Steve slowly raised his head, his gaze fixed intently on everyone. He knew staying here was not an option, otherwise he would be captured and used as an experimental sample by the little brat in front of him.
"How did he do that?" a Security Department guard asked, and he couldn't be blamed for being shallow. It was entirely because Steve's synthesis ability was too bizarre in the Honkai: Star Rail Universe.
"Lululululululululululu"
"Thump"
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Steve broke the crafting table, then picked up his wooden sword again. He ran towards Herta.
"Don't even think about it!" Arlan shouted sharply, rushing forward with his greatsword.
Steve looked at Arlan, a cold sneer in his heart.
Arlan rushed in front of Herta to meet Steve. At this point, they were three meters apart. Steve, however, jumped at that moment. When the two were only 2.5 meters apart—
"Whack!" Steve swung the [wooden sword].
Arlan's entire body inexplicably turned red, and he was knocked back two meters, while Steve, with the help of the highlight display module, saw that Arlan had lost six health points, which meant three red hearts.
"When?!" Arlan was helped up by the Security Department guards. In the previous exchange, he hadn't even gotten within two meters of his opponent.
"Arlan, let us handle this!" Several members of the Security Department charged forward with high-energy weapons, the safeties of their high-energy particle guns disengaged.
Steve remained silent, merely holding his wooden sword upright, then angling it forty-five degrees to the left (which is the right-click block from version 1.9).
Without hesitation, the four opened fire. High-energy particle beams shot from their gun barrels, striking Steve's entire body. His body glowed red at high frequency but he did not retreat a single step. By the time the four had expended their ammunition, Steve still had five red hearts. (Haha, 50% damage reduction isn't sneaky?)
The four were shocked, but Steve wasn't going to humor them. He charged forward with his [wooden sword]. From 2.5 meters away, he launched a "knockback attack" with a sword, sending the person in front flying three meters away.
He sidestepped and jumped, delivering a "critical hit" with a sword, knocking back the person who was still in a daze. A person on the left rushed over with a small knife. Steve turned and, from 1.1 meters away, forced him back with a sword.
"Hmph!" The last person, holding a gun, swung the butt of it from behind.
Steve remained silent, simply turning immediately to block.
"Whack!" Before that person could even be happy, he was struck away by a sword.
Steve was disdainful. If it weren't for "attack cooldown," these four would have died long ago.
"Damn... what is this thing?!" The four stood up again, blocking in front of Arlan, while Herta just stood at the very back, observing Steve.
Steve's expression showed no fluctuation, or rather, he had no expression to begin with.
"Go!" As the leader roared, the other three rushed forward with their weapons. But Steve remained silent, just standing in place. When the four rushed to within a meter of him—
"Swish!" A flash of white blade light. What was it? A "sweeping attack"! All four of them glowed red and were knocked back over a meter. However, the person who was targeted by Steve's crosshair was already spitting blood from the corner of his mouth, his body leaning backward and falling to the ground, unable to get up again!
Compared to Herta and Arlan, these Security Department members only had ten health points, which meant five red hearts. And now he only had half a heart left.
Steve quickly advanced with his wooden sword, slashing at the fallen Security Department member.
"Hmph!" A black blade aura struck towards the wooden sword, but bizarrely, the blade passed through the wooden sword and hit Steve's body.
Steve was knocked back one meter. The moment he landed, he sidestepped to dodge the greatsword's attack. His wooden sword swung, striking the approaching Arlan, who was knocked back. When Steve looked at the dying person, he realized that person had already been dragged out of Herta's Office.
Now, only Herta and Arlan remained in Herta's Office.
The atmosphere among the three became tense, and finally, Herta spoke.
"You rude fellow, so arrogant... Now, I'll give you a chance: apologize." The Herta Puppet spoke with a hint of anger.
Steve remained silent, turning his back, squatting, standing up, squatting, standing up. Then he turned around, moving left and right, swinging his wooden sword. Even Peppy would have understood what this behavior meant.
"You!" Arlan spoke angrily, just about to rush forward.
"Don't rush." Herta spoke to stop him, her angry gaze slowly turning into one of curiosity as she looked at Steve, not because Herta was magnanimous, but because an excited, curious scientific idea was burning in her mind.
Steve's previous displays of placing things out of thin air and his bizarre attack methods had piqued Herta's curiosity. And Herta had now figured out the meaning of those previously perplexing movements.
"Squatting, standing up, squatting, standing up" should express goodwill. And the previous "turning his back, squatting, standing up, squatting, standing up" was probably meant as mockery.
That indirectly indicated that he couldn't speak, and even a connection beacon would likely be useless. So... "Arlan, mimic his movements..." Herta turned to Arlan and said.
