"How was it? Did you find anything inside that black hole? Do you know why it formed?"
"Query: Regarding the cause of the Unknowable Domain's formation, have any useful clues been found?"
Shortly after, Screwllum arrived at Herta's Office.
Not long after that, Herta emerged from her Unknowable Domain.
Upon seeing Herta appear, Lumina and Screwllum asked their questions almost simultaneously.
"When did you two get so in sync?" Herta crossed her arms, glancing between them as their voices nearly overlapped.
Though their words had nearly merged, Herta hadn't quite caught what Screwllum had said.
Well... can't be helped. Lumina's voice is just too distinctive.
It was the kind of voice that was so exceptionally, extraordinarily beautiful that when it spoke alongside others, it inevitably drowned them out.
Without dwelling on it, Herta answered Lumina's question: "I have some leads, but not many."
"However, I did uncover quite a bit of the Intelligentsia Guild's dark history."
"But here's something interesting: when I compared the history recorded in the Unknowable Domain with the Intelligentsia Guild's archives, I found their records are riddled with omissions and fabrications."
"You mean... the Intelligentsia Guild's records have been altered?" Lumina's eyes lit up, sensing a juicy scandal. She leaned in, her curiosity piqued.
If I get my hands on this dirt, she thought, the next time I meet a beautiful girl from the Intelligentsia Guild, I can use that classic line again...
"My dear Intelligentsia Guild beauty, you wouldn't want the information I have to spread across the cosmos, would you?"
"Hey, hey, hey! Is that waterlogged brain of yours cooking up something terrible again?" Though Lumina's expression remained innocent, Herta's intuition told her exactly what was going on.
This girl is definitely planning to use this so-called "dark history" to blackmail some beautiful girl from the Intelligentsia Guild she finds attractive.
"Hmm? What are you talking about, Madam Herta? I don't understand," Lumina replied. Despite being seen through, she showed no sign of panic, tilting her head with a look of utter confusion.
Hearing this, Herta shot her an exasperated glance.
Herta could read Lumina like an open book.
Even if Lumina said nothing, Herta knew exactly what she was thinking.
"Logic: The Intelligentsia Guild has always maintained a certain distance from Mystery," Screwllum continued, his train of thought uninterrupted by their little drama. "They would not permit History Fictionologists to tamper with such crucial historical records."
"Yes, but there's another possibility," Herta nodded. "Unless they did it deliberately, using Mystery as a cover to hide information that shouldn't exist."
"The Intelligentsia Guild is far from peaceful internally," she added. "It's rife with disputes, and they have enough unspeakable secrets to fill an entire planet."
"But none of that matters. What they truly want to hide might be... knowledge itself."
"You can't hide something like that," Lumina interjected. Even if she didn't understand the finer points, she knew some things were impossible to conceal.
Once knowledge exists, it always leaves a trace.
"Correct." Herta gave Lumina a rare look of approval for her insight on the nature of knowledge. She then continued, "According to the official story, the Scepter terminal was overwhelmed by the Scholars' Gate's cosmic problems, exhausted its computational power, and became useless junk."
"But I don't buy that explanation for a second," Herta declared, crossing her arms and scoffing at the Intelligentsia Guild's public statement. "That was a creation of geniuses! How could it so easily turn into a piece of junk?"
She then turned to Screwllum. "Screwllum, what's the maximum simulation accuracy we can achieve for the Scepter System?"
Screwllum's voice immediately responded, "Conclusion: Based on previous estimates, if we concentrate the entire computational power of the Simulated Universe, we can achieve an accuracy of over 71%."
"That's enough," Herta nodded, satisfied. "I'm not one to settle for the status quo. I want to break through the existing boundaries of knowledge."
"To find new breakthroughs and elevate the total knowledge of the cosmos once more!"
"That's precisely why we're running this simulation of the Scholars' Strife."
