acceptance.
"...However, the 'we' you mentioned just now, does that also include Cecilia?" Welt Yang asked.
"The one from Schicksal?"
Joyce recalled the white-haired woman he saw yesterday, then nodded. "Yes. But besides Lady Cecilia, there is also a Schicksal A-rank Valkyrie named Cheng Lixue."
As soon as he finished speaking, both men fell into a tacit silence.
A Herrscher of Reason, plus a former strongest Schicksal S-rank Valkyrie—this had already formed a force that could not be underestimated.
Now, with the addition of a former strongest A-rank Valkyrie, it was truly a case of adding wings to a tiger.
Perhaps only if all the current S-rank Valkyries of Schicksal were deployed would they have a chance of defeating this trio.
It hasn't even been half a month, yet her strength has already grown to this extent, Welt Yang thought grimly to himself.
Recalling that Herrscher-level energy fluctuation from yesterday, he was convinced that the other party was absolutely a special Herrscher.
And to humanity, a Herrscher was a walking natural disaster.
If the other party was a Herrscher like Joyce who fought for humanity, then everything would be fine.
But if she was like the Second Herrscher... then for human civilization, it would be a catastrophe.
Undoubtedly, no matter what he chose to do from now on, it would be a massive gamble!
"I want to ask, who exactly is the person who summoned you? If it's convenient, please tell me!" Welt Yang asked with a serious expression.
Joyce understood that his next answer would determine Welt Yang's future decisions.
Lierre had not specifically instructed him to keep it a secret.
"You might have met before. Her name is Lierre, and she is currently living within St. Freya Academy," Joyce replied.
"It's actually her?!"
Welt Yang was incredibly shocked.
That blonde little girl who was so nervous about meeting the parents that she specifically sought him out to learn about Otto's personality was actually the Herrscher who summoned Joyce and the others!
The moment he thought of the relationship between Lierre and Theresa, his furrowed brow relaxed again.
They say love makes one blind; for a Herrscher, it was likely the same.
If extreme negative emotions could push a person into the embrace of the Honkai, then extreme positive emotions could also help a Herrscher break free from the Honkai's control.
Based on his impression of Lierre and Joyce's preliminary assessment of her, Welt Yang finally decided to take the gamble.
He would bet that Lierre could escape the control of the Honkai and become a Herrscher standing on the side of humanity.
Though he intended to play matchmaker for Lierre and Theresa, he was completely ignorant when it came to romance and needed to consult his seniors.
Meanwhile, far away at Anti-Entropy headquarters, Einstein and Tesla simultaneously received the message from Welt Yang.
After reading the account of the events.
Einstein and Tesla looked at each other, as if asking, Do you know anything about romance?
The two stared at each other for a while.
Finally, Tesla was the first to snap. Anxious as an ant on a hot griddle, she paced back and forth. "I think he's deliberately making things difficult for us!"
Then her topic shifted: "But if we don't interfere, what will happen to Joyce and the others?"
Before long, Otto would officially meet with Lierre.
With Otto's silver tongue, there was no guarantee he wouldn't coax Lierre into a daze. After all, nearly seventy percent of Valkyries held Otto in high esteem, which showed his ability to win people over.
Joyce had finally managed to live a second life by some miracle; if Otto took him away for research again, she would absolutely die of rage.
"According to her background information, Lierre is only in her early twenties, while Theresa will be nearly fifty in a few years. Why on earth did she have to take a liking to Theresa!" Tesla was nearly frantic.
"Probably because Theresa, like her, can't grow tall," Einstein sighed helplessly.
Because of the relationship between Theresa and Otto, their situation was very disadvantageous.
Otto could use the connection through Theresa to pull Lierre into his camp, but what about them?
They, Anti-Entropy, had no relation to Lierre whatsoever. What standing did they have to interfere in her business?
"Wait a minute!"
Tesla suddenly thought of something. After browsing through the intelligence from Welt Yang again, she pulled up Bronya's information from the Anti-Entropy internal files. "Lierre has always wanted to adopt Bronya as her daughter, and Bronya is one of ours. Mop-head, do you think we should make a move here?"
She truly didn't understand romance, but she understood the details of adopting children quite well.
Joyce and Yang were both raised by her and Mop-head!
A smile appeared on Tesla's face, and her confidence suddenly returned, her previous gloom swept away.
Einstein's eyes lit up.
Since the romance route was a dead end, they could take the maternal love route.
Maternal love was also a positive emotion, and even more stable than romantic love.
"This method is feasible, but for it to work, Bronya must truly accept Lierre. Fake feelings are useless."
Einstein was rational and quickly regained her usual calm.
"Then we can only wait—wait for an opportunity to snatch someone from Otto." Tesla was also helpless.
As long as Bronya didn't acknowledge Lierre, it didn't matter how anxious they were now.
So, they could only wait.