Chapter 19

—But this was the Simulated Universe.

The Path was far from complete. At most, it could support a Walker who had only just stepped onto it for a brief exploration. The footprints he left as he moved forward would become new waterways, after which the Simulated Universe's autonomous operation would gradually refine them and trace out a magnificent river.

At that moment, the Simulated Aeon stirred up towering waves, commanding the Path and attempting to appoint an Emissary. It was no different from demanding that a freshly sprouted seed immediately bear plump fruit.

The immature Path of [Memory] could not fulfill the Aeon's decree. Even its own operation began to malfunction, and the errors rapidly spread.

It descended into chaos, becoming a flaw in the Simulated Universe. In an instant, the damage spread from a single point across the whole system, making the virtual world impossible to maintain. Its structure collapsed and came crashing down.

"..."

In the office, the Genius was at a loss.

The accident had happened too quickly. She had not been able to repair the flaw before the program completely stopped running. There had been no time at all.

Watching Hua Yi be forcibly ejected from the Simulated Universe and return to reality, the expression on Herta's face changed repeatedly. In the end, she abandoned a Genius's pride and asked.

"What happened?"

"The Aeon of Memory's simulacrum appeared and tried to stir the Path."

Of course Herta knew that. Even though she could not observe everything that happened after Fu Li appeared, she could determine the origin of the Simulated Universe's collapse through the backend data.

No, was the masterpiece created jointly by Geniuses really this fragile? It malfunctioned whenever it felt like it and crashed whenever it felt like it?

Forget the grand ambition of exploring Aeon Mysteries that had existed when the Simulated Universe was first constructed. Even an ordinary online game would be an unqualified, shoddy product if players disconnected the moment they logged in.

And there was only one tester right now.

For a moment, Herta almost felt like she was a rookie programmer who had spent countless resources carefully writing a program, confidently presented it to others, and then found it riddled with bugs, with each test exposing another problem.

If the events of these two Simulated Universe tests were applied to reality, could two Aeons have stared at the same person for an extended period one after another?

As a rigorous seeker of knowledge, Herta would not rashly answer, "Impossible." But she could state with certainty that the odds were terrifyingly low.

Does my Simulated Universe really have this many problems?

Or rather—was the true anomaly not the program or the machine, but the person who entered it?

Before he had even stepped onto a Path, he possessed incredibly refined Imaginary manipulation abilities. And that Outworld Blaze from earlier had posed too little of a threat. It clearly had not forced Hua Yi to use his full strength.

But would Aeons truly pull specific targets onto their Paths indiscriminately based solely on things like aptitude and talent?

This time, it was Herta's turn to stare at Hua Yi. Unlike the Aeon simulacra, whose slightest movement could cause abnormalities in the Simulated Universe, Genius Miss had plenty of time to observe him. She could circle around him, examining him from left to right, from head to toe, again and again without a single blind spot.

"As you can see, the Simulated Universe has malfunctioned again. I'll repair it. Don't leave yet—sit here for now."

"Then wait for the repairs to be finished before going in for another test?"

"No, I won't be able to fix it anytime soon. But I want you to stay first."

Hearing that, Hua Yi understood that Genius Miss had developed an urge to investigate him.

An expected development.

Since he had decided to use the Simulated Universe to understand the Paths, experience the mysteries of personally walking them, and even attempt things that could not easily be tried in reality, all sorts of unusual phenomena were bound to arise—and Herta, the system administrator, would witness them.

"If drawing an Aeon's attention causes the Simulated Universe to collapse, does that mean I won't be able to try stepping onto simulated Paths again in the future? Or continue being a tester?"

"What kind of joke is that? What tester gets replaced just because they discovered a program bug?"

The doll-like girl stared intensely at Hua Yi.

"You are the most suitable candidate to test the Simulated Universe. No one else comes close."

Originally, Herta had never intended to study Aeons in a conventional, step-by-step manner. They had never followed common sense. When Hua Yi had previously mentioned constructing Virtual Paths, she had considered using rollback data to let him experience the Simulated Universe repeatedly, stepping onto a different Path each time, or even trying to become a Walker of multiple Paths in a single simulation.

Now that Mister Tester had displayed a peculiar quality capable of affecting Aeon simulacra, Genius Miss was even less likely to let him go.

"Earlier, you said you wanted my Automata to protect the Safe Zone in emergencies. That hardly counts as a request. In essence, it merely strengthens the Space Station's defenses. Do you have any personal wishes? You have sufficient value and are qualified to make requests of me. I'll use resources beyond this Space Station to fulfill them."

"My wish is for Madam Herta to grant me one hundred wishes."

"Fine, quite the idea. Then, when you make your hundredth wish, you'll ask me to grant you a thousand wishes, or ten thousand wishes, right? I refuse."

Genius Miss rejected him cleanly and decisively, without the slightest hesitation.

You Stay Here

How could a Genius do something so foolish? Just because she had voluntarily said Hua Yi could make requests of her, did that mean she had to fulfill all his wishes? That would be absurd.

