"Yo~ The two of you actually have time to come join the fun over here?"
Her form dissolved into neon-colored data blocks that blurred into the void, then in an instant materialized out of nowhere in another space, reassembling crisply—Bronita altered the distance of reality to arrive before Screwllum and Ruan Mei.
A form-fitting, long purple-black functional coat, with a gradient-hued thin dress beneath that drifted faintly with each step, like a flowing black-hole starscape.
Hands thrust into her pockets, head tilted, she sized up Screwllum and Ruan Mei, a faint, barely-there smile playing at the corners of her lips.
"Is the Simulated Universe · Swarm Disaster debugging finished?"
A thoroughly familiar tone, her pretty face wearing a smile that flawlessly fused dashing aloofness with severe narcissism.
"..."
A marvelous sense of familiarity hit them head-on; Screwllum and Ruan Mei exchanged a glance.
After a brief silence, Screwllum gave a slight nod, his mechanical voice steady and calm, yet carrying a trace of barely perceptible probing:
"Logic retrieval: Behavioral pattern detected with an 87.6% similarity to Madam Herta. May I ask—do you have some connection to her?"
"Huh? 87.6%? Bronie only shifted Herta's personality by 12.4%?"
Bronita scuffed along with unrestrained steps, smiling and murmuring to herself.
"There's no way it'd be just that little—oh, so it means the two of them already had overlapping personalities to begin with."
"Tsk tsk, for Miss Haxxor Bunny, this is probably a piece of news that'll annoy her."
Her every word and gesture carried a dashing flair, an indescribable charm radiating amid the sharpness—enough to make even Ruan Mei, herself a woman and of a detached temperament, lose herself for an instant.
Boom![Bronita pose]
This appearance really did live up to all those exaggerated boasts Herta had made back in the day.
Reflected in Ruan Mei's pupils was the girl's delicate, lovely face—a near-perfect biological aesthetic!
Were that deity who governed pure beauty still around, He would surely cast down a gaze of attention upon this impeccable, ultimate beauty.
"You—you possess the personality traits of both Herta and that little hacker girl at once: proud, capable, confident, willful, free-spirited..."
Ruan Mei's gaze stabbed with the precision of a scalpel toward the pair of swaying golden earrings on Bronita's snowy-white earlobes—that radiance, still glittering brilliantly within the void, instantly brought back to her the scene in the Herta Space Station when Caelus had shown off the Tabora Earrings.
At the time Caelus had only said this was a creation capable of interfering with an Aeon, yet had played coy about its specific effects, keeping the few of them dangling.
Herta had pleaded several times, but in the end it was still transferred onto the synthesizer.
Gazing now at this existence both familiar and strange before her, Ruan Mei's matrix spun at high speed.
"So this is the effect of those earrings? What an inconceivable power."
As an expert and Genius in the field of life sciences, Ruan Mei's way of reading people differed slightly from the ordinary person's.
She could observe an individual's life-stance, a key feature even more unique than a fingerprint or an iris, and one no one could ever perfectly forge.
Bronita possessed the life-field characteristics of both Herta and that little hacker girl—two utterly distinct living individuals had actually merged into one!
Ruan Mei fixed her blazing gaze on Bronita, and upon her elegant, gracefully demure Jiangnan-style face surfaced the fervor of a scientist beholding truth.
Her slender fingers unconsciously stroked the gene sampler she carried with her, the corner of her mouth curving slightly upward.
"Hey, don't look at me with that kind of stare."
Bronita switched to dead-fish eyes and waved a wary hand.
She was all too familiar with that look—it was the gleam that burst forth in a researcher's eyes only upon discovering prime experimental material.
"I've already sampled this body's genetic tissue myself, and recorded the life-form characteristics throughout the whole process. Once I dissolve, you can collaborate with Herta to research it."
As if Ruan Mei even needed to remind her—how laughable.
With Herta participating in the fusion, how could Bronita, herself a Genius, possibly turn a blind eye to something as fascinating as the Tabora?
Especially since Bronita knew full well—the earrings were an extra-multiversal artifact!
A law from beyond the world!
Her curiosity and her drive to investigate were already stirring restlessly!
