Chapter 158
[The group arrived at Herta's office, but didn't see the familiar Herta puppet. Only two familiar scientists were there - one with red hair, one with blue hair. "They're not..."]
[Little Ai-chan]: (Hey, chicken-head, when can we start talking?)
(Be patient, they're about to step on that pressure plate any moment now.)
The three immediately stopped moving. (They seem to have heard us talking.)
(Impossible, our position has soundwave shielding functionality, absolutely no sound should leak out.)
(Didn't you connect the shielding device's power supply to the pressure plate?)
The two fell into awkward silence as Sparkle's group had already reached them: "You two, we heard your little secret conversation~"
Einstein looked dejected: "Sigh, all the fireworks and background music I prepared for our grand entrance... wasted."
"So it wasn't a trap...
But was there really any need for a special entrance? Everyone knows you're Einstein and Tesla—"
Before she could finish, Tesla cut in: "We've been waiting for you players of the Fool's Game. We are the masters of this space station—Lady Herta—"
"—'s avatars."
[Honkai·Welt]: "Huh? What's this?"
[Silver Wolf]: 'LMAO, so this is how they reuse assets? The developers got lazy.'
[Tesla]: "Huh? Chicken-head and I became Herta's avatars?!"
[Herta]: "What? Not pleased? If you really were my avatars, it would be your honor."
[March 7th]: "This is just... I don't even know where to begin with these plot holes. Could it be that every character appearing in this game is actually someone from another world playing a role?"
[Sparkle]: "You guess~"
[Stelle]: "Then I want to see what role Mr. Yang is playing!"
["Oh? But you don't look anything like Lady Herta."
"If you look closely, we're roughly seventy percent similar," Einstein explained seriously. "Though I've never met this Lady Herta, if you're both her avatars, why do you look different from each other?"
"It's just an illusion created by our hairstyles and hair colors!
Actually, if you just look at our faces, we're quite similar!"
Tesla explained earnestly. Sparkle explained they had used some local assets and told them to just treat it as game setting. Einstein-Herta got into character: "As players—challengers—you should understand that to clear this Herta Space Station, you must complete the trials we, as its masters, have prepared."
Sparkle replied: "Of course, I can't wait to start cutting."
The two Hertas explained the rules to them and handed over the Fool Cards.]
[Qingque]: "So these are the Fool Cards made by the 'Masked Fools'? Doesn't seem as fun as my Jade Parcels."
[March 7th]: "This whole game is just about playing cards, isn't it!? Using card games to solve everything."
[Honkai·Welt]: "I still think Tesla and Einstein claiming to be Herta feels rather abstract."
[Stelle]: "These Fool Cards are pretty simple. Aventurine! Let's battle!!"
[Aventurine]: "You really want to challenge me? This game requires quite a bit of luck."
[Kiana]: "Seems kind of interesting. Mei, Bronya, let's play cards!"
[Herrscher of Sentience]: "Count me in too!"
[This challenge had only one objective: find the lost Curios [Refuses Silence] and [Gloomy Matchstick]. Tesla-Herta provided information about these two Curios. To find the Curios, they went to the Master Control Zone to investigate. Then they engaged in card battles with security department staff, obtained items, moved boxes aside, found paths, and gathered information through conversations with various staff members. They found suspect Rita, a female staff member from the confidential files department, and wanted to engage in an intense Fool Card battle with her. However, under the Curio's influence, they couldn't concentrate at all. After using Vita's ability to read her mind, they learned they just needed to turn off the sound-emitting object. With Ai's help, the players simply turned off the game's sound entirely and successfully reached the gramophone to shut it off. With no way to escape, Rita had no choice but to engage in an intense Fool Card battle with them and, unsurprisingly, lost. First Curio, [Refuses Silence], successfully recovered.]
[Stelle]: "Crap, aside from the 'card games solve everything' setting, I don't know why but this game feels so familiar! Way too familiar!"
[Stelle]: "Might as well run one last Simulated Universe test while you're at it."
[March 7th]: "Moving boxes, solving puzzles, talking to staff, finding Curios, and this familiar music - this really does resemble your experiences!"
[Silver Wolf]: "It's still Herta Space Station. Even though this version's models are quite简陋, having similar gameplay makes sense, right?"
[Asta]: "Indeed, we really should strengthen the space station's security. Time to buy a few more Star Destroyers!"
[Stelle]: "Rich lady! Please take care of me!!"
[Like many games, they reported back to Tesla-Herta and Einstein-Herta, receiving information about another Curio from them. Thus they went to the Support Zone to search for clues about the Gloomy Matchstick Curio.
There they encountered introverted security department staff member Bronya, who took out a matchstick from her pocket, causing all surrounding light to instantly disappear. Introverted Bronya could only speak freely in lightless darkness, almost like a perfect representation of contemporary netizens. To obtain the Curio from Bronya, Sparkle pulled out her Fool Cards. Bronya issued a challenge! "Shall we settle this with Fool Cards? I-I won't lose!"
Bronya also produced her cards. "How can you even see the cards in this pitch blackness!!"
Ai-chan felt herself becoming the designated comic relief. As before, Bronya also lost to Sparkle, and according to their agreement, they reclaimed the Curio. Facing the wanting-to-withdraw Bronya, the two mischief-makers actually acted decently for once and gave Bronya some encouragement. Soon, they returned to the two Hertas and handed over the Curios. The two Hertas gave them the pass and brought them before the Simulated Universe, telling them they could reach the second world by passing through it.]
[Stelle]: "No! No! No! Why didn't you take me along when testing the Simulated Universe!! I want to test it right now!!"
[March 7th]: "That's enough from you!"
[Herta]: "Want to test? Hurry up, when my Simulated Universe version updates, there will be plenty for you to do!"
[Qingque]: "But... doesn't this count as [Masked Fools] copyright infringement? She completely copied the space station like this."
[Sparkle]: "They're called Masked Fools - what did you expect?"
[Kiana]: "This Bronya is actually socially anxious?"
[Honkai·Seele]: "According to their speculation, the next world probably will be ours?"