"The work you've done is... exceptionally well done."
After watching the three clips Haruhi Suzumiya had filmed, Herta had to admit that she really did have a talent for directing.
One clip featured a group of Hertas chanting "La la la" before starting to spin from a zero-frame startup.
Another clip began with a single, bored Herta rolling into the middle of the frame, followed by a continuous stream of countless other Hertas rolling into the same spot.
The final clip was the one Herta herself had wanted: a "Praising Puppet" mode, with a Herta puppet lavishing praise upon herself.
As everyone knows, there are two types of advertisements that are hardest to avoid. One has a zero-frame startup, and the other has a super long wind-up.
However, Herta, whose enthusiasm for anything rarely lasted more than three minutes, had already put the three brainwashing clips out of her mind. She was now more interested in Haruhi Suzumiya herself.
What does he mean, her 'Unreasonable Module' has a higher priority than mine?
"Basically, it's like this..." Chen Li whispered halfway into Herta's ear before abruptly stopping. He then switched to communicating with her through the Friends Circle.
While the Friends Circle wasn't as secure as The Guide to Forging Curios, as a 1-Star Curio, it still possessed an anti-snooping effect.
And who was he protecting against? The damn Masked Fools and their leader, of course!
Haruhi Suzumiya had joined the Friends Circle and the Curio group chat, and had interacted with the other members. Chen Li never expected to keep Haruhi's special nature a secret from everyone. Furthermore, Haruhi's use of her "director's authority" to make the Herta puppets so obedient during the filming had clearly piqued Herta's own curiosity. So, to prevent Herta from running reckless experiments and causing an even bigger problem, Chen Li leaked some information about Haruhi.
Of course, while being "sincere," Chen Li also made a "real" threat to Herta.
If you dare to cause any trouble, I'll forge a Curio that will reduce your intelligence to Sushang's level. At that point, forget about solving the Gubo Algorithm—you won't even know how to write the four characters for 'Gubo Algorithm'!
"I see..." Herta's eyes lit up as she looked at Haruhi, who was waiting for her to pass judgment on her masterpiece.
"Thank you for filming the video. As payment, you can move about freely within the Herta Space Station for the next few days. I will provide you with ample funds. All you need to do is have fun," Herta said, sizing up Haruhi as if she were a treasure trove.
"Oh, you're being so polite?"
"Of course. I have never been stingy with talent," Herta nodded.
"Thanks! These little Herta puppets of yours are really interesting. I'll come back to play tomorrow."
"Heh." Chen Li couldn't help but chuckle when he saw Herta's face darken beside him.
"Don't play with these puppets anymore. If you're interested, you can play with the space station itself," Herta said.
"Hmm? What do you mean by that?"
"I'm actually preparing a reinforcement plan for the Herta Space Station, so I'm hoping that after you've toured it, you can give me a feasible proposal," Herta said after a moment of thought.
"But I don't know anything about that kind of thing."
"No, you don't need to. I specifically want an outsider like you. Outsiders can often produce flashes of inspiration that leave even us experts in awe. So all you need to do is let your imagination run wild, and leave the rest to me."
Herta wasn't actually concerned about improving the space station's defenses; with her around, it could never truly fall.
The Herta Space Station falling? Herta would sooner spin 30,000 times on the spot!
She was simply curious to see what Haruhi Suzumiya was capable of. Herta's interest in anything was fleeting; she only pursued what was interesting, and Haruhi was clearly interesting. However, because of Chen Li's threat when he told her the truth, Herta opted for a more conservative approach.
Herta found it hard to imagine someone not even knowing how to spell the words "Gubo Algorithm." That "Sushang" person Chen Li mentioned... must be quite a character!
"I have a plan!" An idea suddenly struck Haruhi.
"What is it?"
"Let's make the Herta Space Station transform into a giant robot! I suggested this to Chen Li when I first arrived today, and he said it was impossible. Now I'm going to prove it to him!"
Smack!
Chen Li slapped a palm to his own face.
"A brilliant idea! How about this, Haruhi: you spend some time touring the station and observing my collection of Curios. In the next day or two, I'll acquire a Curio that can animate machinery into robots and give it to you to use personally," Herta said.
Although Chen Li hadn't explained how to "use" Haruhi, Herta had figured it out on her own.
"That sounds like it would be really fulfilling... No problem!" Haruhi gave a thumbs-up.
"...Haruhi, here, take this barbecue Curio. Let's sign a Friend contract," Chen Li said suddenly to Haruhi.
"Hmm? Can't we use this Stance-Swapping Gun to sign the contract?"
"Because the Stance-Swapping Gun is a public Curio, but this barbecue one is not. You can keep using the gun for now, but let's just sign the Friend contract first," Chen Li said.
He couldn't very well tell Haruhi that the Stance-Swapping Gun wasn't a Curio at all, but the Pain-Inducing Needle definitely was, could he?
"Okay."
"Finally got that worry off my chest. Let's continue touring the station. I still haven't seen all the Curios, like the Rating Gun," Chen Li said, turning to Herta.
And Himeko's greatsword, and the Wings of Gliding.
