Porcelain joints propped open the lace sleeve-cuffs, and the exposed skin gave off an iced-milkshake luster in the cold light of the porthole.
The back opened into a rhombus-shaped cutout, revealing a long, slender nape and exquisite shoulder blades that glowed with a fine, white-jade sheen, while the two moon-mound cheeks of her bottom were cinched to a brimming-over fullness.
"Hey, brat, how about it? Struck dumb by my peerless, world-beating, invincible beauty, aren't you?"
Watching Caelus, who had fallen silent and was narrowing his eyes to size her up in dead earnest—even though a considerable portion of her simulated skin was exposed, the Big Herta puppet showed not the slightest trace of shyness or embarrassment.
Instead, with great confidence, she lifted her lovely hair with a fair hand, tilted her head up haughtily at Caelus, and said with a smile:
"Be grateful—getting to admire my beauty up close."
She, Herta, was a synonym for perfection!
Everything about her was perfect, her body included—so what if such a perfect body was seen?
Of course, not just anyone was qualified to admire her beauty up close. This grown-mutated puppet resembled her main body very closely—already eighty, even ninety percent.
The one who ought to feel admiration and longing was the fellow who got to see her body.
She was the perfect Herta. Dissing brat—making her feel embarrassed was still twenty thousand Amber Eras too early!
"This woman's face doesn't go the least bit red when she calls herself 'perfect'! Did she load the puppet with a maxed-out beauty filter for whenever it looks at itself?"
Haxxor Bunny's eyes had already turned into dead-fish eyes; she simply couldn't hold back the urge to snark.
She understood that Geniuses had their quirks, but...
"This is way too narcissistic!"
The Big Herta puppet twirled a strand of her exquisite brown-tea hair around her fingertip, her amethyst eyes glancing sidelong at Haxxor Bunny.
"Aah~"
Drawing out the sigh, the Big Herta puppet tugged the corner of her lips into an arc of pity so exaggerated it was downright affected:
"A little brat's aesthetic threshold really can't even capture the very sheen of this Genius's hair."
Arms folded across her chest, head held high in a haughty posture, the Big Herta puppet used her height advantage to look down on Haxxor Bunny.
"You'd best count your blessings too—be ever so grate-Dell—some people, all their lives, never once get to glimpse the true essence of aesthetics."
Words that seemed sincere from the heart, yet falling into Miss Haxxor Bunny's ears they were brimming with passive-aggressive snark and mockery.
"Hey↗, I'll f—!"
Haxxor Bunny rolled up her sleeves.
She really wanted to call over her future-state isotope, Big Breast Duck, and let this damn Genius across from her see just what real beauty was!
Caelus, propping his chin and stroking it, raised his fingers one by one from his palm.
"First, my name isn't 'Hey'—my name is Chu Yuxun."
"Second, you said you were graciously letting me behold your true face. I thought your main body was going to come in person, but it turns out you just show me a single holographic catfish-photo? That's it? That's all?"
"Third, is there even any difference between how you refer to your main body and the puppet?"
"Be grateful you even get to behold a holographic photo. How many people in the universe do you think have seen my true face?"
The Big Herta puppet gave a light snort:
"Want an audience with my main body? Then work hard helping me carry out my tests and research. Maybe some day, if I'm in a good mood, the main body will come stroll on over—and then you can secretly gloat to yourself!"
"As for what to call us... a writer of the Erudition Society once wanted to add a title for my main body, something like 'Sole Herta,' to distinguish it from the puppet."
The Big Herta puppet, disdaining to comment on it, proudly explained to Caelus:
"How vulgar—former or latter, which of them isn't me myself? So I gave them a suggestion: as long as you dare to write it, I dare to call myself 'Big Herta.'"
"Daaamn, you really are a total badass."
Caelus, his face full of admiration, thoroughly and sincerely convinced, gave a thumbs-up to the puppet Big Herta.
This gal could even come out with something like 'my name itself is power'—so doing this was actually understandable; her level of narcissism was almost catching up to his own.
"What's wrong with the name? Concise and intuitive—faithful, expressive, elegant! Simply perfect! No—it IS perfection!"
Herta planted her hands on her hips.
"I feel like this name isn't quite suitable."
Caelus shook his head.
"Where is it not suitable? Out with it!"
Having the name she favored questioned by someone else—confident, arrogant Herta of course couldn't stand it, going a bit red-hot on the spot and impatiently demanding that Caelus explain.
