In the end, after saying farewell to Lucian, Boothill quickly went to return the stolen bullet to Tiernan and offer an apology along the way.
Tiernan was, after all, a true hero among the Galaxy Rangers, so not apologizing would have been difficult to justify.
As for his earlier claim of eating a pound of fresh meat while standing on his head if Tiernan turned out to be the real one, Boothill was unable to find any fresh meat at all, so he ultimately ended up drinking a big bottle of liquor in one go right in front of Tiernan and the other Galaxy Rangers, with his body completely upside down as he drank, making the whole scene look like some kind of exaggerated circus performance.
"Haha, you can really hold your booze, lad!"
Tiernan patted Boothill's shoulder and praised him with a laugh.
"Alright, we're colleagues from now on, old man. I gotta go beg Lucian to help me resurrect a few of my folks, too, same as you guys."
"Ah, Lucian's a good man..." Tiernan nodded with a smile, seeming to reminisce about something, then continued, "You won't lose out by sticking with him. Don't worry."
"Heh, good to hear. Alright then, I'm gonna go check in first! You guys keep drinkin'!"
Just like that, Boothill said farewell and walked away as if nothing had happened.
"Hey, Boss, didn't that brat come here to apologize? How the hell did we end up buyin' him a whole bottle instead?"
Just as Boothill's figure vanished, one of the Galaxy Rangers questioned bewilderedly.
===
At the same time, inside the private dining room, after Lucian told Aventurine and Sunday to go handle their own matters and had them leave the room, only he and Rappa remained alone.
Now that it was only the two of them, Lucian finally took the time to properly observe the ninja woman before him.
Rappa had a slim figure and attractive features, and her entire presence carried a strong cyberpunk artistic vibe. If she took off her hat and let her hair flow freely, she would even slightly resemble one of his wives, Yae Sakura.
"Handsome Ninja Hero, what does this Dazzling Ninja need to do?"
Rappa stared at Lucian with utter seriousness and spoke with the same level of seriousness.
"I'm the Dazzling Ninja. I excel at reciting ninja mantras, creating Dazzling Ninja Seals, and studying ninja scrolls. Just tell me what I need to do."
Hearing this, Lucian was speechless.
"Y'know, I can also help you deal with the memetic virus in your brain. Want me to?"
Lucian asked with an emphatic expression as he gazed at Rappa like she was a pitiful, lost child.
Reciting ninja mantras?
Creating ninja seals?
Studying ninja scrolls?
Put frankly, Rappa only knew how to rap, write graffiti, and read manga.
Her original name as an experiment subject was AK-A-3, and she had been an experiment subject of Dr. Primitive. Through training and repeated experiments, she continuously grew stronger, but sadly, her cognition had been altered by a ninja memetic virus since childhood.
It was genuinely pitiful.
Seeing that Lucian seemed to be underestimating her abilities, Rappa spoke again, reciting 'ninja mantras' (rapping).
"This gratitude, I gotta shout it out loud, no polite front, straight from the heart, from the lungs. But forbearance and resolve were the road my master showed me, like a seed takin' root, growin' into a tree inside me. That backup power, that solid support, it's more than enough to push me through the long jour—"
"Alright, stop," Lucian interrupted, unable to bear hearing her rapping any longer. "Can you talk properly and not rap when talking, please?"
"Oh..." Rappa showed a trace of regret. "Does Handsome Ninja Hero not like my ninja mantras?"
"Recite your so-called ninja mantras in places like stages," Lucian replied with a nod, then shook his head. "But in private, it just sounds awkward, so can you speak normally?"
"Hmm, that's unfortunate..." Rappa said with regret. "Understood. I will try to avoid it as much as possible."
Seeing her dejected, Lucian felt no sense of regret at all, since listening to her speak properly was honestly much more comfortable.
"Alright, your job is to punish evil and uphold good in Penacony. I don't ask for anything else. After one year, whether you leave or stay, I won't stop you."
Even though he said this, Lucian was confident he could make Rappa willingly stay and become a capable lackey.
===
Herta Space Station, Herta's Office.
Inside the main room of the office, a massive device of the Simulated Universe stood silently like a monumental sigil carved into space, its triangular frame cradling a blue light.
Screwllum stood before the nearby control console—his metallic fingers operated rapidly across the control console's illuminated screen.
"Anomaly locked. Coordinates: Theta-7."
Screwllum spoke in a steady voice with a distinct mechanical timbre.
Nearby, a Herta puppet stood with her arms crossed and her delicate face scrunched up, clearly displeased.
"Stuck again?" Herta complained. "What's that Droidhead even doing? Staring at some broken data and calculating forever?"
On the screen, a node within the Simulated Universe was magnified, showing the simulated figure of Nous.
At this moment, the simulated figure of the Aeon of Erudition, which should have been silently deducing the truths of the cosmos, appeared to be stuck in a deadlock.
Massive streams of data surrounded THEM as THEY repeatedly deduced and analyzed a structurally abnormal segment of data before collapsing, then deducing again, and then collapsing again, over and over, like a program trapped in an infinite loop.
