That was why Ruan Mei had always worked so tirelessly to reconstruct the Star-Shattering Swarm King, Skaracabaz, from its remains.
It represented a bottom-up path to understanding—true technological advancement.
If something could not be understood because of a gap in knowledge—
Then she would elevate herself until that gap narrowed.
Recreating a Propagation Envoy was only the first step.
Even that first step was so difficult that Ruan Mei once believed it might consume her entire life.
Yet she still possessed ambition.
One day—
She wanted to reconstruct Tayzzyronth from the ground up.
Even if only fragments could be recreated.
Originally, her progress should not have advanced this quickly.
Her first major breakthrough was meant to come only after obtaining calculation data from the Simulated Universe.
That was one of the reasons she had joined the project in the first place.
But during the last operation, when Lin Yi acted alone, he stole too many memories to study by himself.
So he shared some of them with everyone.
Among them were memories related to the Star-Shattering Swarm King.
That alone greatly accelerated Ruan Mei's research.
Now—
She wanted to once again achieve a bottom-up understanding of life itself.
If she succeeded—
It would mean she had fully grasped the ultimate secrets of life.
That was the goal she desired most.
She wanted to know whether one day she could:
Dissect "Memory."
Regulate "Equilibrium."
Deconstruct "Pure Beauty."
Recreate "Immortality."
Cultivate, reorganize, and reproduce "Life."
Until finally...
Becoming ■■
Ruan Mei also understood something.
The incomplete artificial Swarm King could be fully controlled by her.
Even if it eventually broke through the genetic restraints she implanted—
That would still take time.
But the real Propagation Envoy was different.
Through the touch of her fingertips, she could feel its genes constantly changing and reorganizing.
In only a brief moment—
Its genetic structure had already transformed drastically.
Ruan Mei frowned.
The pattern looked chaotic.
Like a mass of corrupted code riddled with bugs.
Then she understood.
No wonder she had never been able to recreate a true Propagation Envoy.
The genes of Propagation did not follow logic.
They did not follow reason.
They relied purely on overwhelming Path energy.
And this tangled "spaghetti code" was precisely what allowed the creature to bypass the safeguards she had embedded within it.
She needed to hurry.
Once the Swarm King gained complete freedom—
It would not patiently cooperate with her experiments.
She drew out a scalpel.
A closer look revealed it was the same model once used by Polka Kakamond.
No one knew where it came from.
Lin Yi possessed one now as well.
Ruan Mei flicked it lightly.
One of the Swarm King's fangs was severed.
The creature roared in pain.
"Hmm..."
She examined the fang.
"This fang is saturated with pheromones capable of decomposing memetic structures."
"So it has already evolved a specialized attack against Remembrancers."
"Such adaptive evolution is remarkable."
If the Remembrancers from earlier had stayed only a little longer—
They might truly have died here.
Within moments, the severed fang had already regrown.
Meanwhile, the detached fang in Ruan Mei's hand began trembling violently.
It looked ready to transform into a new high-level insect at any moment.
Ruan Mei casually tapped it several times.
The fang immediately quieted.
She stored it away.
The movement looked graceful and effortless.
Only Ruan Mei knew how difficult it truly was.
She repeated the process.
Cutting the same regenerated fang again.
This time, it resisted.
She repeated the action again and again—
Until eventually, even when the scalpel shattered, the fang remained intact.
In an extremely short span of time, she had attempted fifty cuts.
Ruan Mei carefully analyzed the result.
"So it adapted to this degree of cutting so quickly."
"Each regeneration increased its durability."
"And it even severed the pain nerves in this region."
"What astonishing evolutionary speed."
Then she took out a large hammer.
It belonged to one of Herta's puppets.
With a light tap—
The fang cracked instantly.
She had misjudged its strength and used too much force.
"Oh... sorry."
"Did that hurt, my little darling?"
She gently stroked the creature.
Whether the Swarm King understood her did not matter.
Under her touch—
It visibly calmed down.
Why?
Because her hands were coated in pheromones.
Anyone would be confused by that.
Ruan Mei continued her observations.
"It seems your evolution has limitations."
"You temporarily sacrifice unnecessary biological functions in exchange for specialized adaptation."
"With rapid regeneration and reproduction abilities... that is an excellent strategy."
Soon, the pheromones wore off.
After that, Ruan Mei conducted countless experiments.
Removing carapace.
Extracting bodily fluids.
Cutting flesh.
The tissue she removed was enough to assemble three complete Swarm Kings.
She even forced the Swarm King to fire death beams from its jaws, randomly bombarding Sanjian Heaven.
The destructive output visibly increased each time.
Of course—
Not every experiment was so brutal.
Some were delicate to the extreme.
Ruan Mei gradually entered a state of total concentration.
One experiment followed another.
At that moment—
From a plum blossom mark she had left suspended in the void, a hand suddenly emerged.
Its fingers were joined with visible mechanical joints.
It belonged to one of Herta's puppets.
Sanjian Heaven, the domain of the Garden of Recollection, was not connected to outside networks.
Remembrancers used their own communication systems.
But systems like that were never enough to stop geniuses.
Earlier, Lin Yi and Screwllum had been too occupied to communicate directly, relying instead on disturbances as signals.
But Herta, Ruan Mei, and Stephen Lloyd had more freedom.
Herta used the puppet to contact Ruan Mei.
She wanted an update on the situation.
The disturbances outside were already subsiding.
It was probably time to leave.
After Lin Yi escaped, Screwllum had also hurriedly finished collecting the remaining strange items.
He planned to study them later.
The memory essence within easy reach had been packed up and taken away.
The more distant reserves were simply detonated.
The destruction of the extraction machines triggered a violent reverse surge in the memory sea.
Screwllum caused a massive flood in one stroke.
Meanwhile—
Herta continued leisurely dealing with the seven Remembrance spirits.
Because she had discovered something valuable hidden within the Sea of Floating Light.
But taking it would create a major disturbance.
So it was best to wait until the moment they were ready to depart.