BOOM——!!!
The thunderous roar echoed through Herta City.
Up ahead, the figure of 'Little Herta' sprinted desperately, her feet gliding on replicated Dr. Primitive's gravity-defying ice skates.
Thanks to those skates, 'Little Herta' could weave through layer after layer of blockades at breakneck speed.
Even as she ran, 'Little Herta' stole a glance at her own status panel:
--+--
[Role-Play System]
[Name: Bai Ming (Little Herta)]
[Lifespan: 1200 Years (Paused) + 30 Days (Role-Play)]
[Transformable Characters: Big Herta (Available), Acheron (Available), Celenova (Available), Jingliu (Available), Ruan Mei (Charge: 93.1%), Sparkle (Charge: 83.8%), Hertatomb (Charge: 43.5%), Cyrene · Fuli (Charge: 1.7%), Lord Ravager · Jingliu (Charge: 4.0%), Little Herta (Active)]
[Available Draws: 0 (48.5%)]
--+--
Just in that brief moment, her Emotion Value had spiked dramatically.
Top-tier efficiency, huge gains!
Of course, the price was that the Herta behind her was hunting her down like a true witch.
All sorts of binds and attacks were flying thick and fast.
After all, this was Madam Herta's home turf.
A Genius fighting on home ground? She never had anything to fear.
Initially, Herta had been attacking with the mindset that it didn't matter if she blew a few things up, but those impressive beams of light, aside from the fire and the roar...
Had completely failed to shatter the walls or floor.
Looking closer, she finally noticed.
A delicate protective barrier had sprung up across the walls and furniture of Herta City.
"Oh? Now that's interesting."
Considering Bai Ming was being chased, and Noa couldn't intervene, the only ones in Herta City right now capable of protecting the walls and furniture were obviously the Herta Puppets.
She definitely hadn't programmed these puppets with such a finely-tuned barrier deployment ability.
Which meant...
The credit for this feat went to those strange halos floating above their heads.
Herta didn't think these were just devices to boost computational power.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be called by such a suggestive name like the 'Herta Completion Project.'
Of course, that was one thing. Finding it interesting didn't mean she was about to let this sneaky troublemaker off the hook.
If she didn't teach this one a lesson today, tomorrow she'd probably be dismantling her entire city!
So Herta directed four mirrors to seal off the surrounding space once more.
The staff in her hand hummed faintly, and another beam of light shot straight towards 'Little Herta'!
BOOM——!!!
The flames and shockwave sent 'Little Herta' flying.
Seizing the moment mid-air, she changed her escape direction, yelling as she ran:
"Can't we just sit down and talk this over nicely?!"
"Hah, sure. You stop right now and let me blow off some steam, then I'll sit down and have a nice little chat with you!"
No sooner had she spoken.
Suddenly, a beam of light burst from one mirror, ricocheting crazily between the four mirrors, transforming into a fine-meshed energy net attempting to capture 'Little Herta' directly.
Spatial and dimensional binds, combined with this highly reactive energy net.
It almost completely sealed off 'Little Herta's' escape route.
But just then, the little snake on her left hand suddenly trembled and hummed. Phase Flame flickered in its mechanical joints, and then an invisible shockwave erupted instantaneously.
It forcibly broke through the intangible blockade, allowing 'Little Herta' to successfully dodge Herta's inescapable snare.
At the same time, 'Little Herta' complained loudly:
"You say that, but your hands are still attacking!!"
"Didn't I just say? Let me blow off some steam?"
"You call THIS blowing off steam?!!!"
'Little Herta' nearly fainted from Madam Herta's words.
But luckily, on the system panel, Emotion Value was steadily climbing.
Clearly, Herta's emotional state was extremely volatile right now.
Wait, was this prank really this effective??
She hadn't even brought out the main acts she'd prepared.
It was like preparing a huge banquet, only for the guest to get full after just the appetizer.
The whole feast prepared afterwards didn't even get a chance to shine.
Who could she complain to about that?
"Hah, you think I don't know your situation? This little water gun of an attack can't even kill you, right?"
Herta sneered, eyes fixed on the fleeing figure ahead.
Her attacks never ceased.
"Is that even the point?!"
'Little Herta' was horrified, her little legs sliding even faster.
"Sure. Anyway, looking at your abilities, it doesn't seem to matter if this imitation body dies, right?"
Herta's voice carried a biting chill, as if trying to freeze 'Little Herta' solid.
"Why are you so mad?!"
"You ditch your research to go running wild, then sneak back into my home without a word and tinker around, then create a bootleg Herta... Bai Ming, you tell me. Why am I mad?"
Wait, hold on. How does that first part get blamed on me too??
'Little Herta's' eyes went wide. Ignoring the latter half, she pretended to be Jingliu and went to the Luofu for a fight—how did that offend you too??
Were you made of gunpowder or something??
Although she actually had the strength to fight back, considering Madam Herta's notorious grudge-holding personality, and the fact that she genuinely was here with prankish intentions, if she didn't resolve this today, or at least let Herta vent a little, she suspected her next visit to Herta City would end with her strung up from the ceiling getting whipped.
She just wanted to pull a little prank, earn some Emotion Value.
Not actually get into a full-blown brawl with Herta.
So, holding her breath, 'Little Herta' suddenly twisted around, raised her hand, and deployed a field to refract the incoming beam.
Then she flashed a sweet, charming smile at Herta:
"I'm sorry~ Big Sister Herta~ Please forgive me~"
"…"
Visibly, Herta froze for a moment. 'Little Herta' even vaguely saw, beneath the brim of her hat, Herta's face flush slightly red.
Just as she'd guessed, Herta was narcissistic.
So seeing an adorable, younger version of herself? She definitely wouldn't be able to resist.
Okay, maybe it was a bit like pretending to be cute.
But if the effect was good, who cared~
Seeing Herta fall silent and cease fire, 'Little Herta' took the opportunity to glide around in a curve and stop as well.
She blinked her eyes at Herta.
"…"
Herta looked at that face, and the blush on her own deepened by another shade.
It was just... caught off guard, you know?
Even for Herta, piloting a puppet, the most she ever did was monotone-read some lines.
When would she ever use such rich emotion to say something like that?
So even Herta, suddenly faced with a younger version of herself making cute sounds, calling her 'Big Sister Herta'...
Most of her anger vanished in an instant.
But!
Precisely because of that, Herta somehow became annoyed instead.
Especially that expression on Bai Ming's face, like 'Ha, knew it would work.'
It pissed Herta off—the realization that she could be so easily manipulated by this Bai Ming character.
Even if it was because of the face and the voice belonging to her, Herta, the thought that Bai Ming had used her own image against her was unacceptable.
To the point where the mostly-dissipated anger gradually morphed into frustration, and then boiled over into rage all over again.
Full circle, really.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL