"Please! I'm begging you—just say yes!"
Herta threw herself onto Su Ran's leg with expert precision, hugging it like she'd practiced it thousands of times.
This wasn't her first time doing this.
And it sure as hell wouldn't be the last.
Raiden Ei, Raiden Makoto, and Kamisato Ayaka all stared, dumbfounded.
—Was this really the same proud, untouchable, universally-acclaimed genius from beyond the stars?
—Why was she suddenly clinging to someone's leg and begging??
A moment ago she wore arrogance like a crown.
Now she looked like a stray puppy abandoned in the rain.
The whiplash in personality was unreal.
Was she… suffering from multiple personalities?
Otherwise how could anyone explain this drastic switch?
"Aah… that familiar vibe."
Su Ran looked down expressionlessly at the girl wrapped around his leg.
"Yep. That's the Herta I know."
He wasn't shocked at all.
He was used to it.
"I'll agree," he said at last, "but you're paying for the terminal yourself."
The instant she heard "I'll agree,"
Herta let go, stood up, and patted the dust off her skirt— like she hadn't just been groveling on the floor ten seconds ago.
"No problem! Just send me the address and I'll ship it over!"
A terminal was just a computer.
She didn't need to build it—just buy one.
"Zero, zero, zero."
He said three zeros in a row.
Herta frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That's the address," Su Ran replied matter-of-factly.
"I'm not connected to the interstellar network, so the only map I've got is the one I made.
This place is the center.
So three zeros is the coordinate."
"..."
Honestly?
It… actually made sense.
Herta could only swallow her complaint.
He did just join the universe not long ago.
Of course he wouldn't have the company's star map.
And obviously he didn't have an IPC account.
Trying to get his coordinates was a lost cause.
"Fine. Forget it. You can pick it up yourself when it's ready."
With the teleportation device in his hands, sending a computer over wasn't a problem anyway.
Even the materials for this half-built space station were teleported here.
A terminal was nothing.
"So—have you invented anything new in this place lately? Show me."
Now that business was settled, Herta's top priority returned to what it always was—research.
It didn't matter that they were in some strange world.
It didn't matter that she'd just insulted half the room.
Research was eternal.
"With so many beautiful girls around me, do you really think I'd bother tinkering? I'm enjoying life."
Su Ran spread his hands.
He only invented when he needed something.
"Unbelievable! You're still so young—how can you be this degenerate already!? As your senior, I should lecture you properly!"
She launched into a speech, but was abruptly cut off— because Su Ran had lifted her off the ground by the back of her collar.
"So you think you're right, huh?
What if I build a super-bomb and mail it straight to your space station? How's that sound?"
Herta's legs dangled in the air, but she remained unfazed.
"Oh, sure. As long as I get to study it first."
Even a bomb needed engineering.
And if Su Ran dared bring her something ordinary, she'd personally mock him for being incompetent.
"You really can't change, can you?"
"This is who I am. Any problem?"
If anyone else behaved like this, they'd probably be dead already.
But this was Herta.
One of the universe's greatest geniuses.
Her personality quirks were considered… part of her charm.
A "genius exclusive trait."
"Fine," Su Ran nodded.
"Then I'll send you a bomb big enough to blow up half the universe."
"Why only half the universe?"
Her eyes lit up.
That was, in fact, a very appealing research topic.
What kind of explosive could devastate half the cosmos?
If Su Ran could really pull that off…
Nanook himself might invite him to sit on the throne of Destruction.
Even the Swarm couldn't wipe out half the universe.
The Antimatter Legion? Forget it.
Not even close.
But a bomb that could?
That was a different level entirely.
"Because if it were stronger than that, I might get caught in the blast."
"..."
Okay, that was… a surprisingly legitimate reason.
Good enough that Herta couldn't refute it.
And also very much like a thing Su Ran would say.
"Then it's settled!"
Herta nodded happily.
Then, perched in Su Ran's raised hands, she instantly disconnected her consciousness and logged off leaving the puppet limp.
Su Ran set the lifeless doll aside.
He looked up only to find three women staring at him in disbelief.
"What's with those looks?"
If they could pretend they hadn't overheard the entire conversation… they probably wouldn't be staring like that.
"S-Su Ran…" Kamisato Ayaka asked timidly, "You… you don't actually intend to destroy half the universe, do you?"
She knew he could be eccentric, unpredictable, and casually terrifying… but not that level of monster.
Right?
But what she'd just heard was too shocking.
"I only said I'd make it. I never said I'd use it.
Don't worry. I'm not Ultraman Guang.
Everything I build comes with safety permissions.
No one can just pick it up and fire it."
He waved a hand.
He was a very responsible madman, after all.
If he really built something like that, there would absolutely be restrictions.
Especially because someone like Aha… might nuke half the universe just because it'd be funny.
…Maybe he should add a rule:
"Anyone walking the Path of Elation is banned from using my inventions."
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