"Conclusion: it is indeed abnormal..." Screwllum stated slowly. "Logical loop. Rejects all other command inputs."
"Tch, this bug drives me nuts…" Herta clicked her tongue in annoyance and leaned closer to the screen, watching the data being endlessly processed. "Where did this data even come from? Seriously, there's no display at all—I can't find the source. Don't tell me it's Lucian? I'm pretty sure I didn't add him in the Simulated Universe."
"It may also be residual data left by the first genius of the Genius Society."
Screwllum voiced his own speculation.
"Huh? You mean Zandar?" Herta asked, pointing at Zandar's portrait displayed in the room merely for form's sake. "He barely left behind any work—nothing but a name and a legend."
Right after speaking, she pondered for a moment, then casually pulled up another interface on the nearby holographic screen, which displayed a middle-aged man known as Zandar One Kuwabara.
"Ancient algebraic formulas from the same origin as Nous..." Herta murmured while tapping the portrait. "Maybe it really is him?"
Just as the words fell from her mouth, her eyes suddenly lit up as she looked at the elegant Screwllum beside her.
"Hey, Screwy!"
"Mm?"
Screwllum turned his head toward Herta, wondering whether she had come up with yet another absurd idea.
"You're a robot too—uhh, I mean, a mechanical lifeform!" Herta, too excited, almost let something slip. "Droidhead is a mechanical head, too!"
"..."
Screwllum seemed to want to correct her phrasing, but in the end, he only inclined his head gracefully.
"At best… we can be considered the same in a very broad sense... but only in appearance," Screwllum said calmly. "Once THEY ascended to Aeonhood, Nous ceased to be merely a mechanical lifeform."
"I know, I know—appearance is enough!" Herta said with a smile and clapped her hands. "Maybe Droidhead will see you as one of THEIR kind and be willing to chat? Face-to-face, your odds should be better than mine. Wanna try?"
Hearing this, Screwllum fell silent for a moment, as if analyzing the feasibility of the proposal.
"In theory… making contact with the Aeon replica within the Simulated Universe requires special inter—"
Screwllum did not finish speaking before Herta cut him off.
"What Simulated Universe? If we're meeting, we're meeting the real Droidhead!"
Excitement shone on Herta's face as she spoke rapidly.
"Just wait a sec! I'll call him!"
Herta immediately pulled out her phone, then found a specially marked contact and dialed it.
After a few seconds of waiting, the call finally connected.
[Herta? What's up?]
A man's gentle voice came from the other side.
"Lucian! I'm planning to use Screwy as bait to try communicating with Droidhead!" Herta went straight to the point, not polite in the slightest. "Get over here now! Quick! I need you ASAP!"
"..."
At Herta's demand, there was a one-second silence on the other end before Lucian responded.
[Herta… remember our agreement. You have three chances left. Are you sure you're ready?]
"Yes, yes! I'm ready!" Herta replied loudly, not hesitating in the slightest. "You should be worrying about yourself instead. Are you sure you can escape from Droidhead this time?"
Hearing the question, Lucian laughed softly.
[Haha... Me, run? Alright, wait for me there.]
*Beep—Beep—*
Just like that, the call ended.
"Alright, be prepared, Screwy," Herta said with a smile, glancing at the silent Screwllum. "I'm taking you to meet an Aeon."
Screwllum's mechanical eyes glowed faintly as streams of data flowed at light speed through his mind, clearly operating at extremely high levels of computation.
After a few moments of silence, he finally responded.
"Herta..." Screwllum asked hesitantly. "Will this bring trouble to Mr. Lucian?"
"Meh, that guy's ridiculously capable—bottomless, even—this won't trouble him at all," Herta replied, rolling her eyes as she waved it off nonchalantly. "Besides, this is what I deserve. I worked for him for ten years to earn this chance. You're just benefiting from my generosity, so you owe me a huge favor."
In the end, with this explanation, Screwllum relented to Herta's whim.
A few minutes later, Lucian suddenly appeared before the two of them using Absolute Hit.
"Mr. Lucian, we meet again."
Screwllum, already used to Lucian's teleportation ability, immediately turned to him and greeted him politely as usual, like a gentleman.
"Yeah, it's been a while, Screwllum."
Lucian nodded with a smile and returned the greeting.
"By the way, just call me Lucian as Herta does. No need for any honorifics. It kinda makes us seem distant, y'know."
Hearing this, Screwllum paused for a moment, then nodded, his body relaxing slightly.
"In that case, Lucian."
Seeing the two chatting harmoniously, Herta spoke up.
"Alright, you two chat first. Gimme a moment."
Right after Herta said this, the Herta puppet she was using powered down, becoming a lifeless puppet.
A while later, Herta, having rushed straight from her home to the space station, appeared before Lucian in person in her true form, her graceful figure fully present.
Lucian looked Herta up and down, then silently smiled at her.
Seeing his smile, Herta, without realizing it, felt slightly flustered inside and quickly spoke up in a slightly rushed manner.
"Don't get the wrong idea! I was just worried my puppet wouldn't be able to withstand Nous's energy, that's all! It's not like I came in person just to see you, okay!"
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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