Caelus walked over to the holographic photo of [Big Herta], pointed at the chest that was even less impressive than a Stellaron spirit's, and hollered in a tone of incomprehension—like 'it's obviously a cat, yet you insist on naming it a dog':
"Looks to me like this here isn't big at all? And you go calling yourself Big Herta—this is false advertising! This is fraud!"
"Not only is it not big, it even looks padded. I see that white patch there beside the armpit..."
Caelus wanted to strip off the clothing over Big Herta's chest, but it was only a holographic projection photo, so he pointed at the exposed edge of the sphere.
Arms folded across her chest, Miss Haxxor Bunny nodded along again and again as she listened.
This scale was only on par with hers—getting thoroughly thrashed by her future 'self'!
"..."
The Big Herta puppet followed the direction of Caelus's finger and took a look at her own main body, her expression gradually stiffening.
The light within the amethyst eyes beneath her bangs gradually darkened, giving off threads of killing intent, and then her head slowly rotated a full 180 degrees amid a creaking of her neck, glaring fixedly at him.
"I suspect you're trying to provoke me."
She hefted her gorgeous crystal hammer and walked toward Caelus, the giant hammer scraping sparks off the metal floor plating.
Clearly, Herta had begun building up hammer-momentum, charging combo points; by the time she reached Caelus she would have accumulated exactly three stages of hammer-momentum to unleash a three-stage heavy strike capable of cracking open his skull.
"And to think you're a member of the Big-Brain Club—how is your skill at naming things so terrible?"
Caelus paid no mind to Herta's threat; he merely produced two more Grow-Shrink Candies, spread them open on his palm, and held them out toward Herta.
"Then what brilliant insight do you have?"
The clack-clack of her boot heels rapping the metal floor suddenly ceased. Herta stared at the candy in Caelus's palm—this was the very candy Caelus had just held in his own mouth, bitten apart, and mouth-fed to her.
"Scheme Herta, Realm Herta, Star Herta, God Herta—I think any of them works, why not pick one? Lil sis."
Caelus gave a whistle.
"...What a load of jumbled, lousy names."
Herta picked up the candy from Caelus's palm, full of disdain.
"Brat, today I'll teach you a lesson—forget that planet's Buddhist saying: no mark of self, no mark of others, no mark of sentient beings, no mark of lifespan..."
"Can't understand a word—can you please speak plain human language?"
Though the other party was a Genius of pivotal weight in the universe, her personality was just far too stuck-up; Miss Haxxor Bunny didn't like it—she talked as brusquely as Silver Wolf.
"Oh my good gracious goodness."
Caelus wiped the yo-yo with a handkerchief, doing body maintenance on Leylah: "So is this you trying to bake some Little Caelus cookies? Guyue Herta."
"And what's 'Guyue Herta' supposed to be?"
Herta's brow twitched. Not intending to make sense of Caelus's abstract brain circuits, she continued:
"Whether it's the puppet just assembled, the very first-produced puppet, or me standing at the apex of the universe's beauty—they're all me."
"Ohh~ I get it."
Caelus nodded as if in sudden enlightenment: "So it means you're OLD!"
How the hell did you hear 'old' out of that?!
"Caelus!"
Provoked time and again, this time Herta finally couldn't take it. Anyway, she'd already gotten the Grow-Shrink Candy in hand, so she sprang up high, mounted onto Caelus's neck, and, raising her big hammer, began smashing down clang-clang.
80! 80! 80!
Thud-thud-thud, the pounding sent his accumulated dizziness value soaring.
"I just said it offhand—why are you getting all worked up? Can't take a joke, huh!"
Caelus, drawing on his rich point-blank experience with Stelle, grappled with the Big Herta puppet, specifically targeting her chest and her lower regions.
"Hmph, even cupping a padded-cushion tower, even facing a Genius with my hands behind my back, I, Caelus, am invincible all the same in this world! Bronie, save me!"
Caelus stretched out a hand toward Haxxor Bunny at the side and cried aloud.
"I'm coming to help you!"
One foot planted on a step, Haxxor Bunny extended her finger.
Though she also felt Caelus's words just now had been pretty much asking for a beating, since the one being mocked was this stuck-up Genius, she absolutely had to back him up!
Aether Editing, activate!
The crystal hammer in the Big Herta puppet's hand was transferred elsewhere amid a rainbow-colored data mosaic, completing the disarming.
