Joy of All Beings: "We are memosprites summoned by Saintess Lingyin Shi, Emanator of Remembrance—embodiments representing the seven emotions. We are not true living beings, so naturally, death does not apply to us."
Wrath of All Beings: "Previously, we did indeed intend to create confusion and delay you. This time, however, we are not here to stop you."
Sorrow of All Beings: "The entire Shanjian Heaven is currently in chaos. There is no manpower available to reinforce this place. Nearly every remaining member of the Garden of Recollection has been dispatched to contain the loss of memoria."
Clearly, Screwllum had already begun moving.
Faced with memoria loss on this scale, the Garden of Recollection couldn't possibly sit back and do nothing.
Between Screwllum and Lin Yi, the two troublemakers had already thrown the entire Garden into complete chaos.
Joy of All Beings: "The Garden of Recollection has no one available to reinforce us, and you have already penetrated this deeply. We alone cannot stop an Emanator of Erudition."
"Enough nonsense," The Herta said. "What exactly do you want?"
"If you're not here to stop me, are you saying I can take whatever I want?"
Sorrow of All Beings: "Yes. You may take whatever you wish."
"But you cannot directly remove the original memories."
"Memories can be replicated. We hope you will take copies and leave the originals behind."
"After all, Madam Herta, what you truly desire is the information contained within them, isn't it?"
The Herta was hardly young.
There was no chance she would be fooled by such simple rhetoric.
"That does sound like an ending where everyone gets what they want."
"Fine."
"Let's do it your way."
Hearing her agree, the seven memosprites seemed visibly relieved.
They stepped forward and began separating and reproducing the memories for her.
The Fourth Mirror quietly whispered to The Herta,
"My magnificent master, they're stalling for time."
"Shanjian Heaven is currently in complete chaos. This is the best opportunity you'll ever get."
"I know."
The Herta didn't even look at it.
"I don't need you pointing out the obvious."
While The Herta's side proceeded in apparent harmony, something unexpected happened on Screwllum's end.
Several of the "toilets" he had constructed suddenly jammed.
Apparently, they had sucked up something they weren't supposed to.
The machines broke down completely.
All the memoria they had extracted and stored instantly burst free like floodwater released from a collapsed dam.
And by sheer coincidence, a Memokeeper had just found this location and was preparing to destroy the machines.
The resulting wave of memoria hit them head-on.
The Memokeeper:
"..."
They were clearly so shocked that they forgot to run.
Not that running would have helped.
A memoria tsunami on this scale could clog the very memory pathways Memokeepers relied upon to move.
For an ordinary person, a memoria tsunami would at worst cause excessive sleepiness, mental instability, memory disorders, or perhaps leave their brain so thoroughly flooded with information that they became an idiot.
But for a Memokeeper?
It was deadly.
Thus, this unfortunate soul became the first actual casualty of the entire incident.
Once the Memokeeper finally realized what was happening, they raised one final middle finger toward the heavens.
In a sense, this was also indirect proof of just how difficult Memokeepers were to kill.
A group of geniuses had spent all this time causing both natural and man-made disasters throughout Shanjian Heaven...
And somehow, only one Memokeeper had died.
Meanwhile, Screwllum was systematically inspecting every anomaly.
If one of his machines had simply been destroyed by the Garden of Recollection, that would have been perfectly normal.
He wouldn't even have bothered investigating.
But this situation was clearly different.
Screwllum picked up a metallic fragment.
"Query: Why does a physical object exist within the sea of memoria in Shanjian Heaven?"
"Insufficient information."
"Continue salvage operations."
A short while later, Screwllum discovered a damaged cooking pot.
He placed the metallic fragment beside one of the broken sections.
It fit perfectly.
"Initializing database access."
"Data comparison complete."
"The object contains abundant Trailblaze Path energy."
"Hypothesis: An object originating from the Astral Express?"
"Beginning temporal trace analysis."
