Bai Luan ultimately chose to grant the Herta Puppet's request. After all, she was exuding a tragic sense of impending execution.
The child is like this, just grant her wish.
Receiving tacit permission, the Herta Puppet immediately reached out, carefully and with an expression of immense cherish, to touch the black collar again.
Afterward, she seemed to feel that wasn't enough, so she hugged him and buried her head in his neck.
She buried her head in his neck, took a deep breath, then adjusted her posture, gently resting her delicate chin on his shoulder.
This smooth combo left Bai Luan stiff. You call this just touching the collar!?
After hugging him for a while, she whispered in Bai Luan's ear, with a hint of smugness and the satisfaction of a wish fulfilled:
"Hehe, I've wanted to do this for a long time."
Then she let go of Bai Luan, looking utterly satisfied.
No matter what more perverse or stricter behavioral restrictions Herta would impose on her next, at least for now, she had her fun.
Worth it! This wasn't a loss!
The Herta Puppet returned the phone to Bai Luan, then, with an air of fearlessness, turned and left the laboratory.
Her retreating figure carried a hint of the resolute sadness of 'the wind whistles, the River is cold'.
Bai Luan watched her departing back, an indescribable feeling in his heart.
Just then, an impassioned BGM sounded:
Carrying a burning, stubborn heart, walking towards the most forgiving execution ground~
The System hit him with that so unexpectedly, he really couldn't keep a straight face.
Stop thinking about carrying that!
I'm really done with you!
『It wasn't a big deal to begin with
You two are acting like it's a life-or-death separation
What's wrong with me livening up the atmosphere?』
Is this what you call livening up the atmosphere... You're purely a troublemaker, System.
Facing Bai Luan's complaint, the System retorted righteously:
『Is this your first day knowing me?』
"..."
Bai Luan ultimately chose not to say anything more.
Because the System had always been this crazy.
The language of a madman is incomprehensible.
Bai Luan retrieved his phone and saw that Herta had sent him a few more messages.
Herta: You can't escape either.
Herta: I'll come find you in a bit.
No... how am I involved in this?
That impassioned, familiar BGM prelude once again stirred restlessly in his mind:
Carrying~...
Will you ever finish!
Turn off that broken speaker!!!
Herta came to find him.
But she didn't bring any punishment.
She simply did what the Herta Puppet had done again... and even a little more aggressively.
Do you know what it feels like to be marked from the neck, along the jawline, then to the cheek, and finally to the lips, slowly but with an undeniable possessive intent?
Bai Luan certainly knew now.
His soul was almost sucked out by Herta.
The collar incident thus came to an end—although the Herta Puppet's struggle against the behavioral restriction program had just begun.
Herta was very interested in the fact that the Herta Puppet had cracked the program she wrote.
So, when upgrading the restriction program this time, she specifically added some... well, mechanisms that combined fun and challenge.
The intensity was quite high, as could be glimpsed from the Herta Puppet's noticeably deflated expression afterward, as if she'd been hammered by life.
However, given the Herta Puppet's previous record of breaking through programs and then pretending nothing happened, Bai Luan couldn't judge at this moment whether her dejected appearance was genuine emotion or a bitter ploy to lower Herta's guard.
These two Hertas—the original and the puppet—seemed to be secretly competing in this strange realm of restriction and counter-restriction, surveillance and counter-surveillance.
The most outrageous part was that they both defaulted to taking the prize of victory from him.
Herta would come whenever she felt like it, no longer bothering with leave requests, gradually transforming into Herta from the Little Black Room.
As for the Herta Puppet... Herta seemed to have added some punishment mechanism to her behavioral restriction program, making her timid for a while.
Although he didn't know what the so-called punishment mechanism was, Bai Luan clearly felt that the Herta Puppet had been well-behaved for a period.
During that time, she really seemed to have become a photographer, mostly maintaining a certain distance and gazing at him longingly, like a kitten separated by a transparent glass door, looking at a can in a display window.
Although he was from the perspective of the can, so it looked a bit strange... Bai Luan was very curious what kind of punishment mechanism Herta had set up to make her like this.
During that period, the Herta Puppet exuded an unspeakable resentment, like an office worker who had worked overtime for half a month straight.
The kind that could cultivate many Evil Sword Immortals.
From time to time, she would mutter:
"She can't handle it..."
However, it was clear that this largely stimulated her potential.
A few days later, the Herta Puppet launched a night raid on him.
More precisely, she suddenly burrowed into his quilt in the middle of the night and woke him up.
Bai Luan, whose door was kicked open, groggily opened his eyes and saw the Herta Puppet.
She was looking at him with an innocent expression, as if saying, 'I was just passing by your quilt'.
Clearly, she had already broken through the new behavioral program restrictions Herta had set for her.
Bai Luan didn't speak, but merely conveyed his meaning with his eyes:
"Excuse me, I'm sleeping."
The Herta Puppet returned a pitiful expression to him:
"Please."
Alright, alright.
I'll pretend I didn't see anything.
They're both Hertas anyway, no difference.
Even though he knew the Herta Puppet wasn't afraid of the cold, he still pulled the quilt further over her.
Apparently, this action was directly interpreted by the Herta Puppet as Bai Luan's agreement, so she quickly snuggled closer to Bai Luan... well,
At least this way he didn't have to worry about the quilt not covering them completely.
Bai Luan yawned,
Ready to continue sleeping.
Soon, the Herta Puppet in the quilt began to get restless, touching this and that.
Bai Luan frowned, gently hugged her, holding her like a large doll in his arms.
The Herta Puppet stiffened at first, then settled down, even burrowing further into Bai Luan's embrace.
Bai Luan's breathing steadied, and he drifted back into dreamland.
As for the Herta Puppet, she felt herself being purified.
The hardships she had endured to break through that damned program with its invisible walls and escalating punishments, the accumulated resentment, and the anxiety of only being able to watch from afar, were now completely dispelled and smoothed away by this firm and warm embrace.
This was all that she deserved!
No one could understand how much she had sacrificed to break through the program!
This time, in addition to behavioral restrictions, Herta had also installed an invisible wall for her!
As long as she approached Bai Luan within a certain distance, the code in her body would activate, and even though there was nothing in front of her, it would be like a wall blocking her, preventing her from getting closer!
And the most ingenious part was that this invisible wall could be forcibly breached, but doing so would trigger the program's punishment mechanism.
That wall would become thicker and its trigger distance further the next time it appeared!
This meant that if she recklessly forced her way closer, she would soon lose even the qualification to watch Bai Luan from a distance, until she was completely banished from sight.
To her,
This was simply the cruelest torture!
Now... it was finally time for her efforts to bear fruit.
The Herta Puppet enjoyed herself with a clear conscience.
The night passed without a word. The next morning, Bai Luan woke up, still a bit groggy, his brain in a semi-booted state, his eyes hazy with lingering sleepiness.
He looked down and met the Herta Puppet's eyes, which were sparkling as she looked at him.
Is this a groggy Bai Luan?
I've really seen something good.
I'll extract this scene from my memory database later.
Eh, wait... a groggy Bai Luan?
Is he easy to guide right now?
The Herta Puppet revealed a smile, looked at Bai Luan, and said:
"Good morning, dear."
Bai Luan was slightly stunned. The Herta Puppet's words completely muddled his just-booted, groggy brain.
Dominated by his hazy state, he almost instinctively and out of residual polite habit replied:
"Good morning, dear."
After hearing this,
She 'died'...