"And this feeling… could it be…"
The sluggish sensation within her body made the Herrscher of Sentience form a guess about the loss of her power.
But she quickly rejected it herself.
The Herrscher of Sentience murmured: "…How could that be possible? On the level of consciousness… could there really be someone stronger than me, the Herrscher of consciousness?"
"…"
"Hm?"
Seeming to have discovered something, the Herrscher of Sentience stopped dwelling on the loss of her authority and power.
It was a mecha that wasn't particularly large in size?
Although she couldn't see its form, the presence of a pilot inside could be sensed by her through the metal.
The Herrscher of Sentience scratched her head: "Frozen in place along with the entire world, huh… what an unlucky guy."
"He probably doesn't even know why this is happening to him…"
"Whatever, no harm in trying."
With that, the Herrscher of Sentience extended her invisible tendrils once more, passing her mind through the metal and enveloping the pilot within.
Reading thoughts was something that came as naturally to her—the Herrscher of consciousness—as breathing.
"Oh? Not bad… you've actually lived quite a few years."
"Let me take a closer look."
Having found something that piqued her interest, the Herrscher of Sentience instinctively increased the intensity.
But immediately after, her eyes widened involuntarily.
"How… ?!"
The moment she made contact, a familiar yet nauseating sensation caused the Herrscher of Sentience to let out an irrepressible cry of shock.
She immediately severed the mental connection with the other party.
The Herrscher of Sentience murmured in disbelief: "The consciousness in that sentence… is empty?"
In the instant she touched this person, it was as though a tsunami of memories surged toward the Herrscher of Sentience.
However, completely unlike what had happened with Fu Hua back then.
Those massive waves of memory contained absolutely nothing—just emptiness carrying a single pure emotion.
Although her quick response prevented her from repeating the mistake she had made when she was first born.
The sheer scale of that emptiness represented a fact that stuck in the Herrscher of Sentience's throat like a fishbone.
In other words, from the moment this place fell into stasis, this person had remained fully conscious.
Yet trapped inside a body that could not move…
Until their consciousness was finally worn away to nothing, leaving behind only that one final emotion.
What kind of torture would that be?
Even someone with the Herrscher of Sentience's temperament couldn't help but feel a phantom nausea after imagining it.
…Yet this wasn't even what surprised her the most.
"He… after going through all that, the last thing I felt from him… was hope?"
"How is that possible?"
The Herrscher of Sentience said, utterly baffled.
It had been such a cruel and hopeless ordeal.
Just as she had sensed earlier—this unprecedentedly long imprisonment.
Had directly shattered the other party's entire will!
Yet the remnants left behind by that will… still burned with hope.
As though after enduring who-knows-how-many years of torment.
Even in the final moments of consciousness, he had still been willing to believe in a light that had yet to arrive.
The Herrscher of Sentience couldn't help saying: "…Has he gone mad? What gave him that kind of confidence?"
"Or… was he never an ordinary person to begin with?"
"Has he endured Divine Key resonance? Or perhaps even Discipline itself?"
"…Let's go look elsewhere. The living beings I sensed earlier probably aren't just this one guy."
In fact, it wasn't just her who couldn't understand—viewers outside the screen were equally baffled.
When the Herrscher of Sentience first appeared, quite a number of fans had been cheering and waving flags.
Shouting "Herrscher of Sentience-sama forever!" and "Sentience-chan has finally arrived!"
But as the plot progressed rapidly, the audience could no longer comprehend the situation the Herrscher of Sentience had encountered.
On the other hand, things like Divine Key resonance and Discipline were concepts most regular livestream viewers could understand.
On the television.
Not long after, the Herrscher of Sentience found another living person—frozen like the most lifelike sculpture.
"Really, everyone has just been frozen in place~"
Scratching her head, the Herrscher of Sentience learned from her previous experience this time and didn't act recklessly.
Instead, she cautiously touched the other's mind, careful to avoid another uncontrollable flood like before.
Thinking about how cautious she was being now, the Herrscher of Sentience naturally felt dissatisfied.
After all, when everyone else was powering up with the universal cheat code "I can't do anything,"
She alone had gone the opposite route and declared: "I can do anything!"