A pity that she would exist in this world for only the span of one system-hour.
Having established a two-second direct link with Nous, the information Bronita exchanged with Machine-head in those two seconds could be measured in entire civilizations—she now had so, so many projects she wanted to research!
But there simply wasn't enough time!
Not enough to complete even one!
She was so frustrated!
It was like having several hundred plates of a full Manchu-Han imperial feast laid out before her, gorgeous in color, aroma, and flavor—yet all you could do was look, not eat!
The mere thought of this gave Bronita a splitting, soul-deep ache, making her want to drag Caelus off to bed to console herself.
She glanced at Caelus and Oswaldo, who were discussing the maintenance figure three kilometers away in mid-air, and—her mood growing steadily more sour—Bronita snapped her fingers.
Reality coordinates altered.
Bronita, Ruan Mei, and Screwllum instantly appeared beside the two; Oswaldo, who had been playing the sympathy card and dredging up all sorts of excuses in an attempt to lower the figure, froze mid-sentence.
"Hey, you're called Oz… Oz-something-or-other, right? Never mind, the name doesn't matter."
"Quit your yapping. By the contract, debts are paid with money—otherwise I'll just head to IPC Headquarters and take a look at the stuff Calderon Chadwick left behind."
Bronita spoke in an impatient tone words that made Oswaldo's heart suddenly skip a beat.
"Calderon Chadwick—the one from Society #79?"
A flicker of thought flashed through Ruan Mei's eyes as she murmured low.
That man's fields of specialty included solid-state physics, Imaginary application theory, and orbital mechanics—rather far removed from Ruan Mei's life sciences, so her dealings with Chadwick had not been many, nor was there any real friendship between them.
The Society had always been a crowd of oddballs, madmen, lone wolves, autistic Geniuses, and the socially impaired; Chadwick was a lone wolf just like the Ruan Mei of old, utterly out of place among the rest of the Society.
In his youth, out of a desire to fully display his talent and gifts, Chadwick had collaborated with the IPC and developed the 'Imaginary Collapse Pulses.'
A thing capable of making Alaya and Gaia wear that 'I've behaved, please spare me' meme-face in a single instant—an anti-star-system weapon!
The one and only time the 'Imaginary Collapse Pulses' was deployed in actual combat, it annihilated over a dozen advance detachments of the Antimatter Legion in one stroke, while simultaneously affecting, within the weapon's effective range, planets of a grade equal to or greater than 24 satellites—including 3 planets bearing civilizations of D-class or above—causing massive casualties among the innocent.
Chadwick himself was consequently wracked by the condemnation of his conscience; he disbanded his research team, breached his contract with the IPC, and fled with the most crucial data.
But no matter where he fled, the already-built armament still remained in the IPC's hands.
Yet lacking the most crucial data, the thing was now nothing but an empty shell, without its 'bullets.'
Those present didn't understand why Bronita would suddenly bring this up, and one after another turned to look at her.
"Oh, by the way."
Bronita kept her hands in her pockets, nonchalant:
"I possess the Authority of Understanding and Reconstruction. As long as I grasp the principles and knowledge, I can directly construct any weapon."
At this point Bronita paused for a moment, casting a faint glance at the abruptly ashen-faced Oswaldo, the corner of her mouth curling into a coldly arrogant arc:
"Including the 'Imaginary Collapse Pulses.'"
Ruan Mei: "..."
Screwllum: "?"
Oswaldo: "!!!!!!"
Fuck!!!
Good news: He'd learned the enemy's intel and understood why she could conjure up an entire fleet swarm with a wave of her hand.
Bad news: Done for!
Damn it!
Why would a Genius have such a monstrous Authority?!
Oswaldo couldn't hold it together anymore; his expression was as ugly as if he'd choked on shit, and he was cursing furiously in his heart!
Even the passing of someone most beloved could hardly compare to the spectacle on Oswaldo's face at this moment.
In this instant, Oswaldo's mind was filled with nothing but regret and bewilderment—though, of course, he didn't regret his past deeds, only that he'd ever waded into these muddy waters this time!
No wonder the folks at the Strategic Investment Department had pushed this project over to him!
