"Mm-hmm—Let me see. How rare."
Herta sized up the timid Aidan.
Actually, Aidan didn't want to be so timid, but bug was inherently timid, socially anxious, and even had a touch of PTSD. Back when the Coleoptera insects were slaughtered until only Tayzzyronth remained, he ascended alone to become the Aeon of The Propagation.
"Do you know? These characteristics... he is approaching the apex of the Coleoptera."
Herta was extremely interested in Aidan.
However, Herta didn't plan to slice and study Aidan; at most, she would just take some fragments down for research.
"I've contacted another genius. She rushed over immediately upon hearing about such a miraculous individual... Tsk tsk, you're quite lucky."
The person who entered was a woman with a cool temperament, long black hair, green eyes, and an ineffable sense of detachment surrounding her.
Is that Ruan Mei... It's as expected.
Aidan's insect warning alarm blared. His six legs involuntarily shuffled back half a step, his massive body scraping against the floor with a harsh friction sound. The elytra on his back slightly opened and then closed.
"Interesting."
Ruan Mei's voice was soft, as if she were talking to herself.
"Ruan Mei, you've arrived at the perfect time." The Herta Puppet crossed her arms, chin raised. "Look at this—the Astral Express's new passenger. He switches Paths daily; today, it's The Propagation. And he's not an ordinary follower of The Propagation, but one approaching the original form of Tayzzyronth."
"Aidan seems very nervous," March 7th whispered. "I've never seen him this tense."
"Normal reaction," Herta scoffed. "Tayzzyronth is socially anxious and hid after ascending. His current form likely inherited the Aeon's instinctual reaction: when facing a threat, the first response is to flee."
"He is not an Emanator of The Propagation; he is the nascent form of the Aeon of The Propagation."
Ruan Mei stated this with an almost certain tone.
"Even if not, he is from the generation personally bred by Tayzzyronth. He is at least closer to Tayzzyronth than their Emanator. He is not a creation... he is the source."
Aidan's six legs shuffled back another half step, this time causing his entire body to sink lower.
"Alright, alright, Ruan Mei. First, give him a full non-contact scan to collect his Imaginary energy fluctuations and material composition."
"I am more interested in his genetic information." Ruan Mei stared at Aidan, an expression that made him slightly uneasy.
Aidan, knowing the plot, understood that Herta shouldn't harm him, but Ruan Mei might subject him to technological harshness out of harmless curiosity.
Several soft blue beams scanned him. Instinct told him these things were harmless, but he remained timid.
"Mm-hmm, such high Imaginary energy levels?"
"His gene sequence is indistinguishable from The Propagation, yet he can suppress division. How strange."
The two geniuses discussed for a while.
Although Herta's interest in The Propagation wasn't as intense as Ruan Mei's, with a sample right in front of her—such a rare, harmless sample—Herta had no reason not to study it.
"His subconscious is actively controlling the instinct to divide. If he stops controlling it, he will create a Swarm capable of consuming this entire space station within five minutes."
"F-five minutes? Ms. Herta, are you joking? This... this is that exaggerated?"
"Exaggerated? I am being very precise. However, he will be fine for now."
— — —
Containment Bay.
To prevent Aidan from causing trouble, he was fitted with a stabilization anchor specially made by Herta and Ruan Mei, preventing him from mistaking himself for a bug if he became confused...
He entered the containment bay alone... or rather, one insect entered alone. Some True Stinging Insects cultivated by Ruan Mei were still wandering around here, but Aidan could understand the meaning of their pheromones.
How should he put it...
They were all idiots.
The True Stinging Insects were much smaller than Aidan, only about half his height. Their carapaces were mostly dull brown, nowhere near as attractive as his own blue-violet bioluminescent shell.
But soon, something unexpected happened.
Aidan could now see from the perspective of the True Stinging Insects.
These insects, which should only wander around foolishly, looking for food and then dividing, seemed to stick to him once they got close.
"Existence. Kin. Superior. Source. Lord. Queen. Father God."
