As mealtime was drawing to a close, Asta noticed an alert on her emergency communication device.
"What is it, Arlan?"
"Miss, something terrible has happened. Several staff members have gone missing without a trace, and so has a Herta Puppet."
"What? Report the details immediately!"
Her reaction drew puzzled looks from the other three.
After listening to the full account from Arlan on the other end, Asta quickly brought the other three up to speed.
"I'll help!" Stelle stood up immediately.
Given the urgency, Asta nodded and then looked at Qi Zhimu.
"Mr. Zhimu..."
"I will help as well. Please arrange for a rotating doctor to cover my shift at the Medical Department," Qi Zhimu said without hesitation.
Ms. Herta had just left for a business trip, and now a puppet left behind on the Space Station had been attacked. Who could be so bold?
"Please excuse us, Ms. Ruan Mei."
Asta apologized politely and hurried away with Qi Zhimu and Stelle.
Ruan Mei showed no intention of offering help.
However, since Qi Zhimu had gotten involved, she clearly couldn't just sit by.
But before that, there was something that had puzzled her for a long time.
Asta's attitude toward Qi Zhimu was not that of a superior toward an ordinary staff member; even if Qi Zhimu was the top expert in the Medical Department, she wouldn't need to be this polite.
Qi Zhimu's employment information on the Space Station must be problematic—it wasn't genuine.
As the manager of the Space Station, there was no reason for Asta not to know; the answer was obvious.
Her student, A'Mu, had another mysterious identity.
What could it be...
Ruan Mei fell into deep thought, but couldn't make heads or tails of it for the moment.
...
The three returned to the Master Control Zone.
On the way, Asta added Qi Zhimu and Stelle to a group chat to sync up on the Space Station's public opinion.
When big events happen, these small private circles are better at reflecting the true sentiment.
[Herta Inspection Squad]
As soon as she entered, Stelle saw a certain ID and couldn't help but twitch her eye.
[BadgerVibes: Welcome, new comrades!]
[Name Unknown: Serving tea to the big shot.]
[Super-Fast Hand Piano Demon: Don't do that, I'm just a nobody.]
[Bill Geva: You're joking, big shot. Group status -1.]
[Mars Robot: Group status -1.]
[Face-Tanking Ult: The ID BadgerVibes looks familiar. I remember a group called 'Badger in the Melon Field'. What's your relationship?]
[BadgerVibes: ...To think you know my previous handle. Looks like you spend a lot of time surfing the web.]
[Unlicensed Spaceship Pilot: Alright, alright, back to the topic. What are we going to do about this?]
[BadgerVibes: Hold them accountable! We must hold them accountable!]
[Face-Tanking Ult: Hold who accountable?]
[Bill Geva: You didn't know? Look at this: /Ms. Herta Stan News Flash.mp4]
Qi Zhimu and Stelle clicked play at the same time.
·Announcer: Good evening, fellow Herta stans! We are now interrupting with an emergency news flash.
·Announcer: Recently, the great Genius Society #83 Ms. Herta went missing after being attacked at the Space Station. As of now, no organization has claimed responsibility for this incident.
·Announcer: A large number of Herta stans are issuing strong protests and severe condemnations against the management for their negligence and inaction.
[Face-Tanking Ult: Since when did Ms. Herta have so many haters?]
[Super-Fast Hand Piano Demon: Uh... these 'blacks' aren't those 'blacks'. 'Herta stans' means die-hard fans of Ms. Herta.]
[Face-Tanking Ult: Oh, never mind then. I can be a Herta stan too.]
[BadgerVibes: Look at this, they're digging dirt on the Great Tai Sui, they've bullied their way onto Ms. Herta! Shouldn't the Space Station management be held responsible for this?]
[Mars Robot: Indeed, every single one of these managers is outrageous.]
[BadgerVibes: The Antimatter Legion is one thing, but for Ms. Herta to be attacked on her own turf? What kind of mess is this!]
[Tireless Destroyer: But to be fair, after the Legion incident, the Space Station's restoration and reconstruction have been done quite well.]
[Mars Robot: That's true.]
[BadgerVibes: One thing at a time, but do they really have so few problems?]
Seeing this, Stelle couldn't watch anymore and typed rapidly.
[Face-Tanking Ult: Why are you so eager to settle scores with the management? Isn't the priority right now the safety of Ms. Herta's puppet?]
[BadgerVibes: You're worried about nothing, isn't that Asta's job? We are here to supervise the outcome; as for how to do it, that's for the management to figure out!]
[Super-Fast Hand Piano Demon: Can anyone say which of Ms. Herta's puppets went missing?]
[BadgerVibes: The management is incompetent, they haven't even announced it yet. It's unbearable to have these parasites on the Space Station. Calling out Asta!]
[Face-Tanking Ult: You're already crying in a rush. No matter what, Asta was personally appointed by Ms. Herta. Calling her a parasite is basically insulting Ms. Herta's judgment, isn't it?]
[BadgerVibes: ...I, I didn't say that about Ms. Herta!]
While Stelle was arguing with the keyboard warrior, Asta had found more information, and her expression didn't look good.
Currently, the news of the missing staff members had been successfully contained, and only the attack on the Herta Puppet had spread.
Even so, it was enough to cause an uproar.
"Mr. Zhimu, Ms. Herta's puppet on the Space Station has gone missing. Additionally, the number of missing staff members is four, which is less than the number of Ms. Herta's puppets."
"Are you suggesting that this kidnapping case is targeting Ms. Herta?" Qi Zhimu narrowed his eyes.
"I pulled up a small portion of the surveillance footage, take a look." Asta projected the screen.
It was fine until they looked, but once they did, their gazes froze.
They saw that before the puppet in standby mode disappeared, deep blue flames ignited on its body.
Stelle was completely confused, but when she turned her head, she found Asta looking worried and appearing extremely exhausted.
"What's wrong, Asta? You look very anxious."
"It's just a daily occurrence, don't worry."
She said that, but Asta's mood remained poor, and she explained further:
"...The voices of doubt have never subsided since the Legion incident. Physical damage can always be repaired, but healing the wounds in people's hearts takes a very, very long time."
"After the attack, some staff members have always held doubts about the Space Station's management and security."
"Although the security was subsequently upgraded and the fruits of reconstruction and revitalization have smoothed over some of the noise, the continuous disappearance of staff members has caused the matter to ferment once again."
"Oh right, I heard from March that you helped upgrade the Space Station's security system." Stelle looked at Qi Zhimu.
"The security force is definitely fine. If it were a direct assault by the Antimatter Legion, the internal defense facilities would be enough to make them meet their end within two seconds of appearing."
There is no such thing as absolutely invincible security; Qi Zhimu knew the flaws in his own plan.
"But this fire... for some reason, although I am not well-versed in Spatial Studies, I can still see some clues."
"It is currently certain that this flame is different from what is traditionally understood. Burning is just the appearance; it is actually a spatial teleportation."
After hearing what the two of them said, Stelle frowned.
"I keep feeling like something is wrong. The staff members and Ms. Herta have only been missing for so long, and rumors are already spreading across the Space Station. Is it possible that no one is fanning the flames behind the scenes?"
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