Chapter 37 : Chapter 37: We agreed to take the initiative and find the Black Tower!
That's right.
Judging by that form of address alone, there truly was only one person who dared to use it with her.
Furthermore, it was something that would only likely pop up when the two of them were chatting in private.
Even though there was no evidence...
"What on earth is he up to?"
Ms. Herta's knuckles pressed against her lips, as if she were lost in thought. "Clearly, after the scepter was destroyed, he went missing and lost contact."
"So how did a fan game come out now?"
The situation was like this.
That day, Xu Qiong suddenly contacted her and Screwllum, explaining their next destination, Amphoreus.
At first, it was nothing; perhaps he just needed help.
But once she learned that Xu Qiong had disembarked early and went to Amphoreus to discover the scepter, the problem became serious.
To be fair, Ms. Herta didn't know Xu Qiong's purpose—why he chose to disembark early at such a time and just happened to find the scepter.
However, considering various factors, she didn't question him and directly chose to help him fight against Iron Tomb.
After Iron Tomb fell, the other party vanished into thin air.
And now, a fan game related to Amphoreus has suddenly gone online, and it even dragged her into it?
After careful consideration, Ms. Herta felt there was no need to overthink or search for clues.
Wouldn't it be easier to find a way to contact him and ask directly?
"You brat, you'd better think carefully about how you're going to explain this to me when the time comes..."
"Fourth Mirror!"
...
"Present!"
"I'm here! General."
Xianzhou Luofu.
Seat of Divine Foresight.
With nothing to do today, Yanqing's daily routine, besides practicing swordplay, now included spending some time every day grinding honkai: star rail!
However, with the second half banner of this game generating so much hype, it naturally couldn't escape the notice of the Xianzhou.
Jing Yuan suddenly called Yanqing over; it was hard to say whether one should be sighing or feeling lucky.
Because they were part of the Xianzhou's upper management and knew the inside story, they were aware that the parts mentioned in the game regarding the Xianzhou were all true.
So, unlike ordinary players who made wild guesses out of ignorance or truly believed it was as simple as a fan work.
Jing Yuan had reason to suspect that Ms. Herta's new plotline was also real.
And that she was also one of the victims!
"Yanqing, what do you think?"
"Me?"
Yanqing paused for a moment, realizing what Jing Yuan was talking to him about. "That, General, I'm just watching."
Jing Yuan smiled.
Then he gestured for him to relax. "Yanqing, there's no one else here. Feel free to speak your mind."
Likely having been seen through, Yanqing scratched his head in embarrassment. "I see, General."
"Well, actually, I think this matter is mostly true, after all..."
He omitted the details they both understood, then shifted the topic. "The intelligence the other party possesses already involves Emanators and Aeons. Their strength is unknown, but visually estimated to be terrifying."
"If it were me, as long as there is no further content directly targeting the Xianzhou, it would be best for us not to get involved."
At this point in time, the Xianzhou still had unfinished business regarding Jingliu.
Getting involved in a matter concerning an Emanator, or even another Aeon, would truly be more trouble than it's worth.
"Furthermore," Yanqing pointed out the crux of the issue, "The Company should be handling this matter with full authority. Even if the game's Author manages to escape, we can still gain some clues about him through them."
"We can judge whether or not to take action when that time comes."
Hearing this, Jing Yuan nodded at him with great satisfaction. "Not bad, Yanqing. You've actually become this far-sighted?"
Yanqing scratched his head again, feeling sheepish.
However, his reasoning was correct, and it happened to be exactly what Jing Yuan was thinking.
That was why, when Fu Xuan came to find him, he didn't directly order any involvement.
He just wondered how things were going on Minister Fu's end.
...
Fu Xuan was, of course, playing through the story!
The news that Ms. Herta not only had a banner but also a story quest was quickly picked up by players, causing the community atmosphere to surge once again.
Although the main quest wasn't long, it was rare and magnificent.