What if Hua Yi said he wished to become an Aeon... no, something even bolder—what if he wished to stand above the Aeons? Was she supposed to find a way to make that happen too?

As if she could.

The doll-like girl pursed her lips.

"Be realistic, okay?"

"The Simulated Universe has malfunctioned twice in a row, and Madam Herta has been responsible for repairing it both times. I can imagine that after changing Paths, or even stepping onto several simulated Paths at once, more complicated situations will inevitably arise. I'll still need your help to resolve them. I only hope Genius Miss won't find me troublesome when that happens."

"I would only find something troublesome after losing interest in it. Do you know what it would mean if I lost interest in the Simulated Universe? It could only mean I had found a better method to study Aeons, or that I had already obtained every answer the Simulated Universe could possibly reach!"

Herta imagined that situation, and even a Genius like her could not help but feel drawn toward it.

"I'll leave you this chance to make a request for the time being."

"Alright."

"What did it feel like when you stepped onto the Path of Memory in the Simulated Universe just now? The backend data is too chaotic, and much of it is damaged. I need your firsthand experience to determine whether the Path of Memory simulated at the start was functioning properly."

"Freezing snow and ice. It felt as though both space and time had solidified under the influence of [Memory]."

As she handled the Simulated Universe's programming errors and analyzed redundant data, Genius Miss conversed with Hua Yi, whom she had kept behind.

"According to legend, after all things return to final silence, Fu Li will use the universe's memories as a blueprint to guide all worlds toward rebirth—the [Garden of Recollection], which gathers precious memories throughout the universe, firmly believes this. If all living things are regarded as a great flood surging forward along the track of time, then [Memory] is indeed the ice that freezes it, preserving a single moment of that flood."

"Then the Path of Memory can affect time?"

The Memokeepers of the Garden of Recollection can only preserve the past and record the present. The only one who can truly be said to affect the river of time is probably the Aeon."

Topics concerning Sentient Celestial Bodies always fascinated Herta, and Hua Yi listened just as intently.

"Aeons have no past. From the moment they ascend, the past and future of their existence are submerged by their Paths. Do you understand?"

"So it isn't only the Path of Memory. Every Path can submerge a particular individual's time..."

"Once Aeons are involved, all reasoning is merely speculation. Across the universe, phenomena such as black holes and starquakes can alter spacetime curvature. Space and time were never indestructible concepts that applied equally everywhere in the sea of stars."

This guy's questions were pretty interesting.

If the Simulated Universe's malfunction this time had not been so severe—nearly contaminating all data other than the Aeon simulacra, requiring urgent repairs to prevent a chain collapse of data—then the doll-like girl would have looked Hua Yi in the eyes while speaking to him, to see what expression he wore when asking his questions.

"What, are you interested in [Memory]? Do you think that if you became a Walker of the Path of Memory, Aeon Fu Li would immediately favor you and reward you with an Emissary position?"

"I'm interested, but not enough to want to become an Aeon's Emissary."

"What's there to hide? Among the countless intelligent lifeforms in the universe, how many who know of Aeons and Emissaries haven't fantasized about being noticed by an Aeon and receiving their gaze? I'll say it again: the Simulated Universe is the Simulated Universe, and reality is reality."

Otherwise, if the real [Preservation] Qlipoth and [Memory] Fu Li both took an interest in Hua Yi, even Herta, who longed to witness the unknown, would find it difficult to smile.

Because that could very easily turn into a disaster.

[Propagation] Tayzzyronth had once erupted into a great war with [Voracity] Oroboros. The clash between the two Aeons affected two-thirds of the inhabited regions of the known universe, destroying countless star systems. Even if a battle between [Preservation] Qlipoth and [Memory] Fu Li over Hua Yi remained relatively restrained, Herta Space Station and the Azure Planet beneath it would be doomed to vanish into ashes.

Aeons fighting over someone was unrealistic.

Fortunately, it was unrealistic.

Herta stared at Hua Yi for a while longer.

"This time, I'll need several System Days to repair the Simulated Universe and preserve as much of the previous data as possible. The next time you enter for testing, you'll begin as a Pathstrider who has just stepped onto [Memory]. I hope Fu Li's simulacrum notices the problem then and stops casually stirring up fragile simulated Paths."

"So Aeon simulacra are completely beyond administrator control?"

"They can't be controlled, but they can be influenced indirectly. For example, I could assign you an identity and have you appear as the fallen [The Path of Exploration] Akivili. But you're already attractive enough. Stacking more buffs on you would just be deliberately challenging the Simulated Universe's limits, wouldn't it?"

And the facts had proven that the Simulated Universe had no right to endure the Sweeping Power of an Aeon simulacrum.

Aeons. What an exalted word. Even those false data constructs cultivated in imitation were so extraordinary. Their code could not be read directly like an ordinary program; one had to rely on chance encounters during simulated tests.

According to Herta's expectations, how could an Aeon simulacrum be so easily encountered? One would need to stack an identity as another Aeon first. Yet Hua Yi had repeatedly shattered her estimates.

