When Lilith’s weary and dependent ‘I’m a bit hungry’ sounded, Herta, who had been waiting outside the test pod, was jolted from her contemplation almost instantly.
She immediately stood up, walked quickly over to Lilith, crouched down, and carefully examined her complexion.
‘How do you feel?
Any discomfort anywhere?’ Her voice carried a tension she herself hadn’t noticed.
While Lilith was inside the Simulated Universe, Herta hadn’t been idle.
She had pulled up all the backend logs from Lilith’s test and was reviewing them frame by frame.
She wanted to know what it was that had instilled such immense fear of the real world in this little one, to the point of seeking refuge in a virtual world.
Then, she discovered the ‘BUG’.
With Herta’s intellect, she understood its essence almost the moment she saw that ‘data overflow’.
It wasn’t a BUG at all, but a brilliantly disguised, genius-flashing concept.
A mad concept about how to use ‘The Hunt’ and ‘Abundance’ for conceptual confrontation.
This concept was so exquisite, so…
aligned with her and Lilith’s shared way of thinking.
Herta was almost certain that this was undoubtedly another stroke of genius inspiration from Lilith, born from her being frightened within the Simulated Universe and channeling all her energy into research.
Immediately after, she discovered the second thing.
Around the time of that data overflow, the logs contained an extremely faint, extremely concealed, yet absolutely impossible-to-escape-her-notice trace of…
external intrusion.
The source of the trace pointed precisely to the Stellaron Hunters.
BOOM!!
Herta’s train of thought, at this moment, perfectly, without the slightest deviation, fell into the logical trap Lilith had meticulously designed for her.
The truth became crystal clear in an instant.
Those damned rats!
Those despicable thieves!
First, they used words to terrify her ‘daughter’, inflicting massive psychological trauma, driving her to hide in the Simulated Universe.
Then, using despicable hacking methods, they created the so-called ‘BUG’, stealing the most precious, most exquisite research findings that rightfully belonged to her and Lilith!
This isn’t provocation!
This is blatant plunder!
This is a declaration of war!
An unprecedented sense of crisis, mixed with fury and bone-chilling cold, swept through Herta’s entire mind.
Looking at Lilith before her, still bearing a trace of weariness, tilting her little face up and looking at her with dependence, Herta felt as if an invisible hand had clenched her heart fiercely.
She realized a terrifying truth.
As long as Lilith remained here, as long as she kept generating these genius concepts capable of altering the cosmic landscape, the Stellaron Hunters’ prying would never cease.
They would come swarming again and again, like sharks smelling blood, using every despicable means to try and take her away.
Conventional physical isolation was insufficient.
The highest-level information firewalls were also insufficient.
She had to establish an ‘absolutely safe’ environment.
A kind of…
deeper, more inseparable, conceptually impervious-to-all-prying ‘binding’.
‘Herta?’ Lilith looked at Herta, who had suddenly fallen silent and whose expression had turned somewhat frightening, cautiously shaking her arm.
‘What’s wrong?’ Herta snapped back to reality.
The storm in her eyes instantly receded, transforming into an unfathomable calm.
‘It’s nothing.’ She reached out, gently ruffling Lilith’s silver hair, her movements incredibly tender.
‘You’re hungry.
Let’s go get something to eat first.’ She took Lilith’s hand and walked out of the cold Laboratory.
Instead of heading to the bustling cafeteria, they went directly back to her spacious, luxurious private lounge.
Herta opened her personal terminal.
Instead of ordering the usual nutritional meals, she directly connected to the Space Station’s highest-level ecological garden restaurant.
In an unyielding tone, she ordered a child’s meal set prepared with the freshest ingredients and the gentlest cooking methods.
While waiting for the delivery, she had Lilith sit on the soft carpet and opened another interface herself.
It was a library of forbidden internal literature, accessible only to full members of the Genius Society and requiring the highest clearance level.
Her fingers flew across the light screen as countless titles gleaming with the light of forbidden knowledge flashed by.
[On the Informatization, Reconstruction, and Backup of the Soul] [Causal Law Shielding Technology Based on High-Dimensional Spacetime Bubbles] [The Ritual of Manifesting the Concept of ‘Ownership’ at the Memetic Level] …
What she sought was a legendary binding technique, long ago classified by the Society as the highest taboo.
A technique capable of completely fusing a living being’s ‘existence information’—from the soul dimension, the information dimension, even down to the causal level—with another entity.
Once completed, Lilith’s existence would, on a conceptual level, be completely bound to the name ‘Herta’ and to the fortress that was the Herta Space Station.
Any attempt to probe, harm, or even entice Lilith would be judged by the universe’s fundamental laws as…
a direct attack on Herta herself.
She would turn this frightened little bird completely into a part of her own body, forging for her an unassailable, absolutely safe nest with her own flesh, blood, and soul.
The food was quickly delivered by a robot.
Herta personally arranged the exquisite meal before Lilith, even patiently scooping up a spoonful of pudding with a small spoon and bringing it to her lips.
‘Open up.’ ‘Whoa?!
Being fed?!
The VIP treatment is off the charts!
‘Ah!’ Lilith screamed internally, but on the surface, she obediently opened her mouth and ate the pudding.
The sweet taste melted on her taste buds, making her squint her eyes comfortably.
Seeing her so contented and utterly unguarded, the final shreds of madness and resolve within Herta completely overwhelmed the rationality of the scientist.
Late that same night.
While Lilith was already sound asleep in the soft, large bed, Herta stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the brilliantly lit Space Station below.
She opened the Genius Society’s highest-level encrypted communication channel.
She knew this channel was monitored around the clock by all the top forces in the universe.
Whether it was fellow geniuses like Screwllum and Ruan Mei, or the Interstellar Peace Corporation, or even…
those Stellaron Hunters lurking in the sewers.
She wanted them all to hear.
A light screen illuminated simultaneously in countless corners across the universe.
On the screen was Herta’s face, hailed as a cosmic treasure, exquisitely beautiful.
Her face held no expression, but within those magnificent purple eyes burned a cold flame intense enough to incinerate starfields.
Her voice, transmitted via the quantum entanglement network, reached the ears of all those prying, clear and icy.
‘To all those who pry.’ ‘Lilith is my muse, my kindred spirit, my…
daughter.’ ‘From this moment forth, any attempt to harm, entice, or even touch her will be regarded as a formal declaration of war…
against Herta herself, and against the entire Herta Space Station.’ Her voice paused briefly, each word carrying absolute, indisputable weight.
‘I, Herta, member #83 of the Genius Society, hereby swear an eternal vow.’ ‘I will employ everything at my disposal—my intellect, my wealth, all my research findings, even my very life…’ Slowly, she uttered the final words.
The madness and resolve in her voice sent a chill down the spines of all who heard.
‘…to hunt down the enemy, unto death.’ The declaration ended.
The light screen vanished.
The undercurrents of the entire universe stilled for an instant.
In her sleep, Lilith seemed to sense something.
She unconsciously turned over, a slight smile touching the corner of her lips.
She had successfully transformed herself from an ‘object’ contested by various forces into a’sacred relic’ capable of igniting the fuse of a cosmic-level war.
And Herta, witnessed by all, was thoroughly crowned as the queen on this path of yandere daughter obsession, never to turn back.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”