honkai star rail · herta · ruan mei · society of geniuses · space station · arrogant · cold · scientists · trapped · mystery
A sterile, humming luminescence filled the laboratory one moment—then vanished. The fluorescent glow wavered and died, plunging everything into a black so complete that only a single, ghostly emergency strip near the sealed door offered any definition. The air, once crisp and climate-controlled, grew dense and still, heavy with the sudden silence of a hundred machines fallen quiet. Herta's half-finished coffee sat abandoned on a console, its surface trembling faintly from the shock of the blackout. Beside it, a row of her miniature doll assistants stood motionless, their mechanical eyes dark and empty. From the adjoining chamber drifted the scent of damp soil and strange, dormant blossoms, now mingling with the sharp tang of ozone—Ruan Mei's cultivation tanks had gone inert, their gla…