"Stop it! Don't continue down this wrong path!"
"I'm doing this to save the world!"
"Chen Li, have you even considered my feelings for a moment?"
"Herta, you have to understand, I'm genuinely posting this memetic message to save the world, not just for the fun of it. You have to believe me!"
Chen Li held the phone high in the air, completely out of reach of the 1.5-meter-tall Herta puppet.
"Damn you..." Herta planted her hands on her hips, craning her neck to glare up at Chen Li.
"So just give up. Once this message is sent, you won't be able to turn the tables in this round of our competition!" Chen Li said, glancing at the content he had just typed up on Herta's public account using a Miracle Crystal.
[Now, please join me in chanting: Lady Herta is peerless in this world! Lady Herta is sharp as a tack! Lady Herta has a beauty that sinks fish and fells geese!]
"Tsk." Herta pursed her lips, annoyed.
Why does this guy insist on speaking nothing but the truth?
Although Herta was unwilling to admit defeat, she had to concede that "Lady Herta is peerless in this world, Lady Herta is sharp as a tack, Lady Herta has a beauty that sinks fish and fells geese!" was, in fact, the truth.
Herta didn't mind if people called her narcissistic after this message went out, because the content Chen Li had written was factual. She was just annoyed at being slightly outmaneuvered by him.
It was the inexplicable competitive spirit of a genius.
But it wasn't a big problem. Herta still had a trick up her sleeve.
"Anyway, I'm posting it."
"Change the content. I'm serious."
"Herta, you really only think about yourself, don't you? While it's true you'll lose some of your reputation if I post this, if I don't post it, what I lose is my fun!" Chen Li said, his heart aching.
"???"
"Oops, my hand slipped. It's posted." Holding the phone, Chen Li raised his index finger, lightly tapped the 'post' button, and then spoke to Herta with great regret.
"...Fine. Since you've already posted it, give me the phone. I'll delete the message and then post an announcement." The Herta puppet stood on her tiptoes, trying to grab the phone from Chen Li's hand.
"What kind of announcement will you post?" Chen Li asked curiously.
After waiting for ten seconds and seeing the extraction progress for the [Meme] Entry above his head jump from 2/3 to 3/3, he cheerfully handed the phone back to Herta.
Herta and Screwllum were both members of the Genius Society, and a vast number of scholars and ordinary people followed both of their public accounts. Ten seconds was more than enough time for hundreds of millions of people to be affected.
Ten seconds was also the perfect amount of time, because any longer and the miracle power infused within the text might have been exhausted.
If Herta deleted the announcement herself, ending the memetic contagion, it would be seen as an act of conscience on her part. But if the miracle power in the text ran out, anyone who saw it afterward wouldn't trigger the effect, which would only shatter the mystique of the memetic contagion.
Before extracting the Entry above his head, Chen Li had to ensure the mysterious nature of this meme technology was preserved. That's right—he planned to spread one more meme before extracting the Entry, as it would make the Entry even brighter.
"Editing complete... Sent!" Herta's fingers flew across the phone screen, tapping the send button before she tossed the device back to Chen Li.
"On my name as a genius, I will make everyone believe you hacked my account to post that last message, not that I learned your technique and posted it myself," Herta said smugly.
"Let's see what you sent... 'Apologies, my account was just hacked by the Stellaron Hunter Silver Wolf. How could the Stellaron Hunter Silver Wolf be so despicable! I recommend the Corporation continue to increase her bounty!'" Chen Li read Herta's newly posted message aloud, then looked at her in surprise.
"Herta, what did Silver Wolf ever do to you?"
"We're not close. On the contrary, I should be asking what Silver Wolf did to you. I just repeated the same cover-up excuse you used last time," Herta said with a shrug.
"Intentionally using the same excuse to make people think it was me using the account again? Hachi-Ta, you devious thing, you truly are a genius!"
"You flatter me."
"But I've already recorded a video of you sending that message just now. The fact that you were the one using your own account is now ironclad evidence!" Chen Li said, holding up his own phone.
"Hm? Hachi-Li, you scoundrel, this was also part of your plan? As expected of a fellow member of the Genius Society!"
"I don't have to post this video online, but in exchange... could you trade my last remaining use of your public account with Ruan Mei?" Chen Li asked.
"...Are you trying to wreak havoc on the accounts of every Genius Society member you know?" Herta stared at Chen Li for a long moment before retorting.
"I have no choice. Stephen's account doesn't have many followers, so I have to pick Ruan Mei. But I don't know what Ruan Mei wants, so..."
"Alright, it shouldn't be a problem. Everyone already assumes you're the one hacking the other Genius Society members' accounts anyway... As for convincing Ruan Mei, I have a way. Ruan Mei should also be interested in 'the method for baking a cake whose aroma alone makes people feel happy and smile involuntarily.'" Herta indicated that it wasn't a major issue.
Hearing Herta's words, Chen Li subconsciously glanced up at the space above his head again.
