"And Preservation—Qlipoth! Did you hear that word? Exchange! What kind of thing could possibly interest an Aeon?"
"I can't wait to try reconstructing the entire event in the Simulated Universe."
"Come on, drop whatever you're doing and get over here!"
Herta was the same as always. The moment the call connected, she launched into a barrage of words. This time she was so excited that Lin Yi didn't even have the chance to interrupt.
Lin Yi simply called her back.
"Calm down a bit. You didn't even leave me room to talk."
"There's no need to simulate the event with the Simulated Universe. That kind of computing power should be saved for more important work. And besides—wasn't the Simulated Universe under maintenance? How are you even using it?"
Herta replied immediately.
"We're just making do with a small-scale test simulation for now."
"Wait—what do you mean we don't need to simulate it?"
"You're not curious? Impossible."
"Or do you already know the entire cause and effect?"
"Come on, explain it! Quickly!"
Lin Yi decided to recreate a classic moment.
"Beg me."
"…Please."
Her face was completely expressionless.
"Too quiet. Not enough emotion."
"PLEASE!"
This time her voice was loud, filled with exaggerated anger.
Herta snapped.
"Are you bored or something? Why are you acting like a child? Hurry up and talk already."
Lin Yi sighed.
"Well, I am teasing a child, so of course I act like one."
Herta exploded.
"I swear I—@#*!"
Lin Yi nodded thoughtfully.
"Your aggression still needs improvement. Honestly, even the traffic lights in Belobog are more intimidating."
Herta sounded like she was about to explode for real, so Lin Yi quickly interrupted before the spell finished casting.
"Alright, alright. Enough joking."
"Long story short—the one being chased around like a dog by that strange arrow earlier…"
"…was me."
Herta paused.
"Wait a second."
"There are way too many elements in that sentence."
"Let me get this straight—you're saying that wasn't Lan's arrow going crazy, it was actually chasing you?"
"And why would the arrow behave like that?"
"If Lan wanted to kill you, you'd be gone instantly."
Lin Yi answered simply.
"Aha did it."
Herta went silent.
"…Well that explains everything."
"…Go on."
Lin Yi briefly described everything—from the moment the strange arrow appeared and chased him, to Aha granting Zhuixing the power of an Emanator, and all the ridiculous operations he and Zhuixing attempted afterward.
Herta concluded calmly.
"So… a disaster that turned into good fortune?"
"Send me the experiment data."
Lin Yi replied immediately.
"No."
"Name your price."
Lin Yi thought for a moment.
"Cancel the debt for the puppet bodies."
"And I want three items from your space station."
"The Wings of Wind, the Fallen God Sword, and the Judgment Lance."
"And one more thing."
"You're accompanying me to the Garden of Recollection again."
Herta answered without hesitation.
"Deal."
"You can pick them up yourself."
"That's all? No other conditions?"
Lin Yi repeated calmly.
"And accompany me to the Garden of Recollection again."
Herta's voice suddenly became excited.
"Deal!"
"When are we going?"
"I get first pick of the loot."
Lin Yi blinked.
"Wait—why are you so excited about robbing the Garden of Recollection?"
"I never even said we were stealing anything."
"…Actually, you know what, robbing them sounds fine."
"Anyway, we'll talk about the timing later. Everyone's probably busy these days."
Herta added casually,
"By the way, Screwllum heard our conversation."
"He wants the data too."
[Abnormal data connection detected]
Screwllum's voice appeared.
"It would be more appropriate for me to ask personally."
"You may name your conditions, Mr. Lin Yi."
Lin Yi replied,
"The celestial computer maintaining the Laplace Demon system should have crashed."
"Help me repair it."
Screwllum paused for a moment.
"That is not equivalent."
"Logic: this research data is currently the most detailed analysis of Lan's Hunt arrow in existence."
"It may not even be reproducible."
"This is likely the only dataset of its kind."
"Conclusion: I will provide an additional Scepter as compensation."
Lin Yi blinked.
"You're increasing the price yourself, which is good for me, so I accept."
"But weren't all the Scepters destroyed?"
"How do you still have one?"
Screwllum replied calmly.
"Because this one belongs to me."
"Not to Rubert."
Lin Yi was silent for a moment.
"…As expected of Screwllum."
"Thanks in advance."
[Abnormal data connection detected]
A new voice appeared.
Ruan Mei.
"I heard everything as well."
"I would also like a copy of the data."
Lin Yi sighed.
"This encrypted communication channel has basically become a sieve."
Ruan Mei replied softly.
"You shouldn't blame the Company too much."
"There are very few entities capable of stopping geniuses."
Lin Yi nodded.
