History?
A parting gift?
The three girls watched Qi Zhimu's back as he walked away, identical expressions of confusion surfacing on their faces.
March 7th muttered to herself, "Why didn't he mention this in the first place?"
Asta didn't doubt the truth of his words, but she felt there was an indescribable nuance to them.
As for Stelle...
She was like a grey, curious little raccoon who had just finished a simulated universe test, been kicked out of the office by Herta, and then bumped into March 7th shortly after.
It was hard to imagine that someone with Herta's arrogant and cocky personality would have any history with Qi Zhimu.
"Excuse me, you two, I have some urgent work on my hands." Asta couldn't wait to find Arlan and assign the plan to him.
"It's fine, I understand. Business comes first." March 7th nodded.
After Asta left in a hurry, she looked at Stelle.
"What about you? Where do you plan to go and cause trouble next?"
"I don't know! And what do you mean by 'cause trouble'? I'm just a bit curious, rummaging around the Space Station... Oh wait, someone's looking for me!"
Stelle swiped open her phone screen and found the contact was actually Arlan. After a brief exchange, she realized he wanted to ask for her help.
"March, Arlan is short-handed. Want to go take a look?"
"We just parted ways, so I won't join the fun. I'll head back to the Astral Express to rest for a bit. You're welcome to drop by anytime."
"I'll definitely come when I have time."
...
Meanwhile, inside Herta's laboratory.
A puppet under remote control was reviewing the simulated universe's operation logs, its eyes flashing with excited light.
This progress is good—much smoother than expected.
Not only did they see Qlipoth of Preservation, but also Fuli of Remembrance.
If that grey-haired brat hadn't been shouting about her head nearly exploding, there's no way she would have been let go so soon.
The puppet immediately pulled up a dedicated communication interface and shared the operation logs.
There were four account avatars in the channel; one was hers, and the other three belonged to different Geniuses.
"Stephen, speak up if you see this."
The user with the rubber duck avatar didn't speak, only replying with a concise number '1'.
Herta was long accustomed to this style of communication and continued.
"I'm planning to upgrade the simulated universe's hardware architecture and expand the memory to support higher-intensity long-term operations."
"After you finish reviewing the logs, remember to draft a related improvement plan. Stuff in more interesting random elements—the more and faster, the better."
Stephen sent another '1'.
"Ruan Mei, find time to come to the Space Station to optimize the Aeon life prototype cultivated last time, as well as the divinity architecture bound to the Path."
"I will notify you once the experiment at hand reaches a stopping point," a calm and elegant voice rang out in the communication channel.
"Fine."
Herta changed the subject.
"Screwllum, you need to make a trip too. There are more bugs in the underlying architecture than I imagined; the rule loopholes are practically a sieve."
"During the test just now, I noticed a little Tail hanging behind. After a simple trace, I found the other party had misappropriated the identity information of a Space Station employee."
"Inference: Someone has illegally stolen permissions?" Screwllum asked back.
"Yeah, I probably know who that little Tail is, but I can't catch her for now. She's had an encounter with you before—the hacker from Punklorde."
"Punklorde... Could it be Silver Wolf of the Stellaron Hunters?"
"Who else? Messing around with curios in my curio collection room and even eyeing my things... This genius hasn't been provoked like this in a long time."
Herta huffed coldly, then stated her plan.
"When you come, remember to make a grand entrance. It's best if the whole Space Station knows. Cooperate with me in a play to drag that little thief out."
"Very well. I will confirm my schedule later and synchronize with you as soon as possible," Screwllum promised.
"It has to be you—utmost efficiency. Ruan Mei, can you give a rough date? It's been a while since we all sat together for afternoon tea and snacks," Herta said with satisfaction.
"Provided that you aren't so lazy this time that you're unwilling to even step out of your front door," Ruan Mei's tone was flat, devoid of emotion.
"That's called multitasking, understand? While I'm controlling puppets to handle trivial matters, my main body isn't idling here either."
Herta didn't think that creating a bunch of puppets to handle matters represented laziness.
"Making puppets can improve efficiency and allow multiple research projects to be carried out simultaneously. For a genius, time is the most important thing."
"You're a scientist in the field of life; although you're far inferior to me in the field of time, if I recall correctly, you have many slices of yourself, don't you?"
"Don't tell me you made so many slices just to keep them in a collection and look at them."
"..." Ruan Mei fell into a long silence.
It wasn't because Herta mentioned the slices, but because of keywords like 'puppet', 'improving efficiency', and 'saving time' mentioned in the conversation.
Every time she recalled her past actions, her heart would throb with a faint pain.
The face of her beloved would also involuntarily surface before her eyes.
"A'Mu..."
"What 'A-Mu', 'A-Shui', or 'A-Huo'? Right, I plan to invite another genius to participate in the simulated universe project. Do you three have any recommendations?"
Herta didn't care about Ruan Mei's strange words.
It wasn't the first time.
Whether in online discussions or offline meetings, Ruan Mei could occasionally be seen spacing out, muttering something about 'Little Mu' or 'A'Mu'.
When asked, she wouldn't offer any explanation. Over time, everyone just pretended they hadn't heard it.
"According to calculations: the probability of me successfully inviting another genius to join does not exceed 6%," Screwllum said.
Stephen, being a massive social phobe, typed the number '2', representing a negative answer.
Herta hadn't counted on Ruan Mei at all, and Stephen was much the same; she was essentially aiming for Screwllum.
Since even he had no candidates, the matter could only be shelved.
"I can ask Yu Qingtu," Ruan Mei said suddenly.
"That pharmacist whose personality is even more eccentric than mine? Speaking of which, her area of expertise overlaps slightly with yours. How sure are you?" Herta asked with interest.
"Seventy percent."
"So high? The reason?"
"We are both looking for the same existence in our own ways. The simulated universe has many uses; perhaps we can derive the answer we want from it. That's all I can say."
"Interesting. So that was the main reason you agreed to join in the first place. What could possibly make two geniuses so concerned?"
"Everyone has things they care about, and geniuses are no exception," Ruan Mei said.
"..." The curiosity on Herta's face slightly receded.
The boy's gentle gaze and the magician's duplicitous concern were still vivid in her mind.
She had started the simulated universe project with the original intention of finding a way to save Qi Zhimu through it.
"As a fellow genius, I deeply agree with those words."
...
Storage Zone, Room of No-Light.
This was Herta's private collection room, housing numerous curios she had gathered from all over the galaxy.
Qi Zhimu saw the puppet in the likeness of a young Herta standing quietly, undoubtedly in standby mode.
He approached slowly, observing it closely.
Visually, the details of the puppet's skin and hair were no different from a real person's.
If the joint marks hadn't been deliberately preserved, no one would have taken it for a puppet.
Unconsciously, Qi Zhimu's gaze swept past the golden lock on the puppet's chest and finally rested on the key hanging around its neck.
After a moment, he looked away and glanced at the surveillance camera not far away.
He had a strange feeling: it seemed someone was observing him through that thing.
...
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