Chapter 266

Xing furrowed her brows in the chaos, a pungent smell slipping into her nostrils—like disinfectant spray mixed with low-quality tobacco, blended with the scorched smell of burning lubricant. The odor clung to her upper palate, impossible to dispel.

"Where… is this?" Xing rubbed her temples, questioning the air beside her.

"Simulated universe." Sure enough, Black Tower's familiar voice came from beside her ear: "Stephen made some adjustments; this time your experience will be different from before. Your current identity is navigator of the Elaitixina Fleet—putting it in a metaphor you know, your identity is equivalent to Jizi in the Astral Express."

"Oh…"

Her vision gradually returned, her hands instinctively groping at her sides, and she soon felt a notebook with yellowed cover.

"The 13th reminder." She murmured the words on the flyleaf, the ink already blurred into a blue haze.

The bridge lights flickered like a broken neon sign, casting shadows on the metal bulkheads that twisted like worms. In the distance came the mechanical tread of soldiers, their boots stuck to some dark-red debris—the corpses of some bugs, it seemed these soldiers had just returned from the front line.

"You're awake."

A man in old-fashioned military uniform stood at the medbay door, the Elaitixina insignia on his chest missing half a wing. He seemed to have gone without rest for a long time, his eyes frighteningly red, as if countless red spiders were baring their fangs and claws inside.

Seeing this man, Black Tower seemed to recall something: "Oh, right, I almost forgot—there's still part of your memory that hasn't been uploaded." Her voice quickly faded, and then Xing found her mind filled with many unfamiliar memories.

The man's identity also gradually became clear.

He was the leader of the Elaitixina army, suffering from a strange ailment that limited his memory to three days. Before arriving at Decay Star, he received a babble from outer space—also a babble about Decay Star.

He hoped Xing could remind him of each "three days," so that on his path of conquest he wouldn't forget that half-deciphered reversed babble.

"He launched the conquest; he built civilization; he finally found his lost self."

Xing read aloud the blurred words on the notebook.

——

Interstellar Contention.

On Sagulas's cliffs, Zeralatu's emerald-green eyes flickered in the shadows, he gazed at that warship within the light screen above the sky, and searched his memory for "Elaitixina" as this nation.

"Atanisi, these humans are not from the Tailunguo Dominion." Zeralatu's voice low like wind over dry bones: "If we extrapolate from the simulated universe's timeline, this warship's appearance likely dates to ten thousand years before the present universe."

"How could such a glorious civilization exist ten thousand years ago?" Atanisi's azure pupils flashed with a hint of awe: "Truly remarkable… but recklessly charging into the insectoid swarm's territory is doomed to end only in destruction."

"Not so, Atanisi……" Zeralatu raised his hand, psionic energy condensing at his fingertips, the projected image shifting to Ai'er—on their fallen homeland, the pulsating veins of the insectoid nest writhed like a living thing, newborn alien insects bursting from the flesh-and-fungus carpet, their speed far surpassing before.

"Do you see it? The insectoid swarm's evolution…… is drawing ever closer to some 'essence'." Zeralatu's voice heavy with foreboding: "It's possible that today's insectoid swarm is merely the remnant of the ancient 【Propagation】, and this planet named 'Decay Star' is precisely the origin of countless insectoid swarms in the universe."

"So I want to know how 【Propagation】 came to be. If we understand its origin, perhaps we can help us retake Ai'er."

——

"These babbles perhaps come from the 【End】 Star God." Black Tower said beside her ear: "The 【End】 is a creature that moves against time, both a star god and a wraith drifting between universes, murmuring the decree that must come to pass.】"

"Isn't this just like a spoiler?"

"Interpret it however you like." Black Tower urged impatiently beside her ear: "Have you rested enough? Hurry up and leave the medbay—we're heading to the next area."

Xing left the medbay, but her next step was not onto the main control section—instead she stomped and burst a bug's head.

In the blink of an eye she found herself in a twisted thicket, towering trees' branches covered with various dense bug eggs, shedding a sickly hue under the dim red light.

"Hold formation!"

A hoarse voice came from the helmet's built‑in speaker. Xing lowered her gaze to see herself somehow already in full battle gear, her gloves smeared with lustrous green bug blood, corroding the fibers and giving off puffs of white smoke.

Around them rose and fell the chirring of bugs like a rusty saw tearing at metal; each flash of the pulse rifle's blue light illuminated the swirling fragments of bug swarms filling the rainforest.

This is undoubtedly a massacre.

The leader's words timely appeared in her mind: he believed this was a necessary step on the path of civilizational conquest, and urged Xing to diligently record everything before her.

——

overlord

Called a civilization, but it's really just a bunch of savages who only know slaughter, right?

Ainz carefully observed the insect debris filling the light screen, it had long awaited the emergence of 【Propagation】 Tayiz Yuluos, yet strangely, no matter how much carnage the mother star endured, it never appeared.

(After so many bugs have died, if 【Propagation】 doesn't show up now, these bugs will surely go extinct—does it lack normal feelings?)

(Hmm… no, we can't gauge a star god's thoughts with human common sense…… Could it be that 【Propagation】 isn't watching its kin? Or in its eyes, "death" is trivial, while the "newborn" responsible for the propagation concept matters more?)

After thinking it over with no answer, Ainz simply turned his gaze to Kesaitesi—among all the guardians, only it is an insectoid swarm.

Kesaitesi……do you feel anything?

"Nothing at all… Lord Ainz." Kesaitesi said respectfully.

Just in case, Ainz ordered Dimiuwoges to again use mind-type magic to scan Kesaitesi's whole body, confirming he was normal before relaxing a bit.

Before this simulated universe began, he had already ordered Dimiuwoges to put up a barrier against mental attacks, lest a repeat of the battle between the envoys cause many guardians to suffer mental breakdowns.

After all, this time what appeared was a star god, not an envoy—no amount of preparation is excessive. Although it's merely a virtual existence in the simulated universe, we still don't know what effects the Propagation Path will bring.