Just like before, Bai Ming headed straight into Herta City, only this time, she didn't see anyone in the places Herta usually frequented.
So she casually stopped a passing puppet.
"Where did Herta go?"
"It is currently Madam Herta's scheduled rest time."
After checking the time, the puppet answered Bai Ming in a perfectly serious tone.
"Rest time?"
Bai Ming froze for a second.
Then who was the one who had just replied to her with an exclamation mark?
So Herta actually had a habit of scrolling on her phone before bed.
Letting the puppet leave, Bai Ming made her way toward Madam Herta's bedroom with practiced familiarity.
--+--
On the other side—
Still dressed in her nightgown, Herta had already struggled into a sitting position on her bed.
She stared at the latest message on her phone screen.
Her heartbeat had quickened a little.
"That idiot Bai Ming could've come back at any time—why did she have to pick now of all moments?! So annoying!"
Herta glanced down at her nightdress and clicked her tongue irritably.
Whenever she met people, Herta was always impeccably dressed. Casual wear simply did not exist in her world.
After all, the puppets handled her wardrobe. She never had to bother with such things.
When she saw Bai Ming's sudden message earlier, she'd been so startled that she fired off an exclamation mark without thinking.
Only afterward did she realize she had been about to go to sleep.
If she met Bai Ming now, wouldn't that mean no sleep tonight?
Not that Herta needed much sleep—but she wasn't at the point of not needing it at all.
Lately, she had been obsessing over the Equation of Elation, and her mind truly had been running a little over capacity.
Before receiving Bai Ming's message, she had actually been quite drowsy.
Of course—
Now she was wide awake thanks to that surprise.
But after waiting for quite a while and not seeing Bai Ming show up in Herta City, her mood gradually cooled, and another realization dawned on her.
Bai Ming had vanished for so long. The moment she reappeared, Herta had immediately read and replied.
Didn't that make her look extremely invested?
It wasn't that Herta denied caring about Bai Ming.
It was that she was irritated—she had replied instantly, yet after coming back, Bai Ming hadn't come to find her first thing.
The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became. She tossed her phone aside and lay back down.
"I must be so sleepy my brain's gone dull. Sitting here waiting like an idiot for her to come find me at bedtime. Hmph. I'll deal with it after I wake up."
Herta burrowed into her blanket, deciding to ignore Bai Ming's return for now. As long as Bai Ming wasn't in mortal danger, a few hours of sleep wouldn't make a difference.
However—
Not long after Herta had closed her eyes, before sleep had properly taken hold—
The bedroom door suddenly opened.
The door was of excellent quality. It made almost no sound as it moved, and whoever entered was extremely careful, their footsteps so light they were nearly nonexistent.
But Herta still sensed it—her private space was being intruded upon.
The puppets would never disturb her before the appointed time.
Ruan Mei and Screwllum would never approach her bedroom.
At this hour, the only person who would appear at her door…
Aside from that irritating woman, there could be no one else.
Eyes closed, Herta quickly deduced the intruder's identity, but she had already decided to leave Bai Ming hanging until she woke up.
A small act of revenge for making her feel foolishly excited for so long.
So she kept her eyes shut, fully intending to continue sleeping.
As for Bai Ming entering her room… though Herta cared deeply about her personal space—
Well, it was Bai Ming.
So she cared a little less.
Besides, the entirety of Herta City was essentially Herta's private domain. The fact that Bai Ming could move freely within it already carried a certain meaning.
Soft footsteps—light, but distinct enough for Herta to catch—moved from the doorway to the bedside, stopping there.
"…Asleep?"
A quiet voice sounded by the bed, gentle to the point of blending into the air, yet it reached Herta's ears with perfect clarity.
Bai Ming looked at Herta lying on her side against the pillow.
It wasn't often she saw Herta without her hat.
When her soft call received no response—and since Bai Ming wasn't about to probe Herta's condition too closely—seeing her breathing steady, she didn't think much of it.
"Still, I didn't expect I'd actually have permission to enter your bedroom."
Her voice was warm, murmured low as it slipped into Herta's ears.
Herta huffed inwardly.
Strictly speaking, she hadn't deliberately granted bedroom access.
When she'd shared the station's access permissions and puppet authority levels, the bedroom access had simply been included along the way.
After all, Herta City used to have only Herta. The puppets handled everything else. She'd never bothered with meticulous access divisions.
In fact, it wasn't until today—when Bai Ming walked into her bedroom without a single puppet stopping her—that Herta realized Bai Ming truly had that level of access.
