"Su Ran... may I call you that?"
A like-minded friend was sothing incredibly precious.
Ruan i knew very well how difficult it was to complete her research alone.
In the past, she would never have considered letting anyone join her research.
Even if soone did join, they would only ever be a research subject.
But after Herta told her that the Swarm Emanator had truly been successfully cultivated, she realized that Su Ran was soone whose talent surpassed her own.
If she wanted to complete her research, gaining his help would dramatically accelerate her progress.
"Actually, if you add ’sir’ or ’master’ after my na, I’d be happy to accept that too."
If this were anyone else, they might easily be ensnared by Ruan i’s refined, elegant charm and agree without hesitation.
But Su Ran wasn’t like that.
He understood this woman’s true nature perfectly.
She was an absolute self-interest supremacist.
Simply put, she only ever considered what benefited herself.
Of course, Su Ran wasn’t much different.
But unlike Ruan i, he wasn’t that extre, nor was he so cold and detached.
Perhaps the biggest difference between them was this:
Su Ran clearly understood that he was biased and selfish.
Ruan i, however, lacked that self-awareness.
Because of that, Su Ran believed he stood a level above her.
At the very least, he was more human.
Naturally, being rebuffed like this made Ruan i uncomfortable.
"...Then I’ll just call you Su Ran."
This man was indeed difficult to deal with.
If she didn’t need him, she wouldn’t want to interact with soone like this at all.
She simply couldn’t handle him.
"Fine. I can tell you don’t like talking—adding two extra words is already too much effort for you."
Su Ran nodded as if he fully understood her "difficulty."
Though no matter how one heard it, the remark sounded strange.
And no one present was foolish.
They all clearly understood that Su Ran was openly unfriendly toward Ruan i.
Even Yelan felt that this woman was being deliberately targeted.
Back in the dreamscape, Yelan had suffered quite a bit herself— yet she’d never been treated this bluntly.
Ruan i likely sensed it too.
But she didn’t care what others thought.
As long as the collaboration could proceed, that was enough.
Even if she beca universally disliked, it ant nothing to her.
"I would like to invite you to participate in an experint with —research related to Aeons."
"You want to deconstruct Aeons? Or even beco one?"
Su Ran sneered at Ruan i’s idea.
Because it was genuinely naïve.
Even before he had been granted wisdom by the system, he would’ve found such a thought childish.
"So-called Aeons are rely beings who have walked the furthest along a Path. They are pioneers of their respective Paths. But what about you, Ruan i? What exactly do you plan to do—rely on simple research and analysis?"
Aeons were entities fundantally beyond scientific analysis.
Yet Ruan i wanted to achieve this seemingly impossible goal through research alone?
Where did she get such confidence?
"This is not an unattainable dream. In you, I see hope."
From Su Ran’s successful replication of a Swarm Emanator, it appeared that even Aeons might be reproducible.
That was precisely why Ruan i was willing to lower her guard and approach Su Ran personally.
All she wanted was to establish this collaboration.
Her eyes were filled only with Su Ran—and expectation.
If she were rejected this ti, she might very well shut herself away completely afterward.
Becoming the ultimate social recluse.
"Co here."
Su Ran crooked his finger at Ruan i, signaling her to co closer.
She complied.
A large hand rested against the side of Ruan i’s face.
She was startled.
"Tell —can you analyze my life signs?"
Su Ran knew Ruan i could analyze life through touch.
But he would never allow anyone to touch him without his consent.
If she wanted to analyze him, it could only happen with his permission.
So now, he was giving her that chance.
To try and parse his existence as it was in this mont.
"..."
Although she wasn’t using her hands directly, the face was closer to the brain.
Ruan i did her best to probe Su Ran’s existence.
Confusion.
Incomprehension.
After sensing Su Ran’s form of existence, those were the only things left.
She asked the sa question that Nous had once asked.
"Are you... alive?"
These unprecedented life signatures—
Every inch of Su Ran seed unlike anything a living being should possess.
And yet, whether in form or emotion, he was unmistakably human.
That contradiction only deepened Ruan i’s confusion.
She had encountered countless forms of life.
She had analyzed innurable biological structures.
But she had never encountered anything like Su Ran.
Compared to a living organism, he felt more like a phenonon— sothing tangible, perceivable, yet fundantally abstract.
His existence completely scrambled Ruan i’s mind.
In the past, she believed Aeons were a form of life—
entities that could be analyzed and replicated through scientific ans.
But now, after sensing Su Ran’s life signatures, she began to doubt herself.
If beings like Su Ran existed, then might Aeons be similar entities as well?
Existences without recognizable life signatures?
Or perhaps sothing closer to a phenonon than a lifeform?
If that were the case...
How was she supposed to study them?
Ruan i fell into a prolonged state of ntal blankness.
"Oh co on! You’re willing to let her study you but not let test you? I’m mad now!"
Seeing Su Ran voluntarily allow Ruan i to analyze him, Herta completely snapped.
He had clearly said she was his friend, and Ruan i was just a passerby.
So why did Ruan i get to go first?
"Alright, alright—here, I’ll touch you too. Happy now?"
Su Ran withdrew his hand from Ruan i’s face and casually patted Herta’s cheek instead.
Herta: "..."
What was with that tone, like teasing a child?
That wasn’t what she wanted at all!
That wasn’t it!!
—------------------------------
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