*Chapter 20: Simulated Universe? Am I Really Fighting Jizo Mitama? Seriously?*

In the Herta Space Station office, which housed Herta's bust and a corner dedicated to the Simulated Universe...

There, the small Herta puppet stood with her hands on her hips, looking at a test report. Stelle stood quietly to the side, her gaze occasionally darting around.

Even the most restless person knows to be quiet when a doctor is reading your report. If they suddenly tell you to eat more of something or do something fun, it probably means your life is like a successfully packaged parcel, ready to be shipped out immediately.

Although Herta wasn't a doctor, and Stelle wasn't exactly a patient, showing this basic respect was still necessary.

"Data is all normal, Stellaron is stable too. The only difference from your last visit is that you've embarked on the Path of Preservation. I don't know if this will affect the Simulated Universe, like making you gain more favor from Qlipoth or attention from other Aeons," Herta stated, flicking the report in her hand. As she looked up, she found Stelle staring intently at her and expressed slight displeasure. "What are you looking at me for? Are other people's nostrils that interesting?"

Being stared at felt, to the puppet, like having someone stare directly into her nostrils. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, just strange. Nobody likes being stared at like that.

"They are beautiful," Stelle replied, giving a thumbs-up and sighing with admiration.

This wasn't flattery; she genuinely found Herta attractive.

"Tsk, I know that myself, no need for reminders."

Herta clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction, but seeing Stelle's apparently sincere praise, she couldn't really say much.

Seeing Herta fall silent, Stelle secretly thought the trick she learned from Jiang Liang was truly effective.

If Herta claimed EQ was useless for efficiency, just act like your EQ was too low to understand her words. Just go along with whatever she said; even if it was sarcasm, just praise her sincerely, and Herta wouldn't know what to say.

However, she hadn't been staring at Herta for no reason just now.

From Stelle's perspective, Jiang Liang was standing behind Herta, constantly touching and prodding her, occasionally even rubbing Herta's head.

Herta, naturally, didn't notice anything. But Stelle was genuinely curious about what Jiang Liang was doing, so she kept staring.

Meanwhile, Jiang Liang was fiddling with the Key of Erosion, Jizo Mitama, that he had obtained earlier.

After getting it, he hadn't paid much attention to this Divine Key. Firstly, its erosion function wasn't very useful on the train. Secondly, his attention at the time was entirely focused on whether Welt and Kevin Kaslana were from the same world.

Even after completing the Stigma Space mission and bringing Higokumaru out, he hadn't investigated Jizo Mitama closely until coming into contact with Herta just now.

Key of Erosion: Jizo Mitama.

It wields the power of erosion. Not only can it infiltrate various technological products to gain complete control, but it can also erode humans, having a unique and special effect on eroding the soul, allowing complete control over another's consciousness.

It can project the user's soul outwards and manipulate it freely.

Upon touching Herta, the long blade prompted him whether to erode. Jiang Liang subconsciously chose to use Jizo Mitama. In just moments, under Herta's complete unawareness, the erosion was complete, even providing various pieces of information about Herta.

Jiang Liang's first reaction was: Holy crap, it's a data breach !

Besides Herta's true location, he obtained all the information he could, including what materials were used, when the puppet was manufactured, what information it had previously received, and so on.

He even learned the puppet's three measurements.

The Key of Erosion could be used even in his 'behind-the-scenes spirit' state, provided he made contact. After using it, not only could he completely control the network operating Herta's puppets, but he could also gradually erode Herta's actual consciousness, similar to hypnosis. The difference was that hypnosis wasn't nearly as versatile.

"Since everything's normal, let's test the Simulated Universe later. This is the last time you'll be able to experience the old version. Once Screwllum arrives, the Simulated Universe will be updated immediately," Herta said, putting Stelle's data aside. Her face lit up with excitement when talking about the Simulated Universe.

"Although the new version will be better, and you'll experience more things, the corresponding randomness will decrease. What I fear most is running entirely identical data; there's no fun in that. Looking at completely identical data, my curiosity slowly fades."

She looked at Stelle, her eyes slightly raised, her tone like that of a creepy uncle luring a little girl to see goldfish. "Well? Test or not? Don't you want to know the secrets of the Aeons? Don't you want to know the origins of the universe? Taking a step back, don't you want to know the secret gossip between Aeons?"

Put nicely, it's 'secrets'; put bluntly, it's 'gossip.'

Herta felt this bait would surely hook Stelle.

"Accept it," Jiang Liang suddenly spoke through Stelle's mouth. "I happen to be interested in this Simulated Universe too. I also need to test if this new thing in my hand works on this so-called Simulated Universe."

Stelle saw Jiang Liang stop his actions towards Herta. A pitch-black tachi she had never seen before had appeared in his hand at some point.

The tachi gave Stelle a very uncomfortable feeling. It seemed to exude malice, affecting the surrounding environment. Just looking at it made her whole body feel uneasy.

After a moment's hesitation, Stelle nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go in !"

The Simulated Universe was always in a ready state. As Stelle entered, she found Jiang Liang also appearing inside, holding that pitch-black tachi.

The first thing he did upon entering was thrust the tachi into the ground, his expression full of eager anticipation.

"Key of Erosion, activate !"

The next second, lines of garbled code flashed incessantly across the Simulated Universe's debugging interface.

Jizo Mitama had begun to erode the Simulated Universe.

[TN: Yep another story in this chapter raw?? Should I just remove it or translate it too? ]

Synopsis: After transmigrating to Nagazora City in the Honkai world and learning it was early 2014, right before the outbreak of the Third Honkai Eruption, Lin Yu chose a path:

If you can't out-grind them, grind them to death !

His precious Honkai... Today, daddy's gonna grind you to death !

Second day after transmigrating to the Honkai world:
System: Host, here are Kiana Kaslana (Tuna), Raiden Mei (Chef), Bronya Zaychik (Werewolf)... these budding beautiful girls. There are also Himeko Murata, Cocolia... these mature women full of charm...
Shut up ! Don't disturb my dao heart !
Although I out-grinded the Herrscher of Thunder, it's not enough ! Continue grinding !

Fortieth day after transmigrating to the Honkai world:
Today, I out-grinded Chiyou, but it was entirely kill-stealing. Still not enough ! Continue grinding !

Eighty-fifth day after transmigrating to the Honkai world:
Today, I bisected the kidney-deficient Kevin, but it's still not enough ! Continue grinding !

One hundred and fifteenth day after transmigrating to the Honkai world:
Although Otto Apocalypse has been dealt with, he didn't get the chance to become a pseudo-god. Dead is dead. Continue grinding !

Two hundred and thirty-sixth day after transmigrating to the Honkai world: Lin Yu, having grinded for eight months, gazed at the Cocoon of Finality before him in the Imaginary Space, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Yo, Cocoon. Are you ready?"
"Now, I come to embrace you."
— A player from the Honkai world.