Returning the phone to Stelle, Herta appeared somewhat distracted.
This surprised Stelle quite a bit. She had never seen Herta show such an expression before.
The small face deep in thought carried confusion, curiosity, seriousness, solemnity, and even caution.
It made one wonder what exactly Herta and Leon had talked about.
Stelle knew one should respect boundaries and did not let curiosity drive her to ask.
She continued testing.
This time, Stelle arrived in a world called Great Lapell Star and entered an isolated island named Mandler.
The residents wore the most primitive furs yet possessed a certain level of civilized development.
The islanders had a tradition of loving to have children.
The Mandler islanders believed that the birth of life could resist the fear of loneliness and death.
But in Stelle's view—
This barren island had nothing except love and loneliness.
It was somewhat eerie.
Why would the Simulated Universe send her here?
The next moment, she understood.
Propagation descended!
Tayzzyronth turned this place into the original breeding ground of the insect nest.
In just one night, the number of newborns on Mandler Island reached an all-time peak.
A few days later, the newborns rushed out of the isolated island and quickly covered the skies across Great Lapell Star.
Stelle was already shocked beyond words.
What a terrifying Authority!
"Herta, I won't have any problems, right?!"
She didn't want her belly to inexplicably grow big and then give birth to countless "children"…
Just thinking about that scene made her feel chills and lose a lot of Sanity.
"I just applied pheromone locking to your simulated body. Plus, you are simulating a mortal incarnation of Akivili. It should be fine."
Herta's voice also carried shock.
Although her perspective was not as direct as Stelle's, through the feedback recorded by the Simulated Universe, she could clearly know the general images and conditions Stelle was facing in real time.
Men and women were all propagating!
Moreover, the ones physiologically giving birth to offspring were not limited to females.
The scene of newborns breaking through flesh and crawling out from bellies was so horrifying that even with Stelle's currently decent mental fortitude, she felt like vomiting.
Those were not humans…
Humans were actually giving birth to insects… it scares her to death.
Disgusting, so disgusting!
But for the sake of studying Aeons, she had to stay here.
Fortunately, the scene of humans breeding insects did not last many days.
She stayed in the island's hospital and persisted with the locals for twenty-one days before finally receiving a global broadcast from Great Lapell Star.
However, it was a broadcast announcing the fall and requesting interstellar support.
Only at this moment did Stelle realize that this world had already advanced from a planetary civilization to an interstellar civilization long ago.
The existence of Mandler Island seemed to be just a coincidence, much like how the birth of Propagation also seemed like a coincidence.
But she knew there weren't that many coincidences.
It felt more like inevitability.
In this way, the insect tide began from Mandler Island and swept across the entire universe with overwhelming force.
Their marching route passed through galaxy after galaxy, devouring everything clean.
Even human corpses were eaten until nothing was left.
The simulation came to an abrupt end.
When Stelle woke up, a surge rose from her lower abdomen upward toward her throat—
"Urgh—"
She held back the urge and signaled to Herta.
Herta's eye corners twitched. After looking around with no results, she hesitated for a moment and could only take out something resembling a stainless steel basin and hand it over.
Stelle vomited for quite a while.
"You must pay me for personally experiencing all this!"
"..."
Herta remained silent.
After a moment, she actually nodded quietly.
"…After finishing the Simulated Universe test, go find Asta and ask for it. Say however much you want."
"???"
Stelle rolled her eyes.
Asking Asta felt a bit off, even though Asta sincerely gave money to Herta as an employee.
In the galactic frontier, inside a fortress as huge as an asteroid.
"Urgh—"
Herta, or rather the true body of the countless Herta puppets: the big Herta—
Almost vomited all over Ruan Mei.
This was why she had found a Curio basin for Stelle earlier and sent it over.
The scene was simply too disgusting.
Herta looked at Ruan Mei.
Seeing her calm expression with not the slightest ripple, Herta secretly gritted her teeth and called a tool puppet to bring mouth-rinsing supplies.
"As fellow geniuses, how do you manage to stay so composed?"
Herta rinsed her mouth.
"Because my research direction is the field of life." Ruan Mei said softly.
After spitting out the rinse water, Herta stared at her without speaking.
Previously, she had heard from Asta's report that Ruan Mei seemed to… have captured some unknown creatures and was conducting experiments on the space station.
Could it be… those Propagation insects?
Otherwise, how to explain why Ruan Mei insisted on anchoring the Swarm Disaster period in this Simulated Universe?
Forget it, it didn't matter.
The progress was gratifying anyway. They had already simulated the process of Tayzzyronth's birth.
The data collected with great effort some time ago might have fairly high credibility.
After Stelle recovered, she struck while the iron was hot.
Following the direction of the insect tide's ravage, she arrived at a planet littered with corpses.
Hmm?
There were actually corpses.
She accidentally kicked over one of them, even knocking the head off, but unexpectedly it played dead!
The head she had kicked over suddenly jumped up and glared at her.
Having just witnessed the disgusting Propagation process of those insects not long ago, Stelle now felt nothing toward this small scene.
"Bastard!"
"???"
Stelle was stunned for a moment.
Why are you cursing me?
"Liar! That guy who spread the babbling is a liar. Initiating conquest simply cannot find the self!"
"..."
Stelle's eyes narrowed slightly.
So he was the leader of the Iraedihina Army and actually didn't die…?
After carefully staring at the other party for a moment, Stelle's pupils shrank.
An inexplicable sense of familiarity—
That's right… Izumo!
She had experienced it in Izumo — that feeling so oppressive it made one want to abandon even their own thoughts.
Nihility!
"Herta, doesn't he look like a Self-Annihilator?"
"…Ninety percent like one."
"How is he connected to Nihility?"
"Not sure. Roll a die and change the scene to try. See if you can get a follow-up."
Stelle did as instructed. It was fine if she didn't roll, but once she did, she directly rolled herself into the sky above a vast, boundless red ocean.
In that ocean sat a ferocious ancient beast.
Staring at the other party's neck covered in fangs and tentacles, witnessing the wriggling flesh, Stelle's consciousness gradually became dazed.
An intense, irrational impulse arose in her heart.
Couldn't help it… couldn't help it… really couldn't hold back—
She wanted to be eaten by THEM…
Before the impulsive thought could continue developing, it was cut off.
Stelle subconsciously opened her eyes, full of bewilderment.
Countless memories flooded into her mind, filled with the wails and roars of the masses, along with some other fragmented pieces.
Herta gave her a flick on the forehead.
"Good thing I paused the Simulated Universe quickly, otherwise you would have had a big problem. I didn't expect Oroboros of Voracity to appear."
"That guy's mouth is like a giant black hole. I need to admire it a bit more…"
Stelle looked speechless.
Herta looked at Oroboros and analyzed to herself.
"It seems that when the insect tide was spreading most vigorously across the universe, Oroboros also opened THEIR giant maw, not only swallowing countless Propagation offspring but also swallowing countless worlds."