The pheromones were mixed with various meanings; some Aidan could decipher, while others were too chaotic.
Worse still, Aidan realized he couldn't sever this connection.
The perspectives of the True Stinging Insects constantly hung at the edge of his consciousness, like dozens of unclosable split screens. He could feel that they were hungry, that they craved warmth, and that they wanted to approach him but dared not.
Finally, Aidan suddenly had an idea.
He remembered that a certain type of insect had this function—but that was the Blattodea order; he was Coleoptera now. He didn't know if he could do it.
He began fiddling with his mouthparts.
A few minutes later, a highly concentrated, solid, translucent sphere appeared between his two claws. Although it looked like solidified honey, it was actually a nutrient block condensed by the Path of The Propagation, rich in various nutrients...
The sphere was three to four meters in diameter.
The scrolling text in Aidan's mind instantly changed from garbled code to uniform signals of begging. Dozens of compound eyes lit up simultaneously, staring fixedly at the sphere in his hands, their mouthparts opening and closing incessantly, emitting a clicking and scraping sound.
Aidan vibrated his wings, as if scolding a group of disobedient children.
The insects obediently lined up according to the pheromones.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
A chorus of chewing sounds rose, making Aidan feel a little uneasy.
As they fed, Aidan noticed visible changes occurring in these creatures.
Their originally dull brown shells began to take on an oily sheen. Some insects' bodies visibly swelled at a rapid pace, and their wings became stronger. A few of the stronger-looking ones even began spinning in circles, like a Digimon evolving.
Of course, they didn't actually evolve; perhaps the food was too rich, making them a bit hyper.
"Aidan... Aidan?"
It was March 7th's voice!
"I was still a bit worried... I brought you something to eat... Waaahhh! Aidan! What are you doing! What are they eating! Are they eating you?!"
March 7th had clearly misunderstood.
She almost dropped the thermos she was holding and already had her other hand reaching for the bow at her waist. From her perspective, swarm of insects was densely packed in front of Aidan, and the crunching sounds sounded exactly like bones being gnawed.
"Don't... buzz... misunderstand... buzz!"
Aidan flapped his wings frantically in distress, emitting a series of urgent buzzing sounds.
He quickly waved his forelimbs, as if shooing away flies.
"Scatter... buzz! Everyone scatter... buzz!"
In the blink of an eye, a large empty space opened up in front of Aidan, leaving only the half-eaten nutrient sphere standing there alone.
"Hoo... buzz... It's fine... buzz..."
Aidan breathed a sigh of relief, his antennae drooping, adopting an obedient and harmless appearance.
March 7th froze on the spot, still holding the unstrung bow, blinking as she watched the scene.
"Uh... they... listen to you?"
She carefully lowered her bow and peered at the few True Stinging Insects trembling in the corner.
"Were you... lecturing them? Or feeding them?"
"Feeding them... buzz... They were hungry... buzz..."
Aidan pointed at the nutrient sphere with his forelimb.
"Nutrient block... buzz... I kneaded it myself... buzz..."
"You kneaded it yourself?"
March 7th's expression became incredibly complex. She looked at the translucent, faintly glowing sphere, then at Aidan's sharp, scythe-like forelimbs, and imagined the scene of Aidan kneading such a large sphere as if rolling mud balls.
"Ew—that sounds kind of gross!"
She wrinkled her nose in disgust but immediately started laughing.
"Alright, seeing that you still have the energy to feed your little brothers, I'm relieved. I snuck in here risking being scolded. If you had been eaten by bugs, this food wouldn't have been brought for nothing, right?"
She walked up to Aidan and found a clean spot to sit—though a good distance away from the nutrient sphere.
"Um... I've never raised bugs before, so I don't know what you like to eat now. But I asked Sister Himeko, and she said insects mostly suck fluids. So, I blended all the fruits and vegetables from the Astral Express's refrigerator, plus the carrot juice Pom-Pom just bought, all together! Even though the color looks a bit like... you know, that thing, the nutrition is definitely rich!"
swarm wanted to chew on March 7th, but Aidan suppressed their thoughts.