Ling Ke changed into formal attire.
Before tonight he had been skin and bones, the kind of frame that looked like a casual gust could fold it in half. But the Herrscher transformation had restored his body to a condition better than any point in his life, so the evening suit fit in a way that clothes had never fit him before. It sat on his shoulders like it had been waiting for him to grow into it.
Inside the Dominion Theater he stood before a full-length mirror in the bedroom he had allocated for himself, where the person looking back was someone he had never met.
The tie gave him trouble. His fingers had never learned the motion because there had never been an occasion, never a reason, never a life that required one. He tried the knot once and it came out crooked, tried it again while the length came out wrong. On the third attempt a thousand brains synchronized behind his eyes as his fingers moved with a precision that did not belong to someone learning, until the knot pulled clean against his collar.
He studied the result, adjusted the collar, then tilted his chin up and watched the reflection reorganize itself from a boy wearing borrowed clothes into a man who had always dressed this way.
That was the gift of a thousand minds operating at once. Knowledge that should take years collapsed into minutes while skills that had no business existing in hands that spent their life gripping cell bars now sat there as comfortably as if they had been practiced since childhood. Still far below the geniuses of this world in raw innovation, yet his capacity to absorb and replicate had already surpassed anyone alive. Medicine, geography, astronomy, history, social dynamics, art. All of it waiting to be learned, building something from the inside out that bore no resemblance to the thing they kept underground.
A Herrscher with a brain. The most excellent thing in this world, and the most terrifying.
But that was for later. Right now the mirror needed his attention.
"Welcome."
He said it to his reflection, and the reflection said it back with a smile that touched every part of the face it was supposed to touch.
"Too light."
"Welcome everyone."
"Too many words."
"Spine straight. Chest out. Never lower the head when speaking."
He corrected the posture as the reflection changed again. The same face, the same suit, though the person standing inside them was different now. Someone who belonged at the head of a long table, who had never been kept anywhere he did not choose to be.
"The gait needs refining too."
He walked toward the mirror then away, adjusted, walked again. Each pass smoother than the last until the stride matched the posture matched the suit matched the smile he was layering onto his face one muscle at a time.
He rehearsed with the dedication of a man preparing for the single most important evening of his life, because it was.
His smile sat perfect across his mouth while his posture held flawless and his voice carried warmth along with authority in exactly the proportions he had chosen. Yet behind all of it, set into a face that had learned to move beautifully around them, his eyes held nothing. Flat and lifeless as glass, whatever had once lived behind them was something that probably could never be found again.
The man in the mirror did not seem to mind.
More than ten minutes later, Ling Ke raised both hands like a conductor cueing the opening movement and willed the Dominion Theater to divide out a new space. A luxurious grand hall materialized around his intention, long table running down the center beneath soft candlelight with carpet underfoot and the kind of atmosphere that belonged at state dinners and ambassador receptions.
He walked to the grand entrance of the hall wearing his evening suit and waited.
Spatial portals opened.
"You, what exactly do you want to do?"
"I am really just a scientist!"
"No, don't kill me."
From the various portals, the familiar faces Ling Ke had marked all emerged under the approaching pressure of multiple Dominance Puppets, each guest herded forward by Anby units whose blades stayed drawn and visible. The doctors staggered and stumbled as they walked while continuously begging for mercy. The Branch Commander came through with what remained of his composure cracking at the edges.
One person still missing.
Edelweiss Even was being forced to accept bandaging from the puppets. And just like the others, she had to change into formal attire.
Then finally, one last portal opened and Edelweiss Even was pushed through in a wheelchair by a single Dominance Puppet. Her golden hair fell like a waterfall over shoulders wrapped in a white gown, the hem of the skirt falling naturally to hide the fact that there was nothing beneath it from the knees down. Her complexion had gone beyond pale into something closer to grey, and her body trembled without stopping.
"Welcome to the Dominion Theater!"
Ling Ke stood alone at the hall entrance and revealed a smile that was gentle and elegant in equal measure. Like an experienced butler he bowed slightly and gestured with an open hand, the motion practiced and precise from the dozens of rehearsals he had run in front of the mirror.
He was extremely respectful toward these guests. After all, it was precisely because of them that today's version of himself existed.
"The banquet has already been fully prepared. It is my honor to personally entertain everyone." He straightened from the bow without losing the smile. "At the same time, I want to thank everyone very much for being willing to attend."
The guests looked at each other. Willing was a generous word for people who had been marched through portals at bladepoint.
Not far away, several Dominance Puppets were twirling their knives with the kind of idle ease that made the gesture look accidental and intentional at the same time.
Yes. They were naturally willing.
Seeing that the guests were all so sensible of etiquette, Ling Ke smiled wider and stepped aside to make way, gesturing with an open hand toward the hall's interior.
"Please."
One word, the tone not heavy. But no one dared to refuse.
