Lars left.
His dejection had been swept away, replaced by an intense desire to become an Old Novices.
He now only wanted to return and explode with his project difficulties!
The glorious path countless predecessors had trodden was now beneath his feet; nothing could stand in his way!
Hmm, this trick was quite effective.
In any case, it was good that Lars had cheered up.
Putting aside his malicious pleasure in wanting to see others experience the same as him, Bai Luan still quite admired Lars.
Perhaps it was because he saw something similar to himself in Lars.
Bai Luan stretched in his seat.
Since Lars had already come to find him, he didn't need to wait for him here anymore.
Time to go out, pretend to patrol, and randomly scare a Staff Member who was slacking off~
Walking silently like a ghost to a slacking Staff Member, then watching him tremble like a student secretly playing on his phone in class, turning his head to see the Dean of Students.
And then listening to them fabricate all sorts of ridiculous reasons to explain their slacking behavior, which was an invaluable way to pass the time.
In the Space Station's module, Bai Luan pondered where there might be more slacking Staff Members, and inadvertently, his gaze passed through the Space Station module's window towards the universe.
The view from the Space Station was still the same as before: a vast and brilliant starry sky, and a pile of Herta Puppet parts scattered and floating in outer space...
Wait...
What was floating outside the Space Station!?
Bai Luan pressed against the Space Station window, looking at the floating objects in outer space.
He hadn't seen wrong; it was indeed a Herta Puppet broken into parts and floating outside the Space Station!
This is outrageous! Who is so bold as to do this at the Space Station!?
I... you... wait until I catch the rascal who did this, I'll tear you apart like this too and throw you into outer space!
Although Bai Luan was furious, he maintained his basic composure.
He first flew into outer space and tried his best to retrieve the floating Herta Puppet parts.
Then he angrily went to find Asta, ready to ask who dared to do such a thing.
"Station Master... it seems Ms. Herta took a Herta Puppet, saying she was going to use it for an experimental test."
"..."
Herta did it?
Then it's fine.
But... what kind of experiment requires disassembling a Herta Puppet like this and throwing it into outer space?
Could there have been some accident during the experiment?
Bai Luan took these parts and found Herta, preparing to ask about the situation.
"I was just conducting a teleportation experiment test, and as expected, an accident occurred."
Herta glanced at the disassembled Herta Puppet and said in a calm tone:
"The Herta Puppet, which should have only been teleported a short distance, somehow got teleported to who knows where. Now it seems it was torn into pieces and teleported into space outside the Space Station."
"So... this was an accident?"
"What else?"
Herta glanced at him, her eyes carrying a hint of "what are you doubting?"
"Does this genius look like a lunatic who would be bored enough to torture her own puppets for fun?"
"No."
Bai Luan waved his hand.
"Ms. Herta has always been beautiful and kind-hearted."
"However, this accident was indeed a bit beyond my expectations."
Herta's attention returned to the complex energy model in front of her, frowning slightly.
"Logically, it shouldn't have failed... this genius needs to thoroughly check where the problem lies."
She casually instructed:
"Coincidentally, you found the puppet, which saves me the trouble of having Asta send someone to deal with it. Just leave it there; I'll tidy it up when I have time."
"I'll fix it, you go about your business."
Herta nodded indifferently:
"As you wish."
Then she continued to busy herself with her research.
Bai Luan, meanwhile, began to repair the Herta Puppet by her side.
To be honest, the Herta Puppets were made too perfectly; seeing it scattered like this always gave a feeling of a murder scene.
Sigh... he really couldn't stand this sight.
I'll just do a super assembly!
Bai Luan first combined the torso and head, restoring the Herta Puppet from its dormant state to normal.
"Warning! Machine status abnormal!"
The moment it resumed operation, the Herta Puppet's self-check system activated, detected its condition, and issued an alarm.
Bai Luan reached out and stroked the Herta Puppet's head.
"It's okay, I'm here."
The Herta Puppet turned its head, looked at Bai Luan, scanned him, and after confirming Bai Luan's identity, the Herta Puppet confirmed its own safety and turned off the alarm.
Seeing the Herta Puppet quiet down, Bai Luan also showed a slight smile and began to repair the Herta Puppet, meticulously, as if maintaining a figurine.
This teleportation accident caused the Herta Puppet's torso to separate and also lost some small parts. Fortunately, most of the parts were retrieved by him, so the difficulty of repair was not great.
The Herta Puppet sat there quietly, watching its body gradually being assembled by Bai Luan, becoming complete, its pupils reflecting Bai Luan's serious expression.
Soon, the body was roughly repaired, and Bai Luan began to focus on detailing.
He tidied up her slightly messy clothes, combed her hair, and gave her nails a manicure.
Slowly tending to the puppet, watching it become perfect little by little, was actually quite stress-relieving.
At least Bai Luan's mood was quite pleasant during this process.
Soon, the disassembled Herta Puppet returned to normal.
This Herta Puppet also gained a curio effect because of this, but it didn't turn gold; it only received a slight intelligence boost.
There were also intelligence differences among Herta Puppets; more intelligent Herta Puppets could even have their own personalities.
However, the one in front of him was just a robot in the likeness of a Herta. After this intelligence boost, her intelligence level should rise slightly.
Bai Luan looked at the Herta Puppet he had repaired, feeling satisfied.
Simply perfect, worthy of me.
Wait, not perfect enough yet; there seems to be a strand of hair that isn't combed straight over there.
Bai Luan held the comb, just about to comb it again, when a voice suddenly came from behind him:
"Why are you so skilled?"
Herta's voice suddenly came, startling Bai Luan, making him drop the comb in his hand.
It proved that in a quiet environment, concentrating on one thing, a sudden voice would indeed give one a fright.
Bai Luan picked up the comb and looked at Herta.
Herta's gaze had, at some point, shifted from her research to Bai Luan.
Hmm... he hadn't expected Herta to pay attention to this.
However... it was indeed time to think about how to explain.
The main reason he was so skilled was because he occasionally took care of the Herta Puppets in the Little Black Room himself.
"Ms. Herta, I learned this during those three years at Herta's Home. Back then, the Herta Puppets taught many things, including this."
Bai Luan casually fabricated a lie.
Anyway, it had been over nine hundred years since then, and he believed Herta wouldn't delve into it... Bai Luan originally didn't care, but then he saw Herta's expression; she was looking at him with suspicious eyes.
No! Why?
Bai Luan started to sweat a little.
Herta was somewhat skeptical of Bai Luan's explanation.
She began to suspect who Bai Luan had been practicing on.
Just then, the Herta Puppet looked at Bai Luan and spoke:
"Thank you."
Herta's attention immediately shifted to this Herta Puppet. She remembered this puppet's intelligence level wasn't that high?
Could it be... Herta's gaze moved back to Bai Luan.
Is it your doing again?
Why do mechanical creations awaken so easily when they're with you?
Herta began to ponder why.
Seeing Herta's attention shift, Bai Luan also breathed a sigh of relief.
He first smiled and responded to the Herta Puppet.
"You're welcome."
Then, with the comb, he smoothed out the last bit of disharmony in the Herta Puppet's hair.
Bai Luan looked at the neatly arranged Herta Puppet, nodding in satisfaction.
"So beautiful."
"Then she is just this genius's puppet."
"I like Herta, so they are all the same."
Bai Luan glanced at Herta.
"You're beautiful too."
"..."
Somehow, seeing Bai Luan like this, Herta suddenly felt relieved.
She couldn't even imagine Bai Luan falling in love with someone else looking like this.