"The things simulated here don't matter. But what is it you want to do?"
Herta was finding it difficult to keep up with Caelus's train of thought. One moment, she's telling him to retreat, the next he's suddenly rummaging through trash cans, and now he's telling her he wants to cause some destruction?
Then again, Herta thought, Caelus rummaging through trash cans had brought her some 'surprises' earlier. So what about this time?
"Do whatever you want, as long as you can guarantee your own safety."
Herta's response actually surprised Caelus a little.
"And here I thought you were one of those super rigid, by-the-book scientists, the kind that requires personnel to follow your instructions to the letter, with no room for deviation."
Hearing Caelus call her 'rigid', Herta crossed her arms with a slight huff.
"Am I the same as other people? And let me correct you on one thing. Experiments do require rigor. If anyone else acted as recklessly as you are, there would certainly be an accident. But here, with me, it's different. I can handle it."
Caelus couldn't help but give Herta a thumbs-up. Even across worlds, he could feel the confidence in her words.
With Herta's permission, Caelus immediately placed down the Crafting Table. He took the stone materials he'd grabbed from the warehouse, preparing to make a stone pickaxe and start digging out the alloys that made up the station's hull.
Since I'm already here, I have to take something back with me, even if it's just a handful of dirt!
---o---
Outside the Simulated Universe, March 7th watched Caelus suddenly place a one-cubic-meter 'wooden block' on the ground. She blinked, then turned to Herta.
"Lady Herta, what is that thing Caelus just took out?"
"Don't ask me. I don't know either."
Herta had never seen a Crafting Table before. All she could see was Caelus placing some stones and sticks inside it, seemingly arranging them in a specific pattern. The next second, Caelus pulled a simple-looking stone pickaxe out of the table.
The shape of the pickaxe was remarkably similar to the pattern of the materials Caelus had just arranged. From this, Herta inferred that the wooden block was likely some sort of fabrication terminal.
It seems this little Stellaron brat has mastered a manufacturing technique I've never even heard of. I'll have to ask him about it when he gets out.
Caelus picked up the Crafting Table, and with the stone pickaxe in hand, he began chiseling away at the nearby wall. After just a few swings, a one-square-meter hole opened up in the alloy wall.
The moment the hull was breached, the immense pressure difference caused a violent suction, pulling everything inside the station outward. Various bits of debris flew past Caelus and out into the void. Yet Caelus himself stood his ground, not moving an inch. He even had the presence of mind to casually reach down and pick up a block of alloy that had fallen to the floor.
Since his stone pickaxe could mine this alloy wall and even produce a drop, it meant the wall's alloy had the same mining tier as iron in MC. This pleased Caelus greatly.
It also meant that he could pack up the entire Herta Space Station and take it with him!
Caelus immediately got to work, ignoring the gale from the breached hull that was sucking the station's contents out into space, and simply continued to hammer away at the wall.
The group watching outside was collectively dumbfounded. Herta couldn't stop herself from shouting into the microphone.
"Caelus, are you insane?! Aren't you afraid of dying from oxygen deprivation?"
Although this was a simulated world, for the sake of experimental rigor, she had configured the data parameters to be identical to reality. At this rate, Caelus would soon be completely exposed to the vacuum of space.
"You have a point."
Caelus once again placed his Crafting Table down, used some wooden planks to craft a few wooden doors, and then casually placed one next to himself.
The observers outside were completely bewildered. Never mind the reappearance of the Crafting Table, why did he suddenly make a wooden door?
March 7th scratched her head and looked around at the others.
"Does anyone understand what that move was supposed to mean?"
Himeko and Dan Heng both shook their heads. They, too, were finding it difficult to follow Caelus's logic.
I warn you about oxygen, and you just plant a door next to yourself? What kind of play is that? Herta thought.
Suddenly recalling the string of unfamiliar code that had popped up in the backend when Caelus was rummaging through the trash cans, she quickly checked the logs again.
Sure enough, she found another anomaly.
The backend data showed that the two-cubic-meter space covered by the door now contained oxygen. Furthermore, according to the server analysis, that space contained only oxygen, no other gases! What was even stranger was that Caelus had already demolished a large part of the corridor and should have been exposed to the vacuum of space, yet the oxygen within the area covered by the wooden door wasn't leaking in the slightest.
From this, she could confirm that Caelus, after her reminder, had intentionally crafted the door to obtain oxygen. Even though he had lost his memory, he clearly knew how to solve his current predicament.
"This little guy is really growing on me!"
---o---
After dismantling that section of the corridor, Caelus placed another door in front of himself. He then walked into the range of the new door, turned around, and dismantled the previous one. He repeated this process, inching his way forward.
Now, Himeko, March 7th, and Dan Heng also understood. Although they didn't know the principle behind it, it was obvious Caelus was using the door to solve his lack of oxygen.
For the next hour, Herta and the others watched as Caelus mined his way through the station, casually looting containers like trash cans as he passed them. Each time, he would pull some strange and bizarre item out of a container that should have been completely empty.
Before long, Caelus put away his stone pickaxe. His inventory was full. Although he had only dismantled a few corridors, without a Shulker Box or an Ender Chest, this was all he could carry.
Since he couldn't carry any more, Caelus quickened his pace toward the lab. Soon, he arrived at the laboratory door, opened it, and saw the machine identical to the one in the outside world. In front of the control console, a portal was open—the channel Herta had created for him.
Just as he was about to step through, Caelus pulled his foot back.
Outside, Herta and the others were ready to welcome him back. When they saw him stop moving, Herta couldn't help but ask, "You're not planning another little trick, are you?"
"As expected of a genius, you guessed it."
Caelus reached into his inventory and took out the Stellaron. The moment it left his bag, the previously stable Stellaron began to flash rapidly.
He was planning to self-destruct to grind some proficiency and, while he was at it, reset his status.
Ever since the fight with the Doomsday Beast, his hunger bar had been constantly decreasing. The mining he had just done had accelerated the process. Now, his hunger was completely depleted, and his health was dropping by a point every few seconds.
While the real Herta Space Station certainly had no shortage of food, the opportunity to use a Stellaron to self-destruct for a massive proficiency boost was rare. Even if he had to die once, it was well worth the price!
But before blowing himself up, Caelus didn't forget to quickly enter a command to prevent his items from dropping upon death.
/gamerule keepInventory true
The next second, under the stunned gazes of Herta and the others, Caelus's form was engulfed in a blinding white light.
[Player Caelus has exploded]
The Simulated Universe's servers instantly spat out a cascade of error messages before automatically shutting down and restarting.
Herta couldn't care less about the server errors; fixing them was a simple matter. What she cared about was the fact that Caelus's physical body was inside the Simulated Universe. Had he forgotten that?!
She hadn't even had time to warn him before he had self-destructed.
After the explosion, the Simulated Universe's safety systems failed to activate, and Caelus's body did not reappear before them.
March 7th stared at the now completely black screen, her face pale, her lips trembling. She looked at the others in disbelief.
"He... he's dead?"
The others were silent. They never could have imagined that Caelus would actually commit suicide.
Herta rubbed her temples, a headache forming. Without looking up, she instructed Asta, "Check the station's surveillance. Find Caelus. That little guy likes to cause trouble, but I don't think he'd joke around with his own life."
"Right away, Lady Herta."
Asta immediately used her tablet to scan all the surveillance feeds on the station. Finally, in the Curio Collection Room, she found Caelus's image.
"Found him!"
March 7th and the others rushed over. Seeing Caelus safe and sound in the Curio room, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
March 7th crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks, unable to stop herself from complaining.
"That guy! And here I was, actually worried about him!"