After all, who could possibly spy on the daily life of a Genius?
However, only Himeko, who stayed in the parlor car and followed both the story and the community, felt a slight sense of unease in her heart.
This was her keen sixth sense.
It felt as if something terrible was about to happen!
The main quest provided Ms. Herta as a trial character, following the previous plot development of seeking an audience with Nous.
But the audience system for meeting Nous seemed to have malfunctioned, so Ms. Herta decided to repair it.
There were three sectors in total, which mostly involved exploring the map and fighting monsters.
Until the final sector, where a 'thief' from the Garden of Recollection appeared and was exiled forever within the system by Ms. Herta!
What puzzled Himeko, however, was how it had become involved with the Garden of Recollection again.
She didn't have much time to think, because after the audience system was repaired, Ms. Herta was teleported directly to the Pathstrang Gap, truly preparing to have an audience with the Aeon Nous?
Spying on a direct conversation with an Aeon, even in a game, was far too stimulating.
This made Himeko slightly skeptical.
She watched as Ms. Herta walked forward.
Suddenly, something unexpected occurred, and a mirror spoke:
"Ms. Herta, we have captured some sounds within the Gap."
"Sounds?"
Himeko rested her chin on her hand, wondering if they could truly be coming from the Aeon Nous.
In fact, Ms. Herta thought so too:
"Oh? Let me hear them."
The mirror gave the answer: "0001, 0011..."
"This sound is... binary calculations? Could it be Machine Head?"
At first, Ms. Herta thought so, but as the numbers gradually increased.
"1111.0002."
"0126..."
A '2', which doesn't exist in binary, appeared, followed by a blurred human voice.
"Wait, this door doesn't seem to be locked."
"Door? Locked?" Ms. Herta's eyes were filled with surprise.
"No, this isn't the voice of the Path at all."
Just as surprised as her was Himeko in front of the screen!
She had been analyzing the plot, but who would have expected that the moment this voice appeared, Himeko's eyelid would twitch.
Why did this voice sound somewhat familiar?!
As the plot continued to move forward, the Third Mirror let out an incredibly creepy laugh:
"Hee hee hee hee, Ms. Herta, the guys outside seem to be saying some very interesting things."
"Hee hee hee hee, would you like to listen?"
"Third Mirror, can you stop that laugh that gives people goosebumps."
"The guys outside you just mentioned? Could it be..."
It was just a joke within the plot, but outside the plot, Himeko truly had goosebumps.
A strong sense of unease rose in her heart.
However, everything happened after all.
"She fainted?" a familiar male voice came through.
The moment she heard the sound, Himeko suddenly looked back. There was no one behind her, but she did give Pom-Pom, who was sweeping the floor, a fright!
There was no mistake.
Even though the voice was blurred, Himeko could still tell it was Welt's voice.
And that first human voice from before, it seemed to be Sunday's?
But hadn't Welt taken Sunday to find Ms. Herta? How could they appear in the game?
Wait, find Ms. Herta?
The game...
Nothing could be more terrifying than this!
Even having an audience with an Aeon in reality.
As an adult, Himeko rarely had such fantasies, but at this moment, she truly hoped she was hallucinating.
But facts were facts.
In the story, someone truly broke into Ms. Herta's laboratory and even tried to use the power of Harmony to wake her up.
In the end, forced by circumstances—since the energy of Nous's actual descent might annihilate Mr. Yang and Sunday—Ms. Herta chose to give up the hard-won opportunity for an audience.
And in the next second.
As the screen blinked like an eye opening and closing.
Two familiar figures appeared in the game: one with brown hair and glasses, and one with blue hair and a pair of wings.
The dialogue boxes clearly read:
Sunday!
Welt!
Now.
Himeko finally knew where her intense unease had come from.
"Pom-Pom."
She turned her head. "I think... you need to carefully check if there's anything like cameras on our Astral Express."
Pom-Pom: "?"
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