Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

However, a ban like this was beyond anyone's control.

Those who were meant to know would still find out through various channels.

And so, America deployed even stronger measures to reclaim the spiritual world of its people!

Welt Yang still had no idea what kind of mess his own backyard was about to stir up. For now, watching Theresa on the news, he had reached a state of serene calm.

It's just a large-scale virtual game. What's there to be surprised about?

The current Welt was in a state of spiritual detachment. If he hadn't known about the connection between the Stigma Space and the Herrscher of Reason beforehand, he probably would have wanted to experience a normal person's life in a dream himself.

'A world without Honkai must be so...'

Welt started to think about how wonderful a world without Honkai would be, but then something seemed to occur to him, and he decided to abandon such a naive thought.

'Never mind, a world with Honkai is better.'

'Thank you, Honkai, for giving humanity a chance to unite under the banners of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.'

The wine in Welt's glass seemed to reflect his melancholy. He didn't drink with the same carefree abandon as Overseer Otto. This was the dilemma of a moral man. In this human struggle, they had unhesitatingly used Honkai Fission Bombs on each other, and though he had the power, he had failed to stop it...

This blow had nearly driven Welt into a dead end of extreme conservatism.

Fortunately, he knew what he was doing. It was just that every time he went to sleep, he couldn't help but recall the people who had died under those two fission bombs.

Even without having seen the scene with his own eyes, Welt couldn't stop imagining how desperate the people under the fission bombs must have been.

That feeling of despair lingered in Welt's mind, which was why he had personally executed the leaders of the two countries who had used the fission bombs without hesitation.

After the killing came an indescribable sense of emptiness and detachment. In this state, Welt had even earned the recognition of the Honkai, allowing him to possess a second core.

What did this mean? Welt knew better than anyone.

It meant the Honkai believed he had the potential to become a Herrscher who could destroy humanity.

After realizing this, Welt, after much deliberation, handed over the core in his hand to a not-so-bright idiot.

'Theresa, a being like her probably won't be crushed by it, right?'

Welt didn't know whether to trust in Theresa's 'stupidity' or in her 'persistence' as a Valkyrie.

Welt held the wine bottle in his right hand, his left gently stroking the Stigma Battlesuit placed beside him.

He had tried it on once. The first thing he faced when he put it on was... himself, at the moment of the killing.

The Will of Stigma had perfectly manifested his self from that time.

After confronting the Will of Stigma reflected from himself, Welt was defeated for the first time.

Welt knew he was not a man of particularly strong will. The reason he had come this far was because of the support of many friends. His past life in Anti-Entropy, the responsibility left behind by Joyce—they were all a part of who he was today.

But... it wasn't enough...

The will of the three hundred thousand people Joyce had left behind was far from enough.

'I've already killed more than a tenth of those wills...'

'If we don't count the time Joyce first lost control of the Honkai, then the number of people I've killed with my own hands far exceeds the total killed by the upper echelon of Anti-Entropy.'

Just as Welt was mired in his thoughts, trying to figure out how to overcome the hurdle in his heart...

...Dr. Schrodinger suddenly appeared in his room.

Schrodinger, a special human who could traverse the quantum layer. Welt had entrusted the affairs of North America to her, also because Schrodinger could travel back and forth to contact everyone in Academy City at any time.

"Yang, something bad has happened in North America."

Schrodinger casually took the wine bottle from Yang's hand and threw it away.

The sound of the bottle shattering on the floor brought Welt back to his senses. He jolted, and his eyes immediately regained their clarity.

"What happened?"

Welt had a bad feeling. He knew that Noldrei's announcement about Jerusalem would definitely cause even greater changes.

Schrodinger sighed. "Yang, don't get angry after I tell you."

"What is there for me to be angry about now? It's not like there are countries in North America that want to throw fission bombs at each other, right?"

Welt felt that Schrodinger was underestimating him. He had nothing left to fear.

Schrodinger shook her head and sighed. "Yang, don't put on a brave face. Those people in America are planning to legalize and sell happy grass."

Welt was silent for a long time, not understanding what was going on.

He took a deep breath and asked, "Is it April Fools' Day?"

Schrodinger looked at Yang with a hint of pity. After all, she came from an era where happy grass was used to motivate soldiers. Later, under the leadership of the light of humanity, the Soviet Union, even if Soldier Boy came out of the TV, he would have had to obediently ban happy grass.

And now, America had brought out happy grass once again, especially by openly discussing the development of its effects in meetings, so that people wouldn't all run off to Jerusalem to get high on the happy Stigma Space.

Welt was stung by this motherly gaze.

He covered his face with one hand and slumped onto the sofa, the other hand gripping the Stigma Battlesuit tightly. The veins on the back of his hand bulged, as if some thought in his heart was beginning to stir again.

"Yang, it's the kind of happy grass you're thinking of. You didn't hear me wrong. Several countries in North America are jointly discussing the need for more material drugs to stabilize the spiritual needs of the common people."

Schrodinger was being rather tactful. The meaning was actually very clear: it was simply a new way to retain the population in response to Academy City's policies.

This method not only expanded domestic demand but also found a new source of tax revenue for the government.

"Why? They... why..."

Yang gritted his teeth, suppressing the killing intent in his heart. Fortunately, he had already handed over the Herrscher Core. Otherwise, he would be on his way to teach those people in America a lesson right now.

"Yang, you know it very well in your heart. Just like the radical faction of Anti-Entropy and Schicksal's secret experiments, everything is for the strength of the organization, everything is for the existence of this organization. Any ideal, when put into practice, will face huge cost problems."

"America is no exception. In order to ensure that their interests continue to be maintained, they will expand by any means necessary."

Unlike people like Schrodinger, Yang was born during North America's most glorious era. The era he lived in could be said to be the best of times, an era where he had personally experienced true democracy and freedom.

But now, all of that had completely collapsed. The speed of the collapse left Yang unable to react, and it was filled with grief and indignation.