After Fu Zhu finished recounting his experience of being summoned by Yaoshi, Herta immediately lost all interest and put away her staff. She instructed Screwllum and Ruan Mei to save the data from this experiment and then prepared to head back to her office to continue her research on the Simulated Universe.
Screwllum was a bit puzzled by Herta's abruptness. "Herta, aren't you going to continue researching the Totem of Undying?"
"What's left to research right now?" Herta raised her chin and glanced back at the others, her gaze landing on Fu Zhu and Silver Wolf. "The two of them being summoned by Yaoshi is the ultimate confirmation of the totem's life-saving effect. I can't think of anything else about the Totem of Undying that could possibly attract Yaoshi's attention. While I am indeed very curious about the totem..."
"However, the Totem of Undying is just a small part of that world. As long as we understand that world, all our questions will be answered. Let's go, time to head back."
Screwllum and Ruan Mei found Herta's reasoning to be quite sound. After saving the video of the experiment and all the other data, they followed Herta back towards the office.
Fu Zhu, meanwhile, extended a hand to help the fallen Silver Wolf up. "How are you? Can you still stand?"
Silver Wolf took Fu Zhu's arm and shakily got to her feet, glaring at Herta's retreating back through gritted teeth.
"That damn woman... she hit way too hard... I can still feel my whole body aching..."
"At least you didn't die, right?" Fu Zhu took a Totem of Undying from his inventory and placed it in Silver Wolf's hand.
"Here, this is your payment as promised."
Silver Wolf accepted the Totem of Undying and couldn't help but look up at Fu Zhu. "To be honest, I had imagined a scenario where you wouldn't fulfill your promise after the experiment was over. I didn't expect you to just give away something this good."
"Steves always keep their word. Besides, you really did help me out."
Fu Zhu wasn't sure before if the Totem of Undying would work on anyone other than a Steve. Now that Silver Wolf was alive, it was the best possible proof.
He could now confidently give the Totems of Undying to Himeko and the others for their protection. Freed from the burden of worrying about his companions, his future actions could be much bolder and more unrestrained!
He would no longer have to hold back for fear of his companions facing retaliation!
"Let's go. Come back to the Simulated Universe with me. Although you helped me out, I can't trust you to be on your own out here."
Saying this, Fu Zhu reached out and grabbed the back of Silver Wolf's collar, lifting her up directly.
Silver Wolf kicked her legs in protest, trying to break free from Fu Zhu's grasp, but no matter what she did, it was all in vain.
"Let me down! I didn't say I wasn't going!"
---o---
Before entering the Simulated Universe, Fu Zhu specifically asked Herta and the others to wait a moment while he went in alone.
A few seconds later, Fu Zhu emerged from the Simulated Universe holding a block of dirt, his face alight with excitement.
"I actually found a loophole! I can bring things out of the Simulated Universe!"
"What?!" x4
The four of them stared in astonishment at the block of dirt in Fu Zhu's hand. If they weren't all experiencing a collective hallucination, it meant that the block of dirt in his hand had been brought out from the virtual world of the Simulated Universe?!
Although it was just a very ordinary block of dirt, its appearance meant that a new piece of matter had been created out of thin air in the cosmos!
This was an incredibly terrifying event!
Herta couldn't help but ask for confirmation one more time. "Fu Zhu, is this dirt really from the Simulated Universe?"
"Mhm!"
After getting Fu Zhu's affirmative answer, the four of them immediately connected to the Simulated Universe without a moment's hesitation.
Inside the Simulated Universe, Fu Zhu, Herta, Screwllum, and Silver Wolf appeared once again in the village. Herta immediately opened the JEI Item Management Mod that Fu Zhu had shared with her. She planned to first see how the redstone technology that Fu Zhu often used actually worked.
Screwllum looked around but didn't see Ruan Mei, who should have entered with them.
"Hm? Where did Madam Ruan Mei go?"
Fu Zhu glanced around and realized what had happened. He explained, "It's Ruan Mei's first time entering the game. She must be at our initial spawn point. Wait a moment, I'll teleport her over."
Fu Zhu entered a command, and Ruan Mei was instantly teleported to them.
When Ruan Mei was teleported, she was still in a half-squatting position. The sudden change in scenery left her a bit stunned. When she finally reacted, she slowly stood up and straightened her skirt.
"Where is this now?"
---o---
Screwllum explained to Ruan Mei, "This is a village, but the villagers here are a bit special."
"Special?"
At the mention of this, Ruan Mei's interest was piqued. Without so much as a greeting, she turned and headed into the village to find the villagers who were wandering about.
Watching Ruan Mei leave, Screwllum couldn't help but worry. "Will Madam Ruan Mei be alright on her own in the village? Will she run into any trouble?"
Fu Zhu commented ominously from the side, "That's hard to say... what if she gets handsy..."
Screwllum was taken aback. "What do you mean?"
In the next second, Ruan Mei, who had just run off a moment ago, came running back with the clack-clack-clack of her high heels. A single drop of cold sweat trickled down her cold and beautiful face. Behind her, an Iron Golem was in hot pursuit.
As Ruan Mei ran back, she saw Fu Zhu and didn't forget to hold up the small scalpel in her hand. "Mr. Fu Zhu, why can't I collect any material samples from this golem?"
"Because it doesn't appreciate that sort of thing."
Ruan Mei was speechless. She ran right past Fu Zhu without stopping, and the Iron Golem followed suit, continuing its chase.
Screwllum couldn't help but ask Fu Zhu for help. "Fu Zhu, can you help Ruan Mei?"
"Relax. At worst, Ruan Mei dies once, and the Iron Golem's aggro will reset. Or she could just kill the golem."
After all, the vanilla Iron Golem wasn't that strong. As long as a genius like Ruan Mei figured out its mechanics, turning the tables on it would be quite easy.
Of course, that was assuming Ruan Mei was willing to give up such a good research subject.
At that moment, Herta and Silver Wolf, who had been engrossed in the recipe book, looked up at Fu Zhu in unison.
They had just discovered that their main goal now was to first develop the technology unique to this world, which would then qualify them to research other things.
"Fu Zhu, how do we collect those logs and cobblestones?"
"Cobblestones and logs?"
Fu Zhu glanced around at the villager houses, built from logs and cobblestones.
"Isn't it everywhere?"