Anti-Entropy, a base somewhere beneath the lake.

The girl with messy blue hair was holding a cup of coffee to relieve the fatigue of doing research all night last night, but this moment of rest was ruined by the red-haired girl with twin ponytails who suddenly broke in.

“You have no place to stay, you have no place to stay! Come and see…!” The door of the private lounge was kicked open, and the red-haired girl ran in in a panic, as if she had discovered something big, but the blue-haired girl looked at her, still in a leisurely manner.

"Dr. Tesla, I remember I should have hung a [Do Not Disturb] sign outside the door?"

"How can we take a break now? You chicken-coop hair, strange things have appeared in our base!" Tesla rushed to the blue-haired girl Einstein, snatched the coffee from her hand, and tried to pull her up.

"Dr. Tesla's five-day unwashed socks?" Einstein wanted to get his coffee back, but didn't want to stand up, so he had to use eye contact to try to force Tesla to give the coffee back.

"Impossible, I will wash it every four days at most... No, you chicken coop hair, stop interrupting me, can you please listen to me?!" Tesla was so angry when he saw Einstein's slowness that he simply finished the coffee in his hand and returned the empty cup.

"…If Dr. Tesla would make me a new cup of coffee right now, I might be able to forgive you."

"It doesn't matter what happens, just listen to me and then go out with me. I'll make you as many cups as you want!" Tesla was obviously going crazy.

"Okay, I'm all ears."

Satisfied, Einstein allowed Tesla to grab her hand and pull her up from her seat, then left the private lounge.

On the way, Tesla kept walking and explained to Einstein why he came to see her.

"Something strange has appeared in our base..."

"Dr. Tesla, please don't use the repeater. I've heard this before."

"Don't interrupt!"

"Okay, Dr. Tesla."

Seeing Einstein behaved, Tesla retracted his glaring gaze and said, "Chicken Coop Head, you know, I went to the cafeteria of the base for lunch today, but when I sat down with the plate and took a bite, guess what? I found a hard object in my mouth!"

"Do you need me to file a complaint for you?"

"That thing has nothing to do with the innocent cafeteria staff. I remember clearly that when they served me food, they didn't see anything suspicious put in it."

"It seems that the so-called 'hard thing' is quite large?"

"Remember how big Walter's Herrscher core is? That thing is about the same size!"

"Ah... If it's about the same size as the Herrscher Core, then it certainly won't be easily ignored. But, Dr. Tesla, it seems that you've been too tired recently. How could you be so confused as to put such a big thing in your mouth?"

"That's the weird part. I clearly remember that I was chewing on spareribs, but I didn't realize it was something like that until I put it in my mouth... And, Chicken Coop Head, that thing is not only the same size, but also the shape is exactly the same as the Herrscher Core. It's a black gem, and there are even Houkai energy fluctuations around it... Now I have saved it, and I'm waiting for you to come with me to see it!"

"The black gem you mentioned... is that what the staff member over there is holding?"

Einstein looked towards the corridor ahead, where a staff member in a white uniform was holding something that looked like a black gem in one hand and scratching his head with the other, with a puzzled expression on his face.

"what?"

Tesla was stunned and saw what the man was holding. It was indeed the gem he had saved, but why did it end up in this guy's hands?

Tesla dragged Einstein over again and rushed over aggressively. In front of the staff's almost stunned eyes, he snatched the black gem from his hand, "How dare you come into my place and steal things? I will let Walter fire you later!"

"It's unfair! Dr. Tesla, this thing was just placed in the corridor. I just picked it up out of curiosity. I had no idea it was yours!" The staff member kept protesting his injustice, and his expression did not seem to be lying. Tesla stared at him for a long time, but finally waved his hand to drive him away, with no intention of pursuing the matter.

The staff left in a hurry, and Tesla handed the snatched black gem to Einstein, "Here, this is it. Doesn't it look very similar to the Herrscher Core? But the weird thing is, this thing is far less 'active' than Walter's Herrscher Core..."

"..."

Einstein observed the black gem for a long time, then became more serious and said, "Dr. Tesla, we need to put it away."

"Of course, I'll go to the room where I stored this thing before... Tsk, I don't know who brought it out and threw it away casually. If I find it, I will chop it into pieces!"

"..."

Einstein did not comment, but urged Tesla to lead the way quickly.

The two came to the door of a room, and Tesla verified their identity before walking in. But soon, Tesla was dumbfounded, and even Einstein was stunned for a moment.

Because right in front of them, in a transparent container filled with unknown liquid, an identical black gem was also floating quietly.

"…Fake or inferior products?"

Einstein used an instrument to test the black gem in his hand, and indeed there was a reaction of Honkai energy, so he said: "Or is this actually something useless that you, Dr. Tesla, made with your limited funds?"

"Chicken Coop Head, don't slander others out of thin air! These two things really have nothing to do with me!"

Out of caution, Tesla also tested the black gem in the container, and found that it had the same Honkai energy fluctuations as the black gem in Einstein's hand, with not even the slightest difference.

"If there is a second one, there will be a third one. Maybe we can go to other places in the base to have a look?" Einstein suggested, while putting the black gem in his hand into the container.

"Well, let's go, Chicken Coop Head. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen..."

"The Second Herrscher?"

"Pah, pah, pah! Don't be such a pessimist. I don't want our base to suddenly welcome such a giant Buddha! Most of my belongings are still here!"

"It doesn't matter. I'm almost the same as you."

"...Chicken Coop Head, where are you going?"

"Just in case, go pack your things and be ready to run away at any time."

"Wait, wait... Don't abandon this base so quickly! At least the First Herrscher is still here with us!"