Inside the Teyvat desert, after casually picking a few Redcrest to eat, Ayin began to call his current superior, complaining to her with a tongue as sweet as honey,
“Hey, hey, hey, calling Herta, can you hear me?
What kind of garbage device is this?
If I weren’t so strong, I would have become a joke long ago!”
“And you better explain why, as a consciousness, I have collision volume and can convert food into energy.
Have you been secretly using me for some weird experiment, you jerk!”
Through the communication watch, Herta could feel this guy’s resentment.
“Are you done?
If you’re done, shut up.
I don’t have the leisure to use a madman like you for experiments.
If I did, you’d probably tear my space station apart when you got back.”
“As for why this situation occurred, according to the hypothesis of Screwllum and Ruan Mei, it should be the work of that black-purple energy layer covering the planet that we saw earlier.”
After listening to Ayin’s complaints, Herta’s face darkened, and she explained in an extremely impatient tone.
“Black-purple energy?
Do you mean Abyssal pollution?” Ayin blinked upon hearing this and asked with some confusion.
“Is it called the Abyss…
This power is very special, repulsive yet inclusive.
According to my hypothesis, this energy might even affect organic lifeforms.”
Just after he finished asking, a gentle and familiar voice suddenly came from the communication watch.
“You are…
Ruan Mei?” Ayin carefully recalled for a moment before asking uncertainly.
“That’s right.
I’m very interested in that power.
Can you find a way to get some back?”
Ruan Mei nodded when she saw him ask, then asked with a slightly excited tone.
Clearly, when these geniuses encounter something they are interested in, they go straight to the point.
“If I get the chance, I can abduct a Hilichurl for you; its body contains this power…
But I am currently a consciousness, so I can’t bring people back for the time being.”
“Furthermore, I’ve been in the Teyvat world for a while now.
Have you calculated the accurate coordinates here?
Can you open a portal or something?
Coming here in person is more convenient than letting me do the legwork.”
Ayin agreed to her request without much thought, but still asked with some annoyance.
After all, he only came as an advance scout.
If he were to help them move things around like a courier, there wouldn’t be any fun in it.
“This question brings us back to why you asked us why you have a physical body earlier.
According to the instrument feedback, the previously positioned coordinates have, for some reason, begun to gradually blur, and the originally established connection channel has therefore started to become somewhat unstable.”
“In other words, you, who were originally just a consciousness over there, are being affected by this instability and have started to subconsciously and irregularly absorb energy from your original body!”
It was clearly Herta who answered this question.
But judging from her tone, it seemed a bit tricky.
“What does that mean?
Can you keep it simple…” Ayin didn’t have any more brain cells to parse the meaning of Herta’s words, so he asked again directly.
“To put it simply, we originally opened a channel using that previous coordinate as a location, like building a bridge or a road, connecting your body in the real world with your consciousness in Teyvat, and even allowing you to call upon your body’s abilities.”
“But now that coordinate, for some reason, has started to gradually blur.
For example, it’s like a bridge that has already been built suddenly experiencing an earthquake.
If it can withstand it, it’s fine, but if it can’t…
the bridge might collapse.”
This time, Herta rarely mocked his intelligence, but instead explained in a somewhat grave tone.
“What, it will collapse?
What will happen if it collapses?
You’re the boss, you have to ensure the safety of your employees!”
Ayin was stunned when he heard Herta say this, then complained to her in a pitiful tone.
“Enough, you are an Emanator after all.
Traversing the void is nothing to you.
Even if this bridge really collapses, the only consequence is that your consciousness will return and the channel will be cut off.
Don’t play the fool with me here!”
Hearing Ayin’s cheeky voice, Herta was not surprised in the slightest and continued to explain in an impatient tone,
“As for why you can eat and convert food into energy, it’s just a temporary behavior under the influence of the ‘earthquake.’ Also, if your soul’s energy consumption is too high, click the yellow button on the watch; it can help you teleport to another place.
Alright, I’m busy debugging the machine here, don’t bother me if there’s nothing else.”
Beep, beep, beep~
After Herta finished speaking, she cut off the communication directly, as if listening to one more word from this guy would be an insult to her genius intelligence.
“Damn, what kind of attitude is that?
Just wait until I get back, I’ll pluck your hat right off!”
Ayin had no choice but to point at the communication device in impotent rage, but his gaze involuntarily shifted to the yellow button on the side.
According to what she said, this button could help him teleport quickly, but it seemed she didn’t tell him how to use it.
Could it be that I just press it?
No, that wouldn’t confirm the coordinates.
I should probably think of the destination in my head while pressing it.
Thinking of this, Ayin had to admire his own intelligence.
He silently thought of the location [Nordkalle] in his mind, and then pressed that yellow button with a snap.
Instantly, the scene before Ayin’s eyes changed rapidly like a movie…
In the Honkai: Star Rail World, inside the Herta Space Station office, three figures stood in a circle beside a hibernation pod, looking at Ayin’s original body inside the pod with furrowed brows.
“Screwllum, how is the situation now?” Herta was the first to ask.
“Still attempting to capture accurate coordinates, but that unknown energy, which Mr.
Ayin calls Abyssal power, has for some reason become increasingly active, constantly affecting our positioning.”
Screwllum shook his head upon hearing this and analyzed calmly.
“So, are you confident?
This Abyssal power is truly overbearing.
Do we need to cut the connection now and let this guy come back?”
After listening, Herta pondered for a moment and proposed a plan.
“Not for now.
Although this unknown power is extremely overbearing, its current influence on our connection is limited to simple interference.
But if we forcibly disconnect, this power might cause some impact on Mr.
Ayin’s consciousness.”
Screwllum shook his head upon hearing this.
Even though Ayin’s consciousness was strong enough, it was still just a consciousness and certainly not as durable as a physical body.
So, if the risk could be reduced, they would definitely choose the plan that reduced the risk.
“Fine, then let that guy play over there for a while longer.
Being able to make three members of the Genius Society worry about him at the same time is enough for him to be proud of!”
Herta crossed her arms, thought for a moment, and agreed with Screwllum.
“By the way, Herta…
that button you just told Ayin to press, it was a random teleport, right?”
Just then, a soft voice suddenly sounded in Herta’s ear.
“Yeah, is there a problem?” Herta turned her head to look at Ruan Mei beside her and asked in a flat tone.
“No problem, I just remembered that you just…
seemed to only say teleport, not random…”
Seeing Herta look over, Ruan Mei shook her head and smiled, replying with a slightly peculiar tone.
“This…
what about it?
Random teleport is common sense, right?
After all, we don’t have the accurate coordinates for every location over there.
Being able to teleport randomly is good enough!”
Speaking of this, Herta realized the mistake in her words when she was talking to Ayin just now.
But as a genius, she still replied with a haughty air, though for some reason, she had a bad premonition…