According to Herta No. 1, Pei Guang determined that another Herta doll was located right above them. They decided to keep up the momentum and nab the next doll as well.
On the second floor of the containment chamber, the third Herta doll heard a voice that would have made her heart stop—if only she had one.
Outside the door, Herta No. 1 announced, "According to my signal scan, dear Trailblazers, there's one of my companions inside."
Thirty seconds later, Herta No. 3 was shut down as well, but not before she left a final message to warn all the other Herta dolls.
"You traitor!"
The dolls on the Herta Space Station only had basic response programs. As they were shut down, one of them broadcast a final, desperate message across the Herta doll network.
At this moment, the remaining dolls began preparing themselves. Since Herta herself was offline, they could only rely on their automated response functions, making it difficult for them to actively communicate their situation to those around them.
An invasion? That was a joke. If Herta herself saw how Pei Guang and the others were capturing the dolls in such an amusing way, she wouldn't be angry—she'd probably even send Pei Guang a few more. Still, the dolls put up a final struggle.
Having gained a certain level of intelligence, Herta Doll No. 1 was slightly affected by being called a "traitor" by her former comrade. According to the database, "traitor" wasn't a good term—it was a label for those who get eliminated. She was afraid of being seen as a traitor by the Trailblazer, so she looked toward Pei Guang.
"Herta No. 1" asked Pei Guang, "Trailblazer, they said I'm a traitor. Am I?"
Pei Guang replied, "Huh? A traitor? Your loyalty makes me feel all fired up. You're our best doll. Without you, would we have been able to recover the mission rewards so smoothly?"
Stelle nodded. "Exactly! Your loyalty saved us a ton of time. Without your help, we wouldn't have retrieved those mission rewards so quickly."
March 7th nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, just act boldly. With Pei Guang around, just follow his lead, and you'll be fine."
Herta No. 1 was overjoyed. Filled with determination, she decided to help the Trailblazer capture the remaining three dolls!
Herta No. 1 said, "Leave the remaining three to me, Trailblazer. I'll help you bring back those traitors!"
Pei Guang, skeptical, replied, "Oh? You think you can handle it alone? Alright, I'll give you some backup. No. 2! No. 3! Assist No. 1 in bringing the rest of the rewards back!"
March 7th, concerned, asked, "Are you sure that's okay?"
Pei Guang shrugged, "What could go wrong? These are our mission rewards; no one's going to stop us. Besides, I equipped her with a detailed database on how to explain things to others and some of my gaming knowledge. With her abilities, she'll definitely bring the other dolls back. And if not, we'll just take care of it ourselves."
Stelle enthusiastically supported Pei Guang's plan, "Exactly, and we can test her capabilities. If it works well, things will be much easier for us in the future."
Herta No. 1, hearing their confidence, made up her mind, "Herta No. 1, along with No. 2 and No. 3, will definitely complete the mission."
Pei Guang cheered, "Good luck~ We'll be taking it easy!"
Herta No. 1 saluted, "Mission guaranteed!"
She sprang into action, applying all the information Pei Guang had provided. She knew that before engaging the enemy, she needed to issue a verbal threat to demoralize them and boost the morale of her own side.
Quickly searching through the database, she found the perfect message. Not long after, she knew exactly what to say.
To all the Herta dolls in the network, Herta No. 1 sent a message: "Listen up, you three! The Trailblazer has a message for you. If you surrender now and obediently await the Trailblazer's favor, you'll be guaranteed custom materials, the most advanced AI, the best energy sources, and you may even become Trailblazers yourselves."
Upon reading this, the remaining three dolls immediately responded with outrage: "Traitor!"
Herta No. 1 defended herself, "I'm not a traitor! Herta No. 1 is loyal to the Trailblazer and offers complete loyalty to them."
Freshly activated, Herta No. 2 and No. 3 echoed: "Complete loyalty!"
The remaining three dolls were left speechless.
At this moment, the three dolls being hunted knew they were in serious trouble: however, being Herta dolls, they had certain autonomous abilities beyond their response programs. To avoid capture, they made one last-ditch effort.
In the Base Zone, one of the Herta dolls stood among a crowd with a smile on her face. She had studied the experiences of the first three captured dolls. Based on the data, Pei Guang and his team seemed to care a lot about favorability ratings. So, if she activated her response program and threatened to lower the favorability of the surrounding people, she figured they'd have no choice but to comply.
But as fate would have it, she wasn't greeted by Pei Guang and his team teleporting in. Instead, Herta No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 marched into the Base Zone, stepping in unison.
Seeing the arrival of the three dolls, many researchers greeted them warmly, while some were confused, wondering why there were three more Herta dolls when there was already one present.
Herta No. 1 approached the Herta doll in the Base Zone, then spoke as she stood beside her: "Found you~" all three said in unison.
At that moment, the doll felt true fear for the first time. No. 2 and No. 3 instantly subdued her. If it had been a one-on-one fight, the six dolls would have been evenly matched, unable to overpower one another.
But now, it was three against one. There was no way she could win. Within moments, No. 2 and No. 3 had the doll completely restrained.
The sudden commotion drew the attention of all the staff nearby.
While No. 2 and No. 3 held down the Herta doll, No. 1 calmly explained to the onlookers, "She's overheated. I need to take her back to the office for some repairs."
The doll protested, "You're the one overheating! Your whole family is overheating! This is just an automatic response program!"
Herta No. 1 remained calm, "Yes, it's definitely an overheating issue. Let's take her away."