Now that he had signed a Friend contract with Haruhi, he didn't need to worry about her safety. As for Haruhi's companions? Wasn't it possible that if they were ever in danger, that danger would definitely come from Haruhi herself?
Chen Li signed the Friend contract specifically so he could pull Haruhi away before she caused trouble, thereby ensuring her safety in a different sense.
"The Rating Gun? What's that?"
"A gun that can give people a score. The Curio has its own fixed rating system, but so far, no one knows its scoring logic. Chen Li, do you think if I used [Then I Ask You] on it, I could find out its scoring logic?" Herta suddenly asked.
Every researcher in the space station had their own theory about the Rating Gun's internal logic; their explanations could probably be compiled into a book titled An Examination of the Rating Gun's Scoring Logic.
"Are you serious?"
"Never mind." Although Herta was genuinely curious about the gun's logic, using such a precious opportunity on it would indeed be a waste. Besides, the Rating Gun wouldn't dare give her a low score anyway.
"I want to try, too! I'll definitely get 100 points!" Haruhi said, raising her hand.
...
"100 points!"
"Alright!" Haruhi pumped her fist in delight.
"4 points? 100 points! 1,000 points...? 10,000 points...?"
"Score is boundless, unable to be determined!"
"???" Haruhi looked at Herta, who was standing in front of the Rating Gun, in utter shock.
Nobody told me this wasn't on a 100-point scale!
"Hmph. At least this thing knows its place," Herta snorted.
The Herta puppet's score was 4, but after Herta used a tiny bit of the real Herta's power to threaten it, the score changed.
"What about me?" Chen Li stepped in front of the Rating Gun.
However, the gun seemed to have been terrified by Herta. It refused to open its "eye," no matter what.
"...Forget it."
"Have you decided which 10 Curios you want?" Herta asked. The 10 Curios were the forging fee she had promised Chen Li.
"The black wings and the greatsword fragment. For now, just those two," Chen Li said.
"Why did you choose those two? Is it because they once carried some important destiny or meaning?" Herta asked.
"Something like that," Chen Li nodded.
The Entries on the Wings of Gliding were [Wind], [Travel], and [Imaginary].
The Entries on the broken greatsword were [Fire], [New Life], and [Imaginary].
The [Imaginary] Entry present on both Curios likely referred to their "grand feat" of crossing between worlds. Although these two [Imaginary] Entries were unremarkable, the other Entries were quite bright. At the same time, these two Curios held significant collection value for Chen Li.
Besides, in the world of Honkai: Star Rail, even a low-brightness [Imaginary] Entry still held considerable value.
Chen Li already had a great idea!
"As long as you're happy." Herta was indifferent. Since she had made a promise to Chen Li, she wouldn't go back on her word.
Rather than worrying about these two Curios, Herta was more conflicted about whether she should borrow 70 Star Stones from Chen Li to add to the 30 he had promised, reaching a total of 100, to use for the Curio material lottery.
Herta had heard that the last person who used this method to forge a Curio ended up with a pair of black stockings that granted attack speed because they used too few Star Stones. While she heard the effect was quite good, Herta clearly wanted a more "conceptual" Curio.
"I'm very happy. So, did Haruhi have fun today?"
"I had a lot of fun, too. What's up?"
"What's up? It's almost dinnertime! Of course it's time to go home. You weren't planning on spending the night at the space station, were you?" Chen Li said.
"Aww, I can't?"
"Of course not. As the saying goes, a lot can go wrong overnight... I'll bring you back over tomorrow, so just go home for now."
"But doesn't cross-world travel cost Star Stones? I feel bad about you spending your Star Stones," Haruhi said, trying to appeal to Chen Li's stinginess.
"It's fine. The Friends Circle can also do cross-world travel. The cost is just clearing the chat history. I'll give each member of your team a Friends Circle terminal in a bit, then create a group chat. You guys can just spam messages in there," Chen Li said.
He really didn't feel comfortable leaving Haruhi Suzumiya at the space station overnight.
"Alright then..." Faced with Chen Li's insistence, Haruhi could only compromise.
Watching Haruhi's departing figure, Chen Li let out a sigh of relief.
Haruhi was very useful, so before or after using her, he always had to provide some compensation. At the same time, he had to ensure her abilities weren't abused by others.
Why was Chen Li allowed to use them? Ahem, when a Curio Forger does it, can you really call it "using"?
"Okay, all the troublesome things are taken care of. There shouldn't be any more headaches for me. Time to call Elysia, Vill-V, and Mobius home for dinner!" Chen Li stretched happily.
But the smile on his face only lasted for five seconds.
"Vill-V, what do you mean you've become an Emanator of Elation, so you're not coming home for dinner today?"
"Elysia, what do you mean you've embarked on the Path of Beauty and plan to stay on the Xianzhou longer to accumulate enough Pure Beauty energy to become an Emanator of Beauty, so you want me to extend the duration of your projection summon?"
"Mobius, what do you mean you've been invited by an organization called the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus?"
"Sakura, you're still the best to me. You didn't cause any trouble at all... Wait, you beat up Yanqing? Is that even trouble? Isn't he the Xianzhou's famous check-in spot? So it's not a big deal."
Compared to the other issues, Sakura's problem was indeed the smallest.
---o---