"Conclusion: The object is excessively ancient and has undergone prolonged erosion and sedimentation by memoria. Precise analysis is impossible."
"Contemplation: This item may possess significant but presently unknown value."
"Research is warranted."
"Preservation recommended."
"An unexpected gain."
Screwllum recovered every remaining fragment he could find, stored away the Astral Express's pot, then moved on to inspect the next malfunctioning "toilet."
"Possible biological tissue?"
"Memokeepers of the Garden of Recollection do not possess flesh-and-blood bodies."
"What is this?"
This time, Screwllum discovered a tiny piece of biological tissue.
It contained fragments of both carapace and flesh.
The sample was extremely small—barely the size of one joint of Screwllum's finger.
"Beginning preliminary data comparison."
"This biological tissue contains an intense concentration of Propagation Path energy."
"Energy level significantly exceeds that of the previously recovered cooking vessel."
"Warning!"
"Error!"
"*###"
"This biological tissue is suspected to originate from the divine remains of the Aeon of Propagation—Tayzzyronth."
"**#"
Screwllum didn't even have time to contemplate why remnants of Propagation would exist inside Shanjian Heaven, the domain of Fuli, Aeon of Remembrance.
He immediately severed every connection between himself and that portion of his body.
He denied that the body standing there was part of the individual known as Screwllum.
And almost immediately after that connection was severed—
Every atomic-scale intelligent mechanical unit composing that particular "Screwllum" transformed into an insect.
They screeched.
They swarmed around the fragment of divine remains.
Then suddenly, as though sensing something, the swarm turned as one.
Carrying the divine remains with them, they flew rapidly in a particular direction.
Toward—
Ruan Mei.
Everything happened too suddenly.
Screwllum didn't have time to stop them.
Every field had its specialists.
Had Ruan Mei been here, she would have recognized what the biological tissue was at a glance.
Then none of these accidents would have happened.
Screwllum was still somewhat shaken by the experience.
Yet something else had caught his attention.
Why did the concept of the Collective once associated with Propagation feel so extraordinarily compatible with inorganic life?
Of course, the concept of the Collective no longer belonged to Propagation.
What had just happened was merely Tayzzyronth's divine remains instinctively triggering that fragment of the concept.
The Collective of Harmony...
Screwllum wanted to understand it.
"Recording research objective."
"Priority level: Second only to discovering a means for inorganic and organic life to understand one another and coexist harmoniously."
"Contemplation: Unfinished matters on Kasbelinyat."
"Conclusion: Priority of Penacony increased."
Screwllum didn't know where the insects had gone.
He very much wanted to pursue them.
Unfortunately, his current responsibility was to remain here, create chaos, and draw the Garden of Recollection's attention.
Screwllum was a responsible individual.
Therefore—
He chose to let the swarm leave.
He couldn't abandon his position anyway.
Besides, the swarm itself would probably create even more chaos.
Screwllum carefully stored the remaining fragments of Propagation inside precision containment equipment.
Then he continued inspecting the remaining anomalies.
At this point, he was actually beginning to look forward to discovering what else might be hidden among them.
Meanwhile, as Screwllum enthusiastically rummaged through "garbage," Lin Yi detected the sudden shift in the rate of memoria loss.
He also sensed the memoria tsunami surging back toward them.
Lin Yi misjudged the situation.
He assumed the Garden of Recollection had wiped out all of Screwllum's "toilets."
If so, the enemy might begin snowballing their advantage from here.
Their grand robbery expedition was probably nearing its end.
Lin Yi immediately fixed his gaze upon a crystal buried at the very center of the Corridor of Flowing Light.
It radiated a brilliant halo.
Apparently, it served as one of the foundations supporting the entire corridor.
If they hadn't caused such widespread destruction, this thing probably would never have revealed itself.
Author's Note
Somehow, I've ended up clashing with Xipe without even realizing it.
This absolutely wasn't in my original outline.
How did the story turn into every genius wants to rob Xipe the longer I wrote it?
( ✘_✘ )↯