Ruan Mei felt she understood Herta well enough.
Given Herta's personality, if she liked something even a little, she'd flaunt it tenfold; naturally, her possessiveness manifested with that same ten-to-one intensity.
Ruan Mei didn't think her intuition was off—there was definitely some genuine affection there.
Yet, the fact that Herta hadn't displayed any overt possessiveness left Ruan Mei rather surprised.
Furthermore, based on Bai Ming's description, the girl was clearly the type to say one thing while feeling another.
She might protest with a "no" or "stop," but if something actually happened, she'd likely be enjoying herself deep down.
So...
Why hadn't those two just slept together yet?
Instead, Bai Ming had ended up running off to her place.
Surely a woman like Herta wouldn't have chickened out at the last second; that didn't sound like her at all. Ruan Mei found the whole thing quite puzzling.
As for herself...
At least for now, if Herta truly tried to keep Bai Ming all to herself, Ruan Mei would probably be a bit displeased. Was it out of consideration for that fact that Herta hadn't pushed further?
Ruan Mei couldn't help but wonder. Then again, this was Herta; it wasn't entirely impossible.
It might sound a bit like self-praise, but Ruan Mei felt the relationship between the Geniuses was actually quite solid.
After all, they had the long-term project of the Simulated Universe acting as their tether. Everyone seemed keen on maintaining the harmony of their little circle.
From that perspective, the logic held up. Since she was off the clock, Ruan Mei allowed her mind to wander without restraint. Her thoughts even drifted toward Divine Herta for a moment.
Though they were separate individuals, Divine Herta inherited all the memories of Herta from another timeline.
Moreover, while she was still within the body of Hertatomb, her consciousness had been linked to Bai Ming's.
Bai Ming had even admitted that while it wasn't everything, Divine Herta had indeed seen many of her private thoughts and memories.
In other words, Divine Herta had deep ties to both parties involved in this situation.
If Herta and Bai Ming truly established an intimate relationship, one wondered what the Genius who also shared the name "Herta" would think.
Would she be curious? Incredulous? Or would she simply ignore it altogether?
As Ruan Mei pondered these things, she didn't forget to share them with Bai Ming, discussing it directly with the person in question.
However, hindered by her own impression of Herta, Bai Ming felt that if things really went that far, Divine Herta would probably be a little angry.
Hearing this, Ruan Mei felt a touch of helplessness.
She couldn't wrap her head around how those two had managed to cultivate such a skewed dynamic. Ultimately, she could only chalk it up to Bai Ming's habit of constantly provoking Herta.
Speaking of which, Ruan Mei voiced a question that had been bugging her for a while:
"Actually, I've always wondered... why is it that when you're impersonating others, you love acting so high-profile and actively seek out the original person?"
"Uh... well, how should I put this?"
Bai Ming had actually considered how she'd answer if someone ever asked.
The simplest way was to just admit she enjoyed the chaos. The best proof was her own Masked Fool's mask.
She believed most people wouldn't doubt her honesty once they saw that mask; that was the weight behind being a Masked Fool.
But the person asking was Ruan Mei.
To Bai Ming, Ruan Mei wasn't just someone she could trust—it was a unique kind of trust forged through countless sessions of researching and being researched.
Then again, the System was Bai Ming's greatest secret. After a moment of thought, she explained:
"My transformation ability stems from the emotional feedback of others. The more 'authentic' the feedback from the original person, the more pronounced the effect."
"I didn't understand why it was emotions before, but combined with your and Herta's recent theories, I think it might be related to how I'm integrating into this world."
"Does it involve 'Existence'? Perhaps that is a possibility," Ruan Mei mused.
She felt there might be a connection. From the soul she first observed in Bai Ming to the soul she saw now, the change in strength was staggering—the difference between heaven and earth wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Furthermore, there was a proven precedent.
Take the Order, for example: the collective will of the universe's sentient beings holds real power.
