---o---
Fu Zhu waited in place for a while before Herta and the others reappeared in The End. They glanced around but didn't see the Ender Dragon, only Fu Zhu standing there all alone. It was clear that the Ender Dragon had been dealt with.
"Is it... over?"
Herta felt as if she had just woken from a dream, looking at Fu Zhu with a sense of disbelief.
---o---
Fu Zhu gave Herta an odd look, which continued until her expression grew a little uncomfortable.
"What is it? Why are you staring at me?"
"It's nothing. The Ender Dragon isn't dead. It ran away."
"What? It ran away?!" Silver Wolf was astonished to hear this.
Fu Zhu turned his head to look at her, naturally knowing what she was surprised about. "When the Ender Dragon gained the power of the Path of Finality, it also gained the ability to see the futures that Elio sees. Do you think it wouldn't choose a future that it prefers?"
Silver Wolf fell silent. It was true. Elio himself had said that not even Terminus the Finality could do anything about the Ender Dragon, let alone him.
Herta sighed. Just as she was about to say something more, her phone rang. She casually pulled it out and answered the call, and Asta's anxious voice came from the other end.
"Madam Herta, there's been some trouble on the space station! Xing and the others are in a confrontation with someone who claims to be a Stellaron Hunter. They're in a standoff right now!"
"A Stellaron Hunter? I understand. You can expect me."
Herta hung up and relayed the message to Fu Zhu.
---o---
Fu Zhu understood the situation immediately. "Then let's head out. The Ender Dragon won't be showing up again for a while, and even if it does, it'll just be a remnant of it on the timeline. Silver Wolf, let's go. Collect your ransom, and then you should get going."
Silver Wolf nodded and immediately logged out of the Simulated Universe. Too much had happened here; she needed to report back to Elio at once!
Fu Zhu, however, wasn't in a hurry to leave. He first looked at Herta's group and asked, "What about you three? Are you going to stay in the Simulated Universe?"
Herta asked with some surprise, "If you leave, can this world still exist?"
"I can figure something out, but it'll cost you."
"No problem. Just tell Asta how much you need." Hearing that it was a matter of money, Herta waved her hand dismissively. To her, money was just a string of numbers. With a disciple like Asta, he could name any price.
But Fu Zhu just raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I don't want something as useless as credits. Just provide me with a few Herta puppets every once in a while."
Herta relaxed. She thought he was going to ask for something outrageous. She already had a complete production line for mass-producing her puppets. Her real body was usually served by a whole host of them. Providing a few to Fu Zhu every so often was no problem at all.
"Deal."
"Good." Seeing Herta agree, Fu Zhu immediately opened the system's mod store and purchased a Player Dummy Mod.
The effect of the Player Dummy Mod was simple: it mimicked the player's actions. It was generally used as a tool to force-load a specific chunk or as a dummy to operate a cobblestone generator.
He currently had more than enough achievement points from the achievements he had just completed to buy a simple utility mod.
[Player Dummy Mod installed]
Fu Zhu immediately used a command to summon a dummy that looked exactly like him, except for its slightly vacant eyes. He then walled it in with End Stone to ensure its safety.
"This will do?"
Herta was a bit surprised. She didn't expect Fu Zhu's method for maintaining this world was to simply summon a clone.
"Yeah, it should work. Later, when I log out of the Simulated Universe, if this world still disappears, you guys can just log out and tell me."
Fu Zhu immediately exited the Simulated Universe. His vision blurred for a moment, and when he came to, he was standing in Herta's office. Silver Wolf was standing to the side, and only raised a hand in greeting when she saw him emerge.
"Leaving now?"
"Not yet."
Fu Zhu waited on the spot for a moment. After confirming that Herta's group didn't log out, he relaxed and led Silver Wolf out of the office.
---o---
On the platform of the Herta Space Station, Xing and March 7th stood with their weapons drawn, warily watching a tall mech not far away that was holding a custom briefcase.
March 7th's eyes were fixed on the mech as she asked Xing beside her without turning her head, "Xing, did you find anything?"
Xing nodded seriously. "Found it. Her bounty is several billion! March, we're gonna be rich!"
Hearing that Xing had actually looked up the person's bounty, March 7th couldn't hold it in any longer. She turned her head and glared. "Who told you to look up her bounty?! Shouldn't you be looking up something else!"
"Oh, you mean this." Xing looked at the wanted poster on her phone and scratched her head. "Her name is Sam. She is indeed a member of the Stellaron Hunters."
"..." March 7th felt a wave of exhaustion. "She already said that when she introduced herself..."
Xing blinked blankly. "Then what did you want me to look up? Her three sizes? Her hobbies?"
Sam, who had been watching the two girls suddenly start arguing, fell silent. Her gaze rested on Xing for a good while before she finally spoke.
"I mean no harm. I am only here to deliver the ransom to Mr. Fu Zhu and retrieve my companion."
"Ransom!"
Xing's eyes were instantly replaced by a pair of golden credit symbols. She immediately adopted a serious expression and cleared her throat twice.
"I am my big bro's agent. You can hand it over to me. By the way, how many credits did you bring? Since she's your companion, her bounty must be pretty high too, right?"
Sam silently presented the custom briefcase in her hand to Xing.
"What's this?"
"The Stellaron that Sir Fu Zhu requested."
"A Stellaron? Not credits..."
Xing sighed in disappointment. She had been hoping Sam had brought a few sacks of credits.
Standing to the side, March 7th jabbed her finger into Xing's cheek in exasperation.
"Hello? A Stellaron is worth way more than credits! Otherwise, Fu Zhu wouldn't have specifically asked for it!"
"But you can't use a Stellaron to top up your gacha games. Otherwise, I would have dug out the one in my body a long time ago..." Xing muttered, and the next second, her head was struck hard.
"Ow! Who sneak-attacked me!"
Xing clutched her head and spun around, only to see Fu Zhu walking over with Silver Wolf, Asta, and Arlan. Fu Zhu's face was dark, his right hand still clenched in a fist.
"Don't go digging out random things. And also, how did you two get here?"
Seeing that it was her big bro, Xing immediately put on an ingratiating smile and held up her phone.
"It was Bronya! She invited us to visit Jarilo!"