One had to admit that the chicken meme, Dreamcluck Chicken, was too powerful.
Like a wildfire sweeping across the land, it burned ever more fiercely, to the point that it actually reached Primon.
In Penacony's Dreamscape, Primon had only just entered Paperfold University, disguised as the dean, wanting to observe the effects and progress of Slumbernana Monkey. However, instead of monkeys, what he saw were people wearing ridiculous suspenders or sporting middle-parted hairstyles, performing dumb-looking dances and walks.
Ultimately, he wanted to find out what this was about and what had caused it, but what he found instead were all kinds of cursed and ridiculous remix videos of the head of the Oak Family dancing and singing like a moron.
However, as he watched them one after another, intending to learn something from them, they gradually and relentlessly assaulted his senses.
Unfortunately, when he began to sense that something was wrong, when he felt his head growing a little dizzy, with images of chickens continuously flashing before his eyes, it was already too late.
In his ears, the song looped automatically, and it even reached the point where everything he looked at started to resemble a 'middle-part hairstyle,' 'suspenders,' and 'chicken.'
"Chicken... No, this isn't right... No, this isn't right!"
"What is this chicken thing? Where's my Slumbernana Monkey?"
"How did I get infected by a memetic virus? Who did this?"
Finally realizing what had happened to him, how could Primon—an expert in memetic viruses—not understand his own situation?
He specialized in this field, so of course, he knew that a memetic virus had been injected into his mind.
Needless to say, a memetic virus called 'Dreamcluck Chicken' had infected him.
As everyone knew, memes were information—information that could be recognized by intelligent life. And in this world, those that caused cognitive harm and informational harm to intelligent beings were called memetic viruses.
Unfortunately, there were not many ways to deal with a memetic virus infection.
Some of the ways were to delete one's memories, to use a stronger memetic virus to crowd it out, to inoculate with a memetic vaccine, or to rely on special methods to forcibly remove it.
Clearly, The Family had used the second method, as he discovered that the meme of Slumbernana Monkey had been completely crowded out and replaced by another meme.
What made this even more absurd was that even he himself had actually been infected.
"Wait, this energy..."
When Primon analyzed the meme, he soon noticed something outrageous.
"Are you kidding me... even the Harmony is involved..."
Primon muttered in disbelief as he noticed the powerful energy of the Path of Harmony within the videos.
"Damn it... I'll deploy more memetic viruses and see how you handle that!"
He truly wanted to resist, but sadly, it was useless.
Because the power of Harmony also possessed memetic properties—swarm consciousness, assimilation of enemies—when it was used on a meme, it instead turned into a meme amplifier. Especially when an Emanator of Harmony themself blessed the meme, the amplification became even more outrageous and uncontrollable.
As a result, the collective will of those who were affected by the meme became fanatical, endlessly and obsessively reinforcing this very meme.
Thanks to that, Primon eventually felt that his thoughts were being forcibly assimilated and soon discovered, in horror, that he actually found the dance moves from those remix videos somewhat interesting, and that the song was also somewhat addictive—thoughts that should have been impossible to appear in his mind.
"Dreamcluck Chicken should be protected as the best thing in the universe!"
Primon suddenly shouted out of nowhere like a fanatic, right before his body froze in place.
"No!"
He clutched his head and struggled desperately, but the power of Harmony was like thick syrup, wrapping tightly around Primon, layer by layer, dragging him toward that cursed vortex.
In the end, minute by minute, his gaze gradually changed, while the confusion in his mind slowly faded away, and in its place appeared a fanatical sense of identification and unquestioning acceptance.
"The Family… needs new… vitality…"
In the dean's office, Primon murmured to himself, his gaze filled with fanaticism as he stared at the large monitor before him without blinking.
"Dreamcluck Chicken... is the true gospel..."
Just like that, Primon became part of The Family.
Originally, the effect should not have been this exaggerated, since Lucian had never intended to turn people into fanatical followers of Harmony in the first place. But because Primon had harbored ill intentions and was thus influenced by the Law of Calamity, it intensified the meme infection and led to his mind being directly brainwashed by Harmony.
Reca, who had silently watched from the side from the very beginning to the very end, was completely stunned.
Primon had been infected by a memetic virus and forcibly brainwashed?
Even his faith had changed?
No matter how he thought about it, it honestly made no sense to him.
He clearly saw that everyone else who watched Dreamcluck Chicken was fine, and at most, they had simply crowded out Slumbernana Monkey, nothing as extreme as what had happened to Primon.
Moreover, he himself was a beneficiary of Dreamcluck Chicken.
Thanks to Dreamcluck Chicken, the memetic virus implanted into him by Primon had been forcibly overwritten after he watched Sunday sing and dance, eliminating all the harmful effects brought by Primon's memetic virus.
As a Memetic Entity, Reca had the most knowledge in this regard.
He could sense that, unlike Slumbernana Monkey, Dreamcluck Chicken was not harmful, since it would only cause people to develop a shared sense of support toward Sunday, then extend that affection outward, and ultimately stand on the same side.
Reca stared thoughtfully into Primon's clear eyes for a moment, then glanced at the explosive online traffic.
"An interesting development... a very good movie premise, though unfortunately lacking in drama..."
Reca murmured to himself, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"The Family reacted fast..."
"They actually used the Harmony's collective will to strengthen this meme..."
"Hmm, but I must admit, this transmission efficiency is terrifying..."
