The next day, Ye Yun and the four little ones got up early, had breakfast, and arrived at the Herta Space Station.
This time, Ye Yun intended to ask Herta for help in setting up a small laboratory for Clara in the spacious storage room on the second floor of the train.
It was the first time the four little ones visited the space station, and they were quickly captivated by its technological style.
"Wow~ this place is so beautiful! What's that small thing over there? It can fly~" Hook curiously pointed at a small smart robot.
"Klee doesn't know, does Bailu know?" Klee asked.
Bailu thought for a moment, stroking her chin. It seemed similar to the mechanical birds from the Immortal Ship.
"This should be used for transporting things. We have a similar one in Luofu, it's the same size and can fly. It's called a mechanical bird, and it's used for delivering things."
Ye Yun looked around. They were in Herta's laboratory, next to the simulated universe.
Ye Yun wasn't particularly interested in the simulated universe. This was something that Herta, Ruan Mei, and the others had developed to study the mysteries of the Aeons.
Lately, Stelle had been busy and hadn't had time to return, so this project hadn't made much progress.
At that moment, the laboratory door opened.
Herta and asta walked in.
"Ah, it's you. I was wondering who it was. I just got an alarm from the lab saying someone had entered," Herta said, looking at Ye Yun with some surprise.
Ye Yun smiled. "Good morning, Herta, Asta."
Asta smiled back. "Good morning, Mr. Ye Yun. I'll soon have enough Star Jades. Is that warship still available?"
Ye Yun nodded. "It is. You'll need to go to the store to buy it when you're ready."
Asta agreed. "Okay."
Herta looked at Ye Yun. "What brings you to my space station?"
Ye Yun was about to answer when Bailu suddenly tugged at his sleeve.
"Ye Yun, we want to go play."
Ye Yun paused and thought for a moment before looking at Asta. "Asta, I have something to do. Are you free? Can you take these four little ones around the station?"
Asta smiled and agreed. "Sure, leave it to me."
She waved at the four little ones. "Come on, kids, let's go play!"
The four little ones happily ran over to Asta and stood obediently beside her.
After asta took the little ones away, Leafy turned to Herta.
"I need to ask you for a favor."
Herta raised an eyebrow. Ye Yun was asking her for help? Interesting.
"Go ahead."
Ye Yun explained. "I need help setting up a simple laboratory. There's a little girl learning about mechanics, and I want to give her a place to work. It's not enough just to study from books, right?"
Herta looked a bit speechless. "That's it? You're asking me for help with something so small?"
Ye Yun smiled. "Well, I'm asking you because you're the expert. I can buy the equipment myself, but I don't know anything about it. I'm a complete novice, so I thought I should ask someone with experience like you."
Herta thought for a moment. "You've got a point. You're talking about mechanical equipment, right?"
Ye Yun nodded.
After confirming, Herta snapped her fingers, and a virtual screen appeared in front of her. She began to operate it quickly, and the images on the screen changed rapidly.
Finally, it turned into a blueprint with a list of equipment.
Herta grabbed it and made the list fold. Then she tossed it toward Ye Yun, and his phone lit up with an email notification.
"I won't be going. I don't have time. This is a list of equipment suitable for beginners in mechanics. You can buy it yourself."
Ye Yun opened the email and looked at the list.
"Okay, thanks! I won't bother you anymore. I'll pick up Klee and the others later."
Ye Yun said goodbye to Herta and returned to the train.
Back on the train, Ye Yun went straight to Himeko to get the key to the second-floor storage room and headed there.
Himeko, curious, followed along.
The storage room was messy, filled with abandoned items.
"Ye Yun, what are you doing here?"
Ye Yun pulled out his phone and opened the message from Herta.
"I got a list of equipment suitable for beginners in mechanics from Herta. I plan to set up a lab for Clara. It's not enough just to study from books, right?"
Himeko was surprised. While she knew Ye Yun cared for Clara, she didn't expect him to go this far—setting up a laboratory for her!
She looked at the list of equipment, and although it wasn't expensive, the equipment was top-notch, much better than anything most people had.
Himeko started to doubt if these were really for beginners.
Many people in the space station didn't have equipment like this, right?
Himeko thought for a moment, and realized that since Ye Yun had consulted Herta, perhaps Herta had used the equipment she had when she was a beginner to compile the list.
