Nothing could ever stump her.
Herta had always been that confident.
And the truth proved her right. A crude environment and limited resources could not restrain her. In just a few days, Herta made a name for herself throughout the entire base and secured sufficient authority.
There was no shortage of doubts from mediocrities.
Herta, however, never cared about what mediocrities thought. Their voices meant nothing to her. All they needed to do was watch quietly—and then admire her.
One groundbreaking achievement after another emerged from her hands. A battle that had been overwhelmingly one-sided saw its decline halted by her alone.
All the skeptics fell silent.
Just because they had never seen such a genius did not mean one did not exist. And now, these ordinary people had witnessed a true genius.
A genius far beyond her era.
A savior.
A genius beyond human imagination had descended, injecting a shot of hope into humanity. Especially with the emergence of the "Stigmata," humanity finally gained a means to contend with Herrschers.
There was no longer a need to rely on mutually destructive weapons of mass devastation.
And alongside the title of genius, her reputation for arrogance spread as well.
Though faint, that voice traveled with her name.
After displaying her strength, the world followed exactly as she had anticipated, concentrating its resources into her hands.
Herta was rather satisfied with this experimental field.
The only flaw was—
"Where did Ruan Mei go?"
This trial world was not large. Although Ruan Mei was not as all-encompassing as she was, as her collaborator, her capabilities were by no means inferior.
Yet there was not a single trace of her.
Herta found it strange.
Not only was there no news of Ruan Mei, even the protagonist of this trial—Kiana, that little girl—was nowhere to be found.
Herta even refused to believe it and personally checked the personnel registries of the remaining thirteen cities. She flipped through them several times and still found no record of Ruan Mei or Kiana.
What exactly was going on?
Where had they gone?
There was no doubt this was a trial world. Some knowledge simply did not function here. It operated under its own set of rules.
Although she had yet to find any trace of the two, Herta did not dwell on it, nor did she feel trapped.
Finding a loophole and leaving this place would not be difficult for her. It would only take time. And besides, she was curious to see what would unfold next.
Where were Ruan Mei and Kiana?
Days passed one after another. Herta immersed herself in research on Honkai energy, and in the blink of an eye, several years went by.
She broke through problem after problem.
She could now artificially create Herrschers.
Herta never placed much importance on the results she produced. Most of them she casually handed off to others for continued development, while she moved on to conquer the next challenge.
She appeared intent on unraveling the mysteries of Honkai entirely.
The artificial Herrscher project she released became humanity's method of reclaiming the world from Honkai.
After its implementation, within just a single year, the Human Federation manufactured Herrschers in large numbers and used that power to recover most of their lost territory.
Humanity began to recuperate.
The world entered peace.
Although Honkai had not vanished, humanity was no longer the helpless race it once had been.
With the threat of extinction lifted from above their heads, the world quietly changed after its celebrations. Herta, however, had no interest in any of it.
Idle matters for idle people.
She had never cared for such things.
She focused solely on her laboratory. When bored, she would occasionally ask her assistants and researchers whether there was any news of Ruan Mei.
If she had to quantify her progress, she felt she had likely advanced past eighty percent.
After remaining in the trial world for several years with no news of the trial itself, no sign of Ruan Mei or Kiana, and her Honkai research reaching a bottleneck, Herta finally grew impatient with the current situation.
Should I go look for them?
Not long after shifting her research direction, she encountered something that left her furious beyond measure.
She was placed under house arrest.
"Dr. Herta, thank you for everything you have done for humanity. However, your ideas are far too dangerous. For the safety of all mankind, we have no choice but to terminate your experiments."
In her entire life, Herta had never experienced something like this. The politicians of this world, leading armed forces composed of artificial Herrschers, overthrew her.
After peace had been restored, those same people took the research achievements she had tossed aside and turned them against her, driving her—who had immersed herself in research and ignored worldly affairs—out of the laboratory.
When she was confined in a sanatorium built specifically for her, Herta truly laughed in anger.
They needed a genius.
But they did not need an uncontrollable genius.
A genius who inspired fear. A genius who could upgrade what mediocrities already considered perfect weapons at any moment, producing results beyond human imagination.
