Chapter 52: Don't Overthink It... I'm Very Satisfied (Please Give Five-Star Rating)
"What is wrong? Do you not like it?" Ruan Mei tilted her head, her voice a placid stream of scientific detachment. "Do not worry. The sensation will be highly comfortable."
"All the little darlings I have cultivated thoroughly enjoy the process."
She observed Leon's utter silence, a faint ripple of genuine puzzlement crossing her elegant features. This was a biological extraction tool she had personally engineered. Even the dormant planets she had breathed life into responded positively to her methods.
"How could any sane person possibly like this?" Leon stared at the questionable device in her hands, his jaw dropping in sheer disbelief. "This thing is not even half as appealing as the puppet Herta gave me!"
At least the Herta puppet had a cute, aesthetic appeal. What was the difference between using this bizarre biotech contraption and just taking care of matters himself in the bathroom?
"You should simply try it." Ruan Mei held the item out a fraction further. "I crafted this specifically for your physiology. While the exterior aesthetics might seem lacking to an untrained eye, its functional feedback is definitively superior to a mere mechanical jointed puppet."
She paused, her eyes narrowing just a fraction. "In the field of biological sciences and sensory stimulation, I am far more professional than Herta."
Her voice remained entirely calm, yet her expression carried a heavy, serious weight. It was clear she felt a sting of professional offense at the implication that her custom-made creation was inferior to a mass-produced doll. When it came to biotechnology and life sciences, she, Ruan Mei, bowed to no one.
"Is now really the time to be comparing scientific disciplines?!" Leon ran a hand down his face, feeling his sanity slipping away.
Right at that exact second, his sharp eyes caught a microscopic shift. The very corners of Ruan Mei's lips twitched upward, forming a tiny, fleeting curve.
The realization hit Leon like a physical blow. He had just been teased. This supposedly aloof, emotionless Genius Society member was deliberately messing with him.
"Miss Ruan Mei..." He deliberately dragged out the syllables, crossing his arms and feigning deep displeasure. "I am angry now. The kind of angry that cannot be easily placated."
"Rigorous scientific research also requires brief moments of relaxation." Ruan Mei gently retrieved the questionable instrument from his line of sight, casually setting it down on a pristine metallic laboratory bench. Her movements flowed with an effortless, natural grace.
"Besides, engaging in a conversation of this nature serves to bring us closer, does it not?" A faint, ethereal smile finally graced her features. "I learned this technique from the interastral network. By using humor, you should find my upcoming request much easier to accept."
Without a single warning breath, Ruan Mei lunged. Her hand darted forward with terrifying precision.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Leon's pupils contracted to pinpricks.
Relying on his vastly superior reflexes, he instantly shifted his weight, catching her slender wrists before she could secure her grip on him.
"Is it still not acceptable?" Ruan Mei blinked, a genuine look of confusion swirling in her large, striking eyes. "I calculated that you would be perfectly willing to accept the extraction by this point in our interaction."
As a pure, unadulterated scholar, every single one of her actions adhered to a brutally straightforward logic. She possessed zero interest in trivial social conventions outside the boundaries of her research. By carefully analyzing the daily behavioral data Herta had provided regarding Leon, she had formulated a precise, step-by-step strategy. The goal was simple: maximize Leon's favorability to successfully harvest the desired biological sample.
Her internal flowchart was terrifyingly clear. Step one: Identify the need for Leon's haploid cells. Step two: Obtain subject consent. Step three: Establish a positive interpersonal relationship. Step four: Deploy appropriate humor to bridge the emotional distance. Step five: Extract the target sample.
This extreme, linear logic dictated that every single action she took since stepping foot onto the Herta Space Station had been carefully calculated. It mirrored the exact same detached manipulation she would eventually use on Stelle. Yet, Ruan Mei was highly adaptable, adopting entirely different personas and attitudes depending on the specific psychological profile of her current research subject.
"You... what exactly do you take human emotions for?!" Leon felt a deep sense of unease settling into his bones. Something was wrong here. Twelve parts out of ten wrong.
He felt like a compressed spring. When dealing with innocent novices like March 7th, he was always calm, composed, and entirely in control. But facing a high-level player like Ruan Mei, he found himself constantly scrambling, his usual thick-skinned rhythm completely disrupted. For the first time in a long while, Leon found himself entirely out of ideas.
"Emotions?" Ruan Mei tilted her head, her tone remaining perfectly placid. "I do not require your emotions."
Among the four brilliant Geniuses who had jointly developed the Simulated Universe, Ruan Mei was, in truth, the most emotionally detached of them all. Far more so than Herta or the others. Perhaps, ever since the tragic passing of her parents, her capacity for normal human feeling had simply gone dormant, buried beneath layers of academic obsession.
"You might not need emotions, but you desperately need my cells. So, you are going to listen to me." Leon cut her off, his voice dropping an octave, carrying a new edge of authority.