Ye Yun opened the shop and started buying the equipment one by one according to the list.
These devices were rare in the Star Rail Universe, but not so much in the system's shop.
The entire set of 13 devices only cost less than 10,000 star coins.
Ye Yun carefully placed the devices in the room, and then called Venti from the first floor to blow away the clutter.
Half an hour later, a luxurious laboratory was completed.
Himeko looked at the lab. The equipment was truly impressive, much better than her own lab on the train. The machine tool alone was far superior to hers.
Himeko thought she might come here to work on experiments in the future; the equipment was just so complete.
Ye Yun looked at the freshly finished lab and clapped his hands, feeling a sense of accomplishment.
"All done. I'll go get Clara."
Ye Yun went to the shop and found Clara, who was studying a Gundam model in the library.
"Clara, bring your textbooks and models. I'm taking you to a special place."
Clara, hearing this, put away her books and models and stood obediently next to Brother Ye Yun.
"Where are we going, Brother Ye Yun?"
Ye Yun smiled affectionately and ruffled Clara's hair. "I won't tell you yet. You'll find out when we get there. It's close, let's go."
Clara, now even more curious, quickly followed Leafy.
They arrived on the second floor.
When Clara saw the lab, her eyes widened, filled with surprise.
"This is a lab?"
Ye Yun smiled. "Yes, this is your lab from now on. What do you think? Do you like it?"
Clara, in disbelief, looked around. "This lab is mine?"
She was about to refuse, but Ye Yun cut her off.
"Don't worry, it's decided. It's not for free though. Once you finish studying the model you're working on, help me build one, okay?"
Clara, seeing no way out, nodded. "Okay, I'll work hard!"
Ye Yun gently patted Clara on the back of her head. "Go ahead and learn how to use the equipment from Himeko."
Himeko smiled and waved at Clara. "Come on, Clara, let me show you around."
Clara followed Himeko, attentively noting the use and operation of each piece of equipment.
To make sure she wouldn't forget, Clara wrote down everything she could, so she wouldn't mess up the usage or miss any important details.
***
In Liyue Harbor, inside the Northern Bank.
Signora arrived here with her attendants.
"Where is the Childe? Why is he not here?"
One of the Childe's subordinates quickly replied, "The Young Master went to the Wangsheng Hall internet café to play."
Signora furrowed her brows. "Play? How can he still have the mind to play? The Empress's grand plan hasn't been fulfilled, and he dares to go play!"
"Take me to find him!"
The subordinate quickly led Signora to the Wangsheng Hall internet café.
About half an hour later, the lady arrived at the café's door.
The usually quiet Wangsheng Hall was now bustling with people, most of whom were here to surf the internet.
The receptionist saw the lady and her group, and quickly came forward to greet them.
"Honored guest, are you here to surf the internet, or to handle business related to Wangsheng Hall?"
Signora glanced at the receptionist coldly and walked into the hall without even acknowledging her.
Signora looked around the courtyard and soon spotted the internet café, because it was the place with the most people.
She entered the café, and as soon as she stepped inside, she saw Childe sitting near the door, playing "Meteor Butterfly Sword."
"Small fry, take this! Beautiful! Finally avenged!"
Childe was excitedly playing the game, feeling like this kind of game was made just for someone like him, a martial enthusiast.
Childe was deeply absorbed, playing happily.
However, while Childe was having fun, Signora was extremely displeased.
She walked directly to Childe's side and ordered the person sitting next to him to get up.
"You, get up!"
The person who was addressed turned around to look at Signora.
"Who are you? Want to play a game? Go queue up, scram, don't disturb me."
Signora's anger flared up, and she directly slapped the person with an ice-element attack.
The person who had just mocked Signora was sent flying, and even the computer in front of him was sent crashing into the wall, shattering into pieces.
It was only then that the Childe realized what was going on. He quickly took off his headphones and saw the furious Signora, realizing something bad had happened.
"We're done for! This is Liyue! Back then, when I first came here so arrogantly, after getting beaten a couple of times, I learned to be more reserved."
Childe grabbed the lady's arm.
"Hurry, let's go! You've caused trouble!"
Signora shook the Childe's hand off.
