While Ms.
Welt and Uncle Himeko were still lost in thought, grappling with the implications of the situation, Chen, standing at the very center of the storm, found his own thoughts had already bolted, galloping down a bizarre and unexpected track.
‘Wait a minute…’ He stared at the exquisite, doll-like Herta puppet, crafted in the form of a young boy.
A bold, audacious idea suddenly erupted in his mind.
The puppet was speaking with such clarity and sharp aggression.
That had to mean the real Herta, the master of the space station himself, was controlling it remotely, right?
It had to be!
In that case, if I take this opportunity to… to just… touch him…
Once the thought took root, it refused to be dislodged.
Deep within his mind, the still-gray icon labeled “Herta (Five-Star • The Erudition)” seemed to pulse, shimmering with a tantalizing golden light.
‘If I can just light that up…’he thought, his excitement mounting.’That would be the true power of the Genius Society!
It’s got to be way stronger than some mass-produced puppet, right?!’
Chen’s breathing involuntarily hitched, quickening almost imperceptibly.
The way he looked at the Herta puppet transformed in an instant.
His earlier nervousness and guilt evaporated, replaced by a surge of intense, focused desire.
His gaze was so intense it was almost tangible, the look of a connoisseur appraising a priceless treasure he was determined to acquire.
This sudden, unnerving shift in his demeanor did not escape the puppet’s perception.
Herta, who had been patiently waiting for the Astral Express crew’s response, was visibly taken aback.
He had anticipated a range of reactions from Chen: panic, excuses, defiant silence, perhaps even anger.
But he had never, in all his calculations, expected the boy to react to such a high-pressure confrontation by… by suddenly fixing him with this strange, predatory, almost hook-like fiery gaze.
That gaze swept over him, lingering on his delicate, youthful face, his short brown hair, and the entirety of his puppet frame.
The implication behind that look sent an uncharacteristic and deeply unsettling chill through even the well-traveled, imperturbable genius scientist.
“…What are you looking at?”
The Herta puppet’s normally calm, boyish voice was now laced with a rare and distinct note of wariness.
Chen, still lost in his “grand collection scheme,” was startled by the question and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Huh?
N-nothing… I was just thinking your puppet… it’s really well-made.
Quite… quite unique…”
His tone was stilted and unconvincing, and his eyes still hadn’t moved away.
To Herta, this clumsy reaction was practically a confession, confirming a deeply unpleasant suspicion.
“…I see.”
The Herta puppet fell silent for two long seconds.
When he spoke again, his tone had become exceedingly strange.
“I retract a portion of my earlier suspicion regarding the tavern clown.
Your particular brand of strangeness might be indicative of an entirely different, though equally troublesome, pathology.”
Crossing his arms, he used that expressionless, youthful face to deliver a line that made everyone present freeze in their tracks.
“It would seem you harbor an…
extraordinary interest in puppets.
Particularly, puppets of…
my specific model?”
“I do not!
Don’t talk nonsense!”
Chen’s face flushed a brilliant, burning red.
Now he was truly panicking—this misunderstanding was spiraling out of control!
“Data doesn’t lie,” the Herta puppet interrupted him, his voice unhurried and level.
“Although the surveillance system failed to capture clear images, I can feel that you’ve had unauthorized contact with my other spare bodies.
And now, with my own consciousness directly linked… you’re directing this… perverted gaze toward my main control puppet.”
He watched Chen squirm, completely unable to form a coherent defense.
“How about this.
Since you seem to have a soft spot for puppets…”
“Why don’t you cooperate with me for some basic, harmless observational studies?
In return… I can give you an identical, brand-new, unactivated custom puppet.”
With a face as beautiful and placid as a porcelain doll, the Herta puppet spoke words laced with devilish temptation.
“How about it?
Isn’t this deal… very attractive?”
The Master Control Zone fell into a sudden, deafening silence.
March 7th’s mouth hung wide open, his jaw practically unhinged.
A rare crack appeared on Dan Heng’s perpetually stoic facade, his eyes widening just a fraction.
Sister Qiong blinked, her expression a mask of blank confusion.
She clearly didn’t grasp the full implication, but the atmosphere told her it was something monumental.
The corner of Uncle Himeko’s mouth twitched violently, as if fighting a desperate battle against a smirk.
Even the ever-composed Ms.
Welt Yang couldn’t help but reach up and slowly, deliberately, adjust her glasses.
The look she gave Chen was the kind one reserved for a strange, newly discovered, and possibly dangerous species of insect.
A pervert.
Chen felt as if he’d been struck by lightning, frozen to the spot.
“I’m not!
I didn’t!
Don’t listen to his nonsense!” he sputtered, his voice cracking.
But as he met the Herta puppet’s “I’ve seen through you” gaze and then glanced at the horrified, yet faintly understanding, expressions on his companions’faces, Chen felt his soul begin a slow, agonizing ascent out of his body.’Dammit…’he despaired.’My reputation is ruined.
I wouldn’t be able to clear my name now even if I jumped into a black hole…’
[Elysian’s Note:
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