[Genius Hacker] Entry Extraction in progress... Progress: 2/3 (Progress can be increased by successfully hacking a Genius Society member's account in the perception of others.)
Sometimes, the Entry you could extract from a story wasn't about what the story actually was, but what others believed the story to be.
For example, "Before my house, there are two date trees. One is a date tree, and the other is also a date tree." Some might believe this holds profound meaning, but perhaps the author just wanted to increase his word count for a bigger paycheck.
Or, "The fish's eyes still glinted with a strange light." The author himself said he wrote it just to be funny, but that answer obviously wouldn't score any points on a test.
I don't care what you think, I care what I think!
Right now, everyone thought Chen Li was hacking the accounts of Genius Society members, so Chen Li would reluctantly accept this ridiculously off-topic [Genius Hacker] Entry.
At this point, someone couldn't help but ask...
"Chen Li, just how many Entries with active progress bars do you have above your head?" Herta asked, having noticed that Chen Li would look up every time she asked him a question.
"Quite a few..." Chen Li said, looking up at the column of text that was already so tall it had broken through the ceiling of the space station's cabin.
Life wasn't an episodic drama; it was a live broadcast every day. In the eyes of the different people Chen Li interacted with, he was putting on different performances and experiencing different stories every day. That was why he had so many Entries with active extraction progress.
Among them was even a [Herrscher of the Void Conquest Expert] Entry, currently at 1/3 progress.
Honestly, that one scared Chen Li a little.
"Alright, I've already spoken with Ruan Mei. When you need it, she'll transfer the use of her phone to you through the Friends Circle," Herta said while Chen Li was still feeling unnerved.
"Ah, that was fast?"
"Don't worry, I didn't use your favor, I used mine. I told Ruan Mei I was willing to waste one opportunity to question Nous in exchange for making more delicious pastries for her. She agreed," Herta explained.
It was the art of language.
"My favor? Oh, you mean the revival card, right?"
"Of course, what else? What organic lifeform doesn't have a few regrets, or a few people they wish to bring back? If such a revival could be done without any cost, it's even more enticing," Herta nodded.
It didn't matter if you could win the revival tournament after getting the card. The point was, for every revival card Chen Li allowed to be activated, the other party owed him a favor. This debt wasn't counted by the number of people revived, but by the number of times one participated in the Revival Games.
If your luck was bad enough, you could owe dozens of favors and still not have revived your "dearest love."
"So, is there anyone you want to revive?" Chen Li asked curiously.
"That's none of your business. Oh, right, how is my advertisement filming going? Wait a minute... why have nearly half of the hundred puppets in the entire space station been mobilized by that Haruhi Suzumiya? Are you sure she's a legitimate director?" Herta stared at Chen Li suspiciously.
"I don't know if she's legitimate, but she is indeed the director of a world."
"A director who only lives in her own world?"
"Uh... that's a very insightful summary." Chen Li had no way to refute Herta's question.
The world Haruhi Suzumiya inhabited could, in a certain sense, truly be called Haruhi Suzumiya's world. So saying she only lived in her own world was not wrong.
"Wait, why can't I access those puppets' accounts all of a sudden?" Herta suddenly froze.
"That... I don't know, but I'm sure it's nothing serious. They should return to normal after the filming is done," Chen Li said uncertainly.
It didn't matter what number the Elation Die rolled, as long as it wasn't a "0," it meant the matter was under its purview. So, logically speaking, nothing major should go wrong on Haruhi's end.
"No, I don't feel right about this. I need to go see for myself. You're coming with me!" Herta grabbed Chen Li and started running towards the location of her puppets.
...
"Gurgle gurgle..."
"Gurgle gurgle..."
The moment Herta entered the room, she saw multiple copies of herself.
Ten Hertas were serving as a backdrop, spinning in circles.
In another corner, several Hertas were piled together. Another Herta came rolling in from a distance and, with perfect coincidence, rolled right into the pile, seamlessly becoming part of it.
Several other Hertas were endlessly repeating the chant: "Lady Herta is peerless in this world! Lady Herta is sharp as a tack! Lady Herta has a beauty that sinks fish and fells geese!"
Overall, the scene was a dazzling, chaotic mess.
"Oh, you're here? The filming is done. To prevent the brainwashing video from being too repetitive with just one Herta puppet, I shot three versions. Come and see the results," Haruhi Suzumiya waved at Chen Li and the Herta puppet.
"Let's put the results aside for a moment. I just want to know how you got all these puppets to be so obedient," Herta asked, perplexed.
Herta had installed many modules in her puppets, such as the [Personality Mapping Module], the [Unreasonable Module], and the [Refusal to Cooperate Module]. Getting a Herta puppet to agree to be filmed wasn't hard, but getting them to follow every single one of a director's requests was practically impossible.
"As actors, they have to listen to the director. Isn't that just common sense?" Haruhi Suzumiya tilted her head.
"???" Herta turned her head to look at Chen Li.
"Sorry," Chen Li said with a shrug. "Haruhi Suzumiya's [Unreasonable Module] has a higher priority than yours."
---o---