Even without a direct method to link their wills, once they align, they can truly influence destiny or even an Aeon.
Adding in what they'd discovered about Bai Ming's situation, it was possible she was using the collective will of the universe to gradually solidify her own presence in this world. At least, logically, it made sense.
"And of course, part of it is just because I find it fun. Plus, if I do things using someone else's identity, the trouble never traces back to me," Bai Ming added after a pause, making Ruan Mei let out a soft laugh.
She couldn't deny that. When it came to making trouble for Herta, Bai Ming never seemed to tire.
From that perspective, it seemed only fair for Herta to tease her back. If it were Ruan Mei, she probably wouldn't let Bai Ming off easy either.
"Speaking of which, have those songs and audio clips you sent out had any effect yet?" Ruan Mei asked about the massive social experiment Bai Ming had launched a while back.
Though the medium was a bit abstract, the goal was dead serious. At the very least, The Family was genuinely scrambling to solve the issue.
"I haven't felt much personally, but according to Gopher Wood, the main branch of The Family is getting restless. I imagine it's had some effect."
Because of her new body, Bai Ming didn't dare make a definitive judgment. But based on the news from Gopher Wood, The Family wasn't backing down; they were stirring.
That meant it had definitely struck a nerve; otherwise, why would they be so agitated?
Ruan Mei nodded. She was curious to see how far this would go—whether it could truly change the course of Paths itself.
Bai Ming popped a pastry into her mouth and continued, "The large-scale Harmony experiment is a long-term thing; we won't see much in the short term. Instead of that, why don't we look into Permanence?"
"I took a moment to contact that General from the Fanghu. While she turned down my request to borrow some Draconic power, she did agree to let me visit the Fanghu to conduct some research under her watchful eye."
Winking at Ruan Mei, Bai Ming asked, "Want to come with me? I'm sure the Xianzhou would love to get to know a Genius, as long as we don't go too overboard."
Ruan Mei hadn't expected Bai Ming to actually have the nerve to bring that up to a General's face.
She'd heard of the Vidyadhara's situation; given their delicate state, Ruan Mei herself wouldn't have tried to negotiate with them directly even if she wanted to study Permanence.
"Aren't you afraid of offending General Xuanquan?"
"I did the Xianzhou a favor, after all. Even if she refused, I doubt we'd end up on bad terms. And look at the result—it's great! The Fanghu is an autonomous Vidyadhara region; it's crawling with them. We can't go too far, but even basic research is an opportunity."
Ruan Mei nodded in agreement. She couldn't deny the opportunity.
The Path of Permanence was difficult to study, mainly because the Scions of Long were hard to deal with. Since Bai Ming had actually secured a chance, Ruan Mei was naturally willing to make the trip.
"It is indeed an opportunity. And since we have the Saint Graph system, if we can create a Permanence Saint Graph and bridge that gap from zero to one, we won't have to worry about lacking materials in the future."
"My thoughts exactly. So, do you have any projects you need to finish? Shall we head out together in a while?"
Hearing Bai Ming's question, Ruan Mei toyed with a pastry and smiled.
"Rappa is out, and your body is finished. I don't have any pressing projects for the moment; everything else can wait. What about your research into Celenova's abilities? Are you putting that on hold?"
Bai Ming shook her head. "I'm stuck for now. I'll do something else first; maybe I'll find a breakthrough through some related field."
"Fair enough. But this time, remember to tell Herta. Especially after everything that just happened."
Seeing the smile on Ruan Mei's face, Bai Ming couldn't help but feel that the Genius was enjoying this a little too much.
--+--
Time passed slowly.
The two of them were solo acts and could leave at a moment's notice, but as a General, Xuanquan couldn't just clear her schedule instantly.
She had significant prep work to do before she could allow Bai Ming and Ruan Mei onto the Fanghu to conduct such sensitive research.
