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She kept convincing herself that this was a means to keep Dr. Kong, and it was a necessary sacrifice, but after seeing the faint red circles under Ester's eyes, some hormones that had been stopped for many years seemed to start to be secreted again.
Being a mediocre person controlled by hormones... just this time, that's all, just consider it a reward for Ester's hard work.
She walked over stiffly and hugged Ester, who looked more frightened than surprised.
"I was wrong just now... Could you help me deal with the problem of the rift? ScrewGum and I have other plans."
No matter how stiff the puppet's joints are, the high-quality skin texture is soft and very warm.
And this time, the emotion coming from the puppet's side was much more uneasy than before.
"...Of course, my lady."
After Esta briefly showed discomfort as tense as a frightened rabbit, she seemed to understand that Kong was helping her repair her relationship with Kurita. Her nose felt sore, and although she didn't cry, she hugged her tightly with the same strength that she wanted to rub the doll into her body.
"…This is the result. Esta. You have become my weakness."
The feeling of synchronization was uploaded by the doll to the black tower's brain.
Her awkward expression gradually softened, as if she really had maternal instincts, although it only lasted for a moment before being replaced by other subtle emotions -
"I am honored... My lady, I guess I have to think about how to thank Dr. Sora for delivering the message for me."
Esta sniffed twice.
"But I don't agree with you two being in a relationship."
"……what?"
"If I were to analyze this from the perspective of an elder, the age gap between you and Dr. Kong is too big. He is an 'old monster' of my level and will definitely be able to manipulate you. You must never have anything to do with him."
"Eh?" The rich woman's expression immediately changed from warmth to horror.
"Hmm? Something seems wrong?"
Sora, who was already rushing to the private room in the Black Tower, shuddered violently for no reason. Paimon, who had sneaked out, heard some of the conversation between the young stationmaster and the puppet, but she did not remind Sora. Her eyes rolled outward with a "wise" expression on her face, and she had no idea how things had developed to this point.
85. Let me show you what a nightmare is like!
"Has everything been taken care of?"
"Yeah, I hugged Ester."
Although Heita looked awkward, he showed no sign of making up stories when he was whispering to Estelle just now.
She was also grateful to Kong for helping to talk it out, and for preventing an "adolescence crisis" for Esta - although this puberty might have come... a little late.
And the easy part about talking to smart people is that they understand each other's intentions. Heita just mentioned it briefly and Kong came to her office to wait.
Honestly, if she hadn't already lost interest in the concept of the opposite sex, Sora's various behaviors would have been worth her considering whether she should borrow some genes from him.
"Dr. Kong, in addition to helping us recover our memory, ScrewGum will also cooperate with me in an anti-hacking operation."
"Anti-hacker...ah, you mean the girl from the Star Core Hunter?"
Kong pinched his chin, thinking that he had guessed right. It was just unfortunate that Silver Wolf came to ask for help before the Black Tower. So he had to make his attitude clear first and not participate in the hunt for Silver Wolf.
"Do you know her?" Heita had not heard from Jizi about Kong's contact with Silver Wolf.
"Well, my current identity has something to do with the Star Core Hunters. Their plan to contain the galaxy into my body should not be as boring as a terrorist attack. It seems to be pointing to a more noble goal."
Kong was saying something nice to Silver Wolf in disguise.
"Because of the special nature of this identity, the Hunter's hacker came to me and hoped that I could help her borrow the Ether cassette from you for her research."
"…Is she okay?"
Heita's reaction was so real that he immediately flattened his lips: "When the Legion invaded, she hacked into the space station and caused some security systems to malfunction, which led to the subsequent mess of virtual soldiers running around. I was just about to settle the score with her, how dare she ask me to borrow something?"
"Regarding this, Heita, what I am thinking is that I will not stop you from teaching her a lesson, but you can still lend the cassette to me in the name of supporting my research."