Thinking of this, the Herrscher of Sentience grumbled unhappily: "If it weren't for my current state…"
"…Huh?"
The sensation was exactly the same as before.
This person too had no trace left of self or subjective consciousness.
Yet they had also left behind an overwhelmingly powerful hope.
The Herrscher of Sentience's expression changed: "Crazy… they're all crazy…"
"Could it be that if humans stay mad for tens of thousands of years, they all end up like this?"
"I've never seen or heard of anything like it before…"
Indeed, the deepest despair can often give birth to the most baseless hope.
Because by that point, aside from deluding themselves this way to feel better, humans have no other options.
But given this person's familiarity with consciousness, the Herrscher of Sentience ultimately detected something else.
"No no no no!"
Shaking her head, the Herrscher of Sentience murmured: "They're believing in something specific…"
"Or rather… believing in some specific person?"
Although brief, during that earlier contact she had indeed faintly sensed such an indication.
The hope of the other party had a clear directionality—it was sustained by something concrete.
And that…
"How is that even possible? To become this superstitious right before death—it's more like these two living corpses really have gone insane."
As she spoke, the Herrscher of Sentience very much wanted to just leave and spare herself further annoyance.
However, just as she had always shown in the past.
Nothing ignited this Herrscher's curiosity more than those seemingly irrational elements in humans.
Though she might not harbor any intent to destroy what others believed in…
Whenever someone displayed abnormal faith in something, she would inexplicably develop an unnecessary competitive streak.
In plain terms, the Herrscher of Sentience just had to prove those things weren't worth believing in.
Various thoughts swirling, the Herrscher of Sentience began pondering: "If it were some kind of ideal, that would be one thing."
"But if it's a specific person—or even some object—that made you all so devout…"
"Hmph, I'd like to see…"
An unconvinced expression flashed across her face as the Herrscher of Sentience once again used her ability to delve deeper into the other's mind.
Attempting to grasp the source of that hope once more.
In fact, she succeeded—and it caused her brows to furrow slightly: "Strange…"
"Right nearby? And… it really is a person?"
In the eyes of the Herrscher of Sentience, the being who had once been human now appeared even more pitiful.
"Since the other party is also trapped here, what use is believing?"
"Wouldn't they end up the same as you all anyway…"
"This is like a rat dragging a silkworm—trusting the wrong person!"
"Anyway, since I'm already here, I don't mind showing a little mercy and 'transcending' you lot."
"But… before that, let me first go see just who this person you're all so devout toward really is."
It didn't take much effort before the Herrscher of Sentience saw a figure quite familiar to the audience.
"Just like that? An ordinary person?"
The Herrscher of Sentience said, somewhat disappointed and surprised.
That was understandable—because no matter how you looked at it, the woman in the white coat before her was far too ordinary.
Yet beyond that, the Herrscher of Sentience also unexpectedly sensed a surge of anger: "…Why?"
The reason she asked this was precisely because—as the Herrscher of Sentience—she could easily perceive other emotions contained in a human mind, just as she had sensed those hopes earlier.
For example… the complete opposite of hope—despair—was now pouring endlessly from this woman.
Profound and irreversible.
"…"
The Herrscher of Sentience couldn't understand—and therefore felt utterly furious.
Someone who was trusted so absolutely by others that merely by existing.
Could make others still cling to hope even in the final moments of consciousness…
And yet this very person, in the same predicament, had secretly sunk into inescapable despair.
And assumed a posture of giving up.
In the eyes of the Herrscher of Sentience, this was undoubtedly an extremely ugly betrayal.
The Herrscher of Sentience let out a cold snort: "Fine then—let me, and let them, see your disgraceful state."
"Since you've betrayed their trust like this…"
Considering the authority she could still wield at present, she was confident she could avoid being affected by repeated contact.
However, as the Herrscher of Sentience approached the other's body with a sense of righteous indignation.
One crucial detail she should not have overlooked still escaped her recollection.
—Although the sample size was insufficient, it currently appeared that absolute trust in this woman.
Was a widespread phenomenon within a certain group from back then.
