The soft and heavenly comfort brought by the cloud-like mattress instantly dragged Sirius to sleep… or not.
His shut eyes opened as he looked at the phone clutched in his hands.
‘I told myself not to use it.
So why…’
Why am I thinking about it?
The ‘experiment’ a few hours ago did not tire him out.
Ironically, it was Herta’s so-called reward that did him in.
Astonishingly, the file size was bigger than it should have been.
His mind, which was already in disarray, became even more chaotic.
The temptation of the audio file was far more terrifying than he had even expected.
Sirius wanted to play it off, but it was easier than done.
‘What did she put in there?’
‘Did she really use a high-resolution microphone?’
‘Those lines… Did she say them there?’
He turned over the bed several times, about to die out of self-conflict.
Sirius shut his eyes tightly, biting his lips to sleep.
Only now did he understand Herta’s stance… somewhat.
The feeling of curiosity killing him made him feel all sorts of emotions.
‘Alright.
Just the first few seconds…’
Sirius took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and booted up the phone.
He carefully plugged his wireless earbuds.
This set was expensive, costing a quarter of his current monthly salary.
It was high-resolution, has all of its parts produced through 3D printing, and possessed an ungodly level of noise reduction.
The likes of Airpods won’t stand a chance against this advanced piece of technology.
Soon, the phone’s screen showed an audio file with ten minutes and fifty-five seconds’ worth of duration.
Sirius’ fingertip hovered around the play button, immense shame creeping up his face.
It already turned beet red, and that was with him still not playing anything yet.
‘Fuck my two lifetimes.’
His two lifetimes felt like a slap to his face.
Although, the two of them combined did not mean he possessed the emotional maturity of a man in his thirties.
In his first life, he died when he was eighteen.
Only at this second life did he live up to twenty-one.
Sirius was incredibly ‘immature’ during the first half of his second life, to boot.
He remained stagnant up until half a month ago when he realized how wrong he was.
In short, Herta outranking him in terms of maturity made a lot of sense.
‘I might as well do it in one go.’
Sirius no longer thought about it and pressed play.
The earbuds caught Herta’s soft exhales.
Then came the faint fiddling sounds of her adjusting the microphone.
Just as his tension reached its peak, he was met with a killer move.
“You are so naughty, assistant.”
“..?!”
Chills went up his spine.
All the hairs in his body stood up, akin to a cat with its tail stepped on.
His breathing hitched, and before he knew it, he had thrown his expensive earbuds midair.
No thoughts entered his mind as it was utterly chaotic.
That line made him feel as if it was whispered by Herta directly to his ears.
The teasing words were the least of his worries.
The familiar high-sounding intonation was what drove him mad.
“Puff… Puff…”
At this point, Sirius did not know how red his face had turned.
All he knew was that listening to the ASMR was a bad idea.
Blood rushed straight to his head, unstoppable up until now.
He stared blankly at the still-playing audio file.
Half of him wanted to hop back right at this instant, while the other half no longer wanted anything to do with it.
There was only one thing certain tonight—
He won’t be sleeping at all.
***** Visit g.com for the full chapter.
The next day arrived.
As soon as Sirius entered the laboratory with weary eyes, Herta shot him a curious glance.
She saw his current look, evident he hadn’t slept well.
She thought of something and flashed a satisfied look.
“How was it?”
“…It’s alright.”
Sirius met her mischievous look and knew he could not escape her questioning today.
Herta stepped down, her soft-heeled black leather boots making a faint sound on the metallic floor, before reaching his side.
“How far did you listen?” She asked as she circled around him.
“You didn’t use it for something else…”
“No, no. Of course not!”
It all went back to the time he expressed his concern over the impact of Herta’s ASMR.
He mentioned to her how there might be perverts who would do unspeakable things using it.
Finding it beneath herself, Herta canceled that plan altogether.
Who knew it would bite him now?
Seeing him react like this, she stopped egging him on.
By this point, she understood 90% of Sirius’ personality.
She could only take small bites, lest he gets overwhelmed.
She could imagine him ‘exploding’ out of sheer embarrassment, all thanks to his thin skin.
Fortunately, that characteristic of his seemed to be aimed towards her and her alone.
Otherwise, he would have been swindled by Jade already.
“Another guest is coming in half a month. We need to settle the first batch of resources to be sent by the IPC before that date comes.”
“Mn. That’s not difficult.” He replied as he thought of something.
“I also have several investment directions I want to propose.”
A mega start-up like Herta doesn’t have problems regarding money in the early stage.
The problem would come after all her money was spent.
She could ask the IPC for several research projects, all of which to be undertaken by her.
Only, they needed to be careful of the pitfalls within these contracts.
The other option was to invest in future ‘stocks’ using her startup funds.
It just so happened that Sirius knew the cosmos’ general trends well enough.
Although their current timeline was far behind that of the game’s present, which was ten Amber Eras behind, he gleaned some useful information, more so when he was fully capable of recalling every single bit of his memory.
“Go on.”
Sirius took out his phone, had the First Mirror scan it, and projected several virtual screens in front of them.
One was a news article, the other was a detailed document, and finally, there was a real-time trend line akin to The Blue’s stock market.
