When Vill-V and the others returned safely, Dr. Einstein had already expected as much. She did not react as excessively as Dr. Tesla.
Having Vill-V rescue Edison had left Einstein equally uneasy.
From Vill-V's earlier behavior, it seemed that "Edison sacrificing herself to save New York" was already established history in the future.
Altering history was never that simple. It involved far too many temporal paradoxes.
Time was like an iron chain. Any butterfly that tried to break free of its restraints would ultimately be crushed to pieces.
That also meant Vill-V had undoubtedly taken enormous risks to accomplish this.
So when Einstein saw the meteor explode across the horizon, she had already prepared herself mentally—
For the best outcome, and for the worst.
Now that events had developed in a favorable direction, she looked at Vill-V. The playful girl in a conductor's uniform standing before her was undoubtedly the greatest contributor.
The eternally unchanging, naturally curly-haired girl smiled faintly. "Thank you, Miss Vill-V. You saved Miss Edison..."
But she quickly returned to her mechanical tone. "Will changing history... have any adverse effects on a time traveler like you?"
The former small-town exam prodigy Vill-V lifted her chin proudly. "Hmph, relax. My history teacher always said I was a genius at tampering with history."
Expert aside, even Lecturer had never seriously studied any historical material. If Vill-V were handed an actual history exam, passing it would probably be difficult...
"A historical stage that never changes would bore the audience to death." (Her history teacher would probably declare her beyond redemption.)
Supporting Edison as she stood, Vill-V skillfully sidestepped the topic. She naturally understood what Dr. Einstein truly wanted to ask.
Einstein was not merely worried about Vill-V herself. She was also concerned that if Vill-V could traverse time, then could others do the same?
If a stronger force arrived in this world with malicious intent, how would humanity respond? Could they rely solely on Vill-V?
Because that scoundrel Otto was still lurking inside Reanna's body, watching from the sidelines, Vill-V could not casually reveal her origins or intelligence in front of him. So she did not speak plainly.
It was not that information could not be shared—but at the very least, it had to be exchanged for a bit of surprise from him to make it worthwhile.
However, Vill-V's hint was already quite obvious. Einstein lowered her head and murmured, "So there are others who have arrived in this timeline as well..."
Even if Otto learned that much, it would not matter. It might even be possible to use Otto's hand to locate the Herrscher of Reason, Planck.
Vill-V had always remembered that the Herrscher of Reason, Planck, had come along with her...
Or rather, she had followed the Herrscher of Reason, Planck, into this world.
As for the risk of saving Edison, Vill-V had indeed taken some. But it was not about temporal paradox correction or anything like that. It was that detonating the Honkai Reactor was simply too conspicuous.
At present, the Herrscher of Reason—who possessed the power to destroy the world—was nowhere to be found, and her situation remained unknown. Yet Vill-V had just inserted herself into the grand spectacle of a meteor over New York. There was a strong chance the Herrscher of Reason might notice.
An open spear is easy to block, but a hidden arrow is hard to guard against. Vill-V already had little combat ability and could only run. If the enemy were in the open while she remained in the shadows, she could still rely on the wisdom of the Previous Era's greatest genius to claim victory.
But if the situation were reversed, then running would be her only option.
And perhaps she might not even be able to escape.
This was not the Sea of Quanta. The Herrscher of Reason could easily deconstruct her Cosmic Juggernaut.
If the Herrscher of Reason secretly tampered with it even once...
Then forget having any trump card to defeat the Herrscher of Reason—even if she immediately activated the Cosmic Juggernaut, she would not be able to flee.
But since she had already chosen to save someone, she might as well make the spectacle even grander—draw out the Herrscher of Reason and resolve this world's greatest crisis first.
That was why Vill-V had ignited such dazzling fireworks in the sky.
Yet for some reason, the Herrscher of Reason still had not appeared. Had she not landed in North America?
Or had she already learned to wield human cunning?
It seemed she would have to find an opportunity to give Otto a reminder and have him conduct a search.
...
As always, Tesla did not think too deeply. She happily kicked open the car door and hurriedly jumped out, instinctively wanting to hug Edison, who had narrowly survived.
But she suddenly realized how embarrassing that would be. What kind of relationship did she have with that iron rooster? Why would she hug her? And besides, Edison looked prickly all over.
So after kicking up a cloud of dust as she ran to Edison's side...
She immediately withdrew the arms she had been about to use for an embrace. Instead, she poked at Edison's "steel body," teasing her transformation without the slightest regard for the fact that Edison had just experienced a brush with death.
"Ahahaha, Iron Rooster, this outfit of yours... Now the name truly fits you! Hahaha!"
Seeing that Edison was safe finally lifted the massive weight that had been hanging over Tesla's heart, so she indulged in jokes.
But Edison, who had survived catastrophe, did not respond to Tesla's "warm concern." Instead, she suddenly asked, "Is the spare power supply still in the car?"
"The vehicle's spare power source is in the trunk. What do you need that for?"
Then everyone watched as Edison briskly approached the Rolls-Royce, opened the trunk, and grasped both the positive and negative terminals of the charging cable connected to the onboard spare power supply.
Only then did Edison explain, "Charging."
Edison's vitality had long since been exhausted. She had been sustained until now purely by sheer will.
Electric currents seemed to surge through her entire body, and the strange "light bulbs" began flickering on and off.
At that moment, Tesla could no longer laugh. She pressed her lips together, as if realizing something. "Iron Rooster... you don't mean... from now on... you'll have to charge for the rest of your life, do you?"
"Haa..." Feeling her depleted vitality being replenished, Edison let out a long breath. Then she looked at Tesla with dim eyes and forced a smile. "Mm. I suppose that's not entirely a bad thing. At least I won't need normal human necessities anymore. That saves quite a bit of expense."
Complex emotions flashed through Tesla's eyes. She had originally thought that Edison's current appearance... was merely like an exoskeleton suit—something she could remove to revert back.
But clearly, this was far more than just armor.
As she charged, the deep Honkai erosion patterns across her body gradually faded.
Watching her arms regain the fair complexion of a young girl, Edison said with remarkable openness, "This body isn't so bad. At least I won't have to worry about contracting Honkai Sickness anymore."
Tesla and Einstein thought at the same time: But... that means you are no longer human.