[Asta: Lady Herta, there really is a Mr. Jiang Ling from the company who wants to meet with you. But... how did you know about this?]
Seeing Asta's message in the chat window, Herta narrowed her eyes, her expression turning... somewhat subtle.
"So it's already about to happen...?"
She muttered under her breath, then quickly replied:
[The space station is full of my puppets. If I want to know something, there's nothing here I can't know.]
After sending the message, Herta casually tossed her phone aside.
She lifted her gaze toward the familiar yet unfamiliar Fourth Mirror before her, a strange depth surfacing in her crimson-violet eyes.
"...Go on then, Fourth Mirror. How did you know someone like that was coming to visit me?"
"I-I don't know..."
The Fourth Mirror answered timidly, its voice utterly lacking its usual excitement and spark.
"I just felt it... felt that this was going to happen, and that more things would happen in the future, so..."
"So you took that vague feeling, treated it like a pending task, and dumped it into my to-do list?"
Herta arched a brow, clearly surprised by the answer.
That surprise did not last long. She soon waved a hand lightly and said,
"Forget it. It's not a big deal. Even if you hadn't told me, I'd still have had to meet him eventually."
"Whether we can cooperate is another matter. But the company still deserves some courtesy—after all, the Simulated Universe's funding and resources were squeezed out of them."
"All right, there's nothing else for you to do here. Off with you."
Hearing that, the Fourth Mirror looked as though it had been granted a pardon. In the blink of an eye, it vanished without a trace, and silence returned to Herta's study.
"Hah..."
Feeling the churn of thoughts in her heart, Herta slowly exhaled and stared blankly at the shelves overflowing with books.
The reason she had hauled the Fourth Mirror over for questioning was not simply because some extra item had appeared on her schedule.
It was because, like the Fourth Mirror, she too had sensed that something was about to happen.
But unlike the Fourth Mirror, Herta's awareness did not come from intuition.
It came from a fragmentary, indistinct memory.
The instincts and intuition of a genius told her that this memory was extremely important—important enough to determine whether she lived or died.
And "Jiang Ling is coming to visit me" was the beginning of that memory.
It was not as though Herta had never tried using her own methods to explore it.
But every time she attempted to do so, the haze surrounding those blurred memories would surge forward and block her from probing any further.
Something capable of obstructing an Emanator's investigation—across the entire universe, only an Aeon could likely accomplish that.
But why would an Aeon do such a thing?
And which Aeon had enough time on their hands to bother?
And who exactly was this Jiang Ling...?
Question after question bloomed in Herta's mind, and with each one, her curiosity only intensified.
No matter the reason, she had to meet Jiang Ling for herself and see what was so different about him.
Not to mention...
"I'd like to see whether, after he's standing in front of me, he'll still dare say something like 'an old woman pretending to be young'."
Herta gave a soft snort and made a grasping motion through the air. At once, the key-shaped wand appeared in her hand.
As violent spatial fluctuations rippled outward, her figure disappeared from the study, hurrying toward the space station without the slightest delay.
She had a feeling that if she could dispel the mist obscuring that memory...
then what she stood to gain would be far more than something as simple as satisfied curiosity.
...
After weighing the matter carefully, Jiang Ling ultimately chose to withdraw from Persona Extraction and return to reality.
Even though he still had two chances left and, in theory, had no reason to fear so-called simulation distortion...
he still had no idea how the talents obtained during the extraction would actually be granted.
Would all of them be stuffed into him at once?
Or would he be forced to draw a few from a limited pool?
If it was the former, then distortion during the simulation would be a major problem.
If he got saddled with some bizarre negative talents, would that not be the equivalent of painstakingly leveling a character to max, only to have everything wiped out in ten seconds?
Fortunately, the moment Jiang Ling returned to reality, those questions were resolved.
There was no separate talent payout, nor was there any damned gacha interface.
Instead, what appeared was a finely crafted gilded card.
On the back was a black-and-gold Möbius strip, seemingly symbolic of something.
And on the face of the card were only a few small lines of text, along with an extremely blurred silhouette.
[Persona Card #1 — The Universe's Last Genius]
[Innate Talents: "Blue · Researcher," "Blue · How to Use a Genius"... (Expandable)]
[Final Talent: ???]
[Aside from the "Final Talent," all talents appearing on the Persona Card will take effect in real time. The "Final Talent" will only take effect when the Persona Card is overlaid.]
Looking at the gilded card in his hand, Jiang Ling, lying on the bed, let out a quiet breath of relief.
So far, everything was moving in a good direction.
Not only could he now approach future questions with the answers already in hand, but he could also rely on these immediately active talents to achieve his goals far more easily.
With that thought, Jiang Ling nodded to himself, carefully put the Persona Card away, then picked up his phone, intending to message the colleague responsible for external coordination about his trip to Herta Space Station.
Knock, knock, knock—
Before he could send the message, a measured knock sounded at his door, followed by a gentle female voice.
"Mr. Jiang Ling, this is Jade from the Strategic Investment Department."
"I heard from the others that you'll be departing for Herta Space Station in one system hour, so there are a few things I'd like to discuss with you."
Hearing this, Jiang Ling's brain briefly stalled, and he stared in stunned confusion.
I haven't even submitted my business trip request yet, so how am I already leaving for the station in one system hour?
And besides...
even with the temporary rank increase granted to him by the Mirror project, in front of Jade—one of the Ten Stonehearts, directly under the Board's reserve seats—he was still little more than a somewhat more capable ordinary employee.
What could she possibly want from him that would warrant her coming all the way to his dormitory in person?
At that thought, Jiang Ling frowned slightly, but...
reality was no longer giving him enough room to sit around analyzing the reasons behind every unexpected development.
Whatever Jade wanted from him, the very least he could do was open the door and make his attitude clear.
Letting upper management discover you were about to jump ship right before you jumped ship was a major taboo.
With that in mind, Jiang Ling immediately got out of bed and went to open the door.
The moment he did, a graceful, refined face came into view.
And he very tactfully put on an expression of flattered surprise.
"Lady Jade!? You... you actually have something you want to discuss with me? Seriously?"
"Of course."
Seeing Jiang Ling's reaction, Jade smiled faintly. The elegant, composed expression on her face did not shift in the slightest.
"Considering that you're about to depart, I'll keep this brief. If possible, I hope that during your cooperation with Lady Herta, you'll pay special attention to a project called the Simulated Universe."
Hearing that, Jiang Ling blinked, then stroked his chin and pondered for a moment before asking,
"So what you mean is... you want me to become a corporate spy?"
Jade: ?
-------
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