Herta noticed that the massive disturbances outside had gradually subsided. She tried contacting Lin Yi and Screwllum, but neither responded. So she understood—they had already withdrawn. She also couldn't reach Stephen Lloyd and had no idea where he had gone. That meant only Ruan Mei remained.
A Herta puppet crawled out from the plum blossom mark. The moment it looked up—it saw a Star-Shattering Swarm King directly in front of it. The puppet instinctively entered self-defense mode and raised its hammer. Spin attack~!
Herta immediately shut down its combat mode. Huh? Ruan Mei, what is going on here? Where did this insect come from? And judging by this aura... a Propagation Envoy? Tayzzyronth is already dead. Where did an Envoy come from? And how did something like this appear in Sanjian Heaven? How did you even end up fighting it?
Ruan Mei paused briefly when she saw Herta. She gently stroked the Swarm King's head where it had just been struck by the puppet's hammer. But she never stopped working. Her hands continued analyzing the creature.
She answered calmly: It is a long story. My research into replicating a Propagation Envoy succeeded... unexpectedly.
Herta was full of disbelief. Replicating a Propagation Envoy? How did you even do that? I am suddenly very curious.
But Ruan Mei had no interest in wasting time explaining. We can discuss it later. Lin Yi and Screwllum have already left, correct? You came to ask when I'll be finished.
She looked mildly apologetic. My assigned task was interrupted by this creature. It is extremely important to my future research. I cannot simply ignore it.
Herta waved dismissively. I don't really care. The memories of countless worlds inside the Sea of Floating Light are already enough to occupy me for a very long time. My goal has already been achieved. But this isn't only about the two of us. You'll still need to give everyone else a reasonable explanation afterward.
Ruan Mei nodded. I will.
Herta asked: So when are we leaving? The Garden of Recollection could return at any moment. It won't be easy to escape once they do.
Ruan Mei continued her work. Most of her attention remained fixed on the Star-Shattering Swarm King, Skaracabaz. After a moment, she replied: Give me thirty-seven more seconds. After that, I won't be able to control it anymore. And by then... we really should leave.
Though Ruan Mei seemed to control the Swarm King effortlessly, that was only because she had interfered with every stage of its creation. Once it completely broke free of her restraints—its true power would emerge. And the balance of power would reverse instantly. Ruan Mei had no intention of allowing things to spiral beyond control. As for the disaster that followed? That would naturally be left for the Garden of Recollection to handle.
In truth, the Swarm King would make the perfect distraction. If a Propagation Envoy were allowed to reproduce freely inside Sanjian Heaven—the destruction would far surpass anything the geniuses themselves had caused. After all—the Swarm Disaster had once been one of the three greatest cosmic catastrophes.
Ruan Mei finally located the fragment of Propagation's divine corpse hidden within the Swarm King.
Meanwhile—Herta prepared a full-power attack against the seven Remembrance spirits representing the Seven Emotions. They had said it themselves—they were not conventional lifeforms and could not truly die. So Herta no longer held back.
Ruan Mei attempted to separate the divine fragment from the Swarm King. But the two had already fused completely.
At the same time—the Fourth Mirror secretly sealed the area surrounding the Sea of Floating Light. It intended to prove one thing: Mirror Master was still Mirror Master.
Ruan Mei finished recording the Swarm King's soul information in full. She also monitored the entire process of its genetic evolution. Earlier, she had mistaken the chaotic spaghetti code genes for its true form. That disorder had only been a temporary mutation used to break free of her control. Now the genes had reorganized into a flawless structure once more. The beauty of that pattern fascinated her.
At the same time—the Swarm King had begun ignoring her commands.
Meanwhile, Herta packed away the replicated memories gathered by the seven spirits. In such a short time, less than one percent of the Sea of Floating Light had been copied. Then Herta struck.
The seven spirits representing joy, anger, sorrow, thought, fear, terror, and worry had prepared themselves. But before Herta, they were powerless—like ants trying to shake a tree. They died there once again.
Herta then packed away the entire Sea of Floating Light. What remained behind were only the painstaking copies the spirits had managed to create.
Still, Herta was not entirely heartless. She left behind a message. Its meaning was roughly this: She only needed the information contained within the memories—not the memories themselves. After returning, she would slowly input everything into the Simulated Universe. Once finished, she would return the memories exactly as they were. But if the Garden of Recollection chose to pursue her—well... accidents happened. And some memories might be damaged.
At the final moment—Herta discovered something hidden beneath the Sea of Floating Light. These memories had not been stored within the crystal sphere universe. She seized one immediately.
The entire Sanjian Heaven trembled violently. The remaining hidden memories scattered and concealed themselves. Clearly—these were extraordinarily important records.
Herta inspected the one she captured. Her eyes widened. This is... the ascension record of Nanook! And such a detailed one! This is priceless!
Now even Herta felt greed for the memories that had escaped. But tracking them down would take too long. Time was already up. Reluctantly, she departed with her spoils.
Not long after Herta left—the seven spirits reappeared. Behind them came Shi, Envoy of Remembrance. Shi took a deep breath, ordered the spirits to begin cleanup, then rushed off to assist Mana.
When they finally located the intruders—the thieves were already gone. What remained behind was a Propagation Envoy and a vast swarm of insects. An absolute catastrophe.
At that moment, Mana was furious enough to tear those geniuses apart. But rage changed nothing. She still had to grit her teeth and deal with the Swarm King. After all—fighting on your own territory had advantages, but any damage done there was damage to your own home.
Now, listening to Herta recount the events of that expedition, Lin Yi also sank into thought. Apparently, he had not been the only one who secretly kept major gains—which was only natural.
Now both Herta's and Ruan Mei's rewards had been revealed. Lin Yi became curious. What had Screwllum and Stephen obtained?
During the entire operation, Stephen had seemed almost nonexistent. Where had he gone?
Lin Yi, Herta, and Ruan Mei had all walked away richer. He did not believe Screwllum and Stephen had returned empty-handed.
And how exactly had the Garden of Recollection dealt with that Propagation Envoy afterward?
One thing was certain—Ruan Mei had hidden her achievement extremely well. Aside from Herta discovering it by accident—no one else even knew she had done something like that.