"Madam Herta… you really are something. Saying no with your mouth, but in reality you trust me a little too much, don't you?"
Bai Ming crouched down, carefully studying Herta's tightly closed eyes.
With those eyes shut, the usual arrogance and sharpness in her expression softened.
It made her look… unexpectedly cute.
Without a sound, Bai Ming used the power of Remembrance to record Herta's appearance at this moment, intending to mold it into a Light Cone for storage later.
She didn't touch the bed or the blankets, keeping a respectful distance as she admired Madam Herta's beauty.
Her gaze shifted to the phone tossed aside.
From what she'd learned through Herta's puppets, Herta hadn't had a habit of using her phone before bed in the past.
That habit had only appeared within the last month.
Bai Ming had a feeling it might be because of her.
The timing lined up. And that near-instant reply earlier… there was about an eighty percent chance it was because of her.
Still, that was just speculation. Even if she thought so, she would never say it to Herta's face—and Herta would certainly never admit it.
But now Herta was asleep.
Even if she said something, as long as she cleaned up any lingering traces of memory afterward, Herta would never know.
The corner of Bai Ming's lips lifted slightly.
"Sorry. I made you worry these past days. If I'd known you were checking your phone before bed, I would've come to see you first. I've got a lot I want to tell you."
Afraid of disturbing her sleep, Bai Ming's voice was low and soft, careful, like she was afraid of breaking something fragile.
To Herta's ears, paired with those words, it carried a faint edge of intimacy.
And in a setting this private, it almost felt like a whispered confession.
Herta resisted the urge to open her eyes. She decided to keep pretending to sleep and see what else Bai Ming would say.
She swore she definitely wouldn't tease Bai Ming about this for the rest of her life.
"The puppets all seemed to think it was only natural for me to come in here. That was unexpected. But then I remembered how often you barged into my room back when I was staying at your place… and suddenly it doesn't seem like such a big deal."
This kind of easy familiarity mostly existed between Herta and Bai Ming.
When interacting with Ruan Mei, Bai Ming was more restrained due to Ruan Mei's temperament, and Herta herself held back more as well.
Of course, at the root of it all was that ill-fated beginning.
As Bai Ming thought about it—
Herta did too, and suppressed the urge to click her tongue.
If their first meeting hadn't involved a chase to kill one another, perhaps Herta's attitude toward Bai Ming would have been closer to how she treated Ruan Mei.
It wouldn't have become… this.
But then again, neither of them actually disliked the way things were now.
"By the way, you're way cuter when you're asleep. Shame I can't pinch your cheeks. You'd probably get mad when you wake up."
There was laughter in Bai Ming's voice.
As for Herta—she ground her teeth slightly.
If Bai Ming dared to actually pinch her, she would absolutely leave two neat rows of teeth marks on that hand.
"Speaking of which, there's something I'm kind of afraid might hit your pride. I've completely solved the Equation of Elation. And I've mostly deciphered the Equation of Permanence too. I can basically control the Path of Permanence now."
On one hand, Bai Ming felt that given Herta and Ruan Mei's dispositions, they wouldn't be shaken by this.
But since they were her closest friends, she couldn't help worrying—what if it did hurt them?
Of course, this was the sort of thing she would never dare say to Herta's face, so she took advantage of Herta being "asleep" to confess it, planning to pretend ignorance once she woke.
"If you were awake, I wouldn't dare say this to you. You're so proud—you'd definitely scold me for not acting like a proper genius. I know you wouldn't actually be shaken, but I still can't help worrying. You're one of the people I'm closest to in this world."
"..."
Herta sneered inwardly. At least Bai Ming had some self-awareness.
To think she'd suspect Herta might feel shaken—what an insult.
More importantly, Herta, of all people, was merely one of the closest?
Just which woman had Bai Ming gone to before coming here?
"And I've mastered most of the Path of Propagation too. With a bit of the Path of Abundance added in, I've already solved the Vidyadhara reproduction problem."
"According to Equilibrium, if I don't hold back, the three Paths might merge again in the future, so THEY came to stop me. But luckily… THEY couldn't beat me."
Herta had intended to keep listening, stockpile all the little secrets, and settle accounts later.
But when she heard that last line—
She couldn't lie still anymore.
Equilibrium had been alarmed because Bai Ming might be capable of merging Propagation and Abundance back into Permanence?
Which meant—
She, Herta, might get to study Path fusion firsthand?!
With a sudden motion, Herta's eyes flew open.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL