Even though Herta had planned the simulated universe a long time ago and started the construction of its infrastructure, which took a considerable amount of time,
the three geniuses actually only dedicated a hundred system hours to the simulated universe project.
These hundred system hours were then reasonably spread over two months due to the geniuses' schedules.
The construction of the simulated universe was truly at all costs; the resources consumed alone amounted to an entire planet.
What?
You ask Bai Luan why he knows exactly how many system hours the geniuses spent on the simulated universe?
Then I ask you,
Do you know what it feels like to live like a year in a day?
Surely no one thinks this is an exaggeration, right?
Do you know, do you know how I got through these two months!?
The Great Sage being suppressed under the Five Finger Mountain by the Buddha for five hundred years wasn't as painful as these two months for him, because no one forced the Monkey King to do scientific research.
If before, his intense studying in the Little Black Room only left him burnt out, with only pale ashes remaining, then these two months truly felt like burning every single day, with the ashes themselves catching fire.
He felt like his soul was about to ignite!
It's finally over…
It's finally over…
The moment the simulated universe ran stably, Bai Luan genuinely wanted to kowtow to this facility.
Thank you for not having various bugs like model loss, blessing failure, or stuck levels, as you did in the past two months.
Thank you for not having Lan and the Arbiter-General in you cause the simulated universe's computing power to overload.
Thank you, Aha, you scoundrel Aeon, for finally giving up the idea of secretly causing mischief by pretending to be a bug to make me search in vain for fun.
After these two months of frequent contact with the geniuses, Bai Luan profoundly realized a reality.
First, these geniuses are immortals in human skin.
For a project as exaggerated as the simulated universe, even with three geniuses working together, it only troubled them for two months.
I truly can't imagine what kind of amazing things ten geniuses collaborating could come up with.
Secondly, I'm truly awesome for not being exposed.
Bai Luan was like a husky mixed in with a pack of wolves for these two months, stubbornly following the pack on hunts for two months.
He almost developed a tacit understanding with the wolf pack.
Let me reiterate, I'm truly amazing.
Collaborating with the geniuses on the simulated universe project, at the completion of the project, he had only one thought in his mind…
Don't call me next time.
Seriously, promise me, just pretend I'm dead.
Of course, Bai Luan only thought such things in his heart; saying them was impossible.
His sunk cost in pretending to be a genius was already too high, so much so that he couldn't turn back now.
Pretending to be a genius had become routine, something Bai Luan would do subconsciously.
If it weren't for real geniuses solving problems in one minute that he had pondered for three hours, waking him up every day, Bai Luan would probably think he was a genius himself by now.
Hmm, this situation is very contradictory.
If someone were to ask him if he was a genius now, he would probably enter a frozen state of 'yes or no'.
Is this what you call a mortal getting genius sickness? Should I try poking myself with an extraction gun later?
Just as Bai Luan was worried about his beautiful mental state, the voices of the three geniuses pulled his attention back.
As a celebration of the simulated universe's successful operation, everyone decided to go in once to converse with an Aeon.
Unlike the Trailblazer, who enters the simulated universe and attracts an Aeon's gaze through their actions, as the original developers of the simulated universe, the geniuses have administrator privileges and can directly meet the Aeons they created.
Although most of these Aeons usually ignore people.
Except for Aha, but no one wants to deal with it.
Stephen was routinely absent; he always worked remotely on his part of the job.
Seriously, thankfully you didn't come.
Otherwise, the difficulty of his two-month 'dungeon' would have increased even further.
Thank you, Stephen Lloyd.
As expected of someone whose name is highly similar to my world and a green ninja.
"Bai Luan, it's your turn."
Herta's voice reached Bai Luan's ears.
The three geniuses' gazes all turned to Bai Luan, who thought for a moment and said:
"To be honest, I don't have anything to ask the Aeons; they mostly won't respond anyway."
Herta spoke in a calm tone:
"You never know? Go try it; if it really doesn't work, just go in and tell Aha a cold joke."
"To be honest, ever since that mischievous Aeon tricked me twice by pretending to be a bug, I haven't really wanted to see him…"
"Then it's up to you."
Bai Luan looked at the simulated universe's terminal and smiled.
"Then I'll just ask some random questions."
Bai Luan walked forward and reached out to touch the simulated universe's terminal.
He had pretended to be a genius for so long, and he hadn't even met Nous; he might as well go see him.
He silently chanted in his heart that he wanted to see Nous, and then his consciousness sank into it.
After a brief, blurred buffering as his consciousness entered the simulated universe, Bai Luan looked up.
A colossal mechanical head, like a planet, floated in the air, its core glowing with dazzling red light.
No matter what, the Aeon still looked incredibly magnificent.
But after a brief moment of awe at the vastness of the Aeon's body, Bai Luan's thoughts began to wander.
"Nous, your head is really big. Is it because you think too much, making your head grow larger?"
"…"
"When Zandar first created you, were you just a head? Or did you find being connected to a body inefficient and decide to act separately?"
"…"
"Do you know that many people think the exposed core in your head is actually your eye?"
"…"
After three consecutive questions, Nous did not respond to Bai Luan. Of course, Bai Luan didn't expect him to respond.
After all, he wasn't even a true genius, just a fake one, not even qualified to be glanced at, let alone answered.
"Then… let me ask you one last question."
Bai Luan looked up at Nous's large head.
"All-knowing Nous, do you know… if the Fourth Wall truly exists?"
"…"
In the simulated universe, silence remained.
It seemed he wasn't going to answer him. That's right, from Nous's perspective, this was a nihilistic, meaningless question.
However, Bai Luan did know the definite answer: the Fourth Wall truly exists.
After all, the system was currently looking at him over the wall.
At this moment, in the real universe.
Aha came next to Nous.
"Heh, don't ignore him. Even I, who first paid attention to him, don't know where he came from. Why don't you look at him?"
Saying that,
He forcibly turned Nous's gaze towards Bai Luan.
"?"
With just that one glance, Nous discovered something unusual about Bai Luan.
Bai Luan's body structure was instantly analyzed by Nous.
『?』
『What are you looking at?』
Afterward, Nous could no longer analyze anything from Bai Luan.
But in that extremely brief moment, Nous had analyzed quite a few things.
A body full of curios?
Among them, several conceptual-level curios?
An invention that simultaneously blocked his monitoring?
A probability that affected calculation results…
Exists.
Added to the observation list.
At the same time, Nous also heard Bai Luan's question.
In response to Bai Luan's question, Nous also gave an answer:
"Does that matter?"
Bai Luan, who was about to exit the simulated universe, trembled all over after hearing Nous's answer:
"My goodness… you really know the Fourth Wall exists…"
Nous never directly stated answers, only responded with questions that contained the answer.
Nous's rhetorical question had only two possible answers: important or not important, but no matter which answer, it only indicated Nous's attitude.
In other words, he knew of the Fourth Wall's existence.
"Can you break the Fourth Wall?"
"…"
"Are you there?"
"…"
In the simulated universe, silence returned.
Seeing that Nous had no intention of continuing to answer, Bai Luan mumbled:
"Dead mechanical head…"
Then he exited the simulated universe.
After exiting the simulated universe, Bai Luan noticed that all three of them were looking at him in unison, which felt a bit strange, so he asked:
"Why are you all looking at me?"
"Reason: You were just glanced at by Nous."
"Eh?"
Bai Luan glanced at Ruan Mei and Screwllum, realized they weren't joking, and then let out an even louder, more disbelieving sound:
"Eh—!?"
For a moment.
A very brief moment.
Bai Luan felt a tiny bit of happiness in his heart at this result, a sense of being acknowledged.
But what followed immediately,
was fear.
Infinite fear of an epic-level increase in future workload.
Because the fact that he was a genius had been officially confirmed! And in front of three geniuses!
No! I'm just a mortal, why are you looking at me for no reason!?
I pretended, and you actually believed it!?
How could you fall for it!?
Big! Mechanical! Head!
You could have just answered me in the simulated universe!?
You looked, and you looked!
And you looked in front of three geniuses!?
Couldn't you have looked discreetly?! Looked in private!
How do I explain this! How do I get out of this!? The simulated universe still has so many DLCs to make!
Do you know how much overtime I'll have to work like this!? How selfish you are! Bah!!!
Now, those making the simulated universe DLC will definitely drag him along!
You… you… you…
Bai Luan's chest heaved violently, overheating like never before.
You foolish Aeon!!!!!
Aha burst into fits of laughter.
It laughed at Nous for pretending to know the definite answer to the Fourth Wall when he didn't.
It also laughed at Bai Luan's breakdown.
So much fun! So much fun!
It was truly worth it!!!
『This Aeon of Elation…』
The system's tone carried helplessness.
『Is invincible』