The guests entered the hall and took their seats one after another along the length of the long table. Ling Ke moved to the head but did not sit down. Until this moment none of them had recognized him. Years of malnutrition and confinement had made the boy they remembered look nothing like the young man standing before them in an evening suit with a butler's posture and a conductor's hands.
But Edelweiss Even glanced at his profile and something in the angle of his jaw overlapped with a memory she had tried very hard not to keep.
Her trembling grew violent.
She understood his purpose instantly. But before she could open her mouth to cry out, he spoke first.
"Actually, today I have a feeling of being about to graduate."
Ling Ke's voice carried the warmth of someone giving a toast at a celebration. He picked up a wine glass filled with red liquid and held it the way a man holds something he has no intention of drinking.
"Everyone present is the first group of guests I have ever invited. Everyone is also my extremely respected mentors."
He began to walk. Slowly. The kind of pace that lets every step land on carpet without sound.
"Yes. In these past few years, it was all of you, in this special academy called the West Asia Branch, who taught me so many things by example."
He came behind Dr. Antonio first and paused there, close enough that the man could feel presence without contact.
"Put oneself in another's place."
He shifted steps and came beside Dr. Egas, who had gone rigid in his chair.
"Not seeking fame or fortune."
Then Dr. Moniz, whose hands were clasped together on the table so tightly the knuckles had turned white.
"Honest and incorruptible."
The Branch Commander, the Sethian who ran the operation and signed every order that passed through the base.
"The strong aiding the weak."
And finally he stopped at the side of Edelweiss Even, whose expression had passed through terror and arrived somewhere beyond it. He looked down at her the way one looks at a centerpiece arranged just so.
"Pure, simple compassion."
Her breath caught sharply in her throat.
Ling Ke continued walking, continued speaking, his voice never rising above the volume of polite dinner conversation.
"You all let me understand that these virtues, in this world…"
He had already returned to the head of the table.
"Are not needed."
Edelweiss Even sat at his left hand. She opened her mouth.
"I…"
"Please do not be anxious, Miss Edelweiss Even."
Ling Ke smiled and turned his head, cutting her off with the gentleness of someone who has all the time in the world. He set down the wine glass. He had walked a full circuit of the table and had not taken a single sip.
"In order to repay everyone's grace, someone as untalented as myself has carefully prepared several small programs." The professional smile never wavered. "I believe tonight's performance will absolutely leave everyone… unforgettable for all eternity."
He raised his hand and clapped once.
The grand hall doors opened again and every gaze at the table was drawn toward what entered.
They came in one by one. Grey-haired, red-eyed maids in formal service attire, each one moving without touching the ground. They floated, drifting forward with a weightless elegance that made the candlelight flicker in their wake. Each one carried a covered tray and their faces wore the pleasant professional smile of staff who took genuine pride in their work, which would have been reassuring if any part of this evening had been reassuring.
Ling Ke had pulled a second template from the system. Alexandrina Sebastiane, a maid from Zenless Zone Zero whose official background described her as belonging to Victoria Housekeeping, a support-type with electric attribute and a high ether aptitude that let her levitate as her default mode of movement. Her combat kit ran through skills with names like Beat the Fool and Shoo the Fool and Bangboo Returns, all of which sounded playful until one remembered that professional maids in her line of work were equally good at cleaning rooms and cleaning out enemies.
The Rina puppets placed their trays in front of every guest with the synchronized precision of practiced waitstaff. Not more, not less. Each person received exactly three covered dishes. After the placement was complete, five maids remained standing beside the five guests while the rest withdrew to the edges of the hall.
From the head of the table, Ling Ke spoke.
"Now is the first program."
"Please, guests, personally select tonight's dishes."
"Of course, I will not play blind-box games to tease everyone. That would lose etiquette."
He gestured with his right hand. "You may look at the dishes before choosing. There is no rush."
"If you feel the portions are too small, if you cannot eat your fill, choosing all three is also perfectly acceptable."
"Then. First course."
He snapped his fingers.
The maids beside each guest lifted the first dish cover with a smile.
A sizzling sound filled the hall, wet and organic, and the smell hit the guests before the sight did. Every person at the table felt their stomach acid surge upward at once. They covered their mouths by instinct, fighting the urge to vomit, though in front of the current Ling Ke none of them dared to actually do it.
On the plates, packed densely and still moving, were cockroaches.
Every single one had its leg sections removed. They wriggled and struggled on the porcelain in small desperate circles, still alive, unable to go anywhere.
Just like the current Edelweiss Even.
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I will be honest, please tell me what works and what not, because i used ai to translate this and the rest is human written prose, and i… used ai to check my writing and ai did the beta and review the work itself.
It is still off but i will try to improve the next chapter.
So anyways, 100 power stones. Please 🙏 i will try to push double chapters a day.
And as for the review? Maybe i need criticism, cause relying on ai alone to review and critique my adaptation is not good in the long run.
Much love, scribble.