Chapter 227: Is My Mic Too Loud?
Rekka clapped his hands together, the sharp smack cutting through the lingering haze in the room.
"Alright, cognitive adjustments are locked in," he announced, dusting his palms off. "I've recalibrated everyone's perception filters regarding the memes. You shouldn't be seeing any more phantom bananas or phantom tails."
Rozaliya rubbed her arms, her own tail twitching uneasily behind her. She cast a highly suspicious sideways glance at him. "It still feels a bit... weird. Did the Captain really turn into an actual monkey just now?"
"Yeah." Rekka nodded casually, as if discussing the weather. "The Path I rolled the day before yesterday was Trailblaze. While we were in the dreamscape, Stelle ended up infected by the memetic virus. Because our consciousnesses connected, the virus took a detour and hit me instead, so..."
"Ah! I remember now!" Stelle slammed a fist into her open palm, her golden eyes widening. "That's exactly what happened. I was dreaming, and then right in the middle of the dream..."
"You met this one."
A vibrant figure materialized right behind Stelle in a flash of neon. Rappa crossed her arms, her scarf fluttering dramatically despite the complete lack of wind inside the Express.
"At that critical juncture," Rappa declared, striking a pose, "this one unleashed the Dazzling Karate Righteousness-Severing-Delusion Hand Chop upon Bat-Ninjia, successfully preventing Bat-Ninjia from descending into the abyss of evil spirits!"
Dan Heng leaned against the wall, his arms folded over his chest. His cool gaze drifted between the three of them as the logic clicked into place. "So, Rappa woke Stelle up inside the dreamscape. That prevented Stelle from fully succumbing to the memetic virus. But because Rekka's consciousness was actively connecting with Stelle's at that exact moment, the memetic virus used his body as a surrogate petri dish, manifesting within his thoughts..."
"Spot on," Rekka said, snapping his fingers at Dan Heng.
Stelle scratched the back of her head, a sheepish grin spreading across her face. "Sorry, Rekka. Didn't mean to turn you into a primate."
"It's not your fault." Rekka shook his head, his expression darkening just a fraction. "The blame lies entirely with Dr. Primitive."
He tapped his temple. Having personally experienced the regression, he had completely analyzed the underlying structure of the memetic virus spread by the Research Apes.
"Let me double-check the data logs," Rekka mused, his tone shifting back to breezy optimism. "If I'm free this afternoon, I might just use this virus to write a thesis."
Dan Heng let out a long, exhausted sigh. "...You're certainly broad-minded."
"It was just too ridiculous back there!" Rozaliya threw her hands up. "You actually evolved from a monkey back into a human in just thirty minutes! Who does that?!"
"It was indeed ridiculous," Rekka agreed, leaning back against the parlor sofa. "But to be precise, that wasn't true evolution. It was just my own intelligence actively suppressing the meme, physically pushing back the memetic regression. I didn't actually turn into a monkey on a genetic level; what you saw was just a memetic visual effect projected into reality. Though, I will admit, if it had lasted too long, my physical body really would have rewritten itself into a primate."
He held up a finger, slipping into lecture mode. "The core essence of a meme is simply information. And information can always be overwritten or rewritten. This specific memetic virus targets the most primitive layers of a target's consciousness, aggressively stripping away high-level cognition layer by layer. But conversely, as long as the host possesses a strong enough high-level cognition, they can press that regression back, layer by layer."
It was a battle of sheer processing power. It was akin to how the high-density information wall formed by a true genius's thoughts could effortlessly block a Memokeeper from entering their mind. Of course, if a Cremator from the Garden of Recollection decided to just start burning memories directly, they could technically break the deadlock.
But if they actually resorted to the brute-force methods of the Cremators, they would immediately have to taste the high-tech, ruthless retaliation of a Genius Society member. They'd still take a massive beating in the end.
Rappa's eyes practically sparkled with starry-eyed reverence. "That Your Excellency could resist such vile corruption through the sheer strength of your own mind is a true manifestation of great mastery in the Way of the Ninja! To break evil laws with supreme strategy shows a deep understanding of the ultimate truth of Expelling Evil and Revealing the Righteous. This one is deeply impressed—surely, Your Excellency must be a Ninja Grandmaster on par with Master Ku-Cha!"
Stelle blinked, her brain stalling. "Master... Ku-Cha? Like... Underwear?"
An unbidden image floated into Stelle's mind: a grizzled martial arts master wearing tighty-whities over his head, or perhaps a bootleg Superman proudly wearing his briefs on the outside of his pants.
She grimaced. Eww, how weird.
"It is Master Bitter Tea, not Underwear!" Rappa corrected her immediately, her cheeks puffing out in indignation.
"Oh, oh. My bad." Stelle coughed into her fist. To be fair, the pronunciation was basically identical. It was a very easy name to misunderstand.
"Anyway, Rappa is a Galaxy Ranger..." Rekka stroked his chin, his eyes glinting with a dangerous sort of amusement. "Right, Stelle, do you happen to have Boothill's contact information?"
Rappa tilted her head. "Does Master Cloak seek the Silver Spear-Asura Excellency?"
Rozaliya snorted, covering her mouth to stifle a giggle. "Master Cloak... Pfft, Captain, you're Master Cloak now."
