"Her personality definitely takes after you. After all, she's Little Herta, and you're Big Herta."
"Don't talk nonsense. Her personality must take after you. After all, you were the one who granted her new life."
"No, no, no. While I do like to court death, I always have a reason for it. So this is definitely your fault."
"No, no, no. While I don't mind conducting risky experiments for the sake of research, I'm not this reckless. It must be the fault of the Machine Spirit you enhanced."
"Little Herta has a personality projection module, and it projects your personality, so it's your fault."
"...This little thing won't affect me in the world of geniuses, but it will ruin my reputation in the world of puppeteers, so I do not acknowledge it."
"That's enough, you two! Can you stop pushing me back and forth?!" Little Herta, who was being pushed from Chen Li to Herta and back again on the sofa, finally snapped.
"Assuming the power of the Machine Spirit is insufficient to contain a portion of Nihility's divine body, then before you die, we must determine whether your love for courting death takes after Chen Li or me," the Herta puppet, controlled by Big Herta, stated. "I still think that while my personality projection module is fine, you were infected by him during the few hours you spent together after gaining your Machine Spirit. Wouldn't you agree?" Herta asked Little Herta.
"This is too much! Main body! Don't you care if I live or die? And you, you rascal, say something!" Little Herta slapped the thigh of Chen Li, who was sitting next to her.
"What's with that nickname? Anyway, dying isn't a problem. I've already temporarily transferred the Revival Games VIP access to you. If you can't handle it, just die peacefully. You'll be a new woman in 30 seconds. But I absolutely cannot let Herta think that I'm the one who corrupted you with my love for courting death. That negative impression must not be planted in anyone's mind!" Chen Li said, shaking his head.
The sole VIP access to the Revival Games belonged only to the current user. Like his other Curios, Chen Li could hand it over to someone else at any time, and the organizer's authority was lent out along with it. Of course, also like his other Curios, it could be temporarily projected using Star Stones.
Chen Li hadn't temporarily transferred the VIP access to anyone before because if his friends died, it was at most a matter of a few Revival Cards. But if he died, his revival authority would activate immediately, using the corresponding mechanics of a blank Miracle Card to resurrect him. They would only lose their lives, but he would lose a blank Miracle Card!
Most importantly, Chen Li didn't know who among his friends or group members was about to die—the access could only be transferred to someone who was still alive, not to someone who was already dead. Furthermore, the holder of the Curio could approve Revival Cards, so Chen Li really didn't feel comfortable lending it to others. Just as the little Miracle Sprite had said, Chen Li didn't have to bear the responsibility of saving the world, but he couldn't just watch it be destroyed in his hands either.
Temporarily handing over the Revival Games Curio to someone in dire need, like he did with the Friends Circle, was acceptable. But letting someone else hold it long-term was not!
"You two are so cruel, bullying a poor Little Herta who is about to die a lonely death... By the way, what's with this trash can?" Herta asked, puzzled, looking at the small golden trash can Chen Li had just woven into existence.
"This? It's the same model as Big Herta's trash can, with an imprisonment effect. I wove it together temporarily to act as a blast containment unit. If you're really about to explode, I'll toss you in, slap the lid on, and prevent you from blowing up the space station. It's fine if you die, but you can't blow up the space station," Chen Li said with considerable heartlessness.
The merits of The Cleaner could be used to weave sacks or trash cans, and they could be reclaimed to serve as merits again after use. It was very convenient.
"You mean in your heart, I'm worth less than the Herta Space Station?" Little Herta was deeply shocked.
"Yes," Chen Li nodded. If you die, you'll be a new woman in 30 seconds. But if the space station blows up, he'd have to spend Fiction Value to repair it. Chen Li knew how to weigh his priorities.
"What if I told you I know the locations of all of Big Herta's secret stashes?"
"...Little Herta, you can't die! If you die, I don't want to live anymore!" After half a second of hesitation, Chen Li grabbed Little Herta's hand and cried out.
"You turncoat!" the Herta puppet's eyes widened. Hey, sister, that's not how the personality projection module is supposed to be used! "Wait, I don't remember putting any of that information in the personality projection module."
"I figured since I'm Little Herta, it's only normal that I know your business, right?" Little Herta tilted her head.
"???"
"The Machine Spirit... can it do anything?"
"It probably can't, but a Machine Spirit enhanced with Miracle Crystals probably could. After all, she's Little Herta, and you're Big Herta. It's perfectly logical."
"Logical my foot! So are you going to die or not, Little Herta? Stop dragging it out. Why don't you just self-destruct already?" Big Herta said impatiently.
