480: Old Tower, Old Tower

"I don't know as much about biology as you guys, so I'll talk about something within my specialty," an astrophysicist said, flicking his cigarette ash.

"Those spore clouds are ejecting perpendicular to the galactic plane, completely abandoning the galaxy's plane of motion. This means they are expending immense energy to send seeds into the nearly void intergalactic space. There, there is only extremely thin interstellar medium, almost no heavy elements, and temperatures near absolute zero."

"What are they going there for? To wait for death? Since they can have a population of this scale, these creatures must possess some basic intelligence, so the former possibility is unreasonable. Based on this, there are only two possibilities."

"The first, as stated in the report, is to flee from danger."

"I'm not so arrogant as to think a single squad of battle armor could become a natural disaster for such a massive biological group. These bugs are indeed no match for the Chixiao Battle Armor one-on-one; while that might cause them to flee, it shouldn't be the primary reason."

"Considering there's also a powerful Pathstrider among the personnel for this operation, I'll adjust the weight of that factor upward a bit."

"But even so, if it were just to flee, they wouldn't use this method."

He looked around at everyone present and slowly voiced the speculation that no one wanted to think about, but which was logically the only possibility.

"Unless they completely don't care. Look at it from another perspective: if these spores are long-distance messengers crossing galaxies, or scout-type roles, then it makes much more sense."

"In other words, they are likely just a small part of a chain, merely executing their own mission. And 'Ash-IV' might just be an outpost, a hatching springboard."

An outpost? A springboard? If this were true, what would it mean?

"The Zerg from science fiction..." a relatively young scholar murmured. "Hive mind, infinite numbers, devouring everything, born for war and expansion. We thought it was just imagination, but what if it truly exists in the parts of the Universe we haven't reached yet?"

"If the bugs of 'Ash-IV' truly possess reproductive speeds and destructive power similar to those in novels," the vice president hosting the meeting said, his voice dry. He raised his teacup again, only to find it empty.

"Then, for any carbon-based civilization—especially one like ours that still relies on planets as a foundation—they are a natural disaster."

"And now, we may have disturbed this disaster."

A chill crawled up everyone's spine.

If that were the case, this wasn't a common interstellar dispute or a conflict of interest with some intelligent civilization.

This was a struggle for survival where there might be no negotiation, no compromise—only life or death.

Logically, seeking cooperation from the Corporation was a very good option, but prioritizing it on this occasion felt somewhat inappropriate.

Of course, if the person making the suggestion was a leader, that would be a different story.

"Summarize our conclusions; I'll go report them in a moment," the President finally ordered. "At the same time, mobilize all deep-space monitoring assets to track the final destination of those spore clouds. Scan the sector where 'Ash-IV' is located and all surrounding star Systems for other similar signals or signs of outposts."

"As for whether to seek help from the Corporation, we'll see what the higher-ups think."

"Alright, that's all for now. Meeting adjourned."

At almost the same time, on Pierpoint, in the high-level residential area of the Interstellar Peace Corporation headquarters.

Chen Hao was awakened from a deep sleep by the pressure in his bladder.

He opened his eyes groggily to find a fair, slender, and elegantly shaped arm draped over his neck.

Chen Hao carefully moved the arm away, his movements gentle so as not to wake Bronya. He put on his robe and walked toward the bathroom across the soft carpet and under the dim nightlights.

The smart System sensed he was awake and slowly brightened the simulated soft Morning Light.

After taking care of his physiological needs and washing up, he didn't go straight back to bed. Instead, he paced over to a massive floor-to-ceiling window.

In theory, neither of them actually needed sleep, but maintaining ordinary living habits could reduce or even prevent the damage of transcendent power to one's reason and emotions.

Divinity was not a good thing.

He looked out through the window at the vast and bustling starry sky to try and coax his sleepiness back. Just as he raised his hand to yawn—

Thump.

A heavy, profound dull thud, as if struck directly in the depths of his Soul, exploded without warning.

It wasn't a sound; it was a "feeling."

A powerful throb originating from within his body, from the Cornerstone closely linked to the path of Preservation.

The feeling was indescribable.

If he had to describe it, it was like someone relaxing comfortably at home, only to suddenly catch a glimpse of a shiny, antenna-waving "twin-tail" in the corner of the kitchen, scurrying past with a speed that defied its body size.

In that instant, instinctive disgust and an impulse to immediately find a slipper and smash it flat erupted.

Chen Hao froze by the window, his hand still mid-yawn. His pupils contracted slightly, and his heart skipped a beat.

What's going on?!

He immediately performed an internal inspection.

Preservation Cornerstone within him was currently, and very rarely, flowing with an emotion.

Calling it an emotion might be inappropriate; it was more like a stress response.

It was a pure rejection and warning toward the concept of "bugs."

"Cockroaches... bugs..." Chen Hao muttered subconsciously, his brow furrowed.

What could cause such a direct and intense hostility from the path of Preservation?

He quickly ruled out most known threats.

Mainly because there wasn't much that could be called a threat.

"Abundance? Everything is normal on the Alliance Leader's side; no movement there. If anything, the power of The Abundance path surged slightly a while ago, likely because an intelligent life form emerged in some corner of a planet."

"Order has already become nutrients; there's no possibility of a resurrection. Xipei should still be exploring the map right now, and the portion of authority I have left shows no abnormalities."

"Memory is like Old Xue's cat—both there and not there, hard to say. If it were there, like Nous, it wouldn't be a mortal enemy even if it weren't an ally."

"Destruction? According to what Lan said a few days ago, Nanook doesn't have time to expand his business?"

"Could it be IX? That doesn't make sense either; with that lazy look of His, He wouldn't move even if you invited Him."

"It can't be Aha again, right? I've smacked Him back several times already, and none of those times caused a stress response?"

"Bugs... bug... locusts... Holy crap! Swarm Disaster!"

Chen Hao's breath hitched for a moment as a word popped into his mind.

"Propagation."

The Aeon in charge of concepts like reproduction, growth, and infinite expansion.

Their very existence was an extreme manifestation of the Universe's entropy increase.

His "children"—if those things could be called children—were famous for taking the form of bugs.

Wherever He passed, stars dimmed, civilizations turned to ash, leaving only infinitely multiplying and meaningless piles of biomass.

Tayzzyronth, the Aeon of Propagation.

"Now it all makes sense! Old Ta in Star Rail was the one who got hit by Qlipoth's giant hammer," Chen Hao said, slowly exhaling a breath of turbid air.

"Alright, looks like my old friends are going to be busy."

After talking to himself, Chen Hao composed a message to the 'Loving Family' group chat.

Then he stretched, returned to bed, placed the small hand that was trying to grab something back onto his neck, and went back to sleep.

Everyone was having a good night, but soon, some people would be unable to sleep.