"I've been called worse," Rekka shrugged, ignoring the jab. "But more than that, I'm going to pinpoint Dr. Primitive's exact coordinates and let the Galaxy Rangers deal with him personally."
Ever since the Bloody Onniva incident back in Amber Era 2155, countless Galaxy Rangers had been forcefully regressed into monkeys by that maniac. Dr. Primitive's blood debts across the cosmos were already far too numerous to count.
Rappa gripped the hilt of her weapon, her aura flaring. "Does Master Cloak intend to execute Ninjutsu: Divine Punishment upon the Ape Lord-Evil Ninja?"
"A guy like that, running forced regression experiments everywhere he goes..." Rekka cracked his knuckles, a sharp pop echoing in the room. "No matter what his grand cosmic difficulties or philosophical ideas are, I have to teach him a lesson."
Dan Heng shifted his weight, his brow furrowing in deep concern. "No... are you absolutely sure Genius Society 64, Dr. Primitive, is actually still alive?" he asked cautiously.
They were talking about an utterly unscrupulous Emanator of Erudition. A being of that caliber wasn't someone you just casually decided to 'teach a lesson'.
"He's alive," Rekka stated with absolute certainty. "Four Paths will eventually push the universe toward finality, but Dr. Primitive chose the wrong allies. Though he took action, he can only associate with beasts now."
Without waiting for further debate, Rekka pulled out his terminal and dialed Herta.
The line connected with a burst of static.
"What is it?" Herta's voice snapped through the speaker, sounding highly irritated. "If you have something to say, say it quickly, or I'm hanging up."
A loud, aggressive sizzling sound—like a chemical fire violently consuming a block of magnesium—crackled from Herta's end of the call.
Had she suddenly taken an interest in extreme baking?
"I'm going to open a Genius Society full-frequency meeting broadcast in a bit to look up Dr. Primitive's information," Rekka said casually. "Tell Stephen Lloyd, Ruan Mei, and the others so they don't panic when the comms blow up."
"You're opening a Genius Society meeting broadcast?" Herta paused, the sizzling in the background growing noticeably louder. "...Actually, considering it's you, that makes sense. Fine. Do you want my help?"
"No need. I'm just giving you a heads-up so you aren't caught unprepared."
"Then let me give you a kind warning," Herta retorted, her tone dripping with condescension. "The people in the Society might not give you the time of day at all. In all of recorded history, full meetings have only been successfully held three times. The first time, there were exactly two attendees. After the assassination of the Emperor, there were only seven. During the Second Prosperity, there were five."
"That was before," Rekka grinned, his thumb hovering over the broadcast execution key. "This time is different."
"Fine, fine—I believe you, Mr. Genius."
A harsh, explosive scorching sound violently erupted from Herta's end, followed by the screech of tearing metal.
"Oh no..." Herta muttered, sounding more inconvenienced than in actual danger. The call abruptly disconnected.
Stelle stared at the terminal. "...What just happened over on Ms. Herta's side?"
"She probably blew up the kitchen," Rekka pocketed the device.
"That's a bit hard to believe," Dan Heng muttered.
But very soon, Herta, Ruan Mei, Screwllum, Stephen Lloyd, and every other living (or digitally preserved) Genius Society member would perfectly understand what Rekka meant by "this time is different."
Deep within the restricted, heavily encrypted absolute-zero communication channels of the Genius Society, a sudden, violent intrusion shattered centuries of dead silence.
"Hello—?! HELLO?! CAN YOU HEAR ME!!!"
The sheer, unadulterated volume of the psychic broadcast made Herta reflexively dig a finger into her ear from halfway across the galaxy.
This guy must have a serious problem, she thought, wincing. How the hell did he forcefully bridge the isolated thought-frequencies of the other Genius Society members?!
The encrypted channel instantly dissolved into absolute chaos.
"Turn off your open mic! Turn off your open mic!"
"Damn it, turn off that damn full-frequency broadcast!"
"IS—MY—MIC—TOO—LOUD!!!" Rekka's voice boomed again, rattling the very foundations of their digital consciousness.
"I'm going deaf from your noise! Mute your mic!"
"Deaf..."
"Dr. Primitive! Dr. Primitive! Are you listening?! DR. PRIMITIVE!!!"
"So noisy—!"
It was, without a single doubt, the most attended, most chaotic, and absolute noisiest meeting in the entire history of the Genius Society.
After a solid minute of digital screaming, Rekka finally dialed the gain down.
"Finally, some quiet."
[Attendee: 55 Yu Qingtu.]
"Mr. Rekka, I am genuinely pleased to communicate with you, but I must request that you lower the volume."
[Attendee: 76 Screwllum.]
"...What exactly is the situation here?"
[Attendee: 7 Chadwick (Memory Bubble).]
"Interesting, interesting—"
[Attendee: 23 Ashcha.]
"...You make me feel deeply annoyed. What are you doing now?"
[Attendee: 4 Lord of Silence, Polka Kakamond.]
"He's looking for Dr. Primitive. He's noisy as hell."
[Attendee: 83 Herta.]
"What? What happened? This is the guy who made even Polka feel tired? Hahahahaha!"
[Attendee: 64 Dr. Primitive.]
[Attendee: 1 Zandar One Kuwabara.]
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