"You cold, heartless woman! Chen Li is still nicer to me. When I get through this, I'm definitely going to tell him all of your bank passwords!"
"Good job, Little Herta."
"It doesn't matter. Everything I have in the banks is debt anyway," the Herta puppet waved her hand.
"All debt?"
"Yeah. When I'm short on cash, I just ask Asta directly. Is that strange?" the Herta puppet tilted her head.
"So are you going to blow up or not, Little Herta? Hurry up and get it over with so we can move on to other things," Chen Li asked, looking down at Little Herta sprawled on the sofa.
"Wow, you change your tune so fast. My heart's gone cold... Hey, I think I'm better now." As Little Herta felt her heart go cold, the chaotic power of Nihility that had been raging inside her seemed to calm down as well.
"So 'my heart's gone cold' isn't just a metaphor?"
"Chen Li, Big Herta, come and see! Do I now possess the infinite power of Nihility?" Little Herta sprang up from the sofa, full of energy.
"Let me see..." Chen Li touched Little Herta's forehead. Upon contact, he saw brand new Entries.
[Nihility], [Hidden Backup Energy Source]
Originally, Little Herta didn't have the latter Entry, and the [Nihility] Entry wasn't on her head, but on her stomach. Its transfer meant that the [Nihility] Entry truly belonged to her now. This wasn't surprising; after all, it was only a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny part of the Aeon of Nihility, whereas enhancing Little Herta's Machine Spirit Entry had cost Chen Li three Crystals.
"If I'm not mistaken, this power has stabilized within your body, but it's not quite what you imagine. It hasn't given you the infinite power of Nihility or turned you into a Pathstrider who can draw power from its Path... Instead, it allows you to charge at others and blow up at critical moments. The explosive effect should be quite considerable," Chen Li said. The words [Hidden Backup Energy Source] triggered some ancient memories for him.
"Huh?"
"But don't be discouraged. With your genius mind, as long as you find the correct way to utilize this backup energy source, you can increase your power output. And although this portion of Nihility's divine body is very small, you might be able to use it to resonate with IX and borrow the Aeon's power directly," Chen Li suggested.
Since Little Herta already had a Machine Spirit, it was only natural to encourage her to "figure out" things in a more absurd direction. Now that she had a certain level of power output, it was time to start thinking about how to use it. Little Herta couldn't just keep solving her problems by throwing "diamonds" at them. It was too inefficient.
"That makes sense. I'll go figure it out... Big Herta, I'm borrowing your lab." Seemingly struck by inspiration, Little Herta jumped off the sofa and immediately ran out.
"I have a feeling things are about to develop in an incredible direction," Herta said, looking at Chen Li.
"Indeed. Herta, do you think it's possible for us to nurture Little Herta into another genius?" Chen Li asked suddenly.
"You mean..."
"Herta, you installed personality projection modules in your puppets so they could understand your commands when they're on their own or assisting you with experiments and daily life, but you probably didn't load all of your knowledge into them, right?"
"Mm. Because knowledge is knowledge, and creativity is creativity. Even if the Herta puppets had the same memories as me, plus the personality projection modules, they wouldn't be able to create much of value. And doing so would be very costly, so I didn't load it," Herta nodded.
In other words, the regular Herta puppets were like "AI customer service," while Big Herta was the sole "human customer service." AI customer service has its limits.
"But now Little Herta has her own Machine Spirit, and she seems incredibly free. If you combine the knowledge of a genius with the creativity brought by a Machine Spirit... could it be possible to create a new genius? A genius who could be recognized as a member of the Genius Society?" Chen Li muttered, stroking his chin.
"Make Little Herta a genius too? That's an interesting idea!" The Herta puppet's eyes instantly lit up.
Ruan Mei wanted to create an Aeon, and Herta's ambitions went beyond just being a member of the Genius Society. So, creating a Genius-Society-level genius first didn't seem too outrageous, did it? Big Herta didn't care if her own name as a genius shone among the stars again, but the thought of the surprised looks on everyone's faces when they saw Little Herta become a member of the Genius Society was very amusing.
"I'll go install the genius knowledge module in Little Herta right away! Wait for my good news!" After saying that, Big Herta went offline.
"Hey, I wasn't finished... Ah, whatever. It probably won't cause any major problems."
After Big Herta logged off, Chen Li looked around. Seeing that no one was there, he reached his hand toward Little Herta's puppet...
He laid the puppet flat, then lay down on her stomach, using her as a pillow!
"Honestly, I can't believe it. A whole sofa and not a single throw pillow!" Chen Li complained as he took back the Revival Games access and began the approval work.
---o---