Herta Space Station · Corridor
Watching Star, with a look of "carrying a heavy burden," follow Ms. Herta and disappear around the corner of the corridor, March 7th put her hands on her hips. Her pink-blue eyes sparkled with emotion, and she couldn't help but sigh again: "Sigh, I really didn't expect it... Ms. Herta actually has such a difficult past behind her. Luckily, she still has such a good sister who cares about her."
Asta, standing next to her, was completely confused.
Confusion was written all over the young Station Master's face, and her small nose tip was still slightly flushed from running earlier.
"Sister?"
She repeated the unfamiliar word as if she had heard a preposterous tale. "Ms. Herta... has a sister? Why have I never heard of this?"
In her understanding of working for Herta, the owner of the Space Station was like a miracle born from the stars, completely unrelated to down-to-earth words like "family" or "sisters."
Seeing Asta's completely out-of-the-loop expression, March 7th was overcome by the urge to share her "exclusive secret."
She leaned closer to Station Master Asta, mysteriously lowered her voice, looked left and right to confirm there were no "outsiders," and whispered, "Station Master Asta, I see you're also someone Ms. Herta trusts, so I'm only telling you! You absolutely must not tell anyone else!"
Asta was affected by the mysterious atmosphere and involuntarily grew nervous. She nodded vigorously, her curiosity completely piqued.
Thus, March 7th fully utilized her storytelling talent, which originated from the depths of her frozen memories, to perform a secondary creation of the story about "Herta's sister" recounted by Star, adding fuel to the fire and exaggerating every detail.
"The thing is..."
March 7th began in a sorrowful tone, "Ms. Herta, she... sigh, she didn't have it easy when she was little!"
She vividly described a Herta who was "round" and "like a little glutinous rice ball," and how she was mocked and bullied by "bad kids who didn't know the truth" because of "body issues" and "poor balance."
"Back then, only her sister was there to look after her."
March 7th's voice was choked with emotion. "But there were times when her sister was negligent, which caused little Herta to suffer inner trauma, put on a 'mask,' and become the unlikable speaker she is now! It's all just self-protection!"
She described how Herta, "out of spite," "secretly boarded a passing starship," ran away from home, drifted among the stars, and eventually became an Envoy by virtue of her astonishing talent, established the Space Station, and buried all her sadness and vulnerability deep inside.
"Her sister regretted it immensely and has been searching for her all this time!"
March 7th concluded, her eyes burning bright, "This time, she specifically entrusted Star to bring a gift because she wants to reconcile! Look at Ms. Herta's reaction just now—she must be both happy and awkward! Who knows how excited she is inside!"
Asta listened throughout, dumbfounded, her red lips slightly parted.
The amount of information was overwhelming; she felt her worldview had been shattered.
She tried to overlap the image of Ms. Herta in her memory with the image of the "poor little thing" described by March 7th, and her brain's CPU nearly burned out from overload.
"I-is that true?"
Asta's expression was blank, and her voice was faint. She felt as if the solid floor of the Space Station beneath her feet was becoming illusory.
Seeing this, March 7th, wearing an "I understand you" look, patted Asta's shoulder and comforted (?) her in the tone of an experienced person: "Sigh, it's fine! Ms. Herta is immensely powerful. It's only natural that we mortals can't know everything about her past experiences and what happened! It's perfectly normal!"
She felt she had perfectly explained Asta's confusion and found a reasonable footnote for Ms. Herta's "unusual" reaction.
However, neither of them noticed that just a short distance away, behind a slightly ajar door labeled [Spare Component Storage Room VII], a young Staff Member who had originally been slacking off and organizing the inventory list was now desperately clamping his hand over his mouth, his eyes wide as copper bells, his forehead slick with cold sweat.
(W-what did I just hear?!)
(Ms. Herta... has a sister?!)
(As a child... insecure... and bullied?!)
(Out of spite... ran away from home alone... to wander the star seas?!)
Every keyword struck his fragile heart like a heavy hammer.
This information was too explosive!
This gossip was huge!
Was this really something a regular Staff Member like him was allowed to hear for free?!
His rationality told him: immediately shut his ears, delete the memory, and pretend nothing happened!
Was Ms. Herta's privacy something he could just casually pry into?!
