[Herta Space Station]
"Where's Asta!"
"No idea!"
"Everybody go look!"
By now, four system-hours had already passed since Asta went missing.
It was first discovered by a small employee.
He had originally planned to report his work to Asta, but found that no matter what he did, he couldn't get in touch with her.
And at the place where she usually worked, he couldn't find any trace of her either.
He also asked Arlan, but Arlan didn't know Asta's whereabouts either.
So he reported the news to Herta, and only after Herta personally confirmed it did they realize that Asta had gone missing.
Because of her disappearance, the entire Herta Space Station was now in total chaos.
Normal work couldn't go on anymore; all they could do was mobilize everyone to find Asta first.
"Lady Herta, there's no need to worry too much. Miss Asta isn't a weak woman, if she runs into danger, she can still handle it."
"And I believe Miss Asta is blessed by good fortune. A crisis like this won't do her much harm."
Screwllum spoke up to comfort her, but Herta's stiff expression didn't soften in the slightest.
Her mood wasn't something a few words of comfort could fix.
The puppet's fists clenched, her face extremely dark.
"So they set their sights on Asta… what nerve!"
She had thought the other side was just disguising themselves to steal from the station, but she hadn't expected that the intruder's real target was Asta herself.
"Right now we should figure out what their purpose is in abducting Asta," Ruan Mei said with a frown.
She had an impression of Asta, 'A very cute little girl.'
Ruan Mei herself had quite a bit of fondness for Asta.
What's more, she was Herta's student.
Even though she had come here this time to improve the Simulated Universe, she couldn't just sit by and ignore something like this.
"If the other side just wants money, they'll definitely leave us a way to contact them. If what they're after is something else… then we need to hurry."
"We should send people to chase after any spacecraft that left the station during this time, and also lock down the station to prevent them from still hiding inside and looking for a chance to leave."
After listening to Ruan Mei, Herta shook her head.
"Locking it down is useless now. I've reviewed all the station's surveillance, Asta vanished out of thin air."
The other side had the ability to traverse space.
Herta immediately thought of the Duke of Inferno from the Everflame Mansion, his flames had a teleportation ability similar to phase-spirit fire from curios.
And he was from the Destruction faction; for him, kidnapping was basically everyday business.
Especially since the space station had been invaded by the Antimatter Legion not long ago.
With the Duke of Inferno following in Destruction's footsteps for a second invasion, abducting Asta would seem perfectly reasonable.
But aside from Asta's disappearance, everyone else on the station was safe and sound, which was clearly not Destruction's style.
Suddenly, Herta, who had been sitting there frowning, sprang to her feet.
Under Ruan Mei's puzzled gaze, she didn't explain anything.
She waved her hand in front of her, and a surveillance screen appeared before the three of them.
On it was a Herta puppet in standby mode.
Then the void in the image rippled, and just like the scene Herta had seen when Asta disappeared, that Herta puppet vanished from the screen without any warning.
It was just that this time, there were a few more signs beforehand.
"Taking my space station as your own home, are you!" Feeling the loss of connection to that Herta puppet, Herta ground her teeth and said.
To her, this kind of behavior was naked provocation.
"Lady Herta, I've found something suspicious. It might be related to Miss Asta's disappearance," Screwllum said.
"Wrong! What's missing now is Asta and my puppet!"
"..."
———
[Xianzhou Luofu, Central Starskiff Haven]
Ding-dong!
Levi was pulling Qingque along as they wandered aimlessly down the street.
Neither of them was talking, Qingque didn't know what to say after what had happened, and Levi was busy trash-talking Kiana in the chat group.
Now he didn't have to worry at all about his title being revoked, so why should he chicken out.
In this chat group, he was going to carve out his own territory and rule as king.
[Levi: Recruiting talent! Recruiting talent! Anyone interested, DM me!]
"I'm so mad I'm gonna die!"
Kiana was about to be driven insane by Levi.
She had thought the rebels in the chat group were just Stelle and Lumine, and that her side consisted of herself and Levi.
But it turned out Levi was the biggest and most devious one of all.
"Don't be mad. He's always been like this, you know that," someone said.
"Waaah, you're so nice, Stelle. I thought you were a traitor too, just like that Lumine!"
"How could I be! I'm absolutely loyal to you, Group Leader!"
"Mm! Looks like I misunderstood you."
After comforting Kiana, Stelle immediately turned around and privately messaged Levi.
[Stelle: I'm talent! Add me in!]
[Levi: Thank you for your submission. Please go back and wait for my notification.]
[Pretty formal, huh!]
On the other side, after dealing with Stelle, Levi noticed a small hand reaching out in front of him.
"Someone sent you a message."
He took his jade communicator from Qingque's hand and glanced at the latest message.
[Me, Herta!]
It was fake at a glance. After cursing the other party, Levi decisively blocked and deleted them.
No way he was letting his IQ get polluted.
These scammers really had some nerve, daring to pretend to be Herta to contact him.
And with an opening like that, too.
Levi figured they were definitely about to send a "send money" next.
"Who was it?"
"Didn't you see it yourself?"
"Why would I look at your jade communicator?"
Qingque pouted. Did he really think she was the kind of person who snooped on other people's privacy?
Hearing Qingque, Levi first circled her twice in disbelief, then jumped back.
He shouted, "You're not Qingque! Who are you!"
"Are you Phantylia in disguise!"
"..."
Qingque didn't answer. With a smile, she stepped forward and pinched the soft flesh on Levi's waist, twisting it a full 360 degrees.
The corner of Levi's mouth twitched slightly, but his expression didn't change at all.
Calmly he said, "Not joking. A scammer contacted me, trying to get me to send her money."
'Weird… doesn't it hurt?'
Seeing that Levi showed no reaction at all, Qingque no longer cared who had messaged him.
Did she pinch the wrong spot?
Thinking that, Qingque switched to another place and twisted again.
The corner of Levi's mouth twitched again, but his expression stayed the same.
Calmly he said, "Stop messing around. I'm indestructible now… you go to my place first, I'll go buy some lunch and we'll eat together."
'Weird… did he really become indestructible?'
With that doubt in her heart, Qingque lowered her head and walked toward Levi's home.
Watching Qingque disappear around the street corner, Levi immediately turned into a monkey, flailing around.
Scratching his face, scratching his head, arms flinging wildly through the air.
Noticing the looks from passersby, Levi ran toward a corner with wildly uncoordinated limbs.
At the spot where he had been standing, a person appeared, looking in the direction he had left.
"Was it just a slip of the tongue, or did he notice something…"
"Ah… it hurts so bad!!!"
"..."
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