Even the Great Herta Was Surprised

The Great Herta's gaze shifted between the computer screen and her phone screen, her slender fingers dancing across the keyboard.

In just a short time, she pulled off a stunning feat.

She turned one thousand dollars into one hundred thousand.

The entire process flowed smoothly, without the slightest pause.

In the Great Herta's eyes, this world's stock and cryptocurrency markets were riddled with loopholes, their rules as loose as a spiderweb.

She casually spotted a few patterns in price fluctuations and exploited a few timing differences and information asymmetries. The money multiplied like a snowball rolling downhill.

Every move was astonishingly precise, as though she had foreseen every second of the market's fluctuations.

Standing nearby and witnessing this feat of financial magic, Lin Hai couldn't help exclaiming:

"At this rate, won't we never run out of money?"

The Great Herta shook her head gently, her eyes still fixed on the constantly shifting stream of data.

"Money is only a tool for allocating resources. Once I have enough resources, money loses its meaning."

Her tone was matter-of-fact, as though stating the simplest of truths.

"But I still need it," Lin Hai admitted honestly.

The Great Herta finally looked up from the screen. "Use this hundred thousand dollars for now. We'll talk about the rest later. Moving too aggressively could attract regulators' attention."

Lin Hai looked a little worried. "Won't a sudden windfall like this get investigated? Or are we already under scrutiny?"

"Don't worry." The Great Herta's tone was confident. "This system has far more loopholes than you think. No one can trace where this money came from."

The drone on her shoulder flashed blue, as if to back up her words.

Lin Hai let out a long breath and said in sincere admiration, "Great Herta, you're... really incredible."

At that moment, the Great Herta stood up. "It's time for me to go back."

Lin Hai handed her the Lucky Star, which was giving off a faint glow.

The Great Herta gripped it tightly, and her figure vanished from the room in an instant, leaving behind only a barely perceptible trace of starlight.

The next moment, the Great Herta pulled Lin Hai into the Herta Space Station.

Lin Hai instinctively looked around. He was in a massive ring-shaped alloy room, with a vast, boundless starfield beyond its transparent dome and countless stars twinkling in the distance.

Holographic interfaces floated above high-tech consoles, all manner of instruments emitted a soft glow, and robots glided silently along predetermined tracks...

Lin Hai was so awestruck by everything before him that he couldn't speak.

He had never imagined that one day he would see such advanced technology with his own eyes, much less stand inside a real space station.

Looking out over the entire starfield.

The Great Herta smiled gently at Lin Hai's astonished expression. "Welcome to the Herta Space Station."

A trace of barely perceptible pride entered her voice, as though she were showing off her finest work.

And for Lin Hai, everything he saw was beyond anything he had imagined!

The corridors of the Herta Space Station were like tunnels through which a river of technology flowed.

Lin Hai followed the Great Herta through them, as though traveling through a world of the future.

Streamlined blue data patterns rippled across the walls on either side from time to time, silent yet full of rhythm.

Even more striking was every Herta Puppet they encountered along the way.

Whether hurrying along with a data pad in hand or standing at a laboratory entrance verifying access permissions, each would stop as the Great Herta passed, nod slightly, and cast a respectful glance at the Great Herta's true body.

"They're all extensions of my consciousness," the Great Herta said evenly. "Their efficiency far exceeds that of ordinary people. Even trained researchers may not compare to them. They're the ideal vessels for scientific exploration."

The two eventually arrived before a massive curved sealed door.

The door slid open soundlessly, revealing an immense, pristine white space.

This was one of the Great Herta's core laboratories.

The temperature inside was constant, the airflow gentle, and a faint, clean scent like a mixture of ozone and metal hung in the air.

Countless precision instruments operated quietly, their indicator lights blinking on and off.

Numerous Herta Puppets moved busily among them, their movements coordinated and efficient, like a swarm acting under a single mind.

Lin Hai couldn't help being awed by this highly ordered technological marvel beyond imagination.

He instinctively reached out and lightly touched the surface of a laboratory bench beside him.

The bench instantly glowed faintly, displaying real-time parameters for the current environment:

Temperature, humidity, air pressure, and even the gravitational fine-tuning coefficient and oxygen content in specific areas...

Everything could be precisely controlled!

The Great Herta walked straight to a levitation field in the center of the laboratory and placed the Lucky Star inside it.

The field activated, and the Lucky Star hovered quietly, slowly rotating as it gave off a soft glow.

The next moment, a variety of cutting-edge scanners extended from different directions, examining and analyzing the Lucky Star from every angle.

Data cascaded across the enormous light screens around them like a waterfall.

Many puppets also connected to the research network at once, efficiently mobilizing computing resources in an attempt to decipher the Lucky Star's physical composition.

However, the preliminary results rendered every conventional analytical method ineffective.

"Incredible..." The Great Herta stared at the constantly flashing "ERROR" messages on the screen,

unable to suppress a quiet exclamation of amazement.

Scanning beams couldn't penetrate its surface, and high-energy particles bounced straight off after striking it. Its surface was far harder than any known substance!

"Its structure... is denser than anything imaginable." The Great Herta turned to Lin Hai. "It was formed by being bound together by some powerful force field we can't understand."

She operated the instruments, magnifying the microscopic images to their limit, but the Lucky Star's surface remained an impenetrable haze.

Lin Hai suddenly thought of the Three-Body Problem, of the Trisolarans' wondrous creation.

The Droplet.

Incomparably hard.

Brimming with destructive power!

The Great Herta asked softly, "Where exactly did this thing come from?"

"I don't know where it came from either. It suddenly appeared outside my door."

The Great Herta's desire to study it was fully ignited.

She ordered tests using a variety of extreme chemical reagents, from strong acids to strong alkalis, as well as extreme conditions simulating a stellar environment.

Yet the Lucky Star remained completely unscathed by these assaults, as still and silent as before.

The Great Herta's expression gradually shifted from grave to excited and curious.

A phenomenon that couldn't be explained within the framework of existing science was precisely the kind of puzzle a genius like her craved.

Seeing this, Lin Hai spoke up at just the right moment. "Actually, I know it has some... other functions."

"What functions?" The Great Herta's interest was instantly piqued, and she focused all her attention on Lin Hai.

Several puppets nearby also stopped what they were doing in unison, as though the entire laboratory were holding its breath, waiting for his next words.

"I can demonstrate," Lin Hai said.

The Great Herta planted her hands on her hips. "I'm looking forward to it! Please start right away!"

Through the Lucky Star, Lin Hai had gained Sparkle's [Unreliable Narrator] skill, which could render him invisible for ten seconds.

He activated the ability immediately. In an instant, he vanished, as though he had disappeared into thin air.