Herta Wants to Buy My Disguise? Easy There, Rich Lady

The last words from the communication screen still hung in the air.

A dull mechanical scrape came from the alloy ceiling overhead.

A concealed panel slid open.

Thud.

A doll in a purple-and-white dress dropped straight down.

It landed hard on the VIP Lounge's velvet carpet.

Without pausing, the doll planted both hands on the floor. Gears at its joints clicked rapidly into place.

She sprang up.

She darted around the coffee table, her short legs a blur, and charged straight at Su Chen on the edge of the sofa.

Her shoes made a quick series of muffled thumps on the carpet.

Half a meter from Su Chen's knees,

Herta's doll slammed on the brakes.

The sight of those three dolls losing their heads was still fresh in her mind. She didn't dare reach out and touch him.

The doll tipped her head back.

Greed shone openly in her exquisite mechanical eyes.

She looked like a gambler who hadn't eaten in three days and had just found a mountain of solid gold.

"Sell me the logic behind that reverse-intrusion code."

Herta's voice came from the doll's mouth, her words firing out like bullets.

Su Chen ignored her.

He looked down, his golden eyes fixed on the little hat atop the doll's head.

Inside his boot, his right toes quietly clenched around the insole.

The numbness had only just faded from his leg, and now the arch of his foot was cramping.

"Ten million Credits? No, a hundred million."

When he said nothing, Herta raised her offer.

"The Interastral Peace Corporation's highest-tier anonymous black card. I'll have Asta bring it to you right now."

Su Chen stopped breathing for half a second.

A hundred million.

Just yesterday, he had spent three minutes debating whether to add a marinated egg to his instant noodles.

Now a hundred million in cash had been thrown in his face.

His Adam's apple bobbed.

"Not enough?"

Herta planted her hands on her hips, and the doll leaned forward.

"Fair enough. Putting a price on technology that can crush the Stellaron Hunters is rather vulgar."

She bit the joint of her thumb.

Her mechanical fingers clicked together.

"Then I'll propose a different trade."

Herta's eyes blazed as she leaned so close she nearly touched Su Chen's face.

"I want a drop of your blood."

"No, a tiny piece of skin would do. I only need a little biological sample!"

A cold sweat broke out on Welt as he listened.

He planted his cane another inch forward.

A god's blood?

That request was no different from slapping an Aeon in the face.

Herta had no regard for anyone else's safety. Her mind was consumed by that unknown energy.

"Just say yes."

"Half the shares in Herta Space Station will be yours."

"Patent royalties, research funding, even the station's interstellar tax exemptions. I'll give you half of everything!"

The only sound left in the VIP Lounge was the crackle of logs in the holographic fireplace.

Inside his sleeves, Su Chen clenched his fists.

His nails dug deep into his palms, leaving pale crescents.

Half a space station.

A research center on a cosmic scale.

That meant a single nod would give him enough wealth to buy several planets.

He could lie on a bed of solid gold and count money until his hands cramped.

Say yes.

Hurry up and say yes!

Su Chen screamed inside.

All he had to do was hold out a finger and let her prick it. He would never have to worry about money again, not in this life or the next two.

But reason hit him like a bucket of ice water and doused his excitement.

I can't sell it.

If someone got a biological sample from the Avatar provided by the Myriad Worlds Role-Playing System and analyzed it, who knew what might go wrong?

More importantly, he was the Fourth Seat of the Imaginary Divine Court.

A supreme being who treated Aeons as subjects for containment.

Would a high-ranking figure of the Divine Court sell his blood for half a lousy space station?

If that image fell apart,

everything he had done to look formidable would become a joke.

Once the Astral Express Crew and Herta saw through him and realized he was an empty shell,

shares would be the least of his worries. He wouldn't even make it out of the VIP Lounge.

Su Chen released his clenched fists.

His chest rose and fell slowly.

He looked away from Herta and stared straight ahead at the gray-white wall.

The weighty divinity of Rex Lapis took command of his body once more.

"How could mortal possessions measure the worth of a god's body?"

A cool, mature woman's voice rang through the room.

There was no anger in it, nor any mockery.

Only a calm that left no room for hope.

Su Chen raised his chin slightly.

Two words left his lips, heavy as a mountain.

"Stand down."

With those words,

a dense surge of Geo burst from beneath his robe.

It did not form a Jade Shield.

It was pure, unrestrained pressure.

The air instantly grew heavier than mercury.

The pressure dragged the few specks of dust floating in the VIP Lounge straight down to the carpet.

The Copper Kettle on the coffee table gave a faint groan.

Herta's doll took the full force of it.

She never saw him move. It felt as though an invisible metal wall had slammed into her chest.

The miniature gyroscope inside the doll sounded a shrill alarm.

Its gears spun wildly without catching.

"Hey!"

Herta cried out.

The doll's feet slid backward across the carpet beyond her control.

They plowed two deep furrows through the soft pile.

She slid back a full two meters.

Only when her back struck the edge of the solid-wood coffee table did she barely come to a stop.

The white porcelain teacup on the table wobbled twice and nearly fell.

The pressure vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Su Chen withdrew the Geo.

He didn't dare keep it up too long, in case he crushed the rich lady's doll again.

She had offered him a hundred million, after all. Even if he couldn't take it, he wanted to stay on good terms with her.

Herta steadied herself.

The doll's mechanical neck clicked twice as she turned her head.

She stared at the woman on the sofa, who had not even changed her posture, her mechanical eyes full of frustration.

In that instant, her scanners had not caught so much as an energy spike.

That absolute dominance made her curiosity nearly burst.

But she also knew the woman really would kill.

The corpse of that Doomsday Beast outside the station hadn't even gone cold.

"Stingy."

Herta's doll folded her arms and turned her head away in a huff.

"If you won't sell, you won't sell. No need to act so mysterious."

She lifted a round-toed leather shoe and kicked the wooden leg of the coffee table hard.

Thump.

The sound was painfully conspicuous in the quiet room.

The situation became deeply awkward.

Welt's blood pressure nearly spiked as he watched.

The station's owner was used to doing as she pleased in the Genius Society. How could she be so blind to the situation?

If the Fourth Seat decided to kill,

all of them together wouldn't last against one of her hands.

Welt gripped his cane so tightly his fingers ached.

He wondered how many fractions of a second Eden's Star Mimic could buy them if the Fourth Seat attacked.

The answer was zero.

The atmosphere had gone so stiff it was nearly frozen.

Himeko glanced at Welt's whitening knuckles.

She drew a quiet breath and released her grip on her portable cutting gun.

Her red heels clicked against the hardwood floor.

She walked straight to the coffee table.

She placed herself between Herta's doll and Su Chen.

"Ms. Herta, we should be courteous to an honored guest."

Himeko's voice was gentle, but it carried a firmness that allowed no argument.

She turned around.

With her back to Herta, she faced Su Chen on the sofa.

An elegant, gracious smile replaced the tension on her face.

She bent slightly and lifted the red copper temperature-controlled kettle with both hands.

Her movements were gentle, as if the confrontation had never happened.

Himeko looked into the Female Lord's still, golden eyes.

"My lady, would you like to try some coffee I brewed myself?"