"Ready, Caelus. I'm starting."
Herta stood before the control panel, offering a final reminder to Caelus, who was already hooked up to the necessary equipment. Caelus gave her an 'OK' gesture, and Herta subsequently activated the Simulated Universe machine.
The next second, Caelus abruptly vanished before everyone's eyes. The equipment he had been wearing clattered to the floor, the metallic clatter stark in the previously quiet room.
Herta, Himeko, and the others stared at the discarded equipment in silence. Himeko couldn't help but look up at Herta.
"Is this normal?"
"Obviously... it's not normal."
Herta was genuinely dumbfounded. She certainly didn't remember installing any teleportation devices into the Simulated Universe. The machine was only designed to project a test subject's consciousness into a simulated world, not transport their physical body!
Herta hastily began typing away at the control interface, trying to locate Caelus's coordinates. Fortunately, nothing disastrous had occurred, and she successfully locked onto his position.
"Found him!"
Herta projected the visual feed of Caelus's location onto the large main screen so everyone could see. The image displayed the very platform on the Herta Space Station used to dock the Astral Express, except the platform was currently empty of the train itself.
At that moment, Caelus was standing on the platform, looking around.
Himeko and the others breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Caelus on the screen. They had truly been worried that some terrible accident had befallen him.
Seeing Caelus appear on the platform, Asta immediately pulled out her tablet to check the real-world surveillance feeds for that area. However, the live security footage showed no sign of Caelus. She quickly reported this discrepancy to Herta.
"Lady Herta, Caelus isn't on the platform!"
"Of course he isn't." Herta didn't panic; she clearly understood Caelus's current situation. "Caelus is currently physically inside the simulated Herta Space Station within the Simulated Universe. The real him is no longer in reality."
Upon hearing this, everyone present frowned in unison. What did she mean his physical body wasn't in reality?
Had Caelus's actual physical form been teleported into the Simulated Universe?!
Himeko's brow furrowed, but she quickly grasped what Herta was saying, realizing this was a major experimental accident. She was about to tell Herta to pull Caelus out immediately when Herta made a few adjustments on her interface and picked up a microphone.
"Hello, hello. Caelus, can you hear me?"
---o---
Inside the Simulated Universe, Caelus suddenly heard Herta's voice echoing from the sky. He looked around but couldn't see Herta anywhere, nor was there any icon representing her on his mini-map. Yet, her voice was transmitting clearly into his ears.
"I hear you. This isn't the real space station, is it?"
The moment he loaded in, Caelus had checked his mini-map. The zone name displayed was 'Simulated Universe', making it obvious he wasn't on the real space station.
"Of course not. There was a slight issue with the experiment. You have entered the Simulated Universe in your physical form. For your safety, return to the location of the lab immediately. I've placed a Simulated Universe exit portal there; I'll use it to open a channel and get you out."
"Then what about the experiment? What about the Aeons?"
Caelus was surprisingly disappointed. He had been looking forward to seeing what an Aeon looked like.
Outside, Herta's mouth dropped open slightly upon hearing his response, finding the situation both exasperating and amusing.
Why does this little guy care more about the experiment than I do? Does he not realize how much danger he's in? The risks of a physical body entering a world of raw data are astronomical!
March 7th, unable to sit still any longer, rushed over, grabbed Herta's microphone, and yelled at Caelus.
"Caelus, forget about the Aeons! Just get out of there right now!"
"Fine, fine."
Caelus nodded regretfully. Following the route in his memory, he headed off the platform toward the lab. However, as he passed a trash can on the platform, he stopped and reached his hand inside.
Seeing Caelus's habit of rummaging through trash cans, Herta blinked and turned her head to look at Himeko and the other two.
"What's his problem?"
Himeko and the others offered awkward smiles. March 7th rubbed the back of her head, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Caelus... just has a very strong sense of curiosity!"
Herta's mouth twitched speechlessly. A strong sense of curiosity? What kind of treasure could possibly be inside a trash can?
Caelus was currently inside the Simulated Universe she had created. She certainly wouldn't waste precious computing power generating literal garbage inside a trash can, let alone any treasure.
Just as Herta was about to urge Caelus to keep moving, Caelus pulled his hand back out of the bin. The moment his hand emerged, everyone saw that he was clutching a Gold Ingot that looked to weigh at least two or three kilograms!
Herta: ???
Herta hastily checked the backend logs and was surprised to find that the moment Caelus reached into the trash can, a line of generation data popped up. Furthermore, this data wasn't initiated by the Simulated Universe's servers; the source was completely untraceable.
This made Herta's eyes widen. Was the Simulated Universe she was so proud of actually glitching?
She quickly picked up the microphone and ordered Caelus, "Caelus, touch every other trash can on the space station right now!"
Inside the Simulated Universe, Caelus was just about to put the Gold Ingot in his inventory. Hearing Herta's words, he couldn't help but grin.
Looting by official decree? I love it.
"Received."
Although this was only his second time on the Herta Space Station and he wasn't particularly familiar with it, he was intimately acquainted with the locations of the trash cans. He immediately jogged over to the next one.
Outside, Herta kept her eyes glued to Caelus. She wanted to see if that Gold Ingot was just an isolated glitch, or if there was a fundamental error in the Simulated Universe's underlying logic.
Before long, Caelus arrived at another trash can. He reached his hand in just like before. After rummaging around for a moment, his face suddenly lit up with a brilliant smile. When he pulled his hand back out, he was holding an azure blue, sparkling Diamond.
Seeing this, Herta immediately checked the backend. Sure enough, just like before, the moment Caelus reached into the trash can, several unfamiliar data commands popped up, and they weren't limited to just a Diamond.
On the screen, Caelus reached in again and subsequently pulled out two Iron Ingots and an empty Iron Bucket.
"The drop rate isn't bad this time."
Caelus was very satisfied with this trash can. Compared to the previous one that only yielded a single Gold Ingot, the drop rate here was much higher.
He hadn't misjudged the Loot Box MOD. The ceiling for this module was truly high. As long as his luck held out, he wouldn't even need to go mining after looting a few containers.
Happily storing the items in his inventory, Caelus was just about to leave and find the next trash can when he suddenly stopped. He opened his inventory, crafted the logs he had gathered earlier into wooden planks, and then quickly assembled a Crafting Table. After placing it down, he looked up at the empty ceiling above him.
"Hey Herta, since the place I'm in is just a simulation, you won't mind if I break a few things, right?"