A Correction: This Is No Rumor
When Screwllum's greeting reached Bai Luoming's ears, he was taken aback. He hadn't expected that even Screwllum, who had just arrived at the space station, knew about this.
Herta didn't react much. She merely glanced at Bai Luoming before turning her gaze to Screwllum and speaking in a flat tone.
"To clarify, this is not a rumor."
As she spoke, she naturally reached out and took Bai Luoming's arm, pulling him from beside the doll to her side before emphasizing each word to Screwllum.
"Bai Luoming is my real boyfriend!"
Herta emphasized the word "genuine" very heavily, pronouncing it with exceptional clarity.
Bai Luoming didn't react much to Herta's words; he was simply shocked by the speed at which the news spread. It just goes to show that people can unleash tremendous energy when they're gossiping, let alone gossiping about a genius who has garnered worldwide attention.
"The news... spread so fast?" he muttered to himself, "It's only been a short time..."
Listening to Bai Luoming's words, Screwllum naturally analyzed his current thoughts, and then explained to Bai Luoming, "I think Mr. Bai is overthinking it. It's just one of my little habits."
"Upon landing on the space station, I routinely searched for recent trending topics in the station's public information feed. The topic of your relationship with Ms. Herta ranked first in terms of popularity, far exceeding all other items."
He paused, looked at Bai Luoming, seemingly weighing the pros and cons, and finally Screwllum, "However, judging from the current pace of development, I think we can easily conclude that this topic will likely make headlines across the galaxy in a very short time."
Based on Screwllum's description, Bai Luoming could roughly imagine what the scene would be like, but since things had come to this, there was no other way to remedy the situation.
With this in mind, Bai Luoming made a resolute decision: to abandon the plan!
Just as he was lost in thought, a slight stinging pain suddenly came from the soft flesh of his waist.
He gasped, then looked down to meet Herta's eyes, which seemed to be both smiling and not smiling.
She still had one arm around his, while her other hand had somehow reached down to his waist and was gently pinching the soft flesh there.
"Little guy, what's wrong?" Herta leaned close to Bai Luoming's ear, his moist breath tickling his earlobe. "Are you feeling like you're at a disadvantage being with me?"
Bai Luoming shuddered at the thought, his survival instincts kicking in instantly, and he quickly shook his head and said...
"Nonsense!"
Bai Luoming quickly explained, afraid that Herta might misunderstand something.
"It's just... it's just that there's been a lot of controversy surrounding the space station lately."
He sighed, a hint of helplessness on his face. "Everywhere I go, people are staring at me, making me almost afraid to go out."
Hearing this, Herta released his hand with satisfaction, but his fingertips gently traced his waist, causing a slight itch.
She gave a light snort, raised her chin, and said, "With me on the space station, who dares to say anything?"
"Let them talk," she said, lifting her chin and glancing towards the doorway as if she could see through the walls to the gossiping clerks. "They dare to talk nonsense to my face; I have plenty of ways to shut them up."
This protective attitude is simply domineering and unreasonable.
Screwllum stood quietly to the side, watching the two interact back and forth. At this moment, his meticulous logical core was filled with a dense array of question marks.
Based on his understanding of the Herta, this top-ranked member of the Genius Society had almost no room for anything else in his life but research.
The time-consuming, energy-draining, and illogically rewarding act of finding a partner simply cannot be included in her code of conduct.
This is absolutely not normal for the Herta.
But looking at the way Herta looked at Bai Luoming, and the emotions and possessiveness she showed for Bai Luoming in her eyes, they were so genuine.
In response to this situation, Screwllum quickly searched through a large amount of literature and could only attribute this anomaly to a concept that could not be quantified.
Perhaps... this is the magic of love.
Love is something that even Intellitron struggle to understand.
As the two drew closer and closer, with Herta even placing his hand on Bai Luoming's shoulder as if he wanted to stick to him, Screwllum finally felt that his processor was overloaded.
He coughed softly, interrupting the increasingly intimate atmosphere between the two.
"Ahem, Ms. Herta," he reminded her, "This is not the time for romance; we have serious business to attend to."
Upon hearing this, Bai Luoming felt as if he had been granted a pardon.
He immediately seized the opportunity to back down, moving slightly away from Herta to create a safe space of half a body length, and then let out a long sigh of relief.
Herta glanced at him with a hint of regret.
After all, teasing the still somewhat naive Bai Luoming is quite fun for her. Once he gets used to it, it probably won't be so enjoyable anymore.
She thought this to herself, but her expression returned to its usual indifference as she turned to Screwllum and got down to business.
"Well then, let's talk about that little girl who invaded the space station." Screwllum steered the conversation back to business, his tone even carrying a hint of admiration as he spoke of it.
Herta glanced at Screwllum, a slight smile playing on his lips, and said, "What? Eager to face your old rival?"
Screwllum did not deny Herta's words, frankly admitting, "It's undeniable that that kid has few rivals in the hacking field. However, we are not rivals."
He paused for a moment, then said seriously, "In my opinion, what happened between her and me was more like... a test from a senior to a junior."
Upon hearing this, Bai Luoming, who was standing to the side, almost burst out laughing.
There were even comments about an old man teasing a child. It's a pity we haven't seen Silver Wolf pull Screwllum's hat off yet, otherwise it would have been a very Elation scene.
He silently complained in his heart, but remained outwardly calm, continuing to play the role of a quiet background figure.
After hearing what Screwllum said, a hint of interest flashed in Herta's eyes.
"Then let's proceed according to plan." Her voice regained its usual calm and decisiveness. "Lead her into the Simulated Universe."
"There, all her methods will be recorded, and we can also take the opportunity to test the Simulated Universe's defense system."
Screwllum nodded in agreement, quickly calculating the advantages of the plan. "Good idea. The Simulated Universe environment is completely controllable, allowing us to observe the upper limits of her capabilities without causing any substantial damage to the space station. This is the optimal solution."
The two bigwigs of the Genius Society quickly reached a consensus in just a few words, laying a trap for Silver Wolf.
As Bai Luoming listened to their conversation, he silently mourned for Silver Wolf's seventy-six accounts for a moment.
But when Bai Luoming thought of the scene of Silver Wolf crying and making a fuss because his account was banned, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.