Chapter 103 - 102: Coincidences and… Run!

In Pei Guang's mind, since Herta had allowed Stelle to take the puppet, it was essentially Stelle's quest reward. In many games, quest rewards required players to meet certain conditions or achieve a certain level before claiming them. With that in mind, Pei Guang thought back to the important items he had obtained early on, and he remembered something crucial—the Star Destroyer battleship. Looking into the puppet's eyes, Pei Guang thought aloud: "Normally, rewards from a previous map that can't be taken are obtainable after completing the next map's conditions. If there's no special twist, we should be able to pack this thing up eventually!" "Is it this one? Or this one?" Stelle pulled out a spear with an amber glow and a golden destruction light cone, treasures she had found in Belobog. While there were many other materials, Stelle felt that the more common ones didn't match Pei Guang's description. March 7th also took out the Starship certification. "Could it be this? I remember when we faced Svarog, you said this could directly control machines. Since it's a doll, could we use this to make her one of ours?" The Herta puppet was still observing Pei Guang and the others' antics, watching their helpless attempts with amusement. The puppet, sharing Herta's personality, found the situation quite entertaining. She even began to taunt them using an automatic response mode: "This is the automatic response mode. Hello everyone. Hope you have a wonderful day. Goodbye~." However, Pei Guang, Stelle, and March 7th ignored the puppet's automatic replies. At this moment, the puppet itself began to sense something was wrong. She noticed March 7th pulling out a golden card. Wait, what was that? March 7th held the card, looking puzzled. "How does this thing... work? How do you control it?" Pei Guang thought back, "Just use it directly. According to this Starship's description, it houses the most powerful AI system in the universe. Hacking into this kind of puppet should be a piece of cake, right?" Upon hearing this, the Herta puppet dismissed it as mere boasting. Her database contained records: the most powerful AI system in the universe was the Erudition Aeon. The Erudition Aeon was originally a cosmic computer designed to solve all things and had since ascended beyond being a machine. In the entire galaxy, there was no other AI that could rival it. And anything beneath the Erudition Aeon? As a member of the Genius Society, Herta may not be at the pinnacle in this field, but she was confident that very few could crack the puppet she had created. The Herta puppet thought the same—no way a mere Starship AI could hack a Herta puppet. That was simply... But just then, the Herta puppet's connection to its main body was completely severed, and it fell into a shutdown state. Pei Guang, having completed the hack, proudly patted the now dormant Herta puppet. "See that? Items you can't pick up in one map can always be taken using the tools from the next map! Oh, not only did I hack the puppet, but I also got all her body's data! This Starship AI is incredible—taking control of a mere puppet was child's play!" March 7th chimed in, "Exactly! Pei Guang never fails—hacking a puppet like it's nothing!" Meanwhile, Stelle was rummaging around the puppet's body. When she reached into its skirt pocket, her face lit up with excitement. "Pei Guang! The puppet has loot!" Pei Guang: "Oh?" March 7th's expression also turned serious. "Oh?" Stelle grinned, "Oh, March, you've become a copycat too." March 7th proudly puffed out her chest. "Pei Guang always says the essence of humanity is copying! Hehe~." Pei Guang: "Stop copying and tell us what you found." After rummaging a bit more, Stelle pulled out a small ball about the size of a fist, composed of many tiny lights. Just one glance was enough to know what it was. However, Stelle handed the object to Pei Guang. After all, he was the one who could identify it and figure out what it was for. Pei Guang took the object Stelle had found and, upon reading the description, fell into deep thought. It was a Cosmic Disco Ball. What's a Cosmic Disco Ball, you ask? You know those round lights in KTV rooms that flash along with the music? Yes, exactly that. Pei Guang studied it. "This time... it's not a weapon effect but an equipment effect. It flashes brightly to the rhythm of music. My suggestion: definitely don't equip this yourself." March 7th asked, puzzled, "Why not?" Pei Guang explained, "While effects like this are flashy and cool, if you have lights like this around you, it's just light pollution. It'll disrupt our own actions. But if you attach it to enemies, we can play music and mess with their vision. Though..." Pei Guang glanced at the effect, then at the completely shutdown Herta puppet, a smile slowly forming on his face. "Give me ten minutes to figure this out, okay?" Using the Starship's systems, Pei Guang had obtained all the data from the Herta puppet. And with it completely shut down, disassembling it posed no challenge. Pei Guang carefully dismantled the puppet, then altered its core using the battleship system, reprogramming it to recognize himself, Stelle, and March 7th as its owners. Finally, he installed the disco ball effect into the puppet's system. But that wasn't all. Pei Guang uploaded a variety of music and dance routines from his memory. During his research, Pei Guang discovered that the Herta puppet had a wide range of functions, including a fairly advanced AI system that could flawlessly execute commands and even conduct research. With the system's help, Pei Guang successfully made the puppet his own. After a few tweaks, he happily attached the disco ball effect to the puppet's outfit. As Pei Guang finished up, Stelle asked excitedly, "What can it do now?" Pei Guang: "Oh, lots of things. It can entertain you, accompany you on expeditions, farm resources, mine and even be a nanny!" Hearing how versatile it was, March 7th felt a bit envious. "So powerful? Too bad... there's only one." Since Stelle and Pei Guang said it was a mission reward, March 7th naturally wished she could have one too. After all, such a perfect puppet would save her so much effort in her daily grooming. But she knew that without receiving the mission, it was impossible for her to own one. She... Pei Guang: "Actually, you can! According to the info I found, there are five more of these puppets hidden in this space station. I think it's a little Easter egg, encouraging us to explore and find more mission rewards." Stelle pondered, "What's the point of that?" Pei Guang pondered seriously, "Based on my years of gaming experience, there's always someone bored enough to hide items we should be obtaining, making us search for them ourselves. And in a world as free as this, finding our rewards is part of the experience. Don't you think it's fun? Cute dolls hiding around, and we have to find them, turn them into our tools, and use those tools to tackle even stronger dungeons, gaining more resources!" March 7th shivered, "Yikes, what a twisted sense of fun." Pei Guang grinned, "It's all part of the excitement! Compared to constant fighting, this kind of thing requires some strategy. Besides, since we've just cleared the beginner's village, going back to the guide map to gather resources sounds like a good idea." Stelle asked, "So what can we do with these dolls at this stage?" "Mining, of course," Pei Guang said confidently. "Fully automated mining. Doesn't that sound cool?" Stelle rubbed her hands together, eager. "Then let's hurry up! I can't wait to keep one for myself." March 7th chimed in approvingly, "Actually, I really like these cute dolls too. But hey, do you know where the other five are?" Pei Guang nodded, "I do. But from what I've gathered, the five remaining dolls might move or hide. No worries, though! I've already figured out the task sequence. Once we capture one doll, we can use it to track down the others. They won't be able to escape!" Just before they could set out, March 7th's reason kicked in, and she asked one last question, "But... could there be some kind of misunderstanding?" Pei Guang appreciated her cautiousness and explained seriously, "How could that be? Do you really think something so coincidental could happen?" Stelle, confused, asked, "Coincidental?" Pei Guang nodded, "Exactly! Look at us on the Astral Express. Besides our mascot Pom-Pom, there's the three of us, plus Dan Heng, Welt, and Himeko. Six people in total. And there are six dolls. Isn't it obvious that these dolls are task rewards made for our protagonist team, one for each of us to make the next map easier?" March 7th considered it and thought it made sense. How could there be such coincidences in this world? It had to be a deliberate arrangement. Stelle's eyes gleamed with newfound understanding, "Yeah, it's too much of a coincidence. Based on Pei Guang's description and testing, we can each perform six teleports. Six teleports, six dolls... There's no way the world is this coincidental." "But then," March 7th wondered aloud, "what happens when we run out of teleportations? How do we get back?" Pei Guang gave a confident smile, "No problem at all. In just over five hours, the system will refresh our teleportation uses. I've planned for everything." Relieved by the reassurance, March 7th sighed, "That's why you're the best, Pei Guang. You think of everything. But the person who designed this quest must have been pretty bored. Wouldn't it be easier to just get rewards handed out like in those Asta's missions?" Pei Guang became serious, "The more complicated the quest, the better the reward. Of course, if this so-called Herta gives us lousy rewards and annoys us, we'll just mark her down for later, and when we meet her again, we'll tie her up and loot her body." "Good idea!" Stelle chimed in. Pei Guang beamed with a bright smile, and Stelle and March 7th mirrored his expression. As we all know, smiles never disappear—they just move to someone else's face. So whose smile vanished? Naturally, it was Herta herself. Due to certain circumstances, Herta had temporarily blocked out all external communications. Now that things had settled down for a moment, Herta, relieved, decided to check for any interesting information. Instead, she received a message from one of the space station's dolls. "Run... quickly..." Herta raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What's going on?"