"Three months ago, when I saw Polka Kakamu's portrait turn into that spinning top you made, I already guessed what had happened."
"After finishing what I needed to do, I came to Shenxiao Space City immediately."
Herta then added in a hurry:
"Don't misunderstand. I came for three reasons. Checking whether you were alive was only incidental."
"If you had died, I could have conveniently inherited your belongings. Quite a few of your things are very tempting."
There was always a trace of tsundere in Herta's personality.
She clearly cared about the people around her, yet always acted as though she didn't.
When she once believed Ruan Mei's experiment had failed, she deliberately blew up the kitchen several times and baked a slightly burnt-smelling cake just to comfort her.
She had told Ruan Mei:
"Even geniuses fail. For geniuses, failure is often more important than success."
Yet the moment Ruan Mei revealed the experiment had actually succeeded—
Herta instantly changed expression and produced a celebratory cake the size of a planet.
Though she constantly claimed to care only about herself and to be indifferent to everyone else—
She had once been willing to destroy an experiment vital to her own research for the sake of Welt Yang and Sunday, two people she was not even especially close to.
Herta's way of caring for others was always restrained and cautious.
Behind that seemingly cold exterior was a genuinely gentle heart.
Otherwise, she would never possess the charisma needed to attract elite talents from across the universe.
Nor would so many people become her admirers—
Or proudly declare themselves "Herta haters."
Some liked to joke that among all the geniuses, the most human and warm-hearted one was Screwllum, an inorganic lifeform.
Which was honestly rather amusing.
After spending so much time around the Genius Society, Lin Yi understood something clearly.
Screwllum's "humanity" was partly the result of his research into organic life.
A kind of self-generated simulation.
It aided his studies.
And as king of Planet Screwllum and leader of inorganic life, behaving that way made diplomacy with organic civilizations much easier.
Because every word and action from Screwllum represented the entire inorganic life community.
But in the end—
That warmth and friendliness were still code.
Code that could be replaced at any time.
By comparison, Herta was actually the most normal genius in the Genius Society.
People called her self-centered and temperamental.
But among geniuses, Herta had one of the best personalities.
Even Lin Yi himself did not think he was easier to deal with than she was.
Anyone who became a genius would inevitably be proud and difficult.
Actually... no.
Someone who became arrogant merely because they were talented probably would never become a true genius in the first place.
In short—
Herta was simply that kind of unique woman.
At that moment, as the high-energy environment faded and spacetime distortions healed, all of the Herta puppets scattered throughout Shenxiao Space City—and the oversized spinning top carrying the memetic virus—finally resumed functioning.
They immediately activated remote praise mode.
"Herta is unparalleled in the universe!"
"Herta is unbelievably intelligent!"
"Herta possesses beauty capable of toppling kingdoms!"
Watching the scene through the still-active Omniscient Lens and the screens of the central laboratory, Lin Yi nearly lost his composure.
"Wait—when did you tamper with the spinning top?"
"I built that thing myself!"
Herta waved dismissively.
"Is that strange?"
"Don't forget, your memetic virus carrier was made by dismantling my puppets."
Lin Yi still looked doubtful.
So Zhuxing immediately exposed the truth.
"Teacher Herta modified it three months ago after arriving in the space city."
"You were still trapped in the lab then."
"It didn't have that function before."
"Too talkative."
Bonk.
Herta glared at Zhuxing and flicked her forehead, perfectly imitating Lin Yi's habit.
"Ow! That'll make me stupid!"
Zhuxing immediately hid behind Lin Yi and peeked out timidly.
"Enough fooling around."
"Let's discuss business."
Herta waved a hand, shutting all the puppets down.
Even Lin Yi had not expected her to waste time modifying the device just to pull that prank.
He had almost begun doubting his own technical skills.
Herta chuckled as she watched Zhuxing hide behind him.
"When I arrived, the temporal cliff phenomenon had already formed."
"There was also an extremely powerful energy reaction."
"It was most likely the result of Polka Kakamu modifying universal constants, which then happened to resonate perfectly with your own preparations."
"I considered passing through the temporal cliff while wrapped in that high-energy environment."
"But the time required to research a solution would likely have been no faster than simply waiting for the phenomenon to dissipate naturally."
"After all, once either your influence or Kakamu's influence vanished, the environment would collapse on its own."
"And if I forced my way in..."
"I couldn't predict what kind of interference I might cause."
"So I chose not to intervene."
"As expected, events unfolded more or less as I predicted."
"Oh, right."
"Polka Kakamu isn't dead."
"And she hasn't contacted me about cooperating on the Simulated Universe either."
"That's the situation outside."
"So..."
"What exactly happened in here?"
Even though he had already suspected Kakamu survived, hearing it confirmed still irritated Lin Yi.
"We failed to reach an agreement."
"She refused cooperation even at the cost of death."
"She also said your Simulated Universe project was narrow-minded."
"Just a childish game for immature children."
Herta's fist tightened slightly.
Lin Yi continued calmly.
"She said you were childish and not worth associating with."
"Screwllum was nothing more than a pile of scrap metal."
"Ruan Mei's research had no value."
"After killing me, she intended to deal with Screwllum next."
"Then you."
"Then Ruan Mei."
"She said that sooner or later, she'd kill all of us."
"And that she would never participate in something as childish as the Simulated Universe."
He then added several heavily censored "quotes" from Kakamu.
Herta's fist clenched tighter.
One eyebrow twitched.
She narrowed her eyes at Lin Yi.
"You didn't embellish any of that, did you?"
"Did she really say those things?"
Lin Yi wore the sincere expression of a man who would never lie to a close friend.
"Of course not."
"Why would I lie about something like this?"
"I merely paraphrased what Kakamu said."
"My wording may have been a little more vivid."
"Aha can testify that everything I said is true."
There was an old saying:
Only the falsely accused truly understand their own innocence.
Since Kakamu was not present to defend herself, Lin Yi could say whatever he liked.
First escalate a minor conflict.
Then transform a personal grudge into a collective one.
Herta rolled her eyes.
Using Aha as a witness somehow made the story even less credible.
Still, Lin Yi had a point.
He had no obvious reason to fabricate something so specific.
And Kakamu being arrogant enough to dismiss their research outright was hardly impossible.
Herta snorted.
"Polka Kakamu, hm?"
"When I have time, I'll see whether she truly possesses the ability to be this arrogant."
"Anyway..."
"What happened next?"
For Early Access of 400+ chapters please visit patreon.com/UchihaAce