[Realizing that "Four Breaks in One Second" let you snatch her clothing, Herta slaps you hard in a fit of rage.]
["I misjudged you. I thought you were someone on my level. Turns out you're disgusting."]
[Clutching at her suddenly drafty skirt, Herta glares at you, all former appreciation replaced by contempt and hatred.]
[You only give a cold snort and say nothing, raising the trophy in your hand and insulting her with a single look.]
["You'd better not mention any of this to your family. I've got leverage on you now."]
["If you tell anyone what happened today… the whole world will know exactly what you were wearing."]
["And if I die, that information will go public all the same."]
["As for how I'll do it, you can try and guess. You know our difference in IQ is enough that you'll never find all my contingencies."]
[Breathing hard, Herta is so furious her chest heaves, budding curves rising and falling in a lovely arc.]
[Though she burns with anger, in the end Herta only shoots you one last venomous look before leaving in silence.]
[True to your expectations, Herta doesn't tell anyone what happened.]
[Her family doesn't send assassins this time. You survive.]
[Because you enraged her so badly, Herta doesn't mention your match to anyone—she only says she went out for a little fun.]
[For the record, she's so mad at you her cycle goes out of whack. She doesn't bleed for three months.]
"…"
Jing Ye stared at the text, then drew in another long breath.
That question mark from before wasn't confusion. It was admiration.
He was a genius!
What an incredibly satisfying way to get back at Herta!
It worked perfectly. With her genius pride, she'd never allow anyone—not even the powers behind her—to learn of something so humiliating.
It made sense if you thought about it. Even in a family as massive and powerful as Herta's, the internal politics had to be complicated. If this got out, they'd laugh at her to death.
Would Herta be able to stand that?
As for her personally ordering someone to kill him…
As a genius herself, she'd understand she could never be sure she'd uncovered all his safeguards.
Unless she truly wanted the whole world to hear about her "style of the day," she wouldn't dare. In fact, she'd likely do everything she could to keep him alive.
Sure, maybe it seemed a little harsh doing this to someone who'd barely been in the world that long, if you went by their birthdates…
But given that Herta already had the mind and body of an adult, humiliating her this way felt… perfectly reasonable.
Heh.
If he could, Jing Ye would love to experience that moment for real—snatching Herta's clothes right in front of her face.
So what if she slapped him again in a rage?
In the end, she'd lost to him. All she could do was watch as he took his prize.
Her slap was nothing more than a beaten dog barking to salvage its dignity.
One question still puzzled him, though—
Why did the Herta in the simulation hate him so much…
Yet Big Herta, just now, had looked delighted?
Her gaze had burned with something he didn't understand. Intense. Hunger-like. The way a predator might look at prey already caught between its teeth.
Had she simply gone mad after so long without getting her revenge… her mind twisting with time?
Or did Big Herta just think he was too handsome, and want to monopolize that pretty face for herself?
Jing Ye silently filed that away for later. Once the simulation ended, he'd observe Herta's reaction again.
The simulator continued:
[In your room, you pick a wall and dedicate it to displaying your trophies seized from Herta.]
[Every year, Herta comes back, refusing to accept defeat and challenging you again, each time demanding you return what you stole from her last time.]
[As a fellow genius, she's always been number one at everything thanks to her intellect. It infuriates her to think someone is standing over her.]
[As a pampered heiress and prodigy, she refuses to admit you're out of her league.]
[But "Four Breaks in One Second" triggers every year, and the trophies on your wall grow in number.]
[Every time, Herta storms off cursing you in disgust, yet all you do is stand there, flaunting your trophies and mocking her with a single glance.]
[By the seventeenth year, your trophy wall is nearly full. The materials range from cotton to lace to strings—everything you could imagine.]
The expression on Herta's face when she saw that wall must have been exquisitely humiliating.
It was a shame he hadn't seen it in person. If he could have shown that wall to Big Herta right now, her reaction would've been priceless.
Just like when she'd walked him around on a leash earlier—Jing Ye could only wish he had that trophy wall to throw in her face and humiliate her back.
The simulator seemed to sense his thoughts and popped up a new message:
[All items previously seized from Herta will be delivered to the host as rewards after the simulation ends, in the form of a commemorative album. Please be patient.]
[After that seventeenth visit, Herta never returns to humiliate herself again.]
[But your feud doesn't end there. Both of you are invited to the world's most prestigious university and, with your unmatched intellects, you dominate the academic rankings.]
[There, you notice a graceful, gentle girl always at Herta's side.]
[To your surprise, she's a hidden genius whose IQ rivals yours and Herta's.]
[After asking around, you learn her name—Ruan Mei.]
Ruan Mei?
That gentle, elegant scholar, a fellow member of the Genius Society like Herta, a life sciences expert of the highest order—one of the universe's peerless minds?
Jing Ye remembered that with her talent and astonishing devotion, she won the attention of the Erudition's Aeon and secretly began studying the origin of life.
In the game, the "Simulated Universe"—one of the main sources of Stellar Jade—was developed by Herta after she invited Ruan Mei, along with Screwllum and Stephen, to collaborate.
That poised beauty with a hint of Xianzhou's grace and style was very much Herta's kindred spirit. Beyond research, the two clearly had a deep personal bond as well.
Herta, who hated cooking, had even blown up her kitchen over and over again trying to bake a cake for Ruan Mei.
(He had to wonder how the kitchen felt about that.)
From all those little details, it was obvious the two were very close.
He hadn't expected their bond to go all the way back to the Azure Star.
Even better—Jing Ye had just been worrying about how to make Herta walk into his trap on her own.
He glanced at the line that appeared when "Four Breaks in One Second" targeted Herta:
[For a proud genius with no friends, nothing is harder to endure than seeing her only friend hurt.]
[For that one friend, she would sacrifice anything.]
-------
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