Meanwhile—
Over at the Master Control Zone.
March 7th quickly tracked down Asta to ask about Sylvia's whereabouts.
Pulling up the space station's database, Asta was surprised to discover that Sylvia's ID card had been used to access the elevator leading down to the Seclusion Zone.
"Let me take a look and see what's going on here..." Asta muttered to herself, pulling up the space station's logs.
When it came to the Seclusion Zone, Asta herself was largely in the dark. Whatever went on between Herta and Ruan Mei wasn't exactly the kind of gossip they shared with her in detail.
She only knew that something was being kept down there, but as for what it actually was, she hadn't a clue.
"Let's see the logs... Sylvia's clearance went through yesterday, but who on earth granted it?!"
The logs showed absolutely no record of who had unlocked the clearance. Asta had initially assumed Herta was behind it, but there was no paper trail.
Or rather, the record had been completely wiped. She couldn't even trace which device the command had been sent from.
It was downright absurd.
Asta's mind raced through the possibilities. She recalled when Herta had first briefed her about the Seclusion Zone; judging by Herta's dismissive attitude at the time, Asta had guessed the sector had been handed over for some project related to the Genius Society.
Because of that, she had always treated the zone as if it didn't exist, never giving it a second thought.
Sylvia wouldn't just wander down there without a good reason. Every action has a purpose.
Considering Ruan Mei had arrived at the space station just yesterday, and had visibly taken an interest in Sylvia, Asta figured this whole business had to be linked to Madam Ruan Mei.
Still, it was better to double-check.
With that in mind, Asta shot a message over to Herta.
Though Herta usually ignored people, she was actually quite supportive of the young girl she had roped into managing the space station.
As long as she wasn't in the middle of a frantic experiment, she would usually reply if she had a spare moment. And as luck would have it, Herta was relatively free these past two days.
[Herta: Sylvia's ID? Did that Ruan Mei woman grant the clearance? Whatever, what does that have to do with me?]
Since that area had been cordoned off for Ruan Mei's experiments, access rights had been handed over to her as well. If Asta hadn't granted it, then Ruan Mei was the only culprit left.
Having pieced it together, Herta instantly lost interest.
[Herta: It must have been Ruan Mei. If you're that worried, just head down and take a look yourself.]
[Herta: Going offline.]
As for the possibility of disrupting Ruan Mei's research, Herta hadn't given it a single thought.
After all, Ruan Mei had already dragged a reckless powerhouse like Sylvia down there to be her assistant; it didn't take a genius to figure out what she needed for her next phase.
If she just wanted to study Sylvia's unique traits, the Simulated Universe would have sufficed. Calling Sylvia down in person meant only one thing: she needed someone who could fight.
Since a brawl was already on the horizon, adding a couple more people to the mix wouldn't hurt. She had full confidence in Ruan Mei's intellect.
On the other side of the screen, Asta couldn't help but let out a bitter smile at Herta's casual dismissal. She couldn't tell if Herta just didn't care, or if she trusted Ruan Mei blindly.
Nevertheless, she relayed the situation to March 7th.
Hearing the explanation, a completely clueless March 7th scratched her head. "So... you're saying we can tag along and head down too?"
"That is what Madam Herta implies."
Asta wasn't particularly eager to go down herself. Ruan Mei was a genius on par with Herta, after all. Since she was conducting research down there, it was probably best not to disturb her.
But March 7th wasn't a member of the space station staff, and since Madam Herta had given the green light to check things out, Asta certainly wasn't going to stand in her way.
March 7th's face lit up with excitement. She clearly wanted to follow them down.
The Seclusion Zone—the very name practically oozed adventure.
Plus, this was an expedition officially sanctioned by the master of the space station herself. As a Nameless, it was only natural for curiosity to drive her forward, right?
"Hehe, so can I really go take a look?"
"You can... but please be careful, Miss March."
Asta told her frankly that no one had set foot in that area for quite some time. Even after the space station was attacked, they had only sent engineering robots inside for automated checks. Not a single soul had actually entered.
Heaven only knew what was lurking down there.
--+--
Meanwhile.
Having left the laboratory with Ruan Mei, Sylvia had already gripped her greatsword. Her outfit shifted, taking the form of her Valkyrie armor to provide her with ample protection.
Ruan Mei walked alongside Sylvia. Ahead of them lay a dimly lit chamber and a massive, looping corridor.
"Please be careful. Sensor data shows that a significant number of Swarm creatures have gathered in the circular corridor ahead," Ruan Mei cautioned as she stared at the tightly sealed bulkhead.
Sylvia nodded, eyeing the cluster of marked red dots on the display. Out of curiosity, she asked, "By the way, do these bugs just multiply endlessly? Or do they stop breeding once they hit a certain limit?"
"Before a Swarm King comes into being, the Swarm will breed freely right up until the moment of its birth. Once an Emanator is born, the collective population falls entirely under the Emanator's control."
Sylvia couldn't help but click her tongue. Ruan Mei really wasn't afraid of these bugs spinning out of control and overrunning the space station.
As they spoke, the bulkhead before them hissed and slowly slid open, revealing a dark, narrow corridor stretching into the distance.
At first glance, the gloomy passage appeared completely empty, showing no signs of a Swarm infestation. But right at that moment, a sudden gust of sharp wind, accompanied by a piercing screech, lunged straight at Sylvia!
"Watch out!"
Sylvia could barely sense it—just a subtle, discordant shimmer in the air where there should have been nothing at all.
Trusting her combat instincts, she lunged forward, a torrent of blazing fire enveloping her greatsword as she swung it down in a vicious arc!
Slash!
The hardened carapace was shattered to pieces. A Swarm creature roughly the size of a millstone materialized from thin air, wailing as it spewed thick fluids.
A bizarre, rancid stench began to spread across the floor following the creature's death.
Sylvia frowned slightly. In the games, these bugs did indeed possess cloaking abilities. But in the game, you could at least spot a few visual glitches; in reality, looking with the naked eye yielded absolutely nothing.
You couldn't sense their presence, they made no sound, and they were completely invisible. It was a miracle Ruan Mei's equipment could even detect these things.
Click, clack.
The crisp sound of high heels tapping against the floor echoed as Ruan Mei approached, her expression calm as she looked down at her tablet.
She knelt, pressing a finger against the insect's carcass. A faint shimmer bled into the remains, as if she were running a diagnostic.
"Your reflexes are exceptional. Even sharper than I anticipated," Ruan Mei remarked, finding the breath to converse even while performing her analysis.
"The strength of these specimens... surpasses that of an ordinary Pathstrider. Factor in the environment and their concealment capabilities, and their combat efficacy is decent."
"...The strength of this thing is a bit more than just 'decent.' Are you telling me all the bugs down here are this tough?" Sylvia said, her expression complex.
She felt this creature wasn't much weaker than a Voidranger Trampler. And with its cloaking and ambush tactics, it was arguably more dangerous.
Weren't these things just common trash mobs in the game? Could it be that Ruan Mei's tinkering had somehow buffed these little pests?
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL