"Smooth talker. Let's get going." Herta didn't offer much of a response to Star's words.
"Hold on, let me message March 7th and the others to change the meeting point." Star, head bowed, typed on her phone as she walked.
The rear cabin section was spacious, but its infrastructure was sorely outdated... or perhaps, simply not fully operational. Many of the lights along the path were out.
Tian An, walking slowly, naturally found herself at the rear of the group.
"Star, riddle me this: what's hard, big, and incredibly painful when you run into it?"
"A pillar? Ah!....." The instant Star voiced her guess, her head collided with a pillar.
"That's what you get for walking and texting," Herta remarked, deliberately leaning closer as she strolled past.
"Hiss.... Tsk, that stings....." Star rubbed her head, navigated around the pillar, and continued onward, her expression pained.
But Tian An had seen it. After Star moved on, the force of her headbutt had left a distinct dent in the pillar.
Classic Star... Tian An thought.
"Hey, let me ask you all something," Herta inquired, eyeing Star's less-than-reliable demeanor with curiosity. "If she suddenly regained her mobility and attacked you, could you actually defeat her?"
From Herta's current assessment, Star possessed some abilities, but not an abundance of them.
"Of course, we could! A mere Black Shadow? I alone could....."
....
"Agh! Theresia! Help me!"
Time: 4:00 PM.
Location: An undisclosed interrogation room.
Incident: The Stellaron-bearer had her hand bitten, eliciting a pained shriek.
The Black Shadow glared ferociously at the approaching Tian An, all while maintaining a vice-like grip on Star's hand with her teeth.
"Didn't you just boast about handling her single-handedly?" Herta, a faint smile playing on her lips, forcibly separated the "reluctantly parting" pair with her hammer.
Star landed on her backside with a thud, mournfully examining her reddened, bitten hand.
Why had this person been utterly motionless when Star first entered, showing no reaction whatsoever? Star had assumed she'd become compliant. Unexpectedly, as Star drew nearer, the figure had suddenly lunged and bitten her hand.
The Black Shadow thrashed, desperately trying to break free from the sturdy thread chains. But aside from generating some noise, her efforts were futile.
Her exposed face was vacant and serene, yet her eyes blazed with fury.
"It seems she's quite eager to meet you. Aren't you going to have a little chat?" Herta's gaze followed the Black Shadow's, settling on Tian An.
"Uh....." This person looks like she wants to devour me whole. How am I supposed to chat with her?
Besides, Tian An knew her own personality best. If this was a version of herself from a parallel universe, or some alternate reality counterpart, why would it harbor such intense malice? If roles were reversed, and Tian An were the Black Shadow, she probably would have been captured at their very first encounter.
"You... why do you want to kill me?" Tian An ventured, attempting to pose some questions.
"Why don't you ask her how she managed to follow you?" Herta interjected. "If killing you is her ultimate objective, she's hardly going to reveal it that easily."
"But as it stands, it doesn't seem like she'll answer anything at all," Star observed, looking at the Black Shadow's stubbornly silent face.
"Looks like your little friends have arrived," Herta announced, heading towards the door.
Could this be the one that entered my body before? Tian An mused, recalling the earlier incident on the Express. Though their physical features seemed quite different, there was undoubtedly a connection between them. She certainly couldn't go around telling everyone, "Hey, guess what? This is me!" Could she? And then there were those recurring, identical spaces she'd experienced.
Driven by a desire to observe "herself" more closely, Tian An cautiously stepped nearer.
"Theresia! Are you alright?" March 7th rushed to Tian An's side. The moment she'd heard Tian An had fainted, she'd made a beeline for her, outrunning Dan Heng for the first time in her life.
Just as Tian An was about to reassure her, March 7th began a thorough, hands-on inspection.
"Er... Little March, I'm fine," Tian An managed, feeling a bit awkward.
"That's a relief, a huge relief..... And this is...." After completing her examination, March 7th finally turned her attention to the figure bound securely.
"Isn't this the one who turned into light and went into your body before?" March 7th leaned her face even closer to the Black Shadow's, so close that it felt like if the Black Shadow were to suddenly snap, she could easily bite March's face.
"Went into your body? I knew it! That explains why, before we entered the Simulated Universe, I kept sensing another energy source within you," Herta remarked, having arrived later with Dan Heng. Trailing behind them were Himeko and Welt.
So, the entire Express crew decided to show up, huh?
"This little brat is completely dazed. She won't answer any questions, and she refuses to drink water when it's offered," Herta began her analysis. "From what I can tell, she likely temporarily slipped into your body. Then, while you were participating in the Simulated Universe, she used the virtual world to segment her consciousness and merge it with an external physical form. The cityscape you witnessed in the Simulated Universe was probably her memories too."
"As of now, I can barely detect... No, wait. There's still a faint energy signature within your body... but it's surprisingly gentle." As Herta spoke, she used her detection device for another scan. She discovered that, unlike the previous dark energy, this new source seemed to coexist harmoniously with a human body.
"Don't tell me there's a second one of her inside you?" Star blurted out, a wild thought striking her.
"That would necessitate her participation in a second experiment."
"But she was able to attack me in the real world before...." Tian An pointed out the inconsistency.
"How should I know? Unless, of course, you all agree to let me take her to my laboratory for a bit of research," Herta proposed. "Alternatively, you could take her with you?"
"Huh? Absolutely not! The Express crew doesn't shelter individuals who've harmed its members," March 7th was the first to voice her objection.
"Then what do you propose we do? My space station certainly can't harbor such a dangerous entity."
"All those in favor of research, raise your hands."
Swish...
Everyone present, with the exception of Welt and Himeko who remained still, raised their hands. It wasn't for any particular reason other than a shared belief that Herta conducting research was the most sensible course of action.
"Well then, it's unanimous. Mr. Yang and I have no objections either," Himeko declared.
"Um.... before the attack, she… she seemed to be speaking to me, inside my mind...." Tian An confessed, a little embarrassed because she had genuinely believed it at the time.
"Speaking? This thing…?"
"That wasn't me....."
"?" No one in the room had spoken. The voice belonged to the "Black Shadow brat." She had actually uttered her first words, prompted by a mere speculation about a voice.
"Then what is your relationship with that voice?" Herta pressed for more information.
"I am her, and she is me," the Black Shadow stated, struggling against the thread chains that bound her, her agitation clear. She seemed to detest this line of questioning.
"Your body will dissipate if others arrive, correct?" Dan Heng interjected, joining the inquiry.
Unfortunately, this time, the Black Shadow clammed up again.
"Oh, give it up. You're not going to get any more answers out of her here," Herta said, a mischievous grin playing on her lips as she looked at the captive. "Just let me research her, and we'll find out everything...."