Did he still want to keep working at the Space Station?!
But... his hand, it wouldn't obey!
(I'll just... just post it in the small group... just the few of us who are close... they definitely won't spread it...)
Driven by an irresistible urge to share and the complex mentality of "misery loves company" (courting disaster), he tremblingly pulled out his employee terminal. His fingers, twitching uncontrollably, tapped open the anonymous small group chat named [Still Trying Hard to Be Disliked by Ms. Herta Today].
His fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, sending out the version he had just heard, "artistically enhanced" by March 7th, in the form of the most concise and eye-catching keywords:
[MASSIVE GOSSIP!! ABSOLUTELY TRUE!! Ms. Herta has a biological sister!! Sisters allegedly had a falling out years ago!! Ms. Herta was bullied as a child due to body and balance issues, developed an insecure personality, then ran away from home out of spite and has been adventuring alone ever since!! The sister has now entrusted the Astral Express Crew to deliver a gift to seek reconciliation!! The atmosphere on site is subtle!!] (Attached a [shivering.jpg] emoji)
The notification sound confirming the message was sent rang out like a death knell.
In an instant, the chat group, which usually only discussed work complaints and shared survival tips, fell into a deathly silence.
It was like the calm before the storm.
Immediately following—
[Ding!] [Ding!] [Ding!] [Ding!] [Ding!]... Message notification sounds began ringing out continuously like an explosion!
The terminal screen refreshed frantically at a speed impossible for the naked eye to follow!
[What the hell?!?!]
[Seriously?! Ms. Herta has a sister?!]
[Bullying?! Who would dare bully the future Lord Envoy?!]
[Ran away from home... No wonder Ms. Herta is so independent! (Realization)]
[Is the source reliable?!]
[@Leaker Brother, are you still there? Details! We need details!!]
[(Anonymous) I think I also saw Ms. Herta and Star from the Astral Express Crew huddled in a corner...]
[(Anonymous) +1, the atmosphere really didn't seem right...]
Panic, shock, curiosity, the need for verification, and the uncontrollable flame of gossip burned fiercely in this small anonymous group.
And the spread of information never stops within a small circle.
Soon, this piece of gossip, which combined explosive elements like "sisterly ethics," "childhood trauma," "rise to power," and "emotional entanglement," spread through the Space Station's internal network at an exponential rate, like a living virus.
[Research Department A Gossip Squad], [Logistics Gossip Frontline], [We Don't Produce Data We Are Just Marmots in the Melon Field]... one after another, chat groups, both overt and covert, were compromised.
Through word-of-mouth and written relay, the story was exaggerated repeatedly, and the details were constantly enriched (or rather, distorted):
"Being bullied" was upgraded to "suffering malice from the entirety of her childhood";
Then to "Shocking! Herta's unknown past! Due to congenital physical defects and social anxiety, she suffered inhumane treatment in her hometown, endured humiliation, and ultimately achieved a comeback!"
And now it had become: "[TOP SECRET FILE] Is Herta's real body a giant weighing hundreds of pounds?! Did she split off a 'petite' personality due to unbearable weight and childhood trauma, and create the Space Station to cover up the truth?! Is her'sister' the only insider?!"
And the mysterious "sister" also transformed from "sending a gift" into a deeply emotional figure who had "silently followed and secretly guarded her for years, and finally mustered the courage to seek reconciliation."
By the time it finished spreading, the version had become so bizarre that it bore no resemblance to March 7th's original account, even spawning ridiculous, completely unrealistic speculations such as, "Ms. Herta swore 'I won't return until I become an Envoy' when she left home," "Her sister is actually another hidden Envoy," and "The sisters turned against each other because they were fighting over the legacy of an ancient civilization."
Almost all the Staff Members on the entire Space Station, through different channels and at different times, "learned" different versions of the "unknown past" of their exalted Lord Herta.
Everyone wore expressions of nervousness, excitement, and apprehension, having learned a shocking secret. They exchanged knowing glances, and a strange atmosphere of gossip permeated the air.
And March 7th, one of the instigators of all this, was completely unaware of the uproar her casual sharing of a "secret" had caused.
The storm had already formed in silence.
And Herta, at the eye of the storm, was still completely oblivious to it.
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