After a fierce bout of grappling, the Big Herta puppet's already-precarious clothing was half off and half dangling, the entire front piece heaped at her waist like shed snakeskin.
The instant Herta drove her knee into Caelus's abdomen, her pantsu ripped open even wider with a tearing sound, and the bridge of Caelus's nose crashed into the warm, soft hollow of her waist.
Twisting an arm around Caelus's neck and wrenching it back, Herta spun her body, channeling force through her waist and hips to forcibly hurl out a shoulder throw.
"Crap, how is the puppet's strength this monstrous?"
Caelus shot toward Haxxor Bunny like a puppet with its strings cut, slamming into her arms.
"You're still a long way off~!"
The Big Herta puppet casually clapped her hands and took the well-fitted dress brought over by a Little Herta puppet.
In the corridor, a full four Little Hertas had come over, projecting a holographic curtain on all four sides and attending to the Big Herta puppet as she changed clothes within the curtain.
"Seeing as you came all the way to the space station specially to deliver research material to me, I'll let you off this time."
Wearing the same witch dress as her main body in the holographic photo, the Big Herta puppet stepped out of the holographic curtain with elegant strides.
"Come with me."
With that, Big Herta strode forward without so much as a backward glance.
"Where to?"
Caelus beckoned Haxxor Bunny to follow.
"Screwllum is on the space station too. Before I came to find you, a few of us were just discussing matters concerning the new version of the Simulated Universe."
Normally, Herta would directly transfer her consciousness back to a puppet in the lab, but this puppet—the one that had eaten the candy—had undergone 'growth' and held research value, so she was using this body for the time being.
"If it's testing, then wait a few days—I haven't had the time lately."
Caelus had to resolve the Jarilo-VI matter first.
"It's not testing—we're still carrying out the final debugging; your opinion as a tester can serve as appropriate reference."
Herta led the two of them to her private laboratory.
The elegant gentleman Genius, Screwllum, and a beauty—Daiqing—as graceful and full of charm as a Jiangnan ink-wash painting were both present, along with a Little Herta puppet; the three sat in a circle.
The two had been discussing something; hearing the sound of the door opening, they couldn't help but turn their heads, and at the sight of Big Herta's figure both froze for an instant, but quickly realized it wasn't Herta's main body—it was the puppet.
Ruan Mei lifted her lovely head slightly, her thin lips parting, a cool, aloof smile on her face: "Darling, you've come."
Screwllum, maintaining his customary elegance, greeted Caelus:
"Delighted to see you, Mr. Caelus. Logic: the reunion has come somewhat earlier than my conjecture suggested... And this lady who resembles Silver Wolf would be?"
"Bronie—my chest-bro and student, a Nameless who's newly joined the Express."
Caelus patted the shoulder of Haxxor Bunny—who, upon hearing Ruan Mei address Caelus as 'darling,' had slightly widened her eyes, a subtle look on her face—and introduced her to the two Geniuses.
"Herta, when did you make this model of puppet?"
After exchanging a couple of brief words with Caelus, Ruan Mei looked toward the Big Herta puppet and asked.
"I didn't. I've never made a big puppet. Caelus fed one of my puppets some strange candy-water, and this puppet's body underwent 'growth.'"
Herta sat down and crossed her beautiful black-silk-stockinged legs.
"Oh?"
At these words, both Screwllum and Ruan Mei perked up with a measure of interest—what kind of candy would Herta call 'strange'?
"Grow-Shrink Candy."
Caelus took out two more and presented them to Screwllum and Ruan Mei: "As the name suggests, eating it lets you grow big or shrink small—strictly speaking, growth and rejuvenation—with a time limit. Consider it our reunion gift."
Mainly it was a gift for Ruan Mei; Screwllum was just thrown in along the way.
"Thank you."
Ruan Mei gave gentle thanks and took the candy with keen interest.
Not knowing that he was the one thrown in along the way, Screwllum likewise thanked him courteously and began examining it.
"Where did you obtain this thing?"
Herta had already performed a preliminary scan-analysis on the candy, and its composition made her show an expression as if she'd seen a ghost.
There were actually Spirits of Starfire inside this?!
How on earth had he managed to turn that thing into candy?
"Speaking of which, let me show you all something good."
Grinning cheekily, Caelus walked up to the table and pulled the Universal Synthesizer out of his System space.
"Let me see the wit and brilliance of you three Geniuses!"
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