*Chapter 18: Herta, Come Here, Let Me Test You*

The alarm clock in the room suddenly rang. Stelle groggily reached out, fumbling around the bedside table.

Ringalingalingaling !

Where's the alarm clock?

The clock, usually within easy reach, seemed impossible to find now. As time ticked by, Stelle’s eyes snapped open. The fumbling hand clenched into a fist, and she sat bolt upright in bed, launching a heavy punch towards the alarm clock.

As her fist passed through the clock and the table, Stelle remembered that she was currently in that state where no one could see her.

Yesterday, she and Jiang Liang had stared each other down, finally deciding to split the night – the first half belonged to her, the second half to Jiang Liang.

She had drifted off sometime during the second half of the night.

Being detached from her body didn't mean she couldn't sleep, but it was a state where she couldn't feel anything, which was quite uncomfortable.

Jiang Liang wasn't in the room. The door was closed. Stelle thought for a moment, got out of bed, passed straight through the door, and headed towards the Parlor Car.

Passing through the car door, she heard March 7th's bright laughter from afar.

"Look, Higokumaru !"

March 7th stood by the window, holding a rubbing-her-eyes Higokumaru. The pink-haired girl's eyes sparkled as she pointed outside at the colossal structure. "That's the outer ring of the Herta Space Station ! Amazing, right?"

Stelle looked out the window. A completely different scene greeted her eyes. A massive ring-shaped structure floated in the deep expanse of the universe, countless geometric modules precisely joined and interlocked, its surface gleaming with the unique luster of metal. It was indeed the Herta Space Station, home to Herta, member #83 of the Genius Society.

The Express had already entered the Herta Space Station and was now hovering quietly in a safe orbit. The only people in the car were March 7th and Jiang Liang, who was sitting on the sofa scrolling through his phone, looking like he hadn't been up for long.

Higokumaru tilted her head in confusion, paws pressed against the porthole, her nose leaving a cute little round print on the glass. She stared at the metallic giant outside, more complex than any star, her ears twitching, clearly unable to comprehend this behemoth that exceeded her scope of understanding.

"You're up quite early," Stelle yawned, strolling over languidly to sit beside Jiang Liang, her hands habitually tucked into her pockets.

"Have you seen this before? It's called the Herta Space Station," Jiang Liang said.

"I'm not a caveman. Don't you have a phone too?"

Jiang Liang waved the phone he was holding. He had previously asked Stelle if he could borrow it. Stelle had agreed and even helped him create a software account. He just needed to switch to that account to use it; the browser was brand new.

There was only one condition: he couldn't switch to Stelle's account and open her browser bookmarks or history.

Jiang Liang deeply understood why.

If someone saw his, he'd probably explode on the spot too.

During the time he had the phone, Jiang Liang's first priority was to understand this world. He quickly grasped a corner of it.

What...
Why didn't he just go to the Data Bank?
Sorry, can't do that for now. Going into someone else's room while they're asleep and rummaging through their things... the last time I did that was as an adventurer in a game.
People who enjoy being adventurers are often the type of brats who'd smash someone else's pottery with a baseball bat.

Slowly looking through, Jiang Liang learned more and more: Paths, Aeons, Emanators...

Aeons shape reality, erase stars, leaving their marks across countless worlds. Beneath the Aeons exist Emanators. Forget destroying worlds; burning galaxies, firing arrows that traverse spacetime, even surviving being thrown into a black hole – such things existed.

Even more outrageous was a Path called Propagation. Jiang Liang saw records stating that during the peak of the Path of Propagation, if you shattered glass, it would be seen as an act of propagation, and bugs following the Path of Propagation would leap out from the shards.

This was truly hard to accept.

After getting a general understanding, Jiang Liang gazed melancholically out the window.

Whose Warhammer 40k setting is this?
Why are there Aeons here? When will Grandpa Emperor shatter an Aeon with a pebble?

"Why do you look so sad?" Stelle asked.

"It's nothing. Uncle Welt said that when I have time later, I should get off the train and meet Herta. He said she needs to do a physical check-up. I searched for Herta's entry... anything I should be aware of?"

Before Stelle arrived in the car, Jiang Liang had already run into Welt.

As previously agreed, he needed to find Herta for a physical examination. Although he had never met Herta and only knew a little from the profile provided by the Interastral Peace Corporation, he had agreed.

"Not really. Everyone thinks Herta's personality is a bit odd, but I think she's just straightforward and doesn't like wasting time on useless things," Stelle said, then asked in a low voice, "Should we go see her now?"

"Yeah, let's go."

The two set off towards the train car exit.

Down below was the platform in the Supply Zone. A few researchers in white lab coats were chatting idly by a vending machine. Above their heads, three cylindrical delivery drones hummed past. One of them carried a plastic bag from which the steam of boxed fried rice was still rising.

"Oh, those are meal delivery drones. I'm actually curious, is that fried rice freshly made or pre-packaged? If it's freshly made, where's the kitchen on the space station? If it's pre-packaged, isn't that a bit sad?"

Stelle saw Jiang Liang staring intently at the small robots for quite a while and figured he might be interested in them, so she explained.

"With the space station's technology, even if it's pre-packaged, it's probably the tasty, steaming hot kind, right?"

Jiang Liang retracted his gaze, chatting idly with Stelle as they turned the last corner, passed through the Supply Zone, and arrived at the Reception Center. The entire view of the Base Zone suddenly opened up. The large, arc-shaped hall buzzed with voices.

It was much more crowded here, with all sorts of people moving about.

At the information desk to the left, people in IPC uniforms were negotiating with researchers. One of them clutched a crumpled contract, fine beads of sweat dotting his forehead. Beside him stood an adventurer wearing goggles, impatiently tapping his foot.

In the central rest area, several space station researchers were huddled on floating sofas, engaged in heated debate. A female researcher with a purple ponytail was demonstrating something with a holographic projector. The distorted star map in the projection made everyone around her grimace. If you listened closely, you could hear wails like, "I'm never choosing this major again in my next life !"

Meanwhile, those few small delivery drones floated quietly by a table, patiently waiting for something.

Unnoticed by anyone, data cables extended from their bodies and connected to ports in the reception hall. Small screens flickered with streams of blue gibberish.

When the data cables retracted, the blue gibberish vanished, and everything returned to normal.

After using Stelle's identity authentication, passing through a corridor, and taking an elevator, they soon arrived at the Master Control Zone.

"You finally arrived."

Standing there by the railing, looking slightly impatient, was a puppet about 1.6 meters tall, resembling a petite girl.