The era that Fu Hua from fifty thousand years ago had once witnessed.
"…You?!"
The moment the Herrscher of Sentience saw the other's face, everything was already too late.
…
"Oh dear, the great Herrscher of Sentience-sama thought to herself: Fine, no need to stoop to the level of these old fossils."
"…Hurry up and return this world to normal, then head off to the next world."
"With that, the great her lightly snapped her fingers—though it was merely a mental gesture, it immediately produced a very noticeable effect."
"As a result of this casual motion, the unknown force that had previously enveloped the entire world bubble and plunged it into stasis quietly receded."
"As though it feared the great Herrscher of Sentience-sama."
"Afterward, air, gears—everything that had once been still began to flow again."
There was no scene of the Herrscher of Sentience entering Mei's mind; instead, it felt more like some post-event speech or monologue?
The next moment, Kiana couldn't help saying: "…But wait, this doesn't make sense at all, right?"
The Herrscher of Sentience said impatiently: "Shut up—you listen to me finish first."
"I was already ready to dust off my hands and leave, but who would've thought I'd run right into you guys."
"You were in such a sorry state over a few measly monsters that you couldn't even find that door."
"Isn't that just hilarious?"
"If I don't drag you out and show you the gap between us, how can I possibly let it go?"
Mei: "…"
Bronya: "…"
Though a little speechless, they still obtained sufficient information from the Herrscher of Sentience's narration.
That is to say, their earlier guess had now been fully confirmed.
All existing Herrschers had indeed been imprisoned in this special world bubble by some means.
At the same time, the Big Three also heard from the Herrscher of Sentience about the situation in this lunar world bubble before their arrival.
Of course, the parts that had been arbitrarily altered seemed to require careful discernment.
At this moment, Mei couldn't help looking toward the woman beside her—the mature figure so similar yet more seasoned than herself.
"Her account… probably isn't entirely factual, is it, Dr. MEI?"
Seeing this scene, quite a few viewers immediately perked up.
"Discussing the reason Kevin-ancestor treats Mei differently?"
"Damn, I thought the dog director was just being lazy and let Mei cameo in a role, but there's actually a real MEI!"
"Looking closely, the difference between the youthful girl and the mature lady is indeed huge!"
"By the way, is Dr. MEI really completely unrelated to Mei?"
"Yeah, even though it's been debunked, they really do look like sisters!"
"…"
Previously during the Stigmata Will vs. Karma Kevin battle, it had essentially been one person playing two roles.
At most, they had borrowed a bit of Vill-V's small prop to make it look more realistic.
But now, although Mei and MEI were similar, they had fundamental differences.
On the television.
MEI smiled faintly: "…Regardless, it is precisely your arrival."
"That has given this dust-sealed world bubble a final flash of brilliance in the moment before its destruction."
"As long as the outcome is the same, how the process is recorded doesn't matter."
And so, when the sole witness chose to slack off and offered no opinion on the Herrscher of Sentience's account.
Any so-called discernment became increasingly difficult.
But regardless, when the girls entered this world bubble…
The first thing they saw was the Herrscher of Sentience and MEI—seemingly long-acquainted.
Kiana placed a hand on her chin: "No… what I'm actually curious about isn't all of this…"
"Herrscher of Sentience, why do you… seem to always obey this person named MEI?"
"And you look so much like her subordinate?"
Though Kiana didn't voice the last two sentences aloud, the meaning was already very clear.
Herrscher of Sentience: "…"
Looking left and right, the Herrscher of Sentience walked rather unnaturally to MEI's side.
Trying to project an attitude of complete indifference toward her.
However, the Herrscher of Sentience also knew full well that this was only temporary.
The moment she relaxed even slightly, she would once again display that posture of respect and trust.
Just like those pitiful beings trapped in their shells for tens of thousands of years.
The Herrscher of Sentience thought indignantly: "Tch, it's all because that old fossil's subconscious is too conformist…"
"But this guy is really strange."
"When I saw her at that moment, in that instant…"
Seeming to recall something, even the usually arrogant Herrscher of Sentience showed an extremely complicated expression.