"Fine, you can have the data."
"But I'll need your help with a research project later."
Ruan Mei replied calmly.
"I will make time."
"And I would also like to study Zhuixing."
"I've never studied an Emanator of Elation before."
Lin Yi shrugged.
"That decision isn't mine."
"You'll have to ask her directly."
"If she agrees, then go ahead."
"You two seem to get along well anyway."
[Abnormal data connection detected]
Silence filled the channel.
Lin Yi: "…"
Herta: "…"
Screwllum: "…"
Ruan Mei: "…"
Lin Yi broke the silence.
"Alright, who's the new listener?"
"Don't tell me it's Stephen."
Stephen replied quietly.
"…It's me."
Lin Yi laughed.
"I knew you were lurking."
"Wait—when did you join?"
Stephen replied calmly.
"When Ruan Mei entered the channel."
"I saw everyone gathering here, so I became curious."
"And technically this is voice chat, so I'm not spying."
"I'm simply eavesdropping."
Herta asked,
"You probably missed the earlier explanation."
"Should I summarize the data?"
Stephen replied,
"No need."
"I already accessed the Company database and retrieved the earlier audio."
"I don't need the dataset."
"My uncle's shop has been very busy lately."
"But I would like to borrow the Phase Walker if possible."
Lin Yi shook his head.
"Probably not."
"I'm traveling right now and use it frequently."
Stephen sighed.
"…I see."
"Goodbye then."
Lin Yi added quickly,
"When I return to Space City, I'll send it to you if you still need it."
Then he asked again.
"So if that wasn't Stephen earlier…"
"…who was it?"
A cheerful voice answered.
"Aha!"
"Of course it's Aha!"
"Aha is also a genius!"
"How could a genius meeting not include Aha?"
"I want the data too!"
Lin Yi immediately responded.
"If Aha is here, stop the trade."
"We'll discuss the rest offline."
Herta sighed.
"Come to the space station soon."
Screwllum said politely,
"I will take my leave as well."
Ruan Mei quietly exited the channel.
Lin Yi muttered,
"Wow… someone turned my phone call into a group voice chat."
"Who did that?"
Everyone remained mysteriously silent.
The geniuses had their usual unspoken understanding.
But the moment Lin Yi hung up—
his phone automatically joined another voice channel.
Inside the channel came Aha's crying voice.
"You're isolating Aha!"
"You dislike Aha!"
"Aha is so pitiful!"
"Aha has no dignity!"
"Aha is going to cry!"
"Aha is going to throw a tantrum!"
Herta sighed.
"Getting entangled with Aha is truly bad luck."
Lin Yi responded calmly.
"No, no."
"It's not us isolating you."
"You're the one isolating us."
"Should I list your past achievements?"
Lin Yi continued.
"Impersonating Herta and licensing her image to a toy manufacturer."
"You even added the 'spin spin' voice line."
"That toy became a bestseller across the galaxy."
"The entire universe is spinning now."
"Herta was so angry she couldn't eat."
"That was you, right?"
Aha replied cheerfully.
"Hehe~"
Ruan Mei interrupted.
"Herta actually wasn't angry."
"She didn't care."
"She even bought a giant version herself."
Herta fell silent.
"…You picked a terrible time to expose me."
Lin Yi pretended not to hear.
"And then you sneaked into Ruan Mei's lab."
"You injected Dusk Beast genes into the cat cakes she was cultivating."
"They mutated into grotesque ancient beast pastries."
"You scared Ruan Mei so badly she dropped her plum cakes."
"Do you admit it?"
Aha laughed.
"Aha admits it."
"Aha will do it again next time."
Ruan Mei replied calmly.
"I was actually surprised by their diversity."
"They showed great evolutionary potential."
"…Though yes, they were a bit ugly."
Herta added,
"A bit?"
"They were downright abstract."
Lin Yi continued.
"And you manipulated Screwllum's machines to pretend a new mechanical lifeform had been born."
"Then jumped out to scare him."
"His cooling core overheated and coolant exploded."
"That was you too."
Aha burst into laughter.
"Ahahahaha!"
"Aha doesn't remember!"
"So Aha has done so many fun things!"
"So fun!"
"Aha will do more next time!"
Lin Yi sighed.
"And when Zhuixing was still a child…"
"You got bored and tore up her homework."
"Every time she rewrote it, you tore it again."
"She couldn't explain herself at all."
"Bullying a child was fun?"
Aha replied shamelessly.
"Aha apologized!"
"And that was so long ago!"
"It doesn't count!"
Herta added,
"Then why did you steal Wen Shiling's lollipop at the space station two days ago?"