"What?" Arlan thought for a moment, but quickly reacted.
"Alright, Ms. Herta," Arlan said, then began to imitate Steve's previous movements.
Seeing this, Steve thought that there was no benefit in being hostile with them now, so he might as well make peace. He then put away his wooden sword and similarly performed the "squatting, standing up, squatting, standing up" movements.
Herta's expression remained unchanged, as if it were only to be expected.
Arlan, seeing Steve put away his weapon, also let out a sigh of relief, then tentatively spoke.
"Do you understand what we're saying?"
Steve nodded, and Herta raised an eyebrow. Then she said,
"So you understand what we're saying." Then, she walked directly to Steve's side, her right hand attempting to touch his body, only to find it passed through. But Herta did not withdraw her hand; instead, she extended her arm completely into him, feeling nothing.
Herta thought for a moment, then turned to Arlan and asked:
"Did you feel anything when you hit him just now?"
"Yes, very hard, like hitting an Emissary of Preservation," Arlan blurted out.
Herta turned her head back to Steve, and the Puppet unreservedly threw a punch.
"Oh ♦" Steve's entire body turned red and he was knocked back one meter. Then he turned his head and returned a punch to Herta. Herta's entire body also turned red and she was knocked back one meter.
If one were to view this from Arlan's perspective, it would appear particularly comical and abstract.
"Ms. Herta?" Arlan asked, puzzled.
But Herta did not reply to Arlan.
"Is it a unique Path?" Herta looked at Steve, utterly baffled.
"That's not right either, I didn't feel any Path Essence on him..."
"Should I call Ruan Mei over?"
"Lululululululululululululu"
"Thump"
The strange sound once again drew their attention to Steve. Steve's blocky right hand was wildly swinging at the wooden floor. Cracks spread across the wooden floor, growing more numerous as time passed, until a sound was heard—
"Thump"
The wooden floor instantly disappeared with particle effects, leaving only a floating dropped item in its place. Before Herta could say anything, Steve absorbed the dropped item into his body.
"Hey!! Did I tell you to move?!" Herta was both angry and increasingly curious about this life form, which had no record in the universe.
Steve just turned his head and started squatting, then standing up again. Then he swung his arm towards the triangular hatch.
Herta thought for a second before immediately realizing what he wanted to do.
"You cannot leave," Herta immediately said, but Steve, upon hearing this, did not get angry. Instead, he placed the crafting table on the ground. Herta also seized the opportunity to walk next to Steve and observe the crafting table, but after a moment of observation, the result was that Herta could not discern any information from this one-meter-sided cube.
But what she didn't know was that in Minecraft, to establish oneself in a save, one fundamentally relies on this crafting table.
Steve's right hand waved at the crafting table, and within a few seconds, a brown, pixelated pickaxe appeared in his hand.
Herta examined the wooden pickaxe. Besides looking like it might be pixelated and made of wood, she couldn't discern anything else.
But in Steve's eyes, that was the starting point for "mining." If one were to quote from the Minecraft Wiki, it would be:
"The beginning of all things, one of the most important tools in the early game."
And with the help of the highlight display, what Steve saw on the walls of Herta's Office, those walls that resembled computers, displayed the name:
[Impurity Computer Array]
Pickaxe 1 √
That meant that even a wooden pickaxe could dig through this wall. Steve put away the crafting table, and under the puzzled gazes of the two, he held the wooden pickaxe and swung it at the wall.
Herta suddenly felt a bad premonition.
A one-cubic-meter gap instantly appeared in the wall of Herta's Office, then a second. Then Steve squeezed through. Then he saw the blocks inside.
[Impurity Space Station Wall]
Pickaxe 1 √
Without further ado, he started digging directly, and also filled the wall of Herta's Office back in.
Herta froze. She looked at the spot on the wall where a one-meter-wide, two-meter-high hole had just been dug, but now it was filled back in without the slightest gap. The pupils of the Puppet's optical artificial eyes almost dilated so much that no whites of the eyes were visible.
She stared intently at the two reversed computer arrays, at the edges, at the connection point of Z-19 with other computer arrays... "Magnify... Magnify! Magnify again!"
"Buzz! Warning, Z-19, Z-35 computer arrays are jammed, unable to access the 'Prime Universe' model." The office's electronic voice echoed urgently.
The Herta Puppet stood there, unresponsive.
"Whoosh!!!" At the same time, the Herta Space Station's emergency evacuation alarm sounded.
Arlan frowned, a sense of foreboding rising.
"Ms. Herta, I shall take my leave now."
Herta didn't reply to him, because she had already gone offline to find Ruan Mei. Arlan also didn't wait around and directly opened the door and left... ← To Be Continued