During the remaining days, since Bai Ming had nothing else planned, she stayed at Ruan Mei's place. It wasn't a waste of time to study Celenova's cloning abilities in her leisure hours.
Moreover, Bai Ming felt that after discussing those relatively private matters with Ruan Mei, the distance between them had closed significantly.
She wasn't sure if it was just her imagining things—Ruan Mei was always so reserved that it was hard to tell.
Luckily, neither the Geniuses nor Bai Ming were the type to obsess over interpersonal politics. Bai Ming agonized over it only slightly before deciding not to overthink it.
As for Ruan Mei, aside from a few chores, she continued to study Bai Ming's body.
However, when dealing with issues that touched upon the root of existence and the nature of the world, useful data was hard to come by.
Everything was just theory and speculation between her and Herta; nobody knew the actual truth. It wouldn't be easy to yield results.
Bai Ming hadn't decided on her next role yet.
She figured if she couldn't figure out Celenova, she'd just use that character card again after returning from the Fanghu.
As for why she wasn't using it immediately... well, it had been a long time since she'd acted as herself in her own body. She wanted to savor this rare "self-time" a bit longer.
She also wanted to stockpile some Emotion Points until her next gacha progress bar was full.
Thanks to the long-term impact of the chaotic things she'd done in the past, her points grew daily even without a disguise—just at a lower volume and efficiency.
Spending time with Ruan Mei also helped her emotions settle. She could now look back at the memories of Herta teasing her with a bit more composure, rather than immediately spiraling into wild fantasies.
--+--
A period of time passed until General Xuanquan sent word that she was ready.
Just as Bai Ming and Ruan Mei were prepared to leave at any time, Bai Ming's gacha bar finally maxed out, granting her a new pull.
--+--
[Roleplay System]
[Name: Bai Ming]
[Lifespan: 1200 years]
[Transformable Characters: Big Herta (Available), Acheron (Available), Celenova (Available), Jingliu (Available), Ruan Mei (Available), Sparkle (Available), Hertatomb (Charge: 81.2%), Lord Ravager · Jingliu (Charge: 45.8%), Young Herta (Charge: 31.2%), Cyrene · Fuli (Charge: 4.9%), Robin (Charge: 13.9%), Artoria (Charge: 35.5%)]
[Available Pulls: 1 (0.1%)]
--+--
Even after walking around as herself for all these days, her lifespan hadn't budged.
The display didn't even bother with decimals; it seemingly only counted in full years. At least it was friendly to her OCD.
Bai Ming stared at the panel, lost in thought, before habitually hitting the draw button.
She watched the familiar animation—the hatch opening, the golden light flooding out. She felt remarkably calm.
Then, accompanied by the crisp sound of flipping gold coins, a cat-like phantom thief in a black bodysuit appeared, hanging upside down from the ceiling.
"Hey, another Chrysos Heir... but wait, will the Titan of Trickery's power even work?"
The power of the Amphoreus Titans came from the Scepter System's calculations—essentially, base code written by a computer.
It worked inside Amphoreus, but once you left, it was hard to execute.
The current Chrysos Heirs could barely manage a fraction of their original power in the outside world by relying on the data volume of Digimon. The bulk of their strength still depended on Path power.
But the card Bai Ming just drew was even weirder. This wasn't even the current Digimon, Cipher. It was the original data-entity Cipher that existed inside the Scepter.
Wait... wouldn't this be the weakest character card she'd ever used?
Bai Ming scratched her head.
She wasn't even hoping for the Trickster's versatility or god-like speed anymore.
Her main concern was that since this card represented a string of data, would she even be able to show her face in reality if she used it?
Surely she wouldn't have to buff herself to the level of a Digimon just to walk around in the real world?
While it wouldn't be the first time she'd strengthened a card, doing it just so she could physically exist was a bit absurd.
If that was the case, could this thing even be considered a "Gold" card? Or was there some other secret to it?
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL