Chapter 282: Chapter 282: Herta: “I’m Not the Jealous Type!”

"You really are carefree, bringing different girls up here again and again."

When Su Ran brought Kokomi to the space station,

The first person to greet them wasn’t Ningguang, nor her secretaries—

It was Herta.

She gave Sangonomiya Kokomi a careful look.

That scrutinizing gaze made Kokomi feel slightly uneasy.

"And after bringing so many, you even found another of the same type." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Herta sounded mildly amused.

For such a small planet, the girls were surprisingly high quality. Each one looked quite... pleasing.

"Are you jealous?"

Herta controlled a puppet body; every expression and movement was perfectly synchronized.

Su Ran genuinely couldn’t tell whether she was jealous or not.

She complained about him bringing girls up here—

But never seemed to truly care.

It felt like jealousy—

Yet not quite.

"Jealousy requires something to be jealous over. We’re not at that stage, are we?"

Herta responded calmly.

She appeared utterly unconcerned about the girls around him.

And perhaps she truly wasn’t concerned.

In her view, love was nothing more than a byproduct of hormonal secretion.

Ruan Mei thought the same.

Even if Su Ran brought countless girls—

She didn’t feel any sense of abandonment.

After all—

What did those girls have that she didn’t?

Were they richer than her?

Could they keep up with Su Ran’s thinking?

As fellow geniuses,

She was on the same level as him.

They were the same kind of person.

She never feared losing her place in his mind.

Especially not to the girls he brought from Teyvat.

They weren’t even on the same track.

There was no competition.

If anything—

Herta thought she should worry more about Ruan Mei, who never received much favor from Su Ran.

At least Ruan Mei was also a Genius Society member.

Someone who could understand him.

But compared to Herta—

Ruan Mei had too many disadvantages.

Herta’s rationality made Su Ran feel a little bored.

He actually wanted to see her break down once.

But clearly—

This genius wouldn’t crack easily.

If she ever did—

It would likely be over one of her own inventions.

Still—

They were already familiar enough.

He’d get that chance someday.

What truly interested him was why Herta showed up personally today.

"So what brings you here? Finished researching those clockwork automatons already?"

"Finished ages ago. They’re just products of a peculiar energy system. If I handled it, mass production would be easy."

The clockwork automatons posed little difficulty for Herta.

At most, she found it novel that such technology existed on a seemingly backward planet.

Teyvat fascinated her.

Though primitive in many ways—

Its energy utilization was impressive.

Enough to earn her respect.

But unfortunately—

Despite possessing extraordinary energy systems,

The planet’s inhabitants remained bound by intellectual limitations.

They failed to create anything that truly surpassed their era.

In her opinion—

This world hadn’t meaningfully progressed in centuries.

It was, essentially, a planet without a future.

Unless Su Ran chose to help.

Unless he led them beyond their mental shackles.

But that had nothing to do with her.

After analyzing the clockwork systems and their energy principles—

Her interest in Teyvat temporarily faded.

"Your Stargate is complete. I just came to inform you. And take your swarm away from my station. They’re causing serious trouble."

Only recently had Herta realized just how problematic the swarm was.

Traffic in and out of the station had been severely restricted.

Even Jade was temporarily stranded aboard.

Though in truth—

The senior executive of the Strategic Investment Department was partly staying by choice, observing the swarm.

Still—

The station’s supply lines were strained.

Asta was incredibly stressed.

"Alright. If the Stargate is complete, then I can begin the next phase."

The Stargate was Su Ran’s official declaration to the cosmos—

His announcement of existence.

"What next phase?"

"Have you forgotten the Equivalent Exchange Machine? I can’t rely solely on you to build Stargates in bulk."

Even if Herta worked for the IPC for a hundred years—

She couldn’t fund that scale.

The universe was too vast.

New civilizations were discovered constantly.

Others were destroyed just as frequently.

If he wanted Stargates across the cosmos—

Building them one by one was unrealistic.

So he would exchange for them.

A device that—

Given sufficient energy—

Could convert it into any required object.

He had only ever seen such a thing in Doraemon.

But if he could conceptualize it—

He could build it.

"That thing?"

Herta’s eyes lit up.

It excited her as much as the Stargate blueprint had.

After all—

The Stargate’s formulas were comprehensible.

Which meant—

When the Equivalent Exchange Machine was completed—

She could analyze it.

Maybe even replicate one for herself.

Su Ran summoned a small robot.

"Take her to Ningguang."

The robot approached Kokomi and made a polite "this way" gesture.

Kokomi was filled with curiosity toward such advanced technology.

But she didn’t ask questions.

She quietly followed the robot to Ningguang.

"One more thing. When will the Astral Express arrive?"

Based on Asta and Topaz’s timelines, Su Ran estimated it wouldn’t be long.

He was very interested in that train.

And even more interested in the future Trailblazer.

"About three or four days. They’ll stop by for supplies. Why? Planning something?"

Herta calculated the cosmic calendar and gave an estimate.

"More or less. I have a feeling something big is about to happen at the Herta Space Station."

Herta: ???

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