The entire Simulated Universe suddenly fell silent.
Screwllum's voice came through his ear:
"Mr. Zeig, if you don't speak… it's actually fine. I'll rewind the record's timeline a bit. We'll start over—please wait a moment."
"…"
Zeig watched helplessly as Silver Wolf's phantom returned to her original position.
Immediately after, just like at the beginning, she said a long string of words to him.
Finally, staring at him, she urged:
"Come on, what are you spacing out for?"
Zeig was just about to open his mouth when he realized he couldn't make a sound.
"…"
Or rather, he did speak, but it was muted.
At least the Silver Wolf inside the Simulated Universe couldn't hear it.
Screwllum's voice came again through his ear:
"Mr. Zeig, I assume you've already adapted to the Simulated Universe's environment. It's time to properly investigate. Of course, I know how difficult this is—rest assured, the compensation afterward will definitely satisfy you."
"Haha, sure, sure."
Zeig discovered he could speak again.
This time, when Silver Wolf talked to him, he couldn't be bothered to respond. He just silently followed her pace.
The two of them shuttled through the sections.
Soon, they reached the end of this level.
Just like in previous Simulated Universe runs, there were two teleportation gates here that could lead to the next space.
Silver Wolf stood ahead with her back to Zeig. Seeing the two gates, the corner of her mouth curved into a slight arc as she said softly:
"Want to pick one first? Test your favorite… intuition."
Zeig raised an eyebrow, staring at Silver Wolf's phantom ahead, and muttered inwardly to Screwllum:
"She's letting me choose. Her voice sounds so nice."
"To be precise, she's letting her companion choose. Even if you do nothing, this record will continue to progress." Screwllum's voice came through his ear.
Just as Screwllum said.
Even though Zeig hadn't chosen yet, Silver Wolf ahead spoke:
"Wrong guess! The correct answer is the right one!"
Zeig silently stared at the two teleportation gates in front.
The left one was red—clearly leading to a fight.
The right one was a blue question mark.
"…"
He hesitated to speak.
Seeing Silver Wolf already walking toward the blue gate, Zeig followed along.
After stepping through the gate.
The scene before his eyes twisted.
Then a new vista formed.
Silver Wolf stood beside him, frowning at the mass of energy in front:
"Huh? I actually got it wrong—this is a decoy signal."
She sighed softly:
"Herta really went and set up something like this in the Simulated Universe. Doesn't she get annoyed looking up her own materials?"
Without waiting for Zeig to respond, she continued:
"Whatever, whatever—my miscalculation. Let's switch sectors and try again."
"…"
Screwllum timely commented through his ear:
"Actually, she was on the correct path—just didn't go far enough. But believe me, it won't take long before she realizes it."
Zeig couldn't help saying:
"How do you know her so well? Have you been secretly watching her all this time?"
"It's just that we had an exchange once before. Let's continue."
Sure enough, just as Screwllum predicted.
After thinking for a moment, Silver Wolf furrowed her brows:
"What the hell—this road is clearly correct. Herta's playing mind games now? How boring."
Seeing that Screwllum was right, Zeig's first reaction was:
"Did you already watch this part of the record in advance? Then you just waited for a chance to show off in front of me?"
"…"
"Of course not, friend."
"Perhaps you've had experiences teasing others like this in the past, but please believe I would never do such a thing."
Screwllum explained:
"Stellaron Hunter, Silver Wolf. We once had a confrontation—Herta was present as well. She may have mentioned it to you."
"It was called a confrontation, but it was more like mutual probing between the two of us. Both sides held back—she couldn't breach the Differential Machine Sphere's defenses, and I couldn't stop her from leaving."
Zeig stared at the Silver Wolf in front of him, combining it with Screwllum's words in thought.
Punklorde Mentality, pride, win or lose, draw.
These keywords together made Zeig fall silent for a moment before narrowing his eyes:
"So… what the hell am I even here for?"
Screwllum smiled modestly:
"Of course, to investigate the Ether Cassette. Mr. Zeig, you accepted the commission from staff member Leonard, didn't you?"
"Lmao."
Silver Wolf glanced at the two doors ahead and said to Zeig:
"Come on, time to keep moving."
Then she stepped alone through the left red door.
Zeig followed.
The scene twisted again.
Forming a new location.
He and Silver Wolf were teleported to another part of the space station.
There was no path ahead—it looked like they had to find some mechanism.
Zeig immediately took half a step back and frowned:
"This isn't gonna make me solve a puzzle, is it?"
Screwllum reminded him:
"No need to worry—this is just a record. Even in reality, puzzles like these are nothing to Silver Wolf."
Right after Screwllum finished, Silver Wolf spoke up—the two perfectly in sync.
"Whoa, back in the space station again. And a puzzle? Skip with one click."
Silver Wolf's fingers tapped a few times in the air in front of her, and the puzzle instantly completed itself. The path appeared all at once.
Zeig: "…"
Following Silver Wolf's steps, the two easily cleared this section and stepped through another teleportation gate.
The scene changed once more.
This time, it became a corridor.
At the end of the path stood a Herta puppet.
Looking ahead, the corner of Silver Wolf's mouth curved:
"Lmao, there's even a little Herta doll here."
She walked up to the Herta puppet, looked at its small face, and said with disdain:
"This girl's so narcissistic? The whole space station is covered in her face—portraits, sculptures, a ton of holographic projections."
"I was gonna draw a little mustache on her face, but the ink wouldn't stick? That's ridiculous! The entire space station feels like it's made of paper, but her photos are airtight?"
Zeig: "For real?"
Screwllum: "?"
Before Screwllum could say anything to stop him, Zeig pulled out a brush, dipped it in ink.
After breathing on it, he smeared it across the Herta puppet's face.
A magical scene unfolded.
The ink was blocked by a transparent film, then quickly slid down and dripped onto the ground.
Silver Wolf: "…"
Zeig frowned:
"The hell? That's haunted."
He irritably tossed the brush away!
Then he pulled a small red ball from his pocket—like a clown's nose.
"I refuse to believe this."
Just as he was about to press the red ball onto the Herta puppet's nose, another transparent light membrane blocked him.
Screwllum:
"Mr. Zeig, you should give up. Herta cares greatly about her image—even the puppets in the Simulated Universe have had serious effort put into them."
Silver Wolf: "…"
"By the way, while I'm doing this, the Silver Wolf phantom next to me keeps staring at me with encouraging eyes. Is this really okay?"
"You're seeing things. She's just staring at her former companion. I've blocked the impact of your actions on the record."
Zeig: "Oh, like that."
Seeing the prank fail, Zeig silently put his props away.
The Silver Wolf beside him showed a disappointed look.
Immediately after, the disappointment turned back into surprise!
Then—a grotesque, fanged, terrifying goblin statue was placed by Zeig right in front of the Herta puppet!
"Hm, nice."
Zeig pulled out even more goblin statues.
Red ones, green ones, fat ones, skinny ones, old ones, young ones.
They drooled, each filled with burning gazes, completely enveloping the tiny figure of the Herta puppet.
Forming an absolutely stunning encirclement scene.
Zeig raised both hands high and cheered:
"Hahahahaha!! Now this works, right?!"
…
("Clap clap clap clap clap——!!")
Somewhere in the world, excited and fervent applause rang out.
("Ehe – replace the e with a.")
…