[Ding-dong! Commission: Enter the Xianzhou's information on "Abundance" and "The Hunt" into Herta Space Station!]
[Reward: Any one item from Herta Space Station's collection]
[Client: Asta]
[Accept commission?]
[Yes or No]
After Asta finished speaking, the system's mission prompt arrived right on time.
Looking at the text under the reward section, Levi rubbed his chin and began to think.
This reward was undoubtedly generous.
Herta Space Station is also known by another name among people in the universe.
The Museum of Curios.
The items stored inside are all kinds of strange curios that Herta collected from across the universe.
Some of them are even related to Aeons.
Trading information that the Xianzhou has already researched to death for Herta's collectibles was clearly a huge profit.
But Levi didn't see it that way.
He didn't really understand Herta's collection.
And for their own benifit, they obviously wouldn't kindly explain the abilities of every item to him.
So it would be very easy to pick a curio that was completely useless, or even one with negative effects, it wasn't impossible at all.
And with his luck, there was no way he could precisely pick out the strongest curio from such a massive collection.
Then what about grabbing a Herta puppet and taking it back?
That wasn't impossible...
Herta's puppets are also inside Herta Space Station, so why wouldn't they count as part of the station's collection?
'Decision made!'
[Then it's you!]
———
Seeing Levi's message, Asta tilted her head.
A passing researcher glanced over, immediately stopped, stepped back behind Asta, and stared closely at her screen.
"Head Researcher, is that your boyfriend?" the researcher asked.
Asta had the chat window on her computer opened very small.
Only two messages were visible: one was her asking Levi "what do you want," and the other was Levi's "Then it's you!"
Seeing this kind of exchange, the researcher instantly filled in countless versions of a romantic storyline.
"N-no, he's not, just a normal friend."
The previously blank-faced girl stammered out a reply after hearing the researcher's words.
After shooing the researcher away, she looked at the chat interface in front of her, her face slightly flushed.
Clearly, after the researcher's reminder, she had also thought of the possibility that the other party was confessing to her.
But…
"Isn't this a little too fast?" Asta muttered softly to herself.
When chatting with him, she felt extremely comfortable, she was even more relaxed and happy than when chatting with Arlan.
But something like this… no matter what, you'd need to meet in person first, right?
Online dating without meeting is a huge taboo.
What if the other person is some kind of weirdo, there wouldn't even be a place to cry.
This kind of thing was very common. Asta often saw researchers get scammed through online relationships.
Some were tricked out of money and forced to eat instant noodles for a week, or even a whole month.
Some were tricked emotionally, after meeting in person, they came back pale-faced and hollow-eyed.
She'd even heard recently that a Foxian girl named "Daiqing" had captivated many researchers at Herta Space Station.
They hid in corners all day, muttering that person's name.
Based on a woman's intuition and experience, Asta suspected that the Foxian girl named Daiqing was very likely a scammer.
She wasn't even sure whether "she" was really a girl.
After all, no real photos had ever circulated.
However, that woman named Daiqing also seemed to be from the Luofu. When the time came, she could ask the shop owner to help look into it on the Luofu.
Letting her thoughts wander a bit, lowering her emotional temperature first.
Asta took a deep breath and prepared to reject him.
[I'm sorry, you're a good person… okay! Next is send!]
Just as she clicked send, another message came in from the other side.
[Herta puppet!]
———
[I'm sorry, you're a good person!]
The two messages appeared in the chat window one after the other.
"..."
"..."
Levi froze.
'What the hell? I just got handed a good-person card?'
Seeing the message Levi sent, Asta's body trembled slightly, clearly, she had already understood his true meaning.
[Asta has withdrawn a message.]
[Ahahaha, I didn't say anything, I didn't say anything…]
This was followed by an awkward head-scratching sticker.
The awkwardness came quickly and left quickly.
After a moment, Asta looked at Levi's message.
[You want Ms. Herta's puppet… sorry, I'll need to ask Ms. Herta about that.]
After saying that, Asta contacted Herta, and soon received a reply.
['Approved.']
Just two short words, yet they filled Asta with immense envy.
'I want Ms. Herta's puppet too!'
"Should I try buying it from him later…"
But that probably wouldn't work. From their earlier conversation, the shop owner was clearly also a fan of Ms. Herta.
Something that unique, how could he possibly sell it.
[Ding! Mission updated!]
[Commission: Enter the Xianzhou's information on "Abundance" and "The Hunt" into Herta Space Station!]
[Reward: Herta Puppet]
[Client: Asta]
[Accept commission?]
[Yes or No]
"It worked!" Levi said excitedly.
Although Asta hadn't replied yet, the reward section on the system panel had already changed.
Clearly, Herta had agreed to give him a puppet as the reward.
At this point, was there any reason to hesitate?
'Boss Herta is generous!'
Levi immediately nodded.
"Yes!"
———
[Herta Space Station]
In front of the platform, Herta put away her phone and turned to look at her reflection in the safety barrier.
Faced with the Divination Commission asking for her puppet as a reward, Herta felt no particular displeasure.
After all, it was for research.
If it were some other individual asking, Herta would have knocked his head clean off.
"Anyway, the Divination Commission people didn't specify what quality the puppet had to be. I'll just get a defective one from Screwllum, modify its appearance a bit, and send it over…"
"Hello, Ms. Herta…"
"Hm? Hello, welcome, welcome."
Speak of the devil, Herta had just mentioned Screwllum, and the next moment a flying craft appeared at the platform, with Screwllum stepping out.
Herta, whose attention was elsewhere, didn't notice his arrival.
It wasn't until Screwllum spoke that her awareness shifted back from the other puppets.
The gentlemanly Screwllum swept his gaze over the empty platform, then looked at Herta.
Just as he was about to say something, Herta waved her hand to interrupt him.
"I know what you want to say. Asta is doing well, and the station's researchers are also doing well."
"Those guys'… sense of time is very good. Right now isn't their usual wake-up time."
Herta looked at him. "You can skip the pleasantries. Go on ahead, same place as before. Ruan Mei hasn't arrived yet, so my puppet still needs to wait here."
As she spoke, another craft arrived at the platform, and a woman in a cheongsam stepped out of the open hatch.
When she appeared, waves of floral fragrance spread through the area.
Unfortunately, the two present both had mechanical bodies and couldn't perceive scents.
Ruan Mei smiled at Herta. "Long time no see, Herta, and Screwllum."
"Long time no see, Ms. Ruan Mei."
"Long time no see, Ruan Mei. You came just in time, saved me from waiting longer. Same place as usual, follow me."
———
On the other side, in the corridor, 'Asta' walked toward Herta Space Station's data center with a smile on her face.
'Aaaah… why did it turn out like this!'
Asta's shy scream echoed inside her head.