Just as Snake-Snake was cleaning up the remnants of Otto's contingency left on the puppet, over on the other side, Lynelle found herself idly "drifting" through Imaginary Space.
Maybe it was because it had been too long since she last died, she'd completely forgotten that if her body was directly erased, it would take a while to reconstruct it, just like back in Siberia.
So, when Lynelle got her hands on Little Herta's Herta Network technology from Herta and was about to head back to reverse-infect the Thousand Network...
She found herself stuck in the compiler shader (totally a thing).
'Going back to Star Rail now would be a real pain, I'd have to die again... but if I do that and get caught, they might punish me so hard I won't be able to get out of bed.'
'So, I'll just behave and wait for my body to recover.'
'But, my current state is basically a soul form, right? Doesn't that mean that, from Bronya's perspective, my consciousness has already disappeared?'
'Ugh... I was trying to surprise them, but now it's turned into a resurrection announcement instead.'
'Whatever, it's fine... my body's recovery speed isn't that slow, it should be done in about half a day. I'll just wait here a bit.'
Meanwhile, as Lynelle decided to wait out her resurrection countdown in Imaginary Space, she had no idea that back at the Salt Lake base, a doll had quietly materialized in her room.
The doll was shaped like a little green snake, and at that moment, it was curled up silently by Lynelle's bedside, occasionally flicking its scarlet tongue, like it was waiting for some delicious prey to walk right in.
Half a day later...
"Lynelle, welcome back~"
Ever since Lynelle's soul had vanished from Bronya's body, everyone at the Salt Lake base already knew the news of her "impending resurrection."
So, since the celebration for the 60th anniversary of Anti-Entropy wasn't over yet, they decided to throw a big welcome banquet for Lynelle.
So, the moment Lynelle finally found a usable imaginary node and teleported back to the Salt Lake base, Kiana, who'd had her trajectory locked onto and been pre-aiming for ages, sprayed a face full of confetti at her.
Before Lynelle could even react, Kiana directly teleported a whole crowd of familiar faces over.
Lynelle gave a quick scan and it seemed like pretty much everyone she knew on the Anti-Entropy side was there.
There were enough people to form a circle around her, clapping and going "Omedetou."
"Kids, I won my resurrection match... Ouch!"
"You've got some nerve..." Wendy retracted her little fist, the one that had just tapped Lynelle on the head.
"Didn't I tell you back in Oceania not to do anything reckless? And then, in the blink of an eye, you go and play suicide bomber..."
"Heheh... it's not like I had a choice." Lynelle stuck out her tongue, giving a guilty, sheepish grin.
"If you don't believe me, ask Bronya, she knows exactly what happened, right?"
"...Can Bronya abstain?" Bronya's expression wavered a bit as she shook her double-spiral pigtails.
"In principle, Bronya should be speaking up for Lynelle-sis this time. But seeing Lynelle-sis like this, I kind of feel like kicking her while she's down... what should I do?"
"Yeah, yeah." Little Senti nodded in agreement nearby, patting Lynelle on the shoulder.
"Even if it's something you absolutely had to do, you could've left it to me next time. Whether it's suicide or buying time, my core's still on the old antique anyway, so I'm not scared at all."
"Anyway—"
Kiana gently bit Lynelle's cheek. "Don't do this again!"
"Alright, alright..." Lynelle quickly threw up her hands in a mock French military salute.
"But, can anyone explain to me what exactly happened with the Herrscher of Dominance in the end?"
"Uh, well..."
The moment Lynelle asked, everyone's expressions turned strange.
"I'll explain..." Mei's expression was a bit subtle.
"Not long after you died, the Herrscher of Dominance problem was solved... because someone we never expected just burst in and took out all the remaining puppets."
"Right now, the only loose ends from this incident are those unclaimed cores scattered in Imaginary Space. Kiana and Sirin are mainly in charge of salvaging them."
"Took out all the puppets? Who was it? That's incredible..." Lynelle tilted her head. "Otto made a move?"
"No, Otto was actually the first to crash and burn."
"The only reason the puppets were so strong was because they devoured one of Otto's bodies before the fight even started, and integrated part of his thought process..." Mei shook her head, explaining.
"I see, that explains why those puppets were so smart..."
It suddenly clicked for Lynelle. So those puppets were like Caesar asking for directions – they must have had a mastermind guiding them.
"So who was it... wait." Lynelle's expression suddenly became incredibly interesting. "Don't tell me... it's the person I'm thinking of?"
"That's right." Mei nodded. "Your mother, Mobius, she already came by the Salt Lake base. She looked each of us over, took some samples, and explained the situation with the Herrscher of Dominance..."
"Oh, and Lynelle, she also said to remember to go back once your business here is settled..."
"Gah!" A wail of despair escaped Lynelle. "D-Damn it..."
"Stupid Lynelle, hehe, serves you right for always courting death." Sirin, having switched accounts, didn't hesitate to "mock" Lynelle.
After all, she'd witnessed Lynelle's death count more times than anyone, and understood Snake-Snake's current feelings better than anyone.
"We were planning to give you a good scolding too, but... hmph, Lynelle should first think about how you're going to explain this to your mother~"
"Correction, remember to at least finish the celebration banquet first, leave tomorrow." Bronya raised her hand. "Doesn't this count as the last hurrah?"
"Don't say such unlucky things, gah!"
And so, in this strange mood, Lynelle was escorted by the crowd to the banquet.
After a feast that lasted several hours, Lynelle finally returned to her own room.
But, for her, the only small blessing was probably that everyone knew she was going back to see her mother tomorrow, so tonight, they all decided not to bother her.
Otherwise... given how badly Lynelle had screwed up this time, if she could still walk the next day, it would only be because Kiana and the others went easy on her.
However... just a few minutes after stripping off her clothes and slipping under the covers, Lynelle sensed something was wrong.
Why did she suddenly feel... a long, smooth object in her blanket, slithering its way up her body?
"Hiss hiss——"
Staring at the tiny snake head that had suddenly emerged from under the covers, constantly letting out soft hisses, Lynelle couldn't help but fall silent.
"Dr. Mobius...?"
"What's the matter...?" With a flash of light, the wiggly green snake transformed into a petite, adorable little green-haired girl.
"Not happy to see me?"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.