"Uh-huh, oh, okay," Lumina mumbled beside them, nodding mechanically like a robot. Lost in the technical jargon, she figured the safest bet was to just agree with whatever Madam Herta said.
"..." Herta glanced at Lumina, the corner of her mouth twitching into a faint smile before she quickly suppressed it.
"So, to achieve this goal," Herta continued, "I plan to introduce a sixth collaborator to the Simulated Universe."
"Oh? A sixth collaborator? Who is it? Yu Qingtu? Or someone else?" Hearing this, Lumina instantly perked up, her curiosity piqued as she eagerly asked.
"Heh." Herta knew exactly what Lumina—who couldn't walk straight at the sight of a beautiful girl—was thinking. She crossed her arms and scoffed coldly.
Ignoring Lumina, Herta turned her gaze to Screwllum and proposed, "Let's 'resurrect' Rubert II."
If she had her way, Herta would choose a male or an Intellitron as the sixth collaborator... not another beautiful girl.
Why?
For a small, selfish reason, of course. Ruan Mei's recent actions had certainly given Herta a bit of a shock.
However, it wasn't entirely Herta's decision. While she preferred a male or an Intellitron, she wouldn't turn away any qualified candidate.
After all, geniuses were incredibly rare these days.
Herta wouldn't reject a genius simply because she was a beautiful girl.
Besides... Herta had faith in her own charm.
"Resurrection? You want to recreate a piece of the Second Emperor War?" Lumina asked, her voice laced with suspicion.
Resurrect Rubert II? The Simulated Universe Team would be besieged by the entire Cosmos, wouldn't they?
"Hmph. As expected of someone from the Dunce Society. A true idiot," Herta scoffed, tilting her head back to look at Lumina with haughty disdain.
Given her doll's small stature, the gesture looked rather... well, comical.
"When I say 'resurrection,' I don't mean it literally."
"We'll collect data from the Scholars' Strife, replicate the complete Scepter System within the Simulated Universe, and recreate the Emperor's external cognitive unit."
"And then, we'll have the mind of the fifth Genius!"
"So? Do you agree with my proposal?" Herta asked, turning to Lumina and Screwllum.
Even though Lumina was a member of the Dunce Society, she was still part of the Simulated Universe Project.
Therefore, her opinion was valuable to Herta and everyone else involved.
"Uh... I don't have any objections," Lumina said, shaking her head to show her agreement.
Even if Herta somehow messes up this project—even if she accidentally resurrects Emperor Rubert II—it won't matter.
To put it in more... assertive terms, it would be: "I'll handle it."
Just Rubert II? If he's resurrected, he can just get to work as a grunt in the Simulated Universe Project Team.
As Lumina was thinking this, Screwllum, who had been pondering beside her, voiced a reservation.
"Hmm... While Miss Lumina, Stephen, and Madam Ruan Mei have no objections, I personally have reservations."
"Diverting too many resources to this research will severely dilute our focus."
"No problem." Herta had expected Screwllum to express reservations.
But that didn't matter, because...
"Reservations mean no objections."
"Screwllum, don't tell me you're not curious about the results of this calculation." Herta crossed her arms and said pointedly.
"Indeed. As you've stated, my analysis weights do include a fifteen percent allocation for the emotion of curiosity," Screwllum nodded, not denying it.
"Alright, it's settled," Herta nodded. "But before that..."
A new problem quickly arose: the issue of a test subject.
Without someone to run the test, the experiment couldn't proceed.
But this wasn't a major hurdle.
Herta pulled out her phone and sent a message to an unknown recipient.
"Sending that to Stelle?" Lumina asked, already knowing the answer.
"Her main body won't be coming over," Herta replied, misinterpreting Lumina's question as another attempt to get close to Stelle. "I'll send her something so she can run the test remotely."
"Besides, this Simulated Universe test is mainly for us."
"She just needs to act as the initiator. Her physical presence isn't required," Herta explained, as if trying to dissuade Lumina from whatever scheme she thought she was plotting.
