*Chapter 22: Herta? Silver Wolf? You Dare Kill My Code? !*

What were the odds of both the Simulated Universe and a puppet malfunctioning at the same time?

Before today, Herta would have confidently told you the probability was zero.

She had absolute confidence in her technical abilities and trusted the skills of the geniuses in the Genius Society.

But after entering the Simulated Universe this time, everything changed.

The progress bar in the top right corner filled rapidly. Backup puppet number #73's perspective activated. The moment the connection succeeded, data streams from this puppet flooded Herta's senses, like being forced to gulp down ice water in winter. But this slight discomfort was nothing compared to the jolt the subsequent sight sent through her heart.

As her vision stabilized, the first thing she saw was another face almost identical to her own.

It was another Herta puppet, seemingly number #84, standing directly in front of the puppet she was connected to. It was so close she could almost see her own reflection in its eyes. However, what truly sent a chill creeping up Herta's spine was its gaze.

Those violet electronic eyes, identical to her own, were currently lifeless, staring fixedly like two cold glass beads – staring at her, or rather, at the puppet her consciousness was inhabiting.

It wasn't the gaze of a preset standby or patrol mode, nor any kind of puppet interaction expression she had programmed. It was a hollow stare, piercing through the puppet's shell to the operator linked behind it. It just stood there silently. As the garbled code began to infiltrate the Simulated Universe, its face would occasionally twitch erratically before returning to its blank state.

Yes, in Herta's mind, the designation for this puppet had already become "it," not "her."

For the first time, Herta experienced the uncanny valley effect with one of her own puppets.

The uncanny valley effect: Humans instinctively compare things they see to familiar objects to help understand them. When robots become highly realistic, humans subconsciously treat them as people, forming emotional connections. When the robot's behavior doesn't match these expectations, cognitive dissonance arises, leading to fear.

This mismatch usually manifests in appearance. If something resembles a human but has differences, it immediately triggers a primal danger warning.

With Herta's technical skill, this uncanny valley effect shouldn't exist in her puppets. Not only did the puppets look identical to her younger self, but if she wished, every single hair could be replicated exactly like the original, without any difference.

Yet, the current state of the Simulated Universe had forcefully resurrected this uncanny valley effect in her puppet.

This sensation was too foreign to her, foreign to the point of absurdity.

Is this puppet... really looking at me? The thought flashed through her consciousness.

"Hey ! What the hell is going on?" Herta's voice held an imperceptible tremor, overshadowed by annoyance at the unexpected situation and intense curiosity.

Geniuses aren't omnipotent. Faced with a sudden incident in her area of extreme expertise, transitioning from being the active controller to passively facing a situation spiraling out of control, Herta also felt a flicker of panic. But after that momentary instinct passed, the research instinct of a genius took over again.

Even now, she still believed the Simulated Universe was under control.

"What are you doing? Who allowed you to look at me like that? Program error? Respond ! Execute self-diagnostic immediately !"

She issued commands to the puppet before her, data streams scrolling madly in her eyes as she tried to forcibly regain control over the eerie puppet using her authority.

If she could control it, she could force a reboot, a format. If she could format it, Herta was confident she could reintegrate the puppet into her network within a second.

ACCESS DENIED. UNIDENTIFIED CODE DETECTED. AUTO-INITIATING ANTIVIRUS PROCEDURE.

The fragmented words pierced Herta's nerves like red-hot needles. Then, she watched as the code she inputted was completely erased by the very antivirus program she had designed. The Herta puppet outside the simulation slammed its fist down with a muffled thump, a rare look of焦躁 (jiāozào - anxiety/irritation) appearing on its small, exquisite face. "You dare use my antivirus against my code? !"

"You dare kill my code? !"

Herta tried to access it again, but after the automatic antivirus ran, the puppet became unresponsive, only emitting meaningless static from its mouth.

"Completely unresponsive... now this is interesting."

Seeing no reaction, Herta decisively gave up trying to connect, crossing her arms – a habitual gesture when thinking, retained even in puppet form. "Looks like it's not a simple program error or data overflow. This complete disregard for my highest authority commands means either its core logic has been completely rewritten in a way I can't comprehend, or... it's fundamentally not my puppet anymore."

"Tsk."

She clicked her tongue noticeably.

Zzzzz... Zzzzz...

There was new activity on the communication channel connected to the Simulated Universe.

"Kzzzzt... dying... your fault... kzzzzt... again..."

Stelle's voice, mixed with various static noises, was grating, enough to make one want to mute it immediately, like fingernails scratching on a chalkboard – blurry and incredibly irritating.

"Dying? ! Are you kidding me, Stelle? ! My research allows people to quit, allows others to walk away, but it does not allow anyone to die inside ! If you dare die randomly in my Simulated Universe, just you wait and see how I deal with you !"

No longer having time to worry about what happened to that puppet, Herta continuously debugged the Simulated Universe while maneuvering her current puppet towards an opening in the simulation.

She wasn't the only developer of the Simulated Universe. If the issue was something she couldn't fix alone, she would contact the other geniuses, who might or might not be available.

However, Herta didn't notice that as she passed the motionless puppet, it slowly turned its head towards the direction she was heading, then began mimicking her previous actions.

First, crossing its arms. Then, nodding, frowning, muttering. Finally, stopping.

Before leaving this space, Herta couldn't resist looking back one more time. Seeing the puppet still standing motionless in its original spot, she breathed a sigh of relief, feeling slightly reassured.

The turbulent data flow in the underlying space of the Simulated Universe continued.

Herta's violet crystal eyes stared ahead at the silhouette distorted in the flickering light – a fixed observation point she had set up, now like a contaminated mirror reflecting a blurry, yet equally returning, gaze.

Although the Simulated Universe was chaotic, she hadn't lost control. After leaving that space, she continuously jumped her consciousness between backup puppets. Some couldn't connect, others were still functioning normally like before. Herta resolved that after this incident, she would definitely upgrade the puppets periodically.

Absolutely couldn't just assume they were fine because they seemed to run okay !

After another consciousness jump, the simulated environment returned from the distorted scenery. The sky, previously resembling a poor imitation of abstract art, returned to normal.

"Tsk, weird. Even the environmental simulation started degrading earlier. I thought the spread was faster than expected, but getting closer to Stelle's location, things are normalizing? While I'd love to see how this ends, repairs are troublesome. Better get her out quickly."

Herta moved swiftly through this simulated space, planning to find the exit first before exploring the area where Stelle originally was.

She hurried towards the rift ahead that led out of this area. This was the backup body closest to Stelle's position. Barring any mishaps, she should find Stelle in a few minutes.

"This is..."

However, as she advanced, Herta's steps unknowingly slowed.

She frowned, seemingly unable to comprehend.

On the wall nearest the spatial rift, a particularly conspicuous spray-painted graffiti had appeared at some point: a strange figure with silver ponytails, wearing glasses.

Next to the graffiti was a line of text, clearly mocking:

Stellaron Hunters were here.

"Ha?"

In an instant, the intelligent Herta connected the Simulated Universe malfunction with this graffiti.

"Heh... hehehe..."

Naturally, Herta was furious.