He pondered for a while, then looked at the image of Sunday in suspenders on his phone screen.
"Sunday... this doesn't seem like something he'd come up with..."
"In that case, who's behind this, quietly causing such a huge commotion?"
"Probably the entire star system will be affected... wait, the entire star system..."
"If the one behind this meme has the ambition to affect the entire star system, even the entire cosmos, that would be the perfect movie material!"
"Hahahaha—!"
Just as Reca predicted, the spread of Dreamcluck Chicken was far from over.
Across the massive Interastral Network of the IPC, it surged toward every corner of the cosmos.
===
In the Xianzhou Luofu, on the training grounds of the Cloud Knights, several young recruits were resting when one of them suddenly began humming the song of Dreamcluck Chicken.
In that instant, the nearby recruits burst into laughter.
"Buddy, so you know that meme too."
Meanwhile, at the entrance of Exalting Sanctum, a child and his mother were passing by when the child suddenly pointed at a chick plushie on a billboard.
"Mom! I want a Dreamcluck Chicken plushie!"
===
In Herta Space Station, researchers gathered before a large floating screen, discussing with serious expressions.
"Hmm, the transmission model of this Dreamcluck Chicken is extremely interesting…"
"It seems to have broken through cultural barriers…"
"Yes, it's revolutionary. We should analyze the propagation mechanism of this meme…"
===
In a famous, large-scale interstellar online game, a player with the nickname 'Ural Wolf' typed in the public chat after winning a PvP match.
[Ural Wolf: You played well, Sigma121. Just a bit weak.]
At the end of the message, Ural Wolf added a sticker of a 'chick with middle-parted hair playing basketball.'
In that instant, the public chat immediately exploded.
[ImaMewing: Oh, even Ural Wolf is in on it?]
===
On Pier Point, inside the IPC headquarters, Arita sat in his office, focusing on his phone as it played a video of Sunday dancing and singing.
Because the Traditional Projects Department was responsible for entertainment, Arita, as its head, immediately perceived both a business opportunity and rising popularity while watching the craze surrounding Dreamcluck Chicken.
In the end, after watching several videos, Arita let out a deep sigh, then decided to talk to Sunday, hoping for some cooperation.
===
On a certain planet, a beautiful woman with pale skin, long, messy, thigh-length lavender hair, and violet eyes mixed with yellow, orange, and red walked through an empty corridor with elegant steps, starlight flowing at her fingertips.
On her head, she wore a purple veil, while her body was clad in a purple bodysuit with black accents, layered beneath purple clothing that featured revealing, black, leotard-like elements.
Her hands were covered by long purple gloves that reached her biceps, along with a golden bracelet on her right wrist, while her legs were covered by black tights as well as thigh-high heeled boots.
Her name was Black Swan, and just like Reca, she was also a Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection.
"The power of Harmony is spreading through the meme..."
"The transmission path is abnormally clear..."
"The outbreak speed is unbelievable..."
Black Swan muttered to herself, frowning slightly as she walked.
"Who is the manipulator? And what is the purpose?"
Sensing the scent of secrets from this so-called Dreamcluck Chicken, Black Swan ultimately decided to trace the source to find the initiator.
Perhaps she might discover something interesting.
===
At a lively interstellar transit hub, Sparkle was idly flipping a coin while scrolling through social media on her phone, which was full of chicken-themed content, suspenders, and middle-part hairstyles, when a cursed song suddenly assaulted her ears.
"Hahaha! It's that Chicken Wing Boy. He's hilarious!"
Sparkle laughed so hard she slapped her thigh, tears flying, then pointed mockingly at Sunday's awkward dance on the screen.
"Ah, this is so fun! Who's messing with the Chicken Wing Boy?"
Her eyes shone brightly as she realized that her boring life had finally gained some entertainment.
In the past, she had been to Penacony and had dealt with Sunday before, so she knew exactly what kind of person he was. And that was precisely why she knew that someone as serious as he would definitely not do something as ridiculous as this.
Sparkle watched several more videos for a while and ultimately decided to set off immediately to find the creator of Dreamcluck Chicken to express her 'admiration' in person, and maybe see if she could create even greater chaos.
===
At the same time, on a desolate interstellar wasteland, a spaceship was parked in the shadow of an asteroid.
Inside the cockpit, a fair-skinned young woman with a light pink, messy bob tied into a long ponytail, light green eyes, and wearing a black and red hat with red horns stared at her phone with a solemn expression.
Her name was Rappa, and she was a Galaxy Ranger.
At this moment, the screen of her phone was filled with Dreamcluck Chicken—filled with all kinds of chicken emojis and remix videos.
Even though this so-called Dreamcluck Chicken appeared to be nothing more than harmless, funny jokes, as someone who carried a memetic virus, she instantly recognized it as a memetic virus.
"Evil Ninja Osaru!" Rappa exclaimed sternly, her gaze sharp as a blade. "Another evil experiment! Unforgivable!"
In her eyes, only the insane Evil Ninja Osaru, Dr. Primitive, would create something like this to harm people. Rappa herself was a victim of a memetic virus experiment performed by Dr. Primitive, and because of that, her ultimate goal was to capture him.
To resolve the memetic virus crisis before people suffered, she decisively piloted the spaceship toward Penacony.
However...
"Hey! Rappa! Why the hell are you taking my ship?! Dammit, don't you have your own ship?!"
A man's angry voice suddenly resounded from the speaker in the spaceship's cockpit.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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