Aha paused.
"…That wasn't Aha."
Lin Yi sighed.
"Alright, enough arguing."
"So what do you want this time?"
Aha answered cheerfully.
"Aha wants to participate in your research!"
By the time the chaotic conversation ended, the warp jump had already finished.
The Rainbowlight Ship arrived once again at the Company headquarters—Pier Point.
After dropping off both groups of Company employees, Lin Yi had no interest in dealing with more trivial matters.
He only wanted to rest.
This series of events had consumed far too much mental energy.
First, he used the Phase Walker to teleport another body over.
Then he pointed Zhuixing's pistol at his own forehead.
Bang.
Lin Yi collapsed.
The other body beside him stood up.
In reality, his consciousness could switch bodies at any time.
The gunshot was purely for ceremony.
Zhuixing had done the same earlier.
Lin Yi sometimes felt he had corrupted his own student.
After all, he had plenty of bad habits himself.
Resting for a few days was good for mental health.
It would also give the Company time to calculate the damage caused by the incident.
A few days passed quickly.
During that time, Dongfang Qiqing experienced a classic old-novel scenario straight out of fiction.
Lin Yi watched the drama unfold happily.
Apparently those ridiculous story clichés really did happen in reality.
Though halfway through eating popcorn, he realized Qiqing was using him as leverage.
She hadn't even officially joined yet—
and she was already taking advantage of her employer.
After several days, the Company's preliminary damage report arrived.
Surprisingly—
the gains exceeded the losses.
They actually profited.
If there had been losses, it would have been labeled a natural disaster.
The Company would step forward as a hero providing relief.
But since there was profit…
Lin Yi stopped thinking about it.
He didn't lack money anyway.
Why bother worrying about such things?
Overall, the casualties were shockingly small.
During Zhuixing and Aha's "Fruit Ninja" session with the arrow, 47 planets and 3 stars were destroyed.
Both sides seemed to be enjoying themselves at the time.
Fortunately, those celestial bodies were uninhabited.
No one spoke up for them.
Cutting them apart was no big deal.
Nine planets and one star were destroyed by the Decay Engine's spatial tearing.
Even though Lin Yi had chosen empty directions for the warp, some collateral damage was unavoidable.
A total of 327 stars permanently extinguished.
326.5 stars were drained during the arrow's formation process after Aha interfered.
0.5 star was destroyed by Argenti's cannon shot.
That attack nearly drained the star completely.
Spectral analysis suggested its lifespan had already been reduced by more than half.
But the star would never reach the end of its lifespan anyway.
The 0.5 star was officially attributed to Aha.
Classified as "natural disaster."
During the arrow's formation, countless planets and asteroids in surrounding systems were also destroyed.
In total, the Company announced publicly:
496 stars extinguished
3,972 planets destroyed
17 standard Company fleets lost
One logistics fleet missing
The entire incident was classified as a natural disaster.
No one was held responsible.
The Company allocated a massive relief fund for affected populations.
All the blame was placed on Aha.
They even used Aha to balance their financial accounts.
One had to admit—
the Company had enormous courage.
Weren't they afraid Aha would come knocking on their door?
Then again…
Considering Aha's personality—
he might actually find being the "financial scapegoat" extremely entertaining.
The reason the Company said they profited was simple.
Although the affected region was huge, only two civilizations and one Destruction Legion were actually hit.
The Honkai universe wasn't a dark forest.
It was more like a bright cosmic grassland, full of civilizations.
So the casualties were unbelievably small.
One civilization was newly emerging from primitive conditions.
It had almost no influence in the galaxy.
Even then, their civilization wasn't completely destroyed.
They still retained a seed of survival.
Normally, such young civilizations were left alone to develop naturally.
But after this disaster, the galaxy could choose to uplift them into a spacefaring civilization.
From their perspective—
this disaster might actually turn into an opportunity.
The other civilization belonged to the Abundance faction.
It was located right at the center of the event.
It was completely wiped out.
For civilizations aligned with Abundance—
all anyone could say was:
"Good riddance."
Destroying them might even qualify for a reward from the Xianzhou Alliance.
Most destroyed planets were unclaimed wastelands.
A few belonged to the Company as mining worlds.
Now they had exploded into asteroid fields—
which actually made mineral extraction easier.
The Company was delighted.
Lin Yi sighed.
"Blowing up entire planets really is the fastest and most efficient mining method."
"The stars never lie."
"…Let's just hope the Company doesn't get inspired by this."
For Early Access of chapters,Updates and drops regarding the story join patreon.com/UchihaAce
Join the page and stay tuned for a big drop next week. Currently 90 chapters available on patreon.com