"Alright..." Ruan Mei fell silent for a long moment. When she spoke again, her voice was noticeably softer. "I apologize. But I genuinely require your cellular sample with the utmost urgency."
"You are scheduled to depart with the Astral Express tomorrow morning, so..." She stepped into his personal space, closing the gap entirely. Her cool fingertips reached up, lightly tracing the line of his cheekbone. "I have no choice but to accelerate the process."
'Fine. I was overthinking things,'Leon reflected deeply within his own mind.'Did I not decide a long time ago, the moment I transmigrated into this universe, that I would bring all my favorite characters under my wing?'
Where had his usual bravado gone? He was the man who lived by the creed: Shy? Reserved? Impossible! If his skin was not thick enough, how could he ever hope to match the chaotic energy of the future Stelle? His ultimate rule had always been simple: As long as he refused to feel embarrassed, the embarrassment would solely belong to the other party!
Leon steadied his breathing and carefully examined the woman standing mere inches from him.
She wore a classic, high-slit modified Qipao that hugged her elegant figure perfectly. Her dark, silken hair was lightly swept up, secured by delicate plum blossom ornaments that caught the harsh laboratory light. The hollow cutout design at her shoulders was accented by fine, swaying tassels. A stunning necklace of ruby and pearl rested at her collar, the gems elegantly draping down between the lapels of her dress, drawing the eye to the pale skin of her neckline.
Reclaiming his initiative, Leon reached out and gently pulled Ruan Mei into a firm embrace.
They were now only millimeters apart. Their breaths mingled in the quiet air of the lab, and a faint, intoxicating fragrance of cold plum blossoms and sterile sweetness lingered around his senses.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Against his chest, Ruan Mei felt a sudden, strange spike of confusion. She could not comprehend why her own heart rate had suddenly accelerated to such a rapid rhythm.
Was this biological excitement? No, not quite. She possessed a flawless memory of the sheer, overwhelming thrill she had experienced upon gazing at Nous, the Aeon of Erudition. The sensation flooding her veins right now was fundamentally different from that cosmic revelation.
Was it nervousness? It had been far too long since she had last experienced genuine anxiety. So long, in fact, that the very concept of the emotion had nearly been erased from her biological memory.
"Meow..."
Down on the polished floorboards, a cluster of Cat Cakes blinked their large, doughy eyes in sheer curiosity, silently watching the two humans tangling together in the center of the laboratory.
"Cat Cakes."
Catching sight of the soft, bouncy little creatures out of the corner of his eye, Leon reached down with his free hand, unable to resist giving one of the squishy creations a gentle squeeze.
Oh, that is incredibly satisfying. So this was the legendary tactile feedback of a Cat Cake.
"You are familiar with my Cat Cakes?" Ruan Mei opened her eyes, her breathing slightly uneven. She casually wiped a stray bead of crimson from her pale finger, her other hand carefully sealing the freshly extracted cellular sample into a secure cryogenic vial.
"Did that not hurt?" Leon's mouth twitched as he watched her immediately focus on the vial.
Even after such an intense, intimate exchange, she still had not forgotten her primary experimental objective. Ruan Mei, you really know how to make a man feel entirely unaccomplished.
"Do not overthink it." Ruan Mei's voice was unusually soft, carrying a gentle cadence he had not heard before. "I once hypothesized that basic human instinctive desires were far too shallow to warrant my attention."
She looked down at the vial, then back up to his eyes. "Now, it seems my conclusion was far too arbitrary."
She had spent her entire life operating under the strict assumption that nothing outside the pursuit of absolute scientific truth could ever hold her interest. Yet, she had not expected to find herself so deeply immersed in an act she had once quietly disdained. The physical and emotional feedback of their closeness was, indeed, endlessly memorable.
However, she was a scholar first and foremost. She would never allow herself to be entirely bound by such chemical reactions. She could allow herself to be immersed, yes, but never addicted.
"Well, I suppose I should thank you for the compliment, then." Leon raised a single, amused eyebrow, adjusting his collar.
"Indeed." Ruan Mei stepped closer once more. "The former version of myself was always accustomed to savoring the mysteries of the universe entirely alone. Pausing in the present moment, yet always peering endlessly into the distant future."
She sighed, a quiet, breathy sound. "Perhaps, through day after day of isolated research, I have become just as difficult to comprehend as the very 'essence of life' I seek to study."
Having ensured the precious cells were perfectly preserved in their stasis unit, Ruan Mei returned directly to Leon's side. To his mild surprise, she willingly snuggled back into his embrace, resting her head against his chest and lightly breathing in his unique scent.
She had never once categorized herself as a lonely creature. But in this quiet, warm moment, looking back across the vast expanse of her past years, a sudden realization dawned on her. Perhaps her former self had been far too solitary after all.
Meanwhile, somewhere deep within her private office, a certain puppet-controlling Genius suddenly felt a deep, inexplicable sense of betrayal.
Herta: The feelings have faded! The feelings have definitely faded!
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