Humanity was safe. Politicians fought for power.
But no one could tolerate a solitary, arrogant genius—one who did not understand human hearts yet stood above them all, capable of overturning the table at any time, unbound by anything.
They feared her.
They could not comprehend her talent.
They feared what they could not comprehend about her thoughts.
Having stepped into peace, she became the greatest destabilizing factor. Thus, every councilor unanimously voted in favor of her detention.
They feared her abilities.
Yet they also had to rely on them.
No one knew whether a new disaster would arise in the future. And despite attempts to smear her name and even conceal her contributions, a large number of civilians still regarded Herta as a savior.
No one dared truly deal with her.
So in the end, her sentence was simple.
House arrest.
She was forbidden from engaging in scientific work, sent to a heavily guarded sanatorium, and confined within a cage.
So that everyone could feel at ease.
Since the beginning of her studies, Herta had never suffered such humiliation. Her name as a genius had spread across countless worlds in the galaxy. Wherever she went, others would show her at least some respect.
When had she ever endured something like this?
Betrayed. Imprisoned. Reduced to a captive.
Herta had never conducted Honkai experiments on herself. So she remained just as she had been when she first arrived in this trial world.
Her body was still that of an ordinary person.
"Very well!"
Herta sat in a study containing nothing but literary works. There was no need to guess—there was undoubtedly surveillance here.
Her expression was as dark as it could possibly be.
Never in her life had she imagined she would stumble under such circumstances—for such a laughable reason.
Without her, this world would have perished long ago.
Her crystal-like eyes were filled with suppressed fury. In the past, matters like this would never have reached her. After arriving here, she had habitually carried over her usual approach.
Never did she expect, that she would suffer such a loss.
If, as she suspected, this trial world possessed a temporal span, and she and Ruan Mei existed in different times—then when she encountered Ruan Mei and Kiana in the future, she had no idea how much they would laugh at her.
Herta was holding back a breath of anger.
It was not as though she had left no contingencies behind. But the ones guarding the sanatorium were artificial Herrschers modified with her own technology.
The chances of turning the situation around were slim.
She could only wait for an opportunity.
And that opportunity arrived several months later.
The Honkai phenomena in this world intensified.
The human civilization that had only just regained a trace of vitality and stability was once again plunged into turmoil. Even stronger Herrschers and Honkai creatures appeared.
The intensity of war escalated.
Of the thirteen remaining cities, the coastal one fell completely on the very first day the Honkai surge intensified.
If the previous Honkai outbreaks had been a difficulty level of one, then the current one was ten.
The new Herrscher was so powerful that it surpassed human imagination.
No different from a god.
The Human Federation suffered grievous losses as they piled artificial Herrschers against the newborn Herrscher, barely managing to kill it at an exorbitant cost.
The irony was palpable.
The intensity of the Honkai disaster had risen, yet no one dared to release Herta and ask her to continue fighting against it.
Because everyone in the council knew, what they had done was disgraceful.
Herta's personality had always been supremely arrogant. They had clipped her wings with thunderous force and placed her under house arrest.
If she were to regain power, she would undoubtedly carry out a purge.
Aside from research and experimentation, Herta cared about no one and nothing. She had no hobbies, no attachments. There was no leverage to use against her.
Precisely because she was flawless in every other aspect, she had been confined.
Though they did not dare release her, as the situation deteriorated once more, the council quietly granted Herta more freedom.
They withdrew part of the personnel assigned to "protect" her.
Attempting to ease tensions.
With nothing to do, Herta naturally noticed the anomaly. She also sensed the change in Honkai energy—its intensity had risen.
After several years of research into Honkai, connecting the two matters was trivial.
The situation had worsened.
Only a worsening situation would make those short-sighted traitors seek her help.
A mocking curve formed at the corner of Herta's lips.
She had never been good-tempered, nor had she ever intended to swallow humiliation quietly.
If she did not repay this disgrace, she would be ashamed to call herself Herta.
She pretended to know nothing.
As time passed, they no longer prevented her from approaching laboratories and even took the initiative to propose building a new lab for her within the sanatorium.
