Ruan Mei's Creation

After completing the formalities, Jingxing returned to the space station.

Herta's office was at the very back of the top floor. When Jingxing stepped onto the stairs, the door slid open automatically. The first things to catch his eye were still the rows of light screens, their streams of data racing past. Only then did he notice the people inside.

There were two this time.

The Herta Puppet lounged in a swivel chair, one leg draped over an armrest. On the sofa opposite her sat Ruan Mei, holding a small glass dish.

Hey, hey, hey. Don't tell me they want me to help Ruan Mei with an experiment, Jingxing muttered inwardly. His gaze drifted back involuntarily as he began preparing to run.

"Come on in. Don't worry," Herta said without looking up. "With me here, Ruan Mei won't eat you."

As soon as she finished speaking, Ruan Mei turned and sized Jingxing up. She nodded, as if greeting him, or perhaps agreeing with Herta.

"Sit." Herta raised her chin, indicating that Jingxing should take the other, unoccupied sofa. Two silver-gray mechanical arms extended from either side of it, each tipped with a machine whose purpose was impossible to discern.

After Jingxing sat down, the two machines moved in front of him from either side, emitting a faint hum. Then they lit up and began scanning him up and down.

But compared to the last time he had been scanned here, Jingxing was less nervous. Last time, his palms had been drenched in sweat. Now, sitting in a room with two geniuses, his heartbeat hadn't even skipped a beat.

I've grown quite a bit too, haven't I? he said to himself.

"How have your eyes been feeling lately?" Herta got up and stood in front of Jingxing, tilting her head as she asked. Ruan Mei also pricked up her ears, waiting for his answer.

"They don't hurt at all anymore," Jingxing replied. "Compared to before, these eyes have gone from a burden to a considerable asset. I really have you to thank for helping me, Ms. Herta."

"Where did you go and what did you do after leaving me?" Herta pressed, reading the machines' scan results.

Jingxing told her everything he could about his travels over the past two months.

Herta raised an eyebrow. "You went to Zhuming... to have a Curio made for me?"

"I really can't hide anything from you, Ms. Herta. That was indeed what I had in mind at the time."

"You'd better not have done that." The Herta Puppet looked disdainful. "Zhuming's metallurgy is certainly impressive, but Curios created by human intelligence are beneath my notice."

Although he felt that the puppet before him had subtly dismissed both his and Yunli's intelligence, it was hard to stand tall when he was in debt. Jingxing obediently relayed what Keliou had said at the time.

Herta snorted. "So you came back from Zhuming empty-handed?"

"Not exactly. Yunli helped me forge a paintbrush that I'm very happy with." Jingxing smiled. "Now I can create Curios that interest you with my own hands."

"You're that confident?" The Herta Puppet looked unconvinced. "So that's why you're planning to go to Azure Star?"

Before Jingxing could answer, Ruan Mei unexpectedly cut in. "I heard that your eyes can see the flow of Path energy. Please look here, then."

She pinched two fingers together, and the fragments in the glass dish resonated. Before long, a pastry appeared in Ruan Mei's palm. If one ignored the fact that its filling had grown eyes and a cat's tail, it looked quite tasty.

"Please tell me what you see." Ruan Mei held out her hand, showing Jingxing the creation in her palm up close.

After examining it carefully, Jingxing began to answer. "A ball of light, but its colors are clearly divided into layers. The shell is rather cold and hard, but the catlike part is very active. It's practically no different from a normal living being..."

His voice grew quieter toward the end. Creating life on a whim—was this the power of a genius? And for some reason, a trace of Imaginary Energy was seeping out of the Cat Cake and connecting to the Herta Puppet.

The Herta Puppet didn't seem to have noticed. She was organizing the data she had collected. Jingxing couldn't see the data, but he noticed Herta turning pages more and more slowly. Finally, she stopped and didn't move for a long while.

"A very useful ability," Ruan Mei said of Jingxing's answer. She also noticed his gaze shifting between her palm and the Herta Puppet. "And it seems you saw more answers."

Just as Jingxing was about to brush it off, Herta's eyes lit up, and she nodded in satisfaction. "Just as expected of me."

He had seen that look many times before: in Robin's eyes when she saw listeners delighted by her singing; in Yunli's when she found a worthy opponent; in Mr. Sunday's when he heard that Jingxing had sensibly come to Herta Space Station instead of staying by Robin's side...

The Herta Puppet looked adorable when her eyes lit up, but unfortunately, that light flashed and vanished so quickly that he might have imagined it.

Still, she flicked a finger, and the two machines stopped.

"All right." Herta leaned back in her chair, her tone nearly as flat as Ruan Mei's. "I've recorded the new data. There were some interesting findings this time, so I'll deduct a hundred million Credits from your debt. You can go."

"That's it?"

"What else? Should I give you a certificate?" The Herta Puppet looked at him strangely. "Or would you rather I stick a little red flower on your face?"

Jingxing took the hint and shut his mouth. Herta tilted her head toward the window. "See Asta about the paperwork for going to Azure Star. She's been waiting for you in the station master's office for ages. She'll arrange your accommodation, permits, transportation, and everything else. Don't go running around Azure Star on your own. If you cause any trouble..."

Herta narrowed her eyes. "You should know that I'm Azure Star's protector."

"Thank you for your generosity, Ms. Herta. I'll be careful." Jingxing rose and bowed to each of them.

Just as he reached the door, Ruan Mei suddenly spoke again. "If you really can't pay it back, I can help you clear the debt."

Jingxing waved a hand. "I can't give you what you want, Ms. Ruan Mei, so please don't bring it up again."

Was there really anyone willing to offer their own body for someone else's biological experiments? Of course, the great body donors were the first to be excluded from that question.

In any case, Jingxing wasn't willing.

"It's all right. If you run into something you can't resolve yourself in the future," she said, "you can always change your mind and come to me. My disposition is much better than Herta's."

"Ruan... Mei!" The Herta Puppet's voice turned cold.

"Farewell." Ruan Mei smiled faintly at Jingxing and lowered her eyes again, as if she had said nothing.

The door closed behind him. Only after Jingxing had walked through two corridors did he realize that the back of his shirt was soaked with sweat.

He braced himself against a wall and stood there for a while before recovering.

"Geniuses are terrifying."

Once he paid back the Credits he had signed for, he would never come to this godforsaken place again.