It had been several days since Lars and the others departed to the University, and the Space Station seemed to have returned to its usual rhythm, yet something felt different.
In these past few days, Bai Luan had devoted almost all his energy to research, constantly moving between the Little Black Room and the real-world laboratory.
The defensive curio meant to protect Herta was already complete, but he felt it was far from enough; he began to turn his attention to more proactive—offensive curios.
However, progress was exceptionally difficult, as if an invisible force was working against him at every turn.
Through several days of high-intensity experiments and verification, Bai Luan could now confirm an undeniable fact:
He had been targeted by "Equilibrium"
That invisible hand was indeed exerting its power at all times, disguising its influence as various seemingly reasonable "coincidences"—subtle deviations in experimental data, unexpected flaws in critical materials, inexplicable transient fluctuations in energy circuits... All of these were subtly preventing him from forging overly "overpowered" creations.
Before witnessing that alternate timeline about "Herta's demise," Bai Luan had never used his abilities as a curio forger with such intensity.
And his goal was so clear—to create some overpowered small curios.
This behavior had clearly gone too far, directly crossing some invisible boundary, attracting the direct attention and interference of the Path of "equilibrium."
In fact, when he first created the "Undying Totem" and "Shield of Preservation," the power of equilibrium had already begun to subtly permeate and exert influence.
It was just more covert then, attempting to discourage him by increasing difficulty and consumption.
But now, "equilibrium" was too lazy to even bother with disguises, almost to the point of blatant interference.
Whenever he wanted to create something, it would either be windy or rainy.
Now, he merely wanted to quietly draw a design, and the overhead lighting would flicker unstably a few times... Progress on various projects was arduous and slow; it wasn't that he couldn't make them, but the time required for the projects was greatly extended.
Bai Luan had neither the mood nor the time to play philosophical games of cosmic balance and yin-yang harmony with this omnipresent "equilibrium."
He now directly transferred to the Little Black Room to research what he wanted to research.
Of course, equilibrium's encirclement would not be so easily broken.
Even if he could research all the necessary technology in the Little Black Room, how to build it in reality was still a problem.
Unless he could instantly conjure that curio, otherwise, at any stage of construction, the power of "equilibrium" would inevitably intervene, disrupting the process with various reasonable accidents, or even leading to complete failure.
Finally, Bai Luan came up with two solutions.
One solution was based on the Little Black Room, utilizing its information discrepancy function to deceive equilibrium.
The truly powerful curio he wanted to create would be disassembled during the design and manufacturing stages into multiple seemingly independent, single-function, and unremarkable ordinary components.
Each component would have its own seemingly reasonable, unexceptional independent function, disguised as ordinary scientific instruments, decorations, or energy nodes.
When these components existed individually, they would not attract too much attention from "equilibrium."
However, they would secretly contain profound mechanisms, with special interfaces and linkage mechanisms.
When all components were combined at a specific time and in a specific way, they would instantly transform into the complete curio he truly desired, one that could be called a superweapon.
To give a simple example, the Arabic numerals 1, 3, 7, 8, 9 are unremarkable and fail to catch your eye.
But if you use these numbers to write 78+13 = 91, you will most likely struggle to suppress a laugh when you see it. (T/N: I don't get the joke 🙃)
Furthermore, all core research and decomposition designs would be completed within the Little Black Room. Until the very second he personally assembled these ordinary parts in reality, "equilibrium" would not truly understand his ultimate goal.
It was like treating "equilibrium" as a Trisolaran.
The other solution was much simpler: hand over all the necessary knowledge and materials to Ark, allowing him to construct it instantly.
Both solutions had their own advantages and conditions.
However, the prerequisite for both solutions was that he had to thoroughly research the necessary knowledge within the Little Black Room.
These days, Bai Luan had been preparing for this in the Little Black Room.
Ark was busy compiling Paths, and he didn't want this matter to slow down his progress in compiling Paths.
Bai Luan rubbed his temples, which were throbbing from excessive thinking.
Considering these cosmic-level 'battles of wits' really gave him a headache... Hmm... On the bright side, at least Herta was there to accompany him, and she was quite interested in the matter too.
He was deep in thought when suddenly, a rapid series of footsteps accompanied by a vibrant voice approached him from behind, swiftly drawing nearer.
"Uncle—!!!"
"Stelle? Eh, wait, why are you rushing so fast, ow—"
Bai Luan clutched his bumped waist, looking at Stelle with a hint of exasperation.
She scratched her grey hair sheepishly, a bright yet slightly apologetic grin on her face.
"Haha, well... it's been so long since I've seen Uncle, I got a little too excited and couldn't stop in time..."
Stelle chuckled as she explained.
"Good thing your Uncle here is tough, otherwise I would've been knocked right to the ground by that tackle."
He looked at Stelle, asking with some surprise:
"When did you arrive at the Space Station? I thought you'd still be dealing with things on your end for a few more days."
Stelle, with a hint of smugness, put her hands on her hips and said:
"You're right, but this is the efficiency of the Galactic Bat-Girl."
Then she added:
"Of course, this also has something to do with you, Uncle."
"Oh? Something to do with me?"
"Yeah, if it weren't for Uncle, I wouldn't have been marked as a VIP by that passenger company. Thanks to Uncle, all the flights I take now fly super fast."
Bai Luan looked at the radiant, energetic Stelle before him.
With the system's help, he had already finished reading the plot concerning Amphoreus and learned a lot of new information.
March 7th was a Pure Child with the potential to become a Fu Li.
And this seemingly carefree, somewhat unreliable girl, who was fond of rummaging through trash cans and settling arguments with a baseball bat.
Her essence was very likely some continuation or incarnation of the long-fallen Aeon of Trailblaze, Akivili.
He wondered what Stelle would think if she knew all this.
As Bai Luan thought this, Stelle suddenly waved her hand and said:
"Never mind all that, it's not important!"
She looked at Bai Luan, her eyes sparkling, and asked with a hint of anticipation:
"When are we going to start filming! I've been looking forward to it for ages!"
The mental fatigue brought on by days of intense research and constant obstruction by equilibrium seemed to be largely dissipated by Stelle's vibrant, reckless collision and her carefree, brilliant smile.
Bai Luan looked at the lively Stelle before him, and a thought involuntarily popped into his head:
Although I know you might be that great Aeon of Trailblaze... compared to the legendary Akivili, you look much more like an energetic, overactive Hakivili right now...
The corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up, revealing a genuine and relaxed smile.
But this... doesn't seem so bad, does it?
He should also seize the opportunity to relax properly.
"Let's continue to make some good content for the universe!"
"Yay—!"
...
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