Watching the mysterious plaster-headed man walk over and look down at her from above, Stelle thought he was finally going to say something after asking his question.
Instead, he simply closed his book, raised his head slightly, and let out a dismissive snort.
"Hmph... If that's the case, figure it out yourself."
With that, he brushed past the two of them.
Stelle blinked where she stood.
"?
"Shouldn't I be asking you to figure it out?"
"If an ordinary person suddenly saw a man wearing a plaster head who looked like he had split personalities, playing chess against himself in such a dark and gloomy place, then walking over to start talking on his own, they'd definitely feel troubled, right?"
"Isn't that your problem?"
The mysterious plaster-headed man, "..."
"What are you standing there for? You're really not going to explain your strange behavior?" Stelle asked again.
The mysterious plaster-headed man, "..."
Watching this scene, Nero was stunned.
"What the... Who did she learn this from?"
The man wearing the plaster head stood there blankly for two seconds.
It was the first time he had ever been caught off guard by such an oddly familiar way of talking.
After coming back to his senses, however, he had no intention of answering Stelle's question. Instead, he asked one of his own.
"Do you have a lot of free time? It doesn't look that way. Take the elevator down. What you're looking for is down there."
He seemed to know exactly why Stelle and Nero had come here.
"So you're really not going to explain yourself?" Stelle brought it up again.
This habit of grabbing onto one point and relentlessly pressing it was clearly something she had learned from Nero.
The plaster-headed man, "..."
This was the third time he had fallen silent.
He was starting to get a headache.
He couldn't decide whether to praise the gray-haired girl for being clever or criticize her for being foolish.
Sticking to one point without letting go was a simple and effective way to argue.
The problem was that the point she had latched onto didn't really matter to her, whether she knew the answer or not.
He took a deep breath, then slowly let it out, as if suppressing a surge of emotion.
"Before asking a question, think first about whether the answer will help solve your problem."
"If it won't, then don't ask. Clearly, both your time and mine are valuable."
"...Fine. Let's treat this as an example. I know who you are, and I know you're helping Ruan Mei. I was originally a visitor to the space station. I wandered in here by mistake and witnessed her experiment."
"My goal is more or less the same as yours. Since you've come, I won't interfere. But if you fail, I'll step in by force to stop unnecessary trouble."
"Knowing that is enough, two sentences in total. Very efficient communication."
"Oh~"
Stelle nodded thoughtfully, wearing the same innocent expression as March.
"Then why are you wearing a plaster head?"
"Because I can't stand fools. Naturally, they don't want to look at me either."
"The real creation made by Ruan Mei is hidden beneath the giant..."
"Oh, we already know that. You don't have to tell us." Stelle interrupted him. "Efficient communication, remember?"
The plaster-headed man, "..."
"So, since we have the same goal, why don't we work together?" Nero asked. "Actually, forget that. Tell us why you were playing chess by yourself. And are you really not going to explain that?"
The plaster-headed man, "..."
'So you're the source of this after all?!'
Nero stared at the plaster-headed man before him, Dr. Ratio, Veritas Ratio, for a while.
He knew this professor was the type who looked cold outside but was warm inside.
He also remembered this part from the first meeting in the original story, but things had clearly gone much farther off course than expected.
After all, when a scholar runs into someone who refuses to let things go, no amount of reason helps.
Even someone like him would get a headache dealing with people who insisted on getting to the bottom of every little thing and refused to let go.
Who knew where Stelle had learned this from?
Nero shook his head and decided not to make things any harder for the other man.
"Forget it, Stelle. Look, he isn't even talking anymore. Let's leave him alone and go catch bugs."
After calling out to Stelle, Nero headed for the elevator first.
Stelle hurried after him, leaving the professor standing there alone, his fists tightly clenched.
People who dragged others down to their own level and beat them with years of experience, as well as people who lived entirely in their own world without caring what others thought, were both types he had a hard time dealing with.
Because if he wasn't careful, he would start wanting them to experience the weight of knowledge.
A moment later, he sighed.
He was a little surprised by how patient he had been today.
Then he started walking, his figure disappearing into the darkness.
Stelle and Nero took the elevator all the way down and finally arrived at the enormous space they had seen earlier.
Looking up again, they found that the egg-like structure hanging from the ceiling had already shattered.
Pieces of eggshell still clung to the ring-shaped steel framework, while strands of thick orange-yellow liquid dripped down from above, looking rather disgusting.
Suddenly, something darted out from the darkness beside them.
A huge shadow flashed by.
The next moment, accompanied by a trembling insect screech, a massive deep-blue insect, as dark as the night sky, opened its jaws behind them.
Stelle and Nero reacted almost instantly.
Their movements were nearly identical, so perfectly synchronized that it was hard to believe.
A black blur flashed past.
The baseball bat and Black Cutter struck the body of the Skaracabaz Starcrusher, the replica created by Ruan Mei, at almost the same time.
Accompanied by a sharp burst of air, the copied Propagation Emanator let out a cry of pain, its body twisting violently.
Before it could even launch an attack, the powerful blow had already landed, sending it flying.
By the time the Starcrusher regained its balance, one of its savage horns had already been broken off and had landed at Nero's feet.
The broken end wasn't smooth, so it clearly hadn't been cut off by Black Cutter's blade.
Nero had obviously smashed it off with the flat of the sword.
"I'll handle it!"
Nero called out.
Without waiting to see what Stelle thought, he charged forward with Black Cutter resting on his shoulder.
As it looked at the charging boy, the copied Starcrusher suddenly froze for an instant.
It seemed to see its own body split in two.
Its shell shattered.
Insect blood poured out.
Its life ended in that very moment.
The Starcrusher shook itself, spread its wings, and countless energy projectiles swept toward Nero with every beat of its wings.
But while charging forward, Nero simply swung Black Cutter like a giant fan.
A violent gust spread out instantly, wiping away every energy projectile with ease, effortlessly breaking the attack, Splitting Venom.
Seeing this, the Starcrusher opened its jaws.
Inside the inherited Imperial Maw, enormous energy rapidly gathered before erupting the next instant.
The terrifying Pyrolysis Death Ray burst from its mouth.
The blazing stream of energy became increasingly violent, crashing toward Nero like a towering tidal wave.
Even the special materials used to build the Seclusion Zone of Herta Space Station quickly melted under the terrifying power of the Pyrolysis Death Ray.
Yet faced with such a frightening attack, Nero showed no sign of retreating or dodging.
The boy simply stopped in place.
He made no attempt to block it.
He merely raised his hand and pointed the sword in his hand straight ahead.