This must have been Little Corruption's doing, right?
Among that group, the only one with such strong corrosive power would be that color-shifting version of herself, wouldn't it?
To be able to corrode the firewall barrier of Nous, she's truly impressive.
Insufficient quantity, made up for by clearance.
Nous's main body seemed to sense a slight threat. Its large eyeball flickered with red light, and two stellar-class starships warped over, beginning to charge up against Amphoreus.
Meanwhile, Screwllum, far away at the Herta Space Station, noticed two of his stellar-class fortresses had been privately appropriated. He turned his gaze towards the vast universe.
"Query: Why did He suddenly forcibly usurp control of the stellar-class fortresses?"
Screwllum performed calculations, but to no avail. After linking the monitoring module to the fortresses, he witnessed a scene that sent his CPU into overdrive.
"Shock: The King of All Machines, Nous, would personally launch a destructive strike against a civilization?"
Then he redirected the cameras and discovered Nanook and the Lord Ravagers confronting a never-before-seen warship.
And a faint pink starlight was observing the enveloped civilization.
"Screwllum, has something happened?"
Ms. Herta looked at the mechanical noble whose head was slightly smoking, asking in confusion.
What could make the A.I. CPU of an Emanator of Erudition overload?
Ms. Herta's words attracted the attention of the others present.
And Bronya, as if sensing something, her eyes flickered faintly with blue light.
"It's related to that mechanical head."
Bronya spoke the reason in Screwllum's stead.
"Urgent: Everyone, a divine war unknown to the universe has quietly erupted in a corner of the cosmos."
"..."
Ms. Herta and Ruan Mei's delicate brows furrowed almost imperceptibly upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, a buzzing sound came from the communication computer placed on a table above one of the seats in the conference room, followed by silence.
"Screwllum, bring up the footage you saw. This might be helpful for the development of the Simulated Universe."
A moment later, Ms. Herta said to Screwllum.
"As you wish, Ms. Herta."
He took out a projection sphere and projected everything his monitoring module had seen onto the conference table.
After seeing the images in the projection, everyone except Bronya fell silent again.
Silence became the Cambridge of this evening—
"Hmm? Isn't this Wangshu's ship?"
Bronya tilted her head, seeing the Vill-V insignia on the warship.
What mischief is Kiana up to now... Bronya didn't think anyone on Wangshu would be so idle as to provoke other Aeons for fun... "The mechanical head doesn't seem to be in very good condition?"
After a long silence, Ms. Herta looked at Nous in the footage, frowning.
That red firewall barrier must have been set up by Nous, and Nous's barrier was now largely corroded by an unknown virus.
Moreover, Nous currently seemed to be entangled with something in the data domain. Screwllum's two stellar-class fortresses were clearly deployed to deal with external situations.
"So who could make Nous dedicate almost all of its computing power?"
Ruan Mei's voice was soft and gentle, her gaze calmly fixed on the static Nous in the image.
"C-could it be... that Wangshu Astral Express did it...?"
A timid, somewhat shy male voice came from the laptop.
Screwllum turned to look at Ms. Herta, his demeanor like a gentleman, his tone calm and polite.
"Question: Ms. Herta once projected herself to the Wangshu Astral Express. Does she know anything?"
"To be honest, I don't know."
Ms. Herta shrugged, her tone quite helpless.
"Then..."
Ruan Mei looked at Bronya, a faint smile on her lips.
"Does Bronya know anything?"
"Bronya doesn't know."
Bronya looked up, pondered for a moment, then shook her head.
At the same time, Bronya was also very curious about what Kiana had done again.
There was also a little disappointment in her heart.
Now Kiana told them nothing, and usually, apart from working hours at Taiyin Mansion, she was always coming and going without a trace.
Wanting to know more about Kiana... a tiny seed quietly planted itself in Bronya's heart.
"Forget it, the meeting ends here today. Wouldn't we know what's going on if we went to see it ourselves?"
Ms. Herta directly finalized the upcoming itinerary.
Ruan Mei nodded slightly in agreement.
Although they might be affected, if a divine war truly broke out, the gains would naturally be considerable.
And she would only consume one slice, which was a very cost-effective deal.
"Conjecture: From current observations, as an A.I., I am not suitable for going to the scene."
Screwllum looked at the firewall that was almost completely devoured and shook his head.
Not only Nous's firewall, but his two stellar-class fortresses were now also infected with this unknown corrosion.
If he went to the scene, he might be corroded, unable to distinguish friend from foe.
Moreover... he needed to return to Planet Screwllum to strengthen the firewalls of his citizens and set up several more anti-virus programs.
From Nous's private deployment of his two fortresses, it could be calculated that Nous might use all available resources afterward.
He did not want his citizens to make unnecessary sacrifices.
"I... I'm not going either. Just... call me for the next meeting."
Stephen cut off the communication immediately after speaking, as if saying two more words would kill him.
"He's so socially anxious even among acquaintances, this Stephen fellow..."
Ms. Herta said helplessly, hands on her hips.
"Herta, if you're going, it's best to use a puppet."
Ruan Mei gently advised Ms. Herta.
Ms. Herta pondered for a moment, then nodded cheerfully, and glanced at Bronya.
"Little one, do you want to come along?"
"Bronya wants to go. I'll entrust Seele to your care."
Bronya nodded.
After the four geniuses made their final decision, they left the conference room.
Screwllum temporarily returned to Planet Screwllum, maintaining constant communication with the three.
Ms. Herta, in her puppet form, went to the divine war scene with Ruan Mei and Bronya.
In this group, it seemed no one cared about Nous's fate... outside of Amphoreus.
"Little Corruption is really working hard, so I should also put in more effort and not be lazy~♪"
Great Xilian's body glowed.
A ring appeared before her. She slipped her slender ring finger into the band, then lightly touched the ring with her thin lips.
A surging Aeon-level Imaginary Energy began to expand, and Great Xilian's body also grew in size.
Her glowing, diamond-shaped pink pupils stared at the two stellar-class fortresses with a smile.
At the same time, Little Corruption's corrosion had broken through the firewall and spread to the two stellar-class fortresses.
However, this corrosion was not where Little Corruption's consciousness resided... after breaking through the firewall, her main body directly entered Nous's internal system.
Nous's body also began to emit a purplish-blue glow, and the structure of its giant eyeball flashed with arcs of electricity.
"Nous has now committed almost all of its computing power to clearing internal threats. From now on, I will cut off all of Nous's connections to the outside world."
Lygus violently intervened in Nous's network module after Nous showed abnormalities.
This way, Nous would be isolated and helpless, completely trapped in a dead end.
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