Kong leaned on the launcher of the simulated universe and found a comfortable posture - there was not even a table in this shabby place. If Ruan Mei had not brought her own table and chairs last time, she would probably have been able to enjoy the grand occasion of the Genius Club holding a tea party while standing.
"I have heard about the peculiarities of the 'Punklode Spirit' cassette. Its etheric editing capabilities are coveted by hackers from the planet Punklode. However, because this technology is rarely passed on, the outside world is not very clear about how powerful hackers' ability to change reality is. I have personally seen Silver Wolf use a fake body to modify etheric energy for me and create candy. Just imagine how much help this technology would provide if it could be used to optimize the simulated universe."
"...Ether editing affects reality? Why does it sound like the ability of a fictional historian?"
Heita wondered, "If he is really that powerful, why would the girl serve under the Star Core Hunter?"
"Everyone has their own aspirations, but I am somewhat interested in that technology. It is a method of bypassing the virtual realm to absorb matter from higher dimensions... Sorry to interrupt."
Kong quickly corrected himself midway through his speech, "There is no virtual realm here, it is the tree of imaginary numbers, but the ether flowing here can indeed be used by us. How about it? As long as you are willing to lend it, I can help you make something out of it."
"...Then we have to discuss this with ScrewGum. We can give her the cassette afterwards, but she must be given a proper lesson."
The black tower pinched its waist and made a sour face to the silver wolf on the other side of the void.
But the technology that Kong mentioned did attract the Black Tower. There are so many ways to change reality, but ether editing... sounds very malleable and controllable.
This also explains why the Silver Wolf can come and go freely in the space station without being stopped by physical barriers.
"Now that she dares to enter and exit my office intranet at will, will she dare to hack into the simulated universe system and steal our data on studying the Star God in the future? I will definitely make her understand the dangers of the universe! Even if you, Dr. Kong, plead for her, it won't work!"
"I didn't ask for mercy? I think it's necessary to teach a little girl who likes to run around and dig holes a proper lesson."
Kong laughed: "Although that girl has superb hacking skills, after having met her a few times, I feel that she really needs to be beaten by society a few times before she can fully mature."
"I'm glad we can reach a consensus on this matter. ScrewGum admires her talent and looks forward to fighting her again. So I won't capture or kill her, but how about hurting her?"
Black Tower also had a ruthless look and laughed along with Sora:
"Once the imported artifact data is restored, the cartridge will be hers. As for the price... I will prepare a unique beating for her. All you need to do is tell her that ScrewGum is planning to shut down the simulated universe, so that she can't help but come and get it herself."
"Okay, I'm also looking forward to seeing the kid's confused expression after being tricked."
A dirty deal was made, even dirtier than what Kong and Silver Wolf had discussed before.
"...Besides that, regarding the situation of the Rift...I did not imply that it was your responsibility. The creation of the Rift is related to the energy leakage of the star core and the arrival of the Legion. This is also the first time I have observed the process of their creation so closely. It is fascinating and dangerous."
Then Heita put away his sinister smile: "This is a very good research opportunity... but my 'warehouse' might be blown up. The danger of the Rift is well known to the world. After calming down, I have thought it through - it is impossible to completely eliminate the Rift relying on these rubbish in the space station. To be on the safe side, I am afraid I have to trouble you to go deep into the boundary of the Rift phenomenon with me, extract the data, and then deal with it."
"Oh? Are we going to prepare for battle?" Kong was not surprised that Heita rated the Defense Department as waste, but he was a little surprised that she would choose to join the attack team.
Her strength and the characteristics of a puppet don't seem to be suitable for frontline combat?
"Some monsters will emerge from the Rift. Some are wandering phantoms or souls. Even I can't explain them clearly."
Heita sighed and said, "With two envoy-level fighters present, we should be able to handle it... I will put the limiter in place today... Really, the containment chamber has just been recovered and it's going to be a mess again... Is this what Ester has to deal with every day?"
