Caelus took a sip of the coffee in his cup and continued typing on the keyboard in front of him. Various quick calculation problems and time-consuming verification problems on the screen were quickly solved. He was practically like a senior employee who had worked here for years and put in overtime every day.
"Mem?"
Mem curiously floated onto the head of a researcher who was playing on their phone, watching them chat with someone on the phone. From her perspective, she could even see pink bubbles emerging from this person's head.
Caelus heard Mem's curious and puzzled voice, turned his head to look, and after a brief glance, knew what the situation was. He then said, "This is clearly falling in love."
"Love?"
"It means meeting someone you like, wanting to be with that person forever, wanting to be close to each other, wanting to touch each other's skin, wanting to taste each other, wanting to be joined with each other, wanting to empathize with each other."
"Mem!"
After listening, Mem flew to Caelus's side, rubbed her face against his, and said happily, "Then I want to fall in love with my Partner, I want to be with my Partner forever!"
"Our species are different, and I am not someone with strange inclinations, we cannot fall in love."
"Mem."
After hearing this, Mem drooped her ears in disappointment.
"Besides, you don't have to be in love to be together forever. We are each other's Partners, we won't abandon or give up on each other, Partners who will travel and adventure together forever."
"Partner!"
After petting Mem like a cat for a while, Caelus let the little one go play nearby, while he hurried to finish the data verification work for the day. As for why he was still working here?
Because of that baffling main quest.
[Main quest: Witness the Beginning of Destiny. Quest rewards: 1,000 system currency, a glimpse of a random Aeon.]
That was it. The quest didn't specify any requirements or a time limit. After transmigrating, he landed right here on Herta Space Station. Even his so-called "newcomer" identity was something Caelus had packaged for himself using his own abilities. In this world, he was completely undocumented.
Regardless, the system told him that the beginning of destiny was here, and that he just needed to wait for the right moment. Before that, it was entirely his own time to explore.
Four months had passed since he parted ways with the Trailblazers from the Astral Express. During these four months, Caelus basically worked when he was supposed to, and after getting off work, he would constantly explore and record everything on Herta Space Station.
When at work, he was like a cold, ruthless working machine. Even after finishing his own assigned tasks, he would still make time to help his colleagues complete theirs.
Because of this, these people were naturally grateful to Caelus, which also strengthened the recognition and memory of Caelus's identity on the space station.
Likewise, as the saying goes, there are gains and losses. Since Caelus helped them complete their duties, it was only reasonable for them to pay a little price in return.
It must be said that those who could work on Herta Space Station, even if they were not the top geniuses in this universe, were still the cream of the crop from their respective planets.
The past memories of everyone here had unique characteristics, and each person possessed a story worth understanding and recording.
Those memories that seemed like bookworms, merely obsessed with the ocean of knowledge, also contained a yearning desire for knowledge. This flavor of greed also brought quite a bit of help to Caelus in his understanding of emotions.
Likewise, when these people had nothing to do during their shifts, some would study topics that interested them, some would start playing games, and others would start chatting with friends online using their phones.
Regardless of how they did it, whenever they sought ways to occupy themselves and relieve boredom, the emotions and memories that drifted out were all gathered by Caelus through Mem.
If it were in other, busier departments, it would be hard to manage, as the emotions would be too monotonous, all just a craving for knowledge and a fanatical interest in their projects.
But here, because Caelus basically took on all the work, they would do all sorts of things, drifting out all kinds of different emotions and memories.
That was why Caelus had been working here all this time.
During this time, he also learned about Herta Space Station, knowing that it was the space station of Madam Herta, a member of the Genius Society, an organization composed of the top geniuses in the universe.
As for how famous Madam Herta was, Caelus would not list all her abilities. Anyway, the people who came to work here basically came out of admiration for Madam Herta, ah, except for Caelus, who had snuck in.
Moreover, in every corner of the space station, there were puppets made by Madam Herta based on her own likeness.
Although Caelus was curious about the memories possessed by Madam Herta, he was not arrogant enough to think he could steal the memories of an Emanator-level figure.
Although it was just a term used by people online, saying that every genius who joined the Genius Society and was watched by the Aeon of Erudition, Nous, was an Emanator of Erudition, Caelus could not possibly risk his life to test the truth of that statement.
So, he honestly kept working as a wage slave while secretly collecting the memories of ordinary staff members. He did not even touch the memories of Asta, who helped Madam Herta manage the space station.
Caelus took another sip of his coffee. Next, he planned to explore a more secretive part of the space station. After these days of exploration, he had discovered that there were actually some areas in the space station that were sealed off and forbidden to enter.
If it were just a small area that was sealed off, Caelus could understand if there was something dangerous or some hidden secret inside. But if a large area was locked down, Caelus became a bit curious about what was actually in there.
What kind of past was buried in that large, sealed-off area, and for what reason was it abandoned?
Just as Caelus was planning to head to the abandoned area to explore after finishing his current work, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded in his ears.
Someone had invaded Herta Space Station?
The piercing alarm interrupted the staff members who were slacking off, and they immediately became panicked. After all, Herta Space Station was located near the Blue, which was Madam Herta's home, so under normal circumstances, Herta Space Station was very safe.
But that was under normal circumstances. Now, according to the information being broadcast, everyone knew that Herta Space Station had encountered one of the most unreasonable groups in the universe.
The Antimatter Legion.
These pawns belonging to Destruction never cared about any reason or rules. These guys were a bunch of lunatics who wanted to destroy everything!
Just as everyone was still somewhat at a loss, but also preparing to follow the broadcasts and communications received on their phones to head to safe locations and be protected by the Security Department.
A violent explosion suddenly rang out, causing most of the instruments and equipment on Herta Space Station to shut down. Likewise, the various broadcasts and communication devices that were directing everyone to evacuate to safe locations also completely stopped working at this moment.
The entire Herta Space Station fell into a state of chaotic communication breakdown, and it just so happened that someone could take advantage of this to achieve their goal.
"System time: 23 hours, 47 minutes, 15 seconds. You are very punctual, Kafka."
A purple-haired woman, who did not look like a member of Herta Space Station's staff based on her temperament or attire, was looking at the virtual screen emitting the voice. There was a wolf-head graffiti mark on it.
(To be continued.)