"What trouble? You, a dignified Fatui Harbinger, why are you afraid? Today, I'm going to see what these people in Liyue can do to me!"
Childe clicked his tongue, feeling that the lady reminded him of his own arrogance when he first arrived in Liyue.
At that moment, Hu Tao and Silver Wolf, who were working on assembling a new machine, walked out.
Hu Tao saw the chaos and immediately became angry.
"What's going on? Who's making trouble here?"
Silver Wolf looked around and quickly locked onto the target.
"Hu Tao, it should be this woman."
Hu Tao looked at the lady.
"Who are you? Coming here to cause trouble in my Wangsheng Hall? Did I provoke you?"
Signora snorted.
"Tell me, how much do I need to pay?"
Hu Tao was very displeased with Signora's attitude, as if she were the victim when it was clearly the lady who caused the trouble.
"Hey, what's wrong with you? Dare to cause trouble in my Wangsheng Hall! Today, I'll show you what I can do!"
Hu Tao took out the Staff of Homa and charged at the lady.
Signora quickly dodged, and her escape path led outside.
The two soon engaged in a fierce battle outside.
Hu Tao was one of the top experts in Liyue, not to mention she had been trained by none other than Zhongli, the God of War of Teyvat!
Signora was no match for Hu Tao and was steadily pushed back by Hu Tao's relentless attacks.
Childe sighed. Despite being from the same faction, he had no choice but to keep quiet.
He was about to intervene when suddenly, a calm voice came from the side.
"I think it's better for you to just stand here and watch, don't you think?"
Childe looked to the side and saw Silver Wolf, chewing gum and playing a game.
Though Silver Wolf's tone was casual, Childe could feel a strong sense of threat emanating from her words.
He instinctively felt that if he interfered, he would be directly suppressed by this girl.
Soon, the situation proved him right.
On a hill beside Wangsheng Hall, an elderly woman with white hair stood, watching as Hu Tao pinned Signora. She looked pleased.
"As expected of a child raised by the Archon, her martial arts are indeed impressive."
Signora, seeing that she couldn't fight back, was in disbelief.
"It's impossible! How can I be suppressed by a little girl?!"
Signora was completely enraged and transformed into a fiery moth.
"Die!!!"
Signora suddenly launched an attack, catching Hu Tao off guard. Hu Tao couldn't dodge in time and could only prepare to take the blow head-on.
Just as Signora was about to strike Hu Tao, Silver Wolf spoke again.
"Freeze!"
Signora suddenly felt that she lost control over her body and was frozen in mid-air.
Silver Wolf put away her game console, and with a swift motion of her right hand, a virtual keyboard appeared in front of her.
"Alright, this farce should come to an end."
Silver Wolf rapidly typed on the keyboard, and an ether energy blast struck Signora, sending her crashing to the ground.
The immense force caused the ground to sink beneath her.
Childe watched, swallowing hard at the sight of Silver Wolf effortlessly subduing the lady.
It was a good thing he didn't intervene earlier; otherwise, he would've ended up just like the lady, lying on the floor.
Silver Wolf walked over to Hu Tao, blew a bubble, and looked disdainfully at Signora who had already passed out beside them.
"Is that it? This is the strength she dares to come here and cause trouble with?"
Silver Wolf turned to look at Childe.
"Hey, you there, come over and take her away. Remember to pay for the computer and the floor."
Childe agreed and called over several subordinates to take the lady away.
After Childe and his group left with the lady, Silver Wolf and Hu Tao took a short break before returning to assemble the new computers.
Later that evening, inside the Northern Bank, Signora slowly regained consciousness.
Just as she was about to move, she felt sharp pains all over her body, causing her to cry out in pain.
"Ugh! It hurts!"
Childe, sitting beside her, shook his head helplessly when he saw she had woken up.
"I told you to leave earlier, but you didn't listen. Now look at you, you only learn when you get a beating."
Signora recalled what had happened. She never expected Liyue to have so many powerful people.
A little girl was able to match her in a fight, and then there was the girl who easily suppressed her.
What kind of monsters were these people in Liyue? So young and already so powerful.
Childe saw the lady reflecting on her foolish actions and said,
"You've only seen the tip of the iceberg. You haven't seen the really strong ones yet. Liyue... it's a place where even the strongest can be eaten alive."