["The residents here revere using the birth of life to resist the fear of loneliness and death. That is precisely why Propagation chose this place." Herta added.]
["But there aren't any bugs here." Stelle looked around. Though there were buildings and signs of human life, she saw no people at all.]
["Walk around nearby. Maybe you'll find some clues." Herta said.]
[Stelle strolled to a nearby hospital. Here she finally saw people—or rather, these humans could no longer be called human. Like swarms surrounding an insect emperor, they were merely beings practicing the Path of Propagation, densely exchanging pheromones.]
[The hospital corridor was filled with a thick, rusty-sweet smell. The floor was covered in mottled bloodstains. In the nursery, dozens of newborn insect cries erupted alongside the salty stench, nearly knocking Stelle off her feet.]
["Wait... insect cries?" Stelle suddenly realized and shoved open the doors to the nursery and delivery room. Every crib that should have held babies was, without exception, filled with insects!]
[In the adjacent corridor, a young pregnant woman let out feeble wails.]
[Her massively swollen abdomen bulged with countless irregular writhing lumps, as if thousands of larvae were frantically gnawing inside her. Her features were twisted almost beyond recognition from pain. Barely clinging to life, she struggled to crawl toward the operating room, leaving a long trail of blood behind her.]
["The things in her belly are..." Stelle swallowed hard, hesitating.]
["...All insects." Herta sighed. "Under the influence of the Path of Propagation, any creature will only give birth to insects. And under this Path's domination, Propagation is the only thing they can think about."]
——
Dragon Raja.
Caesar's pupils contracted slightly. The celestial screen's view now followed Stelle's perspective. In this hospital, almost every woman capable of bearing children—young or old—had swollen bellies. Propagation's authority seemed to have modified their bodies to some degree.
Some gave birth directly to insects, others to clusters of blood-membraned eggs. Those translucent egg sacs burst the moment they touched air, wet larvae crawling out with fine limbs still dripping human amniotic fluid.
"Disgusting." Caesar shook her head, her voice cold as quenched steel.
"According to data observed by the college from around the world, just now all insects on the planet were briefly affected by the Path of Propagation. It lasted about ten minutes."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that in those ten minutes, who knows how many new insect species were added to the world." Chu Zihang said expressionlessly. "The good news is that humans weren't affected. What we give birth to is still normal humans."
"Giving birth to normal humans—such an ordinary thing... and I actually hear a hint of relief in your voice." Caesar said with a bitter smile.
"It really is worth being relieved about. This is just a virtual product in the Simulated Universe. If it were a real Aeon... what it affected probably wouldn't be limited to insects. The authority of Propagation would likely completely suppress the dragon blood in our bodies, turning us into—"
"Ahem... enough. I still have dinner tonight." Caesar cut him off in time. "Thinking about those Alien movie scenes from before, now realizing they're real scenarios happening in the cosmos... okay, I really feel like throwing up right now."
"If you really hate bugs that much, I can recommend a few movies about exterminating insect races. They're pretty stress-relieving—might help ease your mental state a bit."
——
Marvel Universe.
Tony's mouth twitched. Then he suddenly stood up and strode toward the bathroom. The moment the door slammed shut, retching and flushing sounds came from inside.
Strange crossed his arms, his expression even colder than usual—according to the latest message from the Sanctum, insects worldwide had shown abnormalities. Though it didn't last long, the influence of the Path was evident.
When Tony returned, his face was pale and he held a glass of whiskey—though he knew alcohol had no effect on him now.
"I've seen a lot of disgusting things." His voice was hoarse. "But this... this really pushes my limits."
Strange didn't respond immediately. His gaze remained fixed on the "newborns" in the hospital on the celestial screen. The insects' compound eyes glinted with a metallic sheen. From the first minute of birth, they constantly gnawed at anything edible in the room—anything they could bite or consume, they devoured.
Just like a locust swarm.
—He suddenly understood why Herta called this disaster the "Universal Locust Calamity."
"The manifestation of the Path of Propagation... twisting life into pure tools of reproduction. Everything becomes fodder for insects." After a long silence, Strange finally spoke. "If it develops like this, the locust calamity could destroy the entire universe. So how was it stopped?" Strange recalled that in Herta's words, the locust calamity was already a distant past—this meant the Aeon of Propagation had fallen.
Kafka said Aeons could be killed, and indeed several Aeons had fallen in the cosmos... but saying it was one thing—no one had ever witnessed it firsthand.
"An Aeon killing another Aeon makes sense. Could it have been the Aeon of Destruction or the Aeon of The Hunt?" Tony subconsciously answered.
"Those two Aeons are relatively young—seemingly ascended after the locust calamity." Strange thought for a few seconds. "Could it be... the Aeon of Elation, Aha?"
"Uh..." Tony forced a smile. "If war breaks out between Aeons, I'm not sure if Aha would be the first to charge in—but He'd definitely be the first to run."
——
[The insect swarms nourished by flesh burst through the windows and flew toward the cosmos. On the distant horizon, more black specks were rising.]
[From the ruins of cities, from the swept-bare wilderness, from the mud of dried riverbeds—every crack in the earth spewed swarms. They converged into tributaries, then wove into dark surges, blotting out the entire sky like black clouds.]
["They held out for twenty-one days." Herta's sigh came from beside her ear. "Twenty-one days later, Mandrake Island declared global fall and requested interstellar aid."]
[Looking up, Stelle saw transport ship after transport ship landing in the city. Most survivors were carrying supplies to flee. Only a small group gathered together, trying to persuade a madwoman who had locked herself in a room to leave.]