"Yes, for a stationmaster, if you do a good job, you get no credit, but if you do a bad job, you get scolded. That was her previous job situation."
Sora also took the opportunity to reveal something about the Black Tower Lady's Solo Association: "Unlike you who is like a spiritual pillar, there are very few people in the space station who respect and love her."
86. Such a big doll, I’ll give it to you!
"What a boring bunch of guys. If Esta was a genius on the same level as me, would this group never have existed?"
"Then I'm afraid the space station will be divided over whether to believe in Esta or you, and then there will be internal strife... You know, similar mistakes have always occurred in human history."
Sora said something that made a lot of sense.
"Just disband this group. It's annoying to watch."
The way Heita cared for and helped Estelle was quite rough and not delicate at all.
"Don't worry, it was Esta who asked me to join the group. She wanted me to help her break up those who have a grudge against her."
Kong quickly pressed down Heita's arm that was holding the phone - because Heita's local authority was too high, she could even bypass the company and kill Estelle's group on the spot.
"...Wait, could it be that she created this group herself?"
After hearing what Kong said, Heita once again revealed a slightly evil smile.
For a moment, Kong seemed to see the same devilish expression on Heita's face as Esta.
"...She's quite capable. No, I should say, she's worthy of being called such a great person. Then I won't worry too much. I'll do something if you need me to."
Where does this subtle and strange mentality of yours that "a daughter has inherited 50% of her mother's power" come from?
Paimeng next to him twitched his lips and continued to choose to be a floating spirit.
When Kong let go of Heita's arm, she realized that Kong had overstepped his bounds when he stopped her. But her eyes turned and a light bulb popped up above her head that no one could see:
"Doctor Kong, since Silver Wolf has proposed to share the technology of quantum clones with you, I have to show some sincerity. I have been asking for it all the time recently."
She clapped her hands, and as if calling a servant, she teleported another black tower puppet from outside the office space.
Not to mention, if this woman, Heita, shut up and stopped putting on such an arrogant attitude, the doll based on her would really look like a genius beauty.
"This doll is for you. It contains an encrypted link to my residence and manufacturing information. Your psychic power level is sufficient to control her..."
Heita paused, and finally made up his mind to add: "Whatever you do with her, I don't care. As for whether you cut off her contact with me, or if you have something to contact me through the doll and choose not to delete the link - it's up to you."
As she said this, she once again turned off the puppet function that made her face blush, so Sora had no way of judging whether her statement of "I don't care what you do" was meant to be so ambiguous or if she hadn't thought of that possibility.
But soon her additional explanation almost made Kong lose his breath.
"Esther is still too young. From my perspective as an elder, if you were her first emotional rival, it would be a bit too much for her. I want to protect her."
"...No, you are too direct, aren't you?"
Kong had to pinch his philtrum to keep his mind clear.
"Taking advantage of a girl when she is still immature is not what a gentleman does."
Heita seemed to be serious. "If you just want to be accompanied by a young girl and don't mind her actual age, I can pay the rest of the fee on behalf of Ester. At the same time, I am also happy to cooperate with you in depth through this simple and crude method."
What Heita said was really outrageous.
...but it seems to fit her personality and approach. This is an overly rational analysis of how to bind empty partners. There is more than one way, but this one is the conclusion reached after using rationality to impersonate sensibility.
"Esther is not as late as you say. Don't worry, I know what to do about this matter."
Sora scratched his head and said, "I don't want to add to the endless emotional debt. Once I have dealt with Esta's family affairs, I will break up with her."
"what?"
Heita was stunned: "You mean, you plan to possess her and then abandon her?"
"Can you please stop saying such harsh things... She came to me on her own initiative!"
Kong seemed to have had some strange memory switch turned on by the black tower and he was a little uncalm: "And you actually think I have a Lolita complex? I like mature women who can stand on their own!"
"...Eh? Mature..."