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"Ah! Sorry, Brother Hiroshi," Asta said, her voice dropping as she realized she'd been rambling. "I didn't mean to bore you with all that."
Hiroshi shook his head, a genuine smile softening his features. "Not at all. I find everything you say interesting, Asta. If you're willing to share, I'm always willing to listen."
Asta's cheeks flushed a soft pink. "I... I see. Well, the meal is over. Let's get you familiar with the sectors you'll be overseeing."
Throughout the afternoon, Asta led him through the station's labyrinthine corridors. When they reached the Containment Compartment, her tone turned somber. "This area is high-risk, Hiroshi. We house Curios here that can rewrite local reality. There's even a Stellaron captured by Madam Herta in her early years. If anything—and I mean anything—looks off, you contact security immediately. No heroics."
"I've got it, Station Master," Hiroshi replied.
"Good. Review the logs tonight. You officially start your management duties tomorrow!"
The Request
Hiroshi returned to Herta's quarters later that evening. He had purposely avoided mentioning Ruan Mei's confrontation to Herta. He knew how volatile the relationship between Geniuses could be, and with the Simulated Universe at a critical stage, he didn't want to be the spark that caused a lab-wide explosion.
As he finished his nightly service for Herta, he hesitated, then spoke up. "Madam Herta? May I ask a favor?"
Herta tilted her head, her purple eyes tracking him with idle curiosity. "Oh? You're finally asking for something? Let's hear it."
"I need an astronomical telescope—the kind that can see across star systems—and a high-durability spacesuit. The best the station can offer."
Herta blinked. It was such a mundane request for someone in her position. "That's it? I could build those in my sleep. Any Herta Puppet can handle that for you. Just go pick them up in the morning."
"You... aren't going to ask what I'm doing with them?"
Herta let out a bored sigh. "Your hobbies are your own, little thing. Just don't get yourself killed; it would be a waste of a good power bank. Now, sleep."
The Star Search
The next morning, Hiroshi met with one of the wooden puppets. Within ten minutes, it returned with two items: a sleek, silver telescope that used space-folding lenses to observe distant galaxies, and a specialized spacesuit that looked more like high-tech armor than fabric.
Ten minutes, Hiroshi thought, stunned. Even the puppets are more efficient than entire planetary governments.
After spending the morning performing his official duties—filing budget requests for Wen Mingde and checking the containment seals—Hiroshi found a secluded observation deck.
He looked at the equipment. Asta had spent her life protecting everyone else, sacrificing her own dreams to manage Herta's station and appease her family. She wanted to see the stars? Then he would find her one.
He put on the suit and leveled the telescope at a faint, shimmering point of light far beyond the explored sectors. There.
He focused his mind, activated his Teleportation ability, and—snap.
The oxygen-rich air of the station was replaced by the silent, crushing vacuum of a scorched, volcanic planet. Hiroshi collapsed onto one knee, the world spinning violently.
"Ugh... the nausea... it's getting worse with distance," he wheezed through the suit's comms. He looked up at the black sky, filled with unfamiliar constellations. "Keep going. I have to find a system no one has touched."
The Hunter Arrives
Back on the Space Station, Ruan Mei glided into the sector where she had last seen Hiroshi. She stopped, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the air.
"Hmm? I can't sense him anymore..."
She had left a subtle pheromonal and energetic mark on him during their last "embrace." To a master of life sciences, he should have been glowing like a beacon. She paced with the elegance of a panther, her heels clicking rhythmically against the metal floor. When she realized he was truly gone from the station, a cold, fascinated smile spread across her face.
"A game of cat and mouse across the stars?" she whispered to the empty corridor. "How delightful."
She reached out, tracing a lingering trace of his life fluctuation in the air. "You can run, darling, but you cannot hide from me. Your biological signature is too unique—too tempting. I will follow you to the edge of the galaxy if I must."
She adjusted her sleeves, her eyes shining with a predatory light. "Just wait. In the end, you will be mine to possess."
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