"Madam Herta, you must have some misunderstanding about me."
This time, Herta had truly wronged her. Lumina had genuinely just been asking.
"A misunderstanding? Well, maybe a little," Herta scoffed lightly.
Most of those misunderstandings had actually cleared up during their time on Penacony. But then, during her video calls with Lumina on the Xianzhou Luofu, a whole new batch had sprouted.
The video calls from the first few days had been perfectly normal.
The trouble started with the call on the day Ruan Mei arrived on the Luofu, and the one the following morning.
Even if nothing had actually happened between them, Herta felt it was close enough.
"Close enough" meant that if Lumina had wanted it, things would have naturally progressed...
As for Ruan Mei... honestly, even now, Herta sometimes couldn't fathom what was going on inside her head.
That encounter on the Xianzhou Luofu was only their second meeting. How had things escalated so quickly?
Herta was utterly baffled. How did things suddenly get like this after just their second meeting?
Forget it. Whatever.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Herta walked over to the Simulated Universe Device. She waited for Stelle's reply, ready to initiate the exploration of the Unknowable Domain.
-
"Although we never managed to unravel the cause behind the Unknowable Domain's formation, at least we've figured out what Dr. Parthenia went through during the Scholars' Strife."
"She ultimately used the Scepter System to expand her consciousness and nearly completed her self-coronation."
"..."
"Ugh..." Lumina had absolutely no interest in this so-called research. The only reason she was still here was to keep Herta company.
Otherwise, she would have gone to hang out with Asta long ago.
Still, the investigation into the Unknowable Domain must be nearing its end by now, right?
"Query: Was this Unknowable Domain an unintentional coincidence? Or was it a trap, designed for you and me to fall into?" Screwllum asked.
"Who could possibly set a trap for a genius? Especially within a genius's own research."
"Answer: Another genius. As fellow members of the Genius Society, we all understand—no genius should ever be underestimated, even one who has been dead for a very long time."
"..."
Hearing this, Herta fell silent. She didn't speak, didn't argue—it seemed she agreed with Screwllum's assessment.
"In any case... let's prepare for the worst," Herta said after a moment of silence.
"The worst?" Lumina's eyes darted playfully. After a brief moment of thought, she knew exactly what Herta meant by "the worst."
But instead of saying it aloud, Lumina put on a deliberately confused expression and asked, "Respected and beautiful Madam Herta, what does 'prepare for the worst' mean?"
"I don't know! Could you please explain it to me, a humble member of the Dunce Society?"
Herta: "..."
Her fists clenched.
Hearing Lumina's incredibly punchable question, Herta desperately wanted to smash her in the face with her hammer...
Hmm, no, not the face.
Herta considered smashing her hands... No, not the hands either.
Then the legs... no, not those either...
Forget it. I can't hit her anywhere. How am I supposed to do this?!
"The worst-case scenario is letting you, Lumina, handle it. And then I'll owe you a huge favor," Herta said, grinding her teeth as she glared at Lumina's smug, smiling face, clearly waiting to see her squirm.
"Oh my! To think that a mere member of the Dunce Society like me could become the contingency plan for the great Madam Herta of the Genius Society... I'm truly overwhelmed by the honor!"
Lumina clutched her chest, her face a mask of exaggerated shock, as if she couldn't possibly believe that a genius like Herta would place such importance on a "dunce" like her.
"You... Are you done with your little act yet?!" If Lumina kept this up, Herta was genuinely afraid she'd lose control and smash her with her hammer.
Though whether she'd actually hit her was another matter. And if she did... Madam Herta would feel a tiny bit of worry and heartache...
"Alright, alright, no more jokes."
"I was just trying to liven things up. Let's begin."
Seeing Herta teetering on the brink of rage, Lumina decided to quit while she was ahead.
"Hmph," Herta snorted coldly.
Her expression gradually softened, and she spoke to Lumina in a low voice.
"If anything goes wrong later... I'll be counting on you."