Oswaldo had actually always kept his guard up against the Diamond-faction Market Development Department, yet he never imagined a debt issue with a civilization that couldn't even touch its own atmosphere would escalate to this level!
Using Earth as a backdrop for comparison: who could've imagined leading an army into the mountains to suppress villagers wielding shovels and pickaxes and playing the rogue, only for the head of state of a developed nation to suddenly pop out, the other side able to whip up infinite nukes with just a bit of time!
This was just goddamn absurd!
A blatant threat.
But Oswaldo didn't dare say a single word.
Across from him was an Emanator of Erudition, a Genius—and one who possessed that monstrous Authority where knowledge and capability made 1+1=11!
"Haha... Madam, you..."
Oswaldo gritted his teeth and forced up a smile.
"I already said, my name is Bronita."
As if she'd guessed what the other party was thinking, Bronita pointed at her own little face—that of a pure-beauty Emanator—and activated Sacred Cleaver:
"Although I was fused from Herta, I am not Herta, nor do I have so much as a single credit's worth of relationship with the IPC."
Bronita threatens the IPC?
What's that got to do with me, Herta?
This way, even if Bronita dissolved, the IPC would have no way to hold this against Herta.
"Not directly seizing control of the fleet to attack you—that's already out of consideration for Herta's face. Otherwise, not a single screw that came to Jarilo-VI today would be leaving."
Bronita chuckled softly and took Caelus's hand.
Screwllum: "...?"
"Don't look at me like that, I wasn't talking about you, Screw." Bronita shrugged.
Ruan Mei, too, gazed with a rather peculiar expression at Bronita and Caelus's fingers, intertwined and clasped together.
What was going on?
"Heh heh... All right, Madam Bronita, you're right—debts are paid with money, as is only right and proper."
Oswaldo's mouth twitched as he dragged out a stiff smile; that face which habitually wore an arrogant grin now looked like a plaster mask frozen solid.
Losing his composure absolutely could not escalate to that degree!
Bronita's Authority was enough to make her a one-woman army—a Galaxy-spanning army!
If she went and made trouble at Pier Point, the IPC's top brass could fire him first and then have him killed.
No one who could sit in that position was a soft-hearted sort.
"Since Mister Oswaldo has put it that way, then let's sign the contract."
Caelus, holding Bronita's hand, grinningly pushed the electronic contract over.
Oswaldo's knuckles whitened, the veins at his temples faintly throbbing, like a cornered beast driven to a dead end.
Signing this contract not only meant the Jarilo-VI project had utterly collapsed, but also counted as a major work blunder—that pack of Diamond-faction hyenas would surely seize the chance to savage him.
He could pin the blame on Bryce, but that would still leave him at an enormous disadvantage in the contest for a directorship.
Yet if he refused to sign, the loss of composure would keep expanding, and he might well fail to even hold onto his post as department head.
No matter how economically backward it was, so long as the Crystals didn't detonate, there was still room to maneuver.
Oswaldo didn't yap another word, and silently signed the maintenance-cost agreement for the IPC's upkeep of Jarilo-VI's 700-year maintenance real estate.
"Wifey, our family's rich now."
Caelus waved the contract at Lazy Duck-Duck.
Bronya's expression was somewhat dazed, a wave of dizziness surging up into her mind.
It was the feeling of being knocked senseless by enormous happiness.
Belobog was rich!
That figure, to a Belobog whose population was down to only about a million, was simply...
She could no longer find words to describe it.
But—how many tens of billions of times would she have to repay this in flesh?
Just kidding~
"This time we won't keep you all as our guests; come again next time~"
Caelus cheerfully waved at Oswaldo.
"Oh right, leave a few starships behind, as the emotional-damages fee for Bryce launching an attack on Belobog's satellite."
Bronita added.
With her current ability, the warships she constructed after dissolving couldn't be retained permanently and could only exist for a certain time; if there were a Herrscher of Truth among the fusion materials, she might be able to make it semi-permanent.
"..."
Oswaldo cursed Bryce wildly in his heart.
How the hell did you do the background investigation?!
Even though he knew there was definitely some Diamond-faction crony pulling strings behind the scenes, someone still had to take the fall for a work blunder, after all.
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