"In my imagination, this would be a brand-new life form born as a genius. I planned to name them after Genius Society #8, Ram."
"Somehow, something went wrong. They successfully gained their own consciousness, yet it has nothing to do with geniuses at all."
"Moreover, my free-range education approach seems to have backfired."
"A few days ago, during a leak, several newly cultivated little lives escaped and are now running loose throughout the space station."
"I don't want Herta or Asta to get involved in this matter, so… I hope you can help me retrieve these little lives."
"What do you think?"
Stelle fell into thought, weighing whether to agree.
A so-called little life cultivated by a Genius—who knew what kind of trouble it would bring.
①: "Agree."
②: "Refuse."
"Someone's pushing the plot faster than me, right? What happens if I choose refuse?" Ah Xian asked.
[All of Ruan Mei's plot will be skipped, including the new bug BOSS storyline.]
"Good grief. Ever since Kafka's companion quest, more and more plots have skip options."
"Compared to directly giving a skip button, this method has both pros and cons. I won't comment too much on it."
As she spoke, Ah Xian chose to agree.
No choice. As a streamer, how could she keep streaming if she skipped everything?
To her surprise, after agreeing to Ruan Mei, there was still another choice.
Similar to the previous version's Fyxestroll Garden interlude chapter, she had to choose one Astral Express crew member to report to.
This time, everyone except Pom-Pom could be selected.
She thought that after reporting, she would quickly meet the person.
Yet unexpectedly, even after completing the task of helping Ruan Mei recover the cat cakes—the little lives she had cultivated—Leon, whom she had reported to, still hadn't appeared.
Later, the three geniuses gathered to discuss inviting a fifth genius to join the Simulated Universe project.
From this, players obtained information about Polka Kakamond and Dr. Primitive.
"Foreshadowing, huh? Probably there will be related plots for these two later."
Further on, through the quests, players learned about Ruan Mei's life cultivation process and what the so-called big trouble she mentioned actually was.
Ruan Mei was actually… trying to cultivate a Propagation Emanator!
A considerable number of players who had some concept of an Emanator's destructive power couldn't help but complain that she was insane after learning this.
If it really got cultivated, wouldn't the entire space station be finished?
[What the hell… the drama pool is still stacking!]
[Even though everyone already knows that most people in the Genius Society are crazy, this is way too crazy.]
[Compared to Herta and Screwllum's current performance, they can practically be described as pure and kind. They have way too much conscience.]
[To be honest, it's a good thing there's an option to skip Ruan Mei's plot for players to choose. Otherwise, it would probably stir up a lot of drama.]
[This can also be considered a form of character building, but some people won't like it.]
[…I'm one of those people. I didn't choose Leon's name and went through the plot. My good impression of Ruan Mei has been somewhat shattered.]
"Controversy isn't necessarily a bad thing. In a sense, it also makes the character more distinct instead of being one-dimensional."
"If you only look at Leon's branch, Ruan Mei's performance is actually fine."
[All I can say is, Father's gold content is still rising!]
[Which Father are you talking about?]
[Although there can be more than one Father, who let Dr. Ratio arrive later than Leon…]
"Alright, let's set aside the topic of Ruan Mei's character design for now and continue."
Ah Xian teleported back to the Seclusion Zone and continued the investigation quest—dealing with the Propagation Emanator replica that Ruan Mei had created.
From a distance, Stelle looked toward the passage ahead and her gaze sharpened.
"Huh? There seems to be someone up ahead… Who is it?"
After getting closer, she discovered that it was indeed a person.
Moreover, it was a man wearing a strange plaster headpiece, playing chess against himself and talking to himself.
Sensing movement behind him, Dr. Ratio put away the chessboard and stood up, walking toward Stelle.
"You look troubled. Did you run into a problem? If so, then figure it out yourself."
Stelle tilted her head. "Huh?"
Dr. Ratio: "What are you standing there for? Do you have a lot of time? I don't think so. Take the elevator down. What you're looking for is down there."
Stelle sized him up for a few seconds, then casually brushed past him.
"Thanks for the tip. Of course I'll figure it out myself instead of asking a stranger. What if he's not a good person? Wouldn't I be in trouble?"
Seeing how straightforward and decisive Stelle was, Dr. Ratio was somewhat surprised.
But… he was even more pleased by her reaction and attitude.
Her way of doing things didn't waste time. She was already better than most people.
Whether she could handle that trouble was another matter.
Forget it. It didn't matter. He would forcefully intervene when the time came anyway. It was also worth looking forward to whether the Genius had left any backup plans.
Stelle didn't pay much attention to the man with the plaster head and headed straight for the elevator going down, arriving at the location Ruan Mei had mentioned.
The elevator stopped. She looked around at the scenery before her and was somewhat surprised.
The platform ahead was empty. The lighting was dim. Only some unknown debris was piled up along the edges.
"Such a huge room. The space station actually has a place this spacious?"
With vigilance in her eyes, she walked toward the center of the platform. Along the way, she looked up and discovered that an unknown device that had originally existed above had already been shattered.
There were corresponding remnants on the ground, emitting a strange odor.
Getting closer, she could also see that the surface of those remnants carried a pale yellow liquid.
Stelle crouched down to examine the liquid. It was viscous and stuck to her hands, giving her a familiar feeling.
"…This stuff… feels a bit like…!"
A black shadow suddenly swept past above Stelle's head. The next second, a violent hissing sound and a terrifying sense of pressure came from behind her.
Without the slightest hesitation, Stelle instantly pulled out her baseball bat, spun her body, and smashed it heavily behind her—
A clear, loud impact rang out, accompanied by a feedback force like hitting a train head.
Stelle was sent flying backward. When she landed, she almost couldn't stabilize her posture.
She finally saw clearly what it was—
A large insect similar in appearance to a giant true sting bug, but much smaller in size. It was a somewhat familiar dark-blue coleopteran.
What she couldn't stay calm about the most was the terrifying Imaginary fluctuation emanating from that insect: Emanator level!
It was just that this fluctuation was faint and impure.
Last time during the Simulated Universe's Swarm Disaster test, she had seen a real Propagation Emanator and could clearly feel the difference.
"A replica of a Propagation Emanator… or an incomplete body? How is that possible… Ruan Mei, she…"
In the blink of an eye, after exchanging a few moves with the opponent, Stelle judged that she was no match for it. Even a full retreat required the utmost caution.
But she couldn't just leave so easily.
"…The space station will be destroyed by this thing!"
Stelle had just wanted to contact Ruan Mei when she discovered a dense swarm of small sting bugs flying straight at her, forcing her to focus on dealing with them.
The baseball bat in her hand transformed into a flaming lance. Preservation power spread out, generating flames that enveloped her entire body.
After some time, Stelle skillfully finished off that batch of small sting bugs and discovered that the Emanator replica was brewing a terrifying offensive.
That kind of wind-up… she was familiar with it!