“First is the Worlds Reborn Initiative of the IPC. It is still in the early stages as of now, which makes it the best time to invest.”
On the surface, the Worlds Reborn Initiative is an IPC-funded project that helps worlds wrought by the Antimatter Legion and the remnants of The Swarm to recover.
It was a philanthropic drive, so to speak.
However, the detailed document proved there was a lot more in this regard.
Written on one of its fine prints were the term ‘beneficiaries’.
It pertained not to the people of those destroyed planets, but to the ‘philanthropists’.
The planets saved by the IPC would, in turn, have to partner or even be bought by the IPC, turning them into the corporation’s industries.
The ‘Philanthropists’ would own a certain share of those industries, in proportion to the ‘donations’ they gave out.
The trend line showed there weren’t many who were enthusiastic with this ‘plan’.
It had just started less than an Amber Era ago.
The planets helped by this initiative hadn’t shown economic returns as of the moment.
Simply put, it was akin to the starting period of an investment about to take off.
As to why, there was a planet that would be ‘under’ this initiative soon enough—
Planarcadia.
‘It won’t just be that…’
If there was a planet with high-returns, they would make an even larger profit.
Planarcadia alone will sustain Herta’s expenses for a long time.
She would no longer need to use Asta, the Herta Space Station’s main handler, as a shield for high-credit expenses.
“I suggest investing a considerable amount every month. It is a long-term investment, after all.”
Herta raised her eyebrows at this ‘ethically questionable’ choice.
“The current situation leaves us with nothing much.”
Sirius put up a helpless look.
The Blue was still recovering from the massive earthquake.
Since they rejected the IPC’s help, they had to deal with it themselves.
He had to weigh in the most economical choice while sticking to his bottom lines.
At least, they weren’t the ones who caused those planets’ destruction.
They were even helping them, just that their help comes with a ‘price’.
“I don’t see any problems with it.” She then asked, “What’s the next one?”
“Two things.”
Sirius flicked the screens for the Worlds Reborn Initiative project, moving onto new ones.
“First, we can invest in steadily-earning worlds owned by the IPC for short-term returns.”
Several star systems and their information popped out.
All of them weren’t included on Sirius’ foreknowledge.
Each has an industry that steadily produced value for the IPC.
Herta briefly scanned all of them.
They were average at best, a safe investment with guaranteed short-term returns.
What interested her more was the second plan—inventions.
Herta is the Emanator of Erudition.
It was but a trifle for her to create an innovation that would subvert the cosmos.
Sirius listed down several products such as the ‘Super Serum’ from before as well as its weaker versions.
There were even versions diluted enough they looked more like health drinks.
The majority of the people in the cosmos were mortals.
They live, get sick, and die out of old age.
If there was a product potent enough to keep them healthy at the cost of a pizza, taken once every month, they wouldn’t hesitate to buy it, or so Sirius assumed.
This part was destined to be the ‘core’ of the Herta Investment Plan.
Naturally, there was still the matter of distributors and logistic chains.
The latter wasn’t as difficult as the former, however, as Herta cooked up those ‘Super Soldier Serums’ with materials accessible on The Blue.
As for the former, the IPC was the best choice, though they had to plan extremely well to get the most out of it.
The entire plan was presented with clear goals in sight.
It wasn’t something that could be made by someone who suffers from the ‘Overview Effect’; someone who has been overwhelmed by the vastness of the cosmos.
A glint passed by Herta’s beautiful eyes.
She stared at him unhesitantly for a few seconds, making him somewhat distressed.
‘If he is who I think he is…’
Sirius’ dream called Herta as the ’83rd Member of the Genius Society’.
Following that was her supposed achievement of gaining longevity and becoming the master of the ‘Herta Space Station’, something that was still a plan in writing.
It hasn’t happened yet.
How could Sirius know all of them?
The answer was insufferably simple, and it was precisely why she became far more interested in him than before.
Everything that he had done up to his moment of awakening became understandable.
Sirius viewed her approval with incomparably heavy weight, all because she is destined to become an Emanator!
Though it also emphasized his extremely ‘good’ character.
Not once did he take advantage of her or her status.
He treated her as a genuine person, rather than a genius to be placed upon a pedestal.
There were instances he helped her when she suffered the limitations of a biological body, seemingly very familiar with women’s plight.
Not once did he ‘cash out’ on those favors, even forgetting about them some time later.
With her capacity as a Genius, and then an Emanator, she saw all of his actions as genuine.
Everything about him was akin to a very interesting puzzle piece, a thirteen-year-old mystery that still hasn’t fully presented to herself up to now.
“W-what’s wrong?” He asked, referring to her silent stare.
“…Nothing. Let’s do things as you say.”
The rest of their talks was more of Herta agreeing with whatever Sirius proposed.
He wasn’t surprised with her attitude as he already felt her trust before.
‘Growing together with a genius… isn’t as bad as I thought.’
He knew he wouldn’t be able to compare with Herta in this lifetime, but ‘helping’ her like this felt somewhat satisfying.
Being able to walk alongside her was his luckiest opportunity in this lifetime.
Even, he has a feeling he might understand himself more with her help.
‘The vast cosmos, longevity… and the Astral Express.’
At this moment, Sirius genuinely looked forward to their future.