The two Anti-Entropy members rested for a while, recovering from the dizziness and nausea caused by Snow's rough teleportation. They then turned back to Su and nodded.
"Mr. Su, thank you for your help again," Welt said, extending his hand. The Herrscher of Reason Core reappeared in his palm.
"What do I need to do?" Einstein asked, also looking at Su.
"Dr. Einstein... like me, please place your hand on the Core. I will guide your consciousness into it."
Su nodded to the blue-haired doctor and pressed his finger against the gray, crystal-like Herrscher Core. Einstein followed suit, placing her hand on the Core and closing her eyes.
"Let's begin... let's step inside—"
When the group opened their eyes again, they were no longer in the somewhat desolate World Bubble, but back in the living room of Laboratory 42 at the Imperial Research Institute.
"Laboratory 42 of the Imperial Research Institute..." Einstein murmured, gazing around the room with a hint of nostalgia in her voice.
Her gaze then fixed on the indigo-haired young man sleeping on the sofa.
"Joyce..."
"Well then, Dr. Einstein, we'll leave this to you. We'll wait outside," Su called out, waving goodbye as he dragged Welt Yang, who was trying to stay, out of the room.
"Uh... I..."
Welt seemed reluctant to leave, but Su's sudden increase in force dragged him out of the room against his will.
"You know, Mr. Welt Yang... If you can't read the room, the ladies will step on your foot with their heels..."
"Have you never been stepped on by a woman you like before...?" Su asked, looking somewhat exasperated at Welt Yang, who was still trying to sneak a peek at how Joyce would wake up.
"Ah...?"
"So Tesla stepping on me with her heels was intentional all along..."
Welt stroked the stubble on his chin, lost in thought.
"Mr. Welt, you're beyond saving..." Su shook his head, waiting quietly.
Meanwhile, in the World Bubble, the grandfather and granddaughter pair stood by the pond, watching the reflection in the water.
"I mean... is it really okay to be spying on people like this?" Kevin asked, his eyebrow twitching as he gazed at Welt Joyce and Einstein reflected in the water. He glanced at the golden-haired girl beside him.
"Aren't you curious?" the girl retorted, instantly dismissing her Old Ancestor's carefully prepared lecture.
"...Logically speaking, yes—dating a Herrscher... In our time, it was unthinkable." Kevin sighed, looked at the water, then quickly averted his gaze.
"Ooh! They're kissing—they're kissing! Who knew the usually calm and composed Dr. Einstein was such a bold person?"
"Little girl, you're not allowed to watch this!"
Out of concern for his junior and a sense of responsibility as an elder, Kevin reached out with his ruthless iron hand, seizing the descendant by the collar and attempting to drag her away from the pond's edge.
"Ha? I'm already an adult this year! Besides, I've seen kissing before! I've even done it myself!"
The girl, whose fate was now firmly in his grasp, continued to crane her neck, eyes glued to the scene unfolding in the pond. Hearing her words, Kevin Kaslana, suddenly alert to a crucial detail, grew wary.
"You've already kissed someone? With whose little brat?!"
Snow grinned at the visibly exasperated Old Ancestor Kaslana, continuing to dance on the old man's nerves—
"Not only have I kissed someone, I even have a child! And she's already this big!"
Determined to shock him beyond recovery, the blonde girl pulled out a photo of Ninti.
Kevin fell silent, staring at the photo of the girl who looked at least thirteen years old.
Meanwhile, deep within World Serpent Headquarters, Gray Serpent lingered in the palace's depths, as if listening for a voice—
"The Sire? Is that you?"
"Gray Serpent... retrieve the Judgement of Shamash. Remember, do not harm anyone in the process—"
"Your will is my command."
Gray Serpent's voice carried the reverence of a devout follower, yet he found something odd in his Sire's tone, which seemed laced with frustration.
Shaking off the thought, Gray Serpent began to execute Kevin's orders.
-
"Uh? Old Ancestor Kevin, why have you suddenly gone silent?"
Snow sensed something was amiss.
"I've changed my mind. I'm taking Shamash to discuss our Kaslana family education methods with your father—"
"And... who is that little bastard? I'm going to break his dog legs."
Kevin seemed to have entered a state of incandescent fury.
"Uh... it was just a kiss, really, just a kiss."
The golden-haired girl's body trembled as she faced Kevin, who radiated the formidable authority of an elder. She wisely chose to back down.
"Really? Then what about this child?"
Kevin held up Ninti's photograph, his tone laced with suspicion.
"She's my adopted daughter, you know, the kind you adopt. She's already 15, and I only just came of age this year—"
"Alright..."
Kevin nodded, having calculated the age difference and reluctantly accepted the explanation.
"So who's that little rascal?"
Acceptance doesn't always mean forgiveness.
"Uh..."
Snow hesitated.
"Let me guess... Not a man, but a woman, right?"
Kevin rubbed his forehead, his head throbbing.
"That's right... Old Ancestor, how did you know?"
"Hmph... How could I not know my own little rabbit? Every one of you Kaslanas, male or female, is a natural magnet for women."
"That's thanks to your excellent genes..."
Snow wiped away cold sweat, while Kevin merely rolled his eyes dramatically.
Ah... elders are so hard to fool... I can't exactly beat him up, can I? That would be way too Sparta family-style.
The blonde girl grumbled inwardly, refocusing her gaze on the pond.
-
Einstein kissed Joyce, the "Sleeping Beauty," for a long time. Finally, their lips parted, and the Doctor of Anti-Entropy gazed silently at Joyce before speaking to himself:
"I've waited for you for so, so long. In the beginning, I still clung to a faint hope that as the Herrscher of Reason, you might one day reconstruct your body, stand before us, and say, 'I'm back.'"
"But as time passed, we realized you weren't coming back... Everyone suddenly grew up, becoming more mature and rational—because we knew the past, our companions, and those days were gone forever... That's how Anti-Entropy was founded, to honor your memory and to resist Schicksal."
"Yet you can only live on in our hearts. The new Executors of Anti-Entropy don't even know about the existence of our original Leader—some have even betrayed Anti-Entropy's original purpose..."
The blue-haired Doctor poured out her heart to the peacefully sleeping Joyce, recounting everything that had happened during his absence: Anti-Entropy, Tesla, and Joachim...
Finishing her story, the blue-haired girl gazed at the sleeping young man before her. Seeming to have made up her mind, she leaned closer, her crimson lips brushing against Joyce's ear.
"I love you, Joyce—"
The whisper was barely audible, yet it carried enough weight.
"Me too, Einstein..." A voice, both unfamiliar and familiar, echoed back.
The indigo-haired man slowly opened his eyes, looking at Einstein pressed against him.
"I'm back—"