Herta gave no response and treated it as though it did not exist.
She never once stepped into the completed laboratory. She showed little interest in the samples and materials they sent her.
She spent her days holding literary books.
As though she had lost all interest in research.
While Herta lay low here, the outside world had already descended into chaos. The intensified Honkai tore apart the fragile stability that had just been established.
The council was no longer united.
Alongside the disasters came rampant rumors—claims that the genius who had saved the world had been discarded by the Federation once her usefulness was exhausted. The Human Federation's credibility collapsed, and protests erupted across various regions.
Under the catalysis of Honkai, human civilization became like a powder keg packed with explosives, ready to detonate at any moment.
Honkai did not only bring natural calamities.
Yet the chaos outside stirred no sympathy within Herta. The experience of betrayal lodged in her throat like a thorn. Though it had been the ambition of politicians, not a single person had spoken up for her after it happened.
Herta had already researched nearly everything she wished to.
Now she only waited for the right moment to avenge her earlier humiliation.
And then find a way to leave.
Cities continued to fall one after another. Every day, people died. The Honkai-resistance enhancement serum produced by the Federation could no longer withstand the ever-strengthening Honkai energy.
Natural disasters, human strife, disease—all pushed this civilization, already teetering on the edge of a cliff, further toward annihilation.
It seemed they too realized that without Herta, humanity had no chance against Honkai. The remaining politicians began seeking ways to suppress their internal conflicts.
But the results were minimal.
Until the day a representative of the Federation arrived at Herta's residence—
The place named a sanatorium, yet designed specifically as a cage to confine her.
"I've said it before. I have nothing to discuss with you. Leave while you still can."
Herta did not spare the man a single glance. Reclining in her chair, she read the book in her hands without even lifting her eyelids.
It would be the usual nonsense.
Trying to morally coerce her?
Heh. They had chosen the wrong person.
After being stabbed in the back and suffering such a loss, she felt not the slightest goodwill toward the humans of this place.
This was only a trial world.
If she was unhappy, she would not let anyone else be happy either.
Failure meant nothing.
If the price of victory was saving this pack of ingrates, she would rather return and study cloning technology with someone else.
So not only did she have no intention of helping—she intended to kick them while they were down.
"I am not here to persuade you." The man knew Herta was impervious to persuasion and impossible to coerce. "I have come to present you with a gift."
"Not interested. Take your gift and get out." Herta's voice was calm and without fluctuation.
She did not believe anyone here could offer her something she would find interesting. And even if they could, she would not accept it.
"Please do not refuse so quickly, Ms. Herta. Hear me out before deciding." The man smiled faintly. "All these years, haven't you been searching for the whereabouts of your two friends?"
Herta narrowed her eyes and set down her book, staring indifferently at the man sent by the Federation to negotiate.
"Though we have not located the two friends you mentioned, we have prepared a gift you may find interesting. It is in the laboratory."
Herta looked at him. "What is it?"
This was an exception.
"A very special experimental subject. We found her in a disaster zone. There is no relevant information about her in the system's internal records, yet she possesses extremely strong resistance to Honkai energy. We thought you might be interested."
A special experimental subject.
With exceptionally strong resistance to Honkai.
Under normal circumstances, Herta would have refused outright. But then again—who said accepting goodwill meant forgiveness?
To verify a certain suspicion in her heart, Herta stood and followed him to the laboratory she had never once stepped into since its completion.
Separated by a single pane of glass in the observation room, Herta gazed at the white-haired girl inside—her limbs restrained, her eyes covered—and fell into thought.
Kiana?
It did look like Kiana.
Wasn't this supposed to be her Stigmata trial?
How had she ended up in worse shape than Herta herself?
She wielded Honkai energy. And this was her trial. Her strength should not have declined—just like Herta's had not.
"It seems Ms. Herta truly likes the gift we have prepared."
Herta turned to him expressionlessly.
"Please do not misunderstand. We are not asking you to do anything. This is compensation for our previous discourtesy."
Herta laughed again in anger.
"Leave the person. Get out."