Chapter 271: Chapter 271: Test
Ms. Herta sat on the sofa, legs crossed.
She looked around the Observation Car with boredom—the sea of stars flowed silently outside the curved window, and Pom-Pom was wiping the bar counter not far away. Everything was orderly, perhaps even a bit... boring.
Himeko carried a cup of freshly brewed coffee, sat down on the single sofa opposite her, crossed her legs elegantly, and tried to start a conversation.
"Ms. Herta, regarding the previous soul-swapping incident... have you made any new discoveries on your end?"
Himeko’s tone was gentle, carrying just the right amount of curiosity, "After all, you have been analyzing the data."
Ms. Herta lifted her eyelids to glance at her, crisp and decisive: "None."
Himeko: "...?"
Ms. Herta added: "I mean, there are no ’new’ discoveries. But I know who did it."
Himeko perked up: "Who is it?"
Ms. Herta: "I don’t know."
Himeko: "..."
The smile on the Astral Express navigator’s face froze for about 0.3 seconds before returning to normal, but her eyes clearly read, "Are you kidding me?"
Ms. Herta seemed very satisfied with this reaction, a mischievous curve appearing at the corner of her mouth.
She extended a finger and tapped lightly in mid-air.
"Hum—"
A holographic projection unfolded before her, as clear as if a real person had descended.
The woman in the projection had long, grayish-white hair, purple-black eyes, and wore a large witch’s hat decorated with dark purple lace at the edges. She was dressed in a black and purple Lolita-style outfit, with an exquisite silver skull pendant hanging around her neck.
Her overall temperament was gloomy and gorgeous, slightly different from Ms. Herta’s own style, but the facial contours, body proportions... had a startling degree of similarity.
Himeko’s eyes widened slightly, her gaze moving back and forth between the projection and Ms. Herta herself, her expression shifting from initial surprise to a bewildered "Is this really not some kind of prank?"
"Ms. Herta, this is...?" Himeko asked hesitantly.
"Although I don’t know what this person is actually called,"
Ms. Herta crossed her arms, staring at the face in the projection that was highly similar to her own, her tone chilling, "But I can be certain that the previous puppet disappearances, Silver Wolf’s framing, the sister incident, and all those other messy troubles on the Astral Express... have everything to do with this person."
Himeko observed the projection carefully.
Indeed, the woman’s face in the projection, and even some subtle expressions, were extremely similar to Ms. Herta.
If one had to say, it was like a dark-styled twin sister of Ms. Herta.
"...This is truly hard to believe."
Himeko chose her words carefully, "Are you sure this isn’t some kind of... clever imitation or disguise?"
"My puppet technology is unique."
Ms. Herta snorted, "To perfectly replicate my appearance and even deceive me means that the other party either knows me like the back of their hand, or... their technical level is high enough to bypass my standard detection."
She waved her hand, and the projection disappeared.
"Anyway, Himeko, help me keep an eye out."
Ms. Herta looked at Himeko, with a rare seriousness on her face, "If you see this person on the Xianzhou Luofu or anywhere else later... help me pass on a message."
"What message?"
"Hide better."
Ms. Herta said word by word, her voice carrying a cold threat, "Absolutely, absolutely do not let me find you."
She paused, then suddenly chuckled, but there was little warmth in that smile, instead revealing a hint of gnashing teeth:
"Otherwise, it will be her doomsday."
Himeko could feel that this member of the Genius Society #83 was truly angry.
It made sense; having a puppet stolen, being framed, and being toyed with by someone who looked like her... anyone would be furious.
"I understand."
Himeko soothed gently, "If I encounter her, I will convey it. However, Ms. Herta is willing to travel to the Xianzhou Luofu with us this time; the purpose shouldn’t... just be to find this ’mysterious lady’, right?"
The anger on Ms. Herta’s face vanished instantly, replaced by a playful expression that said, "You finally asked the right question."
She curled her lips slightly and leaned back into the sofa.
"Of course not." She admitted frankly, "This is a test."
"A test?" Himeko asked curiously.
"Yes. A tes—"
"Attention, passengers—!"
Pom-Pom’s crisp and loud voice sounded over the Astral Express broadcast, interrupting their conversation, "The jump is about to begin! Target coordinates: Xianzhou Alliance · Luofu! Please return to your seats, Pom!"
Himeko had no choice but to swallow her question and nodded at Ms. Herta: "Let’s talk after the jump ends."
Ms. Herta shrugged indifferently.
The countdown began.
"Three, two, one—"
The familiar feeling of weightlessness and spatial tension washed over them.
Outside the Observation Car, the flowing sea of stars was stretched into countless brilliant ribbons of light, only to recover in an instant.
The jump process was so brief it could almost be ignored.
A few moments later, the Astral Express vibrated slightly, and the scene outside the window was fixed: the magnificent Xianzhou giant ship floated in the starry sky, classical pavilions with carved beams and painted rafters intertwined with flickering technological light strips, surrounded by clouds and mist, with starships weaving through.
Xianzhou Luofu, we have arrived.
Himeko let out a soft breath, shook her head to dispel the faint dizziness, and then habitually looked at the spot where Ms. Herta had just been—
It was empty.
The sofa was completely empty, without even a dent left behind.
Himeko was stunned and immediately scanned the entire Observation Car.
Pom-Pom was checking the console, Welt and Danheng walked out of their respective rooms, and Stelle rubbed her eyes as she came from the corridor...
Only that purple figure was missing.
"Ms. Herta?" Himeko stood up and raised her voice.
Everyone looked over.
"Ms. Herta is gone?" Welt adjusted his glasses, his brows slightly furrowed.
"Her life signal suddenly disappeared during the jump, Pom!"
Pom-Pom pulled up the monitoring data, its voice filled with confusion, "Right at the moment the jump was completed, there was an abnormal coordinate shift! It wasn’t a teleportation; it was more like... she was ejected, Pom!"
Himeko recalled the word Ms. Herta said before she disappeared.
(Test...)
A not-so-good premonition slowly floated into her heart.
Near a desolate galaxy · asteroid belt
The starry sky here was dim and devoid of light.
A few rocky planets floated in a broken state, their surfaces covered in impact craters and rift valleys, clearly having lost all life long ago.
Further away, the afterglow of a star barely illuminated the cold stardust.
A blurry white figure was traversing among the planetary ruins with an almost brutal posture.
He was not riding any vehicle, just flying—or rather, "smashing" through.
Where the figure passed, the remaining asteroid belt was easily torn apart, and the meteorites blocking the way turned into powder the moment they touched the invisible force field around him.
His speed was extremely fast, his trajectory straight, and his goal clear: the largest rocky planet ahead, which was also the last relatively intact rocky planet in this broken galaxy.
Lord Ravager · Zephyro.
His face was blurry, and only a rough outline could be seen.
He held a long sword in his hand with a simple design, yet it emitted a heart-palpitating fluctuation, with black and white energy flows also wrapped around the blade.
(Cleaning... the last one...)
Zephyro’s thinking was simple and direct.
He enjoyed this process—not out of cruelty, but out of a certain pursuit:
To return existence to nothingness in the most efficient way possible.
Ahead, the grayish-brown planet was getting closer and closer.
Zephyro adjusted his posture, held his long sword horizontally, and aimed the tip at the planet’s core.
The energy around his body began to compress violently, dragging a long, black-and-white intertwined trail behind him.
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