"Say, why don't you just move into my office? Or I could place an Automaton in your dormitory to observe you around the clock."

"Please respect my privacy, Madam Herta."

"What, my Automata are so pretty, and you don't like them watching you? Or do you have some secret you can't let others know?"

She did not demand that Hua Yi give a definite answer. Genius Miss knew this guy had secrets. Otherwise, the entry for his home planet in his personal file would not have been garbled.

The clerk managing the files might have assumed it was a system error or a data flaw, but Herta could rule out those possibilities. Hua Yi had likely used his talent for Imaginary manipulation to deliberately corrupt the relevant information through the Space Station's terminals.

Herta had always treated people who interested her favorably. Just as Asta had been able to become the Station Master in one leap, Genius Miss would not investigate Hua Yi's little secrets for now.

"Handle any work here. Use that terminal over there. If you get hungry, call over a meal-delivery robot. Anyway, stay here with me as long as you can today."

The One Keeping Watch Might Be the Station Master

"Does anyone know where Lord Hua Yi went? Waiting online."

"What do you want? Going to run over and secretly take pictures again? It'd be one thing at other times, but every department is busy with defense projects right now. You can't be distracted either. Don't let something go wrong at the end and get our idol reprimanded by Madam Herta."

"To be fair, that's true."

"I understand, of course. But after Lord Hua Yi left the Monitoring Room, no one knew where he went. After our Department of Land Surveying conducted major maintenance on the department, we found the [Hunter of Comets' Treasure]. It's actually just something a former senior from our department left behind while trying to be mysterious. We wanted Lord Hua Yi to take a look at it."

"So you're trying to claim credit. Damn it, the Department of Land Surveying usually seems so honest, but at a critical moment, you're actually this sly!"

"So where is Lord Hua Yi?"

"No idea."

As more and more Fan Group members said they had not seen Hua Yi for several System Hours, and the Department of Secret Scrolls, Department of Legal Affairs, Department of Land Surveying, Department of Boundary Seeds, and Department of Applied Materials all gave the same answer, with someone even able to confirm that Hua Yi had not returned to his dormitory to rest, everyone gradually grew uneasy.

"So really, no one saw where Lord Hua Yi went?"

"Could there really be someone on the Space Station with ulterior motives? Or even some cosmic evil force targeting this place? Maybe they discovered that Lord Hua Yi had noticed something and wanted to strengthen security, so they secretly acted against him?"

"Huh?!"

"What do we do? What do we do now?"

Seeing the Fan Group descend into chaos, Asta could only speak using the identity of [Name Redacted] to calm everyone down.

"Don't panic, everyone. I know what happened. Lord Hua Yi went to Madam Herta's office. They should be discussing something important."

"Group Leader [Name Redacted] has appeared!"

"As expected of the Group Leader, she really has special channels for information."

"Right, Madam Herta's office is one of the few places on the Space Station that people aren't allowed to enter without permission—or even approach. No wonder we couldn't find him."

"It's only been such a short time, yet Madam Herta has summoned Lord Hua Yi again. Hehe, gold shines wherever it is. Truly dazzling stars are enough to draw a Genius's attention~"

Once they confirmed that their idol was safe and his career was still flourishing, the Chat Group became cheerful again.

Even ordinary staff members could say plenty about the deeds of Madam Herta, the true owner of the Space Station: Genius Club Member, savior of the Azure Planet, proposer of numerous important scientific theories...

The reason the Space Station could gather experts and scholars from across the universe, gain long-term support from the Interastral Peace Corporation, and earn the respect—or even fear—of different factions was primarily because of Madam Herta's name.

That Genius carried more weight than the entire Space Station.

And yet such a universe-renowned figure, who normally remained absent from the Space Station for long periods, had changed her usual ways because of Hua Yi and summoned a staff member again and again. What an honor.

Most people were delighted that their idol was so highly valued, but some girls whose thoughts did not follow the usual path raised a question.

"Do you think Madam Herta might like Lord Hua Yi too, just like we do?"

"You're actually using an ordinary person's way of thinking to speculate about a Genius. You really have quite the imagination."

"Exactly. That Genius has been famous for who knows how long. An age gap like that would be way too outrageous. If we're talking about compatibility, Station Master Asta and Lord Hua Yi are a much better match."

"Even if you haven't met Madam Herta's Automata in person, you've seen pictures, right? She looks even younger than Station Master Asta. Think about it: a petite and adorable-looking girl who is actually a mature, gentle older sister with vast experience. Her charm would be off the charts!"

Ordinary staff did not have the opportunity to meet Herta's Automata face-to-face, but their imaginations were certainly rich.

But Asta knew what Genius Miss was like. Seeing the group members get increasingly outrageous, she wanted to stop them but had no idea how to insert herself into the topic.

She could not exactly mute everyone directly.

"Remember, the Space Station is actually Madam Herta's warehouse for storing Curios. Everything that interests her is kept in No Heavens Left Unspoken. If Lord Hua Yi caught Madam Herta's interest, could he get locked in a little dark room too? That's terrifying."

"Eek!"