A winter night possesses a unique, desolate darkness.
The windows of the principal's office were brightly lit, and noisy voices could be heard from within.
"Idiot Great-Aunt, did you forget about Ye Feng? He knows everything, you know," Kiana said, hands on her hips, puffing out her chest.
"Kiana!" Theresa really wanted to jump up and smack her great-niece on the head. She was becoming more and more disrespectful. "What are you so proud of if Ye Feng's the one who knows?"
"Um…" Mei timidly raised her small hand. "The Central Dogma… it sounds like some kind of secret base for St. Freya Academy, right? Why would the teacher be there?"
"Mmm…" A trace of embarrassment flashed across Theresa's face. She had said more than once that "St. Freya Academy's security is the best in the world," and now someone had infiltrated the most critical Dogma area without her knowledge.
"Since there's video footage, it must have been specially authorized by the Principal," Bronya analyzed.
This made Theresa even more embarrassed.
Because there were no cameras in that area at all. Who the hell knew where the recording came from?
The footage, transmitted by an anonymous source, was nothing short of blatant mockery, a series of slaps across their faces.
Who was it?! To be so arrogant as to treat the entire Far East Branch as nothing.
Damn it! Theresa's fists cracked. She really wanted to stick Judah into the head of the person who sent the video.
No, wait, there was also that guy with the glasses, who seemed to be the new history teacher hired last year. Why was he in the Central Dogma?
"Haaah…" Theresa let out a breath.
She had called Kiana and the others here precisely to figure these things out. To be more accurate, she wanted to consult Ye Feng through them. Having experienced Ye Feng's [Prophecies] several times before, Theresa had a great deal of faith in him.
When faced with an incomprehensible problem, find Ye Feng.
Theresa wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with, and now she had completely given up on thinking. But it had to be said, looking at the results, her "strategy" was perhaps the best one available. This was probably what they called "great wisdom appearing foolish."
"Great-Aunt, I think it's better not to rely on that guy too much." Kiana thought of the equivalent exchanges she had experienced. Although Ye Feng was providing help for free now, a price for his gifts had likely been marked in the dark long ago.
"Why? Aren't you good friends?" Theresa smiled brightly. "Good friends should help each other."
"Mmm…" Mei shyly averted her gaze, while Kiana looked as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.
What Kiana was worried about was that one day in the future, Theresa's petite body wouldn't be able to take it.
But this situation was special. The one who had been swallowed by space was Welt. Welt's life or death wasn't particularly important, but the Core of Reason could not be lost.
However… who in this world at this stage could silently swallow the Herrscher of Reason?
Kiana's mind raced. It felt like besides herself, no one could easily kidnap the Herrscher of Reason. Even her nominal older sister, hailed as Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie of all time, likely couldn't do it.
"I get it, Great-Aunt. We'll go investigate and find out what's going on."
"Mhm, that's good. Wait, investigate? What investigation?" Theresa looked at Kiana. "You're not thinking of going to the Central Dogma yourself, are you?"
Kiana blinked. "How am I supposed to investigate if I don't go?"
"No way, it's too dangerous. According to the data we've received, the spatial curvature in that area is distorted, the magnetic field coefficient is in chaos, and there's an unexplained Honkai energy signature. It's already under complete lockdown. No one is allowed to enter or exit until we understand the situation. Speaking of which, it's precisely because investigating is inconvenient that I called you all here to ask Mr. Ye Feng about the situation!" Theresa massaged her forehead.
Her great-niece had indeed inherited the Kaslana family's consistently impulsive nature. Now that the thought had entered her head, it would probably be very difficult to persuade her otherwise.
"Oh, oh, so that's how it is."
"Huh?"
"I understand. Don't worry, Great-Aunt, I'll ask him clearly."
"Eh?" Theresa looked at Kiana in disbelief.
She was convinced just like that?
Theresa relaxed, sitting on her tall office chair, her short, white-stockinged legs dangling in the air. A fond, aunt-like smile appeared on her face. The child Kiana had truly grown up.
---o---
At the same time.
St. Freya Academy's underground church, the Central Dogma.
The space in this corridor had been inverted, twisted, and folded, forming an endless cloister where space seemed to stretch infinitely, with no end in sight.
Welt finally stopped walking. He pushed up his glasses and looked at the space ahead, seeming to have seen through something.
"I see, no wonder I've been walking in circles. This is a two-dimensional compact manifold, embedded in a three-dimensional or higher-dimensional manifold. It forms a standard example of a non-orientable surface, which can be seen as a 2D real projective plane with a disk removed."
Although Welt had been walking forward, he had in fact been moving in a circle, constantly tracing his original path.
The space before him had a professional name in the field of topology: the Möbius Strip.
"To think someone could actually form such a spatial structure in the real world…" Welt Yang said, his hands in his pockets, the lenses of his glasses reflecting a white light.
He thought that if the Herrscher of the Void back then had understood this concept, dealing with her would have been much more troublesome.
But how was this current "Möbius Strip" formed? He could rule out the Herrscher of the Void. Due to their cores, Herrschers could sense each other within a certain distance. Considering this was the Far East Branch, perhaps it was a new technology developed by Schicksal? Schicksal's resources were truly unfathomable. Even a random branch possessed technology that could transcend eras.
Hisss, hisss, hisss~~~
A sound like a slithering snake came from ahead.
Alarm bells instantly went off in Welt's mind, and the hair on his body stood on end. He felt as if he were being chewed in the mouth of a prehistoric beast, a chill running through his entire body.
Then, a snake of shadow emerged from the air.
Although this was just an enclosed corridor, the giant shadow snake gave Welt an immense sense of scale. He felt as if he were looking up at a towering mountain, its majestic aura suffocating him.
The shadow snake's entire body was wreathed in black energy, its form covered in crimson patterns. These patterns were twisted and complex, exuding a bewitching charm and filled with a mysterious aura. If Ji Lin or Kiana were here, they would recognize the origin of these patterns at a glance.
The giant shadow snake raised its head high, its crimson eyes reflecting a cold light as it stared impassively at the Herrscher of Reason before it.
---o---
Author's PS: I'm never taking a "customary leave of absence" at the beginning of the month again. Asking for some votes. (ｖ＾＿＾)ｖ