"How about it? Do you understand what's going on now?"
Madam Herta asked in a calm tone, hoping to clear up some previous misunderstandings.
(Inner thoughts: Now you must know that I'm not some perverted kidnapper, right?)
Baiheng's eyes darted around, her hands nervously clasped together, and she mumbled softly, "Iron..."
As soon as she uttered a word, she immediately shook her head as if scalded, "N-nothing!"
Then she nervously lowered her head, her snowy white fox ears trembling slightly from unease.
Madam Herta understood instantly.
Good heavens!
This Fox Girl connected her earlier self-introduction of "Iron Tomb, Herta, a past name" with the background information she just received about the Iron Tomb being the source of the Amphoreus disaster!
She thought she was the ultimate BOSS, the Iron Tomb itself, who caused the calamity!
(Inner thoughts: Uh... in a way, this body I'm in now is indeed an incarnation of the Iron Tomb, but this Iron Tomb is not that Iron Tomb! This is a huge misunderstanding! I'm just an innocent transmigrator who inherited an account and a skin!)
However, seeing Baiheng's cautious demeanor, as if fearing to anger a "world-destroying demon," Madam Herta did not immediately explain.
On one hand, she felt this matter couldn't be explained in a few words; on the other hand... seeing the usually lively and cheerful fox-person maiden so timid now, for some reason, a subtle sense of... well, amusement, arose in her heart?
(Madam Herta: 'Ahem, I must have been infected by Aha!')
"Never mind," she waved her hand, deciding to temporarily set aside this misunderstanding and prioritize the mission.
So, Madam Herta didn't dwell on Baiheng's misunderstanding, but simply said in a flat tone, "I'm going out for a walk, you stay here and behave."
As she spoke, she raised her hand and drew a line in the air, and a silently opening portal, shimmering with a faint purple light, appeared.
Madam Herta didn't look at Baiheng again, stepping straight into it, her figure disappearing behind the fluctuating light curtain, and the portal closed behind her.
The portal silently closed behind her.
In the System Space, only Baiheng remained.
She looked at the spot where Madam Herta disappeared, truly sighing in relief, patting her sizable chest, and muttering, "S-scared me to death... I thought I was going to be silenced..."
However, her gaze involuntarily and curiously drifted towards the black door, still standing not far away, leading to Cyrene's prison.
The door was tightly shut, yet it seemed to emit an invisible allure.
(Baiheng's inner thoughts: That pink-haired girl... so pitiful... Master (the Great Demon King) is gone... C-can I... secretly go see her? Just for a little bit?)
Madam Herta elegantly stepped out of the portal, her feet now on the mirror-smooth corridor floor of the Herta Space Station.
She quickly peeked her head out to observe the surroundings. Although she had seen it countless times in the game, standing here in person and feeling the hum of distant machinery still brought a hint of novelty to her heart.
She pulled down the brim of her wide witchs hat, hiding most of her face in shadow, revealing only the graceful lines of her jaw and a pale lip.
I must be cautious, she thought. Although Aha's power helped conceal her aura, if she were to run into the real deal... that would be quite the show.
The corridor was quiet, with only the emergency indicator lights emitting a faint blue glow.
Madam Herta carefully sensed the surrounding environment, trying to determine the current time node.
"Traces of the Antimatter Legion's invasion, and the staff seem a bit rushed... It appears to be after the attack at the beginning of the story."
She mused, "Then, finding an inconspicuous 'spare part' should be much easier."
Madam Herta did not overtly use her power; she merely spread a trace of it outwards from herself like jellyfish tentacles, gently sensing the energy within a hundred-meter radius.
"Herta Puppet... Herta Puppet..."
She silently repeated her target, as if playing a game of hide-and-seek known only to herself.
Soon, she stopped in front of a door that required authentication.
The sign next to the door indicated it was a spare material storage room.
This was it.
Madam Herta's lips curved slightly as she extended her right hand, clad in a black lace glove, and gently pressed her fingertip against the cold identification panel.
A strand of purplish-red data flow, as thin as hair, subtly drilled into the interface like a living vine. The complex authorization system was rendered useless before the power of the corruption—with a soft click, the door slid open.
The room was unlit, with only the corridor's light shining in diagonally, outlining the silhouette of a Herta Puppet in standby mode, its back to the door.
That iconic beret and petite figure, in Madam Herta's eyes, seemed to emit an alluring glow of "repairability."
"My apologies, Ms. Herta... I'll be borrowing your puppet."
Madam Herta thought without a hint of guilt, walking lightly to the puppet.
She raised her hand, palm facing the puppet, and a denser purplish-red data stream surged out, instantly enveloping the puppet like a living web.
The precise construct rapidly decomposed under the data stream's wash, transforming into basic information units, which Madam Herta then recycled.
The entire process took only a few breaths, leaving nothing in its place.
However, just as the data stream was about to fully retract, Madam Herta's peripheral vision caught a frozen figure at the doorway.
Star felt very confused.
She had just received a concise message from Ms. Herta – "Come test the simulated universe."
simulated universe? It sounded very grand, but what exactly was it?
She was walking aimlessly down the empty corridor, poking at her phone to try and navigate.
As she passed a half-open door, she instinctively glanced inside, and her feet instantly froze in place.
Through the light from the corridor, she vaguely saw a figure.
The back of a woman... wearing a super large hat and a gorgeous dress?
This outfit was far too conspicuous in a Space Station that primarily featured a tech-heavy style.
Even more surprising was that standing in front of the woman was a Herta Puppet!
Immediately after, she witnessed a fantastical scene—the mysterious woman merely waved her hand, and purplish-red light streamed over the Herta Puppet, and then... then the puppet vanished into thin air!
Star was dumbfounded, causing her newborn brain to crash on the spot.
Just then, the mysterious woman seemed to notice her presence and slowly turned her head.
The light was dim, and Star couldn't clearly see the woman's specific features, but she distinctly felt those eyes—purplish-black eyes lacking highlights, like an unfathomable cold pool, gazing at her with serene calm.
Just being stared at by those eyes, Star felt an inexplicable chill run up her spine, and she instinctively took two steps back, almost tripping over her own feet.
"You..."
Just as she was about to ask, that ominous (in her opinion) purplish-red data stream once again surged around the mysterious woman. From the tip of her hat to the heel of her boots, she vanished without a trace, as if erased by an eraser.
Only Star was left in the corridor, staring blankly at the empty room.