Chapter 898: Simulated Universe·Unknowable Realm (4)

"Are you an idiot? How could you possibly hand it over to someone from the Genius Club?" Maru Xier gave a look as if staring at an idiot, "Did you forget who forged the Scepter? It was seat #66 of the Genius Club! That guy created the Scepter, launched the second Imperial War, even larger than the first; if you're with the Company, wouldn't you be wary of geniuses?"

"I…" Lai Osi was stunned for a moment, then thought carefully and indeed it was as Maru Xier said: Emperor Lu Putuo II was not a Herald, yet created a situation dozens of times more terrifying than the 【Destruction】 Herald. Any extreme faction of the Company would treat the entire Genius Club as a high‑risk group needing special attention, let alone give such a dangerous creation as the Scepter to other geniuses.

Who knows whether the next genius will inherit the Scepter and become Lu Putuo III?

"Can today's geniuses even create a 【Scepter】 system? Like Screw Gumu?" Qi Er Cha Ke suddenly asked.

"Impossible," Maru Xier instinctively denied.

"Do you think he can't make it?"

"No, making it should be fine." Maru Xier shrugged, "…but the Company or the Celestial Vessel Alliance or other forces probably wouldn't allow Screw Gumu to create something so dangerous. If he did dare, a war between organic and inorganic life would likely break out again."

——

"Enough. Everyone knows I'm not someone who settles for the status quo. I've always wanted to break the shackles of existing knowledge, find a new breakthrough point, and make the total knowledge of the universe leap again," Black Tower said, "This calculation of the Sect War is precisely for that goal. For this, I intend to bring a fifth collaborator into the Simulated Universe."

Xing teased, "Could it be the one who loves bananas?"

Black Tower ignored it, shouting, "Let's resurrect Lu Putuo II!"

Xing: "Huh???"

"Of course not the literal 【Resurrection】. We collect data from the Sect War, replicate the complete Scepter system in the Simulated Universe, recreate the Emperor's external cognition module. Then we can obtain the fifth genius's mind. And I will pose a question to it—just as at the end of the Sect War, someone raised the final puzzle that I later solved."

Screw Gumu: "Although Stephen and Ms. Ruan Mei have no objections, I personally have reservations. Adding too many goals to a single study will greatly disperse its focus."

"A reservation is no reservation—" Black Tower waved a hand, "The Sect War, my starting point, the fifth genius—all are like interlocking links of a chain. Screw Gumu, don't tell me you're not curious about this calculation."

"As you say, being factual: I did indeed weight my analysis with fifteen percent curiosity."

After successfully persuading Screw Gumu, Black Tower finally turned around: "Hey, Xing, you performed well with gold and machinery, you have experience dealing with Lu Putuo's creations, and I currently lack an assistant. Isn't that convenient?"

——

Seeking an encounter in the dungeon must be a mistake.

"The entire computing power of the Simulated Universe can already simulate a virtual Star God, but that's only 71% of a Scepter's power. I can't imagine how exaggerated things would be if Lu Putuo II had a thousand Scepters at his disposal."

That is the true "Emperor".

Yet Welph was also very confused and perplexed: since, in Lu Putuo II's eyes, organic life must be exterminated, and inorganic life must be infected by his equation to become tools and puppets, doesn't that mean that across his vast domains spanning countless star systems, only he possesses thought?

Possessing the most perfect killing weapon in the universe, supreme status, vast territories… yet no subjects?

Welph can hardly imagine this "Emperor's" life; just thinking of him makes Welph feel incomparable loneliness. On the iron throne sits a solitary figure; besides the mechanical responses, there is only silent hush.

But when consciousness judges itself as inorganic life, perhaps it can no longer even feel "loneliness."

"So, how did Lu Putuo II, with such a powerful weapon, get killed by Borca Kaka Mu?" Compared to the Scepter, Lily Luka was more curious about the lady whose face was never clear, "Lu Putuo I was killed by her, and II also died at her hands; she herself is also organic life, right?"

"I think she's less a life and more a 'ghost' or 'spirit', aren't you?" Welph took over her words, "A phantom drifting through the whole universe, existing in any corner. But why does she only target members of the Genius Club? With such ability, why not kill the 【Destruction】 Herald?"

"Because she has ability, not a diseased mind." Lily Luka lowered her gaze, "But she doesn't indiscriminately erase all Genius Club members; at least Black Tower, Screw Gumu, Ruan Mei never suffered assassination. So I suspect… the geniuses who were killed share some common trait we cannot know."

——

Xing originally wanted to refuse; the job looked dangerous, but Black Tower rejected Xing's refusal.

Re‑entering the Simulated Universe, Xing felt herself slowly sinking into an unknowable mire. Psychedelic light draped a thin veil over her consciousness, and the data buzzing in her ears grew clearer.

"Newcomer, set the observation precision for calibrating the imaginary‑number background to maximum, based on quantum‑interval recording frequency, and don't forget to pour yourself a cup of coffee."

That was the first voice Xing heard after regaining awareness, carrying a familiar command tone.

Xing looked around.

It was a laboratory; workbenches lined the walls, instruments stacked like silent blocks. She looked down at herself: she now wore a white lab coat, size perfect, sleeves rolled twice, and even round‑frame glasses perched on her nose.

"What are you just standing there for?" the lady said without turning around.

Xing poured herself a cup of black grape milk.

A name tag hung around her neck reading Pativiya Adel Samowier; her brows were knit, looking very troubled.

As her researcher, Xing knew the source of her distress. She was now fretting over a number that seemed like a ghost clinging to her, forever keeping the same error in the experiment.

The instruments creaked, their sounds swallowed by the endless vacuum. Xing habitually turned on an old radio she had scavenged, and a broken‑off male voice announced: "The Quantum History Sect prophesies that under the contemplation of inorganic cells, a new genius will arise. Though scholars doubt the prophecy's accuracy, the Emperor's corpse is still warm, so we must heed the prophecy to prevent an unknown crisis."

"Ambiguous, very much their style," Pativiya sneered, "Among the many scholars crawling like maggots on the Emperor's legacy, gnawing the fruit of wisdom, a genius will be born. Or perhaps Lu Putuo III will awaken from the empire's ruins."

Having said that, she walked to the calibration console and ended the process. As expected, the visualized error fitted into a stable signal, appearing every thirteen minutes regardless of where the lab was moved—to the Pu Er Lang Nebula, Helderlin, even the edge of a Black Hole—its intensity and frequency never changed.

It's as if a voice existed everywhere, at all times.