Chapter 632: Four Jobs

Sunny shut the sliding door behind him, flicking the lock as he did so. He turned around, eyes taking in the plain walls and ceiling of the room he was going to be spending the next week in.

There wasn’t much to say. Not much to see, either. It was fairly utilitarian in its design and furnishing. There was a bed and a desk built into the walls, neither having any legs to support their weight. A minimalist bookshelf, and a door that would lead to the bath chambers.

There was a window, however, that revealed the vastness of space, as well as The Blue looming in the distance. Sunny knew that if one were to try to look in from the outside, they wouldn’t see his window.

This was the room Herta had reserved for him in case he wanted to become her full-time lab rat.

Taking a few moments to familiarize himself with the room, Sunny began to summon a Memory. Liquid darkness began to coalesce into his hands as he thought about his two jobs.

His role as a part of the Herta Space Station’s security detail, which was just him and Seishan — as well as his infiltration job as Mongrel. The flash drive was locked up in the Covetous Coffer, so he was ready to make use of it when needed.

The only question was where. And how would he store the data he needed to obtain?

Naturally, Sunny had already prepared a Memory for that, using an enchantment he couldn’t quite recall the origin of as the blueprint, but that was neither here nor there. Instead, he was summoning a different Memory.

Eventually, a blank, wooden picture frame appeared in his hands. Immediately, he felt a certain presence being exuded from it, but he paid it no mind. Sunny placed it inconspicuously on his desk.

He would leave it there over the course of the next few days, waiting until its enchantment was fully primed.

It turned out that studying Nightmare’s Abilities was an incomparable boon...

That, and having SoundlessHeaven to leech off of.

Using both his shadow sense and the searching eyes of three of his four shadows, Sunny made a mental image of the structure of the Herta Space Station. His room was in an isolated part of the researcher’s dormitory. He had to brush up against a completely unassuming wall, open up a secret panel, and type in a passcode. The wall had opened up, revealing a hidden passageway that led to his room.

That, as well as the fact that the window could only be seen through from the inside, told Sunny that this was how Herta liked to protect her lab rats. He wasn’t completely sure what Seishan’s living quarters were like, though, so it was possible that she was getting the same, if not better protective treatment.

He wouldn’t even humor the idea of it being worse than what he got. The safety of one of the Song Sisters was infinitely more paramount than his own, at least from the perspective of anyone sane.

Who would want to invoke the wrath of her fellow siblings? Or her mother?

As for Ruan Mei and Screwllum, he knew where they were located.

Sunny sighed deeply as he plopped onto the bed without a care. His eyes gazed absentmindedly at the lights imbedded into the ceiling.

’...Actually, it’s three missions, isn’t it.’

Sunny flexed his hands, raising them up to his face. They were just the usual gloves that came with the SIlent Mist, each of them having the runes for ’ink’ and ’over’ engraved on the back of his palms.

He repeats, they were just normal gloves.

Then, they changed.

On his left, a pale, shoulder-length glove that was reminiscent of woven skin. The fabric tore apart to reveal rows of teeth.

On his right, five jagged nails carved from bone concealed his fingertips. If one looked closer, they were connected by almost invisible threads to rings placed lower on his fingers. If one were to look closer still, they would see that those threads, coalesced around the back of his palm and near his wrist, combining into one as the rest of its length disappeared under his sleeve...

On one hand, a gaping maw. On the other, calcified claws, woven together.

***

Sunny’s keycard granted him access to most, of the Herta Space Station. There were exceptions, being the particularly private and confidential rooms that concealed only the most important projects.

Two hours have passed since the members of the Genius Society — a stupid name if anyone asked him — arrived. In his humble opinion, it should be called the Nerdy Loser Gang.

In a show of great efficiency, the various workers residing in the Herta Space Station managed to complete the process of loading and setting up all of Ruan Mei and Screwllum’s belongings. The ship they had taken to get here had departed a while ago. At the moment, it was System Hour 14:30.

Every day, at this precise time, Sunny was going to test the Simulated Universe. Except... it wouldn’t be Herta who would handle it.

It would be Ruan Mei.

The Simulated Universe was a collaborative project between Herta, Ruan Mei, Screwllum, and some guy named Stephen Lloyd.

So... technically, he had four jobs to handle.

He was the test subject being tossed into the Simulated Universe, after all.

An unsuspecting wall slid open, and a moment later, Sunny walked through it. There were ways to check if there was anyone nearby, but Sunny could just use his shadow sense. Or, he could just Shadow Step away.

He headed to the Master Control Zone, which was practically bordering the dormitories. He passed by a few researchers, who, as he suspected, didn’t pay much attention to him. Sunny smiled, impressed with his Weaving abilities.

He was just about to reach an elevator that would get him to his destination, when, suddenly, runes appeared before him.

Sunny blinked.

’...Not runes?’

They were... words?

[Silver Wolf has sent you a party invitation! Accept?]

[Y/N]