The instant Wende and Stelle stepped into the next level, the Silver Wolf NPC, which had been frozen in place, suddenly jolted. The spirit returned to her once-gray, lifeless eyes.
"Wuaah!"
The Silver Wolf NPC suddenly sprang to life, stumbling and falling to her knees.
"Wh-what's going on? Why can't I disconnect?"
Silver Wolf looked at her small hands in disbelief. She had clearly activated the forced-quit procedure just now!
"It's over, it's over, I've been busted… Hmph, you think you can trap me just like this?"
The panic on Silver Wolf's face was replaced by her characteristic confidence. After all, this was a virtual world. They couldn't really do anything to her!
As long as I can find a relatively weak point in this space… I can get out! And the weakest point is… in the final stage of this simulation!
The Prometheus on Silver Wolf's person was rapidly calculating the stability of the spatial data nearby, providing her with the best plan and the optimal solution!
"Alright! I'll just clear this Simulated Universe then! It's only a game, anyway!"
---o---
"Alert: Herta, it seems a little guest has snuck in. It appears she has left you some rather hidden little surprises."
Screwllum's projection spoke to Herta beside him in a gentlemanly manner.
"Mhm, I let her in. With her helping to tie up that guy, maybe I can get the repairs done a little faster," Herta said without looking up.
"Is that really alright?" Screwllum expressed his doubts.
"Ah~ Morning, you two."
Ruan Mei's voice appeared in the public communication channel.
"Mei, you are on the wrong channel," Screwllum gently reminded her.
"Oh, oh, my apologies… So, am I still needed?"
"Of course. Come and stabilize the data for those individuals."
"Okay~"
---o---
"Rules! Are meant to be broken!"
Stelle, in high spirits, gripped her baseball bat. Besieged by a group of mechanical soldiers, she broke out of their encirclement in just a few moves.
"Zzzzt!"
Wende's lightning needles were highly effective against these automatons. Just one or two were enough to fry a soldier's circuit board, causing it to collapse to the ground, never to rise again.
"What stage is this?"
Wende glanced at the map, which hadn't changed at all. He frowned slightly and looked up at Stelle, who was still searching for things to smash.
"Umm… should be the eighth stage."
Stelle thought carefully for a moment, then nodded at Wende.
"The eighth stage, huh…"
Wende nodded thoughtfully, then continued to clear the Simulated Universe with Stelle.
Unbeknownst to them, Silver Wolf, who had snuck up behind them, poked her head out from a snowdrift.
"Huh? What are the two of them doing here…"
Seeing Wende and Stelle enter the new stage together, Silver Wolf scratched her head in confusion. Then, she recalled the two touches from before.
"No way… It couldn't have been them…"
Silver Wolf's expression became intriguing. Thinking about it carefully, it wasn't impossible for that Stelle to do something like that to her… Every time Kafka watched the surveillance feeds, she could see all sorts of Stelle's frenzied meltdowns, and Kafka's own helpless expression.
As for Wende… she had heard things about him too. Every time Kafka mentioned this person, she would fall silent for a moment, whether it was because of Elio's prophecy or for her own personal reasons, Silver Wolf didn't know.
However…
The thought of that warm, large hand that had held her waist made Silver Wolf's face turn faintly red.
"Hmph… Even though they probably didn't know it was me, I can't just let this go!"
Silver Wolf puffed up her cheeks, then disguised her form and wolfishly snuck after them.
---o---
"Hah!"
Stelle let out a fierce cry, forcefully kicking back an attacking member of the Sanctus Medicus. Still holding a grudge from when Danshu had poisoned her, Stelle showed no mercy to these simulated Abominations of Abundance, every move aimed to kill.
Although they had a revival buff, Wende saw that their numbers were simply too large, so he switched to his five-star template, used his ultimate, and cleared away their revival buff.
Thus, what followed was Stelle's one-woman carry show.
"You dare feed me poison! You dare make me almost hit Wende!"
Stelle's deep-seated resentment was completely unleashed. Wielding both her Fire Lance and her baseball bat, she was like a god of war reborn, dual-wielding her weapons and "spinning" through the crowd of Abominations.
Meanwhile, Wende stood in a safe spot, applying buffs to her, keeping her health topped up, and providing supplementary services like cheering "666" and slacking off…
"Are these two… really here to test the Simulated Universe?"
The hidden Silver Wolf watched the two of them, expressing her skepticism.
As Stelle's "great windmill" spun wildly through the mob of enemies, this level was cleared smoothly.
"Mm, not bad. Once we get out, we shouldn't have to deliver takeout anymore. I'll cook you something good then."
Wende gently stroked Stelle's hair. Though he felt helpless, his voice was still gentle.
"Really? I want mung bean soda hot pot!"
"Err… anything besides that?"
"Nope."
"Are you sure Asta won't throw us out of the space station? And besides, the station doesn't have mung bean soda, does it?"
Looking at Stelle, whose taste buds had gone completely haywire, Wende considered whether he should arrange a full consultation for her to see what exactly had gone wrong, causing her to constantly think of these weird, dark-cuisine dishes.
At the same time, he once again marveled at Himeko's coffee and Stelle's constitution. After drinking two cups of Himeko's coffee, Stelle had only lost her sense of taste, and had she now trained herself to be completely immune to poison?
It seemed the Stellaron inside Stelle wasn't entirely a bad thing. At the very least, it helped her avoid a lot of harm.
Otherwise… what normal person could keep courting death like this!
The subsequent stages weren't particularly difficult. With Wende and Stelle working as one, their power was doubled. It was equivalent to having two Destruction, one Abundance, and one Preservation. In a sense, it was a "full team."
The final boss was the Abundance's Mystic Deer they had faced before. Perhaps due to the bug, there seemed to be a few more of them… but with Wende clearing the enemy's buffs and with Stelle fighting alongside him to trigger "elemental reactions," this stage was also passed with ease.
Looking at the "End Simulation" portal before him, Wende felt a great sense of relief and emotion.
He was never coming back here again. Let the players suffer through this ordeal! Right now, he just wanted to wait for version 1.1 to update, find that Danshu in the Alchemy Commission, and give her a thorough beating!
Mmm…