Originally, she had just wanted to live a little longer. But Raiden Mei discovered that if she stopped resisting and instead accepted the thoughts of her Herrscher persona, the Herrscher actually became incredibly docile, even ceasing its attempts to usurp control of her body.
Humans are all scum, but Little Li is not.
Holding onto this thought, Raiden Mei successfully persuaded her Herrscher persona and obtained what the textbooks recorded as the "Authority of a Herrscher."
There were side effects, of course. When using the Authority, her mental state would uncontrollably shift, leaning more toward the Herrscher's personality.
But what does that matter?
As long as Little Li can be with me, the life or death of everyone else doesn't matter, right?
With the Herrscher's power, I won't have to fear incidents like the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group anymore. I can stay by Little Li's side forever and ever...
Of course, I have to take it slow. Plans must be executed step by step. I must make Little Li understand that no matter how desperately he wants to save others, in the end, the only one who can stay by his side...
Is me.
Thinking this, Raiden Mei narrowed her eyes and walked toward the staff office with a radiant smile.
The office was empty.
Anna's enrollment file was indeed sitting on the homeroom teacher's desk. Raiden Mei stared coldly at the documents, copied down the phone number, and sent it to Li Wu.
After doing this, she returned to the classroom. Ignoring the strange looks from her classmates, she spoke frankly to the teacher: "Little Li said he was a bit tired and needed to rest well. He'll be back later."
As she spoke, Raiden Mei didn't forget to cast a very gentle smile toward Kiana. However, there was no warmth in that smile whatsoever.
To the teacher and the students, these words sounded like pure degeneracy.
And looking at Raiden Mei's beautiful, flushed face—she looked like parched earth that had just been nourished by rain.
Kiana bit her lip, not saying a word, only burying her head so low it practically touched her book.
Indecency! Absolute indecency!
The people around them cursed silently in their hearts.
The students immediately whipped out their phones and posted in group chats and on social media. Rumors and gossip spread at an exaggerated speed. By the time Li Wu arrived on the sports field, the students who saw him immediately steered clear, as if afraid of catching some dirty disease.
But Li Wu didn't care.
Expressionless, he walked over to the lowest part of the perimeter wall and retrieved a pinhole camera. This was a preparation he had made earlier that morning for the "Crisis Event."
The Transfer Student Event.
Even though the "transfer student" turned out to be Anna, and her target wasn't Raiden Mei but himself, Li Wu still didn't believe the Crisis Event would just blow over like that.
Just like the Deliveryman Event.
The crisis hadn't disappeared; it had only become more severe, leaving him almost no room to counter.
Li Wu looked down at the surveillance footage in his hand. Although it was very blurry, as the mini-boss of a Crisis Event, the outfit of the Anti-Entropy cyborg was just as conspicuous as he remembered.
A black trench coat and a beige baseball cap. Even in a crowd, he could be spotted at a glance. Only in the manga did characters like this have a passive "reduced presence" buff.
But this was reality.
An outfit like that was hard not to notice.
Li Wu expertly vaulted over the school wall and trailed behind the cyborg, crossing street after street until they arrived at an abandoned construction site. It was dark, dreary, and the air was thick with choking dust and chemical fumes. Not even the homeless would come to a place like this.
The cyborg stopped. He turned around, took off his baseball cap, and narrowed his eyes at the corner behind him.
"Should I call you stupid? Or just overly confident?"
"You must be the 'expert' who's been protecting Raiden Mei. But your guard is way too low. Since you already realized I was leading you to a deserted area, why did you still follow? Are you that confident in your strength?"
Seeing that he had been made, Li Wu simply stepped out from the corner and faced the cyborg head-on.
Trading one life for more information is a good deal.
"A student?" The cyborg frowned, sizing Li Wu up repeatedly. "The files clearly noted that the person protecting Raiden Mei was a ruthless character who might have wiped out the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group single-handedly. Originally, you were marked as a powerless student. I didn't believe it then, but looking at you now, I have to."
"By the way, how did you know I was coming? Absolutely no one knew about this mission except me and that person. That person wouldn't send me to kill Raiden Mei and then secretly leak the intel to stop me. So where exactly did you get your information?"
"Whether I'm a student or not isn't important. Where I got my intel isn't important either."
Li Wu walked straight toward the cyborg, stopping less than two meters away. His hands were in his pockets, ready to draw his gun at any moment.
"I made a very serious mistake once, and I don't want to make it again. I have to prepare in advance for any potential crisis. That's the only way to ensure I'm ready for anything."
"You can't kill Raiden Mei. It's that simple."
The cyborg froze for a second, then burst into uncontrollable laughter. He laughed for quite a while before proactively holding out his hand, his expression amiable. "Pfft... Let me introduce myself first. My name is Arga. I'm a cybernetic soldier of Anti-Entropy."
"And? Are you going to use that modified mechanical arm of yours to snap my neck?"
Arga tilted his head, then spread his hands and gave a wry smile. He rolled up his sleeve, fully exposing his mechanical arm to Li Wu.
"A cybernetically enhanced prosthetic could certainly do that, but there's no need, is there? In a video game, a character like me would usually be called a cyber-grunt. Have you ever played Cyberpunk 2077? It's a game from a few years back. If I had to make an analogy... I'm probably like Adam Smasher. Very impressive to ordinary people, but completely worthless in front of 'Transcendents' like you who can control Honkai energy."
Arga shook his head self-deprecatingly and rolled his sleeve back down. His posture was completely relaxed; he showed absolutely no intention of attacking.
"You managed to slaughter the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group overnight. Anti-Entropy has already classified you as a 'Transcendent' with the combat power of an A-Rank Valkyrie. How could a cyber-grunt like me dare to fight to the death with someone of that level? Even though you look..."
Arga's pupils contracted. His eyes had been modified and could perform basic data analysis.
After scanning Li Wu, the results showed a 99.97% probability that he was an ordinary human. The remaining 0.03% was reserved as a margin of error.
"...full of openings and weak as a twig. But I still feel like the moment I make a move, I'm dead meat. I can't afford to offend you... I finally managed to get a mission, and it turns out my target is a Herrscher protected by someone stronger than a B-Rank Valkyrie?"
"When I saw the mission update, I actually laughed. I have no moves left. I've accepted my fate."